Hirings

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Chanel Inc. added four investment options to its $45 million 401(k) plan, said Kenneth Ellmer, executive director of treasury and tax. It added the MFS Total Return Fund, American Funds Growth Fund of America, Fidelity Advisor Midcap and the Dreyfus Small-Cap Index Fund. Chanel eliminated the Evergreen Select Balanced and Stock Selector funds and the INVESCO Dynamics Fund, Mr. Ellmer said. The plan now has 11 investment options.

BEDFORD PARK, Ill. - CHEMCENTRAL Corp. hired Northern Trust and Banc of America to run a total of $25 million in a mix of domestic and international equities for its $75 million pension plan, said Ken Krausz, director of benefits; styles will be decided by the end of June. It terminated Deutsche Bank to consolidate plan administration and because the plan had initially selected Zurich Scudder prior to that firm's acquisition, he said.

FINDLAY, Ohio - Cooper Tire & Rubber Inc. hired Bank of New York and Banc One Investment Advisors to run $50 million each in Lehman Aggregate index funds for its salaried and hourly pension plans, which total $550 million in assets, said Charles F. Nagy, assistant treasurer.

CARLISLE, Pa. - Dickinson College committed $4 million to Crow Holdings Realty Partners III, the first real estate investment for the $145 million endowment, said Annette Parker, vice president and treasurer. Funding came from new donations.

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. - East Providence Police and Fire Retirement System hired LSV Asset to manage $10 million in active domestic large-cap value equities, replacing Citigroup, said James McDonald, finance director.

Separately, the $65 million system terminated Navellier & Associates, which ran $2 million in active domestic small-cap growth equities, and distributed the money to existing equity managers, he said. Further details were not available.

Evaluation Associates assisted.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - First Tennessee National Corp. hired The 401(k) Co. as record keeper and Nationwide as trustee effective Sept. 1, said Bill Schwindt, manager of compensation and benefits. The number of investment options offered by the $500 million 401(k) will increase to 10 from six. ADP is the current record keeper, and First Tennessee National Bank is the current trustee. Mr. Schwindt declined to provide reasons for the change.

Mercer assisted.

DENVER - IBEW, District 8 hired Principal Financial to manage $50 million in core-plus fixed income and Sierra Investment to manage $15 million in active domestic large-cap growth equities for the $350 million pension plan, said John Elliot, consultant at Marco Consulting Group.

Funding came from terminating Sirach Capital and Campbell, Cowperthwait, which managed the core-plus bond and large-cap growth portfolios, respectively.

HILLSIDE, Ill. - The $55 million Contractors' IBEW Local 9 and Outside Contractors' Pension Plan retained Marco Consulting as plan consultant following a search, said Jim Dubinski, fund administrator.

STAMFORD, Conn. - International Paper Co. hired Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo to run $80 million in emerging markets equities with a value tilt for the $6 billion pension plan, said Robert Hunkeler, vice president and director of investments. Funding came from reducing the portfolios of the plan's other emerging markets managers, Capital Guardian and Schroder.

ATLANTA - The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta hired SEI Investments as manager of managers for a $29 million balanced portfolio for the $98 million endowment, said Lisa Steinfeld, chief financial officer. SEI replaced Salomon Smith Barney, said Ms. Steinfeld; she would not comment further.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Fire & Police Pension System hired Northern Trust Global Investments to manage a Lehman Aggregate fund, the $12.8 billion plan's first passive bond portfolio, said Tom Lopez, general manager. The size of the portfolio has not been determined, but funding will come from reductions in fixed income, Mr. Lopez said.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana Teachers' Retirement System hired Mellon Bank as global custodian, said Brendan Brosnan, investment officer. The $10 billion pension fund's previous global custodian, Deutsche Bank, sold its custody unit to State Street Bank last year. Holbein Associates assisted.

BALTIMORE - The $25 billion Maryland State Retirement and Pension System added two active large-cap managers. Wellington will handle $600 million in growth equities, and Capital Guardian, $300 million in core equities, according to Joe Coale, spokesman for the fund.

Funding for the Wellington portfolio will come from an S&P 500 index fund run by State Street Global, and the Capital Guardian portfolio will be funded from cash and S&P 500 futures, Mr. Coale said.

The changes are due to an asset allocation study by Ennis Knupp.

BOSTON - The $26 billion Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board hired REIT managers Wellington to handle $175 million and INVESCO Realty, Urdang & Associates and LaSalle Investment to manage $25 million each, said George Wilson, investment officer.

DES MOINES, Iowa - Meredith Corp. hired Putnam Investments to manage $6 million in active international large-cap equities for its cash balance plan, replacing Frank Russell, according to a Meredith official who did not want to be identified. The plan has $53 million in assets, according to the Money Market Directory.

MIAMI BEACH, FLA. - The Miami Beach Retirement System hired Wentworth, Hauser & Violich to run $10 million in ADRs for its $210 million general employees pension plan, said Rick Rivera, pension administrator. Funding came from terminating Bank of New York, which ran the money in an index ADR account. Plan officials decided to move to active management, Mr. Rivera said. Milliman USA assisted with the search.

NEW YORK - The New York City Sergeants Benevolent Association Annuity Fund hired New York Life Investment Management as administrator for the $102 million fund, which changed to a member-directed plan from trustee-directed, said Dennis Ostermann, comptroller.

As of July 1, members will have 11 investment options: a MacKay-Shields core balanced portfolio; Oakmark Equity & Income; Van Kampen Growth & Income A; Davis New York Ventures A; Eclipse Indexed Equity; American Century Equity Income; Mainstay MAP I; Royce Low-Priced Stock; Artisan International and Midcap; and New York Life Fixed Income fund. Reynolds Securities assisted.

Mr. Ostermann said external managers terminated because of the switch were: Oppenheimer Capital, which ran $20 million in large-cap value equities; AllianceBernstein, $34 million in a balanced strategy; Lazard Asset Management, $11 million in large-cap value equities; Chicago Equity Partners, $5 million in small-cap equities; Wright Investors, $7 million in midcap equities; and Trainer Wortham, $18 million in large-cap and midcap equities.

NEW YORK - The New York City Deferred Compensation Plan hired NISA Investment Advisors to manage $180 million of its $1.65 billion stable value investment option, said Dean Weltman, plan compliance officer. The $4.2 billion plan also gave BlackRock an additional $180 million to run in the stable value fund; BlackRock already manages a separate $90 million portfolio for the stable value fund. Funding came from terminating Credit Suisse Asset Management and trimming other stable value managers.

The plan also hired Delaware Investments and Bank of Ireland to run $25 million and $35 million, respectively, in its international investment option. Funding will come from Capital Guardian, which previously managed the entire $160 million international option and will now will manage $100 million of it.

Mercer assisted.

BISMARCK, N.D. - The North Dakota State Investment Board invested $7 million in the Vanguard International Explorer fund for the board's $1 billion insurance trust, said Steve Cochrane, executive director and chief investment officer. Callan Associates assisted. Funding came from reducing Capital Guardian's $63 million international large-cap core equity portfolio.

OKLAHOMA CITY - The $354 million Oklahoma City Employee Retirement System hired active domestic small-cap managers Seneca Capital and EARNEST Partners to manage $17 million each in growth and value equities, respectively, said Rena Hutton, retirement system manager. The plan terminated Tom Johnson Investment, which ran $28 million in large-cap value; Janus Capital, $14 million in large-cap growth; and Nicholas-Applegate, $13 million in midcap growth. Plan officials wanted a small-cap strategy, Ms. Hutton said. The remaining $21 million in assets went to an existing State Street Global Advisors S&P 500 index fund, raising it to $150 million.

Asset Consulting is adviser.

LAS VEGAS - Park Place Entertainment Corp. added the Fidelity Short-Term Bond fund as an investment option in its $500 million 401(k) plan, said Marge Strysik, corporate director of benefits.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - PNM Resources Inc. hired Seix Investment to run $18 million in high-yield fixed income, a new investment for the $375 million pension plan, said Ed Jeung, director of trusts and corporate investments.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Rinker Materials Corp. hired Diversified Investment Advisors as manager of managers and custodian for its three pension plans, which have $28 million in total assets, said Caresse Friedman, retirement plan specialist.

Rinker terminated Wilmington Trust, which was sole investment manager of the $8 million pension plan at Kiewit Materials Corp., which Rinker acquired last September. It also terminated State Street Corp., which was the Kiewit plan's custodian, she said. Diversified already was manager of managers and custodian for Rinker's $8 million hourly employees and $12 million salaried employees plans.

SAN DIEGO - The $4 billion San Diego County Employees Retirement Association invested $150 million in Ashmore Emerging Markets Debt Fund, said Jerome Booth, director of research at Ashmore.

WASHINGTON - The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union Industry Pension Fund selected Bank of New York to provide custody and securities lending for the $3 billion national pension fund. A union spokeswoman declined to provide additional information; the Money Market Directory lists Deutsche Bank as the previous custodian.i