Nancy Everett, chief investment officer of the $40 billion Virginia Retirement System, Richmond, will be named CIO of General Motors Asset Management Corp., Pensions & Investments has learned.
In another big development, GMAM is selling a majority interest in its $6 billion private equity business — one of its best-performing internally managed asset classes — to the group's management team. W. Allen Reed, president and chief executive officer of GMAM, New York, said the private markets team, led by Managing Director Charles Froland, will own 51% of the new firm. GMAM will own 49%.
Mr. Reed is expected to announce Ms. Everett's hiring on March 21. She will begin work June 1. Although Ms. Everett's position is new, sources say her job will include some of the duties handled by Myra Drucker, but will entail broader investment responsibilities. Ms. Drucker, managing director for marketing and business development and CIO of GM Trust Bank, left last year.
Jerry Dubrowski, a spokesman for GMAM, declined to comment on Ms. Everett's hiring. "We have nothing to announce, and as a matter of course, we don't comment on speculation," he said. GMAM has $141.3 billion under management, according to its most recent filing with the federal government.
Ms. Everett confirmed she is moving to GMAM, but declined to discuss what her new job might entail. She has been with VRS since 1979, and was CIO since 1998. Officials there have not yet determined how to replace her.
"She's running an organization with $40 billion under management and she's done an outstanding job. She's widely regarded and highly respected for her investment performance," said Henry Higdon, partner in the New York executive search firm Higdon Barrett LLC, who said he worked on placing Ms. Everett at GMAM.
Mr. Higdon said that Ms. Everett's lack of experience in a corporate investment management job did not matter.
"She's a leader in the investment world, period."
He declined to comment on what Ms. Everett would be paid in her new position. "She'll be nicely rewarded for carrying out such a senior role," he said.