Hirings

CHICAGO — Boeing Co. hired Dwight Asset Management to oversee its $7 billion stable value fund and Western Asset Management to manage a portion of the underlying fixed-income assets, according to Anne Eisele, director-finance communications. The fund accounts for about 30% of the company's $24 billion 401(k) plan. Dwight replaces ING Life Insurance and Annuity, which will continue to manage a portion of the underlying assets and provide a portion of the insurance wrap protection for assets in the stable value fund.

Under the new structure, the stable value fund will have a combination of short-term, intermediate-term, and longer-term portfolios. The fund had consisted of only intermediate-term portfolios.

Ennis Knupp assisted.

BETHESDA, Md. — Calvert Asset Management hired Ibbotson Associates as a consultant for two new funds of funds, the Calvert Conservative and the Calvert Moderate Allocation funds. Ibbotson is providing asset allocation targets and individual allocations to the 11 Calvert mutual funds used as the underlying investment vehicles.

The Calvert conservative fund invests 60% to 80% of assets in the CSIF Bond Portfolio, 20% to 40% in Calvert equity funds and up to 10% in the CSIF Money Market Portfolio. The moderate asset allocation fund's asset allocation targets are: 50% to 80% in equity funds; 20% to 50% in the CSIF Bond Portfolio; and up to 10% in the money market fund.

CHICOPEE, Mass. — The $115 million Chicopee Contributory Retirement System hired BlackRock to manage up to $2 million in apartment real estate assets. Funding will come from distributions from the system's existing real estate investments with BlackRock, said Kevin Leonard, the Segal Advisors consultant who is assisting; Susanna Baltazar, executive director, referred all questions to Mr. Leonard. Fund officials added the investment to reach the plan's real estate allocation to the target 8% of total assets.

TORONTO — CPP Investment Board committed €200 million (US$257.48 million) to Apax Europe VI and US$100 million to Lone Star Fund V, bringing its total private equity commitments to C$8.3 billion (US$6.7 billion), according to a news release from the fund. The CPPIB invests the equity assets of the Canada Pension Plan, Ottawa, which has a total of C$77.2 billion in assets.

STAMFORD, Conn. — Crane Co. hired LSV Asset Management and Sanderson Asset Management to run $12.5 million each in active international equities for the company's $250 million master pension trust, subject to contract negotiations, said Gil A. Dickoff, treasurer. The new allocation, benchmarked to the MSCI EAFE index, was added to increase diversification. Funding will come from rebalancing; no managers will be terminated.

CRA RogersCasey assisted.

DANVERS, Mass. — Essex Regional Retirement Board hired Loomis Sayles to manage high-yield fixed income and Freedom Capital to run international value equities, said Lilli Gilligan, assistant to the chairman of the Essex board. Loomis will manage about $11 million, and Freedom will run $10.3 million, said Kevin Leonard, the Segal Advisors consultant who is assisting. Loomis replaces a manager Ms. Gilligan declined to identify, and Freedom Capital replaces Bank of Ireland Asset Management; both were terminated for underperformance.

Ed Riley, spokesman at Bank of Ireland, did not return calls by press time seeking comment.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The $3 billion State of Illinois Employees' Deferred Compensation Plan hired Iron Capital Advisors as its first general retainer consultant, pending contract approval. Iron Capital will evaluate the lineup of 14 investment options and recommend any changes to the Illinois State Board of Investment, Chicago, the plan's fiduciary. William Atwood, ISBI executive director, said he expects the report from Iron Capital around August.

OAK BROOK, Ill. — The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund hired domestic fixed-income managers LM Capital Group, Taplin Canida & Habacht, Piedmont Investment Advisors and EARNEST Partners as part of the $18.3 billion fund's effort to use more minority- and women-owned investment advisers, according to a board statement. LM and Taplin Canida were each assigned $150 million; funding will come from a Northern Trust S&P 500 BARRA Value index fund, leaving it with $1.142 billion. Piedmont was assigned $100 million and EARNEST, $50 million; funding will come from a BlackRock enhanced fixed-income index fund, leaving it with $1.324 billion. Ennis Knupp assisted.

LOS ANGELES — The board of the $8.2 billion Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System approved $25 million investments each in the AMB Japan Fund I and the LaSalle Asia Opportunity Fund. Funding came from cash.

BATON ROUGE, La. — The $12.4 billion Louisiana Teachers' Retirement System hired Alliance Capital Management and LSV Asset Management to run from $200 million to $400 million each in active international large-cap value equities, said Bonita B. Brown, director. Exact portfolio sizes will be determined after contracts are finalized. Funding will come from cash and rebalancing, and from terminating an existing manager that Ms. Brown declined to identify. Holbein Associates is assisting.

METHUEN, Mass. — Methuen Contributory Retirement System, with $68 million in assets, hired New Amsterdam Partners to manage $25 million in active domestic large-cap core equities, subject to contract negotiations, said Kevin Leonard, the Segal Advisors consultant who is assisting. Terrylee Murphy, administrator, directed all questions to Mr. Leonard. Funding will come from terminating the existing large-cap core equity manager, whose performance has been lagging. Mr. Leonard declined to name the manager, but Money Market Directories lists INVESCO as Methuen's large-cap equity manager. An INVESCO spokesman wouldn't comment.

BOSTON — MFS Investment Management hired SEI Investments to handle back-office record keeping operations for its separate account business, said John Alshefski, the head of new business development for SEI's investment manager services.

ALBANY, N.Y. — The $80 billion New York State Teachers' Retirement System committed $429 million to five private equity funds to help the fund meet its target 7% private equity allocation, said John Cardillo, system spokesman. It committed $154 million to the HarbourVest Partnership Fund and $25 million to the HarbourVest Direct Fund; $100 million to Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe X; $75 million to Lehman Brothers Real Estate Mezzanine Partners; $50 million to Metalmark Capital Partners and $25 million to the KRG Capital Partners III.

WATKINS, Colo. — Orica USA Inc. hired Principal Financial Group as bundled provider of its $25 million 401(k) plan, said Mathew Jekot, benefits and compensation manager for North America. Principal replaced JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services. Mr. Jekot said fees played an important part in the decision to change providers, and plan officials were impressed with Principal's technology and participant education capabilities.

Principal Financial Group also provides administrative services for Orica USA's $11 million defined benefit plan.

Marsh USA assisted.

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon State Treasury rehired State Street Corp. as global custodian for $60 billion in state assets, including the $49 billion Salem-based Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, confirmed Kevin Max, director of communications for state Treasurer Randall Edwards.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System committed $702 million to the First Quadrant Global Macro commingled fund; $525 million to the Barclays Global Investors Ascent Global commingled fund; up to $162.5 million plus expenses to Stockbridge Real Estate Fund II; up to $135 million to Co-Invest II Capital Partners' Co-Investment Fund II and $270 million to an in-house S&P 500 global macro overlay, according to Evelyn Tatkovski, press secretary for the system. Funding will come from cash. The board of the $52 billion system also increased a global macro allocation managed by Bridgewater to $582 million and switched it to a commingled fund from a separate account, Ms. Tatkovski said.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The $26.8 billion Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System committed $280 million to seven alternative investment funds. The plan made new commitments of up to $25 million to JMI Equity Fund V and up to $25 million to OCM/GFI Power Opportunities Fund II. It made follow-on commitments of up to $35 million to Westbrook Real Estate Partners VI, for a total investment of up to $261 million; up to $25 million to Audax Private Equity Fund II, for a total commitment of up to $60 million; up to $35 million in Morgenthaler Partners VIII, for a total commitment of up to $70 million; and up to $110 million to Summit Partners Private Equity Fund VII and up to $25 million to Summit Partners Venture Capital Fund II, for a total commitment to Summit funds of up to $268 million.

PHOENIX — Phoenix City Employees Retirement System hired active international equity managers Grantham, Mayo, van Otterloo to run $80 million in value and Fidelity Investments to handle $80 million in growth, subject to contract negotiations, according to Ray Servin, plan spokesman. Funding comes from terminating Bank of Ireland Asset Management, which ran $160 million in active international equities. The board of the $1.2 billion fund in February decided to drop BIAM due to concerns over performance and organizational changes, said Mr. Servin. Calls to BIAM were not returned by press time.

ST. LOUIS — The Public School Retirement System of the City of St. Louis hired Fidelity Investments to manage $57 million in active international growth equities, said Marty Winters, interim executive director for the $875 million plan. Funding will come from liquidating an EAFE index fund manager, Ms. Winters said; she would not identify the firm. "We just wanted to move money around in our asset allocation," she said.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco City & County Employees' Retirement System approved a $30 million commitment to Summit Partners Private Equity Fund VII, said David Kushner, deputy director of investments for the $12.7 billion system. Funding will come from cash. This is the fifth investment the system has made with Summit Partners overall, for a total of $117.8 million.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Retirement Systems, Columbia, picked active domestic equity managers Aronson + Johnson + Ortiz and Pzena Investment Management to run value and Sands Capital Management and WCM Investment Management to handle growth, pending approval by the South Carolina Budget and Control Board. Officials for the $25 billion fund have not determined portfolio sizes or sources of funding. The budget and control board will consider approving the hirings at a June 14 meeting. Mercer Investment Consulting is assisting.

Separately, the system hired Hartford Investment Management to replace ING Financial Advisors as a bundled provider for the $23.5 million State Optional Retirement Plan, a 401(a) plan offered as an alternative to the pension plan; all new state employees and teachers must choose between the two systems. The optional plan's other providers, AIG VALIC, TIAA-CREF and CitiStreet, were rehired, said Michael Sponhour, a spokesman.

SEATTLE — WM Advisors hired Delaware Management and Oberweis Asset Management to subadvise the $84 million WM Small Cap Growth and $42.7 million WM VT Small Cap Growth funds, said Lotus Lou, spokeswoman. She declined to comment on each firm's responsibilities. WM Advisors previously managed the funds. The management changes were approved by shareholders in late March, Ms. Lou said.