New York City Retirement Systems raised the pay of Chief Investment Officer Scott Evans 56% to $350,000 as part of an effort to increase salaries of top executives in the $163.4 billion pension system.
Earlier this year, the New York City comptroller's office authorized a study of how salaries for the city's pension system compared to other public pension funds with assets of $80 billion or more. The results showed that the New York City pension system's salaries trailed those of its peers.
The study enabled Mr. Evans and Scott Stringer, the city comptroller, to persuade trustees for each board of the five city pension funds to support a pay raise for about 40 people. Mr. Stringer is the investment adviser and custodian of the pension system. The raises, which took effect in August, are being paid from pension fund assets.
Mr. Evans and other pension system officials are members of the bureau of asset management within the comptroller's office, and Mr. Evans also holds the title of deputy comptroller for asset management.
In addition to Mr. Evans, some of the other top pension system officials securing raises include:
- Michael Garland, assistant comptroller for corporate governance, up 56% to $265,000;
- John Merseburg, interim head of public equities, up 93% to $250,000;
- Neil Messing, head of hedge funds, up 67% to $250,000;
- Alex Done, head of private equity, up 75% to $280,000;
- Martin Gantz, head of fixed income, up 62% to $280,000;
- Yvonne Nelson, head of real estate, up 69% to $265,000; and
- Petya Nikolova, head of infrastructure, up 59% to $250,000.
Salary data were provided by Eric Sumberg, a spokesman for Mr. Stringer, and by The City Record Online, an online version of the City Record, the official city government newspaper, which publishes, among other things, information about public hearings and meetings, and regulations proposed and approved by city agencies.
