Odds & Ends - August 4, 2008

August 4, 2008

* Pamela Pharris has been chosen to serve as executive director of the $15.1 billion Georgia Employees' Retirement System (GERS). She replaces Michael Nehf, who left the position to head the $79.6 billion Ohio State Teachers Retirement System. Prior to joining the GERS, Pharris was a benefits plan consultant at Hewitt Associates. n Kristin Reynolds and Bryan Schneider have both been promoted to senior consultants with NEPC. Prior to joining NEPC in 2003, Reynolds worked at Smith Barney. Schneider joined the firm in 2000. He was previously a mathematics instructor. n MFC Global Investment Management has named Brian Torrisi managing director and head of U.S. consultant relations, where he will report to Frank Saeli, senior managing director and head of U.S. sales and relationship management with the firm. Torrisi was a partner and director of consultant relations at Lee Munder Capital Group before joining the firm. n Northern Trust has named Matt Severs head of consultant relations for its corporate and institutional services businesses in North America, a new position with the firm. Deanna Belczak , formerly the firm's U.S. product manager for cross-border pooling, has replaced Severs as division manager for cross-border pooled funds at the firm. n James Reilly, executive VP and portfolio manager, and P. Scott Wallace, senior VP and portfolio manager, at AllianceBernstein will serve as lead managers for roughly two-thirds of the firm's $4.8 billion Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund. They replace Alan Levi, senior VP and portfolio manager, who is retiring at the end of the year. n SEI has launched its new Screened World Equity Ex-U.S. Fund. The fund will invest in international equity in developed and emerging market countries, while excluding companies with ties to governments that support terrorism, genocide or human rights abuses. The fund will be actively managed and use a multi-manager approach in which different sub-advisors manage portions of the fund using different strategies. The fund will be benchmarked against the MSCI All County World Ex-U.S. Index adjusted for screens. n David McMahon Jr. has joined fixed-income hedge fund manager Aravali Partners as VP of institutional sales and business development, a new position with the firm. Prior to joining Aravali, McMahon was executive director of tax-exempt derivative sales and marketing at Morgan Stanley. n Rampart Investment Management has promoted Debbie Cancela and John Harrington to managing directors. Prior to their new roles, Cancela was senior VP, director of operations and chief compliance officer, while Harrington was executive VP and director of investments. Odds & Ends is a compilation of reported news from a variety of sources. The information in this section is assumed to be reliable, but all information should be confirmed, as IMW does not guarantee its accuracy.

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