Published: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 10:06 AM
EST
Lee Ann Palladino, a
six-year employee in the office of state Treasurer Denise L. Nappier, has been named chief investment officer and head
of its pension fund management division, where she had served as both interim
and deputy chief investment officer.
“When you can find the perfect in-house candidate, and it’s someone who has
shown skill, dedication, and the command of that business, then the decision is
an easy one,” Nappier said.
The treasurer’s selection of Palladino was
unanimously approved last week by a pension fund oversight panel, the
Investment Advisory Council.
That was seven months after the former officeholder, M. Timothy Corbett, quit
to take a similar post with Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.
Palladino had served as
principal investment officer of the treasury’s $5 billion short-term investment
fund and she had led the pension fund management division on an interim basis
since Corbett’s departure.
Her appointment as chief investment officer took effect immediately, making her
responsible for the day-to-day investment operations of the state’s $22.4
billion retirement fund.
Palladino’s annual salary has been set at $300,000, a
spokesman for Nappier, David Rivera, said today.
Corbett had been hired in 2009 at an annual salary of $328,750, a figure at the
higher end of the $275,000 to $350,000 range set that year by the Investment
Advisory Council at Nappier’s recommendation.
Prior to her hiring at the treasurer’s office, Palladino
was chief investment officer of Empire Corporate in Albany, N.Y., where she was
responsible for managing its $5 billion balance sheet and president and chief
executive officer of the firm’s two wholly owned subsidiaries.
Palladino holds a finance degree from SkidmoreCollege and is a chartered financial
analyst and a chartered alternative investment analyst — titles granted after
completing graduate-level self-study programs offered by nonprofit
organizations that promote professional and ethical standards.