State Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden says his office has created a new “chief risk officer” post and tapped a former General Electric Co. asset manager for the job.
Kevin Cullinan, of Fairfield, most recently was a risk-management adviser to Kaiser Permanente and other businesses, Wooden said Tuesday. Cullinan will manage investment, operational, and enterprise risk related to the multi-billion-dollar Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds (CRPTF).
A spokeman in the treasurer’s office says that while the office has assigned staffers to assess risk in its investment portfolio, none had the formal title of “chief risk officer.” Cullinan’s annual salary is $250,000 and July 29 was his first day, the spokesman said.
“In today’s complex investment environment,” Wooden said, “it is imperative — as we adjust our investment return assumptions and risk tolerance for our largest pension plans — that we have someone who understands the risks inherent in the global capital markets where we invest and can develop our internal capabilities to monitor those risks on a real time basis. The goal is to produce better risk adjusted returns for the CRPTF while protecting taxpayers.”
Previously, Cullinan, a University of Notre Dame alum, led risk management in senior executive roles with Boston’s State Street Global Advisors and Stamford-based GE Asset Management.
From 2013-2016, he oversaw GE Pension Fund’s $27 billion of externally managed investment strategies and led the effort to formalize risk policies, process and guidelines. He was GE’s risk manager-alternative assets from 2005-2012, and risk analyst-public equities from 2002-2004.
