CIO's Discuss the Role of Hedge Funds in a Pension Portfolio

Carol McFate - Chief Investment Officer at Xerox

Ms. McFate is Chief Investment Officer of Xerox Corporation, responsible for the investment management of all retirement assets in North America.  In 2011, Xerox was runner-up aiCIO’s 2011 Industry Innovation Award (corporate pension plan assets under $5 billion)

Before joining Xerox, Ms. McFate was the Executive Vice President and Global Treasurer of XL Global Services, Inc.  Reporting to the CFO of XL Capital, she was responsible for building a global treasury platform to manage bank relations, cash/liquidity, collateral, funding, capital, foreign exchange, and financial analysis. 

Prior to joining XL, Ms. McFate was with American International Group, Inc. (AIG) for nine years in a number of senior financial positions, including Vice President & Treasurer of AIG, Inc.  As Treasurer of AIG, she was responsible for bank relations, rating agency relationships, cash/liquidity management, corporate funding, foreign exchange management, capital and financial analysis.

Before AIG, she was a Senior Vice President with the Prudential Investment Corp. (Prudential Insurance Company).  Prior to Prudential, she was Assistant Treasurer of Macmillan, Inc. and a lending officer with Citibank, N.A.  

Ms. McFate received an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Economics magna cum laude from Juniata College (Huntingdon, PA).  She was awarded the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in 1992.

David W. Wiederecht, President and CIO - Investment Solutions

David is responsible for the firm's strategic and tactical asset allocation efforts related both to client relationships and the GE benefit plans. Dave also has oversight of external asset managers and portfolio managers for the firm's small cap mutual fund.

Dave is a Trustee of the GE Pension Trust and the company's other employee benefit plan trusts. In addition, he is a member of GE Global Pension Advisory Committee, with oversight for various affiliate pension plans, including the US and Canada. In his prior role as Managing Director - Alternative Investments, he had portfolio management responsibilities for various private equity and real estate investment strategies, in addition to hedge fund oversight.

Prior to joining GEAM in 1988, Dave held several positions throughout the General Electric Company. He holds a BA in Economics from St. Lawrence University.

David Harmston, partner and global head of Albourne’s Client Group and previously head of U.S. operational due diligence

David Harmston is a Partner and Global Head of Albourne’s Client Group and previously head of US operational due diligence. His current responsibilities include overseeing business development and client service globally.

Harmston joined Albourne Partners Ltd in London in 2000, where he successfully managed the launch of the Village Web site. In 2001, he left the London office to set up Albourne America LLC in San Francisco where he remained until early 2007. He then moved to Connecticut to open up an office for Albourne in Rowayton. Early in his career, Harmston spent four years at JP Morgan Investment Management (London).

Harmston received an MBA from the University of Cape Town in 2000 and is a member of CAIA.