Changing the Industry by Challenging Norms

Accepting this challenge was CFA charterholder Ranji Nagaswami.

Nagaswami brought to the role over 20 years of financial management experience and degrees from both Bombay University and Yale School of Management. Immediately, Nagaswami analyzed the challenge ahead: Pension liabilities, already at 8 percent of the city's budget, would soon rise to 12 percent even in the strongest markets. Nagaswami's deep, holistic understanding of markets and asset allocation expertise earned her immediate credibility as the right person for the job. But the real challenge was leveraging that credibility to earn trust from the many stakeholders within the public-sector organization and, ultimately, building true consensus amid crisis.

Nagaswami advised each of the city's five pension boards and acted as chair of the NYC Employees' Retirement System, one of the largest in the country.

Although Nagaswami's duties for the mayor's office were completed in 2012, her mission to make a larger impact was not. Her professional experience as an asset owner left an indelible mark: She realized that there was a huge need to help the owners of capital invest with a holistic view integrating their operational, financial, and investment risks.

This led her in 2016 to Hirtle Callaghan, an investment firm that pioneered the model of an outsourced chief investment officer and serves as the investment department to institutions and families. The firm works in partnership with clients to design investment solutions that help not-for-profit organizations accomplish their critical missions, or families maximize the impact of their philanthropic contributions.

In her spare time, Nagaswami also works with The Aspen Institute and CFA Institute on new initiatives to create a positive future for the investment management industry. This led to the creation of The Aspen Institute's Finance Leaders Fellowship, created in the aftermath of the financial crisis, where fellows meet four times a year over the course of two years.