Universities Superannuation Scheme Hires CIO

Roger Gray likes a challenge — and few tasks are more challenging than successfully allocating pension fund assets in the wake of the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression. But the asset management expert, who has just joined the London-based Universities Superannuation Scheme as its new CIO, sounds invigorated by the prospect of taking charge of USS’s £23 billion ($38 billion) investment portfolio. “USS has the scale and horizons to deliver first-rate investment results,” says Gray, 52, who took over from CIO Peter Moon, who is retiring.

USS, the second-largest pension fund in the U.K., invests assets on behalf of the employees of 378 universities and academic institutions. For Gray, who was most recently in charge of Hermes Investment Management’s £25.7 billion in assets under management as its CIO, the move to USS marks a new era in his 25-year career. “USS has a very open investment team that freely exchanges ideas,” he says. “That in itself is a considerable asset.”