Benefits December 6, 2001

2002 Tech Salaries Flatten Out

December 6, 2001(PLANSPONSOR.com) - The record-low unemployment figures and competition for workers, which led to sharp salary increased for information technology (IT) professionals during the tech boom, are a thing of the past, the new RHI Consulting Salary Guide reveals.
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Base compensation for information technology professionals will remain virtually unchanged in 2002. At the same time, starting salaries are projected to increase by an average of 0.1% in 2002, compared to the 8.4% increase forecast this time last year.

Money Talk

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According to the guide, network security professionals will see the greatest starting salary increases of any job category, for the second year in a row, with base compensation expected to rise by 3.4% in 2002.

In terms of job title, Applications architects can expect the largest rise in base compensation – an increase of 6.7% in average starting salary compared to 2001, while starting salaries for consulting and systems integration directors should rise an average of 6.1%, according to research from RHI Consulting.

Show Me the Money

Other notable increases in starting salaries from 2001, according to the guide, include:

  • a 4.8% increase for database managers, bringing their base compensation to between $83,000 and $114,000,
  • a 4.7% rise for software engineers, their starting salaries moving to between $65,000 and $97,000,
  • disaster recovery specialists will see starting salaries increase 3.1% to between $57,000 and $86,000,
  • base compensation for senior help desk specialists will increase by 4.9%, with starting salaries in the range of  $57,000 and $45,000,
  • systems administrators will earn average starting salaries between $51,000 and $72,500 annually, a gain of 2.1% over 2001

Sector Watch

Industries forecasting particularly strong demand for IT professionals in 2002 include:

· health care,
· financial services, and
· real estate

Information in the Salary Guide is derived from thousands of job searches, negotiations and placements conducted each year by RHI Consulting recruiting specialists.

Products December 5, 2001

Ex-Texas Execs Offer Plan Sponsor Expertise, Access to Private Equity

May 24, 2000 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Plan sponsors looking for a way to tap into the small and mid-sized private equity markets will soon be able to access a "fund-of-funds" approach offered by the ex-members of the private equity program at the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO).
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Their new enterprise, Alignment Capital Partners , was formed by Austin Long III, Craig Nickels and Charles Preston III. They left UTIMCO in March and invited James Griffin, Jr., former Vice President of The Carlyle Group to co-found the new firm.

Three arms

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Alignment Capital will take a three-pronged approach to creating returns in the private equity arena.  Upon reaching its target capitalization of $300 to $500 million, the firm will:

  • Allot 60% of assets into a “fund-of-funds” that will invest in LBO or venture partnerships
  • Invest the remainder directly in companies alongside other firms with which the partners have ties
  • Provide fund-raising and deal origination for the 15 to 20 firms with whom the partners have close ties

Leveraging existing relationships is the strategic focus as Alignment starts operations.  Austin Long was a co-founder of UTIMCO’s private investment group, having done deals there since 1987.  With Nickels and Preston, the team did $1.5 billion in deals while at UTIMCO.

Griffin raised $8 billion during his six-year tenure at The Carlyle Group and will lead Alignment’s fund-raising efforts.  All except Preston have global experience.  Alignment hopes to continue relationships with other firms.

Small universe

The founders said that large institutional investors were gravitating to the larger deals and firms. They want to diversify into the smaller universe.

Long describes Alignment as providing “a version of outsourcing for them.  Pension funds have lots of money to put to work and a need to use marquee names, which concentrates dollars into the high-end segment of the market. If you look in the Venture Economics Yearbook, over time, you’ll see returns on these tend to gravitate toward the high teens.  The small and mid-sized deal returns gravitate toward the mid-twenties.”

The firm’s structure was designed to “align” the interests of the limited partners and the manager, while eliminating the detrimental economic impact of the dual layer of fees and carried interest normally associated with a fund-of-funds.  Long says carried interest charges will be less than 10%. 

The company will be headquartered in Austin, Texas. with offices in Washington, DC and Cupertino, California.

– Ann Bidou      editors@plansponsor.com

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