Products June 21, 2012

Morningstar Rolls Out Alternative Mutual Fund Ratings

June 21, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Morningstar, Inc. released Morningstar Analyst Ratings and Global Fund Reports for approximately 40 alternative U.S. mutual funds, representing about 75% of the alternative fund universe by assets.
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Analysts evaluate the funds on numeric factors as well as qualitative factors including people, process, parent, performance and price. They then rate the funds on a five-tiered scale. From highest analyst conviction level to lowest, the ratings are gold, silver, bronze, neutral and negative.

“The strategies employed in alternative funds are often new and sometimes complex,” said Nadia Papagiannis, director of Morningstar’s alternative fund research and editor of Alternative Investments Observer. “Our goal with the Analyst Ratings and Global Fund Reports for these alternative investments is to help institutions and financial advisers research and compare funds as they continue to seek diversification through alternative investments.”  

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The Morningstar Analyst Rating for alternative mutual funds, along with analysis, is available on Morningstar.com and MorningstarAdvisor.com. The new Analyst Ratings, supporting analysis, and Global Fund Reports are also available in Morningstar Direct and in Morningstar Office.

Over the next year, the company plans to increase its alternatives coverage to approximately 100 funds.

Deals and People June 21, 2012

OCERS Names Chief Investment Officer

June 21, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Orange County Employees Retirement System (OCERS) hired Girard Miller as chief investment officer, effective July 2.
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Previously, Miller was a senior strategist for retirement finance and public-sector investments at the PFM Group. He was also president of Janus Mutual Funds and served as chief operating officer of Janus Capital Group Inc., an investment company with $170 billion of assets under management. Before that, he was president and CEO of the ICMA Retirement Corporation for 10 years after heading Fidelity Investments’ public funds group.

Miller started in the public sector with nine years in local governments in New Jersey and Michigan. He then joined the professional staff of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) in 1981. He founded its Public Investor newsletter for investment professionals and wrote 12 publications for GFOA, including a textbook, Investing Public Funds, and a guidebook for pension trustees on pension fund investing.

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“We look forward to having Girard Miller lead our investment team,” said Steve Delaney, chief executive of OCERS. “His investment experience and thorough understanding of public pension plans and retirement-related issues will be of tremendous value to assist the Board of Retirement in managing OCERS’ increasingly diversified portfolio.”

Miller holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in Seattle. He earned a master’s in public administration at the Maxwell School of Public Affairs of Syracuse University, and a master’s in economics from Wayne State University in Detroit. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a former fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

 

–Jill Cornfield 

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