Following a special board meeting Monday morning, the Fort Worth Employees Retirement Fund announced executive director and CIO Joelle Mevi was leaving her position.
No other details were announced. Spokesperson Mary Kay Glass said the $2.2bn fund would have no immediate further comment.
- Glass confirmed that Mevi’s departure was related to a 9 a.m. meeting on 10 December to deal with personnel matters, specifically unspecified legal issues related to the executive director/CIO position.
In a statement, Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund board chair Todd Cox thanked Mevi for her service to the fund’s members and to the city of Fort Worth. He said General Counsel Benita Falls Harper would serve as interim executive director.
“We have confidence that Benita and our experienced staff will carry on the work of the Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund capably and without interruption,” Cox said, adding that members could continue to call fund staff with questions about the pension plan and their retirement options. “That will continue through this change in leadership.”
There was no mention of how long Falls Harper would serve as interim executive director, or about a search for a new executive director or CIO.
Glass said it was unclear when or whether the board would provide more details about Mevi’s departure. Attempts to reach Mevi were unsuccessful by press time.
Fort Worth’s $292.4m hedge fund programme earned double-digit returns for the year ended 30 June. The pension fund includes hedge funds with long-only funds in the five portfolios that comprise its asset allocation. In March 2016, two years after Mevi’s arrival from the CIO job at the New Mexico Public Employees’ Retirement Association, Fort Worth switched to a thematic asset allocation, replacing straight asset class designations like equities, absolute return and fixed income with six themes: growth, high growth, capital preservation, diversification and liquidity.
Mevi out as Fort Worth Employees’ executive director, CIO on HFM InvestHedge.