Navyug Patel made Deputy Chief Investment Officer of NY retirement fund

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An Indian-American has been appointed as deputy chief of one of the largest pension funds in the country.

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced his appointment of Navyug “Nav” Patel as deputy chief investment officer of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, the third largest public pension fund in the United States. Patel has served as the Fund’s interim deputy CIO since July 2018.

“Nav Patel brought a wealth of investment skills to the New York State Common Retirement Fund when he joined us five years ago,” DiNapoli is quoted saying in the Aug. 19, 2020 press release from his office. “His clear eye on long-term sustainable returns is integral to what makes our fund one of the nation’s strongest, ready to provide retirement security for our 1.1 million members, retirees and their beneficiaries.”

The Fund has consistently been ranked as one of the best managed and best funded plans in the nation, the press release noted.

“Nav is a valued partner to me in our investment process,” the Fund’s Chief Investment Officer Anastasia Titarchuk, said. “His experience and abilities have been key to our team as we manage the Fund’s diversified portfolio through volatile times.”

“I am mindful that the investment decisions we make every day are on behalf of the hardworking and retired public employees of New York,” Patel said. “My thanks go to Comptroller DiNapoli for his trust in appointing me to this position.”

Patel was born in Uganda and raised in London before moving to the U.S. as a teenager. He graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in physics and received a master’s degree in physics from Brown University. He worked as a technologist and consultant for IBM Global Services in San Francisco prior to working in the financial sector, where he was an equity derivatives trader at JP Morgan, Barclays and Jefferies in New York City and London.

Patel joined the Office of the State Comptroller in 2015 as a Senior Investment Officer on the Opportunistic and Absolute Return Strategies (ARS) team, becoming Director of ARS in 2017. A year later he was appointed Interim Deputy CIO.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund holds and invests the assets of the New York State and Local Retirement System on behalf of more than one million state and local government employees and retirees and their beneficiaries.