TSP hires chief investment officer

The board of the 401(k)-style Thrift Savings Plan announced Thursday that it has hired Tracey Ray as its chief investment officer.

Ray, who will assume her role in mid-August, serves currently as the deputy chief investment officer for the Maryland State Retirement Agency. In that job, she has been responsible for more than $10 billion in assets, according to the TSP.

Prior to joining the Maryland agency, Ray worked in private sector investments for 20 years. She was an account executive at Merrill Lynch financial services and a vice president of United States Fidelity and Guaranty, a Baltimore company, TSP officials said.

"Ray has exactly the skills and experience we were seeking," said Gary Amelio, TSP executive director. "I'm thrilled that her talents will now be put to work for the benefit of TSP participants."

Ray will serve as the first CIO at the TSP board. Her job was created after Amelio took the reigns of the investment group as part of an effort to raise the importance of participant services and lower costs at the TSP.

Amelio also created two other positions as part of the agency reorganization. Those were chief financial officer and the director of benefits services, which were filled by in-house staffers James Petrick and Penny Moran, respectively.

TSP spokesman Tom Trabucco said filling the CIO position "represents the completion of [Amelio's] agency reorganization."

Ray's job duties will be to oversee the investment policies of TSP funds, including asset allocation strategy. According to the job announcement, primary functions include "reviewing investment performance of existing funds, analyzing investment products available on the market and delivery of such products, and preparing investment reports to the board at regularly scheduled meetings."

Since all the investment options at the TSP are indexed by law, meaning they use pre-established funds, Ray will not select individual companies to invest in.

Trabucco said Ray had a "stellar background" in quantitative analysis, which she will use to find cost-saving measures for the investment group.

The search for a CIO began in 2003 when the TSP asked an executive recruitment firm to find an applicant to fill the post. The position will pay between $104,927 and $145,600 annually, according to the job announcement. Currently, the TSP board has about 80 employees, Trabucco said.

Ray said she is "still wrapping up things at my old job" and had no comments on her new position with the TSP board.