Jerry Albright announced he was stepping down as the Teacher Retirement System of Texas CIO at trustees’ December board meeting. He intends to serve for up to one year as senior managing director of global investment initiatives, according to a press release sent out by the $157 billion pension system.
Deputy Chief Investment Officer Jase Auby has been chosen as a successor to Albright, who joined the system in 1994 and served as CIO since 2017.
“It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve the members of TRS in many roles over the past 25 years,” said Albright in a statement. “I end my tenure as CIO knowing that we have weathered some financial storms, but the fund and its strategy are on the right path for our members.”
Albright first presented an executive leadership succession plan to the board in 2016. The actions of Albright moving to his new role and the appointment of Auby as CIO are the culmination of that plan, officials said.
Albright spearheaded the current Building the Fleet initiative to bring more investment management talent in-house as the trust’s growth continues. Other projects included the development earlier this year of a recruiting-centered partnership with Howard University’s School of Business. In 2015, Albright directed TRS’ opening of the system’s successful London office.
The pension fund is an active allocator in private markets, including hedge funds and private equity, and it implemented a controversial 1 or 30 fee scale for absolute return managers under Albright’s predecessor Britt Harris.
Most recently, Texas Teachers allocated $500 million to be split between three private equity funds, and officials are slowly making their way toward 14% of total assets as part of the implementation of a new strategic asset allocation.
