NYSIF Makes Progress Attracting M/WBE Business in Financial Services

March 9, 2010

After diligent search and selection efforts, NYSIF has successfully recruited several Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) as external investment managers for equity investment management services. Of the $380 million recently awarded by NYSIF to nine companies for investment management services, $125 million, or one-third of the total funding award, will be managed by four M/WBE-eligible investment management firms in four investment classes, including small cap core, small cap growth, small cap value and large cap growth.

One of the four investment firms, Daruma Asset Management of New York City, is already a New York State-certified M/WBE. The other three companies, Paradigm Asset Management, Lombardia Asset Management, and Profit Investment, have been notified of their eligibility for certification, and conform to New York’s objectives for increasing participatory opportunities through capital access and funding for M/WBEs. All four M/WBE-eligible entities have experience in managing more than $4.5 billion in assets, are owned by a majority of their employees and have an average of 15 years of investment management experience.

NYSIF Chief Deputy Executive Director Francine James praised NYSIF’s Board of Commissioners for taking the lead in setting goals for M/WBE recruitment, ensuring that those goals were achieved, and stated: “The commissioners, particularly Investments Committee Chairman David E. Ourlicht and Commissioner Kenneth R. Theobalds, were involved in significantly enhancing participatory opportunities for MWBEs in investment services from the start, dedicated an extraordinary amount of time and effort to facilitating these funding initiatives, and their leadership has been pivotally important.”

Ms. James acknowledged that NYSIF set out to make a difference in furtherance of Governor David Paterson’s Executive Order No. 10, which was issued on June 26, 2008 and established a task force to increase participation of Minority-and-Women-Business Enterprises in all New York State procurement opportunities, particularly for underwriting and financial service professionals.

Ms. James further assured that, “NYSIF will continue to utilize a variety of outreach programs to expand opportunities for Minority-and-Women-Owned businesses in all areas of procurement that can lead to company growth and job creation.”

Miriam Martinez, NYSIF’s chief investment officer, added that she “looks forward to working with these firms whose records have tracked with, or even exceeded, those of their non-M/WBE peers.”

The New York State Insurance Fund is a non-profit agency of the state of New York that was created as part of the Workers’ Compensation Law of 1914. NYSIF is a competitive insurance carrier that sells workers’ compensation and disability benefits insurance to any employer doing business in New York State. Approximately 180,000 employers hold NYSIF workers’ compensation policies (approximately 41% of the market), while more than 61,000 have active disability benefits policies.