Executive Leadership
We're in the wise decisions business
Jase Auby
The Trust's asset allocation consists of Global Equity (57%), Stable Value (includes fixed income and hedge funds, 21%), Real Return (21%) and Risk Parity (5%). The allocation sums to 104% and therefore has leverage at the asset allocation level. Private asset classes within the allocation total 33% and include private equity, real estate as well as energy, natural resources and infrastructure. TRS is a pioneer among U.S. funds having opened a small foreign office in London in 2015. TRS is headquartered in Austin, Texas and provides retirement benefits to more than 2 million active and retired educators and targets a long term return of 7.0%.
In the years before taking on his current role as CIO, Mr. Auby served as Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Co-Chairman of the Management Committee, and head of the Risk Group responsible for managing and budgeting the risk of the overall pension trust fund. He oversaw the development and management of innovative investment strategies including risk parity, low volatility equity, reinsurance and currency management.
Prior to joining TRS in 2009, Mr. Auby worked with two startup companies in Austin, Texas. Before then, he structured credit securitizations as a part of the structured credit group at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Auby began his career in an investment management industry resource group as a part of the fixed income division at Goldman Sachs.
Mr. Auby received a B.S. in electrical and computer systems engineering from Harvard College and he is a CFA charterholder.
Katy Hoffman
Prior to this position, Ms. Hoffman was a senior director on the External Public Markets team managing investments in the Trust’s long-oriented equity and hedge fund portfolios. Additionally, she managed the TRS' opportunistic credit allocation. Prior to her work on External Public, Ms. Hoffman developed TRS' enterprise risk management system, initiated the pension trust fund’s use of derivative instruments and helped to develop TRS' existing strategic asset allocation. She started at TRS in 2004 as an investment grade credit analyst.
Prior to joining TRS, Ms. Hoffman was based in New York City where she was a credit analyst for the Credit Portfolio Group of J.P. Morgan which managed the bank’s retained credit risk from direct loan exposure and derivative transactions. She also worked for five years in high technology brand management and marketing research.
Ms. Hoffman received an MBA from Vanderbilt University, and a BA in Mathematics from Trinity University.
Eric Lang
Eric Lang is Senior Managing Director of Private Markets, responsible for developing and overseeing the investment strategy and portfolio construction for 33% of the Trust. This includes a 15% allocation to real estate, a 12% allocation to private equity, and a 6% allocation to energy, natural resources, and infrastructure.
Prior to his current role, Mr. Lang served as a Managing Director of Real Assets (now known as Real Estate) at TRS. He was also Managing Director at Kennedy Wilson and previously worked at American General Corporation, now AIG.
In addition to his professional duties, Mr. Lang serves on the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) Foundation board and is a former chairman of PREA's board of directors. He has also previously served on the board of Home Partners of America.
Mr. Lang earned his BBA from the University of Texas at Austin and his MBA from the University of Houston.
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James Nield
The RPM group manages 24% of pension assets via Portfolio Strategies which consists of Risk Parity and government bonds. Day-to-day rebalancing and financing activities are handled by the Trust Management team and long-term strategic planning is led by the Trust Strategy group.
Prior to joining TRS in 2009, Mr. Nield worked for Ford Motor Company for more than 10 years. At Ford, he worked in the pension group, as a derivatives trader and as a manufacturing cost accounting supervisor.
Mr. Nield earned his MBA from New York University and graduated from the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in finance and international business. Mr. Nield is a CFA charterholder and holds the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designation. Read more about Risk & Portfolio Management.
Dale West
Equity strategies include internally managed quantitative and fundamental strategies, as well as externally managed investments and opportunistic investments. Mr. West serves on the TRS Investment Executive Committee, Internal Investment Committee, and Management Committee. He is a trustee of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments.
Mr. West received an MBA from Stanford University and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
Read more about Public Markets.