This content is from: Corner Office
The 2016 Hedge Fund Rising Stars: Reginald Tucker
At the New York State Common Retirement Fund, senior investment officer Tucker has license to roam.
It’s been a difficult few years for hedge funds and public pension plans. A roaring equity market, disappointing returns for most hedge fund strategies and a focus on fees — at a time when public pension plans are coming under fire for the pressure their obligations put on state and local budgets — have created a toxic stew. Yet hedge fund investments, and the sources of alpha they can provide, remain important for institutional investors. Rather than reject the promise of hedge funds entirely, some forward-thinking institutions regard them not as an asset class but as one of many fund structures that can deliver differentiated forms of alpha.
Reginald Tucker is charged with finding just those sorts of atypical return opportunities for the $180 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund, wherever they might be. A graduate of New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he earned a BA in business administration, Tucker began his career in 1997 as a trader with Citigroup in New York. He received his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania as a Robert Toigo Fellow, class of 2006. Upon graduation he managed money for a private investment fund before landing a job in 2010 as an investment officer in alternatives for the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds. With a mandate that included real estate, private equity and hedge funds, Tucker helped to implement the $29 billon pension system’s first hedge fund portfolio. He was also the in-house person responsible for building up the plan’s emerging-managers alternative investment program.
In 2013, Tucker, 40, joined New York State Common as senior investment officer for its opportunistic investment portfolio. He has an open mandate to commit capital across all asset classes and strategies — including using hedge funds.
Visit the 2016 Hedge Fund Rising Stars: Ivy League Schools Pave the Way for more.
 Jessye Ball Millennium Mgmt  Sarah Berner Aristeia Capital  Jenna Bussman-Wise AIG Investments  Maureen Chang Point72 Asset Mgmt  Dennis Chenfu Pershing |
 Charles Dufresne Jr. Sciens Capital Mgmt  William Freda Graticule Asset Mgmt Asia  Samantha Greenberg Margate Capital  Mark Gurevich Ropes & Gray  Tal Gurion Mariner Glen Oaks |
 Craig Huie University of California  Yusef Kassim Blue Harbour Group  Florian Kronawitter White Square Capital  Vikram Kumar TT International  Brandon Levin Jana Partners |
 Jonathan Levin George Weiss Associates  Brett Minarik Aksia  Ian Monroe Etho Capital  Jason Morrow Utah Retirement Systems  Pierre-Adrien Nicolas Squarepoint Capital |
 Jamie Pabst Green Owl Capital Mgmt  Parag Pande Blackstone Group  Agata Praczuk MetLife  Max Saffian Fortress Investment Group  Matt Satnick MSD Partners |
 Eric Singer Viex Capital Advisors  Katina Stefanova Marto Capital  Reginald Tucker New York State Common Retirement Fund  Michael Wang Cypress Funds  Sean Wygovsky Polar Asset Mgmt Partners |