< The 2014 Pension 40: The Battle Is On

In March 2014, Rhode Island’s $8 billion state pension fund redeemed $74.3 million from Daniel Loeb’s New York–based hedge fund firm Third Point in favor of funds with less exposure to the equity markets. Then–Rhode Island general treasurer (now Governor-elect) Gina Raimondo (No. 14) called the move strategic, attributing it to a more refined focus on allocation and overall returns by the pension fund. The now $17.5 billion Third Point had performed well compared with its peers, producing 24.7 percent returns in 2013, but it lagged the S&P 500 index. Critics, such as American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten (No. 3), have urged public pensions to invest in low-cost index funds rather than pricey hedge funds. In 2013 and 2014 the AFT called out a number of hedge funds, including Third Point, for undermining workers’ retirement security by accepting investments from the same pension plans their managers were pushing to eliminate. Loeb’s contributions to charter schools, advocacy group StudentsFirst New York and conservative New York think tank the Manhattan Institute Policy Research, which has supported scholars advocating the end of defined benefit plans, made him a target. Loeb has argued that his support of charter schools doesn’t reflect his views on pensions and that, contrary to unions’ beliefs, StudentsFirstNY and the Manhattan Institute have no house policies on pensions.

 
The 2014 Pension 40

1	2	3	4	5
Bruce Rauner Illinois	John and Laura Arnold Laura and John Arnold Foundation	Randi Weingarten American Federation of Teachers	Rahm Emanuel Chicago	David Boies Boies, Schiller & Flexner
6	7	8	9	10
Randy DeFrehn National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans	Damon Silvers AFL-CIO	Laurence Fink BlackRock	Chris Christie New Jersey	Robin Diamonte United Technologies Corp.
11	12	13	14	15
Ted Eliopoulos California Public Employees’ Retirement System	John Kline Minnesota	J. Mark Iwry U.S. Treasury Department	Gina Raimondo Rhode Island	Phyllis Borzi U.S. Labor Department
16	17	18	19	20
Orrin Hatch Utah	Abigail Johnson Fidelity Investments	Ted Wheeler Oregon	Caitlin Long Morgan Stanley	James Hoffa International Brotherhood of Teamsters
21	22	23	24	25
Amy Kessler Prudential Financial	Alejandro García Padilla Puerto Rico	Christopher Klein U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Caifornia	Steven Rhodes Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan	Kevin de León California
26	27	28	29	30
David Draine Pew Charitable Trusts	Jordan Marks National Public Pension Coalition	Sam Liccardo California	Joshua Rauh Stanford Graduate School of Business	Karen Ferguson and Karen Friedman Pension Rights Center
31	32	33	34	35
Timothy Blake Moody’s Investors Service	Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Center for Retirement Initiatives, Georgetown University	Edward (Ted) Siedle Benchmark Financial Services	Daniel Loeb Third Point	Judy Mares Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Labor Department
36	37	38	39	40
Andrew Biggs American Enterprise Institute	Andy Stern Columbia University	Kenneth Mehlman KKR & Co.	Teresa Ghilarducci New School for Social Research	A. Melissa Moye U.S. Treasury Department