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Raytheon CIO Exits for FM Global
After decades in corporate pension funds, Sanjay Chawla is leaving for an insurance giant.
Insurer FM Global has hired Raytheon Co.'s Sanjay Chawla as its chief investment officer.
Chawla will begin his new position at FM Global on March 31, the Johnston, Rhode Island-based insurance company announced late last week. He oversaw a $38 billion portfolio of pension assets at defense contractor Raytheon, according to the announcement.
The veteran of U.S. corporate defined-benefit funds departs Raytheon two years into his tenure as vice president and CIO. Raytheon has not publicly named a successor for Chawla, and did not respond to a request for its transition plans by time of publication.
The defense contractor had promoted Chawla, an investment director, in March 2015, when its treasurer and CIO retired, and the firm restructured the roles. Chawla joined Raytheon in 2013 after more than two decades with Dow Chemical Co. From 1995 to 2013, he rose from a finance manager in Dow Chemical's treasury department to a senior director for global asset allocation, according to his LinkedIn profile.
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After building his career at pension funds, he enters the insurance industry at the top. FM Global ended 2017 with an $18 billion investment portfolio and 12.8 percent returns for the year, according to the latest annual report.
CEO Thomas Lawson called the 2017 returns "a very positive result that outperformed market benchmarks." FM Global's "strong balance sheet and longer term investment orientation" allow the company "to participate in the returns of higher opportunity/volatility asset classes," Lawson added.