Treasurer-Elect Brad Briner said Monday he is bringing back Kevin SigRist as chief investment officer of the N.C. Retirement Systems.
It’s the same role SigRist had from 2013-17, when Janet Cowell was State Treasurer. Sigrist resigned from his post in July 2017, about six months after Dale Folwell’s election.
“It is time the assets managed by the State Treasurer work as hard for our state employees as our employees work for the state,” Briner said in a release.
During this year’s campaign, Briner and his Democratic opponent Wesley Harris both criticized Folwell’s stewardship of more than $120 billion in retirement accounts as being overly conservative. Folwell contended his focus on low investment costs and low-risk assets was the proper approach.
SigRist has worked for the past six years at Wisayah Global Investment, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company. Earlier in his career, he was deputy executive director of the Florida agency that oversaw that state’s retirement system.
Briner also named Eric Naisbitt as his chief of staff. Naisbitt has 10 years of state government experience, most recently as the UNC System’s associate vice president of workforce development and military affairs. He was previously an education policy adviser to Senate Pro Tem Phil Berger.
Folwell is leaving the treasurer’s post after two terms. He made an unsuccessful bid this spring for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.
