Brief

The Mayor has requested an exemption from Civil Service requirements to fill the Chief Investment Officer position (Class Code 9147) at the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System. This would allow direct hire or modified recruitment rather than the standard competitive examination process. The exemption request was submitted to the City Council on June 25, 2026, and referred to the Personnel and Hiring Committee. The file remains pending committee review.

Full summary

Mayor Karen Bass submitted this exemption request on June 25, 2026, asking the City Council to approve removing the Chief Investment Officer position at LACERS from Civil Service requirements under Charter Section 1001(b). That charter provision allows up to 150 city positions to be exempted as management, professional, scientific, or expert roles; this request would be the 132nd of those 150 slots. The justification is that the CIO role demands specialized expertise that is difficult to recruit through standard civil service examination processes. The CIO oversees LACERS' $27 billion investment portfolio, serving as the primary investment advisor to the Board of Administration and reporting directly to the General Manager. Day-to-day responsibilities include developing investment strategies, overseeing a team managing equities, fixed income, private markets, hedge funds, derivatives, and other asset classes, monitoring external investment managers for contractual compliance, and advising the Board on asset allocation and program structure for both defined benefit and defined contribution plans. The role also requires regular evaluation of performance metrics and industry best practices. The position's minimum qualifications reflect its technical demands: candidates must hold a CFA credential with eight years of relevant experience, or a master's degree with ten years, or a bachelor's degree with twelve years — in all cases with that experience specifically in directing investments or investment policy for a fund with assets exceeding $10 billion. Mayor Bass notes that both her office and the Personnel Department reviewed and approved the request before transmission to the Council. If the exempted position is not filled within six months of mayoral approval, that approval may lapse. The file was referred to the Personnel and Hiring Committee on June 26, 2026, and remains pending there with no hearing date or committee recommendation yet recorded.

Activity (2)

• 2026-06-26 Mayor document(s) referred to Personnel and Hiring Committee.
• 2026-06-25 Document submitted by Mayor, dated June 25, 2026.

Documents (1)

• 2026-06-25 Report from Mayor · report