When examining sole fiduciary states, such as North Carolina, the direction of pension plans and other asset pools typically consolidates under a single elected official, typically the State Treasurer. Combine that setup with disappointing investment performance, and the stage begins to get set to reform both governance and investment operations. This is what happened in 2025 when Brad Briner, the Treasurer of North Carolina, began to implement reforms to adopt best practices in institutional investments and lay out the new organization known as the North Carolina Investment Authority.

For this episode of the Improving Alpha podcast, host Michael Oliver Weinberg welcomes Kevin SigRist, Chief Investment Officer, North Carolina Investment Authority, to discuss the $200B pension portfolio. Kevin covers not only the performance future of the plan, but the risk profile, governance, views on inflation, and other current allocator trends.

Additional key highlights include:

• How will the significant governance reforms of 2025 impact the pension for this year and beyond, and what does Kevin expect from the asset liability study being concluded in February?
• What is the biggest dial today that will change the pension’s risk profile and reduce the conservative approach that the plan has taken in the past with regard to high-grade fixed income and cash?
• As the plan shifts from risk in manager selection to more of a market risk focus, how will diversification be impacted across the portfolio?
• Why are private market allocations so appealing, and why are co-investment levels getting the plan a lot of attention?
• How is AI being deployed for investment operations and improving collaboration across the team at the North Carolina Investment Authority?
• Why is manager alignment so important for future allocations?
• How are advanced modeling and portfolio scenario analysis looking at inflation for their pool of retirees?
• and more.

Resources:

• Book: Running and Being by George Sheehan

Connect with Kevin SigRist:

• LinkedIn: Kevin SigRist
• State Treasurer of North Carolina

Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:

• Michael Oliver Weinberg
• Vidrio

About Our Guest:

Kevin SigRist is Chief Investment Officer at the North Carolina Investment Authority, where he oversees the investment strategy for approximately $200 billion across pension, defined contribution, and state asset pools. He has spent decades in institutional investing, with prior roles including CIO positions at the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer, senior leadership at the Florida State Board of Administration, and work in global investing with SAMA’s investment subsidiary. Kevin’s background spans public markets, private markets, asset liability management, and governance reform, with a career focused on aligning long-term investment decisions with real funding and fiduciary objectives.

The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning.

The release date may not correspond to the recording date.

Source

There’s a famous sports adage on how great defenses win championships, but can defensive layers be efficiently applied to pension plans that have close to $128 billion in AUM and provide secure retirement benefits to 850,000 participants?

In addition to positioning your defense, how can CIOs reduce drawdown risk while navigating investment board politics, innovation goals, and uncovering longer-term sources of strategic alpha? ​In our first episode of 2026 for the Improving Alpha podcast, we uncovered allocation strategies for the Employees’ Retirement System of Hawaii.

This time, we traveled ~5,000 miles to welcome Andrew Junkin, Chief Investment Officer of the Virginia Retirement System (VRS). Host, Michael Oliver Weinberg, speaks with Andrew about his journey from investment consulting to moving east of the Mississippi, where he took on the CIO role at the State of Rhode Island during COVID, before landing at VRS.

Key takeaways from Andrew’s discussion include:

• Why, after 150 nights on the consulting road, did Andrew look for a career change?
• How does Andrew balance the Code of Virginia rules in avoiding large drawdowns by adding layers of defense to the portfolio?
• Can good investment decisions be freed up from political perspectives, and how does that shape governance of the $128BN fund?
• Does cash on hand actually create drag in asset owner portfolios, or does it help liquidity, avoiding the ‘shaking of couch cushions to fund capital calls and more?
• With equity prices and valuations at all-time highs, and spreads tightening, are there still investment opportunities out there to take advantage of for your beneficiaries?
• Red flags on asset gathering mode by fund managers, and flipping the right switches on investment partnerships.
• Why the Chief Investment title shouldn’t be about picking investments, but rather focus on machine building for the future.
• And more!

Connect with Andrew Junkin:

• LinkedIn: Andrew Junkin
• Website: Virginia Retirement System

Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:

• Michael Oliver Weinberg
• Vidrio

About Our Guest:

Andrew Junkin serves as the Chief Investment Officer of the Virginia Retirement System where he manages and oversees the investment program for the fund, valued at more than $100 billion. The fund serves approximately 773,000 active members, retirees and beneficiaries. VRS covers teachers, state employees and most employees of the Commonwealth’s counties, cities, towns and political subdivisions.

Previously, Junkin served as the Chief Investment Officer for the State of Rhode Island’s pension plan, defined contribution and 529 plans, as well as cash and operating funds and debt management program.

Prior to his public fund experience with Rhode Island, he worked at Wilshire Associates in California and Colorado, where he served in various capacities, including Managing Director and President from 2015 to 2020. During his tenure, Junkin also served as the Lead Consultant for a $400 billion pension plan and was responsible for driving overall strategy, asset allocation, risk management, implementation and sourcing new strategies.

From 1995 to 2005, Junkin was the President of Asset Services Company in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where he served as Lead Consultant for family office and foundation clients.

Junkin holds a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School and a bachelor’s degree in Business from Oklahoma City University.

The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning.

The release date may not correspond to the recording date.

Source