The TEXPERS Blog

Reports: Sharmila Kassam to leave Texas ERS

By Allen Jones, TEXPERS Communications Manager

Sharmila Kassam, second from right, participates in a panel discussion.

UPDATE May, 15, 2019: Sharmila Chatterjee Kassam, the former deputy chief investment officer at Texas Employees Retirement System, has joined Funston Advisor Services as a senior consultant, according to a May 15 article in Pensions & Investment. A managing partner at the firm confirmed the hiring in an email with P&I.

Texas Employees Retirement System's deputy chief investment officer, Sharmila Chatterjee Kassam, is leaving the fund, according to two news reports. 

A spokesperson for the $29.6 billion fund confirmed Kassam is stepping down from her position with the system, according to Pension & Investments. And Institutional Investor's Leanna Orr reports that Kassam told the publication that although she has not resigned from the fund, she is "creating an orderly transition" out of the ERS.

Kassam told Institutional Investor that she is proud of her achievements and indicated that she and the ERS are seeing things differently when it comes to the management of the fund and its staff. Kassam co-managed the fund's investment program and a 77-person staff. In the article, she describes the public-sector job as one that has aged her.

Mary Jane Wardlow, Texas ERS' spokeswoman, states that the deputy chief investment officer position is in transition but did not provide additional detail in an email to P&I. Aso of May 9, the position was not listed as open on the fund's website. Job openings are listed here.

Kassam has worked as the fund's deputy chief investment officer since 2014. According to her LinkedIn profile, she has worked for Texas ERS for more than 11 years. She began as an assistant general counsel in the ERS' Investments and Securities division in 2008. 

In addition to working for the Austin-based Texas ERS, Kassam's LinkedIn profile lists she is a board member of the YMCA of Austin. Kassam also has served as a speaker on a number of investment discussion panels at TEXPERS conferences and educational forums. She most recently served on two panel presentations at TEXPERS' Annual Conference in Austin last month.

Prior to joining the ERS, she was chief operating officer and general counsel for the Trevor Romain Co. and worked as an attorney for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati. She has spent 15 years in the venture and corporate industries.