Fran Bielli to serve as interim CIO of Phila pension board

Francis Bielli, executive director of the Philadelphia Board of Pensions and Retirement, will be serving as the board's interim chief investment officer, while the board conducts a search for a new CIO.

The board asked Bielli to put on a second hat, following Sumit Handa's recent resignation. Handa, who was hired in 2011 to manage the investments of the underfunded $5 billion Philadelphia city workers' retirement plan, is going back to the private sector, said Rob Dubow, pension board chairman and city finance director.

Bielli's salary will get a $35,000 bump, totaling $204,000, to fill in the second job, the board announced at its meeting Thursday. A national search will be conducted to find a replacement for Handa. (More on Handa's departure from my colleague Joe DiStefano, HERE.)

The recent pension report from the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (PICA) came under fire at Thursday's meeting.

Pension board member Ronald Stagliano called the report "political" and "nonsense."

"It's insulting to this board," Stagliano said. "I'll take it up with them."

PICA executive director Harvey Rice said later that PICA gave the city and Bielli the opportunity to address their concerns with the report before it was published.

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