The Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System, the state’s largest retirement system, has named Sriram Lakshminarayanan as its chief investment officer, effective Jan. 7. Lakshminarayanan joined IPERS in 2014 as chief risk officer. Previously, he worked as a director of portfolio management at MCUBE Investment Technologies in Princeton, N.J., and Plano, Texas. Among his achievements at IPERS, Lakshminarayanan implemented a $500 million liquid hedge fund/CTA (commodity trading adviser) overlay program and designed an internally managed $300 million Alternative Risk Premia program. He was selected for the CIO position from among nearly 70 candidates. “During his seven years on IPERS’ investment team, Sriram has demonstrated an ability to think creatively and to develop and implement innovative programs, all while focusing on IPERS’ fiduciary responsibility to its members,” said IPERS CEO Greg Samorajski. Lakshminarayanan replaces veteran CIO Karl Koch, who retired last month. IPERS manages a $43 billion trust fund for more than 375,000 members in Iowa, and annually pays out more than $2.3 billion in pension benefits.