<P> Whenever the role of the chief investment officer is active within an insurance company (either life or non-life) and / or pension fund, the role is to manage and coordinate the investment, liquidity (treasury) and / or asset liability management (ALM) in order to optimize investment performance within the risk appetite as defined by actuarial studies ("Asset Liability Management" (ALM)) of risk management guidelines . The role of a chief investment officer within a corporate pension organization is similar, although the end - goal for the chief investment officer is often not profit, but matching the organization's pension assets with its pension liabilities . Chief investment officers at endowments and foundations also consider the liabilities of the organization, with an added focus on liquidity and alternative assets . </P> <P> Jonathan Hirtle, Chief Executive Officer for Hirtle, Callaghan & Co., pioneered the outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) model, which serves family groups and organizations that do not employ fully staffed investment departments . For his OCIO innovations, Hirtle has been dubbed the "" Oracle of Outsource ". </P> <P> The model by which outsourced CIOs service clients is still evolving in this nascent business . The most common model is to outsource all decision making including asset allocation, manager selection and monitoring . The OCIO reports back to the client but the burden is largely lifted from the client and placed on the new provider . Among OCIOs utilizing this approach, there is a "continuum of outsourcing approaches and providers: manager - of - manager programs; funds - of - funds; former CIOs offering a diversified model portfolio". The common thread amongst these approaches is the use of commingled funds or model portfolios which creates economies of scale for the OCIO . </P> <P> A different model is pursued by a small subset of the OCIO universe . The members of this group work alongside the client's staff--not as a replacement to them . According to investment industry newsletter FundFire, "An increasing number of CIOs see outsourcing not as a threat to their job, but as a source of complementary expertise and advice, as well as investment opportunities ." Like much of the nomenclature around the OCIO business, this more customized, bespoke solution does not yet have a widely recognized name . Fiduciary Research (FRC), an OCIO who oversees about $9 billion on behalf of a small list of pension fund clients, calls itself an iCIO for integrated chief investment office . </P>

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