Houston Firefighters’ names new CIO

Ajit Singh was named chief investment officer at the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund, an investor in several Lexington Partners’funds, according to a statement from the $3.9 billion pension fund.

Singh replaces Christopher Gonzales, who resigned a year ago.

Singh comes from the investment division of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, UNJSPF, which is a $53.5 billion global pension fund serving about 120,000 participants in 23 UN member organizations. He joined UNJSPF in January 2009 and most recently served as chief risk officer in New York.

Earlier in his career, he also worked as an independent consultant for State Street in Texas and as a director of risk and compliance at EMC, also in Texas.

As of June 2014, the pension fund had a 9 percent asset allocation to private equity, including more than $100 million invested in secondaries funds. Some of its investments also include Landmark Partners’s funds.

In 2009, the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund committed $10 million to Lexington’s seventh secondaries funds.