Directors Guild of America pension plan appoints first CIO

Directors Guild of America-Producer Pension and Health Plans, a Los Angeles–based pension plan representing the motion picture, television and commercial production industries, has chosen its first CIO.

Edgar Smith will step into the new role, working with the plan’s finance committee of the board of trustees and its investment consultant, Cambridge Associates, to oversee more than $4 billion in assets.

The plan invests in alternatives, including real estate, private equity and diversification, as well as equity and fixed income. It has a 7.4 percent allocation to real estate.

Smith spent the past decade as a managing director at the University of Southern California endowment, Los Angeles. His experience includes allocating assets across a broad pool of strategies, including private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, public equity, and fixed income.