Comptroller Stringer Appoints Chavon Sutton as Director, Diversity & Inclusion in Bureau of Asset Management

(New York, NY) — New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer today announced the appointment of Chavon Sutton as Director, Diversity & Inclusion – a newly created position within the Bureau of Asset Management. Reporting directly to the Chief Investment Officer and working closely with the Bureau of Asset Management (BAM) staff, the Director, Diversity & Inclusion will support BAM’s efforts to expand engagement with and utilization of Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) and emerging manager firms for the New York City pension funds. Sutton will further BAM’s workplace diversity initiatives, coordinate its annual Emerging Manager Conference, and represent BAM in industry activities with investment managers, MWBE groups and service providers.

“The Director of Diversity and Inclusion is a critical new position within our Bureau of Asset Management and Chavon Sutton is the person for the job,” said Comptroller Stringer. “With years of rich and relevant experience across the financial sector, Chavon brings expertise, energy and perspective to our team. I am confident she will hit the ground running and that her work will have a positive impact on the fund’s portfolios.”

This appointment enhances the Comptroller’s ongoing commitment to diversity within the Bureau of Asset Management, which has included:

• Increasing the pension systems’ assets invested with minority and women-owned investment managers by 30 percent since 2014;
• The creation of the Boardroom Accountability Project, a groundbreaking campaign to give shareowners the right to nominate directors at U.S. companies using the corporate ballot, known as “proxy access.” To ensure that companies are truly managed for the long-term, boards must be composed of diverse, independent and accountable directors. The ability to nominate directors is a fundamental shareowner right and the starting point for this transformation. In 2014 when we started, just 6 companies had this policy – today, in part due to our efforts, more than 500 companies do, including over 65 percent of the S&P 500;
• The launch of the annual Diverse Practitioner Awards to recognize investment management firms that have committed to diversity among their staffs, boards and in their policies and practices;
• The establishment of a Diversity Working Group in BAM to pinpoint ways to involve diverse investment staff, asset managers and suppliers in the City’s Pension Funds; and
• Becoming the first pension system in the nation to ask prospective fund managers about the diversity, including race and gender, of their employees.

Chavon Sutton has over ten years of experience in banking and investment management, having served as a Corporate Banker at RBC Capital Markets, an Investment Advisor at J.P. Morgan Asset and Wealth Management, and most recently an independent advisor at a small emerging manager, Momentum Advisors, LLC. Sutton also has experience as a professional business news reporter/writer. A native of Newark, NJ, Sutton holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics (cum laude) from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Masters of Arts in Journalism and a Masters of Business Administration from New York University.

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