Ex-Carlyle pro Grady declines NJ treasurer job

Robert Grady, who ran Carlyle’s venture funds for several years, has rejected the role of treasurer in the administration of New Jersey Governor-elect Chris Christie.

Robert Grady, a recently retired executive with The Carlyle Group who has co-chaired a budget task force for incoming New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, has rejected an offer to serve as the state’s treasurer.

Sources told PEO that Grady rejected the offer because he was unwilling to move his family from Wyoming, where Grady works at private equity firm Cheyenne Capital Fund. New Jersey's current treasurer is R. David Rousseau.

Grady did not return several calls to his office at Cheyenne Capital. Grady joined Carlyle in 2000 as head of venture capital and retired in June. During his tenure with Carlyle, Grady served as the head of Carlyle Venture Partners I, II and III.

Christie named Grady a co-chair of a transition task force on the budget and taxes last year after defeating incumbent Governor Jon Corzine in an election. Republican Christie will officially take office 19 January.

In New Jersey, the governor appoints the Treasurer. The state’s $68.5 billion pension is run out of the Treasury office, and managed by the State Investment Council.

New Jersey’s alternatives investment programme is “in limbo”, as one source said, as Governor Christie transitions into office and selects his team. The new administration is reviewing the alternatives investment programme as part of an overall review to “prevent the budget hole from deepening”, Christie said in a letter to outgoing Governor Jon Corzine last year.

New Jersey has an overall 28 percent allocation cap to alternative investments, with 7 percent limitations each on real estate, real assets, private equity and absolute return strategies. Across its five funds, the pension has limited partner interests in 66 private equity funds valued at $2.8 billion, and 38 interests in private equity real estate funds totaling $1.9 billion.