Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s deputy chief investment officer Paul O’Brien has left after a decade at the investment fund.
O’Brien said Wednesday in a phone interview that he left ADIA in early January because he wanted to be closer to family and friends in the U.S. Now living in Jackson, Wyoming, O’Brien is thinking about his next steps, preferably finding a CIO role in North America, he said.
A spokesman for ADIA declined to comment on his departure.
As deputy CIO, O’Brien oversaw ADIA’s investments across asset classes while also serving as head of fixed income — the position he first filled when joining the fund in 2009. As deputy investment chief, he said he reported to ADIA strategy director Jean-Paul Villain.
O’Brien, who had helped manage a team of 20 to 25 professionals, said he was not aware of anyone replacing him at ADIA. The sovereign fund does not disclose assets under management and has not yet published its 2018 report.
ADIA provides long-term performance in its annual reports, disclosing an annualized return of 6.5 percent over the 20 years through 2017. That’s up from a 6.2 percent gain reported for the 20 years through 2016.
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O’Brien said he helped set the strategic allocation for ADIA’s investment committee to approve and was involved in the fund’s tactical allocation.
Prior to joining ADIA, O’Brien was a fixed-income portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley for almost 13 years. His time working for the bank’s investment unit included about a decade in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania and about three years in London.
