Cowell named one of top public fund managers

State Treasurer Janet Cowell has been named to Sovereign Wealth Fund's Public Investor 100 list for 2013.

Cowell was ranked 21st, the second highest in the country after Joseph Dear, chief investment officer for the California Pubic Employees Retirement System.

The top position went to Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, managing director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority of the United Arab Emirates.

The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute is a global organization designed to study sovereign wealth funds and long-term governmental investors in the areas of investing, asset allocation, risk, governance, economics, policy, trade, and other relevant issues.

"Being a steward of more than $80 billion in public pension fund money, Janet has rallied for increased independence at the North Carolina Retirement Systems,'' the report said. It added that "North Carolina has outperformed the national average for public pension funds by 22 percent.''