Cynthia Ruiz Predicts how Covid affects 2021 Investments and Markets

Cynthia Ruiz - Pension Trends Plus podcast

Cynthia Ruiz Predicts how Covid affects 2021 Investments and Markets

Cynthia Ruiz holds the powerful role of President for LACERS (Los Angeles City Employee Retirement System) where she oversees a multibillion-dollar pension portfolio. But that is just one of her many roles. Cynthia is also a Professor, Executive Coach, Best Selling Author, Inspirational Speaker and Leadership Expert. Her focus is developing other leaders through her thriving Executive Coaching business where she helps transform some of LA’s top executives into powerful leaders. She has developed programs and management tools and is a recognized leader in her field. Cynthia’s can trace her roots to the Native American community and giving back to where she comes from is something she does effortlessly. Listen to this podcast, you will find a leader of a public pension fund and a woman of distinction!

Show notes

 

1:24 – How things are going with COVID and Forest fires in California

  • The people who will succeed in this situation are the ones who are willing to pivot on a business and personal level
  • Things won’t go the way back it used to be and will need new ways of thinking

3:40 – How Cynthia implemented change on the pension fund’s management

  • Board meetings are now virtual and has been a challenge
  • City employees are not used to working from home so their management provided resources and training

5:46 – The current pivots in investment strategy

  • For long term 30 year investments, they didn’t changed that much
  • They are looking for where they can make adjustments to ride the current situation
  • On Cynthia’s perspective Q1 2021 will be more challenging

8:54 – How public policies inform their investment decisions

  • As a fiduciary, it’s her responsibility to make sure that when they are looking at an investment, they should look at E.S.G. lens(Environment, Social Responsibility, Governance)

11:10 – Are securities litigation important to LACERS?

  • When doing change, it’s a multi-pronged approach and litigation is one of them
  • LACERS pushed a large public company to change some of their policies when it comes to diversity and became successful

15:08 – Misconceptions about Cherokee and importance of women leaders

  • Cherokees own 10 casinos and their annual budget is $1B
  • When gaming came to the tribe, they had a woman principal chief and made sure that the revenues went back to the community so they had schools and hospitals.

16:05 – Cynthia’s role as a board member on the organization “Girls Today, Women Tomorrow”

  • GTWT is a mentorship- leadership program for young women in the inner city.
  • 99% of girls aged 12 – 22 in the organization go to college. One alumni went to London School of Business

18:31 – Pushbacks with her role as first American – Latina president of LACERS

  • There were many times where she was the only woman in a meeting of 30 people
  • Some people were indirectly challenging her initiatives and six months later, things worked on her way.
  • It’s about finding a balance of softness and toughness as a leader

22:30 – Cynthia shares more about her book “Stories of Healing and Hope”

  • The book was inspired by Me Too Movement. In this book, they address a lot of the sexual trauma happens at home, and how to heal from it.

23:50 – More about Cynthia’s book “Finding Sane Relationships In a Crazy World”

  • The premise of the book is that you are the foundation for all relationships in your life. If you work on yourself and you’re happy and healthy, you’re going to have great relationships.
  • You need to heal what’s ailing you. It’s your responsibility to heal.

25:22 – How Cynthia Ruiz became the president of LACERS

  • Of the 7-member board of LACERS, 4 are appointed by the City Mayor of Los Angeles and the other 3 are elected by the constituents. Cynthia was appointed by the Mayor.

 

Listen to all other episodes of Pension Trends Plus with Atara Twersky on AF&T’s website, Podbean, or wherever you listen to podcasts!

Atara Twersky is a TODAY Show Style Icon, and an attorney in Manhattan where she lives with her husband and three kids. She is also author of the popular Curlee Girlee book series, inspired by her youngest daughter. She is the host of two podcasts, Changing the Course and Pension Trends Plus.