Church Pension Group, the Episcopal Church’s $17.5 billion pension fund, has hired veteran general counsel Julian Chan as its next general counsel.
Chong will succeed Nancy Sanborn, who is retiring at the end of this year after 13 years at the helm of the legal department. Mr. Sanborn helped build the more than 100-year-old fund’s internal team and strengthen its corporate governance practices. A spokesperson for New York City-based CPG said Mr. Zheng started Monday to oversee the company’s six-person legal team.
Mr. Chung previously served as General Counsel and Compliance Officer for Enveritas, a nonprofit organization that helps measure sustainability, environmental safety, and ethical labor practices in the coffee industry. She is also general counsel for the real estate development company Turnberry, and spent nearly 20 years as an equity partner at Freed, Frank, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and Cadwallader, Wickersham & Taft, where she worked in corporate transactions, real estate financing, and He led a team focused on financial services. Mergers and Acquisitions.
Chong’s latest move will see her serve the Episcopal Church’s approximately 14,000 active and retired clergy and laity by providing legal strategy guidance for retirement and benefit plans. . She will report to Chief Executive Officer Mary Wald, who said in a statement Monday that she looked forward to Ms. Chong starting the job.
“Her extensive experience as a corporate lawyer, incorporating legal and business strategy, spanning more than 25 years, will be a great benefit to our company,” said Wald. “I look forward to working with her as we navigate the complexities of the products, programs, and services we provide to Episcopal employees and institutions.”
Mr Chong’s appointment is the latest in a series of additions to the pension fund’s executive roster. Earlier this month, the company appointed Pastor Arlette Benoît-Joseph as church vice president and chief church relations officer, and Michael Hood became chief investment officer last July.
The church’s investment portfolio grew by $500 million in his first year in office, as publicly traded stocks generated “significant growth,” according to its latest annual report. CPG’s investment portfolio has returned 7.6% annually over the past 10 years. And in the 12 months ended March 31, 2024, it paid out $460 million in benefits to clergy and lay employees and their dependents.
Chong’s work will include supporting pension organizations to improve benefit equality between Anglican clergy and lay employees, a key priority for the Fund over the past 15 years. There is no doubt about it. Wald recently said the church has been examining lay pensions going back to the 1930s. In 1991, the church passed a resolution stating that lay employees should be provided with a compulsory pension. Ten years later, the church made it canon.
Chung did not immediately respond to a LinkedIn message seeking comment on his recent career moves.
