The National University of Singapore has appointed Daren Smith as chief investment officer, bringing in an institutional investment veteran with more than two decades of experience across public and private markets.
Smith will join NUS on Oct. 1, 2026, from Abu Dhabi Investment Council, where he served as chief investment officer for global equities, overseeing a multibillion-dollar public equities portfolio and serving as a voting member of its investment committee.
Before joining ADIC, Smith spent 13 years at the University of Toronto Asset Management Corp., including five years as president and chief investment officer. He was responsible for the organisation’s investment activities and overall leadership.
He previously held investment and actuarial roles at Keel Capital, Maritime Life and Sun Life Financial.
At ADIC, Smith oversaw a restructuring of the global equities portfolio that resulted in significant benchmark outperformance, according to NUS. He will now be responsible for shaping the university’s investment strategy and strengthening its long-term financial resilience to support education, research and enterprise.
Smith holds the CFA, CAIA and FRM designations and is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries.
NUS is one of several large Asian institutions investing across public and private markets to support long-term funding requirements.
