The $70 billion Ohio Public Employees Retirement System has hired Matthew Sherman as senior equities trader. Sherman joins OPERS from Cleveland-based Allegiant Asset Management, a subsidiary of National City Corp. For the last five years, Sherman was the head equity trader at Allegiant, where he oversaw two other traders.

Sherman says he joined OPERS for the career and personal opportunity. "I'm at a point in my career where I wanted to be closer to my family," he reveals. Sherman lives in Columbus, Ohio, where OPERS is based. He adds that he wanted "to continue trading blocks of stock and keep my name in the industry, but at the same time be closer to home."

The OPERS equity desk has three traders, including Sherman, who report to Trading Manager Joan Stack. The traders use Bloomberg, Macgregor's order management system and FlexTrade for algorithmic trading.

"With regard to how we do business, there are a lot of similarities, which has made it a smooth transition," Sherman says of his move from Allegiant. "I'm still doing block trading, and both shops did program trades - slicing of trades to minimize market impact and liquidity risk," he explains. OPERS has $27 billion in equities under management; Allegiant has $28 billion in equities under management. Sherman adds that he does not believe his position has been filled at Allegiant.