Bruce Dunn

Bruce Dunn joined the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation as Chief Investment Officer on May 22, 2006, and was hired to rebuild the agency's investment division following the "Coingate" scandal that had exposed serious governance and oversight failures in BWC's investments in the mid-2000s. His mandate was to reconstruct the division with professional staff and to monitor the day-to-day activities of the fund's investment managers, ensuring that strategies met the goals set by the Workers' Compensation Oversight Commission (later the BWC Board of Directors). He held the CIO role for roughly 17 years before retiring in early 2023.

Ohio BWC is one of the largest institutional investors of its kind in the United States — the largest state-operated and second-largest overall provider of workers' compensation insurance — managing an investment portfolio of more than $29 billion during Dunn's tenure. As CIO, Dunn oversaw the fund's asset allocation and its roster of external managers, and led decisions on portfolio rebalancing and the hiring of investment consultants.

Before BWC, Dunn built his career in the insurance investment world, described as an investment manager, analyst, and adviser. He served as a senior investment officer at London Life Reinsurance Co. and at Washington National Insurance Co. He earned his MBA from the University of Chicago (Booth) and his bachelor's degree from Colgate University, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

His retirement transition was planned and public: Robert S. Palmeri, CFA, was announced as CIO designee in January 2023 to work alongside the retiring Dunn, and was confirmed by the BWC Board of Directors following a February 24, 2023 vote.

• Operated as a fiduciary institutional allocator, not a founder-stage backer — capital was deployed into external investment managers and commingled funds, governed by a formal investment policy approved by the BWC Board / Oversight Commission.
• Managed a large, conservatively-oriented workers' compensation reserve portfolio (~$29B+), with liability-driven objectives: preserving capital to pay claims while generating investment returns.
• Ran a diversified multi-asset mandate spanning public equities, fixed income, and real assets, with active use of rebalancing to keep allocations within policy targets.
• Maintained a meaningful real estate / real assets program, hiring specialist consultants (e.g., NEPC as real estate consultant) and adjusting exposures (e.g., trimming a Clarion industrial real estate fund holding to rebalance).
• Manager selection driven by institutional due diligence and consultant-led searches (RFPs) rather than opportunistic or thesis-driven venture bets.