In an environment marked by massive geopolitical uncertainty, shifting credit cycles, and intense volatility, having a front-row seat through multiple market cycles and experience across a bevy of asset classes is a big advantage. David Czerniecki, the chief investment officer of Loews Corp., brings a perspective shaped by decades of experience in credit, structured finance, and portfolio management, with a career that spans both the sell-side and the buy-side.

Czerniecki joined Loews – which has businesses in the insurance, energy, hospitality, and packaging industries – in September 2025, having previously served as CIO of Nassau Financial Group for about six years. He spoke with us about how his breadth of experience informs his market outlook, risk management philosophy, and approach to navigating volatility while building portfolios designed to perform across cycles.

How did you get started in the industry?

I began my career in credit and completed a formal bank credit training program. Over the course of my early career, I covered commodities, financial institutions, general corporate credit, and municipal credit. My responsibilities came to include below-investment-grade bank loans, workouts, and structured credit. I eventually moved into origination and structuring roles in structured credit and asset-backeds, mostly in new and esoteric asset classes, in banking and investment banking, eventually ending up on the buy-side running insurance portfolios. I was very fortunate to have such broad experience, which positioned me well for broader portfolio and management responsibilities and gave me the opportunity to continue to learn new asset classes as my role expanded.

What is your overall view of the current market environment?

Prior to the commencement of hostilities in the Middle East, we were generally sanguine about the U.S. economic outlook and felt that the broad IG credit universe was in pretty good shape, with the below-investment-grade markets being somewhat bifurcated between the stronger credits performing well and the weaker ones having significant downside risks. While this remains our general base case, the present geopolitical circumstances have significantly increased the downside risk to the global and U.S. economies, and we do not believe this is being fully reflected in the markets. We are not predicting a recession, but we believe the possibility of one is much more likely than it was. As a result, we are remaining up in quality and liquidity while holding our portfolio risk asset exposure at fairly low levels.

Can you talk about some of the changing dynamics you’ve seen in private markets of late? 

It is difficult to comment on the private markets without making clear distinctions as to which submarkets are being discussed. For example, we have not seen much change in the traditional, insurance IG private placement market, which has been in existence for almost as long as there have been insurers. We consider most of the changing market forces to be occurring in what is often referred to as the private, direct lending sector which is typically direct loans made to large and small middle-market businesses. Much of these are sponsor-backed, but some are not. A lot of capital has been committed and deployed in the space, with the natural effect of putting some pressure on terms and returns. There is the added concern around the exposure to software and related sector exposure. This is all indicative of growing pains. But there are real implications for future returns. We do not think the market is going away, and the capital it provides to what have been otherwise underserved sectors of the credit markets is very important. Still, we are underweight these investments and will watch carefully for the opportunity to make attractive investments.

How do you view investing from an active vs. passive perspective?

We are active investors with a full team of experienced professionals covering all major asset classes.

How do you evaluate and mitigate risk across your portfolios?

We look at risk on an idiosyncratic, sector, and macro level. In other words, we believe and focus heavily on deep research and analysis to make our security selections. We also manage industry and sector exposure through absolute limits but also through portfolio tilts based on our sector views. From a top-down perspective, we consider our macro and rate views as well as our overall asset allocation, which helps to govern overall portfolio exposure and volatility. We seek to manage cross-correlations within our portfolio.

Markets are now enduring a period of extreme volatility given the events in the Middle East. Does your investment strategy change during such periods?

I would not say that our overall, long-term strategy changes materially, as we seek to build an all-weather portfolio. But we do have significant flexibility to make tactical decisions and do that actively as we see market conditions changing. As I mentioned, we see risk as being more elevated in the current environment, so while we keep our eye out for what we consider to be overdone dislocations, in general, our current positioning is more cautious.

What is the biggest challenge in your role?

Three things come to mind, two of which are always present. First, this is a people business, so everything we do has to give consideration to building, retaining, motivating, and empowering our talent. Balancing these forces is always challenging but is the more important part of my role; we want to create and maintain an environment in which they can excel.

Second is the pace of change. This has been accelerating for some time and that is even more so the case today, with no end in sight. Absorbing the changes, positioning for the future of our business, the portfolio, the markets, and the future state are all moving extremely quickly. Being prepared, and positioning to succeed, requires incredible intensity and stamina for the whole team.

The third challenge may prove to be more temporary, though the trend has been with us for quite some time now. I think the increased concentration in markets has a significant effect on market dynamics. Asset control and influence is increasingly concentrated with the largest asset managers, some active and some passive, which has implications for market behavior. Significantly more assets are in private markets; investing in these markets impacts liquidity and requires appropriate compensation for that risk, but not investing in these markets reduces diversity, which impacts potential returns. Even in public equities, we see higher concentrations in things like the ‘Mag 7’ with obvious implications for risks and returns.

What do you like to do to unwind outside of the office?

We try to find time to travel as a family, which is not easy with our young adult children. We like history, so this will typically involve some type of sightseeing trip. We will also typically take an annual ski trip. Personally, my favorite hobby is sailing. That means a heavy commitment to preparing our boat for the season and wrapping it up for the off-season. If all that goes according to plan, and the winds cooperate, I actually get to sail a little bit, too!