7) Chief Investment Officer
Earnings: $786,596 a year
Where: Virginia Retirement System
The VRS’s chief investment officer, Ronald Schmitz was the highest-paid employee in the state in 2013, thanks in part to a hefty bonus, according to a list compiled last year by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Such a salary is roughly two to three times that of a CIO in California or New York despite the fact that VRS’s fund size is more than four times smaller than in those other states.
