Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System
| Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | West Des Moines, Iowa |
| Top official: | Marty Pottebaum, chair |
| Year founded: | 1992 |
| Active members: | 4,168 |
| Website: | Official website |
| Total assets under management | |
| 2023: | $3,215,148,052 |
- See also: Public pensions in Iowa
The Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System (MFPRSI) is a Iowa state pension fund that provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to municipal firefighters and police officers in the state of Iowa and their families. The Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System had $3,215,148,052 ($3.2 billion) in total assets under management as of June 30, 2023.[1]
The management of public pension funds can indicate support or opposition to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investment practices. ESG investing considers the extent to which corporations align with and promote certain non-financial standards, such as net carbon emission or corporate board diversity goals. States typically hire asset management companies (AMCs) to direct pension plan investments, some of which have ESG commitments that guide their strategies.
This article features the following sections:
- Background: Information about the structure and functions of the Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System.
- Pension performance overview: Overview of the funding level and assets managed by the Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System.
- Assets and asset management: Information about the asset management companies (AMCs) that contract with Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System, including a list of contracting AMCs that are participants in the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and the Climate Action 100+ initiative.
- Governance and accountability: Details about the Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System's oversight board, including members and selection.
Background
- See also: Public pensions
The Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System, founded in 1992, operates as a defined benefit plan based on a formula established by Iowa state law. These plans—based on the employee's length of service and salary— provide retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to municipal firefighters and police officers in the state of Iowa and their families.[1]
The Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System served over 4,168 active members and 4,898 inactive members as of 2023.[1]
Pension performance overview
The following table features information about the funding level and assets managed by the Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System as of June 2023:[1]
| Employees Retirement System of Iowa (June 2023) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiscal year | Percent funded | Unfunded liabilities | Total assets |
| 2023 | 85% | $582,877,373 | $3,215,148,052 |
Assets and asset management
| Environmental, social, and corporate governance |
|---|
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| • What is ESG? • Enacted ESG legislation • Arguments for and against ESG • Opposition to ESG • Federal ESG rules • ESG legislation tracker • Economy and Society: Ballotpedia's weekly ESG newsletter |
Asset management companies (AMCs) are hired to manage asset investment for state pension funds across all 50 states.
As of October 2024, 330 AMCs were members of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAM), and 391 AMCs were investor participants in the Climate Action 100+ initiative. Both international asset manager initiatives aimed to align the investment decisions of signatories with the goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.[2][3]
NZAM announced on January 13, 2025, that it was suspending operations and removing the commitment statement and list of signatories from its website. The group said in a statement it would reevaluate its plans and operations in light of “[r]ecent developments in the U.S. and different regulatory and client expectations in investors’ respective jurisdictions.”[4]
List of AMCs contracting with the Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System
The Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System contracted with 14 asset management companies (AMCs) as of September 30, 2024. Of those companies or funds, four were investor participants in Climate Action 100+, and six were members of NZAM as of October 2024. The following list identifies the AMCs (and in some cases, the specific funds) contracting with the Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System:[5]
| Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System asset management companies Click on a column header below to sort the list of asset managers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMC name | Investment type | Assets under management | Percentage of total fund assets | NZAM Initiative signatory as of October 2024[6] | Climate Action 100+ signatory as of October 2024 |
| JP Morgan 13030 | Large-Cap Core; | 277,472,764 | 8.1% | Yes | No |
| INTECH Investment Management | Large-Cap Core; | 87,859,329 | 2.6% | No | No |
| DFA US Small Cap Trust | Small-Cap Core; | 66,362,221 | 1.9% | No | No |
| Mondrian Investment Partners Fund | Non-U.S. Large-Cap Value; | 174,256,005 | 5.1% | No | No |
| Baillie Gifford International Choice Fund | Non-U.S. Large-Cap Growth; | 134,036,174 | 3.9% | Yes | Yes |
| SSgA MSCI ACWI | Global Core Equity; | 20,318,525 | 0.6% | No | No |
| Dodge & Cox | Core Fixed Income; | 253,120,959 | 7.4% | No | No |
| JP Morgan Strategic Property Fund | Core Real Estate; | 129,983,238 | 3.8% | Yes | No |
| Principal Enhanced Property Fund | Core Real Estate; | 32,023,212 | 0.9% | No | No |
| IFM Global Infrastructure Fund | Global Infrastructure; | 107,791,248 | 3.1% | Yes | Yes |
| Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co | Strategic Allocation; | 245,772,919 | 7.2% | No | Yes |
| JP Morgan Global Portfolio | Strategic Allocation; | 279,912,869 | 8.1% | Yes | No |
| BlackRock Global | Strategic Allocation; | 234,974,163 | 6.8% | Yes | No |
| Schroders Div Growth Port | Strategic Allocation; | 233,713,713 | 6.8% | No | Yes |
Governance and accountability
This section features information about the 13-member board of trustees that oversees the Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System. The board is specific to oversight of the Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System and does not exercise oversight duties for other state funds.[1]
Board selection method
The board of trustees that oversees the Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System is made up of 13 members:[7]
Voting trustees
- four fire and police members (active or retired), selected by police and fire associations
- four city members, selected by the Iowa League of Cities
- one citizen member, selected by the other trustees
Non-voting trustees
- two state senators
- two state representatives
Board of trustees membership
A 13-member board of trustees oversees the operation and administration of the Iowa Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System. The following individuals served on the board as of July 2023:[1]
Voting trustees
- Marty Pottebaum , chair
- Duane Pitcher
- Frank Guihan
- Jason Zilk
- Eric Snyder
- Mallory Merritt
- Laura Schaefer
- Nickolas Schaul
- Jennifer Sease
Non-voting trustees
- Rep. Kenan Judge
- Rep. Matthew Rinker
- Sen. Nate Boulton
- Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink
See also
- Public pensions in Iowa
- Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- Arguments about environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- Opposition to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investing
- Reform proposals related to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- State legislative approaches opposing ESG investing
- State legislative approaches supporting ESG investing
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 legis.Iowa.gov, “MFPRSI Annual Report," accessed July 15, 2024 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "report" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ The Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, "The Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative," accessed January 26, 2023
- ↑ Climate Action 100+, "The Three Goals," accessed June 20, 2023
- ↑ Pensions and Investments, "Net Zero Asset Managers initiative to suspend activities in wake of BlackRock departure," accessed January 15, 2024
- ↑ Ballotpedia, "Ballotpedia: Asset management data for state-administered pension funds across the 50 states," March 2023
- ↑ Note: NZAM announced on January 13, 2025, that it was suspending operations and removing the commitment statement and list of signatories from its website.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedboard
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