Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System

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Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System
Basic facts
Location:Boston, Massachusetts
Top official:Deborah B. Goldberg, chair
Year founded:1911
Active members:87,554
Website:Official website
Total assets under management
2023:$35.079 billion
See also: Public pensions in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System (MSERS) is a Massachusetts state pension fund that provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to the state's full- and part-time employees and their families. The Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System had $35.079 billion in total assets under management as of January 1, 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

See also: Public pensions

The Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System (MSERS), founded in 1911, is a sub-fund under the Massachusetts State Retirement Board. MSERS operates as a defined benefit plan based on a formula established by Massachusetts state law. These plans—based on the employee's length of service and salary— provide retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to the state's full- and part-time employees of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, its agencies, and various other public entities, including county sheriffs, and former Mass. Turnpike Employees’ Retirement System. The system excludes teachers and employees of local municipalities.[2][1]

MSERS served over 87,554 active members and approximately 69,167 retirees and beneficiaries as of January 1, 2023.[1]

Pension performance overview

The following table features information about the funding level and assets managed by the Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System as of January 1, 2023:[1]

Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System performance (January 1, 2023)
Fiscal year Percent funded Unfunded liabilities Total assets
2023 71.3% $14.120 billion $35.079 billion

Assets and asset management

Environmental, social, and corporate governance
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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.[3][4]

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.”[5]

List of AMCs contracting with the Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System

The Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System (MSERS) is a sub-fund under the Pension Reserves Investment Trust (PRIT). PRIT invests MSERS' assets, as well as other retirement and benefit plans for the governmental workers of Massachusetts. MSERS does not contract with its own AMCs; the AMCs for PRIT account for all its sub-funds.

PRIT contracted with 175 asset management companies (AMCs) as of June 30, 2021. Of those companies or funds, 10 were investor participants in Climate Action 100+, and 14 were members of NZAM as of 2024. The following list identifies the AMCs (and in some cases, the specific funds) contracting with PRIT:[6]

  • 400 Capital Management
  • Acadian Asset Management (NZAM, Climate Action 100+)
  • Acon Investments
  • Advent International
  • Aeolus Capital Management Ltd
  • AEW
  • AFL - CIO Housing Investment
  • Alchemy Partners
  • Alta Communications
  • American Industrial Partners
  • American Securities
  • Apollo Management Co.
  • AQR Capital Management
  • AQR Emerging
  • Ascent Venture Partners
  • Ashmore Investment Management (NZAM, Climate Action 100+)
  • Austin Ventures
  • Baillie Gifford (NZAM, Climate Action 100+)
  • Bain Capital
  • Basswood Capital Management, LLC
  • Battery Ventures
  • Berkshire Partners
  • Blackrock Financial Management (NZAM, Climate Action 100+)
  • Blackstone Capital Partners
  • Brandywine Investment Management (NZAM, Climate Action 100+)
  • Breakout Funds, LLC
  • Bridgepoint Capital Limited
  • Brigade Capital Management
  • Brookfield Investment Management (NZAM)
  • Cantab Capital Partners
  • Canvas Capital
  • Capula Investment Management
  • Carlyle Partners
  • Castille Ventures
  • Catalyst Investors
  • CBRE (NZAM)
  • Centerbridge Capital
  • CenterSquare Investment Mangement (Climate Action 100+)
  • Charles River Ventures (Climate Action 100+)
  • Charlesbank Capital Partners
  • Charterhouse Capital Partners
  • Chequers Partenaires
  • Cirera Capital Ltd
  • CKC Capital
  • Community Capital Management
  • Complus Asset Management Limited
  • Contrarian Capital Management
  • Cpyress Group
  • CVC Capital
  • Davidson Kempner Capital Management
  • Denham Capital Management
  • DLD Asset Management
  • Driehaus Capital Management
  • East Lodge Capital
  • Eaton Vance
  • El Dorado Ventures
  • Elliot Management Corporation
  • Elysian Capital
  • Ethos Private Equity
  • EW Healthcare Partners
  • Exponent Private Equity Partners
  • Fidelity Management Trust
  • Fir Tree Partners
  • First Reserve Corporation
  • Flagship Pioneering
  • Forest Investments Associates
  • Frontier Capital Management
  • Genstar Capital
  • Georgian Partners
  • Gilde Buy Out Partners
  • Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Climate Action 100+)
  • Gores Group
  • GTCR Golder Rauner
  • H.I.G. Capital
  • Hellman & Friedman
  • Highland Capital Partners
  • Hony Capital
  • Index Ventures
  • Insight Partners (Climate Action 100+)
  • Institutional Venture Partners
  • InterWest Partners
  • Invesco Realty Advisors (NZAM)
  • Investcorp Investment Advisers
  • JEN Partners
  • JMI Equity
  • Kelso & Company
  • Kepha Partners
  • Keytone Ventures
  • Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
  • KPS Capital Partners
  • Land and Buildings Investment Management
  • LaSalle Investment Management (NZAM)
  • LMCG Serenitas
  • Longfellow Investment Management
  • Loomis, Sayles & Co., LP
  • Lord, Abbett & Company
  • Lowell Minnick Partners
  • M/C Venture Partners
  • Madison Dearborn Capital Partners
  • Marathon-London
  • Markel CATCo Investment Management
  • Medicxi Ventures
  • Menlo Ventures
  • Mondrian Investment
  • Montagu Private Equity
  • Montreux Equity Partners
  • Mudrick Capital Management
  • Mygale
  • Nautic Partners
  • New Century Advisors
  • New Enterprise Associates
  • Nordic Capital
  • Odyssey Investment Partners
  • Olympus Growth Fund
  • Onex Corporation
  • PAAMCO
  • PAI Partners
  • Permira
  • PGIM
  • PIMCO
  • Polaris Partners
  • PRIM Board
  • Providence Equity Partners
  • Providence Strategic Growth
  • Pugh Capital Management
  • Pzena Investment Management, LLC (NZAM)
  • Quad-C Management
  • Quantum Energy Partners
  • RBC Global Asset Management (Climate Action 100+)
  • Rembrandt Venture Partners
  • Rhone Group LLC
  • Riverbridge Partners
  • RV Capital Management
  • SAIF Partners
  • SCP Vitalife
  • Shenkman Capital Management
  • Sherbrooke Capital
  • Sightway Capital
  • Silver Creek Adivsory Partners
  • Sofinnova Ventures, Inc.
  • Spark Capital
  • Spectrum Equity Partners
  • State Street Global Advisors (NZAM)
  • Stockbridge
  • Stone Point Capital (NZAM)
  • Summit Creek Advisors
  • Summit Partners
  • Summit Partners Public Asset Management, LLC
  • SV Health Investors
  • T. Rowe Price (NZAM)
  • TA Associates
  • Tabor Asset Management
  • Technology Crossover Ventures
  • Tenaska Capital Management
  • The Campbell Group
  • Thoma Bravo
  • Thoma Cressey Partners
  • Thomas H. Lee Partners
  • Thompson Street Capital Partners
  • TimeSquare Capital Management
  • Torquest Partners
  • TowerBrook Capital Partners
  • TPG Capital
  • Trident Capital
  • Union Square Ventures
  • VantagePoint Partners
  • Vestar Capital Partners
  • Vista Equity Managers (NZAM)
  • Voya
  • Wasatch
  • Waterland Private Equity
  • Weston Presidio Capital
  • WestView Capital Partners
  • Xenon Private Equity, LTD
  • Xponance

Governance and accountability

This section features information about the five-member board of trustees that oversees the Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System, titled the State Employees Retirement Board. The board is specific to oversight of the Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System and does not exercise oversight duties for other state funds.[1]

Board selection method

The board of trustees that oversees MSERS is made up of five members. The board is composed as follows:[7]

“

Such board shall consist of five members as follows: the state treasurer who shall be a member ex officio and who shall serve as chairman, a second member who shall be appointed by the treasurer, a third and fourth member who shall be elected by the members in or retired from service of such system from among their numbers in such manner and for such term, not exceeding three years, as the commission shall determine, and a fifth member who shall not be an employee, a retiree, or official of the commonwealth and shall be chosen by the other four for a term of three years.[8]

”

Board of trustees membership

A five-member board of trustees oversees the operation and administration of MSERS. The following individuals served on the board as of September 2024:[1]

  • Deborah B. Goldberg, chair
  • Theresa McGoldrick, Esq.
  • Frank Valeri
  • Appointed Member, Vacant
  • Archibald (Archie) Gormley

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Mass.gov, "MSERS At-a-Glance," September 11, 2024
  2. ↑ Mass.gov, "Retirement Information for Active Members (MSRB)," September 11, 2024
  3. ↑ The Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, "The Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative," accessed January 26, 2023
  4. ↑ Climate Action 100+, "The Three Goals," accessed June 20, 2023
  5. ↑ Pensions and Investments, "Net Zero Asset Managers initiative to suspend activities in wake of BlackRock departure," accessed January 15, 2024
  6. ↑ Ballotpedia, "Ballotpedia: Asset management data for state-administered pension funds across the 50 states," March 2023
  7. ↑ MA Legislature, "Section 18: State board of retirement; membership, tenure," September 11, 2024
  8. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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