MPERA NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The Montana Public Employee Retirement Administration (MPERA) works closely with AMRPE to provide necessary information and pension plan updates to assist AMRPE in its role of protecting pensions and other benefits for Montana public employees. MPERA’s long-time Executive Director Dore Schwinden retired in April, 2024. After undertaking an Executive Director Recruitment process, the Board of Trustees selected William Holahan, the former Deputy Director, as the new MPERA Executive Director. The following is an interview with Bill:
QUESTION: WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND WITH MONTANA PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PENSION SYSTEMS?
ANSWER: I’ve served our State’s pension systems since 2015 as a fiduciary staff member of the Public Employees’ Retirement Board in a number of roles to include, Legal Counsel, Chief Legal Counsel, Deputy Executive Director and now, Executive Director, since June of 2024. During these 10 years, I had the privilege of working alongside former Executive Director Schwinden to build extremely strong working relationships with many of the Public Employees’ Retirement Board’s stakeholders, to include the Montana Board of Investments (MBOI), the Teacher’s Retirement System (TRS), the Montana Federation of Public Employees (MFPE), as well as the Governor’s Office of Budget and Program Planning.
Throughout my tenure working under the Public Employees’ Retirement Board and over the last seven legislative sessions, I have routinely appeared to provide testimony to the Montana Legislature and its interim committees concerning interim pension studies, 18 Board approved and requested legislative proposals and 112 introduced bills related to public retirement. Further, I have provided our statutorily required actuarial valuation presentations to the State Administration and Veterans’ Affairs Interim Committee, the Legislative Finance Committee and MBOI. Through such opportunities, I have been afforded the ability to create and maintain good working relationships with the men and women who serve in the Montana Legislature and who provide legislative oversight of our systems.
In addition, since April of 2022, I have had the privilege of serving as the Chairperson of the Employee Investment Advisory Council (EIAC) which oversees the operation of the State of Montana’s Defined Contribution and 457(b) Deferred Compensation Plans to include our most recent work revamping our fund lineups in each plan to ensure we continue to provide best-in-class options for all of our active and retired participants.
QUESTION: WHAT IS YOUR ASSESSMENT OF THE 2025 LEGISLATIVE SESSION REGARDING PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PENSION ISSUES?
ANSWER: Overall, the 2025 Session was positive for public pension funding. More specifically, through the passage of Senate Bill 56, the Game Warden’s and Peace Officers’ Retirement System (GWPORS), the Sheriffs’ Retirement System (SRS), and the Highway Patrol Officers’ Retirement System (HPORS) will have an employer contribution increase beginning on July 1, 2025 of 0.1% for 10 consecutive years. In addition, through the passage of House Bill 85, the modified layered amortization policy put in place for our Judges’ Retirement System (JRS), Highway Patrol Officers’ Retirement System (HPORS), Sheriffs’ Retirement System (SRS), and Game Wardens’ and Peace Officers’ Retirement System (GWPORS) system under House Bill 569 from the 68th Legislative Session was repealed. As such, the employer contribution rates in each system that existed in FY23 prior to the implementation of this funding policy have been restored. With this change, the employer contribution rates will increase by 3.93% in HPORS, 1.041% in SRS and 0.94% in GWPORS, effective July 1, 2025. Finally, should House Bill 924 be signed into law, the Public Employees’ Retirement System will also have an employer contribution rate increase beginning on July 1, 2027 of 0.1% for 20 consecutive years, bringing the employer contribution rate up by a full 2% by July 1, 2047.
QUESTION: ARE THERE WORRIES WHICH KEEP YOU UP AT NIGHT DURING THE CURRENT INVESTMENT CLIMATE?
ANSWER: My short answer is No. The State of Montana, to include the pension fund assets held in the Consolidated Asset Pension Pool (CAPP) by the Montana Board of Investments (MBOI), is a perpetual, long-term investor with a long-term investment strategy focused on holding assets indefinitely. As a perpetual investor, the State of Montana through MBOI, has done an excellent job prioritizing long-term gains over short-term trading gains and spreading CAPP investments across various asset classes to help reduce risk and provide more stability during turbulent economic times such as what we experienced this past April.
I readily recognize that investment volatility, particularly in the current economic climate, can indeed be a source of significant anxiety for many investors. The stock market is inherently volatile, with prices changing frequently due to various factors such as economic data releases, geopolitical events, and shifts in investor sentiment. However, as a perpetual investor, we are less concerned about short-term market fluctuations and remain laser focused on long-term capital accumulation over short-term trading gains.
QUESTION: WHAT ARE MPERA’S PRIORITIES FOR THE INTERIM BEFORE THE 2027 SESSION?
ANSWER: During this interim, the Public Employees’ Retirement Board will have an actuarial experience study conducted by its actuary and presented to the Board in the Spring of 2026. This study will review the economic and demographic actuarial assumptions adopted by the Public Employees’ Retirement Board that are used to project the costs and liabilities of the defined benefit pension plans it administers and to compare the actual experience of each plan with what was expected to happen under its current assumptions during the four-year experience period of July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025. The economic assumptions that will be reviewed consist of the Board’s price inflation, investment return, wage inflation, and payroll growth assumptions as well as its adopted demographic assumptions, to include mortality and retirement rates.