City of Haverhill Retirement System

City of Haverhill Retirement System

The City of Haverhill Retirement System operates as the defined-benefit pension plan for municipal employees of Haverhill, Massachusetts. A five-member board chaired by James Cleary governs the fund, with day-to-day administration overseen by David Van Dam. The system is one of 104 contributory retirement systems operating under the oversight of the Massachusetts Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC). Investment strategy spans multiple asset classes. In private markets, the fund allocates to buyout, growth equity, and venture capital across seed, start-up, and late-stage vintages. Real asset exposure includes direct commercial properties — Acadia, Osceola, and Texarkana in the Southern United States — alongside a dedicated timberland portfolio. The system's primary deployment vehicle is a significant stake in the Pension Reserves Investment Trust (PRIT) Capital Fund, managed by the state's Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, which pools capital from Massachusetts public pension systems to access institutional-grade alternatives at scale. The board manages an estimated $289 million in assets. No additional offices or dedicated internal investment staff numbers are publicly disclosed beyond the board and administrator roles. The fund operates without a separate philanthropic arm or adjacent investment vehicles. Unlike standalone pension funds that build fully internal investment teams, Haverhill's structure relies on Massachusetts's centralized PRIT platform for core private-market exposure. This pooled architecture allows a mid-sized municipal fund to access fund commitments, co-investments, and real assets typically reserved for much larger institutions — a design shared by dozens of Massachusetts contributory systems.