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Dukes County Contributory Retirement Board
The Dukes County Contributory Retirement Board was established in 1939 under Chapter 32 of the Massachusetts General Laws, governed by the Public Employee...
Dukes County Contributory Retirement Board
The Dukes County Contributory Retirement Board was established in 1939 under Chapter 32 of the Massachusetts General Laws, governed by the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC). The five-member board administers a contributory defined-benefit plan for municipal employees of Dukes County, which encompasses Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. Chairperson Juliet Mulinare serves ex officio as Dukes County Treasurer, while board members include elected and appointed officials such as Executive Director Kelly McCracken and Edgartown Town Administrator James Hagerty. The board's investment strategy centers on the Pension Reserves Investment Trust (PRIT), the common investment vehicle managed by the Massachusetts PRIM Board, which holds 52% of plan assets. Beyond the PRIT general allocation, the fund participates in PRIT pooled real estate funds targeting commercial properties within Massachusetts and maintains a dedicated pooled alternative investment allocation for private equity exposure. This structure gives the Dukes County board institutional-grade diversification through co-investment with the commonwealth's roughly $100 billion PRIT pool, while retaining a small direct investment footprint appropriate to its scale. The fund's total assets are estimated at $235 million (Altss estimate). The board is a member of the Massachusetts Association of Contributory Retirement Systems (MACRS), which provides fiduciary protection bonding and continuing education, and the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS). The retirement board operates from the Dukes County seat in Edgartown, with board members drawn from across the island's towns — Timothy McLean and Jonathan Snyder represent elected and appointed seats that connect the board to Tisbury's municipal government. The structural differentiator is not the board's size but its governance architecture: a local pension fund embedded in a seasonal island economy with a high cost of living, accessing sophisticated asset-class exposure almost entirely through the commonwealth's pooled vehicle. This offloads manager selection, due diligence, and fee negotiation to PRIM's Boston-based investment staff, allowing the Dukes County board to focus on local administration and beneficiary service — a model more rural plans may look to as internal investment costs consume small-fund returns.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Year founded
1939
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Edgartown
Corporate office
Edgartown, MA, United States
Principals
Juliet Mulinare
Chairperson and Dukes County Treasurer (Ex Officio Member)
Kelly McCracken
Executive Director of the Retirement Board
Timothy McLean
Elected Board Member
Jo Ann Murphy
Elected Board Member
James Hagerty
Appointed Board Member and Edgartown Town Administrator
Jonathan Snyder
Fifth Board Member and Tisbury Treasurer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions for the Dukes County Contributory Retirement Board?
The five-member retirement board governs the plan, chaired by Dukes County Treasurer Juliet Mulinare. Day-to-day operations are managed by Executive Director Kelly McCracken. The board does not retain an in-house investment team for manager selection or direct security-level decisions; instead, it allocates the majority of plan assets to the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM) Board, which manages the roughly $100 billion PRIT fund on behalf of participating local retirement systems.
How does the board gain exposure to private markets given its small size?
Through the PRIT fund's pooled structures. The board participates in PRIT's general allocation pool and its pooled real estate funds, and has a dedicated allocation to pooled alternatives that includes private equity. This co-investment model lets the roughly $235 million plan access asset classes and minimum commitment sizes that would be unreachable independently, while sharing due-diligence and fee costs across the commonwealth's 102 retirement systems.
Is the Dukes County Contributory Retirement Board part of the Massachusetts state pension system?
No. It is a separate contributory retirement system established under M.G.L. Chapter 32, covering municipal employees of Dukes County government and its towns. It participates in the PRIT fund voluntarily, as allowed by Massachusetts law, but retains its own board governance and is not merged with the Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System.
What does the board's governance structure look like?
The board has five members by statute: the Dukes County Treasurer serves as chair ex officio, an elected board member, a second elected board member, an appointed member (currently the Edgartown Town Administrator), and a fifth board member. Members serve without separate compensation for board duties. The board reports to Massachusetts PERAC and complies with the commonwealth's fiduciary, funding, and disclosure requirements.
What is the board's relationship to MACRS and NCPERS?
The board is a dues-paying member of both the Massachusetts Association of Contributory Retirement Systems (MACRS) and the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS). MACRS provides Massachusetts-specific fiduciary bonding, legislative advocacy, and educational programming. NCPERS offers national peer networking, industry research, and trustee education tailored to public pension plans.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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