Kentucky State Police Retirement System (SPRS)

Kentucky State Police Retirement System (SPRS)

The Kentucky State Police Retirement System (SPRS) provides defined-benefit pensions to sworn officers and certain civilian employees of the Kentucky State Police. It sits within the umbrella of the Kentucky Retirement Systems (KRS), whose board of trustees — chaired by Lynn Hampton — governs the plan alongside the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority (KPPA), the administrative entity that handles day-to-day investment operations. SPRS is a non-contributory plan for members hired before September 2008; later hires contribute a percentage of salary. Under CIO Steve Willer, KPPA manages SPRS assets across a mix of public equities, fixed income, real estate, private credit, and hedge fund strategies. The real estate portfolio discloses commitments to several closed-end funds: Barings Real Estate European Value Add I, providing European commercial exposure; Lubert-Adler Real Estate Fund VII-B, focused on US mixed-use; Prologis Targeted US Logistics Fund, positioned in industrial logistics; and Walton Street Real Estate Fund VI, a US commercial vehicle. The system also directly holds a 1.9-acre parcel in Frankfort, Kentucky. A dedicated gold exposure and allocations to private credit and hedge funds round out the alternative sleeve. Geographic reach spans the United States and Europe across these commitments. Team scale and total AUM are not publicly disclosed by the fund. The governance structure adds a representational layer: Keith Peercy serves as vice chair of the KPPA board and holds the designated SPRS board seat, ensuring the state police plan's interests are voiced during investment policy discussions. SPRS participates in NASRA, NCPERS, and the Government Finance Officers Association. A related philanthropic entity, the Kentucky State Police Foundation, operates separately as a charitable organization supporting troopers and their families. SPRS shares a pooled investment structure with other KRS plans — County Employees Retirement System (CERS) and Kentucky Employees Retirement System (KERS) — meaning asset allocation and manager selection happen at the aggregate KPPA level rather than plan-by-plan. This architecture gives a mid-sized public safety plan access to institutional-quality alternatives at lower overhead, but it also means SPRS-specific risk budgeting is blended into the broader system. The plan's funded status and actuarial health are matters of public record tracked in KRS annual reports.