# Maryland State Employees Supplemental Retirement Plans Maryland State Employees Supplemental Retirement Plans is a Pension Fund based in Baltimore, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Pension Fund - **Headquarters:** Baltimore, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** 6 Saint Paul St, Baltimore, MD, United States - **Founded:** 1975 - **Assets under management:** $6.1B - **Website:** www.msrp.state.md.us - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/msrp-maryland-teachers-and-state-employees-supplemental-retirement-plans ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About Maryland Teachers & State Employees' Supplemental Retirement Plans (MSRP) launched in 1975 as the voluntary defined-contribution arm of Maryland's public-benefits framework. For decades it carried the word "Teachers" in its name, but on July 1, 2025 the agency officially became the Maryland State Employees Supplemental Retirement Plans — a legislative change that trimmed the title to reflect eligibility across all state employees. The nine-member Board of Trustees is chaired by the sitting Maryland State Treasurer, Dereck E. Davis, while day-to-day operations run under Executive Director Ronda Butler Bell. The plan structure offers participants three tax-advantaged savings vehicles: a governmental 457(b) deferred-compensation plan, a 403(b) tax-sheltered annuity, and a 401(k) savings plan. Since July 2023, the Maryland legislature has funded a dollar-for-dollar contribution match and a higher-education student-loan payment match for qualifying members. The agency's investing model is participant-directed, funneling assets through Empower Retirement's recordkeeping platform into a curated lineup of mutual funds, collective trusts, and annuity contracts across public equities, fixed income, target-date funds, and stable-value instruments. The Investment Contract Pool, administered directly by MSRP, posted a 3.54% annualized crediting rate as of June 1, 2026 and functions as the plan's capital-preservation anchor. First-quarter 2026 plan assets stood at $6.1 billion across 63,028 participants, a 3.4% sequential decline from the prior quarter. The agency operates from a single office in Baltimore and carries no disclosed dedicated investment staff, relying instead on Empower for platform administration and a Board of Trustees for oversight. MSRP holds membership in the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, placing it within the peer network of state-level deferred-compensation plan sponsors. Structurally, MSRP is not a fiduciarily-independent allocator that selects alternatives or negotiates direct co-investments — it is a public-agency plan sponsor with a participant-directed architecture. The Board of Trustees operates under Maryland statute, with the State Treasurer as Chair and the Department of Budget and Management as a business partner. That governance arrangement means investment-menu design, fee negotiation, and recordkeeping oversight sit inside a state-agency procurement framework rather than a private-investment-committee model. May 2025: Governor Moore signed Senate Bill 200, officially renaming the agency to Maryland State Employees Supplemental Retirement Plans, effective July 1, 2025. ## Sectors - Public Equities - Fixed Income - Stable Value - Target Date Funds ## People - Dereck E. Davis — Board Chair - Ronda Butler Bell — Executive Director ## Questions ### Who governs the Maryland State Employees Supplemental Retirement Plans? A nine-member Board of Trustees, chaired by the Maryland State Treasurer — currently Dereck E. Davis — provides fiduciary oversight. The Board sets investment-menu policy, selects and monitors the third-party administrator, and reviews plan fees. Day-to-day administration is delegated to Executive Director Ronda Butler Bell, who also serves as Secretary to the Board. ### How does MSRP fit into Maryland's broader public-retirement system? MSRP is the voluntary defined-contribution leg. The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, a separate agency, runs the state's defined-benefit pension funds. MSRP's 457(b), 403(b), and 401(k) plans allow active state employees to save additional money beyond what the defined-benefit system will provide. ### Does MSRP offer a matching contribution? Yes. Effective July 1, 2023, the Maryland Legislature approved a dollar-for-dollar deferral and contribution match for eligible participants, alongside a higher-education student-loan payment match option. This marks a material addition to the plan-design toolkit and makes participation significantly more attractive for lower-tenure employees. ### What investment vehicles are available inside the plans? Participants choose from a menu of mutual funds, collective investment trusts, and annuity contracts spanning public equities, fixed income, target-date funds, and stable value. MSRP also maintains a proprietary Investment Contract Pool that posted a 3.54% annualized crediting rate as of June 1, 2026, serving as the plan's capital-preservation core. ### Who holds and administers the plan assets? Empower Retirement serves as the third-party recordkeeper and plan administrator. All participant communications flow through Maryland.gov or Empower.com addresses. MSRP does not manage assets internally; it oversees the vendor relationship and the Investment Contract Pool's stable-value structure. ### Does MSRP invest in private equity, venture capital, or hedge funds? No. MSRP's participant-directed architecture limits its menu to daily-valued mutual funds, collective trusts, annuity contracts, and the stable-value Investment Contract Pool. It does not participate in direct deals, co-investments, or alternative-asset fund commitments — a structural feature of defined-contribution plan design rather than an investment-policy choice. ## Related profiles - [AXA Columna Sammelstiftung Group Invest](https://altss.com/profile/axa-columna-sammelstiftung-group-invest) - [Tulsa Community Foundation](https://altss.com/profile/tulsa-community-foundation-tcf) --- Last updated: 2026-07-08T20:58:23.923Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/maryland-teachers-state-employees-supplemental-retirement-plans Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology