Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Retirement Fund

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Retirement Fund

The Illinois General Assembly established the Fund in 1931 under Article 13 of the state pension code to provide disability and retirement benefits exclusively for employees of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. President John P. Dalton, Vice President Kevin Young, and Secretary Bonnie T. Kennedy lead the Board of Trustees, while James E. Mohler serves as Executive Director and Brian A. Gillespie runs the investment function. The Fund’s statutory mandate — delivering earned benefits while preserving fiscal integrity — anchors its governance rather than any single family wealth source. The Fund allocates across a multi-asset portfolio that includes public equities, fixed income, real estate, and infrastructure. Real-asset exposure is visible through named positions in the IFM Global Infrastructure Fund, RREEF America REIT II, and a separate account with UBS Realty Investors. The infrastructure commitment provides exposure across developed-economy transport, energy, and utility assets, while the two US real estate mandates cover mixed-use and commercial property. The Board publishes its investment policy, financial statements, and performance reports directly on the Fund’s website, maintaining a posture of direct regulatory transparency rather than private fund-of-funds intermediation. The Board comprises seven trustees, a mix of appointed and elected members including MWRD Executive Director Brian Perkovich and Commissioner Mariyana Spyropoulos. While total assets under management are not publicly disclosed, the Fund participates in the Council of Institutional Investors, the National Association of Securities Professionals, and the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association — state and national networks that shape governance practices among similarly situated public plans. An audited financial statement for 2025 was posted to the Fund’s website in May 2026. This Fund’s architecture differs from a typical corporate or municipal pension: it is a single-employer plan for a specific Illinois special-purpose district. That narrow mandate eliminates the multi-employer layering and withdrawal-liability risks present in many state-wide plans, and concentrates the investment office’s focus on liability matching for a closed participant class. The Board’s direct publishing of investment performance and manager rosters provides a layer of public-accountability disclosure that family offices and private pensions rarely replicate.