Montgomery County Public Schools Pension Fund

Montgomery County Public Schools Pension Fund

The Montgomery County Public Schools Pension Fund operates as a separate trust within the broader Montgomery County employee retirement infrastructure, governed by a Board of Investment Trustees appointed by the County Board of Education. The fund was established to provide retirement, death, and disability benefits to career educators and support staff for the Maryland school district. Controller Susan Chen serves as Vice Chair of the Defined Contribution Investment Committee, while Phoebe Kuan holds the dual role of Director of Investments and CIO alongside Secretary to the Board. Unlike pooled state plans, MCPS maintains its own trust, segregating its assets and investment governance from the Maryland State Retirement Agency, which covers core benefits for a separate segment of district personnel. The portfolio uses a fund-of-funds and direct co-investment model across buyout, venture, secondaries, and real estate. Confirmed real asset positions include a stake in the Clarion Lion Properties Fund, a core mixed-use vehicle, and a separate account with Hillpointe Investment focused on residential assets. The fund also self-administers a Centralized Investment Fund and holds the MCPS School Facilities Portfolio—a direct land position in Montgomery County—plus the commercial office building at 45 West Gude Drive that serves as district headquarters. Geographic deployment concentrates domestically, with headquarters and owned real assets all sitting within Maryland. The venture and secondaries sleeves have not disclosed individual manager names or commitment sizes, but the fund lists a general venture allocation alongside its buyout and special-situations exposures. As a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment since October 2019, the fund reports that 75% of its portfolio is invested with PRI signatory managers. The investment team is lean: Kuan and Senior Manager of Investments Oleg Peltsman comprise the named investment staff, working under a board chaired by Steve Sleigh and vice-chaired by Lis Lang. The Montgomery County Public Schools Educational Foundation operates as a separate philanthropic entity distinct from the pension trust. In September 2023, the fund's continued PRI signatory status was reaffirmed, maintaining its public-facing commitment to ESG integration across manager selection and monitoring. What distinguishes the MCPS pension fund structurally is its hybrid status: it is a single-district retirement trust that operates with the autonomy of a separate plan sponsor rather than pooling assets at the county or state level. This grants the Board of Investment Trustees independent authority over asset allocation and manager selection, creating a smaller, more concentrated governance model than the large state pension systems that dominate US public retirement assets. The direct ownership of district facilities and administrative real estate—held inside the pension portfolio—adds an unusual layer of physical asset exposure not common among peer education pension funds.