New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association

New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association

The New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association was created by the state legislature in 1947 to provide retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to state and municipal employees, judges, and magistrates. Greg Trujillo serves as CEO, and Gregory Wright is the Chief Investment Officer overseeing the investment staff under a board of trustees that includes elected and appointed members. PERA is a defined-benefit plan funded by employee contributions, employer contributions, and investment returns, with its long-term viability monitored through periodic actuarial valuations. PERA's investment strategy spans public equity, fixed income, real estate, private equity, private credit, infrastructure, and absolute-return strategies. The fund allocates to private markets primarily through fund commitments and co-investments managed by external general partners. Disclosed real estate holdings have included stakes in core and value-add property funds, while infrastructure exposure includes commitments to vehicles focused on energy, transportation, and utilities. In private credit, the fund participates across direct lending, mezzanine debt, and distressed opportunities. The private equity portfolio is built through a mix of buyout, growth equity, and venture capital funds across North America and Europe. The absolute-return bucket includes multi-strategy hedge fund allocations designed to dampen volatility. As of the most recent public disclosures, PERA manages over $17 billion in assets for approximately 90,000 members, operating from its headquarters in Santa Fe. The fund reports its performance quarterly to the board of trustees, with investment decisions reviewed by an investment committee that includes external advisors. In recent years, PERA has faced legislative scrutiny over its funded status; the New Mexico Legislature passed reforms in 2013 and again in 2020 to adjust contribution rates and cost-of-living adjustments. The 2020 reform package increased employer contributions and reduced future COLAs for many retirees, measures designed to improve the fund's long-term solvency ratio. PERA has not launched adjacent vehicles or club structures — it remains a single-purpose public pension fund with no multi-family-office services or external capital management. PERA's structural differentiator is its political accountability layer: benefit adjustments and contribution rates require legislative action, creating a shared governance model between the board, the executive branch, and the state legislature. This architecture means allocation decisions — particularly around risk assets and alternatives — are made within a statutory framework that constrains illiquidity and mandates periodic public disclosure of holdings and fees, producing a transparency profile closer to a public endowment than to a sovereign wealth fund or family office.