# Sterling Heights Police & Fire Retirement System

Sterling Heights Police & Fire Retirement System is a Pension Fund based in Sterling Heights, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Pension Fund
- **Headquarters:** Sterling Heights, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Sterling Heights, MI, United States
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** sterlingheights.gov
- **LinkedIn:** https://linkedin.com/company/sterling-heights-fire-dept

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The Sterling Heights Police & Fire Retirement System serves as the defined-benefit pension plan for the sworn public-safety employees of Sterling Heights, Michigan. The system is governed by a board of trustees that mixes elected plan participants, mayoral appointees, and the city treasurer — a governance structure typical of Michigan municipal plans. John Lamerato serves as president of the board, with day-to-day administration handled by Pension Administrator Kerrie Dzwonkowski. The fund's investment strategy reflects a conservative municipal pension playbook, blending public equities with direct real estate and income-oriented structures. Its real estate exposure includes commitments to commercial property vehicles such as the American Realty Advisors Real Estate Fund. The system also holds dedicated Master Limited Partnership portfolios, signaling a direct allocation to energy and transportation infrastructure through tax-advantaged publicly traded vehicles. Assets are managed with statutory constraints dictated by Michigan's Public Employee Retirement System Investment Act. The system participates in MAPERS, the Michigan Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems, which provides educational programming, legislative tracking, and peer benchmarking — a common resource for smaller municipal plans without dedicated internal investment staff. No external consultant is publicly named as the primary investment advisor in available records. The fund's structural differentiator is its extreme locality: a single-city, public-safety-only pension plan in a Midwest suburb, unpooled with the city's general employees. This narrow participant base creates a highly concentrated actuarial pool where retiree healthcare and COLA provisions can shift funded status faster than investment performance.

## Sectors

- Real Estate
- Infrastructure

## People

- John Lamerato — President of the Board of Trustees
- Jonathan Feil — Secretary of the Board of Trustees
- Randall Schwarb — Trustee
- Robert Maleszyk — Trustee
- Jia Hang — City Treasurer and Trustee
- Nathaniel Rymill — Secretary and Trustee
- Kerrie Dzwonkowski — Pension Administrator and Administrative Liaison

## Questions

### Who governs the Sterling Heights Police & Fire Retirement System?

The system is governed by a board of trustees. Public records show John Lamerato serving as president, with Jonathan Feil as secretary and four additional trustees including City Treasurer Jia Hang. This mix of elected plan participants and city officials follows the standard Michigan municipal pension governance model.

### What is the fund's asset allocation?

Public filings indicate the fund holds a mix of public equities, commercial real estate, and Master Limited Partnerships targeting energy and transportation infrastructure. The real estate allocation includes commitments to vehicles such as those managed by American Realty Advisors. A formal target allocation has not been widely disclosed outside of the fund's annual reports.

### Is this plan part of a larger state or county system?

No. The Sterling Heights Police & Fire Retirement System is a standalone municipal plan serving a single city's public-safety workers. It is not pooled with the Michigan Municipal Employees' Retirement System (MERS) and operates separately from the city's general employee pension arrangements.

### Does the plan utilize external investment consultants?

A primary external investment consultant is not publicly named in available records. The system's participation in MAPERS, the Michigan Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems, provides access to educational resources and peer benchmarking that smaller plans often use to support trustee decision-making.

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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