# Town of Fairfield Joint Retirement Investment Board

Town of Fairfield Joint Retirement Investment Board is a Pension Fund based in Fairfield, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Pension Fund
- **Headquarters:** Fairfield, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Fairfield, CT, United States
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed (Altss estimate)
- **Website:** fairfieldct.org

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The Town of Fairfield Joint Retirement Investment Board manages retirement assets for permanent full-time employees of the Town of Fairfield, Connecticut. The board operates as a volunteer body, with Kenneth Brachfeld serving as chair, Eric Newman as secretary and vice-chair, and Tom Collimore as vice-chair. First Selectman Bill Gerber also sits on the board, linking pension governance directly to the elected leadership of the municipality. The board allocates across a diversified alternative investment program spanning buyout, distressed debt, growth equity, mezzanine, secondaries, special situations, and venture capital. The primary deployment path is a fund-of-funds structure, which provides access to private markets managers while maintaining a layer of diversification appropriate for a mid-sized municipal plan. Geographic focus is domestic, concentrated in US-based fund commitments. The board does not publicly disclose individual manager relationships or specific fund commitments. The fund operates with a lean governance model — volunteer trustees rather than a dedicated investment staff — which shapes its reliance on external fund managers and consultants for sourcing and due diligence. Eric Newman, the board secretary, also sits on the NASP-MiDA Africa Institutional Investor Advisory Council, creating a connection to emerging institutional investor networks that may inform the board's perspective on diverse manager sourcing. There is no known philanthropic vehicle or co-investment club associated with the board. The board's defining structural feature is its integration into Fairfield's municipal government. Investment decisions for the town's pension assets are made by a committee whose members include both appointed trustees and the town's top elected official. This creates a governance dynamic where pension investment policy and municipal fiscal priorities are tightly coupled — distinct from independent pension boards that operate at arm's length from city hall.

## Sectors

- Buyout
- Distressed Debt
- Fund of Funds
- Growth
- Mezzanine
- Secondaries & Special Situations
- Venture

## People

- Kenneth Brachfeld — Chair, Joint Retirement Investment Board
- Eric Newman — Secretary and Vice-Chair, Joint Retirement Investment Board
- Tom Collimore — Vice-Chair, Joint Retirement Investment Board
- Bill Gerber — First Selectman of Fairfield and Board Member

## Questions

### How does the board access private markets?

The board uses a fund-of-funds structure as its primary vehicle for private market exposure. This approach layers diversification across multiple managers and strategies — including buyout, distressed debt, growth equity, mezzanine, secondaries, and venture — while keeping operational demands manageable for a volunteer-led board with no dedicated investment staff.

### What is the relationship between the JRIB and the Town of Fairfield?

The Joint Retirement Investment Board is a municipal entity of the Town of Fairfield, Connecticut. It manages two single-employer defined-benefit plans for the town's permanent full-time employees. The First Selectman — the town's chief elected official — sits on the board, making pension governance part of the broader municipal government structure rather than a fully independent authority.

### What asset classes does the board target?

The board's private market strategy spans buyout, distressed debt, growth equity, mezzanine, secondaries, special situations, and venture capital. This broad mandate — executed through fund commitments — provides exposure across the risk-return spectrum while maintaining the diversification appropriate for a municipal defined-benefit plan.

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- [Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee](https://altss.com/profile/community-foundation-of-middle-tennessee)
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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/town-of-fairfield-joint-retirement-investment-board

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