# Vermont Municipal Employees' Retirement System Vermont Municipal Employees' Retirement System is a Pension Fund based in Montpelier, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Pension Fund - **Headquarters:** Montpelier, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Montpelier, VT, United States - **Founded:** 1973 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** vmers.vt.gov ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About The Vermont Municipal Employees' Retirement System was established in 1973 to provide defined-benefit pensions for municipal employees across Vermont's towns, cities, and special districts. The fund serves non-teaching public workers — police, firefighters, town clerks, public works employees — through a statewide pooled system managed alongside the Vermont State Employees' Retirement System and Vermont State Teachers' Retirement System. The Vermont Pension Investment Commission, chaired by Thomas Golonka, directs all investment decisions across the three funds, with CIO Eric Henry running day-to-day portfolio management. VMERS' portfolio spans public equities, fixed income, and a growing alternatives allocation that includes real estate, private equity, private credit, and real assets. Real estate commitments flow through core open-end funds like the UBS Trumbull Property Fund and sector-specific vehicles such as Harrison Street Fund X, alongside separate-account mandates with firms including Blue Owl Capital. The fund has also moved into niche real assets: confirmed commitments include the Nuveen Global Farmland Fund and Pontifax Global Food and Agriculture Technology Fund II, signaling a tilt toward food-and-agriculture strategies within the real assets bucket. Geographic exposure concentrates in the United States, with the bulk of real estate interests in commercial and mixed-use properties. Investment governance runs through VPIC, whose board includes Vermont State Treasurer Michael Pieciak and VMERS Board Chair Chris Dube. Deputy CIO Katie Green represents the fund on the U.S. Asset Owners Advisory Council at the Council of Institutional Investors, placing Vermont's public pension voice in national governance dialogues. VPIC also integrates climate considerations through manager selection: the fund participates in Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative indirectly via its contracted asset management partners. The system discloses its holdings through annual reports and public board meetings, consistent with Vermont's open-meeting and public-records framework. Structurally, VMERS' defining feature is its pooled governance model. Rather than each state pension fund maintaining separate investment staff, all three Vermont retirement systems invest through a single commission and CIO office. That architecture concentrates expertise — VPIC's small team makes allocation, manager-selection, and risk-management decisions for the entire state workforce — but also creates a single point of fiduciary decision-making subject to the same legislative and political pressures that shape public funds nationwide. The fund's commitments to illiquid alternatives run through closed-end vehicles, requiring careful pacing against beneficiary outflows in a mature defined-benefit system. ## Sectors - Real Estate - Infrastructure - Private Equity - Private Credit - AgriTech & FoodTech ## People - Eric Henry — Chief Investment Officer, Vermont Pension Investment Commission - Thomas Golonka — Chair, Vermont Pension Investment Commission - Chris Dube — Chair, VMERS Board of Trustees - Michael Pieciak — Vermont State Treasurer ## Questions ### Who runs investment decisions at VMERS? All investment decisions for VMERS are made by the Vermont Pension Investment Commission. Eric Henry serves as CIO and runs day-to-day portfolio management. VPIC Chair Thomas Golonka leads the commission, and Deputy CIO Katie Green handles operational investment functions including representing the fund on the Council of Institutional Investors' U.S. Asset Owners Advisory Council. The commission oversees pooled assets for VMERS, the State Employees' Retirement System, and the State Teachers' Retirement System. ### How is VMERS' investment function structured relative to other Vermont public pensions? VMERS pools its investment management with the Vermont State Employees' Retirement System and the Vermont State Teachers' Retirement System under one centralized body — the Vermont Pension Investment Commission. This means VPIC's investment team, not separate plan-level staff, makes allocation, manager-selection, and monitoring decisions for all three funds. The structure concentrates roughly $6 billion in combined assets under a single governance framework, which creates efficiency but also consolidates fiduciary risk. ### Does VMERS invest directly in private markets or only through funds? VMERS accesses private markets primarily through fund commitments and separate-account relationships rather than direct co-investments or SPVs. Confirmed fund commitments include Harrison Street Fund X, Blue Owl Capital Real Estate, UBS Trumbull Property Fund, Nuveen Global Farmland Fund, and Pontifax Global Food and Agriculture Technology Fund II. The fund has not publicly disclosed a direct-investment or co-investment program. ### What real assets does VMERS hold beyond traditional real estate? Beyond core commercial real estate through vehicles like UBS Trumbull, VMERS has committed to niche real assets including the Nuveen Global Farmland Fund and Pontifax Global Food and Agriculture Technology Fund II. These commitments suggest a deliberate allocation to farmland and food-and-agriculture technology strategies within the real assets bucket. Harrison Street Fund X adds exposure to mixed-use properties, rounding out a real-assets sleeve that spans traditional commercial, specialized sector, and natural-resource-oriented strategies. ### How does VMERS incorporate climate and ESG considerations? VMERS participates in Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative indirectly — through its contracted asset management companies, not through direct signatory status. VPIC's manager-selection process incorporates climate risk as a factor, but the fund has not publicly committed to a formal divestment policy or a specific net-zero target for its directly managed assets. Deputy CIO Katie Green's involvement with the Council of Institutional Investors reflects the fund's broader governance engagement on ESG issues. ## Related profiles - [Vermont Economic Development Authority](https://altss.com/profile/vermont-economic-development-authority) - [Vermont State Employees' Retirement System](https://altss.com/profile/vermont-state-employees-retirement-system-vsers) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/vermont-municipal-employees-retirement-system-vmers Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology