Westmoreland County Employees' Retirement Fund

A five-member Retirement Board holds fiduciary authority over investments. The board includes the three elected Westmoreland County Commissioners — Sean Kertes (chairman), Douglas W. Chew, and Ted Kopas — along with County Controller Jeffrey Balzer and County Treasurer Jared Squires. All five are elected officials, which means portfolio decisions ultimately sit with individuals whose primary role is county governance.

The alternative sleeve concentrates heavily on buyout funds, with records showing six distinct allocations to the strategy. The fund also holds a disclosed position in life settlements — a niche asset class where investors purchase life insurance policies and collect the death benefit. This balance suggests a dual approach of mainstream private equity exposure alongside a targeted actuarial bet.

Unlike corporate plans where investment committees are staffed by career finance professionals, WCERF's board is composed entirely of elected county officeholders. The same officials responsible for county budgets, property taxes, and infrastructure also serve as fiduciaries overseeing buyout commitments and life-settlement exposure, a structure common among Pennsylvania county pension funds.

Public records indicate the fund maintains professional advisory relationships typical of public pension plans, though specific consultant names are not disclosed in available materials. For a board composed of elected generalists, the consultant relationship serves as the primary conduit for manager sourcing, due diligence, and performance benchmarking.

The fund's participation in PAPERS — the Pennsylvania Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems — provides a formal network for sharing investment intelligence with other county-level plans across the commonwealth. This association membership, combined with external consultant gatekeepers, forms the core of the fund's sourcing apparatus for buyout and alternative commitments.