MassPRIM hires former Bain Capital, Bank of America executives for private equity

  • Rebuilding a depleted private equity program
  • Board lost an experienced team in 2011
  • Agency has $1.4 billion for private equity this year

The board hired Michael McGirr, a former investment manager in partner investments at Bain Capital, and Erin McCafferty, a former vice president at Bank of America Capital Advisors in Boston. The two will start officially on April 7. McGirr will have the title of senior investment officer, private equity, while McCafferty will be an investment officer.

McGirr worked at Bain Capital since 2011, prior to which he was a portfolio manager of a $9 billion alternative investments portfolio at the Minnesota State Board of Investments. Before he started in finance, McGirr was a professional baseball player who joined the Oakland Athletics system as a pitcher, MassPRIM said in a statement.

McCafferty most recently earned her MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University. Prior to that, she worked at Bank of America Capital Advisors, managing all aspects of a $4 billion portfolio of buyout, venture capital and real estate private equity funds, MassPRIM said in a statement.

The new hires come after the recent departure of Scott Hutchins, who worked as a senior investment officer of private equity at the system. The program lost much of its senior experience in 2011 when private equity chief Wayne Smith departed, followed by senior investment officer of private equity Michael Langdon.

The system hired Michael Bailey last year to take over as head of private equity.

The newly staffed team will have some money to spend this year. MassPRIM has approved $1.4 billion for private equity commitments this year, and $700 million for private debt. The system also plans to implement a co-investment program, according to MassPRIM documents.

As of Sept. 30, MassPRIM had about $14.6 billion committed to private equity, with a net internal rate of return since inception of 12.96 percent, according to the documents.

Chris Witkowsky is editor of peHUB.

Â