Minnesota Pension Chief Bicker Set To Retire: UPDATED

Calls to Bicker’s office were not returned.

Part of Bicker’s impact on the Board of Investment has been his transformation of the system from one that invests solely in stocks and bonds to one that invests extensively in other asset classes, including private equity and real estate. 

Bicker, who turns 65 in October, has been with the board even longer—42 years in all. He started in 1971.  He plans to stay in the role until a replacement is named, which will likely be this fall, according to minutes from the meeting. (UPDATE: The Minnesota State Board of Investment has named Mansco Perry III as its new executive director and chief investment officer. Perry comes to the board after managing the $635 million endowment of Macalester College in St. Paul.  Before Macalester College, which he joined in 2010, Perry was the chief investment officer of the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System. In his new role, he will he earn a salary of $325,000.)

Minnesota’s Board of Investment oversees more than $65 billion in assets, as of March 31, 2013, including $7.5 billion in alternative investments, which include private equity. The alternatives allocation amounts to 14.5 percent of the main fund’s overall assets, which is far below the portfolio’s 20 percent allocation target. Minnesota’s alternative program has returned an average 14.2 percent annually over the 10-year period ending June 2012, according to the board’s latest annual report.

Within Minnesota’s alternatives program, private equity accounted for 57 percent or $4.2 billion, according to the annual report. The pension’s alternative program is managed by John Griebenow, a manager of alternative investments, and John Kirby, a portfolio manager.

Minnesota’s recent private equity commitments include $200 million each to Apax Partners’ Apax Europe VIII LP, Warburg Pincus’s Warburg Pincus Private Equity XI LP and Advent International’s Advent International Global Private Equity VII LP, and $100 million each to Energy Capital Partners’ EnCap Energy Capital Fund IX LP and Silver Lake Partners’s Silver Lake Partners IV LP.

The search that is under way for a new CIO and executive director is being led by Korn/Ferry International, the giant placement firm. Bicker’s salary is roughly $250,000, according to a story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.  The legal limit for the role’s salary is $327,000. Unlike several other states, the top pension official in Minnesota does not qualify for a performance bonuses.