Oregon promotes Messer to investment officer on PE team

Oregon Investment Council has promoted Eric Messer from investment analyst to investment officer on its private equity team, it announced in a report issued ahead of its meeting last week.

Messer started at the Council, which is part of the Oregon State Treasury, in March 2017, coming over after 11 years at Arnerich Massena, an investment firm based in Portland, Oregon, according to his LinkedIn page. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Portland.

“Eric initially worked across the alternative investment portfolios as an investment analyst, but he has focused most of his time and energy on private equity since the start of 2019,” the Treasury said in a statement to Buyouts.

Oregon also announced that Amanda Kingsbury had been promoted from senior investment analyst for alternatives to investment officer in alternatives. She has been with the Treasury since 2016. Before that, she worked at RVK, Inc., a Portland-based investment consulting firm. She has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Portland.

The Investment Council manages portfolios for Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, State Accident Insurance Fund, Oregon Common School Fund and the Oregon Short Term Fund, as well as some smaller funds for agencies and universities.

As of June 30 it had $106.3 billion in assets under management and the Public Employees Retirement Fund’s private equity portfolio was valued at $26.4 billion.

Action Item: Read Oregon’s 2018 CAFR here.