Michael Trotsky
Michael Trotsky, executive director and chief investment officer of the $71.8 billion Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, will be having a very happy holiday this year as the board unanimously approved a 5.3% raise for the financial professional.
Trotsky’s $25,000 raise puts his salary at $495,000. The changes took effect December 1, just in time for the holiday rush.
The board also unanimously approved the chief’s full annual bonus, according to the fund’s November meeting minutes. He was given the highest performance rating by his colleagues.
The Massachusetts pension board returned 9.5% net of fees in fiscal 2018, beating the 8.1% benchmark. This performance also brought the organization’s three-, five-, and 10-year returns to 8.4%, 9.3%, and 6.3%, again surpassing the 7.1%, 7.7%, and 5.6% benchmarks.
At the meeting, board member Robert L. Brousseau said Trotsky had assembled the best team the fund had ever seen. “I would put our team against any of our peers,” he added.
The board member praised the Boston-based organization’s investment program, work culture, and timely responses to board concerns, heavily crediting Trotsky for the improvements.
Innovation had come up multiple times in Trostky’s review.
Compensation had been an issue within the fund until 2012, when the board changed the pay structure. Between 2001 and 2011, 11 total professionals left the organization for higher paying jobs. Of the 11, only one returned to the public sector.
“He has hired a highly qualified staff but he gives them the latitude to do their job,” Brousseau said of Trostsky’s team retention and leadership abilities, adding that the turnover at the board “has come to an end.”
Since then, only one employee has left the pension reserves board.
Trotsky thanked his board members for the raise and his team for being persistent. “My goals and objectives are very consistent with past years,” he said, according to the minutes. “It’s really just a continuation of the work we’ve been doing.”
Tags: CIO, MassPRIM, Michael Trotsky, Pension