SWIB executive director plans retirement

Michael Williamson will retire as executive director for the $96.9 billion State of Wisconsin Investment Board at the end of 2017. The board of trustees will launch a nationwide search for the next executive director and plans to have the position filled prior to Williamson’s retirement.

The board hired Williamson as executive director in June 2012. In the five years since he joined, SWIB added more than $1 billion above market returns for the funds it manages, while vastly improving the infrastructure of systems, controls and measurement used to run the organization.

Before his position at SWIB, Williamson served as deputy director of the District of Columbia Retirement Board in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he spent 10 years serving as the director of North Carolina Retirement Systems.

Williamson has a long career of public service as well. He has held positions including chair of the board of the National Institute on Retirement Security, president of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, leadership positions with the District of Columbia Retirement Board and the North Carolina Retirement System, as well as several positions in Wisconsin state government, the city of Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“My decision to retire was not an easy one,” said Williamson. “I am extremely grateful for my time at SWIB and I am proud of what SWIB has accomplished.”

SWIB manages more than $108 billion in assets, a majority of which includes the WRS. The WRS is the ninth-largest U.S. public pension fund and the 25th-largest public or private pension fund in the world.