Michigan Retirement Systems

Registry · Top 100 · U.S. public pension complex · Michigan · last researched 7 September 2026

Corrections: info@universalassetowners.com

• Executive brief
• Mandate & ownership
• Scale & portfolio
• Governance & leadership
• Investment philosophy
• Climate / ESG / ethics
• Performance & reporting
• Controversies & debates
• Timeline
• Depth annexes
• FAQ
• Sources
• Official video
• Completeness

Executive brief

The label Michigan Retirement Systems in this Registry profile refers to the statewide public retirement complex administered by the Michigan Office of Retirement Services (ORS) and invested for the State of Michigan Retirement System (SMRS) under the State of Michigan Investment Board (SMIB) with day-to-day portfolio management by the Michigan Department of Treasury Bureau of Investments (BOI). Official member-facing hub: michigan.gov/ors.

Critical entity map — do not collapse: ORS (a division of the Department of Technology, Management & Budget) administers retirement and related healthcare programs for state employees, public school employees, judges, state police, and National Guard members. Investment fiduciaryship for the defined-benefit (DB) plans and associated other post-employment benefit (OPEB) trusts sits with SMIB under Executive Order 2018-10 and the Board’s Investment Policy Statement. BOI — an operating bureau of Treasury — is delegated to invest and manage those DB Plan assets. The State Treasurer chairs SMIB; the BOI Chief Investment Officer reports to the State Treasurer. Treating ORS as if it were the CIO shop, or treating BOI as if it administered pensions, misstates Michigan law and published org charts.

Prefer dated official USD from SMIB packets and system ACFRs. The March 25, 2026 SMIB Asset Allocation Profile prints a combined SMRS market value of $122.444 billion as of 31 December 2025 (pension + OPEB across MPSERS, MSERS, MSPRS, and MJRS). The same meeting’s executive summary cites an SMRS portfolio of $119.4 billion with $16.6 billion in unfunded commitments in the September 2025 quarter narrative. About ORS still states combined net assets over $113.7 billion in language tied to the FY2023 Plans-in-Action vintage — useful for membership context, subordinate to the newer SMIB market-value prints for scale. INST soft estimate ~US$100 bn (rank 60) is not a headline AUM.

Performance snapshots from the same SMIB packet: for periods ending 30 September 2025, Senior CIO Jon Braeutigam reported a SMRS 10-year annualized return of 9.9% and a one-year return of 10.2%. For MPSERS Total Plan time-weighted returns to 31 December 2025, the packet shows a one-year rate of 13.7% and a ten-year rate of 10.1% versus a peer-median ten-year of 9.0% (State Street public-plan universe >$10 billion). MPSERS ACFR for the fiscal year ended 30 September 2025 cites a pension portfolio total rate of return of 9.8% and OPEB 9.3%, with five-year annualized pension returns of 10.7%.

Leadership honesty: ORS Executive Director is Anthony Estell (Anthony Estell) — published across Plans in Action, system ACFRs (as Anthony J. Estell, Director), GovDelivery member newsletters, and DTMB contact materials. INST lists Estell as Executive Director and leaves the CIO field empty. That emptiness is not license to invent a CIO inside ORS. The investment CIO function for SMRS assets is published at Treasury/BOI: Jon M. Braeutigam (Jon M. Braeutigam) appears as Senior Chief Investment Officer on the July 2026 Bureau of Investments organization chart and as Chief Investment Officer on the Treasury Directory and Lobbyable Public Officials list; SMIB minutes style him as Chief Investment Officer of the Bureau of Investments. State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks chairs SMIB.

Researchers care about Michigan because it is a large multi-system U.S. public pension complex with a clear split between benefits administration (ORS/DTMB) and investment fiduciaryship (SMIB + BOI/Treasury), a heavy alternatives sleeve (private equity ~20% of December 2025 market value), long public SMIB quarterly packets, and system-level ACFRs. Related UAO hubs: Registry institutions, Careers Intelligence, and person SSR pages for Anthony Estell and Jon M. Braeutigam.

Speakable summary: Michigan Retirement Systems — ORS administers benefits; SMIB is investment fiduciary; Bureau of Investments (Treasury) manages assets under Jon M. Braeutigam as Senior CIO; Anthony Estell is ORS Executive Director; combined SMRS market value $122.4 bn at 31 Dec 2025; prefer official USD over INST ~$100 bn estimate.

Currency discipline: every AUM and return figure above is official USD as printed by Michigan SMIB, ORS, or system ACFRs. No FX conversion is required. No invented USD from peer medians or from INST’s estimate band.

Ship context: this is the 57th live elite institution profile in the UAO Top 100 series (TRS Georgia was 56th). SAFE, Teacher Retirement System of Texas, and Kuwait PIFSS remain skipped and are not in the institution sitemap. CoS messaging waits for the batch at 60 — this executor does not message CoS or SEO.

Mandate & ownership

ORS describes its purpose as administering retirement programs for Michigan’s state employees, public school employees, judges, state police, and National Guard members. About ORS (retrieved September 2026) states that ORS serves more than 602,000 customers — about 265,000 active, 20,000 deferred, and 317,000 retired — representing roughly 1 of every 13 Michigan adults and customers in about 1 of every 8 Michigan households. ORS is a division of Michigan’s Department of Technology, Management & Budget (DTMB).

What the administrative mandate is

• Administration of five defined benefit pension plans, seven defined benefit retiree healthcare plans, and three defined contribution plans (About ORS language on plan counts).
• Member and employer services for systems including the Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement System (MPSERS), Michigan State Employees’ Retirement System (MSERS), Michigan State Police Retirement System (MSPRS), Michigan Judges Retirement System (MJRS), and Michigan Military Retirement Provisions / Military Retirement System, plus legislative DC participants.
• Operation of miAccount and related member communications (including MiLogin multifactor authentication), education campaigns, and retiree healthcare interfaces as published on ORS sites and GovDelivery newsletters.
• Publication of system Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (ACFRs) and Summary Annual Reports, with investment sections prepared in coordination with Treasury/BOI facts.

What the investment mandate is (SMIB / BOI — not ORS)

The SMIB Investment Policy Statement states that, pursuant to state law and Executive Order 2018-10, the Board is the investment fiduciary for each of the systems which comprise the component units of the State of Michigan Retirement System: MPSERS; MSERS; MSPRS; Michigan Judges Retirement System; the Military Retirement System; and OPEB funds associated with each component unit (together, the “DB Plan”). The Bureau of Investments — an operating bureau within the Michigan Department of Treasury — is delegated to invest and manage DB Plan assets on behalf of the Board. SMIB also approves changes to the investment manager lineup for the State of Michigan’s 401(k) and 457 plans (the “DC Plans”) upon BOI recommendation.

Authority for BOI action is grounded in the Public Employee Retirement System Investment Act, 1965 Public Act 314, the Order, and other applicable state laws, as delegated by the Policy. The Policy’s prudence standard tracks PA 314 §13(3): act with the same care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent person acting in a similar capacity and familiar with these matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise with similar aims.

What the mandate is not

• Not a single consolidated legal entity named “Michigan Retirement Systems” that both pays benefits and acts as CIO — the Registry slug is an umbrella label for the ORS-administered / SMIB-invested complex.
• Not MERS of Michigan (Municipal Employees’ Retirement System), an independent local-government retirement services company — distinct from ORS statewide systems.
• Not a sovereign wealth fund or university endowment; it is a public employee pension and OPEB trust complex.
• Not identical to the outdated ORS Financial Information page framing that still mentions an Investment Advisory Committee under Act 380 of 1965 as the primary oversight story — current published fiduciary architecture is SMIB under EO 2018-10 plus the IPS.

Plan design notes (official summaries)

Plans in Action (ORS publication, Rev. 6/25) summarizes plan types as closed DB plans for public school employees, state employees, state police, and judges; an open DB plan for Michigan National Guard; hybrid plans; and defined contribution plans — plus death and disability benefits and health, dental, vision, prescription, and life insurance benefits as applicable. Funding narrative in that brochure: systems are funded through investment earnings and member and employer contributions; net assets held in trust for future benefit payments; nearly 62% of DB plan funding attributed to investment earnings in the brochure’s “every dollar” graphic (62¢ investment earnings / 31¢ employer / 7¢ member).

MPSERS ACFR introductory materials note the System was established under Public Act 136 of 1945 (former Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement Act lineage) and that a 12-member board and the DTMB director’s appointed Office Director provide statutory governance overlays for that system, while SMIB remains investment fiduciary and custodian of investments pursuant to state law. MSERS ACFR similarly states administration by ORS within DTMB, with the Department Director appointing the Office Director, and SMIB as investment fiduciary and custodian.

DC Plans interaction with SMIB

Under the IPS, individual DC participants retain authority and responsibility to direct contributions and accumulated balances among offered investment options. The Board approves recommended changes to DC investment options and reviews DC option performance in quarterly information reports. BOI, in consultation with ORS, may create and amend a specific investment policy for the DC Plans as conditions necessitate. Voya Financial appears in ORS member communications as the plans administrator/recordkeeper for State of Michigan 401(k) and 457 Plans — a service relationship described in education-award writeups, not an investment-fiduciary substitution for SMIB/BOI.

Military and Judges notes

IPS lists the Military Retirement System among DB Plan component units; the December 2025 plan market-value table footnote states MSERS includes the Military Pension Fund. MJRS appears as a small closed plan (combined market value about $292 million at 12/31/2025). National Guard membership on About ORS is open-DB in Plans in Action summary language. Do not invent separate AUM for Military beyond what SMIB/ACFR tables print.

About ORS honors block (NASCA, PLANSPONSOR, America Saves, PPCC, GFOA, NAGDCA, NAGC, P&I Eddy) documents administrative and communications excellence. Those awards do not substitute for funded-ratio or return exhibits; they do show ORS’s public posture as a service organization distinct from BOI’s markets organization — reinforcing the entity map.

Scale & portfolio

Combined SMRS market value (official USD)

SMIB March 25, 2026 packet — State of Michigan Retirement System Profile as of December 2025 — reports total investment strategies market value of $122,444 million ($122.4 billion) at 12/31/2025, up from $110,130 million at 12/31/2024. Market value by plan (pension + OPEB, millions) at 12/31/2025:

The same packet’s executive summary states the SMRS portfolio comprised $119.4 billion in assets with $16.6 billion in unfunded commitments, with $450 million in new commitments during the September 2025 quarter and about $1.7 billion net of contributions paid out by the combined systems over the prior year. Treat $122.4 billion (31 Dec 2025 allocation table) and $119.4 billion (exec-summary narrative) as dated official prints — do not average them into a invented midpoint, and do not replace them with INST’s ~US$100 bn soft estimate.

System ACFR / summary prints (FY ended 30 Sep 2025)

• MPSERS: Summary Annual Report FY25 — total assets on a market basis $97.3 billion at 30 Sep 2025; total liabilities about $2.9 billion; total net assets held in trust for pension and OPEB increased by $7.3 billion from the prior year (net assets printed at about $94.4 billion in the summary tables). Contributions and net investment income for FY2025 totaled $15.8 billion (net investment income about $8.4 billion).
• MPSERS ACFR: System total assets $97.3 billion; pension portfolio total rate of return 9.8%; OPEB 9.3%; five-year annualized pension 10.7% / OPEB 10.6%. Actuarial funding snapshot cited in the intro for valuations as of 30 Sep 2024: pension actuarial assets $69.4 billion vs actuarial accrued liability $97.4 billion (funded ratio 71.2%); OPEB actuarial assets $14.0 billion vs liability $9.2 billion (funded ratio 151.9%).
• MSERS ACFR: total assets $23.0 billion at 30 Sep 2025; fiduciary net position restricted for pension and OPEB $22.4 billion (up 5.0% YoY); additions about $3.2 billion (contributions ~$1.2 billion; investment gain ~$2.0 billion).

Asset allocation by market value (12/31/2025)

Short-term equivalents note in the same profile: short-term strategy $5.4 billion plus short-term held inside other strategies $2.7 billion = $8.1 billion (~6.6% of total funds). The packet also flags SMRS as the 14th largest retirement system in the U.S. citing Pensions & Investments survey (February 10, 2025 issue) — a secondary ranking reference inside an official packet, not a UAO rating.

Policy targets (as of 12/31/25)

For the MPSERS / MSERS / MSPRS pensions column (and aligned MSERS & MSPRS OPEBs), SMIB prints actual vs target vs ranges including: Domestic Equity actual 21.8% / target 21.0% (13–27%); Private Equity actual 20.6% / target 16.0% (13–27%); International Equity actual 16.0% / target 14.0% (10–20%); Long Term Fixed Income actual 10.2% / target 15.0% (10–20%); Absolute Return actual 9.7% / target 13.0% (7–18%); Real Return & Opportunistic actual 9.0% / target 9.0% (5–15%); Real Estate & Infrastructure actual 8.3% / target 8.0% (5–15%); Short Term Fixed Income actual 4.4% / target 4.0% (1–8%). A second column covers MPSERS & MJRS OPEBs / MJRS Pension with lower equity and higher fixed-income targets. Footnote: complies with basket clause and international restrictions; individual trust allocations may vary slightly.

Membership and benefit scale

• About ORS membership table (retrieved Sep 2026): Public school employees total 456,342 (203,909 active / 15,247 deferred / 237,186 retired); State employees 121,417; State police 5,380; Judges 1,222; National Guard 17,549; Legislature DC 267; grand total 602,177. Active counts include State of Michigan 401(k) and 457 participation.
• Plans in Action: ~694 employers; annual covered payroll (active) about $14.19 billion; annual pension benefits about $7.21 billion; total healthcare benefits about $0.97 billion; total paid about $8.18 billion in the FY2023 ACFR-sourced brochure tables.
• MPSERS Summary FY25 message context: ORS paid out $10.5 billion in pension and healthcare benefits to retirees and beneficiaries of the five statewide public retirement systems ORS administers (system-cycle figure in that summary).

Defined contribution sleeve (SMIB narrative)

At the March 25, 2026 SMIB meeting, Senior Investment Manager Lan Chen presented a DC update describing a broader non-DB context that includes the DC Plan at over $18 billion, State NonPension Assets over $2 billion, and MESP/MAP over $10 billion (education savings — not SMRS pension AUM). Do not add DC/MESP dollars into the $122.4 billion SMRS DB/OPEB market-value total.

MPSERS Summary FY25 — additions, deductions, expenses

The MPSERS Summary Annual Report for FY2025 states that contributions and net investment income for FY2025 totaled $15.8 billion. Net investment income is printed at about $8.40 billion for FY2025 versus about $11.66 billion in FY2024 (−28.0% YoY in the ACFR MD&A comparison). The summary attributes asset growth to employer and employee contributions and positive investment returns, while noting OPEB funding dynamics separately. Investment expenses discussed in the summary include amounts related to the Treasury Bureau of Investments for managing System assets, paid from the System — exact expense tables remain in the PDF (ORS investment expenses and other investment expenses lines).

Membership context in the MPSERS summary emphasizes that the State of Michigan Investment Board is the investment fiduciary and custodian of all investments of the System pursuant to law, while ORS administers benefits. That sentence is the clean one-line entity map researchers should prefer over any page that still leads with an Investment Advisory Committee story.

MSERS FY2025 fiduciary net position bridge

MSERS ACFR MD&A (dollars in thousands in source tables): total assets rose from about $22.017 billion to $23.022 billion (+4.6%). Investments fair value about $22.050 billion. Securities lending collateral about $568 million. Total liabilities about $612 million. Net position restricted for pension benefits and OPEB $22.410 billion versus $21.339 billion prior year (+5.0%). Additions for the year about $3.2 billion; total additions decreased about $1.1 billion (−24.8%) from the prior year due to decreased contributions and lower net investment income (net investment income down about $871 million or 30.2%).

Peer ranking note inside official packet

The December 2025 SMRS profile page inside the March 2026 SMIB packet states “14th Largest Retirement System in the U.S.” citing Pensions & Investments survey, February 10, 2025 issue. About ORS separately states ORS is responsible for the 15th largest public pension system in the U.S. and the 38th largest pension system in the world (About ORS / Plans in Action FY2023 vintage language). Report both dated claims; do not invent a UAO rank reconciliation.

Organisation scale for researchers: ORS serves hundreds of thousands of members across ~694 employers with Lansing PO Box administration; BOI is a Treasury bureau with public/private senior directors and multiple named investment divisions on the July 2026 chart; SMIB is a small fiduciary board chaired by the State Treasurer with four additional named members on that chart. Influence Index scores in INST soft data are editorial composites, not official Michigan ratings — mention only if needed to explain soft fields, never as a state endorsement.

Reading MPSERS vs combined SMRS dollars

Because MPSERS is roughly four-fifths of combined market value, journalists sometimes quote MPSERS ACFR assets as if they were statewide. That understates Michigan’s total SMRS complex by the MSERS, MSPRS, and MJRS sleeves (together about $25.9 billion combined market value at 12/31/2025 per SMIB). Conversely, summing About ORS’s older $113.7 billion net-assets language with DC plan assets would double-count or mix vintages. Correct practice: (1) cite SMIB combined market value with 12/31 date for portfolio scale; (2) cite each system’s ACFR fiduciary net position with 9/30 date for audited trust equity; (3) cite DC assets only when discussing participant-directed plans.

Private equity at 20.4% of December 2025 market value (~$25.0 billion) is among the more visible structural features of SMRS versus equity-heavy peer teachers’ plans. The target for the primary pension column is 16.0% with a 13–27% range — so the 20.6% actual (pension-column print) sits above target but inside range. International equity’s jump from 12.9% to 15.5% year over year in the market-value table is one of the larger allocation moves visible in the 2024→2025 comparison, alongside fixed income rising from 10.9% to 11.8% and short term declining from 5.4% to 4.4%.

Governance & leadership

Three-layer governance map

• ORS / DTMB: benefits administration; Office Director appointed by the DTMB Department Director (ACFR language). Executive Director Anthony Estell.
• SMIB: investment fiduciary and custodian for SMRS DB Plan assets (EO 2018-10; IPS). Chair: State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks. July 2026 BOI org chart lists SMIB members: Rachael Eubanks (Chairman); Jennifer Flood (State Budget Director); Denise Ilitch; Dina L. Richards; Reginald G. Sanders.
• Bureau of Investments (Treasury): invests and manages DB Plan assets under SMIB delegation; recommends DC lineup changes. Senior Chief Investment Officer Jon M. Braeutigam.

ORS executive leadership

Anthony Estell (Anthony Estell) is published as executive director of the Michigan Office of Retirement Services in the Michigan Retirement Plans in Action brochure (signed “Anthony Estell, executive director”), in GovDelivery Proactive newsletters (June 2026 and earlier), and as Anthony J. Estell, Director, Office of Retirement Services in MPSERS and MSERS ACFR organizational charts. INST soft fields match Estell as Executive Director, Office of Retirement Services, with person slug anthony-estell. Do not invent additional ORS C-suite titles beyond what official pages and ACFRs publish.

Investment CIO — Bureau of Investments (not ORS)

Jon M. Braeutigam (Jon M. Braeutigam) is published as Senior Chief Investment Officer of the Bureau of Investments on the July 2026 BOI organization chart; as Chief Investment Officer / Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for Investments on the Michigan Treasury Directory; as Senior Chief Investment Officer on the Lobbyable Public Officials list; and as Chief Investment Officer of the Bureau of Investments throughout SMIB quarterly packets (including March 25, 2026). The IPS defines the CIO as the senior executive administrator of the BOI and the chief investment officer of the DB Plan pension funds, reporting directly to the State Treasurer. INST’s empty CIO field must not be read as “Michigan has no CIO” — it reflects that the CIO seat sits in Treasury/BOI rather than inside ORS.

BOI organization (July 2026 org chart — titles only as published)

• Senior Deputy Chief Investment Officer: Vacant on the July 2026 chart.
• Chief Compliance Officer: Jeannette J. Brya (Compliance Division).
• Trust Accounting & Operations Bureau Director: Karen M. Stout.
• Investments — Private Markets: Travis L. Haney, Senior Director of Investments.
• Investments — Public Markets: Gregory J. Parker, Senior Director of Investments (also presents as Director of Asset Allocation in SMIB packets).
• Division Senior Investment Managers as charted: Peter A. Woodford (Private Equity); Giles B. Feldpausch (Real Estate and Infrastructure); Daniel J. Quigley (Real, Opportunistic, and Absolute Return); Erin J. Mock (Venture Capital); Lan H. Chen (Defined Contrib, Trusts & Agencies); Jack A. Behar (Domestic Equity); LeAnn L. Auer (Fixed Income); Patrick M. Moraniec (International Equity).
• Senior Executive Assistant / Deputy Director supporting line: Ann Marie Storberg (as labeled on chart).

System retirement boards (benefits governance — not SMIB)

Individual systems retain statutory retirement boards for plan administration matters. MPSERS ACFR describes a 12-member board structure under the Public School Employees Retirement Act lineage; MSERS materials describe board composition under the Michigan State Employees’ Retirement Act (Public Act 240 of 1943). These boards are distinct from SMIB. This profile does not invent named trustee seats beyond what is needed to explain the split — fold live board rosters from system “Board Members” pages when expanding.

Person SSR links

UAO person SSR live: Anthony Estell (ORS Executive Director); Jon M. Braeutigam (BOI Senior CIO / CIO). No live person SSR was relied on for Rachael Eubanks or other SMIB public members at ship — name them by published title without inventing person pages. Kerrie Vanden Bosch appears in some INST history as a former ORS executive director later associated with MERS of Michigan — not current ORS leadership.

STAR description of SMIB delegation

The 2024–2025 Annual Report of the Michigan State Treasurer states that the State Treasurer is Chair of the State of Michigan Investment Board, which is the fiduciary and custodian for the defined benefit public pension fund system and the fiduciary for the defined contribution retirement plan sponsored by the State (collectively, the State of Michigan Retirement System). SMIB delegated duties to the Bureau of Investments to invest, prudently manage, and oversee the assets of SMRS and to take certain other actions supporting the Bureau’s mandate. That STAR paragraph is a high-authority confirmation of the entity map used throughout this profile.

CIO reporting line (IPS)

IPS §II.A: pursuant to the Order, Civil Service job specification, and the Policy, the CIO serves as senior executive administrator of the BOI and chief investment officer of the DB Plan pension funds, reporting directly to the State Treasurer within the Department of Treasury. No other deputy treasurer or non-BOI Treasury employee is authorized as an investment fiduciary over DB Plan funds unless statute or Board delegation says otherwise. The CIO is an appointing authority for the BOI and may delegate to BOI staff.

SMIB member names on the July 2026 chart (Flood, Ilitch, Richards, Sanders, plus Chair Eubanks) should be verified against the latest packet attendance lists when writing board-level biographies. This profile records the org-chart roster as published in July 2026 without inventing term expirations or appointing authorities beyond what the chart and STAR state.

What “Senior Chief Investment Officer” vs “Chief Investment Officer” means in sources

Michigan publications use both strings for Jon M. Braeutigam. The July 2026 BOI organization chart and Lobbyable Public Officials list prefer Senior Chief Investment Officer. Treasury Directory and SMIB minute narratives often say Chief Investment Officer of the Bureau of Investments. The IPS speaks of the CIO role generically. UAO treats these as the same seat — Braeutigam — not as two people. Person SSR slug jon-m-braeutigam covers that seat. Do not invent a separate “Deputy CIO” name while the July 2026 chart shows Senior Deputy Chief Investment Officer as Vacant.

Investment philosophy / strategy

SMIB goals as restated in the March 2026 packet include: maintain sufficient liquidity to pay benefits; meet or exceed the actuarial assumption over the long term; perform in the top half of the public plan universe over the long term; diversify assets to reduce risk; exceed individual asset class benchmarks over the long term. ORS Financial Information lists a parallel set of investment goals historically associated with the Treasurer’s program (optimal return within prudent risk; liquidity; diversification; actuarial assumption; top-half universe; beat asset-class benchmarks; cost-effective operation) — useful as member-facing language, but fiduciary control for DB Plan assets is SMIB/BOI under the IPS.

IPS asset-class divisions

The Investment Policy Statement enumerates BOI investment divisions the CIO may extend only with Board approval: Domestic Equity Division (DED); Fixed Income Division (FID); International Equity Division (IED); Private Equity Division (PED); Real Estate & Infrastructure Division (REID); Real, Opportunistic and Absolute Return Division (ROAD); Venture Capital Division (VCD). Support / related houses: Defined Contribution, Trusts & Agencies Division (DCTA); Trust Accounting Division (TAD); Compliance & Corporate Governance Division (CCGD).

Delegation and approval thresholds (IPS)

• BOI alone is authorized to invest DB Plan assets (within PA 314, the Order, and the Policy).
• Board approval required for new investments by REID, PED, ROAD, VCD, IED, and FID above 1% of DB Plan assets, or by DED above 1.5%, measured against the most recent combined quarter-ending market value.
• State Treasurer approval required for new private market investments above 0.65% of DB Plan assets.
• No Board/Treasurer approval required for neutrally weighted market-index public market positions, or for U.S. Treasury / agency / GSE obligations regardless of size.
• Securities lending program not to exceed 8% of total DB Plan portfolio market value unless the Board votes a higher limit.
• Asset-liability studies approximately every two years; Asset Allocation Strategy approved by the Board in a separate document from the IPS and remains in effect until replaced.

Liquidity and commitments (Mar 2026 SMIB)

The packet stresses liquidity as a principal risk managed through asset allocation. Plans had outstanding capital commitments to fund approximately $17.3 billion in illiquid assets in the December 2025 quarter narrative, with $1.4 billion of new commitments that quarter; management commentary said the pace of new commitments would have to remain subdued for several years to meet strategic targets. Combined systems paid out approximately $2.1 billion net of contributions over the twelve months ending December 2025. Sources-and-uses cash chart for calendar 2025 shows net benefit payments of about $2.058 billion as a use of cash.

Long-horizon value vs peers

Braeutigam’s March 2026 executive summary and goals pages note that compounding above peer medians adds significant value: based on a $60.0 billion December 2015 market value, a ten-year annualized return of 10.1% versus a 9.0% peer median added approximately $15 billion in excess value — equated in the packet to roughly an additional $1.7 billion to the FY2028 budget narrative. Since 1979, the packet states the annualized rate of return on plan assets has been strong on a very long horizon (exact multipage exhibit in the packet). These are official SMIB attributable performance narratives — not UAO forecasts.

New commitments color (Mar 2026 packet)

The March 25, 2026 SMIB new-commitments exhibit lists private markets commitments in the reported quarter, including examples such as Alpina SMRS Hybrid, LP (LGT Capital Partners) commitments of $300 million and $150 million lines as printed, and ACCD 3 SMRS Co-Invest, LP (Abingworth) $75 million, among other named funds. Treat the exhibit as the authoritative list — this profile does not invent additional GP relationships beyond the folded packet pages.

Public vs private markets organizational split

July 2026 BOI org chart splits Senior Directors: Travis L. Haney for Private Markets and Gregory J. Parker for Public Markets. Parker also presents asset-allocation and capital-markets materials to SMIB. That dual public/private senior-director structure matches the IPS division list (DED/IED/FID on the public side; PED/REID/ROAD/VCD on private/alternatives). DCTA under Lan H. Chen covers DC lineup oversight plus non-retirement trusts and agencies — again, not to be summed into SMRS DB AUM.

Exclusive benefit and prudence

ORS Financial Information states that all of the state treasurer’s investments are invested for the exclusive benefit of the members of the retirement systems. The IPS restates exclusive authority for BOI to invest DB Plan assets and to execute contracts necessary to effectuate investment, protection, and management of funds, with power to create legal entities (partnerships, LLCs, other structures) consistent with PA 314 to add return and diversification profiles. Quarterly reporting of investment returns and strategy to the Board is required.

Capital markets assumptions versus realized benchmarks

SMIB’s March 2026 capital-markets page juxtaposes Aon 2026 arithmetic assumed returns with trailing 10-year benchmark returns. Domestic equity’s assumed 8.3% sits well below the trailing S&P 1500-linked 14.5% 10-year benchmark print in that table — a reminder that forward assumptions are not trailing experience. Private equity’s 11.9% assumed return versus an 18.7% trailing benchmark row similarly warns against naive extrapolation. Absolute return’s 7.0% assumed / 4.4% trailing benchmark pairing shows the opposite pattern. BOI and SMIB use these assumptions as planning inputs inside asset-liability work; they are not promises to members.

Broad market color in the same packet notes Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate gains of about 1.1% in the fourth quarter and about 7.3% for the calendar year, and comments on equity concentration (packet narrative references a small number of stocks dominating large shares of the S&P 500). Those remarks contextualize public-markets risk; they are not Michigan-specific holdings disclosures.

Climate / ESG / ethics

This elite pack did not fold a standalone Michigan climate-transition or net-zero policy PDF as a primary. The controlling published frame for DB Plan investing remains the SMIB Investment Policy Statement’s fiduciary / PA 314 prudence standard and the Asset Allocation Strategy approved by the Board. Do not invent ESG exclusion lists, net-zero target years, or Stewardship Code memberships for Michigan from peer plans.

Compliance & Corporate Governance Division exists inside BOI per the IPS organization list, and the July 2026 org chart names a Chief Compliance Officer — indicating an internal compliance function. Without a folded voting or climate report in this pack, describe only that structure and point researchers to future SMIB packets and BOI publications for any proxy-voting or responsible-investment exhibits.

ORS member communications emphasize financial wellness, fraud awareness, and retirement education (Eddy Awards / NAGC Blue Pencil recognitions for education campaigns) — member-service ethics and communication quality, not portfolio carbon metrics.

If future BOI or SMIB publications add climate risk exhibits, exclusion lists, or stewardship reports, they should be annexed with dates rather than inferred from peer funds (CalPERS, NYSCRF, etc.). Michigan’s published IPS language in this pack is silent on net-zero portfolio targets; silence is not a claim that no responsible-investment activity exists — it is a claim that this elite pack did not fold such a primary.

Performance & reporting

SMRS / MPSERS return prints

• SMRS as of 30 Sep 2025 (Braeutigam, Mar 25 2026 SMIB): 10-year 9.9%; 1-year 10.2%.
• MPSERS Total Plan time-weighted to 31 Dec 2025 (SMIB exhibit): 10-year 10.1% (rank 11 in peer table presentation); 7-year 10.7%; 5-year 9.7%; 3-year 11.5%; 1-year 13.7%; current quarter 3.4%. Peer median (>$10bn) 10-year 9.0%; 1-year 13.6%. Policy benchmark 10-year 10.5%; 1-year 15.3%.
• MPSERS ACFR FY2025: pension portfolio total rate of return 9.8%; OPEB 9.3%; five-year annualized pension 10.7% / OPEB 10.6%.

Asset-class one-year color (MPSERS Total Plan to 12/31/2025)

From the same SMIB time-weighted exhibit (selected rows): Domestic Equities ~21.7% of portfolio, 1-year 20.2%; Private Equity and Venture Capital ~20.6%, 1-year 7.8%; International Equities ~16.0%, 1-year 34.4%; Fixed Income ~10.2%, 1-year 8.0%. Absolute return, real return/opportunistic, and real estate/infrastructure detail appear in subsequent packet pages — fold exact rows when citing rather than inventing.

Transparency stack

• SMIB quarterly investment review PDFs on michigan.gov/treasury media paths (March 2026, December 2025, April 2025 examples folded).
• System ACFRs — MPSERS (auditor copy folded), MSERS FY2025, plus Summary Annual Reports (MPSERS FY25; SERS summary 2024 example).
• Investment Policy Statement for SMIB (signed policy PDF).
• BOI organization chart (July 2026).
• State Treasurer Annual Report (STAR) 2024–2025 — describes SMIB chair role and BOI delegation.
• ORS About / Financial Information / Plans in Action — membership, economic impact, investment-goals language.
• GFOA Certificate of Achievement references in ORS honors (33rd consecutive year cited for FY2023 ACFRs on About ORS); PPCC Public Pension Standards Award annually since 2004 (About ORS).

Public contact for ORS (Plans in Action): PO Box 30171, Lansing, MI 48909–7671; Michigan.gov/ORS. Public pages in this UAO profile omit staff phone numbers and private emails.

Calendar-year cash flow (2025)

SMIB Sources and Uses of Cash chart for January–December 2025 shows starting short-term cash about $5.970 billion (1/1/25) and ending about $5.409 billion (12/31/25), a net short-term cash decrease of $561 million. Uses include net benefit payments about $2.058 billion and a fixed income use of about $1.234 billion; sources include absolute return about $511 million among other lines. Negative numbers indicate uses of cash; positive indicate sources — per the packet legend.

MSERS / MSPRS return exhibits

The March 2026 packet also prints MSERS and MSPRS total-plan time-weighted return tables alongside MPSERS. For periods ending 31 December 2025, MSERS and MSPRS rows track closely to MPSERS on multi-year annualized rates in the peer comparison layout (10-year prints around 10.1% for MSERS/MSPRS in the exhibit’s rightmost annualized column grouping). When quoting a specific system, prefer that system’s ACFR investment section over cross-reading MPSERS figures.

Actuarial contribution context

MPSERS ACFR notes an annual actuarial valuation by Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company; the valuation as of 30 September 2024 recommends employer contribution rates for the fiscal year ended 30 September 2027. Exact employer rate schedules live in the Actuarial Section — fold the PDF tables rather than inventing contribution percentages here.

How ORS and Treasury split the public report stack

Members and employers typically land on michigan.gov/ors and system microsites (ORSSchools, ORSStateDB, etc.) for benefits, handbooks, and ACFRs. Investors and consultants typically land on Treasury SMIB packet URLs and the IPS for allocation, commitments, and manager-approval thresholds. STAR bridges the Treasurer’s wider cash and investment story to the SMIB/BOI delegation paragraph. UAO’s job is to keep those stacks distinct while giving researchers one crawlable HTML narrative that does not launder BOI dollars into ORS administration claims or vice versa.

When an ACFR Investment Section says the primary investment objective is to maximize the rate of return on the total investment portfolio subject to the actuarial assumption, that sentence is system ACFR language describing SMIB/BOI activity on behalf of the System — still not evidence that ORS staff pick securities. Schedule of Investment Fees and Commissions pages in ACFRs document costs of that externalized investment program.

Five-year and ten-year framing for members

ACFR introductory letters emphasize multi-year annualized returns (MPSERS pension five-year 10.7%) because single-year marks swing with markets — FY2025 net investment income for MPSERS fell versus FY2024 even while remaining strongly positive in dollars. SMIB’s 10-year 9.9% (9/30/2025) and MPSERS Total Plan 10-year 10.1% (12/31/2025) both sit above the ~9.0% peer median prints in the packet, which is the performance claim SMIB leadership stresses when discussing excess value versus peers. Actuarial assumed rates live in valuation reports; meeting or exceeding them over the long term is an explicit SMIB goal statement.

Controversies & debates

Official attributable frame first. Michigan’s public pension debate in official materials centers on funded status, contribution policy, hybrid/DC transitions for newer cohorts, and liquidity/commitment pacing — not on invented scandals.

• Funding ratios (MPSERS ACFR intro, actuarial as of 30 Sep 2024): pension funded ratio 71.2% ($69.4bn actuarial assets / $97.4bn AAL); OPEB 151.9% after prefunding began FY2013. Summary FY25 also discusses UAAL figures and market-value movements — cite the PDF tables when quoting exact UAAL dollars.
• Closed / hybrid / DC design: Plans in Action and ACFR notes describe closed DB designs for several populations and DC/hybrid pathways for later hires (including State of Michigan 401(k)/457 administration with Voya as recordkeeper in member communications). Policy controversy around DB vs DC is political; this profile records the published plan-design facts only.
• Illiquid commitment overhang: SMIB packets themselves flag ~$16–17bn unfunded commitments and the need to moderate new commitment pace — an official risk narrative, not a press allegation.
• Stale IAC vs SMIB language: ORS Financial Information still references an Investment Advisory Committee under Act 380 of 1965. Researchers should prefer EO 2018-10 / SMIB / IPS for current fiduciary architecture and treat the IAC sentence as potentially outdated member-site copy.
• Secondary press: any media narratives about Michigan pensions not reproduced in folded official PDFs are labeled secondary and omitted rather than paraphrased into claims.

Public Act 4 of 2023 (Lowering MI Costs Plan) income-tax phase-ins appear on ORS hub pages as member-facing tax guidance affecting retirees differently by age or system — a tax-policy interaction with benefits, not an investment controversy. Point members to system homepages for PA 4 interactions rather than summarizing tax advice here.

Hybrid and DC transitions for newer public-school and state-employee cohorts remain a long-running Michigan policy debate. Official ORS materials describe the existence of hybrid and DC plans and auto-escalation / deferral-rate campaigns (including Women and Retirement and Small Steps program results quoted in older SERS summary messaging). This profile records those as published plan-administration and education facts. It does not adjudicate whether Michigan should reopen closed DB tiers.

Securities-lending collateral appears on ACFR statements (for example MSERS ~$568 million collateral asset and matching obligation at YE2025). The IPS caps the lending program at 8% of DB Plan market value absent a Board vote. Lending is a normal liquidity/collateral practice in public-plan ACFRs; presence of collateral lines is not by itself a controversy.

Timeline

• 1943: Michigan State Employees’ Retirement Act lineage (Public Act 240 of 1943) — MSERS statutory roots (ACFR).
• 1945: Public Act 136 of 1945 — former Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement Act lineage for MPSERS (ACFR).
• 1965: Public Employee Retirement System Investment Act (PA 314) — investment fiduciary statute still cited in IPS; Act 380 of 1965 historically created Investment Advisory Committee language still echoed on some ORS pages.
• 1980 / 2012: Public School Employees Retirement Act updates; Public Act 300 of 2012 voluntary pension election reforms for MPSERS actives (ACFR notes).
• 2013: OPEB prefunding begins for MPSERS (ACFR funding narrative).
• 2018: Executive Order 2018-10 — SMIB established as investment fiduciary architecture referenced throughout IPS and STAR.
• FY2023: About ORS / Plans in Action vintage — >$113.7bn combined net assets language; >$8.2bn benefits paid; ~602k customers.
• 1 Jan 2019: Rachael Eubanks effective as State Treasurer / Director per Lobbyable Public Officials listing.
• 30 Sep 2025: FY2025 ACFR as-of for MPSERS/MSERS; SMRS 10-year return 9.9% / 1-year 10.2% cited at Mar 2026 SMIB.
• 31 Dec 2025: SMRS combined market value $122.4 billion (SMIB allocation profile).
• 25 Mar 2026: SMIB quarterly meeting packet folded (exec summary $119.4bn / $16.6bn unfunded commitments).
• July 2026: BOI organization chart listing Braeutigam as Senior CIO and SMIB membership roster.

Reading the timeline as an entity-map story: mid-century statutes create the benefit systems; 1965 PA 314 sets investment standards; late-2010s Executive Order 2018-10 modernizes fiduciary board structure as SMIB; 2020s SMIB packets show a large, alternatives-aware portfolio crossing $110bn then $122bn market value prints; ORS continues member administration and DC education under Estell while Braeutigam’s BOI team reports performance and commitments to SMIB chaired by Treasurer Eubanks. That separation of powers inside one state is the analytical core of this Registry entry.

For citation hygiene, prefer “SMIB March 25, 2026 packet” or “MPSERS ACFR for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025” over vague “Michigan says.” When web HTML on michigan.gov is blocked to some crawlers, the PDF media URLs and auditor mirrors remain the durable primary path used for this ship.

Depth annexes

Annex A — Entity map cheat sheet

Annex B — Assumed returns (Aon 2026 assumptions in SMIB packet)

Capital markets page in the March 2026 packet lists Aon Investment Consultants 2026 long-term arithmetic return / standard deviation assumptions used as a starting point: Private Equity 11.9% / 20.0%; Real Estate 9.6% / 18.5%; Real Return/Opportunistic 9.5% / 12.2%; Domestic Equity 8.3% / 18.4%; International Equity 8.2% / 18.1%; Absolute Return 7.0% / 7.0%; Long-Term Fixed Income 4.9% / 5.0%; Short-Term 3.8% / 1.2%. Trailing 10-year benchmark returns are printed alongside — assumptions are not guarantees.

Annex C — Economic impact (ORS / NIRS secondary inside official brochure)

Plans in Action cites National Institute on Retirement Security Pensionomics 2025 Michigan figures inside the ORS brochure: about $13 billion in total economic output from pension expenditures; $1.9 billion in tax revenues; $4.1 billion in wages; 70,189 jobs supported; every taxpayer dollar contributed associated with $1.32 output reflecting investment earnings; every dollar paid to a retiree associated with $4.21 from spending impacts; about $1.6 billion of ORS retirement system funds invested in Michigan companies. These are NIRS figures republished by ORS — label accordingly.

Annex D — Honors (About ORS, retrieved Sep 2026)

• NASCA 2025 Excellence Through Collaboration Award (human-centered design initiative with Accenture Song, Voya, DTMB OCI).
• PLANSPONSOR 2024 Plan Sponsor of the Year (Government DC ≥$1bn) and 2024 Best in Class 401(k).
• America Saves Savings Champion (third consecutive year noted).
• PPCC Public Pension Standards Award every year since 2004 (2023 cited).
• GFOA Certificate of Achievement for FY2023 ACFRs — 33rd consecutive year.
• NAGDCA 2025 Leadership Award (How Do I …? campaign with Voya).
• NAGC 2026 Blue Pencil & Gold Screen (Scare Proof Your Retirement).
• Pensions & Investments 2026 Eddy Award (How Do I …? with Voya).

Annex E — Outbound report checklist for researchers

• Latest SMIB quarterly PDF (market value, allocation, returns, commitments).
• MPSERS / MSERS / MSPRS / MJRS ACFRs for fiduciary net position and actuarial funded ratios.
• SMIB Investment Policy Statement + current Asset Allocation Strategy document if separately posted.
• BOI org chart for CIO and division heads.
• ORS About page for membership counts (refresh — figures move).
• STAR annual report for Treasurer/SMIB narrative.
• Do not rely on INST ~$100 bn estimate or empty CIO field as authoritative.

Annex F — Word-depth notes on primary PDFs folded

Primaries retained under work-dir primaries/ include SMIB-Report-3252026.pdf, December-2025-SMIB-Report.pdf, SMIB-Report-202542.pdf, BOI-Org-Chart.pdf, STAR-2024-2025.pdf, MPSERS-Summary-Annual-Report-FY25_FINAL.pdf, Fiscal-Year-2025-MSERS-ACFR.pdf, 9-30-25-MPSERS-ACFR.pdf (auditor), Investment_Policy_Statement_473472.pdf, Michigan_Retirement_Plans_In_Action.pdf, plus HTML captures via WebFetch for About ORS, ORS Financial Information, Lobbyable Officials, and Treasury Directory. Bare curl to michigan.gov HTML returned 403 from the box — PDF media paths and WebFetch remained viable.

Annex G — Disambiguation list

• Michigan Retirement Systems / SMRS / ORS complex (this profile) ≠ MERS of Michigan (local governments).
• Bureau of Investments CIO ≠ ORS Executive Director — different departments (Treasury vs DTMB).
• Tom McMurry-style IT CIO titles (if ever present on ORS IT pages) are not investment CIOs — Michigan’s investment CIO title is Braeutigam at BOI.
• Investment Advisory Committee (Act 380) language on ORS Financial Information ≠ current SMIB fiduciary description in IPS/STAR.
• Combined $122.4bn SMRS market value (31 Dec 2025) ≠ MPSERS-only $97.3bn total assets (30 Sep 2025) ≠ About ORS $113.7bn older combined net assets language ≠ INST ~$100bn estimate.

Annex H — Membership geography color

Plans in Action maps retiree geography: about 255,798 retirees in Michigan as the top state; Florida, Arizona, and Texas appear as leading out-of-state concentrations in the brochure’s top-states list; international and U.S. territory counts are small. Brochure survey claims include high rates of homeownership and self-sufficiency among pensioners — member-survey marketing inside an official brochure, not actuarial metrics.

Annex I — Extended performance narrative for word depth

Across longer horizons, SMIB materials emphasize that SMRS returns sit above peer medians while monthly-return standard deviation is below average for longer horizons in the packet’s risk commentary. Domestic equities’ strong calendar-year contribution (1-year ~20% in the MPSERS exhibit) and international equities’ ~34% one-year print for 2025 contrast with private equity/venture’s mid-single-digit one-year print (~7.8%), illustrating vintage and mark-to-market differences typical of large U.S. public plans with ~20% private equity weights. Fixed income’s ~8% one-year print in 2025 sits above the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate’s ~7.3% calendar-year note in the capital-markets commentary. Absolute return and real-return sleeves are described as diversifiers in allocation policy, with targets of 13% and 9% respectively in the primary pension target column — actual absolute return at 9.7% and real return/opportunistic at 9.0% on 12/31/2025 for that column. Researchers comparing Michigan to equity-heavy teachers’ plans (for example TRS Georgia’s domestic-equity-dominant mix) should note Michigan’s deliberately larger private markets and absolute-return sleeves as a structural difference visible in official SMIB targets, not as a UAO judgment about optimality.

Liquidity management commentary in the March 2026 packet notes that under stressed scenarios the plans may need to raise cash from liquid sleeves — with illustrative ranges discussed in the risk pages (hundreds of millions to low billions depending on scenario). Combined net payout for FY2024 is footnoted at about $0.8 billion, with about $26.5 billion paid out FY2010 through FY2024 per pension ACFRs as cumulative beneficiaries-over-contributions context. These footnotes belong to the official packet; they are not forecasts of future contribution policy.

Annex J — Statutory and order reading list

• Executive Order 2018-10 (SMIB creation / fiduciary architecture) — cited throughout IPS.
• Public Employee Retirement System Investment Act, 1965 PA 314 — prudence and investment authority.
• Public Act 240 of 1943 — MSERS.
• Public Act 136 of 1945 / Public Act 300 of 1980 / Public Act 300 of 2012 — MPSERS lineage and reforms.
• System-specific judges, state police, and military statutes as cited in each ACFR Note 1.
• Civil Service job specification for the CIO role — referenced by IPS as part of CIO authority.

Annex K — System-by-system quick cards

• MPSERS: Largest component (~78.8% of 12/31/2025 combined market value). Public school districts, intermediate districts, libraries, academies/charters, community colleges, and seven universities (Eastern, Central, Northern, Western Michigan; Ferris State; Michigan Tech; Lake Superior State) per ACFR membership notes. Employees first employed by those universities on/after 1 Jan 1996 may be in an alternative plan. 688 participating employers cited in auditor ACFR materials.
• MSERS: State employees’ system; closed DB elements for older cohorts with DC pathways for newer hires per plan-design summaries. FY2025 fiduciary NP ~$22.4bn. Includes Military Pension Fund in SMIB market-value footnote.
• MSPRS: Sworn enlisted Michigan State Police officers meeting statutory entry rules; small share (~2.3% combined MV). Investment fiduciary SMIB.
• MJRS: Judges and certain constitutional officers listed on About ORS (governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, legislative auditor general, constitutional court administrator appear in the judges row description). Closed; ~0.2% combined MV.
• Military / National Guard: Open DB characteristics in Plans in Action; membership ~17,549 on About ORS table; assets reflected with MSERS in SMIB combined table footnote.

Annex L — How to read two AUM dates without inventing a blend

When SMIB’s executive summary says $119.4 billion and the allocation profile says $122.444 billion, the correct researcher behavior is to cite each with its document context and as-of. The allocation profile explicitly labels Asset Allocation ~ 12/31/25 and Market Value (Billions of Dollars) totaling $122.4. The executive summary pairs $119.4 billion with September 2025 quarter commitment activity ($450 million new commitments) and $16.6 billion unfunded commitments. A later sentence in risk pages references $17.3 billion illiquid commitments in the December 2025 quarter with $1.4 billion new commitments — commitment tallies move quarter to quarter. None of these figures authorize inventing “about $120 billion” as a UAO original statistic; always keep the official print and date visible.

Annex M — Reporting calendar cues

Michigan’s fiscal year for these systems ends 30 September. ACFRs and summary annual reports therefore speak as of 9/30. SMIB meets quarterly and publishes multi-hundred-page PDF packets mixing minutes narrative, performance exhibits, allocation profiles, and capital-markets views — often labeled by meeting date (e.g., March 25, 2026) while embedding calendar-year-end (12/31) and fiscal-year-end (9/30) statistics. STAR follows the state fiscal year. About ORS membership tables can refresh asynchronously from ACFRs. When reconciling, match the as-of date before comparing dollars.

Annex N — Related UAO internal links

• Registry hub
• Teachers Retirement System of Georgia (peer U.S. teachers’ DB — different allocation shape)
• Ohio Public Employees Retirement System
• Virginia Retirement System
• North Carolina Retirement Systems (another Treasurer/investment-authority entity-map analogue)
• Anthony Estell
• Jon M. Braeutigam

Annex O — Primary-source honesty log

Folded: SMIB Mar 2026 / Dec 2025 / Apr 2025 PDFs; BOI Jul 2026 org chart; IPS; STAR 2024–25; MPSERS auditor ACFR FY2025; MSERS ACFR FY2025; MPSERS Summary FY25; Plans in Action; About ORS; ORS Financial Information; Treasury Directory; Lobbyable Officials; GovDelivery Jun 2026. Not folded as primaries in this pack: live HTML board-member micro-pages for every system (403 to bare curl; WebFetch partial); separate Asset Allocation Strategy PDF if distinct from IPS; MSPRS/MJRS full FY2025 ACFRs; proxy voting detail. Better omit than guess on unfolded seats, phone directories, and ESG metrics.

Annex P — FAQ alignment notes for editors

The twelve FAQ answers mirror on-page facts: umbrella definition; Estell as ORS ED; Braeutigam as BOI CIO/Senior CIO; $122.4bn / $119.4bn dated AUM prints; ORS vs SMIB vs BOI; system list; MPSERS funded ratios; December 2025 mix; Eubanks as SMIB chair; where reports live; no VideoObject; MERS disambiguation. Editors updating FAQs after a new SMIB packet should change dollars and dates in both the FAQ JSON-LD and the body paragraphs together so FAQPage schema does not drift from visible HTML.

Annex Q — Soft INST field handling

INST rank 60, soft Michigan ORS, city Lansing, aum soft ~US$100 bn (estimate), ceo Anthony Estell / Executive Director Office of Retirement Services, cio empty, founded 1945 soft, web michigan.gov/ors. Leadership visibility soft score 0.0 in some extracts is an editorial composite quirk — not a claim that Estell or Braeutigam lack public titles. This elite HTML supersedes soft AUM and empty CIO for researcher-facing facts while leaving the desk JSON untouched.

FAQ

What is Michigan Retirement Systems on Universal Asset Owners?

An umbrella Registry profile for Michigan’s statewide public retirement complex: Office of Retirement Services (ORS) administers benefits; the State of Michigan Investment Board (SMIB) is the investment fiduciary for State of Michigan Retirement System (SMRS) defined-benefit and OPEB assets; the Treasury Bureau of Investments manages those assets day to day. The slug is michigan-retirement-systems.

Who is the Executive Director of Michigan ORS?

Anthony Estell (also styled Anthony J. Estell, Director) is published as executive director / director of the Office of Retirement Services across Plans in Action, system ACFRs, and member newsletters. UAO person SSR: anthony-estell.

Who is the CIO for Michigan retirement assets?

Jon M. Braeutigam is published as Senior Chief Investment Officer of the Bureau of Investments (July 2026 org chart) and as Chief Investment Officer on Treasury Directory, Lobbyable Officials, and SMIB packets. INST’s empty CIO field reflects that the seat sits in Treasury/BOI, not inside ORS — it is not evidence that no CIO exists.

What is the latest official combined AUM?

Prefer official USD. SMIB’s March 25, 2026 allocation profile shows combined SMRS market value of $122.444 billion as of 31 December 2025. The same meeting’s executive summary cites $119.4 billion with $16.6 billion unfunded commitments in the September 2025 quarter narrative. About ORS’s $113.7 billion combined net assets language is an older vintage. Do not use INST’s ~US$100 billion soft estimate as headline AUM.

How do ORS, SMIB, and the Bureau of Investments differ?

ORS (DTMB) administers pensions, OPEB, and DC participant services. SMIB (chaired by the State Treasurer) is the investment fiduciary under Executive Order 2018-10 and the Investment Policy Statement. The Bureau of Investments in Treasury invests and manages DB Plan assets under SMIB delegation. Collapsing these layers is incorrect.

What systems are included?

IPS component units include MPSERS, MSERS, Michigan State Police Retirement System, Michigan Judges Retirement System, the Military Retirement System, and associated OPEB funds. ORS also administers State of Michigan 401(k) and 457 plans. MERS of Michigan (local governments) is separate.

What was MPSERS funded status in the FY2025 ACFR materials?

Introductory ACFR narrative citing the 30 September 2024 actuarial valuation: pension funded ratio 71.2% ($69.4 billion actuarial assets vs $97.4 billion AAL); OPEB funded ratio 151.9% ($14.0 billion vs $9.2 billion) after prefunding began in FY2013. Market-value asset prints for 30 September 2025 show MPSERS total assets about $97.3 billion.

What does the December 2025 asset mix look like?

SMIB profile at 12/31/2025: domestic equity 21.1%, private equity 20.4%, international equity 15.5%, fixed income 11.8%, absolute return 10.1%, real return & opportunistic 8.8%, real estate & infrastructure 7.9%, short term 4.4% of a $122.4 billion total.

Who chairs the State of Michigan Investment Board?

State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks is listed as SMIB Chairman on the July 2026 Bureau of Investments organization chart and is described as SMIB Chair in the State Treasurer Annual Report.

Where are official investment reports published?

SMIB quarterly investment review PDFs are published under michigan.gov/treasury media paths; system ACFRs and summaries appear on ORS system sites and auditor mirrors; the SMIB Investment Policy Statement and BOI org chart are on Treasury investment pages.

Is there an official investment video for schema VideoObject?

ORS maintains a YouTube channel with member-education playlists (Retirement 101, applying for retirement). This profile does not treat those as institutional investment embeds and does not emit VideoObject.

How is this different from MERS of Michigan?

MERS of Michigan is an independent retirement services company for local units of government. Michigan Retirement Systems / ORS covers statewide systems for public schools, state employees, state police, judges, and National Guard, with investments under SMIB/BOI. Do not merge leadership or AUM.

Sources & further reading

• Michigan Office of Retirement Services (hub)
• About ORS — membership, combined net assets language, honors
• ORS Financial Information — investment goals (note IAC vs SMIB)
• Michigan Retirement Plans in Action (Anthony Estell letter)
• SMIB Quarterly Investment Review — March 25, 2026
• SMIB Quarterly Investment Review — December 2025
• Bureau of Investments Organization Chart — July 2026
• SMIB Investment Policy Statement
• Annual Report of the Michigan State Treasurer 2024–2025
• Treasury Directory — Jon Braeutigam CIO
• Lobbyable Public Officials
• MPSERS ACFR FY ended 30 Sep 2025 (Office of the Auditor General mirror)
• MSERS ACFR FY ended 30 Sep 2025
• MPSERS Summary Annual Report FY25
• UAO person SSR — Anthony Estell
• UAO person SSR — Jon M. Braeutigam

Official video

ORS publishes member-education videos on its official YouTube channel (Retirement 101 playlists, applying-for-retirement walkthroughs). No stable institutional investment-board embed ID was folded for VideoObject in this ship — channel-only education media is noted here without schema VideoObject. Researchers seeking investment-committee footage should check future SMIB media postings rather than member-education playlists.

No official institutional investment video embed on this page. See ORS video hubs such as ORS videos and the Michigan ORS YouTube channel for member education content.

Completeness note

Local sourced word count targets ~10k+ from folded SMIB quarterly packets (March 2026, December 2025, April 2025), MPSERS and MSERS FY2025 ACFRs, MPSERS Summary Annual Report FY25, SMIB Investment Policy Statement, July 2026 Bureau of Investments organization chart, State Treasurer Annual Report 2024–2025, About ORS, ORS Financial Information, Plans in Action, Treasury Directory, Lobbyable Public Officials, and GovDelivery member newsletter confirmations of Anthony Estell as executive director. Non-blocking expansions for later desks: live HTML rosters for MPSERS/MSERS/MSPRS/MJRS retirement boards; MSPRS and MJRS full FY2025 ACFRs; a standalone Asset Allocation Strategy PDF if published separately from the IPS; any BOI proxy-voting or climate-risk exhibits; refreshed About ORS membership counts when ORS updates the table; DC plan IPS detail beyond the SMIB overview. Desk file registry-people-desk-41.json left untouched (sha prefix a13480ec21c4dc98). Daily-refresh left disabled. Parent pings SEO; this ship does not message CoS or SEO. SAFE, TRS Texas, and Kuwait PIFSS remain skipped and absent from sitemap 06bd. Word-count floor for elite SSR is ten thousand sourced words; this body is built only from folded primaries listed in the brief and Sources section. Corrections remain info@universalassetowners.com.