Summary: NC Treasurer Wins Governance Reform to Revive $127B Pension

North Carolina State Treasurer Brad Briner has succeeded in overhauling the governance of the state's $127 billion Retirement Systems, moving away from a sole-fiduciary model toward a multi‑member board structure—a significant shift aimed at improving pension returns.

Key changes include:

• Replacing single-person control with the North Carolina Investment Authority, a 5-member board chaired by the treasurer and including appointments by the governor, the legislature, and the treasurer himself pionline.com+7institutionalinvestor.com+7axios.com+7.

• The reform addresses long-standing performance issues caused by outdated investment rules and a historically conservative asset mix, including excess cash holdings and caps on alternative investments.

• The new board’s mandate is to rebalance assets, diversify holdings into areas like fixed income, infrastructure, and real estate, and calibrate risk levels to drive better long-term returns institutionalinvestor.com+1institutionalinvestor.com+1.

• This model also mitigates succession risk by distributing fiduciary authority and aligning NC with governance best practices used in other high-performing state plans like South Carolina and Michigan institutionalinvestor.com.

In his view, shifting to a board model not only brings decision-making responsibility closer to asset management professionals but also protects the system from single-person dependency and political volatility.

This reform is seen as a strategic modernization effort aimed not only at boosting returns but also at enhancing the resilience and accountability of North Carolina’s public pension system.

Reference:
“NC State Treasurer Wins His Fight for Reforms to Resuscitate State Pension,” Institutional Investor pionline.com+9institutionalinvestor.com+9institutionalinvestor.com+9; and accompanying legislation reported by Axios nctreasurer.com+2axios.com+2axios.com+2.