From the Union Leader…
CONCORD – The executive director of the New Hampshire Retirement System has resigned her position less than five months after taking the job, the New Hampshire Union Leader has learned.
Constance Donovan, who took the helm at the $6 billion public pension system on April 21, notified the board of trustees by letter yesterday that she is leaving her job in 90 days.
When it hired Donovan, the NHRS announced she had been selected after an extensive nationwide search to replace Robert Leggett, who resigned in the summer of 2007. Donovan also holds the title of general counsel to the board. Her previous post was as general counsel to the District of Columbia Retirement Board, where she also served as acting director.
The NHRS oversees benefits for 20,000 retired teachers, firefighters, police and other public workers. The plan has another 53,000 active workers at the state and local level.
constance donovan 904resign
Board chair Lisa Shapiro said Donovan saw NHRS through significant improvement during her months in the job. Among them was the recruitment and hiring of a new director of investment who starts on Sept. 15.
Gov. John Lynch’s spokesman Colin Manning said, “The governor is surprised by the executive director’s decision to leave.” He said the office was told Donovan’s was a personal decision, and that she will help make a smooth transition over the next three months.
The system has been struggling to find a way to make up for years of under-performance in the investment market, and to cover the costs of health benefits and cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for several years. This June, the Legislature stabilized the pension plan by passing a reform bill that added $250 million to the pension fund itself, and put off until next year work on long-term solutions to the COLA and health questions. The cash infusion helped avoid staggering increases in the pension contributions that school districts and towns make on behalf of their workers.
The reform bill froze the health benefit subsidy at current levels for the next four years, and provided 1.5 percent COLA to all workers up to $450 in value, and one-time supplemental checks.
Accounting questions over the way NHRS allocated money from pension contributions to benefits programs delayed the completion of its fiscal 2007 audited financial statement. The report, due last fall, is planned for release next week to the joint legislative Fiscal Committee.