May 2, 2023: After a prolonged market selloff in 2022, the nearly $95 billion state pension fund has recorded back-to-back quarterly gains. In 2022, the fund was down 11.2 percent, but it is clawing back some gains. “The PRIT Fund is rebounding strongly,” executive director and chief investment officer Michael Trotsky said Tuesday morning. The pension fund posted a 3.6 percent gain in the first quarter of 2023, following a 4.1 percent boost in the last quarter of 2022. Positive returns continued in April, Trotsky said. The pension fund and the larger investment world are in the midst of a “prolonged volatile period,” Trotsky said. Fund managers are “manically focused” on the fund’s design and diversification, he said, but the fund is subject to impacts from forces beyond its control like wars, supply chain shortages, geopolitical events, viruses and slowing worldwide economic growth. Despite its large balance, the fund is only 64.3 percent funded, an improvement from 57 percent funded five years ago. Fund officials on Tuesday also welcome a new board member, Greater Boston Food Bank President and CEO Catherine D’Amato, the former chair of The Boston Foundation. Gov. Maura Healey appointed D’Amato to the board. – Michael P. Norton/SHNS