As President of the Mass Retirees Association, I am honored to announce our endorsement of Joseph Connarton to represent State Retirees and Employees on the Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM) Board.
PRIM, which is chaired by State Treasurer Deb Goldberg, is governed by a 9-member board that includes two members elected from the State Retirement System and two members elected from the Teachers’ Retirement System. The Board is responsible for overseeing the PRIT Fund, the Commonwealth’s $123 billion pension investment fund.
As you may know, Joe Connarton serves as Treasurer of Mass Retirees. He is also the retired Executive Director of the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC), the state oversight agency that regulates our public retirement systems. Joe is highly respected and viewed as one of the leading experts on public pension systems and public retirement. I can think of no one more qualified or experienced to represent our collective interests on the PRIM Board than Joe Connarton.
I should also point out that I’ve not only known Joe for many decades, but I worked for him at PERAC for several years. This is how I can be certain that Joe is the right person to fill this important role.
The open seat on the PRIM Board has been historically held by a Mass Retirees official. This began when PRIM was first created in the 1980s, when Association founder and former President Ralph White was elected to the seat. Upon Ralph’s retirement, our then Executive Vice President Paul Shanley was elected to PRIM. Paul was a retired Deputy State Treasurer, which made him ideally qualified for the position.
Sadly, we lost our dear friend Paul Shanley last year following a long fight with cancer.
Given Joe Connarton’s background and years of experience, he is uniquely qualified to represent State Retirees and Employees on the PRIM Board. I cannot overstate how important the success of the PRIT Fund is to public retirees. Joe will be a true asset from day one and will continue the long tradition of an experienced senior Mass Retirees officer holding this critical seat. I urge State retirees and employees to please vote to elect Joe Connarton to the PRIM Board.
I am also very happy to report that Joe has received the endorsement of the Mass Correction Officers Federated Union (MCOFU) and the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE). I have the honor of serving as an elected member of the State Retirement Board with NAGE Executive Vice President Theresa McGoldrick, who also serves as a PRIM Board member.
Ballots are scheduled to be mailed to all State retirees and employees on Friday, March 27th. You can either vote online (following the instructions contained on the ballot) or by mail. Mail-in ballots must be received before 5:00 PM on Friday, May 22, 2026.
To vote online, please visit PRIM Votes at www.primvotes.com. You will be asked to enter the election code and your PIN number, both of which are contained within the ballot you will have received in the mail.
Ensuring that you have proper qualified representation on PRIM is very important to the success of our retirement system. Please take a moment to vote. And when you do, please consider supporting Joseph Connarton.
Most Sincerely,
Frank
Frank Valeri
President
Mass Retirees Association
Elected Member
State Retirement Board