Pension manager gets good evaluation
Bonus proposal delayed until Oct.
Members of the board overseeing the state pension fund signed off on a positive evaluation of the fund's manager yesterday, while postponing until October a now politically charged proposal on a performance-based pay for the manager and the board's staff.
Leslie Kirwan, Governor Deval Patrick's budget chief and appointee to the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, complained of a "bit of a fast turnaround" for the evaluation but added that she did not disagree with what had been written.
The evaluation of the $50 billion fund's executive director, Michael Travaglini, was compiled by one of the board members, as the board considers a proposal that could boost Travaglini's pay to more than $600,000, effectively doubling it he exceeds benchmarks.
Originally on the agenda for yesterday's board meeting as the "Incentive Compensation Study," the proposal was yanked after the Globe reported Wednesday that Patrick had voiced opposition to the plan.
The proposal has stirred a public rift between Patrick and Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, who chairs the nine-member board and is a fellow Democrat. In the article, Patrick, through a spokesman, said the proposal was out of line with compensation of similar pension fund directors. In a statement Wednesday, Cahill said Patrick's statement was an attempt to "politicize the vote and has made it difficult to discuss this issue in a rational and thoughtful manner."
In December, Travaglini publicly informed Cahill and pension fund board members that he planned to weigh their appetite and look for a consensus about changes in the compensation packages of 22 other employees.
Describing himself as frustrated, Travaglini said last year that salaries of some fund employees, compared with their peers, may be artificially low due to "headline risk" and suggested that comparative salary data would be helpful to the board.
Travaglini's $322,000 salary is one of the largest in state government. While some believe that public sector salaries shouldn't rise that high, others say salaries should be competitive with earnings of similarly situated private sector workers.
Kirwan, whom Patrick told to vote against the proposal, declined to immediately comment on the request. "Not right now," she said after the board meeting, before heading into a brief meeting with Travaglini in his office. Kirwan did not return calls to her office.
Travaglini's evaluation had no negative comments. It called him a "hands-on manager," a "role model for his staff," and "straightforward and nonpolitical on matters of concern to the PRIM" board, according to board member Robert Brousseau, who chairs the board's audit committee and oversaw Travaglini's evaluation. 