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St. Mary's County retirement board approves MFS as new non‑U.S. equity manager
Summary
On March 26, 2026 the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office Retirement Plan Board voted to replace PJIM Jennison with MFS International Growth as the plan's non‑U.S. equity growth manager and approved modest rebalancing to move cash back toward policy targets. The change follows a Marquette Associates presentation comparing concentration, fees and risk across candidate managers.
The St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office Retirement Plan Board voted March 26 to replace PJIM Jennison as the plan's non‑U.S. equity growth manager and to rebalance modestly to bring cash and equity allocations closer to policy targets.
Pat Wing, investment consultant from Marquette Associates, told the board the Jennison strategy is highly concentrated in two risk factors — artificial intelligence and aerospace and defense — and that the manager was down roughly 10% year‑to‑date and about eight percentage points behind its benchmark. Wing said the combination of concentration and recent underperformance supported reviewing replacement options. "We are recommending the full liquidation there of PJIM Jennison," Wing said during the presentation.
Wing presented two candidates to replace Jennison: American Funds (EuroPacific) and MFS International Growth. He described American Funds as extremely large but broadly diversified across hundreds of holdings, and MFS as a quality‑growth manager with fewer holdings than American Funds but better downside protection and steadier risk‑adjusted returns. "If the board approves a change here ... we're going to be much more certain around what we're going to get," Wing said, contrasting MFS and American Funds with Jennison's more volatile record.
Board members asked about scale and portfolio role. A board member noted the Jennison holding represented about 2.7% of the total plan; Wing said the recommended transaction would liquidate roughly $4.9 million from PJIM Jennison and move about $5.5 million to the new manager, subject to final fund statements. He also described modest cash transfers to bring the plan back into policy bounds — approximately $150,000 from cash held outside Morgan Stanley and about $1.4 million from an Allspring money market fund — but emphasized those figures were preliminary and could change when outstanding statements arrive.
A motion to "approve the recommended proposed rebalancing incorporating MFS as the new non US Equity Growth Manager" was made by Tracy McPherson and seconded; the motion was approved by voice vote and the chair declared the motion carried. The transcript records vocal "Aye" responses and the chair's announcement that the motion carried; the transcript does not provide a detailed roll‑call tally.
Next steps: staff and consultants will proceed with the liquidation and transfers as recommended, subject to receipt of final fund statements and operational confirmations. The board's next scheduled meeting is April 23, 2026.
Votes and procedural note: The action was approved by voice vote; individualized tallies were not specified in the meeting transcript.
