Michael Williamson, a former University of Wisconsin-Madison administrator, has been named executive director of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board. He will begin his duties in June. Williamson is currently deputy directory of the District of Columbia Retirement Board and previously served as director of North Carolina Retirement Systems, the tenth-largest public pension system in the United States. He is also chairman of the National Institute on Retirement Security and is past-president of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators.
Williamson worked in Wisconsin for many years, serving as an advisor to UW-Madison Chancellor Donna Shalala, chief of staff to Madison Mayor Joe Sensenbrenner, and policy assistant to Governor Lee Dreyfus.
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board manages assets of approximately $83 billion, including the $77 billion trust fund comprising the Wisconsin Retirement System, the ninth-largest pension fund in the country. Executive director Keith Bozarth announced last year that he intended to step down after 5 years in the position.