April 15, 2025
Public Safety Personnel Retirement System
State of Arizona
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Christian Palmer
Phone: 602-296-3736
PSPRS announces pending retirement of Administrator Michael Townsend
Leader credited with PSPRS resurgence set to retire November 2025
ARIZONA – Public Safety Personnel Retirement System Administrator Michael Townsend is set to retire effective November 2025 while the system’s Board of Trustees will initiate a selection process for the agency’s next highest executive.
Townsend, hired by the board in late 2019, reshaped the future of a then-struggling PSPRS through operational upgrades, key hires and an employer outreach campaign that resulted in state and local governments paying down more than $5.5 billion of unfunded pension liabilities.
Twice under Townsend’s leadership PSPRS was recognized as the fastest growing large pension in the nation for assets under management – in years 2021 and 2022 – by Pensions & Investments magazine, a stunning achievement Townsend said to be a “team effort” with government finance officers and elected officials.
“Mike Townsend will leave an incredible and lasting impact on all PSPRS-managed plans,” said PSPRS Board of Trustees Chairman Scott McCarty. “Through his collaborative work, he’s helped secure retirement futures for tens of thousands of first responders, corrections officers, judges and elected officials. This is an accomplishment that benefits every stakeholder and Arizona taxpayer.”
Plan funding levels for the public safety, corrections and elected officials retirement plans have all increased under Townsend’s tenure. Despite a growing number of plan retirees and increasing benefit payments, required employer pension payments have fallen by hundreds of millions of dollars each year and will save Arizona governments billions of dollars over the next several decades.
System assets, while also benefiting from investment returns, have more than doubled to exceed $23.2 billion since Townsend’s hiring.
“Working for PSPRS, our membership, participating employers, and staff has been the most fulfilling experience of my career,” said Townsend, a Flagstaff native and former deputy Coconino County manager with 30 years of government experience. “I’ve had incredible support from an outstanding staff and Board of Trustees and everyone pulled together to impact the lives of our members.”
Townsend’s work to reduce pension debts helped earn him the Arizona Capitol Times’ Arizona Government Leader of the Year award in 2021 and 2024. The award recognizes those “who advance the interest of the people of Arizona, work tirelessly and sincerely for the common good.”
Townsend’s key hires for PSPRS include Chief Auditor Cathleen Davis, Compliance Officer Angela Egelhoff, Assistant Administrator Erin Higbee, Chief Financial Officer John Moorman, Senior Financial Consultant Clark Partridge and Deputy Administrator Mike Smarik.
About PSPRS
The PSPRS trust includes the Corrections Officers Retirement Plan (CORP) and the Elected Officials Retirement Plan (EORP) and serves approximately 60,000 retired and active members.
PSPRS is governed by a nine-member board consisting of four members of PSPRS-managed retirement plans and five civilians who meet stringent requirements for financial, investment and business expertise.