Matthews to retire from Virginia Retirement System

W. Forrest Matthews Jr., executive director of the $42 billion Virginia Retirement System, announced yesterday that he will retire effective April 1. The Richmond-based pension system's board of trustees will begin a search for a new executive director; no decision has been made yet on whether to hire a search firm. Mr. Matthews, who has been executive director since March 2002, said in a statement that he intends to "take some time to relax and then do some of the things that I want to accomplish from a personal perspective."