Missouri State Employees' Retirement System, Jefferson City, is looking for an executive search firm to help find an executive director, said Candy Smith, pension fund spokeswoman.
The $8.1 billion pension fund has issued an RFP because the contract of Executive Director John Watson expires on Aug. 31, 2018. Mr. Watson has been executive director since Sept. 1, 2015.
Shannon Owens, chairwoman of the MOSERS board of trustees, said in a statement: "On behalf of the MOSERS board of trustees, I would like to thank John for his many years of service to the state of Missouri and his leadership at MOSERS. John has led the retirement system through significant changes while maintaining high quality service to our members. The board is grateful to John for his important contributions."
Mr. Watson could not be reached immediately for comment.
Before joining MOSERS, Mr. Watson was chief of staff to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon until the end of 2014 and since has served both as a senior adviser to Mr. Nixon and also as interim state auditor after the death in February 2015 of Tom Schweich.
Executive search firm EFL Associates was hired for the search that resulted in Mr. Watson's hiring.
Proposals are due at 4:30 p.m. CST on Jan. 2. A timeline for a decision was not available, but a new executive director is scheduled to be in place on Sept. 1.
The RFP is available on MOSERS' website.