Jeb Burns

Jeb Burns is Chief Investment Officer of MERS of Michigan, the Municipal Employees' Retirement System of Michigan. MERS says he directs a roughly $25 billion investment program, leads a ten-member investment team, sets investment strategy, and implements investment programs. MERS describes itself as a not-for-profit retirement services organization serving Michigan local governments; its newsroom says it serves more than 1,000 municipalities and more than 150,000 participants.

Burns joined MERS in 2002. Before MERS, he worked in public policy, communications, legislative affairs, and budget roles with the State of Michigan, and earlier served as a financial advisor with Prudential Securities. He is part of MERS' senior management team, serves on the Investment Committee, and represents the fund on advisory committees for holdings.

His education includes an MPA in Public Policy from Wayne State University, a BA in History from Western Michigan University, and a Leadership Development Certificate from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. His professional designations include Master Professional Director Certification from the American College of Corporate Directors and NACD Directorship Certification.

Burns was appointed in October 2018 to the Michigan Early Stage Venture Investment Corporation Board of Directors, a state board focused on venture capital businesses specializing in early-stage and seed investments. That term expired June 13, 2021, and Governor Whitmer's November 10, 2021 appointments release named Dawn Batts as his successor.

• MERS' stated portfolio characteristics under Burns include disciplined asset allocation, global diversification, valuation focus, risk-adjusted returns, adequate liquidity, cost minimization, and long-term outperformance versus the actuarial return assumption and policy benchmark.
• Burns has emphasized valuation-driven flexibility rather than rigid asset allocation. In a 2017 Top1000funds profile, he said emerging and developed ex-U.S. equities looked cheaper than U.S. stocks and described a three-to-five-year horizon for those shifts.
• MERS is willing to seed managers, but Burns said, "We won't seed people who don't have experience or a track record." He also emphasized that smaller managers need compliance and back-office infrastructure.
• Private investments are a major part of the portfolio. MERS' March 2026 quarterly report listed Private Investments at $4.015 billion, or 24.30% of the portfolio, split across private equity, real assets, and diversifying strategies.
• MERS' March 2026 report listed investment risks and initiatives including emerging-market local-currency debt research, structured credit/CLO equity allocation, a Japanese yen and government bond portfolio, emerging-market equity research, rising energy demand, aging infrastructure, AI impact, deglobalization, and geopolitical instability.
• Burns has favored less-correlated niche assets. In an October 2024 Markets Group interview summary, his cited areas included agriculture, infrastructure such as toll roads and airports, utilities, health royalties, emerging-market debt, and a first direct single-country investment in Japan.
• Burns is not best characterized as a conventional angel investor. The verified current role is public-pension CIO; the seed-stage link is his former state venture-board role and MERS' manager-seeding program, not disclosed personal angel investing.