About David
David Wescoe is an accomplished leader, with decades of legal, financial, and senior executive experience leading private, public, and nonprofit organizations.
After graduating from Columbia Law School, David worked for the Wall Street law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and served as Counsel to two Commissioners of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C.
After moving to the Midwest, David became a partner in a Minneapolis law firm and then joined a firm client, NYSE-listed Nicolet Instrument Corporation in Madison, Wisconsin, as General Counsel. He was later named Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer and then promoted to Executive Vice President, Law and Finance. After negotiating the sale of the company, David became the Vice President of North American Administration and U.S. General Counsel for Manpower in Milwaukee.
While at Manpower, David was recruited by the Chairman of Northwestern Mutual and became an NM Executive Officer and President and CEO of Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, one of the largest independent investment broker-dealers in the country with more than 8,000 registered representatives.
After moving with NM to San Diego, David began his public service career as CEO of the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System (SDCERS). SDCERS had been rocked by a scandal that had resulted in the federal indictments of its CEO, General Counsel, and three trustees.
Three other trustees were charged with violating state conflict-of-interest laws. After a nationwide search, the initial CEO candidate selected by SDCERS’ Board declined the Board’s offer, saying that, “regardless of the knowledge, experience, and ability of whoever you select to be the retirement administrator, these are problems that, in my opinion, the administrator will not be able to fix.”
Reading that candidate’s assessment and eager to serve the public, David applied for and was hired by the SDCERS Board after its second nationwide search. In just three years, David had led a successful turnaround, fixing the problems that were “unfixable.” SDCERS’ Board Chair said, “David came to SDCERS at the most contentious time in the organization’s history.
He stepped into a hornet’s nest and systematically brought stability to the organization. He had a strategic vision for SDCERS and has implemented that vision. He has done what many thought was impossible.” A former Board Chair added, “David Wescoe walked into an organization under assault from all sides; he took charge of the organization, created a strong management team around him, and filled it with qualified staff that came together to completely turn this organization around.”
" David has done what many thought was impossible. "
— Board Chair
During his SDCERS tenure, David received the “Most Admired Government Agency CEO Award” from Vistage and the San Diego Business Journal, the City of San Diego Retired Employees’ Outstanding Contribution Award, and the San Diego City Council declared March 9, 2010 “David B. Wescoe Day” “in appreciation of [Mr. Wescoe’s] willingness and tremendous efforts to restore the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System’s operational integrity and credibility.”
Given his public success at SDCERS, David was recruited to be the CEO of the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans in Studio City, and then returned to San Diego to become the CEO of the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association (SDCERA). When David was hired, SDCERA’s Board Chair said, “Mr. Wescoe is a proven turnaround specialist adept at identifying top-shelf talent. We need his objectivity and strategic advice to achieve our corporate renewal, and I am thankful for his willingness to serve the public.” Another SDCERA trustee added, “David brings a wealth of legal, financial, investment and operational experience from both the public and private sectors and led a turnaround at SDCERS to restore its integrity and credibility. He’s been there and done that.”
Eighteen months later, The San Diego Union-Tribune published a profile about David’s SDCERA accomplishments. The profile noted that,
“True government reform is rare. Yet hope is occasionally rewarded. For proof that success is possible, we need look no further than David Wescoe . . . who rehabilitated the operations and reputation of San Diego’s municipal pension system. Amazingly, Wescoe has surpassed himself at the county’s system. ‘The accomplishments are unprecedented,’ says one long-time SDCERA board member.”
“Through a mysterious combination of personality, enthusiasm and wisdom, Wescoe appears to have found ways to encourage incumbent employees to higher levels of service. He says, ‘My experience is this: Good people like a challenge.’ Wescoe added, “I believe in public service. And I believe in the power of the government to do good.” (“New CEO Rescues Another Pension System: David Wescoe, who revived city retirement fund, excels for San Diego County,” The San Diego Union-Tribune, April 30, 2016.)
Having run a city, county, and Taft-Hartley pension system, David jumped at the chance to run a state-wide retirement system when the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) in Austin offered him its CEO position. During his five-year TMRS tenure, TMRS added 55 participating cities, increased Trust Fund assets by 40% to $43.75 billion, reversed a decade of fourth-quartile investment returns and generated first-quartile returns for each of his last four years, and received four Quality Texas Foundation’s awards, putting TMRS on the path to apply for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
" Visionary Leadership "
— Texas Governor Gregg Abbott
When David retired from TMRS in June 2025, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott commissioned him as an “Honorary Texan” in recognition of David’s “visionary leadership that transformed TMRS and as a nationally recognized pension professional with unwavering dedication to public service who played an immense role in pressing Texas onward to an ever-brighter future, for which our state is grateful.”
During his public service as the chief executive of four public pension plans, David managed more than $100 billion on behalf of 400,000 plan members. He is the only individual to serve as the CEO of a city, county, Taft-Hartly, and state retirement system.
David’s non-profit leadership is just as impressive. David has been a board member and board chair of numerous arts, educational, and social services organizations. He served as a Trustee of Trinity School, a Board member and National Board Chair of the University of Kansas Alumni Association, a Trustee of the Milwaukee Art Museum, and a director of the Greater United Way of Milwaukee & Waukesha County where he led a record-breaking annual fund campaign.
David is a frequent speaker on financial and pension topics and has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and Governing magazine.