Greenwood goes without pension payments from state

Former University of Hawaii President M.R.C. Greenwood is not drawing pension benefits from the state’s retirement system.

Greenwood abruptly stepped down from UH’s top post last summer and, after a year of unpaid leave, announced she was retiring at the end of June.

The university referred to her departure as a retirement both times, but her career at the university came up a year shy of the required vesting period for the Hawaii Employees’ Retirement System.

Greenwood, 71, who had been one of the state’s highest-paid executives, was not receiving a pension from the state’s retirement system as of July 1, the day after her employment officially ended, according to ERS Administrator Wesley Machida.

In general, a public employee hired in 2009 like Greenwood would need to work five years and be at least 62 years old before being eligible for retirement benefits.

UH spokeswoman Lynne Waters said the university is not directly paying Greenwood "any special retirement, pension or benefit payments," either.

Greenwood was hired in August 2009 at an annual salary of $475,008. Four years later, in May 2013, she announced she was retiring from the presidency to spend more time with family and address health issues. She had close to two years remaining on her contract at the time.

The announcement came about a year after UH became mired in the so-called Wonder Blunder from a botched Stevie Wonder fundraising concert that eroded public confidence in the university’s leadership.

The Board of Regents had approved her request for one year of unpaid leave for "personal reasons" from Sept. 1, 2013, to Aug. 31, after which time she was expected to return to a tenured faculty position at the John A. Burns School of Medicine with an annual salary of nearly $294,000.

Greenwood, an internationally recognized expert on nutrition, obesity and diabetes, had agreed to focus on establishing a diabetes center at the medical school.

But she announced instead last month that "after a period of rest and reflection," she had decided to stay on the mainland to pursue writing and policy interests.

Greenwood did not respond to a request for comment.

Machida, the retirement system administrator, said the ERS could not disclose whether Greenwood would be eligible for retirement benefits from the state, based on her hiring date, years of service and age.

Citing protections under the state’s public records law, ERS staff said the information would "constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

"If she didn’t make the five years, then she wouldn’t get any benefits," said state Rep. Isaac Choy, (D, Manoa-Moiliili), chairman of the House Higher Education Committee. "It’s a contributory plan, and her last year she wouldn’t have been able to contribute because it’s a percentage of salary and she wasn’t getting paid. She’s gone. She’s not costing us any money. So let’s wish her well and bid her aloha. It’s really water under the bridge."

Before joining UH, Greenwood spent about two decades with the University of California system, including as a professor at multiple campuses, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs for the UC system, and as chancellor of UC-Santa Cruz.