Mass. pension loses investment manager to Romney firm

FORTUNE –Scott Hutchins has quietly joined Solamere Capital, the Boston-based private equity firm co-founded by Tagg Romney and chaired by his father, 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Hutchins previously spent four years as a senior investment officer for private equity with the $57 billion Massachusetts Pension Retirement Investment Board. He had been considered a candidate for the top PE portfolio manager job when Wayne Smith left in 2011 — and basically did the job for more than a year — but ultimately was passed over for an outside hire (Michael Bailey).

Prior to joining PRIM in early 2010, Hutchins spent three years in private equity at Liberty Mutual.

Solamere invests via several strategies, including direct investments, co-investments and funds-of-funds. It had more than $280 million in capital under management as of last April, but later disclosed that it was targeting upwards of $250 million for a second fund. The firm’s three principals are Tagg Romney, Eric Scheuermann (ex-Jupiter Partners) and Spencer Zwick (finance chair for both of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns).

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