The Ohio School Employees Retirement System issued the following statement.
At today’s special Board meeting, SERS’ Board announced the appointment of Ray Higgins as the System’s next executive director.
Higgins is expected to join the organization in early July. He was selected from a pool of highly qualified executives recruited in a national search conducted by Hudepohl & Associates.
With this appointment, Higgins becomes the eighth Executive Director since the System’s founding in 1937. “I am honored to be selected as the next executive director of SERS, and I am excited to join the team. SERS is respected nationally for its management, investment performance, and effective Board leadership,” Higgins said. “Together, we will work hard to maintain and enhance that reputation while ensuring the highest level of service to our members.”
Higgins has served as executive director of the $39 billion Public Employee’s Retirement System of Mississippi for the past eight years.
This public service followed almost 20 years working for the State of Georgia, including service as deputy director and chief operating officer for the Employees’ Retirement System of Georgia and deputy commissioner for the Department of Early Care and Learning.
Higgins received a B.B.A. degree in finance from Georgia Southern University, and a M.S. degree in finance and investments from Georgia State University.
“On behalf of the SERS Board, I would like to thank Richard Stensrud for his outstanding leadership and service to the System over the past nine years. Thanks to Richard’s direction, the organization is in a strong position across all key metrics,” said James Rossler, Chair of the SERS Board. Stensrud will retire in July following nine years as SERS’ executive director.
Kingfish note: Good job Legislature, good job. You ran off someone who did a pretty good job of running PERS. You ignored the ratings agencies, stripped the Board of Trustees of its power, and said you would fund PERS than proceeded not to do so. Oh, and let's not forget you undid some of the PERS reforms this year.
Higgins was severely underpaid at $185,000 per year. Let's see who they recruit from Edward Jones to run PERS.
The outgoing Director of OSERS made $345,000 per year. The size of the portfolio is $26 billion. PERS portfolio is $39 billion.
33 comments:
Not to mention that as bad as Ohio is, still much more livable than Mississippi by a huge margin. Even Afroman moved to Ohio decades ago.
Will he be the last one in the room to turn off the alights?
can he let us know if theres any good real estate deals when he gets there?
Ohio has a smaller pension system than MS? Weird. They must have separate systems for teachers and county/muni employees.
~Half the asset size of PERS, 79% funded, 7% LT return assumption.
Looks like a lateral move for undoubtedly more pay but, most importantly, gets him and his the hell out of Mississippi. (Though the traffic in Columbus is truly horrendous.)
I mean, if Afroman moved there it must be paradise. Because I always base my decisions in life on celebrity moves. I’m just waiting now on who Taylor Swift tells me to vote for in the next presidential election. Or maybe, I can watch The View to see who I need to hate this week. BTW, what exactly makes MS unlivable?
Damn good question. Yeah they have multiple, but combined Ohio's public employee retirement system has $230 billion in assets, compared to Mississippi's $34 billion in assets
Most importantly - gets him out of the shit storm that's coming regarding PERS inevitable insolvency .
Afroman hasn’t been a celebrity for a long time. He is a cultural icon and a reluctant civil rights icon. He would’ve preferred to just live a quiet life.
Why all the hate toward MS?
It's foolish to be surprised given the dysfunctional nature of our legislature that is more focused on drinking, carousing, and getting reelected.
When the only goal is winning the next election, there is only room for short-term thinking.
But I guess more forward-looking than winning the next quarter, like our corporate leaders.
@10:55 AM
Have you ever actually left Mississippi to go anywhere besides TN, AL, or LA?
Literally anywhere isn’t he US is better. ANYWHERE!
Our legislature is such a joke.
Useless, amoral narcissists that do nothing to better the citizens, unless we luck up and get some scraps from a bill that directly benefits their own personal interests.
As usual state government runs off competent people until they get some dullard that tells them what they want to hear.
Couldn't agree more with 11:41 about Mississippi legislators. For the first three months of every year, you'd better lock up your whiskey and your daughters.
I am damn proud to be a Mississippian. I am so proud of our people. I love being the underdog. I love the fact that the rest of the USA thinks we are trash and they won’t move here. I HATE the fact that people live here and have good lives but still trash this place. We have all the luxury a human could possibly need in Central MS. Yes there are problems. Yes there are bad people here. But we are a low population state that is half poor and we still manage to do great things and churn out the kindest, most humane people that genuinely care about their neighbors and communities. We don’t have many tourist attractions or big entertainment centers, but it is a mighty slow, quiet, simple living here in Mississippi and it is a warm and comfortable life. I have been to all 50 states, and yes some are “better” than MS, but there is no place like this place. Forever glad to live here and grateful for all we have. God is good!
11:16, please state specifics to back your views on the state of MS. Not general comments - specific, verifiable facts.
10:32 PERS is not close to being insolvent. Unfunded liability is predicted to be the same 30 years from now as it is today. Quit drinking the KOOL AID.
11:16, actually, I have been to many states as well as a few countries. Over the course of my previous career I have seen and done a lot for God and country. I like being here for the time being as where I live you don’t see all the crazy shit that is happening in other parts of the country. If it is so bad here, I-20 and 49 will lead you out of the state if you stay on one of them long enough.
The only answer to the PERS debacle is investing any and all new monies into Bitcoin, ETH and some hedging with FartCoin. Crypto is the future and the future is grand.
You have a singular point of view....as many in leadership and the hundreds of thousands dependent on their pensions will attest - there's a LOT to be very concerned about. Old adage: "How do you go bankrupt?......A little bit over a long period of time then, BAM! You're broke."
PERS is a slow-motion trainwreck happening in visible, real-time....and many other states face the same challenge.
By working 8!years for PERS, he is vested in it though yes? He will also be a GA pensioner too.
Yep! I interviewed for a job at PERS. When I saw the pay, they talked about how great the benefits are. I said no 30 years ago. U can earn more outside this state. And there aren’t as many biases or hang ups that u have to deal with on a daily basis. This state has lots of changing to do. Hope the younger generation does better than the previous ones.
$185k is not nearly enough for the size portfolio. Many university professors earn more -- working on 9-month contracts with no practical experience outside academia. Good luck finding a competent replacement who is not linked to the legislature in some way.
Should pay at least $250,000.
Don't blame the entire legislature, the culprits are Daniel, Delbert and Delbert decimal point system
For perspective, the CFO for the Alabama RSA (equivalent to PERS) is over $400K -- and she's not the president.
Good leadership costs money. -Chief Dr. RaShall Brackney
People comment here about MS versus other states. It's not the people -- it's the leadership and lack of vision from the legislature. I'd put MS folks up against anybody in terms of work ethic and values. However -- our legislature and leadership can't seem to get out of their own way.
The NIL bill that was introduced last year (and thankfully killed) is a great example. People say it was less than $3 million --- well, that's new roofs for 6 smaller elementary schools. It should have never been a topic of conversation.
I agree that Mississippi’s problem is leadership, not the character of the people. Folks here work hard, take care of family, help their neighbors, and do more with less than most states would ever tolerate.
But we also have to tell the whole truth.
That same bad leadership keeps getting elected.
At some point, we cannot keep blaming “the legislature” like those folks just wandered into the Capitol by accident. Voters put them there. Voters keep sending them back. Voters keep rewarding the same talking points, the same distractions, and the same lack of vision while our schools need repairs, hospitals struggle, roads crumble, and working people get squeezed.
So yes, Mississippi deserves better leadership.
But Mississippi also has to start voting like it wants better leadership.
He's 'honored' since he's not done shit while sucking the PERS tit in Mississippi.
Under his leadership, his systems are abysmal. Where he's going has computer systems that allow members to readily access their accounts, their benefits, their balances and other personal information. The only system in the country that can't do that.
Good Riddance! He is solely responsible for PERS having an antiquated computer system whereby 350,000 participants cannot even inquire as to their accounts...nothing is available via computer. A participant as to write a letter to PERS to find out how many credit years the system shows or what his personally contributed amount is. Nothing. NOTHING is available. He's never budget for a viable system nor has he made any request of the legislature. He simply sits atop a pile of incompetent toads in that building.
Heard from a friend who used to work at PERS that he was the Board's third choice in their second round of interviews for a new ED when the last one left. He had never run any state agency or retirement plan in Georgia, where all his past experience was. But no one else the Board wanted to hire would accept the pay they were offering. So the Board ended up with a photo-op who would mindlessly agree with everything they said and not worry himself with "improvements" to the system or the agency.
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