Ill. pension chief to pick investments for Pa. SERS

The Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, which invests $25 billion to help fund 236,000 active state workers' and retirees' pensions, has hired Brian Lewis, executive director of the $20 billion Illinois State Universities' Retirement System, to serve as chief investment officer.

Illinois SURS investments -- 29% in U.S. stocks, 20% in bonds, 26% in foreign investments, the rest in private equity, real estate and other assets --  lost 5.8% from July through January (revised).  The fund averaged +6.3% annual returns in the past 5 years and +5.4% since 2006. SURS results here.

Lewis "has a clear understanding" of the "balance between generating returns through all sorts of markets and being responsive to taxpayers' desire for transparency" -- which are apparently two conflicting goals, according to a statement from SERS board chair David R. Fillman, executive director of AFSCME Council 13, a labor union representing more than 40,000 SERS members, plus local-govenrment workers.

Lewis was chosen by SERS' personnel committee, led by state Sen. Charles McIlhinney, R-Bucks, from candidates interviewed by outside HR contractor Korn Ferry the last time the job came empty, in 2014, and SERS employees who applied for the job. Lewis' appointment is conditional on salary negotiations.