Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund
| Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund (ASHERS) | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Little Rock, Arkansas |
| Top official: | Robyn Smith, ASHERS Executive Secretary |
| Year founded: | 1949 |
| Active members: | 3,277 |
| Website: | Official website |
| Total assets under management | |
| 2022: | $1,468,838,071 |
- See also: Public pensions in Arkansas
The Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund (ASHERS) is an Arkansas state pension fund that provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to the state's active employees of the Arkansas Department of Transportation. The Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund (ASHERS) had $1,468,838,071 ($1.4 billion) in total assets under management as of June 30, 2022.[1]
The management of public pension funds can indicate support or opposition to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investment practices. ESG investing considers the extent to which corporations align with and promote certain non-financial standards, such as net carbon emission or corporate board diversity goals. States typically hire asset management companies (AMCs) to direct pension plan investments, some of which have ESG commitments that guide their strategies.
This article features the following sections:
- Background: Information about the structure and functions of ASHERS.
- Pension performance overview: Overview of the funding level and assets managed by ASHERS.
- Assets and asset management: Information about the asset management companies (AMCs) that contract with ASHERS, including a list of contracting AMCs that are participants in the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and the Climate Action 100+ initiative.
- Governance and accountability: Details about ASHERS' oversight board, including members and selection.
Background
- See also: Public pensions
The Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund (ASHERS), founded in 1949, invests the assets of and provides funding for the active employees of the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ADOT), excluding members of the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) and those hired after July 1, 1997, who receive benefits from a reciprocal retirement system. ASHERS is a defined contribution plan under which employees contribute 7% of their earnings and ADOT contributes 14.9% of the employee's total payroll.[2]
The Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund served over 3,277 active members and approximately 3,586 retirees and beneficiaries as of February 2024.[1]
Pension performance overview
The following table features information about the funding level and assets managed by the Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund as of June 30, 2022:[1]
| Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund (ASHERS) pension performance (June 30, 2022) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiscal year | Percent funded | Unfunded liabilities | Total market value of assets |
| 2022 | 86.20% | $252,516,261 | $1,468,838,071 |
Assets and asset management
| Environmental, social, and corporate governance |
|---|
|
| • What is ESG? • Enacted ESG legislation • Arguments for and against ESG • Opposition to ESG • Federal ESG rules • ESG legislation tracker • Economy and Society: Ballotpedia's weekly ESG newsletter |
Asset management companies (AMCs) are hired to manage asset investment for state pension funds across all 50 states.
As of October 2024, 330 AMCs were members of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAM), and 391 AMCs were investor participants in the Climate Action 100+ initiative. Both international asset manager initiatives aimed to align the investment decisions of signatories with the goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.[3][4]
NZAM announced on January 13, 2025, that it was suspending operations and removing the commitment statement and list of signatories from its website. The group said in a statement it would reevaluate its plans and operations in light of “[r]ecent developments in the U.S. and different regulatory and client expectations in investors’ respective jurisdictions.”[5]
List of AMCs contracting with the Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund
The Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund contracted with three asset management companies (AMCs) or specific funds as of June 30, 2024. Of those companies, none were investor participants in Climate Action 100+, and none were members of NZAM, as of October 2024. The following list identifies the AMCs (and in some cases, the specific funds) contracting with ASHERS as of 2020, 2021, and 2022, respective to the AMCs:[6]
| Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund asset management companies Click on a column header below to sort the list of asset managers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMC name | Investment type | Assets under management | Percentage of total fund assets | NZAM Initiative signatory as of October 2024[7] | Climate Action 100+ signatory as of October 2024 |
| CastleArk | ; | No | No | ||
| Garcia Hamilton | ; | No | No | ||
| Meridian FY2024 | ; | No | No | ||
Governance and accountability
This section features information about the seven-member board of trustees that oversees the Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund. The board is specific to oversight of ASHERS and does not exercise oversight duties for other state funds.[2]
Board selection method
The board of trustees that oversees ASHERS is made up of seven members. The Director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation, the Deputy Director & Chief Engineer of the Arkansas Department of Transportation, the Treasurer of the State of Arkansas, and the Director of the Arkansas State Finance and Administration Department are statutory, or not elected, members. Two of the board members are elected by active members, and the remaining board member is a retiree elected by retired and active members of the plan.[2]
Board of trustees membership
A seven-member board of trustees oversees the operation and administration of ASHERS. The following individuals served on the board as of February 2024:[8]
- Lorie Tudor, Director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation
- Larry Walther, Treasurer of the State of Arkansas
- Jim Hudson, Director of the Arkansas State Finance and Administration Department
- Rex Vines, Chief Engineer for Operations of the Department of Transportation
- Ronda Walthall
- Jared Wiley
- Mitchell Archer
See also
- Public pensions in Arkansas
- Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- Arguments about environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- Opposition to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investing
- Reform proposals related to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- State legislative approaches opposing ESG investing
- State legislative approaches supporting ESG investing
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Arkansas Department of Transportation, "Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System Fund (ASHERS) Actuarial Valuation as of June 30, 2022," February 13, 2024
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 AR.gov, "Your Guide To Arkansas State Highway Employee' Retirement System Fund," February 14, 2024
- ↑ The Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, "The Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative," accessed January 26, 2023
- ↑ Climate Action 100+, "The Three Goals," accessed June 20, 2023
- ↑ Pensions and Investments, "Net Zero Asset Managers initiative to suspend activities in wake of BlackRock departure," accessed January 15, 2024
- ↑ Ballotpedia, "Ballotpedia: Asset management data for state-administered pension funds across the 50 states," March 2023
- ↑ Note: NZAM announced on January 13, 2025, that it was suspending operations and removing the commitment statement and list of signatories from its website.
- ↑ This information is sourced from research performed by Ballotpedia staff.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
