Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan
| Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Dover, Delaware |
| Top official: | Suzanne B. Grant chair |
| Year founded: | 1970 |
| Active members: | 73,530 |
| Website: | Official website |
| Total assets under management | |
| 2022: | $12,729,649,000 |
- See also: Public pensions in Delaware
The Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan (DPERS) is a Delaware state pension fund that provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to the state's public employees and their families. The Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan had $12,729,649,000 ($12.7 billion) in total assets under management as of June 30, 2023.[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 the Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan.
- Pension performance overview: Overview of the funding level and assets managed by the Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan.
- Assets and asset management: Information about the asset management companies (AMCs) that contract with Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan, 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 the Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan's oversight board, including members and selection.
Background
- See also: Public pensions
The Delaware Public Employee Retirement System, founded in 1970, invests the assets of and provides funding for the nine retirement plans and three commingled pension funds based on a formula established by Delaware law, including Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan, Delaware New State Police Pension Plan, Delaware Revised Judicial Plan, Delaware Closed State Police Plan, Delaware County and Municipal Police and Fire Plan, Delaware Volunteer Firemen Pension Fund, and Delaware Diamond State Port Corp Plan on a formula established by Delaware law. These plans—based on the employee's length of service and salary— provide retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to the state's public employees.[2]
The Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan served over 38,449 active members and approximately 30,570 retirees and beneficiaries as of June 30, 2023.[2]
Pension performance overview
The following table features information about the funding level and assets managed by the Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan as of June 30, 2022:[1]
| Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan pension performance (June 30, 2022) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiscal year | Percent funded | Unfunded liabilities | Total assets[3] |
| 2022 | 88% | $1,521,019,000 | $12,729,649,000 |
Assets and asset management
| Environmental, social, and corporate governance |
|---|
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| • 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.[4][5]
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.”[6]
List of AMCs contracting with the Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan
The Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan is a subfund of the Delaware Public Employee Retirement System, which contracted with 38 asset management companies (AMCs) as of June 2021. Of those companies or funds, four were investor participants in Climate Action 100+, and five were members of NZAM as of 2024. The following list identifies the AMCs (and in some cases, the specific funds) contracting with the Delaware Revised Judicial Plans:[7]
- Accel Partners
- Advanced Technology Ventures
- Allegis Capital
- Angelo, Gordon & Co
- Atalaya Capital Management
- Baillie Gifford (NZAM, Climate Action 100+)
- BlackRock Institutional Trust Company (NZAM, Climate Action 100+)
- Centerbridge Partners
- Cherry Tree Ventures
- Dodge and Cox
- DoubleLine Capital
- Drive Capital
- Flagship Pioneering
- Focused Investors
- GQG Partners LLC
- Highclere International Investors LLC
- IDG Capital Partners
- Kiltearn Global Equity
- Lightstone Ventures
- Liquid Realty Partners
- Main Post Capital
- Marcus Capital Partners
- MeriTech Capital Partners
- Northern Trust (NZAM, Climate Action 100+)
- Oaktree Capital Management
- One Liberty Ventures
- ONSET Enterprise Associates
- Orbis Investments
- Peppertree Capital Management
- Riverstone
- Summit Partners
- T. Rowe Price Associates (NZAM)
- The Carlyle Group
- Trident Capital
- Vanguard
- Viking Global Investors
- Vision Ridge
- Wellington Management Company (NZAM, Climate Action 100+)
Governance and accountability
This section features information about the seven-member board of trustees that oversees the Delaware Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), of which the Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan is a subfund. The board is not specific to oversight of the Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan and does exercise oversight duties for other state funds.[8]
Board selection method
The board of trustees that oversees the Delaware Public Employees Retirement System is made up of seven members: five members are appointed and two are ex officio.[2]
Board of trustees membership
A seven-member board of trustees oversees the operation and administration of Delaware Public Employees Retirement System. The following individuals served on the board as of June 2023:[8]
- Suzanne B. Grant, chair
- Arturo Agra
- Nancy M. Shevock
- Ken Simpler
- Harold Stafford
- Rick Geisenberger
- Cerron Cade
See also
- Public pensions in Delaware
- 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 Delaware.gov, "Annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023," accessed April 2, 2024
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 NASRA, “https://www.nasra.org/de,” accessed April 2, 2024
- ↑ Note: By default, this refers to the actuarial valuation of total assets. In some cases, the total market value of assets is shown instead. See the cited source for details.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Delaware.gov, “Board and Committee Members,” accessed April 2, 2024
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