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Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund
| Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Conyers, Georgia |
| Top official: | C. Morgan Wurst, executive director |
| Year founded: | 1955 |
| Active members: | 13,621 |
| Website: | Official website |
| Total assets under management | |
| 2023: | $1,150,431,503 |
- See also: Public pensions in Georgia
The Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund is a Georgia state pension fund that provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to firefighters in the state of Georgia and their families. The Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund had $1,150,431,503 ($1.2 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 Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund.
- Pension performance overview: Overview of the funding level and assets managed by the Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund.
- Assets and asset management: Information about the asset management companies (AMCs) that contract with Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund, 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 Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund's oversight board, including members and selection.
Background
- See also: Public pensions
The Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund, founded in 1955, operates as a defined benefit plan based on a formula established by Georgia state law. These plans—based on the employee's length of service and salary— provide retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to firefighters in the state of Georgia and their families.[1]
The Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund served over 13,621 active members and 7,004 retirees and beneficiaries as of 2023.[1]
Pension performance overview
The following table features information about the funding level and assets managed by the Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund as of June 2023:[1]
| Employees Retirement System of Georgia (June 2023) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiscal year | Percent funded | Unfunded liabilities | Total assets[2] |
| 2023 | 82.0% | $252,946,168 | $1,150,431,503 |
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 Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund
The Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund contracted with 19 asset management companies (AMCs) as of June 30, 2024. Of those companies or funds, two were investor participants in Climate Action 100+, and four were members of NZAM as of October 2024. The following list identifies the AMCs (and in some cases, the specific funds) contracting with the Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund:[6]
| Georgia Firefighters’ Pension 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 |
| Cooke & Bieler | Domestic Equity; | 74,167,602 | 5.900% | No | No |
| Northern Trust Russell 1000 Value Index Fund | Domestic Equity; | 35,372,417 | 2.814% | No | No |
| Loomis Large Cap Growth | Domestic Equity; | 53,126,183 | 4.226% | No | No |
| T Rowe Price Large Cap | Domestic Equity; | 62,441,534 | 4.968% | Yes | No |
| Burgundy Asset Management | Domestic Equity; | 85,971,478 | 6.840% | No | No |
| Cornerstone Investment Partners DSCC | Domestic Equity; | 42,317,764 | 3.367% | No | No |
| T Rowe Price Global Natural Resources | Domestic Equity; | 51,351,217 | 4.085% | Yes | No |
| Cohen & Steers Real Estate Trust | Domestic Equity; | 54,086,569 | 4.303% | No | No |
| Artisan International Growth | International Equity; | 90,339,087 | 7.187% | No | No |
| Northern Trust EAFE Fund | International Equity; | 76,014,151 | 6.047% | No | No |
| Fidelity Select Emerging Markets | International Equity; | 49,265,553 | 3.919% | No | No |
| William Blair Emerging Markets | International Equity; | 48,461,957 | 3.855% | No | Yes |
| DoubleLine Capital | Fixed Income; | 102,305,458 | 8.139% | No | No |
| Voya | Fixed Income; | 42,253,874 | 3.362% | No | No |
| Loomis Sayles | Fixed Income; | 69,936,941 | 5.564% | No | No |
| Sage | Fixed Income; | 62,290,155 | 4.956% | Yes | Yes |
| Victory Capital | Fixed Income; | 63,126,293 | 5.022% | Yes | No |
| Northern Trust 1-10 Yer TIPS Index | Fixed Income; | 21,822,591 | 1.736% | No | No |
| Northern Trust Money Market | Cash; | 69,477,808 | 5.527% | No | No |
Governance and accountability
This section features information about the five-member board of trustees that oversees the Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund. The board is specific to oversight of the Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund and does not exercise oversight duties for other state funds.[8]
Board selection method
The board of trustees that oversees the Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund is made up of five members:
- The Governor or Governor’s designee
- The Commissioner of Insurance or The Commissioner of Insurance’s designee
- Two active members of the fund appointed by the Governor
- One retired beneficiary of the fund appointed by the Governor.[8]
Board of trustees membership
A five-member board of trustees oversees the operation and administration of the Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund. The following individuals served on the board as of June 2023:[8]
- Cody C. Whitlock, chief financial officer
- M. Dwayne Garriss
- Timothy S. Milligan
- Don T. Floyd
- David J Bullard
See also
- Public pensions in Georgia
- 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 1.3 GFPF.org, “Georgia Firefighters’ Pension Fund: Report of the Actuary on the Valuation," accessed July 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
- ↑ Note: NZAM announced on January 13, 2025, that it was suspending operations and removing the commitment statement and list of signatories from its website.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 https://gfpf.org/board-of-trustees/ GFPF.org,’’ “Board Of Trustees,” accessed July 2, 2024]
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