Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System
| Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Top official: | Joseph Fox, executive director |
| Year founded: | 1964 |
| Active members: | 50,000 |
| Website: | Official website |
| Total assets under management | |
| 2021: | $14,221,800,000 |
- See also: Public pensions in Oklahoma
The Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) is an Oklahoma state pension fund that provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to the state's public employees. The Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System had $12,063,493,276 ($12.1 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 Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System.
- Pension performance overview: Overview of the funding level and assets managed by the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System.
- Assets and asset management: Information about the asset management companies (AMCs) that contract with the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System, 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 Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System's oversight board, including members and selection.
Background
- See also: Public pensions
The Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System, founded in 1964, invests the assets of and provides funding for the state's public employees based on a formula established by Oklahoma state 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 Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System served over 50,000 active members and approximately 30,000 retirees and beneficiaries as of May 2024. [2]
Pension performance overview
The following table features information about the funding level and assets managed by the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System as of June 30, 2023:[1]
| Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System pension performance (June 30, 2021) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiscal year | Percent funded | Unfunded liabilities | Total assets[3] |
| 2023 | 100.7% | -$75,433,118.00 | $12,063,493,276 |
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 Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System
The Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System contracted with 15 asset management companies (AMCs) or specific funds as of June 30, 2023. Of those companies, three were investor participants in Climate Action 100+, and eight were members of NZAM, as of October 2024. The following list identifies the AMCs (and in some cases, the specific funds) contracting with the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System: [7]
| Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System 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[8] | Climate Action 100+ signatory as of October 2024 |
| Blackrock Financial Management Inc | Fixed Income; | $21,478,794.00 | 0.178% | Yes | No |
| Hoisington Investment Management | Fixed Income; | $5,524,142.00 | 0.046% | No | No |
| BlackRock Institutional Trust Company | Fixed Income; | $1,290,017.00 | 0.011% | Yes | No |
| Metropolitan West Asset Management | Fixed Income; | $1,630,162,000 | 13.513% | No | No |
| BlackRock Institutional Trust Company | U.S. Equities; | $281,855,000 | 2.336% | Yes | No |
| Newton Capital Management | U.S. Equities; | $399,060,000 | 3.308% | No | Yes |
| State Street Global Advisors | U.S. Equities; | $1,221,455,000 | 10.125% | Yes | No |
| Westfield Capital Management | U.S. Equities; | $2,279,332,000 | 18.894% | No | No |
| UBS Global Asset Management | U.S. Equities; | $660,717,000 | 5.477% | Yes | Yes |
| Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, Inc. | U.S. Equities; | $663,078,000 | 5.497% | No | No |
| DePrince, Race & Zollo, Inc. | U.S. Equities; | $386,743,000 | 3.206% | No | No |
| Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd | International Equities; | $197,873,000 | 1.640% | Yes | Yes |
| Mondrian Investment Partners, Ltd. | International Equities; | $235,406,000 | 1.951% | No | No |
| BlackRock Institutional Trust Company | International Equities; | $228,251,000 | 1.892% | Yes | No |
| BlackRock Institutional Trust Company | International Equities; | $305,196,000 | 2.530% | Yes | No |
Governance and accountability
This section features information about the 14-member board of trustees that oversees the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System . The board is not specific to oversight of the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System and does exercise oversight duties for other state funds.[9]
Board selection method
The board of trustees that oversees the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System is made up of eight appointed members and six designated members.[9]
Board of trustees membership
A 14-member board of trustees oversees the operation and administration of the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System. The following individuals served on the board as of May 2024:[9]
- Jason Sutton, chair
- Grant Soderberg, vice chair
- Bob Anthony
- Jari Askins
- Lynne Bajema
- Stephen Baldridge
- Andrew Boyd
- Lauren Kelliher
- Glen Mulready
- Shelly Paulk
- Edward Petersen
- Emily Roberson
- Todd Russ
- Stearling Zurley
See also
- Public pensions in Oklahoma
- 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 Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System, "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report," accessed April 11, 2024 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "report" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System, "About Us," accessed April 11, 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," accessed 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.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System, "Board of Trustees," accessed May 4, 2024
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