SC Retirement Systems Named Large Public Pension Plan of the Year
Return to: | Home Page |News Home |
Release Date: Thursday, March 19, 2009
Office of the State Treasurer
Contact: Scott Malyerck (0) 803.734.2665 (C) 803.446.2881
For Immediate Release: Thursday, March 19, 2009
Original posting at http://www.sc.gov/
(Columbia, SC)...Institutional Investor Magazine, Information Management Network, and Money Management Letter have collectivelynamed the South Carolina Retirement System as the "Large Plan of the Year" for 2009 for its sweeping reform efforts and leading edge design implementation over the past three years.
The award was given at the 8th Annual Public Pension Fund Conference held this week in California.
"We all have seen the losses in people's 401k accounts and in public pension funds around the country due to the economy and the problems on Wall Street. South Carolina has not been immune. However it is very comforting to see that our State Investment Commission has handled the situation extremely well and that with some very careful, thoughtful, and forward thinking investment planning, we have excelled. Doing everything we can to protect our state's retirement funds while maximizing investment opportunities is something I'll continue to call for" stated State Treasurer Converse Chellis a member of the Investment Commission.
The South Carolina Retirement System's Investment Commission was created to oversee the investment of the State Retirement System's funds and consists of six members: Jim Powers, Chairman; Reynolds Williams; Blaine Ewing; Allen Gillespie; Travis Pritchett; and State Treasurer Converse Chellis. The plan consists of tens of billions of dollars in state employee and
police retirement system funds.
Chairman of the Commission, Jim Powers said, "We take our responsibility seriously and plan our investment strategy very meticulously. We are proud and honored to have been recognized as the top plan in the nation and we will continue to strive to move forward even in these uncertain financial times . "
Money Management Letter said that South Carolina is the only known fund to be considering formalizing a process for adjusting asset allocation for different market scenarios. The fund has already taken steps to position the portfolio towards a recessionary environment by scaling down equity and building cash reserves.
Robert Borden, the CEO of the State Investment Commission, accepted the award on behalf of the State of South Carolina. Last year the top honors went to the New Jersey Division of Investment.
Institutional Investor is a leading international business to business publisher, focused primarily on international finance. It publishes magazines, newsletters and journals as well as research, directories, books and maps. It also runs conferences, seminars and training courses and is a provider of electronic business information through its capital market databases and
emerging markets information service.
Information Management Network is a leader in organizing finance and investment conferences. Based in New York, the company is in its fifteenth year of operations . They were established to offer educational conferences of the highest quality for the global investment community. The company organizes roughly 70 conferences annually across the United States and
throughout the world.
Money Management Letter has over 26 years experience as the leading bi-weekly newsletter of the pension fund asset management industry. Money Management Letter reports on pension fund asset allocation strategies and execution, money manager marketing, consultant issues, people moves, new product development and industry trends.