FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: Steve Esack, 717-418-7526, stesack@pa.gov
HARRISBURG, PA – The Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) Board voted Friday to elect Richard Vague as Chairman and retired teacher Sue Lemmo as Vice Chairwoman.
The chair and vice chair lead the 15-member PSERS Board, and their terms are for one year.
"I am grateful to the governor for the continued trust he has placed in me to serve this Board, and I will be forever humbled by the faith my fellow trustees have in me to lead it," said Vague. "PSERS members have entrusted us all to keep their fiduciary interests at the forefront of our decision-making, and I know I speak for the entire agency in vowing to faithfully execute upon that mission."
Vague, a Philadelphia resident, is Governor Josh Shapiro's Board appointee and until recently served as the Board's Vice Chair. From 2020 until 2022 he served on the PSERS board in his previous capacity as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Banking & Securities as a member of the Wolf Administration.
Lemmo, a Clearfield resident, is in her first 3-year term representing annuitants and Class DC Participants. Prior to retiring from a 32-year career as an art teacher in the Curwensville Area School District, Lemmo served three terms (2014 to 2022) on the PSERS Board representing Active Certified Members and Participants. During that time, she earned the Certified Public Pension Trustee accreditation from the Pennsylvania Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems. Lemmo has also held leadership roles with the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the National Council on Teacher Retirement, and the Clearfield, Cameron, Elk, and Jefferson Central Labor Council.
"I look forward to serving as a board officer under Richard's leadership, and I want to be the first to echo his remarks to our fellow trustees and our members," Lemmo said. "Each and every day, our focus must be upon delivering on PSERS mission to be a partner with our members to fulfill the promise of a secure retirement."
The Investment Committee also voted to retain Trustee Jason Davis and Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity as the Investment Committee Chair and Vice Chair, respectively.
About the Board of Trustees
The 15-member Board of Trustees is an independent administrative board of the Commonwealth. The Board stands in a fiduciary relationship to the members of PSERS regarding investment decisions and disbursements of the System's funds. The Board also performs other functions outlined in the Public School Employees' Retirement Code, such as certifying contribution rates, authorizing the actuarial valuation and independent audit of the System, and publishing an annual financial statement of the condition of the Retirement Fund. In addition, the Board oversees the operational activities performed by the System's Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer.
About the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System
PSERS, founded in 1917, began operations in 1919 to oversee a statewide defined benefit pension plan for public school employees. PSERS' role expanded upon the passage of Act 5 of 2017 to include oversight of two new benefit options consisting of defined benefit and defined contribution (DC) components and a stand-alone DC plan. As of June 30, 2023, PSERS had total net assets of $72.8 billion and a membership of about 251,000 active, 250,000 retired school employees and 27,000 vested inactive members.
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