Tag: Arizona PSPRS

Arizona Pension Nabs Canadian Administrator for Top Job

Arizona

The Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) concluded its months-long search for a new executive this week.

The fund’s Board has selected Kevin Olineck to take over as administrator, according to the Arizona Republic.

More on Olineck, from the Arizona Republic:

Olineck is scheduled to assume his role with PSPRS in October, contingent upon receiving H-1B visa approval from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, according to PSPRS.

Olineck, of Victoria, B.C., currently works as vice president of member experience for British Columbia Pension Corp., which provides services to five public-sector pension plans that together have more than 500,000 members and more than $80 billion in assets.

Olineck has more than 15 years of experience in strategic and operational positions with both public-sector and private-sector pension systems, and has been a frequent visitor to Arizona for more than 20 years.

PSPRS manages over $8 billion in assets.

 

Photo credit: “Entering Arizona on I-10 Westbound” by Wing-Chi Poon – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Entering_Arizona_on_I-10_Westbound.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Entering_Arizona_on_I-10_Westbound.jpg

Outside Legal Expenses Strain Budget of Arizona Pension

Arizona

Arizona’s Public Safety Personnel Retirement System [PSPRS] was scolded in 2014 for racking up over a million dollars in outside legal bills related to investment advice and administration issues.

But the spending has continued into 2015, and now the legal bills are expected to push the system 10 percent over its budget for this fiscal year.

More from the Arizona Republic:

The state Public Safety Personnel Retirement System is projected to exceed its budget by at least $1 million because of unexpected expenses for outside legal advice.

[…]

The fund was told last fall to reduce its legal tab after its large outside legal fees caught the attention of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

However, spending on outside counsel has continued under acting Administrator Jared Smout, and the trust is projected to be at least $1 million over budget with four months left in the fiscal year.

[…]

The trust runs on an $11.2 million annual budget that pays for personnel, operating expenses and outside consultants such as private attorneys. Legal bills are paid from various accounts.

The $1 million in excess legal fees means the trust is projected to exceed its budget by nearly 10 percent.

Christian Palmer, a fund spokesman, said most of the additional legal expenses stem from hiring outside attorneys who specialize in investment advice. Records show 70 percent of the additional legal costs arose from investment issues, while 30 percent involved administrative issues.

“It’s a good problem to have. We had older investments that came to realization,” Palmer said. “As older investments have realized a return, we had to find new investments. You have to bring in a due-diligence process.”

PSPRS manages over $8 billion in assets.

 

Photo credit: “Entering Arizona on I-10 Westbound” by Wing-Chi Poon – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Entering_Arizona_on_I-10_Westbound.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Entering_Arizona_on_I-10_Westbound.jpg