PSERS Hires Executive Director –

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Dale Everhart was expected to join the Public School Employes’ Retirement System of Pennsylvania (PSERS) as executive director in January, replacing James A. Perry who has headed the $42 billion pension for the past 14 years.

Mr. Everhart has spent his career in private equity at the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania State Employes’ Retirement System (SERS), which he joined as a retirement analyst in 1975. He later served as assistant director of the pension’s Retirement Counseling Division and director of the Benefits Determination Division. He had been assistant executive director of the $21 billion fund since 1982.

Although SERS had not reached a decision on the procedure for replacing Mr. Everhart, the pension was not accepting any resumes or conducting a broad search as of November, a spokesperson said.

Mr. Perry said he decided to leave PSERS on January 29 to collect his pension under an early retirement provision, but wanted to continue working. When VCJ went to press, he was exploring new job opportunities in fields related to his work at PSERS.

Mr. Perry joined the pension as an accountant in 1971 and later became assistant executive director. In 1984, he advanced to executive director. During his tenure, the fund’s assets grew from $7 billion to its current level.

PSERS had received more than 140 responses to an ad for its top administrative position, the spokesperson said. The pension’s Board of Trustees designated Mr. Everhart as the organization’s seventh executive director in a unanimous vote in early November. PSERS devotes 5% of its assets to alternative investing.