Kentucky Public Pensions Authority (KPPA) trustees elected a new board chair and vice chair at their annual meeting. County Employees Retirement System (CERS) Chair Betty Pendergrass nominated CERS Vice Chair Jerry Powell to head KPPA. Powell replaces Kentucky Retirement Systems (KRS) Board member Keith Peercy who served as KPPA chair.

Pendergrass explained that she took no issue with Peercy’s leadership. “As we are growing, organizing, and developing in this second year, I think it would be a good opportunity to shift the leadership just a little bit so that CERS has a voice at the top,” Pendergrass said. “We have a very strong collaborative effort among the C and K trustees on a wide variety of projects, so this is just an extension of that.”

Board members discussed alternating chairs each year between the two retirement systems, although they did not reach an official agreement. They also elected KRS Vice Chair Prewitt Lane to serve as KPPA vice chair.

KPPA Deputy Executive Director Rebecca Adkins updated the board on administrative expense allocations. The board approved a method of calculating expenses between CERS and KRS at their March 29 meeting, but they raised questions about splitting legal personnel fees. Adkins indicated that KPPA would divide those costs by a hybrid member percentage, which equates to 62.68% for CERS and 37.32% for KRS.

The board formed a working group to research the salary range of six new investment staff. Legislators approved the unclassified hires with the passage of House Bill 297. Each system’s investment committee chair will research and recommend pay levels that the board must approve before KPPA Executive Director David Eager can make an offer. The working group will also study whether KPPA needs a personnel committee.

The board also approved seven additional areas to the internal audit plan that CERS Board members agreed upon at their annual meeting on April 21.