shall be to encourage and facilitate the education of its membership in all matters related to their duties as fiduciaries overseeing the assets of the pension funds with which they have been entrusted.  It will be PAPERS' primary purpose to conduct an annual educational forum that provides the basis for improved financial and operational performance of the public employee retirement systems in the State. PAPERS will function as a central resource for educational purposes and act as a networking agent for all public plan staff and board members.

Congratulations, SERS! Joe Torta, Executive Director of the PA State Employees Retirement System (SERS), has joined the PAPERS Board of Directors as a plan member. Established in 1923, SERS is one of the oldest and largest public employee pension plans in the nation and joins fellow plan members PSERS, PMRS, the City of Philadelphia, and the counties of Dauphin, Lebanon, and York on the PAPERS Board. These plans represent the top public pension plans in Pennsylvania, not only in size but in forward thinking, their contemporary approach to training and their unwavering desire for fiduciary excellence.
Training its members and all the members of PAPERS would not be possible without the guidance, support and experience of our Corporate Advisory Committee Members:

• BNY Mellon
• CS McKee
• Neuberger Berman
• Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check
• The Hazzouri Group at Morgan Stanley
• Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann
• Korn Ferry
• NAREIT

This is the heart of PAPERS as an organization, and their unwavering focus leads us to announce the reopening of our certificate program in partnership with Penn State Behrend.  Our first plan member to complete the online portion of the new program was A.C. Stickel from Blair County.  CONGRATULATIONS, A.C.!!!  In A. C.’s words, “I don’t know why I waited so long to do this! “.
The job of a trustee for a public pension plan is the most important role in the industry. I am so proud of PAPERS’ ability to support all public plans in Pennsylvania in their quest for fiduciary excellence. I would urge every plan to enroll today in the online training section of the certificate program.  More information about the certification may be found in this newsletter and on the PAPERS website!

Karen Deklinski
PAPERS Executive Director

From the Desk of the PAPERS Board President

Happy summer!  I hope everyone is enjoying their beginning to the summer season.

I want to congratulate all involved with making the PAPERS Spring Forum a huge success!    My thanks on doing great jobs to:

• Karen, our Executive Director, and Doug, our Office Manager, for pulling all the pieces together to conduct it.
• our Education Committee for assembling a very informative slate of speakers and topics.
• the presenters for their time and talents in making presentations.
• J. P. Lilly for the audiovisual services
• Sponsors who make it financially possible for us to conduct the Forum, and lastly
• those who attended either in person or online.    

As we look forward to the Fall Workshop in November, please note that we will be returning to a totally in-person format, not hybrid.  The in-person format gives us more opportunities to interact and network with fellow members and sponsors.  Watch for details in the near future.
With the ever-changing world of fiduciary duties and responsibilities, as well as legislative changes, I am pleased to announce our new Certification Program created in conjunction with Penn State Behrend.   Please take the time to look into the process of how to enroll shared in this issue and participate in this program designed to make each and every one of us better pension fiduciaries.
I encourage you to reach out to colleagues in other funds that you know are not PAPERS members and ask them to join.  In this way we can continue to grow and provide education opportunities.  In closing, let me say it is never too late to learn and become an even better pension fund fiduciary.      Have a great rest of your summer and see you in the fall.

Bob Mettley
PAPERS Board President  

Click here for the fillable conference registration form.

Click here for directions and hotel reservations.

Check back later for the conference agenda.

Just below you'll find a link to the latest edition of the PAPERS newsletter (Summer 2023). Our goal is to provide interesting reading and a variety of points of interest to spark conversations in the realm of public pensions.   Thank you to those who have contributed articles and suggestions to this edition. 

Certified PA Public Retirement Plan Professional

Click here for more information.