The State Teacher’s Retirement Board on Monday selected Aaron F. Hood as its interim executive director while the board looks for a permanent new executive director.
“Mr. Hood will provide a seamless transition as the Board searches for STRS Ohio’s next permanent leader,” said STRS board chair and retired Wright State University professor Rudy Fichtenbaum in a statement. “I can ensure the more than 500,000 members of STRS Ohio that the board and all staff remain dedicated to continuing to provide Ohio’s public educators with a foundation for their financial security.”
STRS oversees and runs the retirement fund for Ohio’s current and retired public school teachers.
STRS’s last director, Bill Neville, was put on paid administrative leave last November. He was effectively fired in September, and STRS is paying him $1.65 million.
The former interim director, Lynn Hoover, is retiring Dec. 1 after 31 years of service with STRS. The board thanked her in a statement and said her work was crucial for developing the Sustainable Benefit Plan framework for benefit changes.
About Hood
Hood was a finance senior fellow at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He previously served as the executive vice president and CFO of Summit Climate Soultions in Iowa, and interim CFO and member of the board of directors of Emerge Energy Services/Superior Silica Sands in Texas.
Hood also helped to found Perella Weinburg Partners, a diversified financial services firm, and served in multiple leadership roles over 13 years, including chief financial officer and head of the asset management division, according to STRS.
Hood is from Ohio and is a U.S. Army veteran. He graduated United States Military Academy at West Point as a Distinguished Cadet, then completed Harvard Business School as a George F. Baker Scholar.
Hood serves as a member of the board of trustees of Toledo St. Francis de Sales High School, his alma mater.
STRS faces ongoing problems
In 2017, the state stopped cost-of-living increases for STRS retirees, following a pension reform law in 2012 that required public employees to work longer for fewer benefits. In 2022, a one-time cost-of-living adjustment was made of 3%, but retirees still say it is not where they want it to be.
Neville became the director in 2020. Many of the [Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association] members, retired teachers who want more accountability for STRS, opposed Neville.
The organization’s turmoil has not been limited to its director. In May, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit seeking to remove two members of the STRS board, Wade Steen and Fichtenbaum.
Yost accused Steen and Fichtenbaum of breaching their fiduciary duties, which both have denied. The case is ongoing in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.
STRS Ohio oversees about $90 billion in pension funds for about 530,000 retired school employees. Seven of the 11-member governing board are elected by teachers and retirees and the remaining four are appointed.
Eileen McClory is the education reporter for the Dayton Daily News. She grew up in the Dayton area and returned to cover her hometown.
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