Company Profile
Company Overview
School Employees Retirement System of Ohio is a defined benefit public pension fund that provides pensions and access to health care coverage for the people who served our schools. Our members are bus drivers, custodians, administrators, administrative assistants, food service providers, and educational aides – anyone who works for a school or school system in a nonteaching position.
Protecting and growing the retirement contributions of our members and their employers is our priority. In fiscal year 2008, SERS served 124,370 active, contributing members and 64,818 benefit recipients. SERS paid out $905 million in pensions of which approximately $824 million of that total was returned to Ohio’s economy
Company History
1927 A group of Cleveland custodians sponsors legislation known as the School Custodians’ Pension Act. The act makes it possible for local boards of education to create pension funds in their own districts for their nonteaching employees. The Cleveland Custodians Pension Fund is created – the only such fund to be organized in the state.
1933 A group called the Cleveland Board of Education Employe (sic) Welfare Association is formed through the efforts of an attendance worker for Cleveland City Schools, Theodore J. Deringer. The group expands the guidelines of the custodians’ fund, and includes plans for retirement allowances for all nonteaching employees in Ohio’s public schools.
1936 The Ohio Association of School Business Officials is formed and joins the effort to promote a statewide retirement system for nonteaching school employees. Representatives of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS, created in 1920) and the Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio (OPERS, created in 1935) are consulted to help draft legislation to present to the legislature.
1937 House Bill 217 is sponsored by Cuyahoga County Representative Hiram H. Cully, and introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives on Feb. 3, 1937. The bill is passed by both chambers and signed into law on April 13, 1937 by Governor Martin L. Davey. The state provides $5,000 in initial start-up money, and the system begins operating on Sept. 1, 1937. The system’s first offices are located at 85 East Gay Street in Columbus.
1937 The first Retirement Board consists of two elected members, W.V. Drake and Theodore J. Deringer, and three ex-officio members: the Ohio Attorney General, State Auditor, and the head of the State Teachers Retirement System.
1938 Thomas G. O’Keefe becomes the first executive director of SERS and serves until 1947.
1938 SERS merges with the Cleveland Custodians Pension Fund and total membership rises to 10,268 with assets of $1.1 million. The first benefits paid in 1938 are disability payments totaling $827.88 for 16 members.
1947 Ward Ashman becomes SERS’ second executive director and serves until 1969. SERS experiences tremendous growth during Ashman’s tenure – membership grows from 19,000 members to more than 100,000 and assets rise from $10 million to more than $220 million. Several new benefit programs, including survivor payments, are enacted during this time.
1964 The 88 East Broad Street building is constructed and serves as SERS’ headquarters.
1969 James O. Brennan becomes SERS’ third executive director and serves until 1979. He implements major benefit improvements at SERS including the annual cost-of-living raise, health care coverage, the death benefit payment, and the Medicare Part B reimbursement. The system has 11,809 retirees and assets of $257 million when Mr. Brennan takes the helm. Under his leadership, assets break the $1 billion threshold.
1979 Thomas R. Anderson becomes SERS’ fourth executive director and serves until 2003. During Anderson’s tenure, many benefit improvements are enacted, the size of the fund grows from $1 billion to $7.7 billion, and the number of retirees more than doubles.
1981 The 45 North Fourth Street building is constructed and becomes the System’s headquarters.
1984 Former executive director Thomas G. O’Keefe’s wife, Agnes, successfully lobbies for the addition of a retiree seat on the Board, and then is elected to it. She serves two terms, from 1984 to 1992.
2001 The 300 East Broad Street building is constructed and becomes the System’s headquarters (current).
2001 James R. Winfree becomes SERS’ fifth (current) executive director. Winfree’s strategic vision for the future includes a strong focus on strengthening the pension fund and improving services to members and retirees, preserving retiree health care benefits, and developing an organizational culture to support success.
2004 The Retirement Board is expanded to its current nine-member structure: a second retiree seat is added, the Attorney General and State Auditor seats are removed, and three appointed investment experts are added – one each appointed by the Governor, State Treasurer, and Ohio General Assembly.