December Board News

STRS Ohio Leadership Continues to Meet With Members at Town Halls

Acting STRS Ohio Executive Director Lynn Hoover and Chief Benefits Officer Christina Elliott shared information about the retirement system with about 80 active and retired educators at a town hall meeting in Bowling Green on Dec. 5. This concluded the fall schedule for town hall meetings. STRS Ohio leadership also met with groups in Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Akron and the Cleveland suburbs of Beachwood and Parma. Additional town halls are planned for 2024. The meetings feature a brief presentation, followed by a question-and-answer period with the members in attendance.

Independent Audit Results in Clean Opinion on STRS Ohio Financial Statements

Crowe LLP completed its audit of STRS Ohio’s fiscal 2023 financial statements and shared its results at the December board meeting. STRS Ohio received an unmodified or “clean” opinion, affirming the financial information prepared by the retirement system. Crowe’s report showed that STRS Ohio’s financial statements were fairly presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The firm found no instances of noncompliance nor any material weaknesses in internal controls. Crowe is the independent auditing firm selected by the Ohio Auditor of State to conduct the annual financial statements audit of the system. The 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) provides complete financial information, including investment and actuarial results for the fiscal year, and will be available later this month on the STRS Ohio website.

CEM Benchmarking Says STRS Ohio’s Investment Costs are Lower Than Most Peers, With Returns in Top 25%

CEM Benchmarking’s costs analysis showed STRS Ohio’s costs were low compared to peers, primarily due to a low-cost implementation style (managing about two-thirds of assets in-house) and paying less than peers for similar services. CEM estimated this approach saved STRS Ohio about $135 million in 2022. The study also showed STRS Ohio’s five-year annualized net total fund return (Jan. 1, 2018–Dec. 31, 2022) was 7.0%, above both the U.S. public median of 5.9% and the similar sized U.S. peer median of 6.5%. CEM is an industry leader in providing investment and pension administration benchmarking and its analysis compared STRS Ohio with 146 U.S. pension funds.

Albourne Validates Fee Accuracy and Transparency in STRS Ohio’s Alternative Investments and Real Estate Funds

Albourne, a leading investment consultancy firm with more than 330 clients with more than $700 billion in alternative investment assets, presented fee validation results of the STRS Ohio alternative investments and real estate funds. The fee validation process provides an additional level of checks that augments STRS Ohio’s current fee processes and procedures, the result of which is both validation of fee accuracy and fee transparency. Albourne’s analysis included validation of all STRS Ohio alternative investments and real estate funds through calendar year 2022. Albourne will continue to validate and provide an analysis of total fees, carried interest and other fund expenses incurred by STRS Ohio. STRS Ohio market values, net investment income and total fund performance results always reflect the deduction of management fees, carried interest and other fund expenses.

Retirements Approved

The Retirement Board approved 62 active members and 54 inactive members for service retirement benefits.

Happy Holidays

The State Teachers Retirement Board and STRS Ohio staff wish all of you a safe and happy holiday season.