PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ASSOCIATION OF COLORADO

The Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado is a private investment management firm that provides retirement plans and financial services for its eligible public employee members in the state of Colorado. The association was established in 1931 under the state law and operates under the Colorado General Assembly and administration of Title 24, Article 51 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, although its Board of Trustees does have the authority to adopt and revise certain rules in accordance with state statutes. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado, or PERA for short, currently provides a variety of benefits for employees of over 500 public government agencies and entities within Colorado. Its members include state government employees, public school teachers, university and college employees, State Troopers, judges, cities and towns employees, and other employees in related public entities. PERA serves to “deliver quality customer service, sound investment decisions, operational efficiency, educational programs, competitive plan design, and actively participate in legislative issues that affect our organization,” and adheres to its principles of customer focus, ethical conduct, accountability, excellence and ongoing process improvement. PERA acts as a substitute for Social Security for many of its members with its active members contributing a fixed percentage of their salary, approximately 8%, to the retirement trust funds when they are working. Employers also contribute to PERA, which also includes a part of the funding for health care premiums for its health care program, with different set rates ranging from a 10% statutory employer rate for the local government division to 13.66% for the judicial division. PERA invests in a variety of sectors with the Board determining the strategic allocation policy. The association mainly focuses on the global equity sector, which alone makes up over 50% of allocations, and also invests in the fixed income, real estate, private equity, opportunity fund, and cash asset classes, in order of decreasing allocation.