TEXPERS 2010 Summer Educational Forum Features Comments by Joe Strauss, Texas Speaker of the House

HOUSTON, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Speaker of the House Joe Strauss keynoted the 2010 Summer Educational Forum of TEXPERS, the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems, at the Hyatt Hill Country in San Antonio.

More than 400 people attended the investment presentations, including over 200 representatives from 56 member pension systems, and approximately 175 representatives from 100 investment sector companies like investment managers, consultants and actuaries.

Speaker Strauss offered praise to TEXPERS members for the comparative health of Texas pension funds:

"I do want to take just a moment to commend you for the good work that you are doing. One report that I saw indicated that, nationwide, public pension funds face $1 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities - and the taxpayers will likely foot the bill for that," Strauss said. "Taxpayers and workers will have to work harder to pay for poor stewardship and a failure to make tough choices early on. But I'm glad there is something good to talk about here today.

"TEXPERS members have exceeded the 15-year mean return, with average annual fund growth of 8.3 percent -- as of the end of the last fiscal year. When you consider we are talking about the retirement benefits of 420,000 active and retired participants -- and pension assets in the neighborhood of $475 billion dollars -- your success has a huge impact on the financial health of our state. And I know that your success is healthier than most because of local control, good stewardship, and smart investment strategies," Strauss said.

Pension board members of local systems across Texas gained insight into the current environment for maintaining investments on behalf of their active members. The presentations centered around the conference theme "Global Implications on Asset Values."

About TEXPERS

The Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems (TEXPERS) is a statewide voluntary nonprofit association to provide quality education to trustees, administrators, professional service providers and employee groups and associations engaged or interested in the management of public employee retirement systems. The Association provides the highest quality education and services to its participating retirement systems and affiliate members. By uniting Texas public pension systems, TEXPERS works for their common interests, monitors state and federal legislative activities and enhances professional fund management and administration. Over the past twenty years, TEXPERS system and associate membership has grown substantially. Today, TEXPERS' member systems represent approximately 416,000 active and retired participants and approximately $475 billion in assets. Learn more at www.TEXPERS.org or www.Texpers.blogspot.com.

SOURCE Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems