In November, the PERA Board of Trustees voted to elect new officers. Taylor McLemore was elected to serve as Chair and the Hon. Rebecca R. Freyre was elected Vice Chair. They’ll begin two-year terms in January.
McLemore is a Governor-appointed Trustee and has been on the Board since 2021. Prior to his election as Chair, McLemore served as Chair of the Board’s Ad Hoc Executive Director Search Committee and Vice Chair of the Governance and Executive Committees.
We recently connected with McLemore to learn more about his experience and perspective as he prepares to take on a new role on the Board.
Why don’t you start by telling us a little bit about yourself?
I grew up in Colorado and I care deeply about this state as a community. I have been an entrepreneur, technology executive, and community builder across my career. I was enthusiastic about the opportunity to support and serve PERA—the mission is near and dear to my heart because of all the people who work so hard to make our state a great state, and what PERA is committed to providing them in terms of their retirement stability and other benefits.
What are some of the things you’re thinking about as you get ready to take on the role of Board Chair?
I’m excited to lead the Board of Trustees to support the next stage of PERA’s journey toward stability and full funding. I believe we have a very thoughtful group of Trustees who bring diverse perspectives. Together, we can solve any challenges that lie ahead.
My role as Chair is mostly focused on how we tap into the intelligence, lived experience and diversity of those Trustees to be a well-functioning governance body. Specifically, in my role as Chair, I care a lot about our ability to be transparent to our stakeholders while fulfilling our fiduciary duty. And I think that we have started to make meaningful progress on transparency and want to continue that pathway to do even more.
What does effective Board leadership look like to you?
First, I believe in always focusing on our governance and fiduciary mandates. Second, creating a productive environment for intellectually honest debate where we can understand the challenges that PERA faces. The Board has to work on solutions in collaboration with PERA executives and staff, and I think we should be creative in thinking about how we build a PERA that is stable and productive for our members into the very far future.
The Board is getting closer to finalizing its next multi-year strategic plan. Can you talk about some of the priorities that are informing that work?
The strategic plan is working hard to balance what we need in the near, medium, and long terms. This touches everything, including our current level of funding and what the implications of that are for our members, employers and our state legislative stakeholders. What we are looking at specifically, is how our investing and operational strategies will achieve those goals.
On the operational side, we are very focused on our technology infrastructure. Our pension administration technology is some of the oldest that is currently being used in the pension space. This creates risk for our ability to maintain it and ensure that it is performing for our members. All of this leads us to the conclusion that we need to invest significantly to have modern technology that will be stable long-term to support our operations and what our members appropriately expect from us.
What’s something you wish more people knew about PERA and/or the Board?
I wish more people knew about the diversity and impressive lived experience and expertise across the Board. Our Board has elected representatives from our membership and Governor-appointed members who include teachers, state employees, HR leaders, business leaders, and much more. We combine all of this experience to work on our understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead of PERA.
