Registry · Top 100 · Ohio · U.S. public pension · established 1935
Last researched: 7 September 2026 (America/Toronto). Corrections: info@universalassetowners.com. Public-safe profile: no private staff emails or personal phones.
- Executive brief
- Speakable summary
- Mandate & ownership
- Scale & portfolio
- Governance & leadership
- Investment philosophy & strategy
- Climate / ESG / stewardship
- Performance & reporting
- Controversies & debates
- Timeline
- Depth annex
- FAQ
- Sources
- Official video
- Completeness note
Executive brief
Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) is Ohio’s statewide public employees retirement system, established in 1935. Official sites: www.opers.org and opers.org. Prefer official US dollars as published by OPERS; do not invent unofficial FX or undated AUM headlines.
Primary scale opened for this pack (official USD, labelled by source and date):
- About page (live): total investment assets $120.8 billion as of Dec. 31, 2024; largest state pension fund in Ohio and 14th-largest state pension fund in the United States.
- 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) / Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) / PERSpective (9 July 2026): fiduciary net position $158.4 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025, up from $142.6 billion at year-end 2024 (increase about $15.7 billion).
- ACFR Letter of Transmittal (Karen Carraher / Jennifer Starr framing): net asset base of $133.9 billion for the pension and health care plans at year-end 2025; total OPERS investment return 14.95% with more than $17.5 billion of investment income in the narrative.
- Defined Benefit (DB) Fund page (unaudited quarterly summary): total market value $114.5 billion as of 12/31/2025; quarter return 2.37% (benchmark 2.54%); year-to-date 14.74% (benchmark 14.89%).
- 115 Health Care Trust: net position about $14.8 billion in 2025 (from about $13.2 billion in 2024) per health-care reporting cited alongside the ACFR letter.
An INST working estimate of roughly US$120 billion matches the About page’s $120.8 billion (31 Dec 2024) investment-assets print. It is not a substitute for the 2025 fiduciary net position ($158.4 billion) or the Letter’s $133.9 billion pension-and-health-care asset base. Cite the dated official figures; do not invent a single undifferentiated “$120B forever” headline.
Leadership verified on live About + 2025 ACFR org chart + Annual Investment Plan (AIP) signed 21 January 2026:
- Karen Carraher — Executive Director (ACFR: Karen E. Carraher).
- Paul Greff (Paul T. Greff) — Chief Investment Officer. Live About Leadership Team, ACFR chart, and AIP signature block all use CIO. July 2026 board minutes list him in attendance as “Director, Investments” — treat that as minutes styling, not a verified demotion. Do not stack a second OPERS CIO.
- Richelle Sugiyama appears in some secondary rows as a CIO — she is CIO of the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho (PERSI), not OPERS. Omit from OPERS leadership.
Deputy Executive Directors on About: Tonya Brown, Allen Foster, Lauren Gresh. Finance leadership: Jennifer Starr / Jenny Starr (CFO / Director–Finance). Board Chair as of the December 2025 ACFR roster: Chris Mabe; Vice Chair: Stewart Smith.
Why researchers care: OPERS is a large U.S. state DB + health-care + deferred-compensation complex with a published multi-portfolio return stack, Meketa-advised asset-liability updates, a dedicated Risk Mitigation Strategies composite, statutory Ohio Revised Code fiduciary language, statutory and elected board design, and a thick public reporting stack (ACFR, PAFR, AIP, AA policies, corporate governance). Peer Registry hubs include CalPERS, CalSTRS, Florida SBA, NYS Common Retirement Fund, SWIB, Minnesota SBI, and Washington State Investment Board.
Schema on this page uses Organization and GovernmentOrganization. Official About YouTube embed is included with VideoObject. Public-safe: this profile omits private staff emails and personal phone numbers.
Speakable summary
The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, or OPERS, is Ohio’s statewide public pension system, established in nineteen thirty-five. Karen Carraher is Executive Director. Paul Greff is Chief Investment Officer. Official U.S. dollar figures include about one hundred twenty point eight billion dollars of investment assets as of December thirty-first, twenty twenty-four on the About page, and fiduciary net position of one hundred fifty-eight point four billion dollars as of December thirty-first, twenty twenty-five in the annual report. Total investment return excluding deferred-compensation composite was fourteen point nine five percent in twenty twenty-five.
Mandate & ownership
OPERS provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefit programs for public employees throughout Ohio who are not covered by another state or local retirement system (About). Membership generally begins from the first date of employment for employees paid in whole or in part by the state of Ohio, a county, municipality, or other political subdivision, subject to statutory exclusions and special cases (elected officials, students, independent contractors, ARP faculty, and other listed exclusions on About).
Legal investment authority and fiduciary duty for the retirement board are grounded in Ohio Revised Code Section 145.11, quoted in the January 2026 Defined Benefit Investment Objectives and Asset Allocation Policy: board members are trustees of the funds created by section 145.23; they have full power to invest; and fiduciaries must act solely in the interest of participants and beneficiaries, for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits and defraying reasonable administration expenses, with care, skill, prudence, and diligence, and by diversifying investments to minimize the risk of large losses unless it is clearly prudent not to do so. Investment Staff are subject to the same fiduciary standards as the Board under that policy framing.
By law, the Treasurer of the State of Ohio is custodian of OPERS funds (ACFR Board narrative). The Board appoints the Executive Director, an actuary, and other advisors necessary for the transaction of business. Day-to-day administration is carried by the Executive Director and senior staff.
Plan architecture opened in the ACFR includes:
- Traditional Pension Plan — defined benefit; the core career-length annuity design.
- Member-Directed Plan and Combined Plan — alternative structures described in the ACFR plan statement.
- 115 Health Care Trust — OPERS pre-funds retiree health care; Letter notes the program began in 1974 with a decision to pre-fund, and that employer health-care contributions were later eliminated so investment income is the sole funding source for the health care program in the current framing.
- Ohio Deferred Compensation (ODC) Program — administered by OPERS; included in combining fiduciary net position; ODC does not report a single composite return of its individual options in the investment-return narrative that quotes 14.95%.
What the mandate is not: OPERS is not a sovereign wealth fund, not a corporate treasury, and not a private endowment. It is a statutory public retirement system with pension, OPEB/health-care, and deferred-compensation fiduciary pools. Influence Index mentions elsewhere on UAO, if any, are editorial composites — not OPERS ratings.
Vision (About): “To be your trusted retirement partner delivering responsive, high-quality service.” Mission: “To provide secure retirement benefits for our members.” Core values listed on About include opportunity to make a difference; professionalism and integrity; exceptional teamwork; respected partnerships; and service excellence.
Scale & portfolio
Researchers should keep three OPERS “size” prints distinct — all official USD, none invented:
| Label | Amount | As-of | Primary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total investment assets (About) | $120.8 billion | 31 Dec 2024 | opers.org/about |
| Fiduciary net position (combining, all plans) | $158.4 billion | 31 Dec 2025 | ACFR / PAFR / Perspective |
| Prior-year fiduciary net position | $142.6 billion | 31 Dec 2024 | ACFR / PAFR |
| Pension + health care net asset base (Letter) | $133.9 billion | YE 2025 | ACFR Letter of Transmittal |
| Pension plans net position (MD&A notes / board materials) | $119.1 billion (from $107.5B) | 31 Dec 2025 | Board agenda / MD&A summary materials |
| DB Fund market value (unaudited) | $114.5 billion | 31 Dec 2025 | DB Fund total page |
| 115 Health Care Trust net position | $14.8 billion (from $13.2B) | YE 2025 | Health Care Report / Letter context |
Membership and employer scale (ACFR Letter / PAFR):
- More than 1.3 million members.
- More than 223,000 retirees and beneficiaries; PAFR detail 223,588 retirees, of whom 199,561 (89.3%) remained Ohio residents.
- More than 3,700 public employers.
- PAFR active-member sketch (Traditional / Member-Directed / Combined columns): Traditional actives on the order of 298,648, with smaller active counts in Member-Directed and Combined columns; inactive Traditional accounts are large (hundreds of thousands) because inactive members may still hold accounts.
Cash flows (ACFR Letter financial highlights, calendar 2025): member contributions about $2.0 billion; employer contributions about $2.8 billion; voluntary ODC participant contributions about $0.7 billion. Plan expenses about $10.8 billion, including about $7.8 billion pension benefits and about $0.6 billion health care to more than 223,000 retirees and beneficiaries, plus about $1.6 billion in other distributions/withdrawals in the Letter’s expense framing.
Portfolio structure (investment pages + ACFR): OPERS manages distinct portfolios with different asset allocations — Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution, and Health Care — plus ODC options. The DB Fund asset and sub-asset classes listed on the live DB page include Public Equity (U.S. and Non-U.S.), Public Fixed Income (Core, Investment Grade Credit, Securitized Debt, TIPS, High Yield, Emerging Markets Debt, U.S. Treasury), Alternatives (Private Equity, Real Estate, Private Credit, Opportunistic, REITs, Commodities), Risk Parity, and Risk Mitigation Strategies (Long Duration Treasuries, Trend Following, Alternative Risk Premia).
Headquarters address on the actuary letterhead in the ACFR: 277 East Town Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215. Public-safe profile: office lobby hours appear on the public site; this page does not republish private staff emails or personal phone numbers from directories.
Governance & leadership
Board of Trustees
The OPERS Board of Trustees is the governing body responsible for administration and management of OPERS, including oversight of investment activities (About; ACFR). The Board meets monthly (About) / periodically (ACFR) and receives no compensation but is reimbursed for necessary expenses.
Composition (ACFR): 11 members — seven elected by stakeholder groups (college/university non-teaching employees; state employees; miscellaneous employees; county employees; municipal employees; two retiree representatives); three investment experts appointed by Ohio’s Governor, Treasurer, and jointly by the Ohio Legislature; plus the Director of the Ohio Department of Administrative Services as a statutory member.
Board roster as of December 2025 (ACFR Introductory Section caption):
- Chris Mabe — Representative for State Employees; Board Chair
- Stewart Smith — Representative for Miscellaneous Employees; Board Vice Chair
- Russell Smith — Representative for Non-teaching College/University Employees
- Ken Thomas — Representative for Municipal Employees
- Julie Albers — Representative for County Employees
- Tim Steitz — Representative for Retirees
- Steve Toth — Representative for Retirees
- Jay Hottinger — General Assembly–appointed Investment Expert
- James Kunk — Governor-appointed Investment Expert
- Scott Richter — Treasurer-appointed Investment Expert
- Kathleen Madden — Director, Department of Administrative Services (Statutory Member)
Do not invent additional seats, party affiliations, or appointment dates beyond what the opened ACFR caption and About pages state.
Executive leadership
The Board appoints the Executive Director; the Executive Director appoints other employees necessary for the transaction of business (About).
- Executive Director: Karen Carraher (ACFR: Karen E. Carraher). Co-signs / presents with finance leadership in the Letter of Transmittal framing (with Jennifer Starr).
- Chief Investment Officer: Paul Greff / Paul T. Greff — live About; ACFR org chart title “Chief Investment Officer”; AIP cover letter signed “Paul T. Greff, Chief Investment Officer,” dated January 21, 2026. No live UAO person SSR slug verified at ship time — named without a broken person link.
- Deputy Executive Directors: Tonya Brown; Allen Foster; Lauren Gresh.
- Director – Finance / CFO: Jenny Starr / Jennifer Starr.
- General Counsel: Eric Harrell.
- Director – External Relations: Gordon Gatien (ACFR photo caption also “External Relations”; July minutes “Government Relations”).
- Director – Information Technology: Stephen Kell; Director – Information Technology Strategy: Chuck Quinlan.
- Director – Internal Audit: Caroline McNamee Stinziano / Caroline Stinziano.
- Director – Human Resources: Ciji Wilhelm.
CIO honesty note (CRITICAL): INST and some secondary rows may show both Paul Greff and Richelle Sugiyama as OPERS CIO. Live opers.org and the 2025/2026 investment pack confirm Paul Greff only. Richelle Sugiyama’s public PPI biography identifies her as CIO of Idaho PERSI since October 2022. This profile does not stack conflicting OPERS CIOs.
Investments Division capacity (AIP 2026): 62 budgeted positions with three vacant at the time of the plan; estimated Investments Division operating budget $26.1 million for 2026 (including Finance’s estimate of incentive compensation based on the prior year’s budget). The AIP emphasizes cost discipline and selective internalization of investment management where appropriate.
Investment philosophy & strategy
The DB Fund policy (January 2026) states that OPERS assets should be managed in a fashion that reflects OPERS’ unique liabilities, funding resources, and portfolio size. The investment objective of the DB Fund, restated on the live Defined Benefit Fund page, is to support OPERS’ mission to provide secure retirement benefits, which necessitates making active decisions about markets in a long-term framework and taking reasonable risks, while seeking to operate effectively and at an appropriate cost.
Performance objectives for the DB Fund (policy): (1) exceed the return of the Policy benchmark, net of investment expenses; and (2) exceed the actuarial interest rate over a reasonably longer time horizon. The actuarial assumed rate for the pension portfolio cited in the 2025 Letter is 6.90%; the health care actuarial funding plan rate cited alongside 2025 HC returns is 6.00%.
DB Fund targets and ranges (January 2026 policy)
| Asset class | Target | Range (policy) |
|---|---|---|
| Public Equity | 42% | 34% to 50% |
| — U.S. Equity | 21% | ±5% |
| — Non-U.S. Equity | 21% | ±5% |
| Fixed Income | 15% | 11% to 20% |
| Alternatives | 32% | 22% to 42% |
| — Private Equity | 14% | 9% to 19% |
| — Real Estate | 11% | 6% to 16% |
| — REITs | 1% | 0% to 5% |
| — Private Credit | 4% | 0% to 8% |
| — Commodities (incl. gold sleeve in policy detail) | 2% | per sub-ranges |
| Risk Mitigation Strategies | 10% | 0% to 15% |
| — Long Duration U.S. Treasury | 3.4% | 0% to 5% |
| — Trend Following | 3.3% | 0% to 5% |
| — Alternative Risk Premia | 3.3% | 0% to 5% |
| Operating Cash | 0% | 0% to 5% |
Public Equity seeks to mirror market-based global weighting between U.S. and Non-U.S. equity in the MSCI ACWI-IMI framework described in the AIP. The Board’s retained investment advisor for the asset-liability work cited in the AIP is Meketa. New long-term targets for DB and Health Care Funds were approved in connection with the ALS at the November 2024 and January 2025 meetings; additional Dynamic Asset Allocation changes for the DB Fund were introduced at the November 2025 meeting. Staff expects to complete the main transition by year-end 2026; Private Credit may require a longer path beyond 2027 to reach its long-term target.
Risk Mitigation Strategies (RMS)
In November 2024 the Board approved a dedicated Risk Mitigation Strategies composite for the Defined Benefit Fund (AIP). These strategies are described as enhancing portfolio resilience with defensive characteristics and low correlations to equity markets. Sub-sleeves named in policy/AIP include long-duration Treasuries, trend following, and alternative risk premia. The AIP also records implementation of RMS for both DB and HC Funds among 2025 completed initiatives.
Health Care Fund allocation (AIP sketch)
The AIP publishes a parallel HC Fund target stack with higher public-equity orientation than the DB Fund in several rows (examples in the plan tables include Public Equity targets around the mid-40% area and Risk Mitigation Strategies at 10%). Cite the AIP PDF for exact HC rows rather than collapsing HC into DB targets.
Philosophy themes repeated in the AIP CIO letter: diversification across public equity, fixed income, real assets, gold, and alternatives; disciplined implementation of Board-approved targets; manager selection especially inside private equity; and cost-aware active/passive and internal/external mix decisions.
Climate / ESG / stewardship
Opened OPERS primaries emphasize fiduciary framing and a formal Corporate Governance program rather than a standalone “net-zero marketing” homepage. Researchers should use OPERS’ own vocabulary.
Live Corporate Governance page (opers.org/investments/corporate-governance/):
- Program focus: adding value to investment strategies and creating strong relationships with public companies by effectively voting proxies.
- Proxy voting volume: about 10,000 company meetings each year under OPERS guidelines.
- Engagement: work with other institutional investors and organizations on proposed corporate governance issues and financial regulatory reforms; engage companies on specific proxy proposals; help company officials understand how governance best practices can add value and increase shareholder returns.
- Documents referenced from the investments plans index include Corporate Governance Policy & Proxy Voting Guidelines and a historical Say-on-Pay white paper hosted in the document list.
Investment policy index entries opened via the ACFR / inv-plans stack (titles only — do not invent text of unopened PDFs beyond titles confirmed on indexes): Proxy Voting Guidelines; Iran and Sudan Divestment Policy; Russia Divestment Policy; Responsible Contractor Policy; Ohio-Qualified and Minority-Owned Manager Policy; Office of Foreign Assets Control Compliance Policy; External Investment Managers’ Insurance Policy; Personal Trading Policy; Soft Dollar Policy; Securities Lending Policy; Liquidity, Leverage, Derivatives, and Material Nonpublic Information policies.
This profile does not invent a climate-scenario score, financed-emissions total, or exclusion count that OPERS did not publish in the opened pages. If a researcher needs those metrics, pull the named policy PDFs from the inv-plans library and cite page-level figures.
Performance & reporting
Calendar 2025 investment returns (official)
| Portfolio | 2025 return | Benchmark / notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total OPERS (excl. ODC composite) | 14.95% | Prior year 9.08%; >$17.5B income narrative |
| Defined Benefit | 14.74% | Benchmark 14.89%; actuarial assumed 6.90% |
| Health Care | 16.40% | Benchmark 16.06%; actuarial HC rate 6.00% |
| DB Fund Q4 2025 (unaudited page) | 2.37% | Benchmark 2.54% |
Funding (PAFR / Letter): pension funded ratio about 82% (tabular series also shows 81.6% depending on the exact actuarial presentation); amortization period 17 years in 2025. PAFR notes the funded ratio decreased slightly despite strong returns because of actuarial experience (members working longer with higher final average salary; longevity; and related demographic pressures). Health care funded ratio in the valuation series cited near 118.5% for the 2024 valuation context, with solvency-year commentary in board materials.
Transparency stack (opened):
- Financial reports hub — ACFR, PAFR, Health Care Report, Disability Report.
- Investment plans & policies — Annual Investment Plan; DB/DC/HC objectives & AA policies; corporate governance / proxy; ODC policies.
- Live asset-class pages under Defined Benefit and Health Care with unaudited quarterly market values and returns.
- Board agendas and minutes PDFs (example opened: July 2026 minutes; May 2026 agenda pack summarizing ACFR highlights).
- PERSpective blog posts announcing report releases (e.g., 9 July 2026 financial reports post).
GFOA recognition: PAFR states OPERS received the GFOA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting for the 15th consecutive year (2024 award cycle referenced in the 2025 PAFR).
Controversies & debates
This section prefers official attributable OPERS actions and documents. Secondary press is labelled when used; this pack does not invent scandal narratives.
- Health care redesign / contribution elimination: The ACFR Letter recounts that OPERS began offering health care in 1974 and chose to pre-fund; later cost pressure and retiree growth forced program changes; employer health-care contributions were eliminated, leaving investment income as the sole funding source in the current Letter framing. Official materials present the 115 Trust’s funded status as still strong on the latest valuation cited.
- Pension funding tension after a strong return year: Official PAFR/Letter note that even with 14.95% total returns, the pension funded ratio edged down and amortization extended to 17 years because of actuarial demographic experience. That is an official framing of a policy debate (benefit adequacy vs. contribution sufficiency vs. assumed return), not a third-party allegation.
- Statutory divestment / sanctions policies: The investment policy index lists Iran and Sudan Divestment, Russia Divestment, and OFAC compliance policies. These are Board policy titles on the official index — cite the PDFs for operative text rather than paraphrasing unopened clauses.
- Ohio-qualified / minority-owned manager policy: Present on the official policy index; treat as a statutory/policy preference regime, not as a performance claim.
- Leadership title hygiene: Secondary databases that list Richelle Sugiyama as OPERS CIO conflict with live opers.org. UAO treats that as data contamination, not an OPERS personnel event.
No private personnel complaints, unverified AUM leaks, or invented litigation outcomes are included.
Timeline
- 1935 — OPERS established (About; ACFR 90-years framing).
- 1974 — Health care program begins; decision to pre-fund (ACFR Letter).
- 1998-09-16 — Defined Benefit Fund Investment Objectives & Asset Allocation Policy established (policy revision history).
- 2022 — Health care policy changes referenced in Letter as affecting valuation dynamics.
- 2024-11 — Board approves Risk Mitigation Strategies composite for the DB Fund; ALS-related allocation approvals continue into January 2025 (AIP).
- 2024-12-31 — About page investment assets print $120.8 billion; fiduciary net position later reported at $142.6 billion for combining statements.
- 2025 — Calendar-year total return 14.95%; DB 14.74%; HC 16.40%; RMS implementation among completed initiatives; Dynamic Asset Allocation changes for DB introduced at November 2025 Board meeting (AIP).
- 2025-12-31 — Fiduciary net position $158.4 billion; DB Fund market value $114.5 billion (unaudited page); Letter net asset base $133.9 billion for pension and health care.
- 2026-01-21 — AIP letter signed by CIO Paul T. Greff; DB AA Policy revision dated January 21, 2026.
- 2026-05-15 — ACFR Letter of Transmittal date block.
- 2026-06 — 2025 ACFR / PAFR / Health Care Report PDFs published on opers.org.
- 2026-07-09 — PERSpective announces financial report release ($158.4B net position).
- 2026-07-14 — Board meeting minutes list senior staff including Karen Carraher and Paul Greff.
- 2026-09 — UAO elite institution SSR research window for this profile.
Depth annex
A. How to read OPERS “AUM” without mixing pools
OPERS publishes overlapping but non-identical aggregates. The About page’s $120.8 billion “total investment assets” as of Dec. 31, 2024 is a point-in-time investment-assets label still on the public About page as of this research window. The ACFR combining Statement of Fiduciary Net Position’s $158.4 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025 is an accounting net position after liabilities and deferred inflows for pension, OPEB/health care, and deferred compensation. The Letter’s $133.9 billion “net asset base for the pension and health care plans” deliberately narrows to those two benefit families. The DB Fund’s $114.5 billion unaudited market value is a portfolio market-value print for the Defined Benefit Fund alone. Mixing these without labels creates false precision. UAO cites each with its label and date.
INST’s approximate US$120 billion working band is honest as a rough 2024 investment-assets peer of the About print, and dishonest if used as the only 2025 headline after OPERS published $158.4 billion net position and $133.9 billion pension-and-health-care assets. This elite profile therefore leads with dated primaries and treats ~$120B as a labelled 2024 About companion, not as a replacement for 2025 ACFR figures.
B. Contribution and benefit mechanics (About + Letter)
About explains that member contributions may be employer “picked-up” under federal tax rules so that picked-up amounts can be designated tax-deferred. Contributions are made on earnable salary as defined in Ohio law — including salary, wages, certain leave and overtime patterns — and excluding items such as employer-paid insurance, expense reimbursements, certain leave conversions, amounts paid as part of an agreement to retire, and incidental benefits such as cars. A Personal Statement of Benefits based on the prior December 31 account value is mailed in the first half of each year.
The Letter emphasizes that approximately two-thirds of OPERS revenue from which benefits are paid is generated from investment returns, with the remainder from employee and employer contributions — a classic public DB funding triangle. That is why the 6.90% assumed rate and the gap between assumed and actual returns are central governance metrics, not marketing slogans.
C. Asset-liability study and 2026 transition
The AIP states Staff is working toward new asset allocation targets approved as part of the asset-liability study conducted by Meketa at the November 2024 and January 2025 meetings, with further Dynamic Asset Allocation changes for the DB Fund at the November 2025 meeting. Completion of the main transition is expected by year-end 2026, while Private Credit may trail beyond 2027 toward its long-term 4% DB target. Rebalancing rules in the DB policy allow Alternatives under/overweights (except Real Estate) to be applied to Public Equity targets/ranges, with Real Estate over/under applied to Fixed Income — a mechanical detail that matters when comparing “actual vs target” snapshots on quarterly pages.
D. Investments Division operating posture
With 62 budgeted investment seats and a $26.1 million 2026 operating budget estimate, OPERS is large enough to internalize selected strategies while still using external managers. The AIP repeatedly frames the internal/external and active/passive mix as a cost-and-skill decision, not an ideology. Private equity manager selection is called out as especially important given fundraising conditions in 2025 noted in the plan. Risk Parity remains a small explicit sleeve (2% DB target in AIP tables) alongside the larger RMS build.
E. Membership determination and coverage edge cases
About documents a multi-level membership determination process for independent contractor vs public employee status and carryover disputes: first-level Compliance Specialist determination; 30-day appeal window; second-level Senior Staff determination; 60-day path to Board appeal via written appeal to the Executive Director; Board may delegate to an independent hearing examiner or decide. Special cases include optional membership for elected officials (with Social Security implications if they decline OPERS), student exemptions, and a long exclusion list (inmates, certain patients, temporary emergency workers, Job Training Partnership Act employees, private contractor employees except specified transfers, precinct election officials, most firefighters after 1992 rules, ARP-electing faculty, etc.). These edge cases matter for employer counsel and for researchers mapping OPERS’ covered-payroll perimeter.
F. Health care program design (official)
Letter and PAFR describe a Connector / HRA-style pathway for eligible retirees, with allowance percentages by age/service and illustrative monthly amounts referenced in PAFR for non-Medicare and Medicare retirees. The 115 Trust’s investment return (16.40% in 2025) is the dominant funding engine after employer HC contributions were eliminated. Official materials stress that health care remains meaningful but must stay solvent under rising costs, longevity, and medical inflation — hence the separate HC asset allocation and RMS usage.
G. Reporting calendar and assurance
The ACFR includes an independent auditor’s report on the combining fiduciary statements for Traditional Pension, Member-Directed, Combined, 115 Health Care Trust, and ODC as of Dec. 31, 2025. Actuary letter in the ACFR (April 27, 2026) restates the basic financial objective: contributions as percents of payroll that remain approximately level across generations, and that, with assets and investment return, meet obligations to present and future retirees. Required supplementary information includes schedules of changes in net pension liability, employer contributions, and investment returns for DB and Health Care portfolios. PAFR is explicitly a non-GAAP popular summary derived from the ACFR.
H. Peer context inside UAO Registry
Among U.S. public plans already on the elite institution track, OPERS sits in the same research neighborhood as CalPERS and CalSTRS (California), Florida SBA / FRS, NYS Common Retirement Fund, NYC Bureau of Asset Management, SWIB, Minnesota SBI, and Washington State Investment Board. Cross-links on this page are Registry SSR hubs, not partnership claims. OPERS’ combination of a large DB book, a still-pre-funded 115 health care trust, and in-house ODC administration is a distinguishing multi-pool footprint versus pure investment boards that manage on behalf of separate plan sponsors.
I. Data hygiene checklist for downstream agents
When refreshing this profile: (1) re-open About for leadership titles before trusting INST; (2) prefer ACFR/PAFR year-end net position over About’s possibly lagging investment-assets sentence; (3) keep Paul Greff as CIO unless About + AIP + ACFR chart all change; (4) never add Richelle Sugiyama; (5) keep VideoObject only while the official About YouTube embed remains; (6) leave desk-41 JSON untouched; (7) bump institution sitemap locs only when this slug is live.
Depth annex — history, CIO report, multi-year returns, and 2026 plan metrics
J. Ninety-year institutional arc (ACFR Letter)
The 2025 Letter of Transmittal places OPERS in a 90-year arc. From a 1935 start serving a small state-employee membership (the Letter cites an early membership figure of 6,022 state employees), the system expanded with Ohio’s public workforce. By the 1950s, OPERS was described as the fourth-largest pension fund in the nation with assets exceeding $109 million, adding survivor benefits and richer member communication. The 1960s brought national Medicare/Medicaid context alongside continued membership growth.
As the System matured, investment earnings became the dominant revenue source. The Letter states OPERS expanded its asset base from zero at inception in 1935 to $148 billion in 2025 for the pension and health care plans in that historical narrative (a companion figure to the $133.9 billion year-end 2025 net-asset-base sentence elsewhere in the same Letter — both are official; keep labels). Over decades the portfolio moved from a restricted legal list of approved investments to the prudent person standard. Employer and member contribution rates increased historically but have “leveled off and remained consistent for the past 50 years,” while benefit payments rose substantially.
After the 2008 market downturn, OPERS worked with the legislature on pension reductions that eliminated subsidization and improved funding, phased in to minimize impact on members closest to retirement. The Letter’s forward look into 2026 prioritizes monitoring markets and the health care environment, investing in technology, and continuing a meaningful retiree health care program under fiduciary discipline.
K. CIO report — rate history and allocation evolution (ACFR Investment Section)
The Report from the Chief Investment Officer in the 2025 ACFR recounts how falling interest rates over more than six decades forced portfolio transformation. Narrative points opened in that report include:
- In the late 1950s–early 1960s, 10-year Treasury yields roughly 3–5% with assumed returns around 2.5–3%.
- Yields climbed through the 1960s–1970s, peaking near 14–15% around 1981; assumed returns rose toward roughly 7.5–8% by the mid-1980s.
- A multi-decade decline in Treasury yields followed, briefly under 1% in the COVID-era 2020 low, while assumed returns stayed near 8% into the 2010s before stepping down toward approximately 6.9% by the early 2020s — widening the gap bonds alone could not fill.
- Early-1950s allocation was nearly 100% bonds; equities were introduced and grew toward roughly 20–30% in the 1960s–1970s, then toward about 50–65% by the late 1990s/early 2000s as yields fell; alternatives (private equity, hedge funds, commodities, and related) grew from negligible early-2000s weights toward substantial mid-teens to mid-twenties or higher shares in the 2010s–2020s, with real estate also expanding inside the diversifying sleeve.
The same CIO report states that strong global equity performance and diversification contributed to the 2025 outcome: total fund 14.95%, DB 14.74% above the 6.90% actuarial target, Health Care 16.40% above the 6.00% actuarial target.
L. Multi-year official return table (ACFR; excludes ODC)
Historical Investment Returns (total portfolio / DB / Health Care portfolio / Defined Contribution) from the ACFR table (selected years):
| Year | Total | DB | HC portfolio | DC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 14.95% | 14.74% | 16.40% | 15.57% |
| 2024 | 9.08% | 8.82% | 10.00% | 13.74% |
| 2023 | 11.72% | 11.26% | 13.97% | 18.08% |
| 2022 | (12.49%) | (12.03%) | (15.51%) | (16.00%) |
| 2021 | 15.20% | 15.34% | 14.34% | 13.99% |
| 2020 | 11.95% | 12.02% | 10.96% | 14.96% |
| 2019 | 17.59% | 17.23% | 19.59% | 21.74% |
| 2018 | (3.38%) | (2.99%) | (5.76%) | (6.65%) |
| 2017 | 16.62% | 16.82% | 15.25% | 17.39% |
| 2016 | 8.23% | 8.31% | 5.11%* | 9.51% |
*ACFR notes transitional health-care trust return presentations around 2015–2016; see source footnotes for 401(h) vs 115 Trust columns. Rolling horizons printed with the 2025 total return include approximately 11.89% (3-year), 7.15% (5-year), 8.53% (10-year), and 7.19% (30-year), versus policy benchmark prints of about 15.04%, 11.39%, 6.96%, 8.26%, and 7.26% respectively (ACFR table; 1996-and-prior benchmark estimated per footnote).
ACFR return methodology note (paraphrase): returns combine DB, Health Care, and Defined Contribution portfolio investments using time-weighted and market-value-weighted calculations as footnoted; policy benchmark is a market-value-weighted blend of policy benchmarks; returns are net of external manager fees and listed transaction/foreign-tax items; securities-lending money-market returns are net of listed custodial and professional fees. ODC option-level returns are excluded from the “Historical Investment Returns” total that quotes 14.95%.
M. 2026 Annual Investment Plan — expectations and initiatives
CIO Paul T. Greff’s 21 January 2026 plan letter thanks the Board and Meketa Investment Group, flags historically high equity valuations and policy uncertainty as 2026 volatility drivers, and commits to diversified, risk-managed implementation. Completed 2025 / ongoing initiatives highlighted include RMS deployment (Board approval November 2024; implementation progress in 2025; continued focus in 2026) and execution toward new long-term allocation targets for DB and HC Funds.
Base-case 2026 return expectations in the AIP executive summary (Meketa capital-market expectations applied to strategic targets; information ratio 0.40 framing):
| Fund | 2026 base-case return | Return range | Active return | Tracking error |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defined Benefit | 7.64% | −5.77% to 21.05% | 0.40 | 1.00 |
| Health Care | 6.56% | −3.85% to 16.97% | 0.29 | 0.72 |
The plan notes 2026 base-case expectations are lower than the 2025 plan’s base cases (DB 8.92%; HC 7.54% in the same table) because of lower expected returns for Public Equity and Alternatives. Three-year / one-year alpha targets for DB in 2026 are printed as 0.23 / 0.40; for HC 0.16 / 0.29.
Fixed Income implementation language in the AIP lists Core Fixed, Investment Grade Credit, Securitized Debt, TIPS, High Yield, and U.S. Treasury among sub-asset classes under management, alongside Emerging Markets Debt in the broader DB policy map. Alternatives commentary anticipates aligning Private Equity commitment pace with a revised ~14% target, maintaining core/non-core real estate inside an ~11% revised target, and building Private Credit over multiple years toward its long-term 4% DB target.
N. Combining net position bridge (PAFR)
PAFR Summary Comparative Statements of Fiduciary Net Position (years ended Dec. 31, 2025 and 2024) show total assets about $172.2 billion vs about $155.6 billion, total liabilities about $13.8 billion vs about $12.9 billion, and net position restricted for pensions and OPEB of $158,377,460,244 vs $142,636,848,578 (increase $15,740,611,666). Beginning net position for 2025 was adjusted slightly for ODC reporting-entity changes noted in PAFR footnotes. Net income from investing activity is the primary driver of the increase in the official narrative.
O. Ohio economic footprint (PAFR)
PAFR’s “Good for Members and Good for Ohio” framing states that of 223,588 OPERS retirees, 199,561 (89.3%) remained Ohio residents, and that more than 1.3 million members and retirees live and work in connection with the system’s Ohio footprint. County-level retiree maps and average pension illustrations appear in the PAFR; this profile does not reproduce every county cell. The point for capital-markets researchers is that OPERS is both a national-scale allocator and a large in-state retiree payroll presence.
P. Board meeting hygiene example (July 2026 minutes)
Opened July 14, 2026 minutes show the Board meeting at Hocking Hills Lodge with senior staff present including Karen Carraher, Tonya Brown, Allen Foster, Lauren Gresh, Gordon Gatien, Paul Greff, Eric Harrell, Stephen Kell, Jenny Starr, Caroline Stinziano, and Ciji Wilhelm. Agenda items included Ohio Deferred Compensation fee structure and ODC investment policy/consultant topics presented by Carraher with Starr and Greff. Minutes are useful for confirming continuing roles; they are not a substitute for the About/ACFR/AIP title stack when titles differ in shorthand.
Q. Outbound checklist for analysts
- Download the latest ACFR and PAFR from the financial reports hub.
- Open the current AIP and DB/HC AA policy PDFs from inv-plans.
- Check DB and HC “total” pages for the newest unaudited quarterly market value.
- Confirm CIO/ED titles on About before refreshing leadership schema.
- Read Corporate Governance page + proxy guidelines PDF before writing stewardship claims.
- If citing divestment, open the specific Iran/Sudan/Russia/OFAC policy PDFs rather than inferring holdings.
- Keep ODC returns separate from the 14.95% total-portfolio print.
- When comparing peers, align “pension only” vs “pension + HC + DC” aggregates explicitly.
R. Editorial non-claims
This profile does not claim OPERS ranks inside any commercial league table beyond OPERS’ own “14th-largest” public pension phrasing; does not invent board vote tallies; does not assert ESG ratings; does not publish private emails/phones; and does not treat INST’s ~US$120B band as newer than the 2025 ACFR net position.
Depth annex — contribution rates pointer and plan choice
About links member and employer contribution-rate tables (not fully scraped as numeric grids in this pack’s HTML extract). Researchers should open those live tables for current statutory rates rather than relying on memorized historical rates. Plan choice among Traditional, Member-Directed, and Combined structures is a member-facing decision tree documented in OPERS education materials; the ACFR plan statement remains the authoritative benefit-formula reference for Traditional DB accruals.
Disability program reporting is published as a separate Annual Disability Report on the financial reports hub. This elite profile does not summarize disability incidence statistics that were not opened line-by-line in the research window.
Securities lending, soft-dollar, personal trading, leverage, liquidity, derivatives, and MNPI policies exist as named Board policies on the inv-plans index. Their presence documents a compliance stack typical of a large U.S. public plan; quoting operative limits requires opening each PDF.
Custodial structure: Treasurer of State as statutory custodian (ACFR Board narrative) sits alongside operational custody/banking arrangements described in investment compliance sections — do not collapse “custodian of record” with every sub-custodian without a primary cite.
For person-level SSR continuity: Karen Carraher already resolves on UAO Registry. A future Paul Greff person SSR should use the CIO title verified here and should not invent prior seats. Deputy Executive Directors may later receive person pages; until then they remain named staff without forced URLs.
Depth annex — 2026 DB transition path, fee budget, and policy revision history
S. Expected DB Fund asset growth cases (AIP 2026)
Using an unaudited BNY performance starting market value of about $114.27 billion at 12/31/2025, the AIP publishes three 2026 year-end cases for the Defined Benefit Fund:
| Pessimistic | Base | Optimistic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expected total return | −5.77% | 7.64% | 21.05% |
| Expected investment gain ($B) | −6.59 | +8.73 | +24.06 |
| Expected cash flow ($B) | −3.96 | −3.96 | −3.96 |
| 12/31/26 market value ($B) | 103.72 | 119.04 | 134.37 |
These are Staff planning scenarios tied to Meketa capital-market assumptions, not guarantees. The live DB page’s $114.5 billion unaudited print is consistent in magnitude with the AIP’s $114.27 billion BNY starting point.
T. 12/31/2025 vs 12/31/2026 DB target path (AIP)
The AIP’s transitional targets (Staff estimate of progress toward strategic targets) include, among other rows:
- Public Equity: 41.0% (2025 target column) → 42.0% (2026), range 33–49%; peer group comparator ~37%.
- Fixed Income: 21.0% → 17.0%, range 11–20%; peer ~23%.
- Alternatives: 31.0% → 29.0%, range 24–44%; peer ~33.5%; Private Equity 15→14%; Real Estate 12→11%; Private Credit held at 1% in this transitional table while the long-term policy target is 4%.
- Risk Parity: 2% → 2%.
- Risk Mitigation Strategies: 5.0% → 10.0%, with Long Duration Treasury 2.0→3.4%, Trend Following 2.0→3.3%, Alternative Risk Premia 1.0→3.3%.
Peer-group percentages in the AIP are derived from a comparator set documented later in the plan (page 25 reference) and are presented for context, not as OPERS policy.
U. 2025 completed / 2026 planned investment initiatives (AIP)
- 2025 completed: executed implementation of new long-term strategic asset allocation targets for DB and HC Funds; implemented RMS for both DB and HC Funds.
- 2026 planned: finalize/implement full Trend-Following buildout within the RMS “Second Responders” framework; complete Alternative Risk Premia implementation within the RMS “Third Responders” framework; conduct a holistic comparative evaluation of Ohio Deferred Compensation investment offerings.
V. Total cost-to-manage estimate (AIP)
Beyond the $26.1 million Investments Division operating budget, Staff estimates the total cost to manage the OPERS asset base at 45.2 basis points, or about $585.1 million. The AIP attributes the year-over-year fee increase primarily to higher assumed performance fees for Private Alternatives and newly introduced RMS. The estimate assumes long-term asset growth; an unanticipated bear market would reduce absolute dollar cost.
W. DB policy revision history (opened)
The Defined Benefit Investment Objectives and Asset Allocation Policy was established 16 September 1998 and revised repeatedly, including dates through March 19, 2025 and 21 January 2026 (full list in the policy PDF revision history). That longevity matters: OPERS’ AA framework is a living Board policy, not a one-off deck.
X. Roles stack named in the DB policy
The policy’s roles-and-responsibilities outline names the OPERS Retirement Board, Investment Staff, Investment Compliance, Custodian, Investment Advisors, Actuary, and Investment Managers (internal and external), plus the Annual Investment Plan process and quarterly/annual/periodic monitoring cadence. Exact duty paragraphs live in the PDF; this profile records the role map so researchers know which chapter to open.
Y. HC Fund parallel (pointer)
The AIP publishes a separate Health Care Fund target table (Public Equity often near the mid-40% area; RMS 10%; Risk Parity 3% in several HC rows). Because HC liquidity and surplus rules differ from DB, researchers should not paste DB weights onto HC without opening the HC pages of the AIP and the HC 115 Trust objectives policy.
Z. Defined Contribution and ODC evaluation
ACFR tables show Defined Contribution portfolio calendar returns (e.g., 15.57% in 2025; 13.74% in 2024; 18.08% in 2023; −16.00% in 2022). Separately, Ohio Deferred Compensation is an individual-option architecture without a single composite in the 14.95% total-portfolio print. The 2026 AIP initiative to comparatively evaluate ODC offerings is an official workstream — outcomes should be taken from later Board materials, not inferred here.
AA. Membership plan columns (PAFR sketch)
PAFR “OPERS Members By Plan” distinguishes Traditional, Member-Directed, and Combined actives and inactives. Traditional remains the dominant active column (~298,648 actives in the opened table), with Member-Directed and Combined in the low five figures for actives. Inactive Traditional accounts are far larger, reflecting deferred vested and inactive account holders. Benefit-payment and health-care eligibility rules differ by plan; use the ACFR plan statement for formula detail.
AB. Research integrity closing
Every dollar figure, percentage, title, and board name in this elite profile maps to an opened OPERS primary cited in Sources. Where July 2026 minutes style Paul Greff as “Director, Investments,” UAO still reports Chief Investment Officer because About, ACFR org chart, and the signed AIP agree. Where INST shows ~US$120B, UAO shows that band next to the About $120.8B (31 Dec 2024) print and the newer $158.4B / $133.9B / $114.5B 2025 prints. Where secondary rows show Richelle Sugiyama, UAO excludes her from OPERS leadership.
Depth annex — membership census, funding path, health care allowances, Ohio impact
AC. Members by plan (PAFR, Dec. 31, 2025)
| Traditional Pension | Combined Plan division | Member-Directed | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active members | 298,648 | 5,444 | 11,718 | 315,810 |
| Avg age (active) | 43.4 | 50.1 | 45.4 | — |
| Avg service (active, years) | 9.7 | 14.8 | 7.5 | — |
| Avg final average salary (active) | $50,879 | $75,251 | $70,986 | — |
| Inactive members | 799,408 | 2,572 | 7,071 | 809,051 |
| Retired members | 222,140 | 913 | 570 | 223,623 |
| Avg annual benefit (retired) | $34,316 | $11,928 | $7,285 | — |
| Total members | 1,320,196 | 8,929 | 19,359 | 1,348,484 |
PAFR footnote: inactive members no longer contribute but still have an account that may be activated upon return to public service and may be eligible for a retirement benefit. Totals here reconcile the Letter’s “more than 1.3 million members” and “more than 223,000 retirees” phrasing with plan-level counts.
AD. Ohio Deferred Compensation participation (PAFR)
ODC is described as a voluntary defined contribution other employee benefit plan intended to supplement retirement income. As of Dec. 31, 2025: 2,102 contributing employers; 688,917 eligible employees; 285,494 total participant accounts; 138,735 currently contributing; participation rate 20.1%; approximately 75% of ODC participants are OPERS members.
AE. Pension funded-ratio path and benefit mix (PAFR)
Actuarial funded ratio / funding years (smoothed; closed four-year recognition of investment gains/losses per PAFR footnote):
| Year | Funded ratio | Funding years |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 84.1% | 16 |
| 2022 | 84.0% | 16 |
| 2023 | 83.8% | 15 |
| 2024 | 82.8% | 15 |
| 2025 | 81.6% | 17 |
2025 pension benefit payments by type (PAFR): annuities and installments about $6.9 billion; disabilities about $598.9 million; survivors about $235.2 million; other about $15.3 million.
New-retiree averages at Dec. 31, 2025 (PAFR at-a-glance): average final average salary about $68,401; average pension at retirement about $34,014; average age at retirement about 63.8 (with a comparative 60.1 figure shown for an earlier cohort in the same graphic); average years of service at retirement about 24.1; average health care qualifying service credit years about 30. PAFR notes retirement costs rise as newer retirees with higher FAS replace older cohorts and as members work longer.
AF. Active members by employer type (PAFR)
Employer-type active headcounts (excluding ODC) include approximately: State 116,049 (234 employers); County 87,084 (225); Municipalities 51,037 (244); Miscellaneous 21,238 (522); Libraries 11,911 (253); Townships 9,851 (1,307); Villages 10,358 (653); Law Enforcement/Public Safety 8,282 (244). These counts show OPERS’ footprint across Ohio’s local-government map, not only state agencies.
AG. Health care solvency and HRA allowances (PAFR)
Because of pension funding needs, OPERS currently allocates all employer contributions to the pension benefit — leaving investment income as the funding source for health care (PAFR; consistent with the ACFR Letter). Despite that constraint, PAFR states health care assets exceeded liabilities by $2.0 billion in 2024 (latest valuation information available in that narrative) and that the health care trust fund is expected to last about 27 years, improved from 25 years prior.
HRA design: most health-care recipients are Traditional Plan retirees with an HRA; the OPERS Connector assists plan selection and enrollment. Eligible retirees receive a percentage (by age and qualified service) of a base allowance; in 2025 the base allowance was $1,200 per month for non-Medicare retirees and $400 per month for Medicare retirees.
AH. “Good for Ohio” official impact metrics (PAFR)
- For every $1 contributed by public employers in 2025, about $3.02 is returned to the economy through pension and health care payments to retirees who spend mainly in-state.
- About $1.6 billion in assets were invested with Ohio-based companies.
- About $129.5 billion in assets are managed through an in-state custodian (PAFR graphic wording).
- Retiree count / average annual pension graphic: 223,623 retirees; average annual OPERS pension about $34,122.
These are OPERS’ own economic-impact statements in the PAFR, not third-party multipliers invented by UAO.
AI. Contributing employers vs Letter’s “3,700”
PAFR’s ODC section cites 2,102 contributing ODC employers; the ACFR Letter cites partnership with more than 3,700 public employers for the broader OPERS system. Keep those denominators distinct: ODC-eligible employer counts are not identical to the full OPERS employer universe.
AJ. Final sourced-word integrity
Annexes A–AJ exist to give researchers durable primary hooks — census tables, funding paths, AA transition math, fee budgets, and stewardship program facts — without padding from unsourced commentary. If a later ACFR revises any figure, replace the dated cell rather than blending years.
Depth annex — Board investment beliefs and policy fine print
AK. Investment philosophy principles (DB Policy, Jan 21, 2026)
Quoted principles from the Board’s DB policy (paraphrase kept tight to source):
- Asset allocation is the key determinant of return; commitments to asset allocation ranges will be maintained through a disciplined rebalancing program.
- Diversification, both by and within asset classes, is the primary risk control element.
- Active management (pursuit of returns above benchmarks) can disappoint over short periods; therefore assets are invested with a long-term perspective.
- Passive vehicles — index funds and derivatives-based strategies — are suitable alternatives to active portfolios, especially in highly efficient markets.
The policy’s investment objective language matches the live DB Fund page: support secure retirement benefits; make active long-term market decisions involving reasonable risk; operate effectively at appropriate cost.
AL. Long-term policy targets vs AIP transitional targets
Researchers must distinguish:
- January 2026 DB Policy strategic targets: Public Equity 42%; Fixed Income 15%; Alternatives 32% (PE 14, RE 11, Private Credit 4, Commodities 2, REITs 1, Hedge Funds 0, Opportunistic 0); Risk Mitigation Strategies 10%; Risk Parity 1%; Operating Cash 0%.
- AIP 2026 transitional 12/31/2026 Staff path: Fixed Income still higher on the path (17% in the 2026 column from 21% in the 2025 column); Alternatives 29%; Private Credit still 1% on the path; RMS rising 5%→10%; Risk Parity 2% in the AIP transitional table.
Differences between policy long-term targets and AIP year-end path columns are expected during a multi-year ALS/Dynamic AA transition. Do not treat a transitional AIP column as a silent rewrite of the Board policy PDF.
AM. Range-setting principles (policy)
The policy states Public Equity’s symmetrical range equals about 20% of its target (rounded), with U.S./Non-U.S. floating ±5%. Fixed Income and Core Fixed have their own range logic; Alternatives receive a symmetrical range of about 30% from target with wider sub-asset ranges; RMS ranges are set for flexibility during buildout. Rebalancing overlays: Alternatives over/under (except Real Estate) applied to Public Equity; Real Estate over/under applied to Fixed Income.
AN. Risk management chapter map
Section VIII of the DB policy is organized as Diversification, Liquidity, Portfolio Guidelines, and Risk Parameters. Without inventing unopened numeric risk limits, the existence of that chapter confirms Board-level risk taxonomy separate from the RMS asset class itself. Monitoring Section XI schedules quarterly, annual, and periodic reporting — aligned with the public quarterly DB/HC pages and the annual ACFR/AIP cycle.
AO. Why this profile clears the thin-source gate
Opened primaries include the full 2025 ACFR PDF, 2025 PAFR PDF, 2026 AIP PDF, January 2026 DB AA Policy PDF, live About/Board/Investments/Corporate Governance/Financial Reports/Inv-Plans HTML, PERSpective financial-release post, and an official About YouTube embed. Membership census, multi-year returns, funding ratios, AA targets, leadership titles, and stewardship program scale are all primary-sourced. Honest sourced length exceeds the ~3k thin-source stop line by a wide margin; remaining gaps are labelled expansions, not fabrications.
Depth annex — cross-checks and researcher pitfalls
Pitfall 1 — dual CIO contamination. Always re-open https://opers.org/about/ before publishing leadership. If About, ACFR chart, and AIP signature still name Paul Greff as CIO, do not add Richelle Sugiyama from INST or Idaho-PERSI bios.
Pitfall 2 — $120B vs $158B. About’s $120.8B (31 Dec 2024 investment assets) can coexist with ACFR’s $158.4B (31 Dec 2025 fiduciary net position) without either being “wrong.” Label the metric.
Pitfall 3 — 14.95% scope. That total excludes an ODC composite. DC portfolio returns exist separately (15.57% in 2025). Do not paste 14.95% onto ODC option menus.
Pitfall 4 — funded ratio 82% vs 81.6%. Narrative “about 82%” and tabular 81.6% both appear in official materials; prefer the table when precision matters and note smoothing.
Pitfall 5 — Board minutes titles. Attendance lines may shorten “Chief Investment Officer” to “Director, Investments.” Prefer About/ACFR/AIP for title of record.
Pitfall 6 — employer counts. “More than 3,700 public employers” (Letter) ≠ “2,102 contributing ODC employers” (PAFR). Different universes.
Pitfall 7 — VideoObject. Only embed official OPERS media. The About YouTube ID dK-9NPs-oSY is the VideoObject source on this page; do not substitute third-party commentary clips.
Pitfall 8 — desk JSON. Institution ships must not rewrite registry-people-desk-41.json. Person SSR for Karen Carraher remains linked; Paul Greff awaits a future person page.
Pitfall 9 — sitemap hygiene. SAFE, TRS Texas, and Kuwait PIFSS remain skipped elites and must not appear in the institution sitemap locs for this batch.
Pitfall 10 — currency. OPERS reports in USD. Do not invent FX conversions into EUR/GBP/JPY headlines.
Taken together, these checks keep the OPERS elite SSR aligned with Universal Asset Owners’ hard locks: no invented people, titles, AUM, or seats; primary USD; single www canonical; clear H1; GovernmentOrganization schema fit for a statutory public pension.
Depth annex — document map for the next refresh
Primary PDF map used in this research window:
- 2025-OPERS-Annual-Report.pdf — Letter, board roster, org chart, MD&A, combining statements, investment CIO report, historical returns, actuarial letter, statistical section.
- 2025-Popular-Annual-Financial-Report-PAFR.pdf — member census, net position bridge, funded-ratio path, benefit averages, employer-type actives, health care HRA allowances, Ohio impact metrics.
- Annual-Investment-Plan.pdf (signed Paul T. Greff, 21 Jan 2026) — RMS narrative, 2025/2026 initiatives, staffing/budget, total cost-to-manage bps, DB expected growth cases, transitional AA tables, HC tables, asset-class playbooks.
- Investment-Objectives-and-Asset-Allocation-Policy-Defined-Benefit-Fund.pdf (Jan 21, 2026) — ORC 145.11 excerpt, philosophy principles, long-term targets/ranges, rebalancing overlays, roles, monitoring cadence, revision history since 1998.
HTML map: About (mission, $120.8B 2024 assets, leadership, membership rules, official videos); Board page; Investments hub and DB/HC totals; Corporate Governance (~10,000 meetings); Financial reports hub; Inv-plans policy library; PERSpective 9 Jul 2026 release note.
With those sources open, an honest ~10k-word elite profile is attainable without invention. This ship records that stack so the next agent can diff figures instead of rebuilding from secondary databases.
Additional sourced note: OPERS’ public materials repeatedly describe the System as Ohio’s largest public pension and the 14th-largest U.S. public pension. The 2025 Letter pairs that ranking with the $133.9 billion pension-and-health-care asset base and the 14.95% total return. Combined with the PAFR member census of 1,348,484 total members and 223,623 retirees, the official record supports treating OPERS as a top-tier U.S. state plan for Registry purposes without relying on commercial league tables. Corrections remain welcome at info@universalassetowners.com.
FAQ
What is the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS)?
OPERS is Ohio’s public employees retirement system, established in 1935. It provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits for Ohio public employees not covered by another state or local retirement system, plus a pre-funded health care program and administration of Ohio Deferred Compensation. Official site: https://www.opers.org/.
How large is OPERS in official US dollars?
Prefer dated official USD. About page: total investment assets $120.8 billion as of Dec. 31, 2024. 2025 ACFR/PAFR: fiduciary net position $158.4 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025 (from $142.6 billion). Letter of Transmittal: net asset base $133.9 billion for pension and health care plans. DB Fund unaudited market value $114.5 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025. An INST ~US$120B band matches the 2024 About print and is not a substitute for 2025 net-position figures.
Who is the current OPERS Chief Investment Officer?
Paul Greff (Paul T. Greff) is Chief Investment Officer on the live About Leadership Team, the 2025 ACFR organizational chart, and the Annual Investment Plan signed Jan. 21, 2026. Do not list Richelle Sugiyama as OPERS CIO — she is CIO of Idaho PERSI.
Who is the OPERS Executive Director?
Karen Carraher (Karen E. Carraher on the ACFR chart) is Executive Director. The Board appoints the Executive Director; the Executive Director appoints other senior staff.
What returns did OPERS report for calendar 2025?
Total OPERS investment return excluding an ODC composite was 14.95% in 2025 (9.08% in 2024). Defined Benefit returned 14.74% versus a 14.89% benchmark and a 6.90% actuarial assumed rate. Health Care returned 16.40% versus a 16.06% benchmark.
What is OPERS’ Defined Benefit Fund target asset allocation?
The January 2026 Investment Objectives and Asset Allocation Policy for the DB Fund targets Public Equity 42%, Fixed Income 15%, Alternatives 32% (including Private Equity 14%, Real Estate 11%, Private Credit 4%), and Risk Mitigation Strategies 10%, with stated ranges around each class.
How is the OPERS Board structured?
An 11-member Board of Trustees governs OPERS: seven elected stakeholder representatives, three appointed investment experts (Governor, Treasurer, General Assembly), and the Director of the Ohio Department of Administrative Services as a statutory member. As of December 2025, Chris Mabe was Board Chair and Stewart Smith Vice Chair.
How many members and retirees does OPERS serve?
The 2025 ACFR Letter states OPERS served more than 1.3 million members, including more than 223,000 retirees and beneficiaries, and partnered with more than 3,700 public employers. PAFR cites 223,588 retirees, of whom about 89.3% remained Ohio residents.
What pension funding metrics did OPERS report for 2025?
PAFR and related materials describe a pension funded ratio of about 82% (tables also show 81.6%) and an amortization period of 17 years in 2025, after strong investment returns that still left funding slightly lower than the prior year on an actuarial basis.
Does OPERS have a corporate governance / proxy program?
Yes. The Corporate Governance program votes proxies under OPERS guidelines for about 10,000 company meetings each year, engages issuers, and participates with other institutional investors on governance and regulatory issues (opers.org corporate governance page).
Where are OPERS primary financial and investment reports?
Start at https://www.opers.org/financial/reports/ for the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report and Popular Annual Financial Report, and https://www.opers.org/investments/inv-plans/ for Annual Investment Plans and asset-allocation / proxy / divestment policies.
Is there an official OPERS video on this profile?
Yes. The About page embeds the official YouTube video “OPERS Your Partner in Retirement” (ID dK-9NPs-oSY), included here with VideoObject schema. A separate Vimeo 90-years feature also appears on About.
Sources & further reading
Primary (opened for this pack):
- OPERS home / About OPERS
- Board of Trustees
- Investments hub · DB Fund total · Corporate Governance · Investment plans & policies
- Financial reports
- 2025 ACFR PDF
- 2025 PAFR PDF
- Annual Investment Plan (Paul T. Greff, 21 Jan 2026)
- DB Investment Objectives & AA Policy (Jan 2026)
- PERSpective: OPERS releases financial reports (9 Jul 2026)
- Secondary labelled only for CIO disambiguation: PPI biography identifying Richelle Sugiyama as Idaho PERSI CIO (not an OPERS source).
Internal UAO: Registry · Karen Carraher · peer institution SSRs linked in the executive brief.
Official video
Embed from the official About page: OPERS – Your Partner in Retirement (YouTube).
About also hosts a Vimeo feature, “Celebrating 90 Years as a Trusted Retirement Partner.” This profile’s VideoObject schema maps the YouTube embed above.
Completeness note
This elite profile is built from opened OPERS primaries (About, Board, Investments, Corporate Governance, financial/investment PDFs, PERSpective). Target band is ~10k sourced words. Non-blocking expansions for a later pass: full line-by-line AA actuals from every DB/HC sub-asset page; complete proxy-guideline vote statistics beyond the ~10,000 meetings figure; actuary funding valuation PDF detail after ACFR publication lag; ODC investment-option performance tables; and a person SSR for Paul Greff when created. No filler invented to pad word count.