Gov. Nikki Haley announces PEBA appointments
August 8, 2012
COLUMBIA, SC – August 6, 2012 – GovernorNikki Haley today announced three appointments to the South Carolina PublicEmployee Benefit Authority (PEBA). Established as a part of pension reformlegislation signed into law earlier this year, PEBA will meet at least monthlyand administer the state retirement systems and the employee insuranceprogram.
“We’re grateful that three finance, human resources and employeebenefits experts, who will be good stewards of our retirement system, haveagreed to serve PEBA,” said Gov. Haley. “Our pension system’s unfunded liabilityhad grown $10 billion over the last decade, and it threatened our long termfiscal health and stability. In talking to credit rating agencies about how tobest protect the credit of South Carolina, they repeatedly insisted that themost important action we could take was to reduce those unfunded liabilities andmake sure taxpayers alone aren’t on the hook for cost increases. We did justthat this year, and as we can see, it’s already paying off.”
Gov.Haley’s PEBA appointments are:
Arthur M. (Art) Bjontegard, Jr.: Mr. Bjontegard is former president of South Carolina National Bank, thestate’s largest bank holding company, and he previously headed its pension,investment, and bond departments. Additionally, Mr. Bjontegard has served on theNational Episcopal Church’s audit committee, the investment panel of the S.C.Retirement Systems and the investment committee of Palmetto HealthSystem.
Cynthia A. (Cindy) Hartley: With over 40 years ofprivate-sector experience in human resources, Ms. Hartley retired from Sonoco,where she was Senior Vice President for Human Resources. She also chaired theSustainability Committee for Sonoco, which was selected to join the Dow JonesSustainability Index. With an MBA from the University of Chicago, Ms. Hartleyalso serves on the board of S.C. Bank and Trust.
Steve A. Matthews: Mr. Matthews, a respected attorney with significant government and corporatefinance experience and a Yale Law School graduate, is a shareholder and pastmanaging director of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd. Based in the firm’s Columbiaoffice, he is the only South Carolina lawyer to serve as a founder of theAmerican College of Bond Counsel and the first South Carolina lawyer to serve onthe Board of Directors of the National Association of BondLawyers.
The governor,along with the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and the SenateFinance Committee, recently appointed Bill Blume as PEBA’s Executive Director.He will serve through the end of 2013. Beginning in 2014, the PEBA Board will beresponsible for choosing the executive director.
Pension reformlegislation signed into law in June by the governor has had an immediatepositive impact on South Carolina’s fiscal condition, according to analysis fromMoody’s, one of the country’s three primary credit ratings agencies. The new lawreduces the state’s unfunded liability by $2 billion in year one and completelyeliminates it over the next 30 years.
“By doing things like getting ridof the TERI program, closing the separate, privileged retirement system forlegislators, and cutting the taxpayer dollars going to pay for the retirement ofstate employees, we have established a solid foundation for the state’s twolargest retirement systems, and for South Carolina as a whole,” said Gov.Haley.
Moody’s Weekly Credit Outlook for July 9, 2012, reported, “SouthCarolina’s $2 billion pension liability reduction is credit positive for stateand local governments…Last Tuesday, actuaries for the state of South Carolina(Aaa stable) determined that recently enacted public pension reform legislationreduces the South Carolina Retirement System’s (SCRS) current unfunded liabilityto $12.4 billion from $14.4 billion, a credit positive for the state and forlocal governments that participate in SCRS…the law will reverse liability growthand reduce state and local government contributions requirement overtime.”
