Susan C. Lemmo won 49% of the 48,087 ballots cast in the three-way race for the Board's Retired Member Representative seat, according to election results the Board Governance and Administration Committee and Board Secretary certified at a public meeting on Friday. Mrs. Lemmo's term begins on Jan. 1, 2023, and ends on Dec. 31, 2025.
This will be Mrs. Lemmo's first term representing annuitants and Class DC Participants. She has served three terms as one of three elected trustees selected by Active Certified Members and Participants. Mrs. Lemmo's final Active Certified term will expire on Dec. 31, 2022, and her term as the Retired Representative will start in the New Year.
"I am honored PSERS retirees allowed me to continue serving our membership in this new Board capacity," Mrs. Lemmo said. "I will continue to do my best to always abide by my statutory Board duty to stand in a fiduciary relationship to the members of the System."
The election was held from November 1, 2022, to December 6, 2022, via internet, telephone and mail. Russell James Diesinger, a retired Reading School District teacher, placed second with 32% of the vote. The third-place finisher, with 19% of the vote, was James P. Hoover, a retired teacher and administrator with the Pennsylvania Distance Learning Charter School.
About the Board of Trustees
The 15-member Board of Trustees is an independent administrative board of the Commonwealth. The Board stands in a fiduciary relationship to the members of PSERS regarding investment decisions and disbursements of the System's funds. The Board also performs other functions outlined in the Public School Employees' Retirement Code, such as certifying contribution rates, authorizing the actuarial valuation and independent audit of the System, and publishing an annual financial statement of the condition of the Retirement Fund. In addition, the Board oversees the operational activities performed by the System's Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer.
About the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System
PSERS, founded in 1917, began operations in 1919 to oversee a statewide defined benefit pension plan for public school employees. PSERS' role expanded upon the passage of Act 5 of 2017 to include oversight of two new benefit options consisting of defined benefit and defined contribution (DC) components and a stand-alone DC plan. As of June 30, 2022, PSERS had total net assets of $71.2 billion and a membership of about 248,000 active, 247,000 retired school employees and 27,000 vested inactive members.
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