Before Ted Wheeler, 52, was named Oregon state treasurer in 2010, the six-generation Oregonian had spent much of his career in financial services, including positions at Bank of America Corp. and Portland-based Copper Mountain Trust Corp., and he was well aware of retirement inadequacies. As treasurer, Wheeler, a Portland resident with a BA in economics from Stanford University, an MBA from Columbia University and a master’s in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, shares fiduciary oversight ofOregon’s $87.9 billion state retirement systemand has spearheaded efforts to develop a state retirement plan for those without coverage. “Retirement security has historically been seen as a personal responsibility,” he says. “But the reality is it’s rapidly becoming an issue for policymakers.” In 2013, Wheeler backed a measure to create the Oregon Retirement Savings Task Force. This fall, as chairman of the task force, he presented its recommendations to a joint committee of the legislature and proposed a retirement savings plan for those not currently covered. As Wheeler sees it, such a program would work much like 529 college savings programs: automatic enrollment, escalation, professional management and portability. The legislature will take up the proposal in its next session. “I see states helping to incubate innovative ideas around retirement security that could compel the federal government to take action at the national level,” says Wheeler, who will leave office in 2016.
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Ted Wheeler
State Treasurer
Oregon
Last year: 20
The 2014 Pension 40