News release from STRS: Gov. Taft appoints Thomas W. Johnson to Board

Sept. 18, 2006

Gov. Bob Taft announced his appointment to the State Teachers Retirement Board on Sept. 15, 2006. Joining the board will be Thomas W. Johnson, who is currently an executive-in-residence at The Ohio State University in the John Glenn School of Public Affairs. He is the former director of the Office of Budget and Management for the State of Ohio and previously served in the Ohio House of Representatives for 22 years. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Muskingum College. He resides in Upper Arlington, which is a suburb of Columbus. Johnson will serve on the board through Sept. 28, 2008, thus completing the four-year term begun by Judith Fisher, who resigned her position on June 30, 2006.

Amended Substitute Senate Bill 133 passed in June 2004, included a provision that enabled the governor of the state to appoint an investment expert to the State Teachers Retirement Board. The 11 members of the board are compensated for expenses only.

STRS Ohio, with investment assets of more than $65 billion, serves as the public pension fund for Ohio's public educators, providing retirement, survivor and disability benefits, as well as optional health care coverage for retirees.