Might Wade Steen be the next executive director of STRS? Keep your fingers crossed - they don't come any better!

Ohio teachers' pension fund to hunt for new director. Will it have to look far?

Laura A. Bischoff 

Columbus Dispatch 

September 30, 2024

The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio will launch a search for a new executive director. Former STRS board member Wade Steen could be eligible to apply for the job.

The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio will launch a search for a new executive director. Former STRS board member Wade Steen could be eligible to apply for the job. Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch

The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio is expected to launch a national search for a new executive director but it may not have to look far to find a potential candidate who is popular with some board members.

Wade Steen, who left the STRS board on Sept. 27, is a certified public accountant with decades of financial and government experience and knowledge of how the pension fund works.

Steen could apply, as long as he didn't play a role in creating the job while serving on the board, according to the Ohio Ethics Commission. Steen abstained from voting on a $1.65 million buyout agreement with Bill Neville, the previous executive director. He attended executive sessions leading up to the buyout agreement.

The hiring, which is done by the 11-member STRS board, must be a fair, open process, according to the Ethics Commission.

While ethic law seems to provide a path for Steen, an STRS board policy requires former board members to sit out for a year. The board can change its policies.

When asked if Steen might be interested in being executive director, STRS Board Chairman Rudy Fichtenbaum said "You'd have to ask him. I have no idea."

Steen declined to respond to a question about the job. But he was a finalist to lead another Ohio pension fund in 2012.

Who is Wade Steen?

Steen, a Republican, is a long-time figure in local politics and government posts. He worked in the state auditor’s office and served on Rickenbacker Port Authority, Franklin County Children’s Services board, and the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority board.

In May 2001, Steen won an appointment as Franklin County treasurer but lost an election to Democrat Richard Cordray 18 months later. He later won a seat on the Upper Arlington City Council.

Steen served as Cuyahoga County’s chief fiscal officer from 2011 to 2013 when he returned home for a job as public funds administrator for Meeder Investment Management in Dublin.

Currently, he’s the chief financial officer for Cleveland Metro Parks and has a hand in five businesses, including accounting, consulting and real estate firms.

Lawsuits and controversies

Gov. John Kasich appointed Steen to the STRS board in 2016 and Gov. Mike DeWine reappointed him. In May 2023, DeWine replaced Steen with another appointee. Steen launched a legal fight to get back on the board, winning a court order in April 2024.

Serving on the STRS board doesn’t pay anything and it is a huge responsibility. The board holds marathon meetings two days a month, hires consultants and an executive director, determines policies and decides how to invest $94 billion to make sure 500,000 retirees and teachers get their pension checks.

By law, board members have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of STRS.

In May, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed suit to remove Steen and Fichtenbaum from the STRS board, arguing that they violated their fiduciary duty.

Yost argues in the lawsuit that Steen and Fichtenbaum as well as two former board members, Yoel Mayerfeld and Bob Stein attacked STRS and advocated for QED, a relatively new investment firm. Yost said in the lawsuit that Steen and Fichtenbaum have "backdoor ties" to QED and have tried to steer $65 billion to QED.

Both men deny the allegation and are fighting the lawsuit.

In September, the Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association, a non-profit organization that lobbies STRS for policy and benefit changes, disclosed that it Dave Yost filed suit to remove Steen and Fichtenbaum to cover their legal fees. Those gifts could run afoul with the ethics law.

Whether STRS board members are prohibited from accepting gifts from ORTA would have to be determined via an investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission.

Ethics investigations are confidential by law until there is a settlement or a referral to a local prosecutor.

Read the article online here.