Are You Interested in Serving on One of Our Retirement Boards?

Fairfax County has three defined-benefit retirement systems, each with its own Board of Trustees. Specifically, they are the:

 
System General Info Board Info
Employees' ERS Info ERS Board
Police Officers PORS Info PORS Board
Uniformed URS Info URS Board

The mission of Fairfax County’s Retirement Systems' team is to serve the employees, retirees, and citizens of Fairfax County. Our Boards are responsible for leading and overseeing staff in this effort.

Periodically, there are vacancies on one or more of these Boards, so if you have an interest in serving, we would love to hear from you. First, a few key facts about our retirement systems.

Interested? Here’s How to Get Involved

The Retirement Systems team has no role in selecting Board members for the three retirement systems other than coordinating the elections for active employee and retiree members. The Board of Supervisors coordinates and appoints citizen Board members. To express your interest in serving on one of the Boards, use the contact form at the bottom of this page.


Overview

All three retirement systems are component units of Fairfax County and, as such, are accountable to the Board of Supervisors. Together the systems have a total of 35,000 active and retired members and manage over $9.5 billion in assets.

A consolidated Retirement Systems office manages the systems, led by the Executive Director-Retirement Systems, and staffed by 34 employees. Each of the systems, however, has the following unique characteristics. Specifically, each of the systems has its own:

  • Board of Trustees
  • Benefits provisions and retirement eligibility criteria
  • Assets and liabilities
  • Investment Portfolio
  • Actuarial valuation and funded status
  • Employer (County) and employee contribution percentages

Functions of the Boards

Each system is governed by County Ordinances, also called County Code, that define the functions of the Boards of Trustees. The Code for each system varies slightly but, in general, the following are the functions of the Boards of Trustees:

  1. Establish and maintain rules, regulations, and/or bylaws to govern the operations of the Boards
  2. Provide for and oversee expenditures of funds
  3. Maintain minutes
  4. Submit an annual audit showing transactions, cash and securities held, and the financial condition of the system
  5. Have an actuarial valuation conducted at least every other year
  6. Review adverse decisions made that impact members
  7. Serve as trustee of funds
  8. Oversee investments

Composition of the Boards

The Boards of Trustees vary in size from 8 to 10 members, but all three Boards have the following categories of members:

Board of Supervisors’ Appointees—The Board of Supervisors appoints 4 people to each of the ERS and URS Boards and 3 to the PORS Board. These appointments are at-large, meaning that any Board of Supervisors member may appoint them and that they are not tied to any specific magisterial district.

Employee-Elected Members – Active County and select Fairfax County Public Schools employees elect several fellow employees to serve on each Board. To be nominated and elected, these employees must be active employees of the retirement system they are a member of. Specifically, as noted in the table below:

ERS

PORS

URS

1 General County Government Employee

3 Active Duty Police Officers

2 Active Duty Firefighters

1 FCPS Employee

 

1 Non-Firefighter Active Duty Public Safety Employee

Retiree-Elected Members – Retired members of each retirement system elect 1 retired member of their retirement system to serve on each Board. To be nominated and elected, these people must be retiree members of the retirement system that they are a member of.

Ex-Officio Members—Each retirement system has at least one County employee member, specifically the County’s Director of Finance, who is automatically a member of each Board. The ERS and URS Boards also have the Director of Human Resources (or designee) as a member. Finally, the ERS board has FCPS's Director of Human Resources (or designee) as a member.


Length of Board Terms

Board members each serve 4-year terms, which are staggered to ensure Board continuity.


Board Meetings and Activities

Each board schedules meetings every month except August, when none of the Boards meet. The meetings are conducted in compliance with Virginia public meeting law and are open to the public except for select legally allowed closed sessions. The Boards generally meet in person, but members are able to attend virtually in some cases as allowed by public meeting law.

Board meetings last anywhere from 2 to 4 hours, depending upon what is on the agendas. While agendas vary from month to month, over the course of the year, they will generally include the following types of topics:

  • Investment performance reviews
  • Investment manager updates and presentations
  • Investment policy reviews and updates
  • Actuarial valuation presentations and reviews
  • Legal updates
  • Disability recommendations and actions
  • Strategic plan initiatives review
  • Budget presentations

The Board materials for each meeting are provided electronically to Board members before each meeting and include up to several hundred pages of information. While staff will summarize, discuss, and respond to questions about these materials in each meeting, Board members are expected to review the agenda and backup materials in advance of each meeting, which will require up to several hours of their time before each meeting.

Other than preparing for and attending Board meetings, only a few other significant activities may require a commitment of trustees’ time.  Approximately every 3 years, staff schedules and conducts a consolidated 1-day educational retreat for members of the Boards of all 3 systems. Also, members are encouraged to attend pension-industry and/or investment-related educational events and conferences, which are paid for by the retirement systems. Each Board can create subcommittees for specific areas or functions, but currently, only one is in operation.


Ideal Board Members

Other than the requirements listed above under ‘Composition of the Boards,’ there are no requirements for who may serve as a retirement system Board of Trustees member. Historically, the Boards have been comprised of a broad range of people, with diverse experience and backgrounds.

Also, in support of the One Fairfax initiative, the Board of Supervisors states that “It is the commitment to promote fairness and justice in the formation of public policy that results in all residents – regardless of age, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, socio-economic status or neighborhood of residence or other characteristics – having opportunity to fully participate in the region’s economic vitality, contribute to its readiness for the future, and connect to its assets and resources.”

There is no requirement that Board members have expertise in pensions, investments, or related fields. Active and retiree members, for instance, simply must be members of the system and elected by their peers. For citizens appointed by the Board of Supervisors, however, individuals with backgrounds in investments, financial management, or business make ideal Board members.


How to Volunteer to Serve on a Retirement Board

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