Module One Speaker Bios

Welcome to the FPPTA Summit

Kim Prior, Chief Executive Officer
Florida Public Pension Trustees Association
Kim@fppta.org
Mrs. Prior has worked with the Florida Public Pension Trustees Association for almost 30 years, serving in a variety of support and then management roles, as the FPPTA grew into a prominent state-wide educational organization for public pension trustees and administrators. She was named Deputy Executive Director, in 2002, and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer by the FPPTA Board of Directors, in 2007, before assuming the position of CEO in 2014. Mrs. Prior’s contributions to the FPPTA over the years have included management initiatives and firsts for every aspect of the FPPTA’s operations, from website setups to oversight of the organization’s financial, accounting and bookkeeping functions. Her responsibilities have been wide-ranging and include all aspects of administration for all three educational conferences each year to include contract negotiations with host hotels, vendors, and service providers, as well as the oversight of FPPTA staff and service providers. She helped develop and oversaw the implementation, in 1997, of the FPPTA’s signature program, the nationally recognized Certified Public Pension Trustee (CPPT) designation, of which she is a graduate; and she helped develop the annual Wall Street program for certified trustees.

Message to Our Membership

Ash Williams, Chief Executive Officer
State Board of Administration
ash.williams@sbafla.com

Ash Williams has earned a reputation for being able to head into the stormiest of investment markets and still show positive returns that outperform benchmarks and impress colleagues.

As executive director and chief investment officer for the Florida State Board of Administration, Williams is responsible for managing approximately $195 billion in assets, including those of the Florida Retirement System, the fifth largest public pension fund in the United States. The fund provides retirement benefits to more than 900,000 current and former public employees.

Williams also chairs the Managed Funds Association’s Institutional Investor Advisory Council, the Alternative Investor Forum’s Investor Board and the Council of Institutional Investors’ Board of Directors. He is a member of the National Institute for Public Finance Board of Trustees and the Florida State University Foundation Board of Trustees.

Additionally, he serves on investment committees for the Episcopal Diocese of Florida, the Community Foundation of North Florida and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He also is an advisory board member for the Robert Toigo Foundation and Fidelity Institutional Asset Management.

Williams is the 2017 recipient of Chief Investment Officer’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a 2017 recipient of the FSU Faculty Senate Mores Torch Award, recognizing respect for FSU’s customs, character and tradition.

Prior to joining the SBA, Williams was a managing director at Fir Tree Partners and president and chief executive officer of Schroders, both investment firms based in New York City. Williams previously served the SBA as executive director from 1991 to 1996 and in senior management positions in Florida’s executive and legislative branches.

Williams received his bachelor’s degree in management and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Florida State and completed post-graduate programs at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

The Growing Burden of Retirement

Dan Doonan, Executive Director
National Institute on Retirement Security
dan@nirsonline.org
Dan Doonan is the executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security. With the Board of Directors, Doonan leads the organization’s strategic planning, retirement research and education initiatives.

Doonan has more than 20 years of experience working on retirement issues from different vantage points including an analyst, consultant, trainer and even a plan trustee. In these various roles, the consistent theme has been his belief that Americans have a shared interest in creating and maintaining a resilient retirement infrastructure that provides adequate financial support in an efficient manner.

He comes to NIRS after serving as a senior pension specialist with the National Education Association. There he co-authored Characteristics of Large Public Education Pension Plans, a detailed report this is considered to be a definitive resource of information about large public education retirement plans.

Doonan began his career at the Department of Labor as a mathematical statistician. He then spent seven years performing actuarial analysis with Buck Consultants in their retirement practice. His experience also includes positions as a research director and labor economist.

Doonan holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Elizabethtown College and is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

National Outlook of the Public Pension Industry

Hank Kim, Executive Director
National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems
hank@ncpers.org
Hank Kim is executive director and counsel for NCPERS. Kim directs the day-to-day operation of the largest public pension trade association in the United States. His responsibilities include strategic planning for NCPERS, promoting retirement security for all workers through access to defined benefit pension plans, and the expansion of NCPERS’ role in the continuing debate on health care.

Hank brings strong experience in healthcare policy, having assisted in drafting the Healthcare Enhancement for Local Public Safety (HELPS) Retirees provision in the Pension Protection Act (PL 109-280). He has worked for a hospital association, where he successfully advocated for passage of the Provider Sponsored Organizations legislation (PL 105-33). He began his career in the office of Senator Bill Bradley (NJ) and assisted on the Newborns’ and Mothers’ Health Protection Act (PL 104-204).

Prior to joining NCPERS, Hank served for six years as a governmental affairs representative for an international public-sector union, working on benefits, appropriations, homeland security, and healthcare issues. During this period, he helped draft and lobby for the passage of Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Act (PL 108-136).

Hank received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University-Bloomington Maurer School of Law. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Hank currently serves a number of non-profit boards, including serving as Vice-Chair of the Fairfax County Uniform Retirement System, $1.5 billion public employee retirement system providing pension coverage for public safety employees of Fairfax, Virginia; as Treasurer of the National Institute on Retirement Security, a Washington, D.C. based think tank focusing on retirement security; on the Editorial Advisory Panel of the Benefits Law Journal, a quarterly law journal that features the most respected and accomplished employee benefits professionals; and as Advisory Council Chair of the Center for Retirement Initiatives at Georgetown University, a trusted public policy center that promotes retirement solutions at the state level. 

The FPPTA Pension Plan Data Center

Fred Nesbitt, PhD, FPPTA Media Consultant
Florida Public Pension Trustees Association
phred9@yahoo.com
Frederick H. Nesbitt is the former Executive Director and Legislative Counsel for the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS) retiring in 2006.  Now living in Florida, Fred works as the media consultant for the FPPTA. Prior to joining NCPERS, Mr. Nesbitt served for12 years as Director of Governmental Affairs and Political Action for the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF).  Previously, he served for nine years as Special Assistant to the President of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC).

He has been a lobbyist on Capitol Hill for over 25 years, lobbying on pensions, taxes and employee benefits for both federal employees, and state and local government employees.

Mr. Nesbitt comes from an academic background; he was a professor of political science and labor relations at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and St. Francis College (PA).  He earned his bachelor’s degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and his master’s and doctorate from West Virginia University. He is the co-editor of Labor and American Politics.

Mark D. Meyer, JD, FSA, MAAA, EA
Partner, National Public Sector Actuarial Practice Leader
Aon
mark.meyer.2@aon.com

Mark is a Partner and co leader of Aon’s Public Sector actuarial practice. His primary responsibility is building the national practice into a premier provider of actuarial service in the Public Sector. He also serves as a client relationship manager and strategic consultant to public sector organizations.

Mark has more than 40 years of consulting experience in pension and employee benefits in both the public and private sector. Mark has dedicated himself to improving the sustainability of public sector pensions by helping organizations develop a meaningful pension funding strategy. Some public sector clients during his career are Minneapolis Fire Relief Association, City of Fargo (General, Police and Fire), City of Minnetonka, Minnesota State Retirement System, North Dakota Public Employees Retirement Systems, Minneapolis Police Relief Association, Minneapolis Teachers Retirement Fund Association, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), Hillsborough (Florida county) Area Regional Transit (HART), Indiana, Purdue and Penn State Universities.

Mark has spoken at numerous events, including the Florida Public Pension Trustees Association (FPPTA), Pennsylvania Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems (PAPERS), Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems (TEXPERS), National Conference of Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS), and the national Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA).

Mark strives to be a valued actuarial advisor who is strategic and persuasive. He is committed to explaining complex actuarial concepts in language that policymakers can use to draw their own conclusions. He combines his legal and actuarial skills to solve problems in unique and innovative ways.

Mark graduated from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln with a degree in mathematics and actuarial science. He also graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA), and an Enrolled Actuary (EA). He is also a member of the Minnesota State Bar Association and a Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS).