Our Commitment to Transparency
Colorado PERA is committed to conducting business in an open and transparent manner. To further public understanding of our operations and finances, this page contains documents and links to information on PERA’s financial statements and investments, Board of Trustees activities and expenditures, legislative oversight, and staff compensation.
Under state law implemented by SB 147 in 2025, PERA is required to update the information on this page by January 1 of each year. PERA will update this information annually following the release of our financial reports.
Last updated: July 2026
Legislative Review and Oversight
The state Legislature established PERA as an instrumentality of the State in 1931. PERA and its benefits continue to be governed under Title 24, Article 51 of the Colorado Revised Statutes.
The legislature also conducts routine oversight of PERA. Various legislative panels meet regularly with PERA leadership and staff, including the Legislative Audit Committee, the House and Senate Finance Committees, the Joint Budget Committee, the Pension Review Commission and the Pension Review Subcommittee.
Every year, the State hires an independent auditor to examine PERA’s financial reports, compliance, and internal controls. The results of the latest audit can be found on the State Auditor’s website.
In 2025, the Office of the State Auditor commissioned an independent study that found PERA is a cost-effective retirement plan that serves as an effective tool for recruiting and retaining qualified public employees.
More information is available on the Legislation page.
SB 25-147 Requirements
(a) On and after January 1, 2025, the board shall post on and regularly maintain and update the association’s website to include, in a downloadable format for free public access, the most current information concerning the following:
(I) The notice, with specific agenda information, if available, including any available presentations and other documents that might be considered at the next public meeting of the board as required by subsection (2) of this section;
(II) The policy for and process by which a member of the public may participate in each public meeting of the board;
(III) A link or other means of public access to the records of prior board meetings; and
(IV) The official email address that the board uses to send communications to each board member.
(b) On or before January 1, 2026, and on or before January 1 of each calendar year thereafter, the board shall post on the association’s website the association’s most current financial information as follows:
(I) The annual compensation amount paid to each employee of the association;
(II) The amount and method of calculation of each annual bonus awarded to each employee of the association;
(III) The total amount of money paid by the association to third-party service providers;
(IV) The total annual amount of money expended by the association for travel costs incurred by members of the board, including both elected trustees reimbursed by the association pursuant to section 24-51-203(6) and appointed trustees compensated by the association pursuant to section 24-51-203(7);
(V) The total annual amount of money expended by the association for travel costs incurred by the executive director of the association and any other individual holding an executive position with the association;
(VI) The association’s annual budget;
(VII) The association’s annual audited financial statements;
(VIII) The association’s salary schedules or policies; and
(IX) The association’s actual expenditures, including actual salary expenditures and actual benefit expenditures reported by job category.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, this subsection (13) does not require the board to report or otherwise disclose personal information relating to payroll, including payroll deductions or contributions, or any other information that is confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure pursuant to state or federal law.
Board of Trustees Meetings and Expenses
C.R.S. 24-51-204(13)(a) parts (I), (II), (III), and (IV), and (b) part (IV)
The PERA Board is made up of 16 Trustees: 12 Trustees elected by the PERA membership, three Trustees appointed by the Governor, and the State Treasurer as an ex-officio, voting member. Elected Trustees serve without pay on a volunteer basis and are reimbursed only for necessary expenses. Governor-appointed Trustees receive $100 per meeting and are reimbursed for necessary expenses.
While the legislature sets benefits and other important plan provisions, the Board is responsible for administering those benefits and overseeing PERA operations and management. The Board’s Governance Manual, which adheres to best practices in public pension governance, enumerates and defines these responsibilities.
Trustees must attend a minimum of 30 hours of Educational Sessions within two years of joining the Board, including an Educational Conference, and 20 hours every subsequent two-year period. The Board Education Policy states:
- PERA is a trust for the exclusive benefit of PERA Participants, and the administration of PERA is subject to strict fiduciary responsibilities under law. All of PERA’s operations and activities must be undertaken solely to advance and protect the interests of PERA Participants and must be conducted in a prudent manner.
- As fiduciaries of PERA, Trustees are expected to be capable of completing their duties and responsibilities. The diversity of each individual Trustee’s background presents a challenge in addressing necessary and recommended continuing professional education opportunities.
- It is the policy of PERA that all Trustees should have a cogent understanding of the issues and problems facing PERA and the pension and health care business generally, so that the Board may craft policies to guide the administration of PERA and effectively monitor its implementation. To that end, each Trustee should be educated sufficiently to discharge the obligations of the position. For these reasons, PERA hereby adopts the Board Education Policy applicable to all Trustees.
Education may require travel to conferences and workshops that further individual Trustees’ knowledge and understanding of the complex fiduciary, investment, and actuarial concepts they are responsible for addressing.
Total travel costs for Trustees in 2025: $34,868.
Details on Board meetings, including meeting agendas, minutes, and recordings, are available online:
To contact the Board, please email boardquestions@copera.org. The email will be sent to the trustees along with PERA staff, who are responsible for responding timely.
Administrative Expenses
C.R.S. 24-51-204(13)(b) parts (III), (V), (VI), (VII), and (IX)
All audited financial statements, including annual actuarial valuations and the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR), are available on the Financial Reports and Studies page.
According to a report from CEM Benchmarking, PERA provides its members and retirees with a higher level of service at a lower cost than the average pension plan. PERA’s administrative costs, which can include expenses such as supplies, utilities, travel, and third-party services, amount to $63 per member, below the peer public pension average of $71.
CEM compiles data from dozens of pension systems around the world and compares them on factors such as administrative costs, customer service interactions, phone call wait times, online service availability, and others. PERA is benchmarked against a peer group of 11 similarly sized U.S. state pension plans and consistently ranks highly compared to its peers, earning high scores for service delivery and cost per member.
CEM gave PERA particularly strong scores in areas such as the accessibility of online services, including secure messaging, uploading documents, and applying for retirement; speed of processing retirements; communications to members approaching retirement; and call wait times.
Pension Administration Cost Per Active, Inactive and Annuitant
PERA’s operating budget funds its ongoing administrative functions, including salaries and wages, travel costs for staff, vendor contracts, system software and IT costs, and capital expenditures. PERA is a $75 billion financial institution responsible for paying approximately $5.6 billion annually to more than 145,000 retirees, plus delivering health care to over 56,000 individuals. PERA’s investment division is also responsible for managing the investment portfolio and achieving a 7.25% annual rate of return over a 30-year period. These responsibilities along with the fiduciary obligations required of PERA staff and trustees, require PERA to administer the fund efficiently and effectively, which mean retaining qualified and quality staff whose knowledge and expertise is deployed to administer the organization in the interest of the members.
Total travel costs for Executives in 2025: $93,631.
Staff Compensation
C.R.S. 24-51-204(13)(b) parts (I), (II), and (VIII)
Non-Investment Staff Compensation
The Board has established a Compensation and Budget Committee to oversee the alignment of PERA’s compensation policies and practices and PERA’s financial planning, budgeting and resource allocation policies and practices with PERA’s strategic goals, values and priorities. The Board has adopted a Total Compensation Philosophy that states:
As a provider of financial and retirement security serving Colorado’s public employers and their employees, PERA recognizes that our most valuable resource is our people.
To achieve our mission, vision, and strategic objectives, we must attract, engage, reward, and retain a high-performing and talented workforce. PERA utilizes base pay ranges with a midpoint designed to approximate the current market median for leadership, professional, administrative, operations, and technical positions. Jobs are appropriately classified into a structure that considers internal equity and the external market data ensuring a systematic approach to fair compensation. External market data will be obtained through salary surveys gathered at least every two years. For designated roles, PERA may supplement base compensation with performance-based incentive programs to advance PERA’s mission and strategic objectives. PERA’s compensation structure is designed to encourage and reward high performance.
PERA’s senior leadership team is comprised of highly qualified and credentialed professionals who provide valuable skills and expertise in business management.
Degrees for Non-Investment Senior Leaders
- 28 Total Senior Leaders
- 30 Total Bachelor’s Degrees
- 12 Total Master’s Degrees
- 2 Juris Doctorate
- 37 Professional Certifications and Designations
Professional Certifications and Designations for Non-Investment Senior Leaders
- 4 Prosci Change Management Practitioners
- 4 Certified Public Accountants (CPA)
- 2 Certified Information Systems Security Professionals (CISSP)
- 2 Certified Retirement Counselor Designations
- 2 Certified Outward Performance Facilitators
- 2 Society of Human Resources Management – Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP)
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR)
- Gallup Certified CliftonStrengths Coach
- Gallup Certified Engagement Champion
- 360 Degree Feedback Coach
- Certified Scrum Management
- Certified Employee Benefit Specialist
- LEAN Certification (Bronze)
- Product Strategy Certification
- Refrigeration Operation Certification
- CFC Universal EPA Refrigerants
- HVAC 1-5 Certification
- Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Aspiring Leader
- FEMA Advanced PIO
- IAP2
- Weldon Cooper for Public Services Leading Education and Development
- Enrolled Actuary
- FCA
- Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA)
- Certified Fraud Examiner
- Auditing the Cybersecurity Program Certificate
Performance Awards and Methodology
In alignment with the Total Compensation Philosophy, PERA offers performance awards to employees whose roles do not involve investment decision-making. Beginning in 2026, non-exempt staff will be included in the performance award program.
The program is structured to align with performance evaluations and to recognize individuals who demonstrate exceptional performance. Performance awards also support a culture of accountability and excellence by aligning employee performance with PERA’s mission and strategic priorities. The structure of PERA’s compensation and performance award program is reviewed by PERA’s compensation consultant, Mercer, a leading authority on compensation.
This performance-based approach underscores PERA’s commitment to recognizing excellence in a balanced, sustainable manner, rewarding results while maintaining sound fiscal stewardship on behalf of our members and stakeholders. On an annual basis, the Board of Trustees approves the personnel budget, which may or may not include performance awards. If approved, PERA’s leadership determines eligibility and application of awards based on the following criteria:
- Employee’s most recent performance appraisal rating which includes performance to goals
- Employee’s extraordinary contributions for the performance year
Employees who receive below “fully successful” on the performance appraisal are not eligible for a performance award. A tiered approach is used based on organizational level, with each tier defining a minimum (0%), target, and maximum award. Performance award maximums vary by employee tier from 5% for staff up to 18% for executive staff. PERA’s CEO is eligible for a performance award of 0% up to a maximum of 25% at the Board’s discretion.
Investment Staff Compensation
In addition to the Total Compensation Philosophy, the Board has adopted an Investment Department Compensation Philosophy that recognizes PERA’s competitive market positioning:
For incentive eligible staff, PERA targets expected levels of total compensation at the 75th percentile of a blended peer group for top performance. The blended peer group consists of 75% leading U.S. public pension funds and 25% private-sector investment management firms.
For non-investment incentive eligible staff, PERA utilizes base pay ranges with a midpoint designed to approximate the current market median of the 75%/25% blended peer group.
This approach ensures that our pay remains competitive within the public sector while also recognizing the broader investment talent market. By balancing public-sector with private-sector attributes PERA can effectively recruit, retain, and motivate top investment talent in an increasingly competitive industry.
Incentive awards are designed to align with PERA’s multi-year investment objectives, with measures based on relative outperformance, risk management, and strategic contributions. The program reinforces a culture of accountability and long-term value creation.
PERA compensates its professional investment staff in a manner commensurate with industry standards. While private sector compensation far outstrips what public pension funds pay their investment professionals, by offering incentive compensation, PERA and other public pension funds may attract top investment talent motivated by a mission-driven culture of dedication to public service workers. Further, the work-life balance that comes from working in an organization intended to serve its members in perpetuity as opposed to generating short-term profits for shareholders also allows PERA to both attract and retain that top investment talent.
PERA’s investment incentive program rewards employees for generating returns that exceed Board-approved benchmarks over multiple time periods. This approach emphasizes long-term, sustainable performance rather than short-term results. Investment incentive awards are determined using methodologies developed by PERA’s compensation consultant, McLagan, and informed by recommendations from the Board’s investment consultant for the Combined Investment Fund, Aon. Incentive payouts are strictly formula-driven, based on quantitative outcomes.
Incentive Compensation Calculation Methodology Factors:
- Incentives are driven by relative investment performance, evaluated against Board-approved benchmarks over time horizons that are tailored to each asset class.
- Each asset class (and the total fund) have distinct benchmarks, time periods, and alpha targets that are defined by the PERA Board.
- The calculation of the investment incentive is specific to each incentive professional based on their responsibilities. All incentive-eligible staff have a total fund and asset class component.
PERA’s investment professionals are highly experienced and credentialed, providing valuable knowledge and skill in managing plan assets.
Degrees and Professional Certifications for Investments Staff
- 55 Total Staff
- 54 Bachelor’s Degrees
- 26 Master’s Degrees
- 28 Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA)
- 4 Chartered Alternative Investment Analysts (CAIA)
- 2 Fundamentals of Sustainable Accounting Credential Holders (FSA)
- Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
- Colorado Real Estate Broker License
- Certified Fraud Examiner
- Average years in the industry: 19.22
- Average tenure at PERA: 11.5
PERA’s investment compensation, including the investment incentive compensation program, has been designed and is regularly reviewed in collaboration with McLagan, a leading authority on incentive compensation for investment professionals.
Investment Expenses
As responsible stewards of a $75 billion investment fund, PERA staff focuses on financial strength, stability, and security for our members. Protecting our members’ retirement security is both our mission and our passion. Each year, we distribute billions of dollars in retirement and other benefits to more than 145,000 PERA retirees and their families. These benefit payments provide crucial income and insurance for retired public servants who have dedicated their careers to making our Colorado communities better places to live.
Over the past 30 years, our investments have generated over $94 billion in income, funding nearly 60% of every dollar paid to plan beneficiaries. The importance of PERA’s investment program to the long-term financial sustainability of the Fund, and the seriousness with which we take our fiduciary duty, cannot be overemphasized.
PERA Funding Sources
PERA’s investment program is governed by the Board’s Statement of Investment Policy, which includes its asset allocation targets, as well as risk and return expectations to meet PERA’s pension liabilities over long time horizons. Our investment returns have exceeded the Board’s assumed rate of return and have outperformed the benchmark over long periods. Net of fees, our annualized 10-year return is 9.5% vs. 9.0% for the Policy Benchmark and our annualized 5-year return is 7.6% vs. 7.7% for the Policy Benchmark, as of December 31, 2025.
We take our fiduciary duty seriously and pursue investment practices that minimize costs while maximizing value to the fund. Our focus on stewardship means we leverage our strength and size to lower costs wherever possible. For example, one of the most significant advantages of PERA’s investment program is our internal investment team of more than 50 investment professionals who are dedicated to our members’ retirement success. In 2025, PERA staff internally managed 62% of the Combined Investment Fund at a cost of $23.6 million, compared to the estimated cost of $124.0 million to outsource that management.
In addition to managing a majority of assets in-house, the Board and staff work to continually improve cost-effective investment practices across the pension fund and the PERAPlus 401(k), 457 Deferred Compensation, and the Defined Contribution plans (collectively called the Capital Accumulation Plans or CAPs). Over the past decade, PERA has worked to lower costs by:
- Increasing incrementally the portion of the portfolio that is managed internally and negotiating low management fees for the portion of assets managed externally, as applicable.
- Reducing trading and research costs in public market portfolios.
- Lowering participant fees for members to save for their retirement beyond the pension plan.
As PERA members ourselves, we know firsthand the value of a pension benefit that cannot be outlived and the value of having low-cost options to save for the future. We take great care in protecting our members’ interests through cost-conscious investing and invite you to learn more about how we serve as responsible stewards of plan assets in this year’s Investment Stewardship Report.
