Retirement insights from a Colorado PERA perspective

Here’s What the PERA Board Tackled at Its 2026 Planning Session

Inside Colorado PERA

Text overlay on an image of a PERA board meeting reads: “PERA BOARD OF TRUSTEES PLANNING SESSION, September 23-25, 2026.”

October 6, 2026

The Colorado PERA Board of Trustees met in Colorado Springs for its annual planning session from September 23 to September 25.

The three-day planning session and Board meeting is a valuable opportunity for Trustees to engage in more in-depth conversations and planning activities than a typical one-day meeting allows. This year’s session included topics such as staff compensation, healthcare costs, service improvements, investment management, and strategic planning.

New Trustees and Vice Chair

One of the first items of business was to welcome two new Trustees to the Board. Chad Marturano, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the University of Colorado System, joined the Board in July after being elected to the State Division Higher Education seat. Tristan Gearhart, Chief Planning and Finance Officer for Colorado Springs Utilities, was appointed to fill the Local Government seat vacated by outgoing Trustee Trina Ruhland.

The Board also selected a new Vice Chair following the departure of previous Vice Chair Ruhland. Denver Public Schools (DPS) Trustee Amy Grant was the sole nominee for the position and was appointed Vice Chair. The Board will hold regular elections for Chair and Vice Chair at its November meeting, with terms beginning with the Board’s January 2027 meeting.

Staff Compensation and Incentive Pay

One of the PERA Board’s duties is setting the overall direction of staff compensation to ensure PERA can hire and retain qualified staff to serve our members and meet the objectives in the Board’s strategic plan. It does that through adoption of a Total Compensation Philosophy, which governs compensation for staff across the organization, and an Investment Department Compensation Philosophy, which lays out the compensation framework for the investment team, some of whom are eligible for performance-based incentive pay.

The Board’s consultant, Aon, presented several potential adjustments for the Board to consider at its next meeting in November to better align with industry best practices, improve transparency, and ensure pay continues to reward strong performance. Possible changes include:

Establishing a consistent schedule to review CEO pay based on market trends and the Total Compensation Philosophy;
Formalizing review of the Investment Department Compensation Philosophy on the same cadence as the Total Compensation Philosophy;
Making adjustments to incentive pay weighting for the CEO and investment staff to place more emphasis on total fund performance;
Defining how incentive pay is handled during years when the plan earns unfavorable returns.

The Board will hold another discussion at its November meeting before finalizing any potential changes.

PERACare and the Healthcare Market

Director of Insurance Jessica Linart and PERA’s health insurance consultant, The Segal Group, facilitated a discussion about the healthcare market and price trends.

In general, healthcare costs have been rising for years, with prescription drugs seeing the largest average price increases year-over-year, Segal said. There are many factors that can influence plan costs like premiums and copays, and the conversation focused on some of the most significant drivers of recent price increases, including:

Innovation and technological advancements: There have been major breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment of various conditions in recent years, and those innovations tend to be more expensive than existing services, which can drive up plan costs.
Patient health and plan utilization: Aging populations that require more care, growing prevalence of chronic conditions, and increased use of diagnostics and preventive care contribute to insurance plans paying for more doctor visits, treatments, and medications.
Market dynamics: Trends in the healthcare market such as provider consolidation, coupled with inflation, are leading to higher costs for consumers and insurance carriers alike.
Regulatory and policy changes: Changes in legislation and policy at the federal level, such as drug price negotiations and changes to reimbursement rates, can result in plans bearing additional costs that can increase month plan premiums.

Linart also highlighted changes coming to PERACare next year, including new carriers and plans. PERACare information for 2027 is available now and open enrollment runs through November 19. For more information, visit the 2027 PERACare Open Enrollment page.

Legislative and Government Affairs

Director of Public and Government Affairs Michael Steppat joined the Board for an update on the current legislative landscape and the 2027 lawmaking session.

Steppat pointed out that legislators are once again facing the prospect of having to make significant spending cuts to pass a balanced budget. While PERA does not rely on the State budget for its own operations or paying benefits, the General Assembly makes an annual $225 million direct distribution to PERA and the State of Colorado as an employer makes contributions that could be subject to legislation.

While Steppat and other PERA leaders typically meet with various legislative bodies during the period between legislative sessions, lawmakers paused most interim activity this year due to budget constraints. PERA appeared before the Legislative Audit Committee in August and the next legislative appearance will be an annual hearing with the Joint Budget Committee in November or December.

The 2027 legislative session will get underway on January 11, and PERA On The Issues will keep track of any PERA-related bills as they make their way through the legislative process.

Service Improvements

One of the key goals in the PERA Board’s strategic plan is improving the experience of PERA members and other stakeholders through the services and information we provide. To that end, the Board discussed the results of two assessments that gauge how much progress PERA has made in recent years.

The Board receives a report every year from CEM Benchmarking that scores PERA on the quality and cost of services we provide to members and compares those factors to other public pension plans.

PERA earned a service score of 89 for 2025, an increase from last year and higher than the peer median score of 82. CEM calculated PERA’s total administrative cost per member at $77, below the peer average of $80. Overall, the CEM report finds PERA provides a higher level of service at lower cost than the average pension plan.

PERA continues to earn high scores in areas such as the accessibility of online services, speed of processing retirements, communications to members approaching retirement, and call wait times.

The Board also discussed the results of PERA’s member satisfaction and retirement confidence survey, which takes place every two years. That survey provides a Net Promoter Score (NPS) that quantifies how well members and retirees are satisfied with PERA services and information.

This is the fourth year since 2019 PERA has conducted the survey, and this year’s results showed meaningful improvement—the NPS was 17 (on a scale of -100 to 100), up from -5 in 2019. Overall, retirees tend to be more satisfied than active members, and many of the survey respondents who were dissatisfied mentioned outside factors, such as the economy and political issues, as reasons for their negative outlook. Active members showed the largest change in 2026, with satisfaction increasing 12 points.

The PERA Board and staff continue to prioritize service improvements as we work to meet the changing needs of our members, employers, and other stakeholders.

Private Market Governance

The Board regularly receives education and information to help inform organizational strategy, and this year’s planning session included a discussion with PERA’s investment staff and outside experts about governance in private market investments, which can include things like private equity, private credit, and real estate.

The conversation centered on the various factors investment staff consider when selecting investments. As fiduciaries, PERA’s approach focuses on financially materiality—in other words, factors such as performance and strategy that can affect a company’s bottom line and its value to investors. As long-term investors, PERA seeks out investment opportunities that are expected to create value over the course of decades at a low overall cost to members.

Empower Contract

The Board voted to continue using Empower as the recordkeeper for the PERAPlus 401(k)/457 Plans and the PERA Defined Contribution Plan. PERA’s initial five-year contract with Empower is set to expire at the end of the year, so the Board voted to extend the contract by another year and move forward with negotiating a new five-year contract beginning in 2028.

Strategic Plan Development

We’re nearing the end of year two of the PERA Board’s 2025-2027 strategic plan, and PERA leaders are already starting to think about what the next plan looks like.

CEO/Executive Director Andrew Roth and Director of Strategy Annalise Anderson provided an update on implementation of the current plan, including accomplishments toward meeting the plan’s three goals: financial stability, customer/stakeholder experience, and organizational excellence and modernization.

Roth and Anderson also provided an overview of the process of developing the next three-year plan, which will kick off in 2027. That process will be a collaboration between the Board, staff, and the Board’s governance consultant, Mosaic, with a goal of analyzing the effectiveness of the current strategic direction, identifying new strategic initiatives, and building on progress.

The plan development process will take place over several months and the Board expects to review and finalize the plan in the fall of 2027.