Head of troubled teachers’ pension system quits after being put on administrative leave
SPRINGFIELD — Just days after he was put on administrative leave over unspecified “performance issues,” the executive director of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System resigned from his $283,250-a-year position.
The TRS Board of Trustees voted unanimously last Friday to place Richard Ingram on administrative leave
“due to performance issues covered by his employment contract,” according to a brief statement the board issued Thursday.
On Monday, Ingram resigned “effective immediately,” according to the statement.
Stan Rupnik, chief investment officer at TRS, has been named interim director. The board said it will “conduct a thoughtful, thorough and vigorous national search” for a permanent director.
The pension system did not immediately provide a copy of Ingram’s contract, which Capitol News Illinois requested under the state’s Freedom of Information Act. According to the state comptroller’s office, Ingram had been receiving an annual salary of $283,250.
Ingram began his career at TRS in January 2011. Before that, according to his LinkedIn page, he was executive director of the New Hampshire Retirement System.
TRS manages retirement, disability and survivor benefits for more than 434,000 members, including teachers, administrators and other public school employees in Illinois outside of Chicago Public Schools.
With $51.2 billion of assets under management, it ranks as the 37th largest pension system in the United States.
As of December 2019, however, TRS reported it was only 40% funded and it carried an “unfunded actuarial liability” of roughly $78 billion. That’s the current deficit between the system’s assets and expected future earnings against the pension obligations it has already accrued.