Archive for month: November, 2023

Baton Rouge – Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System (LASERS) members elected five Trustees to the LASERS Board in the 2023 election.

Active LASERS members elected three candidates to serve four-year terms. The newly elected representatives are Pam Diez, Undersecretary at the Department of Health; Cortny Jarrell, Human Resources Analyst at the Louisiana House of Representatives; and Laura Lapeze, Undersecretary at the Department of Revenue.

LASERS retirees elected incumbent Virginia Burton, retired from the Department of Revenue, and Beverly Hodges, retired from the Department of Natural Resources. Hodges had previously served as a Trustee on the LASERS Board.

Voting ended on October 27 and the Board certified the election results at its November 16 meeting. Elected Trustees will be sworn in prior to the Regular Board Meeting in January 2024.

The 13-member policy-making Board has fiduciary oversight over LASERS. Members include six elected active members, three elected retired members, and four ex officio members including the State Treasurer, Commissioner of Administration, Senate Retirement Committee Chair, and Member of the House Retirement Committee appointed by the Speaker, or their designees.

LASERS administers a defined benefit pension plan that covers approximately 100,000 members. The system’s total market value of assets stands at $14.5 billion. LASERS Benefits Louisiana by paying over $1 billion in annual benefits to beneficiaries, providing a strong and reliable economic stimulus for the state.

For more information, contact Public Information Director Mallory Sharp at [email protected].