Fired head of Colorado’s public pension system will get a year’s salary — more than $400,000 — as severance

Link: https://coloradosun.com/2023/05/17/ron-baker-pera-severance/

Excerpt:

The fired head of Colorado’s $60 billion-plus public pension system will receive a year’s salary — more than $400,000 — as severance, under his contract and because of the way his employment was terminated. 

Ron Baker was fired May 1 by the 16-member Public Employees’ Retirement Association board nearly two months after he went on a leave of absence

Neither the board nor PERA has disclosed why Baker was fired, and Colorado Sun attempts over the past several months to contact Baker have been unsuccessful. Emails, texts and voicemail messages to Baker from The Sun, including for this story, were not returned.

Baker will get $412,108.80 in severance because the board terminated his contract without cause. Had he been fired for cause, he wouldn’t have been eligible to collect the severance. 

Baker’s contract says he could only be fired for cause if there was a breach of his employment agreement, for gross negligence, or if he had committed or pleaded guilty or no contest to a felony criminal charge. The contract says he could also be fired for cause for “wilfully engaging in any activity which is contrary to the best interest of the association (for) which activity is uncured by the executive for a reasonable period of time after he receives written notice concerning such activity.”  

Author(s): Jesse Paul

Publication Date: 17 May 2023

Publication Site: Colorado Sun

Ron Baker, the head of Colorado’s public pension system, is fired after two-month leave of absence

Link: https://coloradosun.com/2023/05/02/ron-baker-pera-fired/

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Ron Baker, the executive director of Colorado’s Public Employees’ Retirement Association, was fired Monday night by the 16-member board overseeing the state’s $60 billion-plus public pension system. 

Baker’s firing comes nearly two months after he went on a leave of absence. PERA refused to say why Baker went on leave or to say whether his absence was self-initiated or initiated by the PERA board.  

The PERA board convened in downtown Denver on Monday evening for a special meeting to discuss Baker’s employment status. The board immediately voted unanimously to enter a secret executive session, which lasted more than six hours. 

When the board emerged from its closed-door session, Vice Chair Suzanne Kubec made a motion to terminate Baker, which was seconded by Colorado Treasurer Dave Young, who sits on the board. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting adjourned.

….

Baker was appointed to be PERA’s executive director in 2018 and made an annual salary of more than $400,000, In January, the PERA board voted to award Baker a 19% performance bonus and increased his salary by 4%, according to meeting minutes.

Author(s): Jesse Paul

Publication Date: 2 May 2023

Publication Site: Colorado Sun