COLUMBUS, Ohio — The controversial Ohio retired teachers’ pension fund has been named its new interim president. Aaron Hood, a finance expert at the United States Military Academy at West Point, will take charge of the chaotic system.

At a board meeting Thursday evening, the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) board voted for Hood to become acting executive director, as a search firm sought its full-time selection.

Hood begins Nov. 18, taking over from current president Lynn Hoover.

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He has a big mission and will face a tough challenge.

In summary, there is constant fighttwo boards resignations and the claims of both public corruption scheme And misuse of funds. As of this week, a situation has occurred. dismissal and the resignation of several senior staff.

Who is Hood?

Hood worked as a Senior Finance Specialist in the Liberal Arts Department at West Point, according to his profile on the academy’s website. It’s been there for five years, according to LinkedIn.

It turns out he teaches a lecture on financial statement analysis and another on banking, which is profile listings.

Before that, he served as executive vice president and CFO at Summit Carbon Solutions, an Iowa-based company that is developing “the world’s largest carbon capture project,” according to its website.

He was also a partner and lead asset manager at Perella Weinberg Partners, a global financial services firm. His profile states that he also helped found the company and was previously a CFO.

He also had other jobs in finance and asset management at Morgan Stanley, according to LinkedIn.

Hood is a veteran of the Army Corps of Engineers who served for five years as a captain and lieutenant. He held leadership roles in the United States, Germany and Bosnia, according to his West Point profile.

The profile notes that he received his MBA from Harvard Business School and is a current board member of Superior Silica Sands.

We reached out to him for an interview and are waiting for a response.

Here’s a summary

STRS is in chaos. In summary, there is constant fighttwo boards resignations and the claims of both public corruption scheme And misuse of funds. As of this week, a situation has occurred. dismissal and the resignation of two senior staff.

In September, we broke the news that Hoover and CIO Matt Worley had resigned after months of controversy.

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In May, Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit to remove two members of STRS, stating that they participated in a contract diversion “scheme” that could directly benefit them. Yost launched the investigation after documents prepared by STRS employees claimed that Wade Steen and Chairman Rudy Fichtenbaum had awarded the contract to investment firm QED.

QED was started by former Deputy Treasurer Seth Metcalf and consultant Jonathan (JD) Tremmel. They set their sights on STRS in 2020, according to a 14-page memo from Yost.

The documents allege they tried to persuade STRS members to partner with them even though they had no clients and no track record.

They were unable to influence the board members, mainly due to their lack of experience and also because QED was not registered as a broker-dealer or investment advisor. The men also lacked the technology to “facilitate the strategy,” the documents say.

Steen and Fichtenbaum allegedly continually pitched, presented QED’s direct documents to board members, and disclosed the company’s talking points to other staff.

According to Yost’s lawsuit, the two should be removed from office because they violated fiduciary duties of trust, loyalty and confidence by “colluding” with QED.

Click here To learn more about the case.

We’ve covered this debate from the beginning, including more than a dozen new stories addressing the latest issues surrounding the alleged corruption scheme. Watch and read the story below for a more detailed summary.

A day of chaos sparked even more ethical concerns at Ohio’s teacher retirement board

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This fight started with an argument over how STRS should invest money; through the current system, actively managed funds and index funds. Active funds try to outperform the stock market, have more advisors and generally cost more. Index funds operate on the stock market, are viewed as more passive, and generally cost less.

In short, “reformers” want to switch to index financing, while “status quo” individuals want to continue actively managing funds. Recent elections allowed “pro-reform” members to gain a majority on the board.

Reformers want cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs. COLAs were suspended for more than 150,000 retired Ohio teachers for five years starting in 2017. They were reinstated, but there was a suspension of increases, which is important for retirees who need this money and are dealing with inflation.

STRS staff explained that they knew the COLA was necessary and were working to get it back. They added that the system works well, better than other retirement systems in the state. A report by the Ohio Retirement Labor Council found that STRS provides higher returns than any of four other state retirement systems.

Reformers also believe it is a “sham” inquiry aimed at preventing democratically elected individuals from choosing what they want to do with their pensions.

Steen and Fichtenbaum repeatedly noted how quick the turnaround time was between Yost receiving the memo and filing the civil suit. The timeline is unclear, but government officials received the documents in early May. Yost said he investigated May 9 and a lawsuit was filed May 14 in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

In late August, Yost served numerous subpoenas Against QED and others allegedly involved in this program.

same month, QED and AG also spoke to us for the first time.

After this interview, Fichtenbaum gave an interview to defend himself. In this one-on-one interview, Rudy Fichtenbaum explained his side of the story and why he’s still considering a deal with the investment firm at the center of the scandal.

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As of now, Steen has given up his seat on the board and received an award. tearful farewell From retirees in September.

DeWine appoints lawyer Jon Allison on the board, a former top aide to former Gov. Bob Taft.

In late September, Our research revealed According to senior staff, STRS was once again moving to hire a firm with an alleged lack of experience and personal ties to board leaders.

I revealed In October, it said Scott Hunt, who was appointed to the Department of Education and the Workforce, was no longer on the board. She was replaced by Carolyn Everidge-Frey.

Then I reported it to the board of directors. chose not to proceed With the controversial consultancy firm that was the subject of my investigations.

To follow WEWS Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau excitement And Facebook.