This week the public can hear the latest on the state of the Mississippi Public Employees’ Retirement System, straight from the group's executive director.
Pat Robertson, head of PERS, will speak at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Parker/North Ballroom of the Hunter Henry Alumni Center on Mississippi State University's campus. The general public is invited.
Robertson's visit is sponsored by the MSU Association of Retired Faculty. She is expected to give an overview of the retirement fund's condition, a matter of great concern due to state legislators' ongoing quest for budget cuts, according to ARF Vice President Roy Ruby.
“We anticipate a standing-room only audience,” Ruby said last month. He is a retired MSU vice president of student affairs and dean emeritus of education.
Robertson's presentation will probably take about 90 minutes, including a question-and-answer session after her prepared remarks, Ruby said.
Robertson, an MSU accounting graduate, has been with PERS for 25 years and became executive director in 2005. The PERS system, established in 1952, serves almost all non-federal public employees in Mississippi. Its benefits are open to vested members at age 60 and members with 25 years of service credit at any age, plus the disabled and survivors.