Wilshire Associates Incorporated

08/09/2021 | Press release | Archived content

Wilshire Retained as Investment Consultant for Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System

8/9/2021

Wilshire Retained as Investment Consultant for Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System

35-year relationship expanded to include private markets advisory services and risk dashboards.

Santa Monica, Calif., August 9, 2021 - Wilshire, a leading global financial services firm, today announced that it has been retained as an investment consultant for the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS), the state's largest public pension system with approximately $40 billion in assets. Wilshire has provided general consulting services for IPERS' defined benefit plan for more than thirty-five years.

Wilshire was retained to expand its mandate for institutional advisory services to include the addition of private markets advisory services as well. IPERS will also access Wilshire's new risk analytics dashboards directly to help manage its active risk.

The RFP was issued in April for qualified investment firms to provide investment consulting services for all asset classes. Wilshire was selected from a field of seven candidates, and will begin a six year contract on October 1, 2021.

"Since 1984, IPERS and Wilshire have enjoyed a productive relationship, and we're eager for that success to continue," IPERS CEO Greg Samorajski said. "Wilshire's extensive history with IPERS means they are keenly aware of our investment goals and can help us formulate the strategies necessary to achieve them."

"Wilshire is honored to have served as general investment consultant to IPERS for over three decades, helping them secure the retirements of 375,000 members. We look forward to continuing the relationship for many years to come, contributing value from expertise and solutions across the whole firm. Our experience as a trusted leader in risk management will help guide IPERS through today's market environments, and well into the future," said Jason Schwarz, President and Chief Operating Officer of Wilshire.

Previously, Wilshire assisted IPERS in its 2017 "Alpha Search" to identify and construct a high quality alpha portfolio.

For more information about IPERS, see https://ipers.org/.

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