Episode summary
Andrew Roth Spoke to Courtney McQuade
Summary
Andrew Roth says public pension leaders are operating in a highly dynamic environment and need to stay nimble while still focusing on long-term returns for retirees. He frames the core challenge as balancing changing state and federal regulatory demands, shifting proxy-season expectations, and the reality that public pensions are 30-year investors who do not try to time the market.
He says AI is already affecting how senior leaders think about governance, privacy, and implementation, even though it is still fairly nascent in the public pension world. At Colorado Parah, he points to sensitive member data, including HIPPA data and PII, as a reason to build guardrails before expanding AI use in investment work or contact centers.
Roth also emphasizes geopolitical uncertainty as a major source of risk because many public pension funds are underfunded and rely on returns. He notes that Colorado Parah’s investment rate of return is 7.25%, which he describes as relatively high, and says that makes diversification, prudence, and active risk monitoring essential. He says the forum is valuable because it lets him compare notes with peers and vendors on risk, AI, and technology adoption.
Key takeaways
- Roth says public pension leaders must stay nimble as regulatory priorities shift between administrations and between state and federal agencies.
- He says AI is a near-daily topic, but public pension systems are still early in adoption and need strong policy and privacy guardrails.
- Colorado Parah’s 7.25% return assumption means the system must accept meaningful investment risk, Roth says.
- Roth says geopolitical instability can worsen market conditions, so diversification and rebalancing remain central to his team’s process.
- He values the conference mainly as a place to learn practical implementation lessons from peers and vendors.
Notable quotes
“the need to stay nimble and stay flexible in a period of what is pretty significant change in the financial industry”
“we're long-term investors. Many of us would like to, you know, sort of keep the politics out of it and really focus on returns for our retirees”
“AI is certainly something that I talk about if not on a daily basis”
“our discount rate, our investment rate of return is 7.25%. 25% or 7 and 1/4”
“kind of learning from my peers is something that I value highly”
How the episode opens
Andrew, you're joining us in Denver for the leadership round table on decision-making in disruptive times. As someone running one of the largest public pension systems in the country, can you give us a sneak peek into what you're planning to bring to that conversation?
Thanks for the opportunity, Courtney. I appreciate it. Yeah, you know, this is a great question because certainly the highly dynamic environment that we're operating in today is something that I know is on the minds of many of the folks that I speak with in the public pension arena.
One of the things personally for me that I'll kind of be speaking to is kind of the need to stay nimble and stay flexible in a period of what is pretty significant change in the financial industry. Certainly from a regulatory perspective, you know, going from one administration to the next, there are often some shifts in terms of, you know, regulatory focus. Um, and that is absolutely true with the current administration, kind of a different focus, a different perspective.
And so the challenge for us as leaders of public pension funds is we're long-term investors. Many of us would like to, you know, sort of keep the politics out of it and really focus on returns for our retirees. And so, however, that's not always possible.
And certainly we need to be responsive to regulatory agencies at the state and federal level. And so kind of navigating what can sometimes be choppy waters in terms of, you know, maybe there's conflicting demands from the state level and the federal level or sort of the way that institutional investors approach something like proxy season. That's changed.
What we need to pay attention to is changing. And so making sure that we're kind of staying on top of what's required.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai governance
- data privacy
- geopolitical uncertainty
- regulatory risk
- public pension investing
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association
Watch the episode
Watch “Andrew Roth Spoke to Courtney McQuade” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
More from Markets Group
-
The €3bn German Allocator Who Said No to Alternatives -
RE West 2026: Valerie Red Horse Mohl of the California Endowment Spoke to Courtney McQuade -
RE West 2026: Steve Biggs of The Mather Group Spoke to Courtney McQuade -
RE West 2026: Martha Delgado of Saint Francis Foundation Spoke to Courtney McQuade -
Two Stints as Interim CIO: Howard Hodel on Risk, Rebalancing and Reassuring the Board -
Stefan Beiner on Repo, Resilience, and Why Governance Beats Prediction in Pension Investing
Markets Group, this episode and its artwork belong to their owners. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
