Continued: Higher pay considered for pension fund chief

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A legislative panel today will consider clearing the way for the longtime head of the state pension fund to receive a raise that could reach six figures.

Howard Bicker, executive director of the State Board of Investment, could see a new salary ranging from $195,000 to $295,000 under the proposal. He currently earns $144,000.

Bicker is in charge of investing $63 billion in public employee pension assets, which include funds for school teachers and many city employees and retirees as well as current or former state workers.

The Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) studied salaries of other state pension fund directors around the nation and concluded the higher compensation range was in line with pay elsewhere, said Greg Hubinger, director of the Legislative Coordinating Commission. A subcommittee of the commission will consider the range increase today.

"This would get us somewhere close to the middle," Bicker said Thursday, referring to the salaries of other state pension directors. "A lot of other ones also have bonus plans on top of it."

Bicker, 59, said a salary boost would not only benefit him but also lay groundwork to replace him when he retires.

He said his top lieutenant, who had been considered likely to succeed him, recently left for a job overseeing Maryland pensions for a $235,000 salary plus a bonus. Lacking an heir apparent, SBI "just wouldn't have any ability to go out into the marketplace" and fill the job without better compensation, he said.

If the commission signs off on the new salary range, the SBI -- made up of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Attorney General Lori Swanson, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and Auditor Rebecca Otto -- would decide where within the range to set Bicker's salary.

The SBI and Bicker took on greater responsibility recently after the Minneapolis teachers pension fund merged with the Minnesota Teachers Retirement Association, whose investments are overseen by the investment board.

In December, Bicker assured members of the board that state-run pension funds for hundreds of thousands of retired government workers had largely avoided being burned by the meltdown in the mortgage market.

While telling the board that Minnesota's state-run pensions aren't invested directly in troubled subprime lending instruments, Bicker acknowledged that the funds were exposed to the subprime housing crisis by investing in bank stocks and index funds.

Pat Doyle • 651-222-1210

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