The State Board of Education met with the Texas Permanent School Fund Corporation this week to discuss the corporation’s future goals. The corporation manages and oversees the sovereign wealth fund that provides revenues for funding public education in Texas.
Bob Borden, CEO of the Permanent School Fund (PSF) Corporation, attended the State Board of Education (SBOE) meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to break down the company’s seven major goals for the next three to five years.
Borden recently took over as CEO after previous CEO B. Holland Timmins III stepped down in April amid controversy over how he handled the termination of PSF’s relationship with BlackRock one month earlier, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. PSF’s new goals are part of a new strategy plan for more transparency going forward.
The first major goal is to optimize asset allocation. Thus far, the PSF has focused on increasing the expected return on assets by 0.45%, increasing investments in private equity, and eliminating emerging market allocations.
“There has been a lot of money in motion,” Borden said. The corporation plans to develop a tactical asset allocation program to optimize returns with the least possible risk, as well as improve risk modeling abilities.
Additionally, the PSF plans to improve its portfolio implementation.
“This is the most complicated goal,” Borden told SBOE.
By emphasizing partnerships and private equity commitments, the PSF aims to create a direct investment and seeding program. Borden announced that the PSF has already added two major strategic partnerships to its portfolio.
“We can’t do any of this without the right talent,” said Borden. “We are going to have to hire new talent, and we have a lot of competition for talent in this state and in this city.”
The PSF has emphasized attracting and developing staff to help carry out the corporation’s new goals. Borden announced the implementation of training classes that most or all PSF employees will be required to participate in. The classes will teach them leadership skills, public speaking and presentation skills, personal development, and team-building activities.
Borden shared that the PSF has been struggling to recruit employees, and he hopes that building a stronger company culture will attract future talent. He also said that the PSF is looking at raising the base salary for new members, as well as promoting the possibility of a future bonus.
The PSF’s fourth major goal is to enhance communications. This year, the PSF has released two informational videos. One video, “Who We Are,” was released in early June and breaks down PSF’s history and purpose. The other video, “A Vision as Big as Texas,” explains the corporation’s bond guarantee program in honor of the program’s 40th anniversary.
“We not only want to reach members of SBOE but also members of school districts, leaders, and legislature,” said Borden, detailing the PSF’s plan to create a stakeholder outreach program for their next video series.
The next goal is to strengthen corporate governance.
“We’re starting from scratch,” Borden told SBOE.
PSF has created a Strategic Planning and Policy Committee that has reviewed all committee charters and developed a draft of endowment spending and revenue distribution policy. The corporation’s future goals are to finalize the endowment spending and revenue distribution policy and initiate board governance training programs and certifications.
The company also plans to fortify internal controls. Essentially, PSF is organizing all of its paper files and placing them in an offsite storage facility, as well as reorganizing and storing all virtual documents. The corporation has also recruited a chief audit officer and external auditor to help it implement its strategies. In the upcoming years, PSF plans to develop an internal audit plan, onboard the external auditor, and perform an enterprise risk assessment.
The final goal outlined by the PSF is to build a new corporate infrastructure by relocating to Innovation Tower, next door to the Texas Capitol building in downtown Austin.
Borden also shared that the corporation is actively looking for interns. The PSF is speaking with the University of Texas about the possibility of providing PSF interns with housing, thereby giving out-of-state interns the possibility of working alongside the PSF in person.
The SBOE meetings will continue through Friday in Austin. The meetings can be live-streamed here.