< 25 Top Pension Power Players

21. Mike Rawlings
Mayor of Dallas
In November, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings testified before the Texas Pension Review Board that his city faces bankruptcy if something isn’t done to fix its struggling, scandal-plagued Police and Fire Pension System. The rating agencies agree with the former Pizza Hut CEO: In December, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Dallas’s general obligation bonds from Aa3 to A1, citing challenges surrounding the poorly funded $2.1 billion public safety pension plan. It was Moody’s third downgrade since October 2015, all for the same reasons. Just the day before the most recent cut, the pension plan’s trustees had halted lump-sum withdrawals; that action was taken in response to the 62-year-old Rawlings’s unusual step of suing the pension fund and its board as a private citizen to try to prevent a equivalent of a bank run. — Imogen Rose-Smith
The 2017 Pension Political Power 25
![]() Secretary of Labor ![]() Governor of Illinois ![]() Secretary of Education ![]() Founders, Laura and John Arnold Foundation ![]() Secretary of the Treasury |
![]() Secretary of Commerce ![]() California Chief Justice ![]() Speaker of the House ![]() Founder, SkyBridge Capital ![]() California State Senator and President Pro Tempore |
![]() Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security ![]() President, New Jersey State Senate ![]() Governor of California ![]() Co-founder, Avenue Strategies ![]() President, Elliott Management Corp. |
![]() Senior Vice President, Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits, U.S. Chamber of Commerce ![]() U.S. Senator ![]() Founder and managingpartner, Feinberg Rozen ![]() Governor of Wisconsin ![]() President, AFL-CIO |
![]() Mayor of Dallas ![]() U.S. Senator ![]() Partner, Davis & Harman ![]() U.S. Senator ![]() President, American Federation of Teachers |
|