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The 2015 Pension 40: Hank Kim

No. 36 Hank Kim, Executive Director and Counsel / National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems

By Tyler Davies

December 22, 2015

< The 2015 Pension 40: The Long Climb

Hank Kim

Executive Director and Counsel / National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems

Last year’s rank: Not ranked

Hank Kim’s job defending and promoting public sector pensions, which invest some $9 trillion in assets in 50 states and many more municipalities, keeps him busy. But in 2010, Kim, executive director and counsel for the Washington-based National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS), was drawn to the private sector workforce, where half of full-time workers lack access to employer-sponsored retirement plans. In 2011, Kim launched the Secure Choice Pension, a multiple-employer cash-balance plan that could be offered at the state level via payroll deductions. States including Arizona, California and Illinois showed interest, but after financial industry opposition mounted, they opted to keep the Secure Choice moniker while changing the design to an individual retirement account. “The future still is possible for pensions,” Kim says. “The critics can contend that they are dinosaurs and underfunded, but the one thing they consistently fail to do is offer a plausible alternative, and that’s why we have these state initiatives.” Kim earned a JD from Indiana University, then returned home to New Jersey and a staff job with then–U.S. senator Bill Bradley. After working on tax and health care issues for Bradley, Kim moved to the International Association of Fire Fighters union. He is now working on a code of conduct for vendors to public pensions.

The 2015 Pension 40