< 25 Top Pension Power Players
3. Betsy DeVos
Secretary of Education
Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s 59-year-old pick to head the Department of Education, is an advocate of charter schools. These alternatives to public schools are allowed to use teachers not represented by unions — teachers who won job security and comprehensive benefit plans, including guaranteed pensions, through their union membership. DeVos’s husband is Dick DeVos, former president and CEO of multilevel-marketing giant Amway Corp.; her Michigan-based family has donated millions to charter schools, and if she’s confirmed for the Education post, expect her advocacy and clout to shrink union power and whittle away at teachers’ retirement plans. The DeVos family has a history of backing similar causes. Every year it hosts the West Michigan Policy Forum, which has decided to fight to restructure government pensions and benefits in 2017. — Julie Segal
The 2017 Pension Political Power 25
1. Andy Puzder 2. Bruce Rauner 3. Betsy DeVos 4. Laura & John Arnold 5. Steven Mnuchin |
6. Wilbur Ross 7. Tani Cantil-Sakauye 8. Paul Ryan 9. Anthony Scaramucci 10. Kevin de León |
11. Mike Enzi 12. Steve Sweeney 13. Jerry Brown 14. Corey Lewandowski 15. Paul Singer |
16. Randel Johnson 17. Joe Manchin 18. Kenneth Feinberg 19. Scott Walker 20. Richard Trumka |
21. Mike Rawlings 22. Elizabeth Warren 23. Kent Mason 24. Bernie Sanders 25. Randi Weingarten |
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