Ohio STRS taps Steven Toole as executive director - InforCapital

Toole, 57, is an Ohio native who grew up just outside Columbus and earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from The Ohio State University. He began his career at Nationwide Insurance, where he spent nearly three decades rising through the ranks of the retirement-plans division and spearheading product modernization initiatives.

Public-sector leadership. In 2011 Toole was tapped to lead the North Carolina Retirement Systems—then America’s tenth-largest public pension complex—overseeing roughly $100 billion in defined-benefit assets and $11.8 billion in defined-contribution savings for more than one million public employees. During his eight-year tenure he launched award-winning transparency dashboards, expanded in-house portfolio management, and helped raise the system’s funded ratio to 90 percent before departing in 2019.

Private-sector perspective. After North Carolina, Toole served as senior vice-president of institutional retirement solutions at Prudential, led financial-wellness strategy at Empower, and most recently worked as a senior product manager for pension risk transfer at Principal Financial Group.

What’s next for STRS Ohio. Board chair Rudy Fichtenbaum praised Toole’s “unique mix of public governance and private-market innovation,” noting that the $96 billion fund faces a $20 billion unfunded liability, six years of frozen cost-of-living adjustments, and intense scrutiny from both reform-minded retirees and state lawmakers. Toole will partner with interim leader Aaron Hood over the coming weeks to ensure a smooth transition.

Key priorities on Toole’s first-year agenda include:

• Designing a sustainable roadmap to restore automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for retirees.
• Implementing stricter fee-transparency standards and expanding low-cost index strategies.
• Reviewing governance policies to reduce board infighting and improve stakeholder trust.
• Leveraging in-house expertise to boost long-term returns while managing risk in volatile markets.

“STRS Ohio safeguards the financial future of more than 530,000 active and retired educators, including many who once taught me,” Toole said in a statement. “I’m honored to return home and build a pension system worthy of their service.”

The board vote—held 11 June—ended 6-5 along familiar reform versus status-quo lines, underscoring the challenges ahead. Yet even dissenting trustees acknowledged Toole’s deep résumé and Ohio roots. He will be the fund’s fourth executive director in less than two years.

With markets unsettled and benefit politics polarized, industry observers say the new chief’s blend of public-plan stewardship and private-sector product acumen could prove decisive in guiding STRS Ohio through its most consequential chapter in decades.