About

NASRA was founded in 1955, which is when it held its first conference in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1956, W. Frank DeLamar was elected the first president, and the now annual summer meeting was in his home state of Georgia. (Mr. DeLamar was also the inaugural director of the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia, which was created by an act of the state's 1949 General Assembly.)

In the first 61 years, NASRA adopted three different logos, each of which included a polygon. The original logo used an equilateral triangle with the words “for the members, for the systems, for the taxpayers.” In the late 1980s, NASRA added a Celtic knot to symbolize shared community and strength. In 2015, the current logo was introduced, simplifying the design by using the polygon shapes to convey movement and connectivity.

Today, NASRA is a non-profit association whose members are the directors of the nation's state, territorial, and largest statewide public retirement systems. NASRA members oversee retirement systems that hold more than two-thirds of the over $6.0 trillion held in trust for nearly 15 million working and 11 million retired employees of state and local government.

Mission:

To serve the members of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators in managing sustainable public employee retirement systems through research, education, and collaboration.

Core values:

Integrity
Professionalism
Credibility
Collaboration
Transparency

Become A Member

Becoming a member of NASRA offers a unique opportunity to join a community committed to the sound, efficient, and innovative stewardship of public retirement systems. Membership connects you with a network of professionals and experts, providing valuable insights into managing public retirement systems with a focus on sustainability and risk-averse strategies.

By joining NASRA, you gain the tools and resources to enhance the management of public retirement systems, ensuring their long-term success and reliability for generations to come.

What's New at NASRA: Public Pension Investment Return Assumption Brief Updated

NASRA’s latest update to standing issue briefs, Public Pension Plan Investment Return Assumptions underscores the critical role the investment return assumption plays in the financial health of public pension plans. Of all actuarial assumptions, it has the greatest impact on plan funding levels and cost. This brief traces how a decade of low interest rates and inflation, beginning in 2009, prompted many plans to reduce their long-term expected returns in line with more modest capital market projections. However, since inflation began rising in early 2021, the trend toward lowering return assumptions has largely paused. While reducing a plan’s assumed return can increase both costs and unfunded liabilities, setting this assumption is a careful, thorough process. It draws on expert input from actuaries and investment professionals and is guided by actuarial standards of practice.