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PERS board members

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Contact the PERS Board

Administration

The Oregon Legislature has delegated authority to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) Board of Trustees to administer the PERS system. The board is composed of five trustees who administer retirement (service and disability), death, and retiree health insurance benefits. PERS also administers the Oregon Savings Growth Plan, a deferred compensation program for state and local government employees.

Director and consultants

The board retains consultants and appoints an executive director. The director serves at the discretion of the board and is responsible for the PERS administrative staff. Consultants include legal counsel, a medical advisor, an actuary, and insurance consultant.

PERS board members

As trustee of the Public Employees Retirement Fund, the PERS Board has a responsibility to manage and administer the system as set forth by law. The board also monitors the plan for compliance with federal laws.

Statute specifies board membership must consist of three people with experience in business management, pension management, or investing who are not members of the PERS system; one person who is either an employee of the state in a management position or a person who holds an elective office in the governing body of a participating public employer other than the state; and one person representing public employees and retirees.

The three board members representing business management, pension management, or investing are Stephen Buckley (Vice-Chair), Jardon Jaramillo, and Sadhana Shenoy (Board Chair). John Scanlan was appointed to represent public employees and retirees; Suzanne Linneen was appointed to represent public employers. Terms for each member are staggered.

Headshot of Sadhana Shenoy 

Sadhana Shenoy (Board Chair)

Sadhana Shenoy has spent the last five years in the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) space. She was the CFO/COO of Moovel, a transit technology company, and has held this position as the company has grown from start-up, to acquisition, and into growth stages. She started her career as a software engineer working with databases and children’s software. She then moved to the non-profit sector, working on Boards within the environmental (Sierra Club), educational (Montessori School of Beaverton), and legal (CRAG Law Center) areas. Ms. Shenoy is a Charter and Board member of TiE Oregon (The Indus Entrepreneurs) and of TYE Oregon (TiE Youth Entrepreneurs) and enjoys angel investing in exciting new ideas and promoting youth entrepreneurship.

Ms. Shenoy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Business Administration, a Master of Science degree in Computer Science, and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Oregon.

Ms. Shenoy’s appointment by Gov. Kate Brown was confirmed by the Senate on September 24, 2018. Her current term ends September 27, 2024.

Headshot of Stephen Buckley 

Stephen Buckley (Vice Chair)

Stephen Buckley was a partner at the Portland, Oregon law firm Brownstein Rask LLP prior to his retirement on June 30, 2019. For more than 30 years, Mr. Buckley served as legal counsel for Boards of Trustees of private sector health and welfare plans and defined benefit, defined contribution, and 401(k) pension plans in Washington, Oregon, and California. Mr. Buckley was a frequent speaker at employee benefit plan conferences sponsored by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Mr. Buckley earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Colorado State University and his Juris Doctorate Degree from Willamette University College of Law.

Mr. Buckley’s appointment by Gov. Kate Brown was confirmed by the Senate in September 2015. His current term ends September 30, 2024.

Headshot of Jardon Jaramillo 

Jardon Jaramillo

Jardon Jaramillo serves as Controller and Assistant Treasurer at Portland General Electric, communicating and managing financial results. He previously worked as Director of Compensation and Benefits from 2013 to 2016. As director, he was responsible for managing the company’s defined benefit pension plan, as well as overseeing health care programs for all of PGE’s employees. Before joining PGE, Mr. Jaramillo was a manager with Deloitte in the M&A Transactions Services consulting group. He spent his early career at Deloitte in the audit and assurance space. Mr. Jaramillo enjoys contributing to solutions to equity issues in the community and serves as Vice Chair of the board of Metropolitan Family Services.

Mr. Jaramillo received an MBA from the Anderson School at the University of California Los Angeles, a BA in economics from Northwest Nazarene University, and is a CPA licensed in Oregon.

Mr. Jaramillo’s appointment by Gov. Kate Brown was confirmed by the Senate on September 16, 2019. His current term ends September 30, 2025.

Headshot of John Scanlan 

John Scanlan

John Scanlan was a teacher for 29 years and retired in 2021. He taught English language arts to students in grades 6 to 12 in three districts; was an adjunct professor at Eastern Oregon University (EOU); co-directed the Oregon Writing Project at EOU; and coordinated the Pendleton School District Outdoor School, the longest continuously operating outdoor school program east of the Cascades. Mr. Scanlan also served as president of the Oregon Council of Teachers of English, frequently presented at council conferences, and has been published in the council’s peer-reviewed Oregon English Journal. He has been active in the Oregon Education Association, including serving as a local building representative, treasurer, negotiation team leader, president, and board member. He also currently serves on the board of the National Education Association.

Mr. Scanlan’s appointment by Gov. Kate Brown was confirmed by the Senate on May 13, 2021. His current term ends May 12 , 2024.

Suzanne Linneen

Suzanne Linneen

Suzanne Linneen has served as the city of Hillsboro’s Finance Director since 2009. She started working for the city in finance in 1995 and participated in a lot of change and growth in the city during that time. Originally from the Los Angeles area, Ms. Linneen attended the University of California, Santa Barbara; earned a bachelor’s degree in business economics; and worked as an auditor for Deloitte and Touche in Century City, California, before moving to Oregon. She is a certified public accountant and brings vast experience in accounting, budgeting, financial planning, and management to her role with the PERS Board.

Ms. Linneen’s appointment by Gov. Tina Kotek was confirmed by the Senate in April 2023. Her current term ends April 25, 2026.