Keep pulling the thread on Ash Williams.
Ash Williams oversees $200 billion in assets for the Florida State Board of Administration (SBA), which includes one of the largest public pension funds in the United States.
Ash Williams was involved in changing Florida law in the 1970s to permit the state pension fund to invest up to 25% of its portfolio in U.S. equities.
The Florida State Board of Administration's real estate program directly owns and manages approximately 60% of its real estate assets in a 'principal portfolio'.
During Ash Williams' first six-year tenure as Executive Director, the Florida State Board of Administration's fund doubled in size.
A consulting firm's analysis concluded that the Florida pension fund's tobacco divestiture cost the fund approximately $500 million in returns.
In 2007, a portfolio manager at the Florida SBA purchased legally unsuitable asset-backed securities for a local government cash pool valued at over $30 billion.
In 2007, the Florida SBA's local government cash pool of approximately $34 billion experienced a run, receiving redemption requests for about 80% of its assets in 48 hours.
The Florida State Board of Administration licenses factor investing strategies from external firms and implements them internally to reduce management fees.
According to CEM Benchmarking, the Florida SBA's operating costs are approximately half those of its peers, making it the lowest-cost provider in three or four of the last five or six years.
In 1974, the Florida state pension fund was created by consolidating numerous state and local government pension plans that were chronically or acutely underfunded.
At its creation in 1974, the Florida state pension fund had a funded ratio of approximately 45%.
Ash Williams asserts that public pension funds with budgets controlled by a state legislature are more likely to be under-resourced than funds governed by an independent board of trustees.