BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//github.com/ical-org/ical.net//NONSGML ical.net 5.1.4//EN VERSION:2.0 BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:SECOND IN A SERIES OF CRITICAL ISSUES: HAS HOUSTON REALLY SOLVE D ITS PENSION CRISIS? THURSDAY\, DECEMBER 8\, 2016\, 11:30A.M.-1:15 P.M. H OUSTON CITY CLUB (GREENWAY PLAZA) The City of Houston has a serious pensio n problem involving the three employee pension systems\, Police\, Municipa l Employees\, and Firefighters.  Depending on which figures you believe\, the extent of the debt owed as a result of the City of Houston's unfunded pension obligations ranges from $5 BILLION to a maximum $13.7 BILLION.  We simply have no money to continue to fund the generous retiree benefits approved by former Mayor Lee Brown's Administration in 2001\, which accept ed\, without question\, very flawed assumptions from actuarial firm\, Towe rs Perrin. Ironically\, that firm represented the Firefighters' Pension F und but the City was unconcerned about the conflict. To make matters worse \, the State Legislature controls Houston's destiny by implementing a law that applies only to Houston\, namely\, that no changes can be made unless all sides agree to discuss. Worse\, the annual contribution the city must pay is dictated by the Firefighters which was given effective control by the State Legislature in the same state Law.  How generous are the benefi ts under the current agreement? A long-serving firefighter who retires thi s year will get a lump sum on retirement day approaching $ 1 million.  A police officer will get a lump sum ranging from $1 million to $1.5 million . Plus\, they get lifetime annual incomes with guaranteed future annual ra ises based on higher pay grades than at retirement. Contrast that generous retirement with the hard facts that many American companies are suspendin g pension plans\, leaving loyal ex-employees with nothing. Yet\, our civil servants will retire as millionaires while Houston scrambles to find the money to continue operations.  Is a major tax increase coming in Mayor Tu rner's administration? Our speakers\, who will discuss the pending deal ne gotiated by Mayor Sylvester Turner last month and passed\, upon submission and without discussion\, by City Council\, are three acknowledged expert s in the field: (1) Houston City Controller\, Chris Brown\, (2)  Business man\, politician\, attorney Bill King\, and\, (3) Craig Mason\, acknowledg ed pension expert and  retired actuary with 40 years’ experience who se rved several Mayors as the City representative on those pension boards. PL EASE INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS WHO CARE ABOUT THE FISCAL FUTURE OF HOUSTON.   RESERVATIONS REQUESTED AS WE EXPECT A FULL HOUSE. THE MEETING WILL BEGI N AT 11:45 A.M. AND END AT 1:15 P.M. SPEAKERS Chris Brown Chris B. Brown is a proud Houstonian who was sworn into office as City Controller in Janu ary 2016. Chris is a proven professional with the private and public secto r experience to be a responsible financial steward\, and the commitment to serve his community. Chris began his career two decades ago\, as a trader for Coastal Securities\, an investment bank\, where he focused on analysi s of high tech stocks. After several years\, Chris co-founded an equity tr ading firm. Chris\, as head of operations for the equity trading firm\, ga ined first-hand experience with risk management\, compliance\, reporting\, building operations and negotiating complex agreements. Prior to being el ected Controller in December 2015\, Chris served as Chief Deputy City Cont roller\, where he managed the day-to-day operations and oversaw the Execut ive Division of the Controller’s Office. Prior to being appointed Chief Deputy City Controller in 2009\, Chris served as City Council Chief of Sta ff\, overseeing community development initiatives and serving as a liaison to the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee. In addition to his profession al experience\, Chris is an active participant in his community. He curren tly serves on the board of the William A. Lawson Institute for Peace & Pro sperity (WALIPP)\, Asia Society of Texas Advisory Board\, Texan-French All iance for the Arts\, and Prevent Blindness of Texas. He is a past board me mber of the TCU National Alumni and SEARCH Homeless Services. Chris is a f ourth generation Houstonian\, and has deep roots in the Houston community. Chris attended Briargrove Elementary and Lee High School\, where he was a swim team varsity letterman. His family was a member of St. John's Episco pal Church. Chris attended Texas Christian University and obtained a Bache lor of Business Administration in Finance and later a Master in Business A dministration from the University of Houston. Chris\, his wife\, Divya\, a n attorney\, and their daughter\, Milana\, reside in southwest Houston. Bi ll King A lifelong resident of the Houston area\, Bill King grew up the so n of a union pipefitter and worked his way through the University of Houst on\, earning both his bachelor's degree and law degree there. In so doing\ , he became the first in his family to graduate from college. For the last 40 years\, Bill has practiced law and run businesses in Houston. After "f alling on my face" as he describes his experience during the economic down turn of the 1980s\, he picked himself up\, rebuilt his business career\, a nd has gone on to serve his community in a variety of ways. In 2012\, Bill co-chaired the HISD bond campaign to rebuild its dilapidated high schools throughout the city. The measure won nearly 70 percent voter approval. Pr ior to that\, his efforts to revamp the region's hurricane preparedness pl ans earned him several gubernatorial appointments and other recognition. M ore recently\, as a columnist for the Houston Chronicle\, and previously a s a candidate for Mayor\, Bill has earned a reputation as an outspoken adv ocate for balancing the city budget\, investment in infrastructure\, and c ommon sense solutions to Houston's most challenging problems. Craig Mason Mr. Mason was a management consultant for over 30 years with Mercer\, the international human resource consulting firm. As a consultant\, he provide d advice to employers on the design\, implementation\, funding and adminis tration of employee benefit plans\, with a concentration on pension benefi ts. After retirement from Mercer\, he became an independent consultant. Fr om October 2005 through August 2015 he provided consulting services exclus ively to the City of Houston relative to the three pension plans sponsored by the City. As part of his consulting services to the City of Houston\, he served as a trustee on the administrative boards of all three of the Ci ty of Houston sponsored pension plans. Mr. Mason graduated with a BA degre e in mathematics from Texas Christian University.  He was an Enrolled Act uary and Member of the American Academy of Actuaries during his consulting career with Mercer. DTEND:20161208T191500Z DTSTAMP:20260901T131138Z DTSTART:20161208T173000Z LOCATION:Houston City Club SEQUENCE:1 SUMMARY:HAS HOUSTON REALLY SOLVED ITS PENSION CRISIS? UID:2c706336-64c2-4445-a642-c3ea09bff5d0 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

SECOND IN A SERIES O F CRITICAL ISSUES: HAS HOUSTON REALLY SOLVED ITS PENSION CRISIS?< /p>\n\n

THURSDAY\, DECEMBER 8\, 2016\, 11:30A.M.- 1:15 P.M.

\n\n

HOUSTON CITY CLUB (GRE ENWAY PLAZA)

\n\n

The City of Houston has a serious pension problem involving the three employee pension systems\, Police\, Municipal Employees\, and Firefighters. \; Depending on which figures you believ e\, the extent of the debt owed as a result of the City of Houston'\;s unfunded pension obligations ranges from $5 BILLION to a maximum $13.7 BIL LION. \; We simply have no money to continue to fund the generous reti ree benefits approved by former Mayor Lee Brown'\;s Administration in 2 001\, which accepted\, without question\, very flawed assumptions from act uarial firm\, Towers Perrin. Ironically\, \;that firm represented the Firefighters'\; Pension Fund but the City was unconcerned about the con flict.
\n
\nTo make matters worse\, the State Legislature contro ls Houston'\;s destiny by implementing a law that applies only to Houst on\, namely\, that no changes can be made unless all sides agree to discus s. Worse\, the annual contribution the city must pay is dictated by the Fi refighters which was given effective control by the State Legislature in t he same state Law. \;
\n
\nHow generous are the benefits und er the current agreement?
\nA long-serving firefighter who retires th is year will get a lump sum on retirement day approaching $ 1 million.&nbs p\; A police officer will get a lump sum ranging from $1 million to $1.5 m illion. Plus\, they get lifetime annual incomes with guaranteed future ann ual raises based on higher pay grades than at retirement. Contrast that ge nerous retirement with the hard facts that many American companies are sus pending pension plans\, leaving loyal ex-employees with nothing. Yet\, our civil servants will retire as millionaires while Houston scrambles to fin d the money to continue operations. \; Is a major tax increase coming in Mayor Turner'\;s administration?

\n\n

Our speakers\, who will d iscuss the pending deal negotiated by Mayor Sylvester Turner last month an d passed\, upon submission and without discussion\, by City Council\,  \;are three acknowledged experts in the field:

\n\n

(1) Houston City Controller\, Chris Brown\, (2) \; Businessman\, politician\, attorney Bill King\, and\, (3) Craig Mason\, acknowledged pension expert and \; retired actuary with 40 years&rsquo\; experience who served several Mayor s as the City representative on those pension boards.

\n\n

PLEASE INV ITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS WHO CARE ABOUT THE FISCAL FUTURE OF HOUSTON. \; R ESERVATIONS REQUESTED AS WE EXPECT A FULL HOUSE. THE MEETING WILL BEGIN AT 11:45 A.M. AND END AT 1:15 P.M.

\n\n

SPEAKERS

\n\n

s tory image preview

\n\n

Chris Br own

\n\n

Chris B. Brown is a proud Houstonian who was sworn into office as City Controller in January 2016. Chris is a proven professi onal with the private and public sector experience to be a responsible fin ancial steward\, and the commitment to serve his community.

\n\n

Chri s began his career two decades ago\, as a trader for Coastal Securities\, an investment bank\, where he focused on analysis of high tech stocks. Aft er several years\, Chris co-founded an equity trading firm. Chris\, as hea d of operations for the equity trading firm\, gained first-hand experience with risk management\, compliance\, reporting\, building operations and n egotiating complex agreements.

\n\n

Prior to being elected Controller in December 2015\, Chris served as Chief Deputy City Controller\, where h e managed the day-to-day operations and oversaw the Executive Division of the Controller&rsquo\;s Office. Prior to being appointed Chief Deputy City Controller in 2009\, Chris served as City Council Chief of Staff\, overse eing community development initiatives and serving as a liaison to the Bud get and Fiscal Affairs Committee.

\n\n

In addition to his professiona l experience\, Chris is an active participant in his community. He current ly serves on the board of the William A. Lawson Institute for Peace &\; Prosperity (WALIPP)\, Asia Society of Texas Advisory Board\, Texan-French Alliance for the Arts\, and Prevent Blindness of Texas. He is a past boar d member of the TCU National Alumni and SEARCH Homeless Services.

\n\n< p>Chris is a fourth generation Houstonian\, and has deep roots in the Hous ton community. Chris attended Briargrove Elementary and Lee High School\, where he was a swim team varsity letterman. His family was a member of St. John'\;s Episcopal Church. Chris attended Texas Christian University a nd obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and later a M aster in Business Administration from the University of Houston. Chris\, h is wife\, Divya\, an attorney\, and their daughter\, Milana\, reside in so uthwest Houston.

\n\n

Bill King< /strong>

\n\n

A lifelong resident of the Houston area\, Bill King gre w up the son of a union pipefitter and worked his way through the Universi ty of Houston\, earning both his bachelor'\;s degree and law degree the re. In so doing\, he became the first in his family to graduate from colle ge.

\n\n

For the last 40 years\, Bill has practiced law and run busin esses in Houston. After "\;falling on my face"\; as he describes h is experience during the economic downturn of the 1980s\, he picked himsel f up\, rebuilt his business career\, and has gone on to serve his communit y in a variety of ways. In 2012\, Bill co-chaired the HISD bond campaign t o rebuild its dilapidated high schools throughout the city. The measure wo n nearly 70 percent voter approval. Prior to that\, his efforts to revamp the region'\;s hurricane preparedness plans earned him several gubernat orial appointments and other recognition.

\n\n

More recently\, as a c olumnist for the Houston Chronicle\, and previously as a candidat e for Mayor\, Bill has earned a reputation as an outspoken advocate for ba lancing the city budget\, investment in infrastructure\, and common sense solutions to Houston'\;s most challenging problems.

\n\n

Craig Mason

\n\n

Mr. Mason was a management consultant for over 30 years with Mercer\, the international h uman resource consulting firm. As a consultant\, he provided advice to emp loyers on the design\, implementation\, funding and administration of empl oyee benefit plans\, with a concentration on pension benefits.

\n\n

A fter retirement from Mercer\, he became an independent consultant. From Oc tober 2005 through August 2015 he provided consulting services exclusively to the City of Houston relative to the three pension plans sponsored by t he City. As part of his consulting services to the City of Houston\, he se rved as a trustee on the administrative boards of all three of the City of Houston sponsored pension plans.

\n\n

Mr. Mason graduated with a BA degree in mathematics from Texas Christian University. \; He was an En rolled Actuary and Member of the American Academy of Actuaries during his consulting career with Mercer.

\n END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR