Excerpt from the Columbus Dispatch
Ohio’s second largest public pension system put its director on leave, is fielding hundreds of public records requests from a mysterious entity and faces another pivotal board election in 2024.
In November, an anonymous letter purporting to be from State Teachers Retirement System employees accused Executive Director Bill Neville of bizarre, harassing and violent behavior.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office, which represents state pension funds, hired an outside firm to investigate the allegations. A report is expected as soon as February.
Neville’s attorney, Rex Elliott, said in a written statement: “There is no truth to the allegations in the letter which is likely why the author did not disclose their name. If there was any truth to the allegations the person who wrote the letter would have come out of the shadows and filed a legally protected complaint to Human Resources. Bill’s personnel file and his record at STRS plainly demonstrate that this is nothing more than an attempt to force Mr. Neville out of STRS.”
STRS hired Neville more than 19 years ago, named him chief legal officer in 2018 and appointed him as executive director in 2020.
