Category: News

December 22, 2023 – The Ventura County Employees’ Retirement Association (VCERA) Board of Retirement has appointed Amy Herron as VCERA’s new Retirement Administrator, effective January 8, 2024. She will replace Rick Santos, who has held the position on an interim basis since August 2023, when the previous administrator retired.

Ms. Herron’s appointment as VCERA’s chief executive was announced at the Board of Retirement’s meeting on December 18, 2023. The Board conducted a nationwide recruitment and interviewed multiple candidates this fall before making its hiring decision.

Ms. Herron has served as VCERA’s Chief Operations Officer since January 2023. Prior to this, she was the Chief Deputy over Payroll & Accounts Payable at the County of Ventura Auditor-Controller for about six years. She also held various positions with the County of Santa Barbara Auditor-Controller for 20 years, finishing the latter half of her tenure there as the Financial Systems Division Chief. Amy is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Public Finance Officer (CPFO) and Project Management Professional (PMP). She holds a bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) in business economics with an emphasis in accounting.

Mike Sedell, Chair of the Board of Retirement, stated: “On behalf of the Board, I am pleased to congratulate Ms. Herron on her appointment as the new Retirement Administrator. She possesses outstanding leadership skills, institutional knowledge, technical know-how and a vision for VCERA’s future. We wish her every success in the years ahead. Furthermore, the Board is grateful to Mr. Santos for serving as the Interim Administrator, effectively bridging that leadership gap as we searched for a permanent administrator. His work and diplomacy over the past five months have been invaluable.”

“I am honored to be entrusted by the Board with this important responsibility,” Ms. Herron said. “VCERA will continue to have my full focus as it grows and matures as an organization, and as we make progress with the implementation of the Alameda Decision. With the support of a great staff, I will work to deliver the best possible services and promised benefits to our 20,000 members and beneficiaries.”

(Click here to view the press release.)

July 20, 2023 – The Ventura County Employees’ Retirement Association (VCERA) Board of Retirement has appointed Richard Santos as VCERA’s Interim Retirement Administrator. He will replace the retiring chief executive, Linda Webb, who held the position since 2015. Mr. Santos will begin meeting with Ms. Webb in early August before her departure later in the month.

Mr. Santos will lead VCERA until a full-time administrator is selected by the Board of Retirement following a nationwide recruitment that is scheduled to begin in September 2023.

Mr. Santos previously served as the Executive Director at the Stanislaus County Employees’ Retirement Association (StanCERA) for more than 11 years before retiring in January 2023. Prior to joining StanCERA, he worked as a Senior Pension Actuary for the nation’s largest defined benefit pension plan, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), for nearly 16 years.

He is an Associate in the Society of Actuaries, a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), the former Chair of the State Controller’s Office’s Retirement Advisory Committee, and a former member of the University of the Pacific’s Actuarial Science Advisory Board.

Mike Sedell, Chair of the VCERA Board of Retirement, stated: “We are pleased to have such a seasoned executive assist VCERA during this time of transition. Rick’s experience and knowledge leading a county retirement system will ensure continuity of member services, effective communication with our stakeholders, and administrative support for the Board.”

“VCERA is fortunate to have Rick Santos serve as Interim Retirement Administrator, and his experience and knowledge will be a stabilizing force during this time of transition,” said the departing Webb. “I have complete confidence VCERA will be in good hands.”

“It’s an honor to be selected for this role in Ventura,” Mr. Santos said. “I look forward to working with the VCERA Board and supporting staff in the important work they do on behalf of their 20,000 members.”

(Click here to view the press release.)

VCERA contracts with PBI Research Services (PBI) for death and beneficiary audit services. In late May 2023, a third-party file transfer software used by PBI, MOVEit, identified a vulnerability in its software that was actively exploited by attackers. The exploit provided attackers the ability to gain access to the MOVEit Administrative Portal only. PBI stated that its core systems and software were not accessed.

PBI confirmed that clients who were potentially impacted were contacted directly. VCERA did not receive direct communication from PBI. To verify that VCERA was not affected by the breach, staff proactively contacted PBI and was told there was no evidence that VCERA records were impacted. Therefore, VCERA believes that its vendor’s data breach did not impact its information systems, Member Portal, or VCERA benefits to retirees and beneficiaries.

This update was provided to the Board of Retirement on July 10, 2023.

VCERA’s 2023 annual benefit statements were mailed to all active VCERA members on May 4, 2023. If you have any questions about your statement, please contact VCERA at (805) 339-4250 or VCERA.info@ventura.org.

An RFP for Actuarial Auditing Services was issued on June 5, 2023:

The following documents were posted on June 29, 2023 in response to vendor inquiries:

June 15, 2023 – The Ventura County Employees’ Retirement Association (VCERA) today announced that Linda Webb has decided to step down as its Retirement Administrator, the chief executive position she has held since January 2015. The governing Board of Retirement is expected to appoint an interim administrator to lead the agency until a full-time replacement is identified following a nationwide recruitment.

“I appreciate the support of the Board of Retirement during my tenure at VCERA,” Ms. Webb said. “They have been attentive and responsive, paving the way for transformative change since 2015.”

“It is with sadness that I am leaving VCERA, but it has been my honor and privilege to serve with you,” Ms. Webb wrote to VCERA staff. “It was not my plan to resign/retire at this time, as I had hoped to continue working here for several more years. However, this is a family-first decision.”

Ms. Webb has been tapped to serve as Executive Director at the Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund in Texas, which will allow her to better care for her family in that region following a recent traumatic accident in her immediate family. Before joining VCERA in 2015, Ms. Webb worked at the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System for 17 years, most recently as its Director of Member Services.

Mike Sedell, Chair of the VCERA Board of Retirement, stated: “Over the past 8½ years, Linda has worked with the Board to advance our partnerships with members, plan sponsors, and other stakeholders; to ensure efficient and effective operations; and to assure members that their earned benefits are secure by maintaining a well-funded retirement system. She has worked well with the County of Ventura and earned the respect of her colleagues and staff. We are truly sorry to have to accept her resignation.”

“With our amazing staff, VCERA has made great strides in service to our members, technology and fiscal soundness during my tenure,” Ms. Webb stated. “My appreciation to the staff is deep and sincere, and I believe VCERA is in good hands with the current team in place. I am confident the future is bright for VCERA.”

(Click here to view the press release.)

Election results are in for the General Member, Safety Member and Retired Member seats on the VCERA Board of Retirement. On June 23, 2023, the Ventura County Elections Division issued certified results for the elections held on June 20, 2023. The following winning candidates will serve a three-term term starting on January 1, 2024.

For the General Member election, Greg Bergman received a plurality of the 743 votes cast among four candidates on the ballot.

For the Safety Member election, incumbent Aaron Grass received a majority of the 454 votes cast among two candidates on the ballot. Robert Ashby received the second-highest number of votes and will serve as the Alternate Safety Member.

For the Retired Member election, incumbent Arthur Goulet received a majority of the 1,930 votes cast among two candidates on the ballot. Maeve Fox ran unopposed for the Alternate Retired Member seat.

VCERA congratulates these individuals on their appointments to the Board of Retirement. Below are the vote totals for each candidate:

General Member Election
Candidate Name                        Votes
Greg Bergman                              258
Derek Fouarge                             148
Cecilia Hernandez-Garcia            233
Brandon J. Miller                          104

Safety Member Election
Candidate Name                        Votes
Robert Ashby                               217
Aaron Grass                                 237

Retired Member Election
Candidate Name                        Votes
Arthur E. “Art” Goulet                  1,181
Henry C. Solis                              743

In the right sidebar of this page are the Certifications of Election Results and the Official Statements of Votes Cast for each election.

To provide additional levels of security, VCERA has implemented Multifactor Authentication (MFA) on our Member Portal.  MFA will assist with prevention of cybersecurity incidents, protect your personal information, and further secure your data against identity theft.  MFA requires you to provide two forms of authentication (Member Portal password and one-time PIN code), before access to the Member Portal is granted. 

Only members who have a registered account on the Member Portal (https://members.vcera.org/) will receive a verification code during each log in.  The verification code will contain a one-time PIN code that you will input on the User Device Registration screen on the Member Portal.  If you do not receive the verification code, please check your spam/junk folder(s) or contact VCERA at 805-677-8700. 

One of the factors used to calculate your retirement benefit is your final average compensation (FAC), which is based on your benefit tier and/or hire date. The time period in which your FAC is earned is called your “measurement period”:

For Safety Tier 1 and General Tier 1 members: Highest 12 consecutive months (26 pay periods) of “compensation earnable,” as defined in Government Code section 31461.

For all other members:

• Hired prior to January 1, 2013: Highest 36 consecutive months (78 pay periods) of “compensation earnable,” as defined in Government Code section 31461.
• Hired on or after January 1, 2013: Highest 36 consecutive months (78 pay periods) of “pensionable compensation,” as defined in Government Code section 7522.34.

Vacation Buydown / Annual Leave Redemption 

Government Code Section 31461(b)(2) instructs VCERA to limit the number of annual leave or vacation redemption hours that may be included in retirement compensation to the maximum redeemable hours allowed by Memorandum of Agreements (MOA) for each calendar year. As a reminder, for PEPRA members, Vacation Buydown/Annual Leave Redemption is not includable in final average compensation.

Depending on membership type, VCERA will look at the highest 12 or 36 consecutive months of compensation at retirement. Within that highest measurement period, VCERA will include the number of redeemed leave hours that the applicable MOA allows a member to redeem. For example, if a member’s MOA allows a maximum leave redemption of 200 hours per calendar year, then VCERA will only include up to 600 hours of redeemed leave in a 36-month measurement period for purposes of retirement compensation. Please refer to your appropriate MOA to locate your specific annual vacation redemption limit.