OPERS chief departs for Minnesota

The new leader of the teachers' pension fund in the Land of 1,000 Lakes is the former head of the largest public retirement system in the Buckeye State.

Laurie Fiori Hacking, who has led the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System for six years, leaves at the end of February. The Board of Directors will appoint Chief Operating Officer Blake Sherry as interim executive director and use a recruiter to help find a replacement by midyear.

During Hacking's tenure, the fund's assets grew to $68.6 billion from $56.6 billion in 2000, Chairman Richard Alexander said.