fbpx

Board of Investments Names New Executive Director

By Beacon Staff

HELENA – The state Board of Investments said its new executive director in charge of pension and other investments will be state Budget Director David Ewer, best known for his fiery advocacy of the governor’s agenda in front of the Legislature.

Ewer, 57, will take over the board that manages Montana’s $13 billion investment portfolio, including $7 billion in pension funds for public employees. Ewer replaces Carroll South, who is retiring after 18 years on the job. His annual salary will be $160,000.

Lee Newspapers of Montana reports the nine-member board that oversees the agency voted unanimously Tuesday night to hire Ewer, who used to be the agency’s deputy director.

“It’s a great honor to be working for the Board of Investments and I look forward to working for them and with their fine staff,” Ewer said Thursday.

The pension funds, battered by a roiling stock market the past three years, are facing potential shortfalls into the billions of dollars. Ewer said he will “be doing a lot of listening” as he starts to tackle the problem.

Ewer has been Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s only budget director. He has guided the governor’s budget proposals through the legislative process, often tangling with Republicans over revenue estimates and other issues.

He will continue to interact with the Legislature in his new post. The board guides the investment management of state funds, but lawmakers generally decide policy and financing for the pension funds and other issues.

Lawmakers rely on the board to provide updates on state investments, information that has been more critical as lawmakers struggle to find a solution for looming pension deficits.

Sarah Elliott, spokeswoman for Schweitzer, said the governor plans to appoint a replacement for Ewer at budget director “fairly soon.” Ewer starts Dec. 1.

“We’re happy to see him take an opportunity but sorry to see who the governor considers one of the best budget directors in the country go,” she said.

Gary Buchanan, a Billings investment adviser and chairman of the Board of Investments, said Ewer was the best choice.

“We had some people with extremely strong management experience, and maybe not enough investment experience. We had some people with a lot of investment experience and maybe not much management experience,” Buchanan said. “With David, we were able to get quite a bit of both.”

Ewer has a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Northeastern University.

The other finalists were John Tubbs, of Helena, a former Montana state government administrator who is now deputy assistant secretary for water and science at the U.S. Interior Department; Holland Timmins, the chief investment officer for the Texas Permanent School Fund; and Lee Damsel, director of investments for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.