On Thursday, July 18, 2013, at its regular annual meeting to elect officers, the Board of Trustees of the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System unanimously elected DeWayne McAnally and Steve Paris to become the new chair and vice-chair of the board, respectively.
McAnally replaces former Chairman Don Kilpatrick, who announced at the May board meeting his intention to step down as chair but remain on the board. Kilpatrick had served as chairman of the OPERS board since 1985.
Kilpatrick retired from state government in 2003, after serving 18 years as a member of the Oklahoma Tax Commission. Prior to that, he served in the Oklahoma Legislature for a total of 14 years in both the House of Representatives and State Senate. When he left the legislature, he was a key member of the Senate leadership and had served for several years as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
McAnally has been on the OPERS board since 1995 and has served on the board’s Investment Committee since 1996. He has been a registered Investment Advisor since 1984 and is a Certified Financial Planner providing investment advice through his firm The Advisory Group in Oklahoma City.
Paris, who also chairs the board’s Budget and Policy Committee, has been on the board since 2003 and replaces McAnally as vice-chair. With nearly 30 years of experience in media relations, journalism and marketing management, Paris serves as the public information officer and rural development manager for the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology.