The offices of the $94.9 billion Texas Teacher Retirement System, the $21 billion Texas Employees Retirement System and the $25 billion University of Texas Investment Management Co., all of Austin, were closed Friday because of wintry conditions.
The $3 billion Dallas Police & Fire Pension System also closed Friday because of inclement weather, according to its website.
UTIMCO continued to operate under a contingency plan.
“We have a great deal of electronic connectivity for our entire staff — investment, support and control — including PCs and handheld devices,” said Bruce Zimmerman, UTIMCO CEO and chief investment officer, referring to its staff working off-site. “Everyone can access our network, Bloomberg and various other information providers and services. That said, a number of us were in the office as well.”
Mr. Zimmerman was among about 10% of the staff that came into the office, he said.
The Texas Teacher and Texas Employees systems closed their offices Friday “due to winter weather conditions,” according to separate announcements by the pension funds. Officials at the two plans couldn’t be reached for information on their operations.
National Weather Service advisories Friday forecast snowfall ranging from three to eight inches in the Dallas area and a temperature of about 24 degrees, and the forecast for Austin warned of freezing rain, sleet and light snow and ice on most roadways causing “extremely dangerous” travel and a temperature of about 30 degrees. The average high temperature for early January in Austin is 62 degrees.
