Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read will be honored on Jan. 24 by the Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives for helping to create and implement the nation's first state-run private sector retirement program.
As a member of the state Legislature, Mr. Read was chief sponsor of the bill that created the program, now the $170.4 million Oregon Retirement Savings Plan, Tigard. Launched in Nov. 2017, the program, known as OregonSaves, was the first state-sponsored private-sector retirement program in the country.
State-sponsored private-sector retirement programs offer savings programs for private-sector workers who do not have a retirement plan sponsored by their employers.
Since his election as treasurer in 2016, Mr. Read has helped to oversee the program as the chairman of the Oregon Retirement Savings Board. He also serves as an adviser to other states.
OregonSaves expanded to include employees at cannabis businesses in 2019 and self-employed and gig economy workers in 2018.
Mr. Read will receive the award at the Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives' annual conference for state-run retirement savings programs for private-sector workers for his "successful enactment" and "continued steadfast dedication to implementing" Oregon's program, according to the center's website.
"I am honored to accept this award on behalf of the Oregon Treasury team," Mr. Read said in a written statement. "To see OregonSaves providing financial security for savers and sparking a growing national movement of state programs responding to the retirement savings crisis, is gratifying."
