HARRISBURG, PA - Susan Oh, an American Dream success story who manages $9 billion in assets at the Pennsylvania School Employees’ Retirement System, will be inducted into her alma mater’s hall of fame on April 24 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
The induction into the Eberly College Business Hall of Distinction puts Oh in rare company at IUP. Less than 1 percent of Eberly’s 25,000 graduates have entered its Hall of Distinction. But then again, Oh, PSERS’ first female investment director in two decades, has made a career out of defying odds and garnering praise for her financial acumen and commitment to diversity in the worldwide investment industry.
“My heart is full of gratitude and hope,” Oh said of her Eberly College honor.
Added PSERS Executive Director Glen Grell, “We are very proud of Susan and her outstanding efforts on behalf of PSERS and our members. She is a shining example of Pennsylvania’s very own homegrown investment talent. PSERS is very fortunate to have such talented top-caliber investment professionals investing its assets.”
Oh and her siblings immigrated from South Korea to the United States in 1984, and her family eventually settled in central Pennsylvania. Oh honed her English skills at Central Dauphin High School. She later graduated with a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in Accounting from IUP, one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
Oh started her career with the firm KPMG as an auditor and consultant. Oh, a CPA, joined PSERS in 1995 and later devised several new investment programs and strategies to protect and enhance the system’s retirement benefits, and member’s and employer’s dollars.
Oh earned a Chartered Financial Analyst designation, the highest distinction in the investment management profession. Oh also serves on the Investor Advisory Board and Women Investors’ Forum Steering Committee of the Alternative Investor Forum, a think tank in New York City. In 2018 she was named as one of the 25 NextGen luminaries by the publication Chief Investment Officer.
“Susan is an accomplished, innovative investment professional who’s dedicated to her craft and who’s always willing to serve as a role model for others,” said James H. Grossman Jr., PSERS’ chief investment officer.
Oh is regularly quoted in financial publications about the need for more women to consider careers as front-line investment managers. Women manage only about 4 percent of top mutual, hedge, private equity, and venture capital funds operated in the public and private sectors, according to Harvard Business Review.
“I am thankful to call this blessed nation my home,” Oh said. “The U.S. continues to cultivate and honor individuals with talent and character regardless of gender, ethnicity or any other backgrounds.”
About the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System
PSERS is the 15th largest state-sponsored defined benefit public pension fund in the nation. As of December 31, 2018, PSERS had net assets of approximately $54.9 billion and a membership of over 256,000 active school employees and over 233,000 retirees.