Miami Beach and Honolulu in 2000. New Orleans and San Francisco the next year. Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in the first six months of 2002.

It sounds like the life of a jet-setting retiree. And it is - if that retiree is on the board of the Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association.

The 16-member PERA board, which includes active and retired workers, spent more than $350,000 from 2000 through 2004 on educational conferences and programs. Most were held at luxury hotels in places such as Jackson Hole, Wyo.; Honolulu; and West Palm Beach, Fla. Board members made trips to Madrid, Spain; Paris; and Dublin. They made three visits to China.

The trips, paid for as part of the board's educational budget, are intended to help board members learn how best to invest the billions of dollars that Colorado state workers, many municipal and school employees, and their employers give to PERA to fund the employees' retirements in lieu of Social Security.

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Map and chart

Board members of the Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association spent $350,000 over five years traveling to conferences, many in resort areas such as Honolulu, Jackson Hole and West Palm Beach or large cities such as San Francisco and New York, with hotel rates hitting $200 to $300 a night. Among the overseas trips were Dublin, Paris and China.

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PERA's funds dwindled by billions of dollars as a three-year downturn in the markets took PERA from a surplus in 2000 to being just 70 percent funded today. PERA will need major market growth or greater taxpayer contributions to meet all of its future obligations to its more than 365,000 members.

While some trustees traveled little for the conferences, with three or fewer trips and just a few thousand dollars during the five years, other trustees were more active.

Richard Lansford and Gloria Santistevan-Feeback, who both left the PERA board in June, spent more than $40,000 apiece during the five- year period. Lansford made 27 trips, while Santistevan-Feeback made 22, according to PERA records. Both made trips to China.

Kim Natale, a former chairman who left the board in 2003 to become a PERA executive, spent $29,000, including an $8,975 trip to London and Ireland in June 2000.

In most cases, board members stayed at the hotels chosen by the conference sponsor, prompting bills of $200 or even $300 or more per night.

Before PERA changed its policy in November 2001, travel for board members had no limits and cost a total of about $100,000 a year, according to PERA spokeswoman Katie Kaufmanis. The amounts have dropped each year, falling below $50,000 in 2004.

The new policy, however, still allows board members to spend as much as in the past. Each board member can spend a total of $15,000 for travel and conferences for the first two years on the board and $12,000 every two years after that. That still would allow for about $100,000 a year if board members traveled the maximum amount.

PERA board members, and their peers at other public pension funds across the country, are not alone at these educational conferences.

They mingle with representatives from Wall Street firms who, standing to make millions from asset- management and advisory fees, underwrite the conferences by sponsoring meals and parties.

In a promotional video, Tim Jannetta, a vice president for Morgan Stanley Investment Management, settled into a chair by the roaring fireplace at the Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole and explained why he was at the World Pension Forum conference.

"There's consultants here, there are (pension) plan sponsors here, there are money managers here," Jannetta said. "I think everyone comes together, and we recognize the value the World Pension Forum offers us for access, as well as education and exchange."

As he spoke in the video, posted on the forum's Web site, pictures of Meredith Williams, PERA's executive director, flashed on the screen.

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These are trips taken for conferences and meetings by the four PERA board members with the largest spending totals from 200 through 2004.

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A lay board

PERA's members elect 14 of the 16 trustees from their membership ranks, with the state treasurer and auditor filling out the board. They receive no pay for the time-consuming job. The trustees will meet 10 times in 2005, typically for an afternoon of committee meetings and a full day afterward. The board's summer retreat lasts two full days, plus a pre-meeting dinner.

(After questions arose about the cost of the summer retreat in Colorado Springs at Garden of the Gods in 2003 - PERA spent $23,575 in two-plus days for 23 people - recent retreats have been held in the metro area.)

PERA is unusual among public pension funds in having the vast majority of its trustees elected by members rather than appointed in the political process.

Massachusetts' nine-member public pension board, for example, is chaired by the state treasurer, and four members are appointed by the treasurer and governor. Two of the appointees have financial expertise. Members elect four members.

The State Retirement and Pension System of Maryland has five gubernatorial appointees on its 14-member board. The appointees each must have "at least 10 years of substantial experience overseeing similar pension systems, large foundations or other similar large organizations with fiduciary responsibilities relating to different classes of participants," Executive Director Thomas Lee said.

PERA management is happy with its arrangement.

Williams told the Rocky Mountain News that he likes the autonomy of having a board composed primarily of members elected by members. In a January member newsletter, he said PERA "is envied by state retirement plans across the country" because its "governance is outside of the administrative structure of state government."

But having PERA members elect their peers to serve on the board means the trustees may not have in-depth financial experience in the complicated world of pensions.

In a statement on its Web site, PERA notes that the board's "14 elected trustees hold a total of 27 degrees, with eight earning master's degrees, three with Ph.D.s and two more having law degrees. Half of the trustees hold degrees in economics, finance, or mathematics."

There is no requirement, though, that a board member have a business degree or professional certification in a financial field.

To oversee a pension, trustees need to understand actuarial assumptions about life and death, as well as the investment strategies of balancing risk and return.

Heidi Dineen, a longtime pension- industry lawyer who now works for the Colorado attorney general's office, gave her personal opinion of PERA's board in a presentation to the Treasurer's Commission to Strengthen and Secure PERA, which is examining -PERA's future.

"I certainly think there need to be more experts on there," she said.

"It's easy to teach somebody a small piece, but it takes you years to accumulate all the pieces, and some people still can't put them all together. (PERA has) really large, complicated investments. In the boards I advise, I always advise them to have diversity. You need some finance people on there, you need some lawyers on there, you need different types of experience to have a well-rounded board that can really achieve all their fiduciary duties."

PERA encourages its trustees to acquire knowledge on the job. To that end, it has a formal policy that requires trustees to obtain education that includes "attendance at approved industry-recognized workshops and training programs."

Trustees are asked at the beginning of the year to identify areas in which they need training.

"It's important for trustees and certainly for PERA staff to be very discriminating in the conferences they attend," Williams said.

They are required to evaluate conferences afterward.

The workshops, however, typically are not all-day classroom affairs. The schedules are filled with ample recreational opportunities.

An upcoming convention of the National Council on Teacher Retirement in New Orleans features a three-hour "group lunch cruise on the Mississippi." Participants then get a 2 1/2-hour break before an evening reception begins.

In another testimonial for the World Pension Forum, Timothy Otterman, a senior vice president at Lazard Freres Asset Management, said, "The most powerful tool that a marketing representative has is meeting people and pressing the flesh, and . . . playing croquet!"

But Philip Schaefer, the owner of the for-profit World Pension Forum, formerly known as Pensions 2000, said his conferences are "dealing with education and ideas."

"We do not ever let anyone market - they'd be kicked out," he said, adding that he gives attendees whistles. "They blow whistles if they hear marketing, and we don't invite those people back."

A ready market

The lack of financial background requirements for most pension fund trustees has created a huge opportunity for nonprofit trade groups and for-profit companies to put on educational conferences for pension fund staff and trustees.

The PERA board established its educational policy in 2001 so "all trustees have a cogent understanding of the issues and problems facing PERA."

The policy names a number of specific conferences available to new trustees that are sponsored by nonprofits such as the National Council on Teacher Retirement.

PERA board members, like their peers across the country, also spend tens of thousands of dollars to attend conferences by for-profit companies.

No matter who sponsors them, the conferences invariably are held at top-flight hotels in big cities or resorts in scenic locales.

"We try to get the best hotels or resorts possible to draw people in," said David Gleyzer of Information Management Network, a conference-events company. "They definitely enjoy the accommodations."

Expense reports for former trustee Ed Bohac show a $272-per-night hotel room in Honolulu for eight nights for a late-April 2000 meeting of the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems. PERA sent six trustees at a cost of nearly $18,000.

Bohac said his recollection was that the conference was held in other years in places other than Honolulu and that his travel there "was within board policy." He said he traveled to conferences to see how other pension systems operated.

The News requested expense reports for about one-third of the trips. Most hotel bills exceeded $200 per night, with some topping $300.

While airfares seemed to reflect coach-class tickets paid well in advance, there were exceptions. Before the education policy was implemented in 2001, PERA allowed business-class tickets for international travel, a practice it has stopped.

PERA paid $2,593 in March 2001 for a business-class upgrade for board member Terry Campbell's trip to Asia for a Pensions 2000 conference. Campbell declined to comment.

In June 2000, PERA paid $6,334 for business-class airfare for then-board Chairman Kim Natale to fly to London. Natale met with six of PERA's money managers at their offices in London over five days, PERA said. Natale then met in Dublin with managers at the Bank of Ireland, another PERA money manager.

The six days in a London hotel cost $1,861. Natale's wife accompanied him at her own expense. In all, PERA spent $8,975 on the trip.

Natale continues to attend conferences as PERA's chief administrative officer. He appears in a World Pension Forum testimonial video from its February 2005 "Alternative Investments" conference at West Palm Beach's Four Seasons Hotel. Natale is seen joking about the difficulty in selecting a hedge fund manager.

"We're looking for people with track records - I'm just trying to find people who don't have criminal records in the hedge fund business," he said in the video.

Kaufmanis provided details on the Natale trip. Natale, contacted via e-mail this week, declined to comment on the travel.

The upcoming National Council on Teacher Retirement convention in October at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside features PERA Executive Director Williams presiding over a morning session on the conference's third day. After 3 1/2 hours of sessions, conventioneers are scheduled to take a three-hour lunch cruise sponsored by seven investment and consulting firms. After a 2 1/2-hour break, an evening reception begins. It's sponsored by a consulting firm and a law firm.

"Mark your registration form if you'll be joining us for Sunday's free lunch cruise," the group tells its members in a promotional brochure. "No need to reserve a spot for Friday's Annual Banquet - we just assume everyone will join us at Mardi Gras World for dinner among the spectacular carnival floats, props and costumes. Bring your camera!"

A light schedule may be common.

"It's a very casual atmosphere, generally speaking," Edwin Burton, a board member of the Virginia Retirement System, said in a World Pension Forum testimonial. "Very relaxed atmosphere, not a lot of high- pressure activity, very pleasant."

Avoiding sales pitches

Not all trustee spending was on high-end accommodations. Trustee Scott Noller, who ranked fourth in spending from 2000 to 2004 with nearly $25,000 in expenses, attended three high-tuition educational courses.He attended Harvard Business School for a class on audit committees; the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania for a class on "Critical Thinking"; and Stanford University's Fiduciary College. Noller could not be reached for comment.

PERA's educational policy says, "Many conferences are available, but not all are valuable." The policy urges trustees to "see if it is worth their time and expense to PERA" by consulting a database of evaluations other board members have filled out.

Williams told the News, "As a result of those evaluations, we've seen a drop-off in attendance at conferences sponsored by certain organizations."

The News examined the evaluations. Most were positive, saying they would recommend the conference to board colleagues.

Natale gave a negative review of the Global Investing Summit put on by Opal Financial Group in June 2002 in Newport, R.I. "This is a very vendor-oriented conference. The sessions were sales pitches, not real education."

PERA, which had spent $18,272 on nine Opal Group conferences from 2000 to that point, spent $1,300 on two more that year. It has not sent a trustee since. Opal did not respond to requests for comment.

The only negative comment about the luxury of the conferences came from Elizabeth Friot, a professor of secondary education at Metropolitan State College of Denver, in her evaluation of a March 2004 International Foundation of Employee Benefits CAPPP Program in Albuquerque.

"I would rather meet in a business environment than a resort environment," she said.

The conference, with a $1,650 registration fee and $203-per-night hotel rooms, cost PERA $3,139.

Friot also questioned an International Foundation of Employee Benefits New Trustee Meeting in Orlando, Fla., in March 2003. "$800? It was emphasized that the speakers were volunteers, so where did the money go?"

Friot did not return calls for comment. After messages were left for her by the News, PERA Chief Operating Officer David Maurek sent an e-mail to current trustees that reminded them board Chairman James Casebolt is the only authorized board spokesman.

Lansford, PERA's top board traveler from 2000 to 2004 with 27 trips totaling $46,743, evaluated a "Stars and Stripes" conference in Orlando in June 2002: "Attendance was really poor after the first a.m. session. Too many came for vacation."

Lansford, reached at home during dinner, asked a reporter to call at a later date. He did not return subsequent calls. Santistevan-Feeback did not return calls.

A question of focus

Edward Siedle is a former Securities and Exchange Commission attorney and general counsel for Putnam Funds who went independent in 1989 as an investigator of mutual funds, pension consultants, brokers and other financial services providers. His firm, Benchmark Financial Services, is based in Palm Beach County, Fla.

"Can these conferences be educational? Sure," Siedle said. "Are they, generally? Somewhat."

The conferences "are largely underwritten by the private sector" by charging higher membership and conference-registration fees to those in the financial services industry, he said. The registration forms for October's National Council on Teacher Retirement convention bear this out. A "commercial participant" must pay $1,500 vs. $525 for a "noncommercial participant."

The financial services sponsors, who often pay $25,000 to $50,000, "not surprisingly, have a very influential role in determining the issues discussed at the conference," Siedle said.

Many of the conferences have panels on hedge funds, exchange-traded funds, international stocks - in other words, new investment vehicles that pension funds can put their money into and money managers can make fees from.

Siedle said panels on better procedures to prevent fraud or how to ferret out wrongdoing by pension consultants are rare. "There are certainly conferences we will never be asked to speak at because the malfeasers we're targeting are the ones who are underwriting the conference."

PERA spokeswoman Kaufmanis said, "Many conferences trustees attend do include sessions on (those) topics, such as the Council of Institutional Investors Conference. These important topics are discussed by the board at their meetings and in committee meetings of the board."

The series

• SATURDAY

Even as its pension fund declined by billions of dollars, the Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association gave its own employees unusual perks: 52 weeks of personal leave to bank and then cash out at retirement or resignation; 12 weeks of sick leave a year for top execs; and, for some, 20 percent "longevity bonuses" every three years on top of annual bonuses.

• TODAY

PERA board members spent $350,000 over five years to travel to luxury resorts and hotels for educational conferences filled with money managers eager to sell PERA their services.

• TUESDAY

PERA took a bath in the three-year economic downturn after investing heavily in stocks, failing to plan for the end of the bull market and selling massive amounts of credit for extra years of service so members could boost their retirement payments or retire early.

• WEDNESDAY

PERA is 70 percent funded and needs 10 percent average returns in the market or increased taxpayer contributions to fulfill its obligations to retirees in 30 years.

David Milstead is finance editor of the Rocky Mountain News. He can be reached at 303-892-2648 or milstead@RockyMountainNews.com.

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