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Tobias Read
"Investing in the people who will come after me."
Growing up, my parents made clear to me that the people who had come before me had invested in me.
They explained that I benefited from the public schools, libraries, and soccer leagues made possible by others. As a result, I had the responsibility to make similar investments in the people who will come after me. I enjoyed the impact of public policy and I continue to be motivated by the idea that the long run suffers from our focus on the short term.
These beliefs continue to guide the work I do today. I currently have the honor of serving as State Treasurer in Oregon where I lead a team that manages the state’s portfolio. This includes the pensions of hundreds of thousands of public servants. We protect and grow public money before it is used for its intended purpose and we help Oregonians save for their future with college savings, disability savings, and retirement savings programs. In the end, we’re focused on helping Oregonians achieve long-term financial security. We’re using financial tools to achieve good public policy outcomes.
One of the things I’m most proud of is leading the effort to establish the country’s first opt-out retirement program for people in the private sector without options for retirement savings at work. We recognized the need for people to have an easy way to take control of their future and we built OregonSaves from the ground up. Five years later, more than a hundred thousand Oregonians have funded IRAs and have saved more than $160 million toward their future. I’m excited by what we’ve done of course, but equally encouraged by what is possible in the future.
