SPRINGFIELD, IL – Mark A. Bailey of Palos Park and Frederic S. Peronto of Elmhurst have been elected by active members of Teachers’ Retirement System to the retirement fund’s Board of Trustees, according to preliminary results of the 2017 Trustee election announced today.
If certified by the TRS Board of Trustees this spring, Mr. Peronto and Trustee Bailey will begin their four-year terms on July 15. This is Trustee Bailey’s second election to the TRS Board. He was first elected in 2013. Mr. Peronto has never before served as a TRS trustee.
The other candidate vying for two open seats on the Board was Frank J. Biga III of Arlington Heights. Current TRS Trustee Rainy Kaplan of Schaumburg withdrew her candidacy for re-election after voting began in April.
In all, 6,204 valid electronic and paper ballots were counted. Each active member was allowed to vote for two candidates. The official vote totals were:
Mark A. Bailey: 2,366
Frederic S. Peronto: 1,684
Rainy Kaplan: 1,436
Frank J. Biga III: 718
The month-long balloting period for the two seats ended at 10 a.m. on May 1.
Trustee Bailey is an instrumental music teacher in Naperville School District 203. Mr. Peronto teaches American history at Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park.
Under state law, six members of the 13-member Board are elected by TRS members. Four members are elected solely by the System’s 160,000 active members and two members are elected by the 106,000 retired members. Trustees are elected every two years to staggered four-year terms.
Six members of the TRS Board are appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Illinois Senate. The 13th member, by law, is always the state superintendent of public instruction, who also is the president of the Board.
This spring, along with the two open active member trustee seats, one retired member seat was open for election because of the impending retirement from the Board of Trustee Robert Lyons of Hoffman Estates. However, only one candidate for that seat filed the necessary petitions of member signatures needed to gain access to the ballot. Later this spring the Board by acclamation will appoint that candidate, Larry Pfeiffer, of Carlinville, to the Board. His term also will begin on July 15.
The other current members of the TRS Board are State School Superintendent Tony Smith of River Forest, Ann S. Deters of Effingham, Andrew Hirshman of Oak Park, Cinda Klickna of Rochester, Marc Levine of Wilmette, Laura P. Pearl of Glenview, Alexander D. Stuart of Lake Forest, Daniel Winter of Decatur and Randall S. Winters of Highland Park.
