Leonard Gilroy
Vice President of Government Reform, Reason Foundation
Leonard Gilroy is Vice President of Government Reform at Reason Foundation and Senior Managing Director of Reason's Pension Integrity Project.
Under Gilroy's leadership, the Pension Integrity Project at Reason Foundation assists policymakers and other stakeholders in designing, analyzing and implementing public sector pension reforms. The project aims to promote solvent, sustainable retirement systems that provide retirement security for government workers while reducing taxpayer and pension system exposure to financial risk and reducing long-term costs for employers/taxpayers and employees. The project team provides education, reform policy options, and actuarial analysis for policymakers and stakeholders to help them design reform proposals that are practical and viable.
Gilroy and the Pension Integrity Project have provided technical assistance to several successful pension reform efforts in recent years in Michigan, Colorado, Arizona, South Carolina and other states aimed at tackling persistent pension solvency challenges.
In his role as vice president, Gilroy also leads Reason's government reform efforts, with over 18 years of experience researching fiscal management, government operations, infrastructure public-private partnerships, government contracting, and urban policy topics. He also regularly consults with federal, state and local officials on ways to improve government performance and efficiency.
Gilroy has a diversified background in policy research and implementation, with particular emphasis on competition, government efficiency, transparency, accountability, and government performance. Gilroy has testified before Congress on several occasions and has testified on pension reform before the Arizona, Florida, Michigan, and Texas legislatures. Gilroy works closely with state and local elected officials across the country in efforts to design and implement market-based policy approaches, improve government performance, enhance accountability in government programs, and reduce government spending.
Gilroy's articles have been featured in such leading publications as The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, The Weekly Standard, Washington Times, Houston Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Arizona Republic, San Francisco Examiner, San Diego Union-Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sacramento Bee, and The Salt Lake Tribune. He has also appeared on CNN, Fox News Channel, Fox Business, CNBC, National Public Radio and other media outlets.
Prior to joining Reason, Gilroy was a senior planner at a Louisiana-based urban planning consulting firm. He also worked as a research assistant at the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research at Virginia Tech. Gilroy earned a B.A. and M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Tech.
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Public Pension Plan Designs Are the Problem, Not Pensions Themselves
If you build a pension system with risk management in mind, you can avoid the common pitfalls that have led to the over $1 trillion in U.S. public pension debt.
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Analysis of the New Mexico PERA Pension Solvency Task Force’s Preliminary Recommendations
The changes are significant and positive steps for PERA, but leave some systemic challenges—namely actuarial methods and assumptions—unaddressed.
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Continuing Reform: Challenges Persist With the Florida Retirement System (FRS)
The retirement benefits ultimately received by members of both plans within FRS will come at an ever-increasing cost to taxpayers and other public services if needed technical adjustments to both plans go neglected.
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Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL) Pension Solvency Analysis
Investment returns failing to meet unrealistic expectations has been the largest contributor to the unfunded liability growth, adding $4.2 billion to the unfunded liability since 2000.
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Arizona Pension Bonuses Are Troubling. But Risky Investments Are The Real Crime
The bonuses raise important questions about what should really be ringing alarm bells.
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Webinar: Leveraging Public Assets for Pension Solvency
State and local governments facing pension solvency challenges are exploring the transfer, lease or sale of public assets to shore up underfunded retiree benefit systems.
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Unfunded Liabilities Are Forcing Texas TRS Pension Contributions Ever Higher
The Teacher Retirement System (TRS) of Texas’ amortization payments have grown since 2003 and take up an increasing amount of teacher and state contributions.
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Texas TRS: Examining the 7.25 Percent Assumed Rate of Return
Adopting a more realistic projection of investment returns and the estimated value of pension benefits is important to ensuring Texas will uphold promises made to teachers.
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Teacher Retirement System of Texas: Why 80 Percent Funded Is Not Enough
TRS has at least $35.4 billion in pension debt, and billions more if the pension plan’s assumptions are wrong.
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How the Texas Teacher Retirement System’s Unfunded Liability Grew to $35.4 Billion
The key factors driving growth in TRS’ unfunded liability.
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Pension Solvency Overview: Teacher Retirement System (TRS) Of Texas
The Teacher Retirement System of Texas reported an unfunded pension liability of $35.4 billion in 2017.
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Improving the Solvency of the Michigan State Police Retirement System
Testimony on Michigan House Bill 6475 to the Michigan House Financial Liability Reform Committee.
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Reflections on Michigan’s Ongoing Pension Reform Project
The state of Michigan has continued its pattern of being a trend setter on pension reform.
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Georgia’s First Contract City Continues to Innovate Private Service Delivery
An interview with Sandy Springs City Manager John McDonough on startup cities, public-private partnerships, and metrics for delivering services to taxpayers.
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Privatization and Government Reform Newsletter (Issue 34, June 2018 Edition)
Highway finance and public-private partnerships, pension problems in Austin, housing the homeless, managing municipal golf courses and more.
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Colorado Adopts Significant Pension Changes for All Public Employees
In SB200, the Colorado Legislature has enacted meaningful improvements to the state’s pension system, which will lead PERA to a considerably improved long-term position.
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Evaluating Solutions for Austin’s Billion Dollar Pension Crisis
COAERS’s fiscal deterioration is evident, and the causes are many, such as subpar investment returns, failing to properly anticipate how long workers would stay in the system, and mortality assumptions.
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Despite Poor Process, Kentucky Enacts Meaningful Pension Plan Design, Funding Policy Reforms
The bill constitutes a significant improvement overall, with meaningful risk reduction and better funding policy across Kentucky’s various retirement plans.
