# City of Sarasota General Employees' Defined Benefit Pension Plan City of Sarasota General Employees' Defined Benefit Pension Plan is a Pension Fund based in Sarasota, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Pension Fund - **Headquarters:** Sarasota, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Sarasota, FL, United States - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** www.sarasotafl.gov - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/city-of-sarasota ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About The City of Sarasota General Employees' Defined Benefit Pension Plan is the public retirement vehicle for municipal workers outside of Sarasota's police and fire departments. It operates as a single-employer defined benefit plan, meaning the City of Sarasota is both the plan sponsor and the obligated employer. The three-member Board of Trustees, chaired by Ryan Chapdelain and including City Finance Director Kelly Strickland, oversees administration alongside Pension Plans Administrator Debra Martin. The fund allocates across a deliberately narrow set of asset classes. Its stock sleeve includes separate allocations to domestic common and preferred shares plus a foreign equities portfolio — a barbell that spreads geographic risk without complex overlays. On the real assets side, the pension commits to commingled core real estate funds rather than direct property ownership. Known manager relationships include UBS Realty Investors and AEW Capital Management, both running mixed-use mandates in the United States. There is no public evidence of private equity, venture capital, or illiquid credit allocations, consistent with the liability-matching posture of many Florida municipal pensions. The plan participates in the Florida Public Pension Trustees Association (FPPTA), the state's primary professional network for public pension fiduciaries. This membership provides board-level education and governance resources that are particularly relevant for a fund without an in-house chief investment officer. The plan's structural differentiator is its functional integration with the City of Sarasota's finance department. Kelly Strickland serves simultaneously as Treasurer of the pension board and City Director of Finance, a dual-hat arrangement that embeds pension oversight inside the municipality's broader fiscal management rather than operating a separate investment office. This governance design prioritizes coordination with the city's credit profile but necessarily constrains the speed and specialization of investment decision-making. ## Sectors - Real Estate - Public Equities ## People - Ryan Chapdelain — Chair of the Board of Trustees - Kelly Strickland — Treasurer and City Director of Finance - Debra Martin — Pension Plans Administrator ## Questions ### Who runs investment decisions at the City of Sarasota General Employees' Pension Plan? A three-member Board of Trustees holds fiduciary authority. Ryan Chapdelain serves as Chair, with Kelly Strickland, the City's Director of Finance, acting as Treasurer. Debra Martin administers the plan day-to-day as Pension Plans Administrator. The board does not employ a dedicated chief investment officer and instead relies on consultant and manager relationships for asset allocation and fund selection. ### What investment managers does the Sarasota general employees' pension use? Public records confirm relationships with UBS Realty Investors and AEW Capital Management for real estate exposure, both through commingled core funds with mixed-use US portfolios. Equity management arrangements for the domestic and foreign stock portfolios are not detailed in readily accessible public documents. ### How is the Sarasota general employees' plan governed? The City of Sarasota serves as both plan sponsor and primary employer. Governance sits with the Board of Trustees, which includes overlapping representation from the City's finance leadership. The plan administrator, Debra Martin, handles operational duties. The board participates in the Florida Public Pension Trustees Association for continuing education and governance guidance. ### Does the Sarasota plan manage investments internally? No. The plan does not maintain an internal investment office or in-house CIO function. All known investment exposure — public equities and real estate — runs through external managers or commingled fund vehicles, with the board exercising oversight rather than direct portfolio management. ### What is the difference between this plan and Sarasota's police or firefighter pensions? Sarasota operates separate retirement systems for sworn public safety personnel. This plan covers general employees — administrative, public works, parks, and other non-public-safety municipal staff. Each system maintains its own board, actuarial assumptions, and funding schedule. ### What real estate exposure does the fund hold? The real estate allocation is executed through two commingled core funds: the UBS Realty Investors Core Real Estate Fund and an AEW Capital Management real estate fund. Both vehicles invest in mixed-use properties across the United States. There is no indication the plan owns direct property or participates in opportunistic real estate strategies. ## Related profiles - [City of Sarasota Firefighters' Pension Plan](https://altss.com/profile/city-of-sarasota-firefighters-pension-plan) - [City of Sebastian Police Officers' Retirement System](https://altss.com/profile/city-of-sebastian-police-officers-retirement-system) --- Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/city-of-sarasota-general-employees-defined-benefit-pension-plan Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology