Governance of the agency is carried out by a five-person, part-time board of presidential appointees and by a full-time executive director selected by those appointees. Of the five appointees, three members are appointed solely by the President without other consideration, one member is appointed after considering the recommendation of the Speaker of the House and the fifth member is appointed after considering the recommendation of the Senate Majority Leader. Each of these persons is required by FERSA to have "substantial experience, training, and expertise in the management of financial investments and pension benefit plans." 5 U.S.C. 8472. The board members collectively establish the policies under which the TSP operates and furnish general oversight. The executive director carries out the policies established by the board members and otherwise acts as the full-time chief executive of the agency. The board and the executive director convene monthly in meetings open to the public to review policies, practices, and performance. The chairman also appoints a 15-member Employee Thrift Advisory Council to provide input from the various employee, servicemember, and annuitant groups who have TSP investments, of which one is designated by the chairman as the council head. The 15-member board is made up of the following:
Four members representing the four largest non-Postal employee unions
Two members representing the two largest Postal employee unions, excluding rural letter carrier unions
One member representing the largest Postal employee union representing rural letter carriers
Two members representing the two largest groups representing Postal managerial personnel
One member representing the largest group of individuals receiving annuities
One member representing the largest group representing supervisors and managerial personnel, excluding Senior Executive Service
One member representing the Senior Executive Service
One member representing the uniformed services
The first chairman of the board was Roger W. Mehle, who was appointed on October 1, 1986. In 1988 he was reappointed and served continuously until January 31, 1994. President Clinton appointed James H. Atkins to replace him, and the board named Mehle the agency's executive director. Clinton named Atkins to another term in 1997, and to a third term via a recess appointment in 2000. He was succeeded by Andrew Saul, who named Gary Amelio executive director in 2002, replacing Mehle. The current executive director is Ravindra Deo, who succeeded Gregory Long in 2017. Ravindra Deo joined the FRTIB in 2015 as the Chief Investment Officer and additionally served as Acting Chief Operating Officer and Acting Executive Director during his tenure.
Investments in unaudited companies in China
The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has been criticized for a 2017 decision to mirror an index that invests in unaudited Chinese companies as well as companies that are sanctioned by the U.S. Despite scrutiny from the U.S. Senate, Board voted to permit continued investment in an index containing stocks of unaudited companies in the People's Republic of China. In November 2019, U.S. senators Marco Rubio and Jeanne Shaheen introduced legislation, the Taxpayers and Savers Protection Act, to force the Board to divest from unaudited Chinese companies. In May 2020, a directive from the United States Department of Labor ordered the TSP to halt a plan to invest in Chinese stocks.
