In her first two years at the helm of the San Bernardino County Employees’ Retirement Association (SBCERA), Debby Cherney is well on her way to accomplishing many of the goals she set for the organization. Chief among those was establishing a strategic plan for the organization and establishing a more collaborative work environment. Debby credits much of her early success to SBCERA’s Fiscal Services leadership team.

Debby was hired as SBCERA’s chief executive officer (CEO) in August 2018. SBCERA is a multi-employer pension plan that serves 18 public employers and has roughly 42,000 members and 73 employees. Debby explained that she was hired specifically to bring about an organizational change because at that time, the organization was hindered by internal distrust and dysfunction. As she described it, “The management team was not getting along well with each other, with the board, or with the staff.”

• Publication date: August 2020
• Author: Katie Ludwig