Thrift Savings Plan chief quits post

Roger Mehle, executive director of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which runs the government's 401k-style Thrift Savings Plan, is leaving his post, the board announced this week.

Mehle is retiring to go into private law practice. James Petrick, former director of the board's Office of Benefits and Investments, will replace him.

"I have presided over many sweeping changes to the Thrift Savings Plan while at the board," Mehle said in a statement. "While there are doubtless many yet to come, I feel that I leave the board in a robust and stable position."

Thrift Savings Plan investments could make up the most significant portion of retirement savings for federal employees hired after 1983. The TSP now holds more than $100 billion of federal employees' assets.

During Mehle's tenure, the TSP expanded the number of investment options from three to five, the plan was opened to military personnel, and Congress raised the limits on how much employees can put away in their TSP accounts. Nearly 3 million federal employees, retirees and military service members have TSP accounts.

Mehle also oversaw a computer systems modernization that still isn't finished-more than two years after its original deadline for completion. Problems with the modernization led to an ongoing legal battle with the board's original contractor, Fairfax, Va.-based American Management Systems. That dispute triggered another legal battle with the Justice Department over whether the TSP board can bring lawsuits without going through Justice.

The modernization and legal battles will be left to Petrick to complete. Petrick was an attorney at the Justice and Labor departments before going to work at the TSP board in 1986.

The five-member board that oversees the TSP approved Petrick's appointment this month.