Thrift Savings Plan executive director resigns

Gary Amelio is leaving his post as executive director of the Thrift Savings Plan for a private firm, plan officials announced Wednesday.

Amelio, who came to the TSP in 2003 and oversaw the 401(k)-style retirement savings vehicle's growth to $206 billion, will become president of retirement services for ULLICO Inc., which provides insurance and investments for union members.

The TSP has already hired executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles to find a replacement for Amelio.

Amelio's most significant accomplishment was the introduction of lifecycle funds to the TSP in August 2005. The funds automatically shift money from a mix of riskier to more conservative investments as participants age. The TSP has five standard funds.

TSP Board Chairman Andrew Saul, one of five part-time political appointees who hired Amelio in 2003, said the director fulfilled expectations.

"The board members and I knew that Gary's private sector retirement services experience was just the right recipe for leading the already successful TSP to the next level," Saul said in a statement. "We were not disappointed."

Before coming to the TSP, Amelio was senior vice president of the retirement division of PNC Bank in Pittsburgh.

Amelio reduced the TSP's budget to make the plan cheaper for participants. TSP participants pay 30 cents for every thousand dollars in the plan, by far the lowest rate of any 401(k)-style plan.

During his tenure, Amelio clashed with some members of Congress who wanted the TSP to add a Real Estate Investment Trust fund option to the plan. Amelio bristled at the idea that politics would play a role in determining which funds to add, and has so far stalled the addition of such a fund.