New hire fills post at treasurer office

State Treasurer Dennis Milligan has hired a securities regulation consultant, Damon Dortch, for a senior investment manager post.

Dortch started work last week for the Republican treasurer's office with a starting salary of $73,500 a year, said Milligan spokesman Stacy Peterson.

Dortch filled the office's senior investment manager II position five months after the state Board of Finance blocked Milligan's proposal to reclassify then-division Director Ronald Roberson into the job. The board voted to require that the person hired for the job have a college degree, after Milligan proposed not requiring a degree. Roberson, who had 38 years of investment experience and completed 135 college credit hours but didn't have a degree, started work for the treasurer's office at a $70,000-a-year salary on Feb. 6. He resigned May 9.

Dortch, who earned his bachelor's degree in business administration-finance at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, was a securities regulation consultant from 2011 until last week and a financial adviser for Institutional Securities Corp. of Dallas from 2009-11. He also directed operations for Dortch Securities & Investments of Little Rock from 1997-2009, according to his resume.

"Our management team, as well as our investment team, interviewed him and felt that his background and experience would complement the strengths of our current investment team," Peterson said. The treasurer's office received 29 applicants, she said.

The investment team includes former Rep. Ed Garner, R-Maumelle, who is paid $108,000 a year in the senior investment manager I position; chief investment officer Autumn Sanson, whose salary is $93,785; and treasury manager Celeste Gladden, whose salary is $61,799.

Metro on 10/26/2017

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