With more than 96,000 members, the Texas Retired Teachers Association (TRTA) is the largest organization of its kind in the nation. TRTA hired Tim Lee as the Executive Director in 2004.

TRTA has built a reputation in Texas as a powerful advocacy and action organization representing the interests of retired public-school employees. Under Mr. Lee’s leadership, Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) participants have received billions in enhanced retirement benefits including improved pension payments (both in the form of additional checks and cost-of-living adjustments), reduced health care costs, and increased Social Security payments.

Mr. Lee began his career in 1996 as the Executive Director for the Illinois Retired Teachers Association (IRTA). It’s there that he first met with Mike Lehr, TRTA’s previous Executive Director. Together, Mr. Lee and Mr. Lehr co-wrote the first-ever position paper on the need to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), two harmful Social Security provisions that plagued public workers across the country. Though Mr. Lehr passed away in 2019, Mr. Lee was able to fulfill TRTA’s goal of fully repealing the WEP and GPO in a historic bill, H.R. 82, in 2024.

Known around the country as a passionate speaker and energetic leader, Mr. Lee is a strong advocate for protecting the defined benefit pension plan and other post-employment benefits many states provide for retired public educators. Seeing these benefits as an economical way of ensuring retirement security for public school employees, Mr. Lee champions adequate and consistent contributions to pension funds by both the employer and employee.

This commonsense approach has worked well in Texas. Mr. Lee credits the power of TRTA’s membership and grassroots advocacy for the organization’s numerous successes. He believes that the grit, dedication, and resolve retired educators have shown has borne fruit in the form of improved benefits year-over-year and strong working relationships with many of Texas’ most influential lawmakers.

TRTA has partnered successfully with the Texas Legislature to create a well-funded pension trust fund. While this plan may not be considered “rich” in comparison to other state-funded pension plans, it is one of the healthiest state pension plans not presently coordinated with Social Security.

Mr. Lee has worked on public pension policy for more than 25 years. He has served on various state legislative panels and gubernatorial commissions, participated in forums with legislative leaders, and attended many conferences about managing and maintaining these vital public programs. Tens of thousands of Texans receive Mr. Lee’s email newsletter The Inside Line. Mr. Lee is also a featured writer for the organization’s quarterly publication The VOICE.

Tim attended public schools in Springfield, Illinois, and is a graduate of Illinois State University. He has post-graduate credit at the University of Illinois. More than anything, Tim is proud of his wonderful family. He and his wife Nichol have four children: Carter, Grace, Ethan, and Ryan.