Wyoming
Wyoming’s Highest Paid Administrator Makes $525K, Manages $30B In…
The highest paid state government administrator makes more than $525,000 a year, and most people in Wyoming have likely never heard of him.
He’s Chief Investment Officer Patrick Fleming, who recently announced he’ll step down from the post next June.
According to the state auditor’s office, Fleming made $525,959 in 2023, more than any other elected official or department head in the state. After tax deductions, Fleming’s take-home pay was $367,771.
The only Wyoming state employees making more than Fleming in 2023 were involved with University of Wyoming athletics: former UW football coach Craig Bohl, former UW men’s basketball coach Jeff Linder and the university’s athletic director, Tom Burman. That’s according to government spending website Openthebooks.com.
How It Compares
As chief investment officer, Fleming is responsible for managing the state’s more than $30 billion worth of non-pension assets.
In a statement, Fleming said he’s looking forward to spending more time with family and friends.
“I really enjoy my work and am proud of how our office has grown and what we have accomplished,” Fleming said. “There are still a few things I’d like to see us complete before I step aside at the end of June, but I felt it was appropriate to announce this decision now so I can help the Treasurer work with the Legislature and create a generational fund – which I also believe is vital for our State’s future – as well as provide ample time to implement a succession plan.”
Since joining the state in 2014, Fleming helped grow Wyoming’s sovereign wealth fund from $19.5 billion to more than $30 billion, with nearly $9 billion used during that time to support the state’s budget and an additional $450 million in revenue produced over the last six years.
State Treasurer Curt Meier highlighted Fleming’s record in a press release announcing his retirement.
“The job Patrick has done during his tenure has been vital to the well-being of the entire state,” Meier said in the press release. “The earnings distributed as part of the budget funding is equivalent to about a third of all the State’s revenues during that time period. This has decreased the tax burden on our citizens while preserving services vital to the Cowboy State.”
Grew Wyoming’s Investments
Masoudi Hesam, the chief investment officer for the Wyoming Retirement System, made only $440 less than Fleming in 2023 at $525,519.
Meier told Cowboy State Daily where Fleming made his biggest impact was in the mentorship he showed to his staff, which he grew to a team of 10 during his time. He also said Fleming was adept at understanding the world’s markets and how they could affect Wyoming’s investments and investment opportunities.
Under Fleming’s watch, the treasurer’s office also instituted a volatility-based risk measurement system while moving away from traditional equity and bond approaches.
Gov. Mark Gordon, who worked directly with Fleming when the governor was state treasurer, also commended Fleming’s “unwavering commitment to Wyoming and ability to explain complex financial ideas in a way that gave confidence to policymakers paved the way for the program to evolve into the bellwether sovereign wealth investment house it has become.”
“Every Wyoming citizen has more money in their pocket as the result of his skill and leadership,” Gordon said. “Beyond his service to the state, though, Patrick is a real friend who has always put Wyoming first. He will be missed.”
According to the treasurer’s office, Fleming previously spent 30 years working in Tokyo, Hong Kong, London and New York specializing in domestic and global bond markets, equities and commodities. He also is the former CEO of a 77-year-old investment firm in New York and taught corporate finance, investment management and energy trading at the University of Wyoming.
Industry Standard
State Rep. Liz Storer, D-Jackson, a member of the Select Committee on Capital Financing and Investments which has been critical at times of the state’s investing decisions, said Fleming’s pay is somewhat competitive when compared to what’s offered in the investment industry.
Anything less, she said, and the state would be forced to hire people with less experience that would likely leave as soon as they were offered a higher paying opportunity.
“It’s pretty equitable with the capital finance performance pay for positions of CIO as well as investment managers and how they’re paid in the real world,” Storer said. “It’s kind of what you need to pay in order to be competitive.”
Meier went even further, arguing that the base salaries paid out in his office as well as the Wyoming Retirement System are “well below” industry standards.
“Even after exceeding our benchmarks for each of the past five years, the overall pay package barely gets them to the medium,” he told Cowboy State Daily.
Fleming made $275,959 in his base salary and an additional $250,000 in performance compensation in 2023.
“If you pay for performance, at least you can retain them for longer,” Storer said.
The treasurer’s office will begin the process of finding a CIO in the coming months.
Storer said she’d like to see a strong emphasis made on experience in private equity and an understanding of the world markets for the state’s next CIO.
Meier said he hopes to find someone with similar professionalism and experience to Fleming, who he said he will utilize for input during the hiring process.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
Related
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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