Marlo Oaks – State Financial Officers Foundation

About

Marlo Oaks has served as Utah’s state treasurer since June 2021, when Governor Spencer Cox (R) appointed him to replace David Damschen, who resigned to take a position at the Utah Housing Corporation. In 2024, Oaks is serving as vice chair of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) after serving as the national policy chair in 2023.

Prior to accepting the state treasurer position, Oaks oversaw multi-billion-dollar portfolios at Farmers Insurance Group in Los Angeles and then at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City. He was also a managing director at Crewe Capital, an investment banking firm based in Salt Lake City, and began his career working on the derivatives desk at Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong.

Oaks holds a BA in Economics from Brigham Young University and an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business.

Actions

Testified as a republican witness in the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee’s “Hearing on Ensuring that ‘Woke’ Doesn’t Leave Americans Broke: Protecting Seniors and Savers from ESG Activism” (11/7/23)
Signed an Advancing American Freedom coalition letter to leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives demanding that “The Woke 401(k) Rule Must Be Repealed” (3/28/23)
Gave an anti-ESG speech at the Salt Lake County Republican Party Convention where he said, “Outcomes-based governance like the UN’s SDGs and ESG opens the door to authoritarianism. It is Satan’s plan.” (3/11/23)
Delivered the breakfast keynote address on “his efforts in his state to fight ESG” at The Heartland Institute‘s 2023 International Conference on Climate Change (2/25/23)
Signed an Advancing American Freedom coalition letter to Congress asking it to “overturn the Biden administration’s dangerous ESG rule through the Congressional Review Act” (2/7/23)
Spoke on “ESG Initiatives” at the opening breakfast of the 2022 States and Nation Policy Summit hosted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, along with Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild and fellow SFOF member Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis (11/30/22)
Moved approximately $100 million in state money previously managed by the investment firm BlackRock to alternate asset managers due to its ESG investing practices (9/18/22)
Presented concerns about ESG investment practices to the North Dakota Legislature’s interim Energy Development and Transmission Committee alongside West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore and North Dakota State Treasurer Thomas Beadle (7/26/22)
Signed a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opposing the proposed rule known as The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors (6/17/22)
Led a panel titled “Shareholder Proposals and Voting Your Proxies” at SFOF’s Fall 2022 National Meeting on “how shareholder proposals are being used to advance a social agenda and what states can do to stop it.” Jerry Bowyer, president of Boyer Research; Scott Shepard, a fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research; and Steve Milloy, a senior fellow at the Energy and Environment Legal Institute, were also panelists (6/15/22)
Signed an SFOF letter opposing the FDIC proposed principles on climate-related financial risk management for large financial institutions (6/3/22)
Spoke on the “State Treasurers Protect the Public Trust” panel at the Resource Bank meeting hosted by The Heritage Foundation along with West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore, Missouri State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, and SFOF CEO Derek Kreifels (6/1/22)
Signed a letter to the Department of Labor opposing possible agency actions to protect life savings and pensions from threats of climate-related financial risk (5/16/22)
Signed a comment letter to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board regarding ESG practices in the municipal securities market (3/8/22)
Hosted “ESG Discussion: How Do We Protect the Role of the Fiduciary?” at SFOF’s 2022 National Meeting along with Hester Peirce, SEC commissioner; Paul Atkins, founder and CEO of Patomak Global Partners; and Andy Puzder, retired CEO of Carl’s Jr./Hardees (2/17/22)
Signed a letter opposing the proposed Department of Labor rule change entitled Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights (12/13/21)
Signed a letter to the banking industry warning that state financial officers “will be taking collective action in response to the ongoing and growing economic boycott of traditional energy production industries by U.S. financial institutions” (11/22/21)
Signed an SFOF letter urging President Biden to withdraw his nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin as vice chair for supervision at the Federal Reserve for her “radical banking and economic views” that would “disrupt the private banking sector, reliable energy supplies, and the U.S. economy” (1/31/21)

Recent Campaign Filings

Statements of Financial Interests

Contact Information

Utah Office of State Treasurer
350 N State Street, Suite 180
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-2315
Website: treasurer.utah.gov/
Phone: (801) 538-1042
Email: sto@utah.gov