News: 2003 08 August

The ERISA plans of two publicly traded corporations recently hired IFS on independent fiduciary projects:

• PNC Bank 401K Incentive Savings Plan retained IFS to act on the Plan's behalf regard securities class action litigation and ERISA litigation against the Bank and other defendants, filed in response to the Bank's earnings restatements. The Plan holds PNC stock.
• Several Plans of American Airlines hired IFS as a fiduciary to make various decisions regarding their use of investment consulting and asset management services.

Among the pension/retirement funds that have recently hired IFS as their retainer investment consultant are:

• The $40 million Pension, Welfare and Training Funds of Laborers Local 91 in Niagara Falls, New York
• The $50 million Apogent Retirement Security Plan (and related plans) of Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Among the pension/retirement funds that have recently hired IFS for Operational Reviews are:

• The Las Vegas Construction Industry & Laborers Pension, Welfare and Training Funds for an Operational Review of various aspects of its administrative operations.
• The $15 billion Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association hired IFS to assist its internal audit department in development and implementation of limited scope audits of its investment managers.

FundFire.com, the on-line journal regarding institutional investing, recently quoted Skip Halpern in an article entitled "Ohio State Teachers Halts Manager Bonuses" by Vincent Scognamiglio on incentive compensation.

Samuel (Skip) Halpern was a keynote speaker at the World Bank Conference on Gobal Pension Reform, held in May in Washington, DC. He discussed how public fund trustees can best position their funds between the competing pressures of their government sponsors and private financial services firms.

Skip was also the luncheon speaker at the annual retreat of the Virginia Retirement System, in June. He discussed the Operational Review of the VRS that IFS completed 10 years ago - especially regarding its governance - and current issues regarding VRS governance.

Jeanna Cullins spoke at the Investment Management Institute (IMI) Public Funds Roundtable Conference held in Pinehurst (North Carolina) the last week of April. She addressed the group on the benefits of Operational Reviews (a/k/a "fiduciary performance audits") as well as the role of plan sponsors in corporate governance and proxy voting. "

Jeanna also served as facilitator for two trustee "closed-door" educational primer sessions at the 2003 Annual Conference of the National Association of Securities Professionals held in Atlanta, Georgia, June 17-20, 2003. "

A trustee on the District of Columbia Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund, Jeanna also spoke at the Medicine and Law Symposium, hosted by the National Bar Association, on the state of tobacco settlements funds across the country. The symposium was held in Washington, DC on July 19, 2003.

Lamont (Monte) Tarbox discussed rebalancing and risk control at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plan's Investment Institute in New York at the beginning of May. He reminded trustees and fund professionals of the benefits of a disciplined approach to rebalancing and explained the latest research on rebalancing methods.

Edward Patchett spoke at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plan's Advanced Trustees Institute in Orlando in February and Lake Tahoe in June. He highlighted the importance of understanding the level of investment risk associated with a fund's asset allocation and presented ways for trustees to manage risk in today's market environment.

Steven Harding spoke at the Educational Forum For Fire & Police Pension Funds on May 16, 2003 at The Hyatt Regency, San Antonio, Texas. Steve spoke on Fiduciary Audits: What, When, Why, and How--- His co-panelists were former IFS clients Eric Henry, Executive Director, New Hampshire Retirement System and Steve Olish, Executive Director, St. Louis Police Retirement System. Mr. Henry and Mr. Olish spoke on their expectations and the results of the Operational Reviews IFS conducted for their Funds.

Steve also spoke at the Investment Management Institute Greenwich Public Funds Roundtable on June 18-19, 2003 at the Westin Embassy Row Washington, DC. Steve was a luncheon panelist with Lonie Hassle, Partner from the Groom Law Firm, and Steve Fugate, Board Chair, Baltimore Fire and Police Retirement Systems. The group spoke on "Institutional Investor Response To Corporate Mismanagement And Fraud: 1) How It Has/Will Impact Fiduciary Responsibilities For Public Funds Going Forward and 2) The Value of Operational Reviews: Who, What, When, Where and Why?" The main focus of Steve's presentation was how IFS helps clients develop policies to manage securities litigation matters. "

On July 9, 2003, Jeanna and Steve gave an educational presentation at a hearing of the Ohio Retirement Study Council (ORSC) on "Fiduciary Performance Audits." The Ohio Retirement Study Council was created in 1968 to assist the state legislature, governor and other public officials in the formation of sound public pension policy, and is one of the oldest pension oversight commissions in the country. The ORSC intends to introduce legislation requiring periodic "fiduciary performance audits" of each of five statewide retirement systems in Ohio subject to the ORSC's oversight.

IFS recently hired Andy Irving as a Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. An experienced lawyer, with over 25 years experience dealing with investment and other issues with Taft-Hartley and public funds, Andy will work out of the Newark office. He will deal with all aspects of our business, including, above all, Operational Reviews, but extending also into retainer work and independent fiduciary transactions.