2007 2nd Quarter

Trevor Neale joined IFS at the start of second quarter as an Analyst in our Washington, D.C. office. Trevor was previously a Trade Specialist with Cargill Investor Services.

Alan Stiles joined IFS at the start of the second quarter as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Alan was previously the Chief of Staff for Freedom Information Systems and prior to that the Director of Administration for McKinsey & Company's Washington D.C. office. He also previously held a variety of executive management positions across the country with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Samuel (Skip) Halpern also spoke at the Capital Matters conference at Harvard University. In remarks entitled, “From Theory to Practice: Governing Your Investment Program”, he discussed specific subjects and functions that a prudent board of trustees – whether at a public fund or ERISA covered fund – should regularly evaluate and monitor.

Samuel (Skip) Halpern, IFS President, was a featured panelist at the West LegalWorks Seventh Annual ERISA Fiduciary Program in New York City on June 15, 2007. Mr. Halpern presented the perspective of a practicing investment consultant on fiduciary best practices for addressing fees associated with 401k plans. A subject of scrutiny in the wake of numerous lawsuits against major corporate plan sponsors (re: the negotiation and disclosure of fee arrangements with financial industry service providers).

The June 2007 edition of the www.foundationendowment.com website reported that IFS was hired to conduct an operational and investment review. The news item states “IFS in Washington, D.C. gave the most detailed and informed response to the RFP, Martin said, and provides best value. IFS’ contract is being finalized and should last until Oct 31.”

The April 2, 2007 edition of Pensions & Investments mentions that IFS was chosen as the new consultant for The Service Employees International Union Fund.

During the annual National Association of Public Pension Attorneys (NAPPA) Conference, Phyllis Taylor was appointed to the nine member Executive Board. NAPPA is a professional and educational organization. Created in 1987, its membership consists exclusively of attorneys who represent public pension funds. NAPPA’s purpose is to provide attorneys for public pension plans educational opportunities and informational resources. It is a medium to exchange information, advance knowledge and education, and foster sound principles, procedures and practices in the field of public pension plans.

On June 11, 2007, Jeanna Cullins was one of two recipients of the Distinguished Partner Award given by the Baltimore/Washington Chapter of the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP). The award acknowledged Jeanna as a leader in the industry as well as someone who has made meaningful contributions to the larger community. The other award recipient was the Maryland Comptroller.

IFS recently completed two engagements assisting Taft-Hartley pension plans in developing securities class action litigation policies and implementation protocols. These set forth specific roles for the plans’ trustees, staff, custodian, regular fund counsel and securities litigation outside counsel to protect the plans’ rights and potential claims arising out of portfolio losses attributable to possible securities law violations.

IFS evaluated a multi billion 401(k) Plan, of a pre-eminent global management consulting firm. The program includes numerous alternative assets, including strategies employing leverage, derivatives and private market assets. IFS prepared an extensive series of questions to provide the Board a) a framework for fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities to prudently oversee and possibly modify this sophisticated investment program; b) appropriate benchmarks for return and risk; c) and lines of analysis for evaluating the fund manager’s success.