2007 1st Quarter

Derek Simpkins joined IFS at the end of the first quarter as an Analyst in our Washington, D.C. office. Derek was previously a Senior Investment Associate with Cambridge Associates in Arlington, VA where he managed a team of four associates responsible for investment performance reporting.

Samuel (Skip) Halpern, President, spoke at the recent M Cube Conference in Dallas, Texas, regarding "Current Issues in Governance." The topics ranged from evaluating investment policies and procedures for public and private defined benefit plans to acting as a fiduciary decision maker regarding employer stock in 401K plans to pre-funding retiree medical liabilities.

Edward Patchett, SVP and Managing Director, presented an educational session entitled "An Explanation of Hedge Funds" at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans' 2007 Investments Institute.

Jeanna Cullins, SVP and Managing Director spoke at the National Employees’ Retirement Fund Summit. During the conference, the industry’s top consultants discussed their ideas on how to re-engineer a pension fund’s investment program through steps such as portable alpha, eliminating home-country bias, controlling vendor fees, and greater due diligence.

IFS’s recommendations regarding the operations of the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System and the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund were mentioned in a press conference with Rep. Michelle Schneider (R-Cincinnati).

Samuel (Skip) Halpern, President, was also featured in the January Executive Blog for M Cube. In his blog, Mr. Halpern explored the importance of internal governance.

The April 27 edition of Pensions & Investments mentions that IFS was picked as a consultant for The Services Employees International Union.

Samuel (Skip) Halpern, President, authored an article in the March/April edition of the Journal of Compensation and Benefits, entitled “Funding Retiree Healthcare Liabilities.” For a copy, please go to the following link.

IFS continues to serve as the Independent Consultant to the NYSUT Member Benefits Trust pursuant to the Assurance of Discontinuance the Trust entered into with the New York State Attorney General, concerning the Trust’s endorsement of 403(b) annuity products sponsored by ING Insurance. The Trust sponsors or endorses a broad variety of benefits for the approximately 500,000 members of New York State United Teachers, the union representing New York State public school teachers outside the City of New York.

IFS was engaged by Wilmington Trust Company on behalf of certain of its ERISA and other clients to vote their shares in mutual funds sponsored by Wilmington Trust and managed by Roxbury Capital. The vote concerned whether the mutual funds’ assets should be transferred to new funds which Roxbury set up outside the Wilmington Trust fund family. After analyzing how the new fund structure would affect shareholders such as those clients, IFS determined it was in their interest to vote in favor of the transfer.