Howard Fineman is one of the country's foremost reporters and commentators. As Newsweek's Chief Political Correspondent, Senior Editor, and Deputy Washington Bureau Chief, he leads the magazine's award-winning political coverage. He also is a news analyst for NBC and its cable networks, MSNBC, and CNBC, appearing regularly on Hardball with Chris Matthews and The News with Brian Williams, and reporting for The Today Show and Dateline. He is a regular on the nationally syndicated Imus in the Morning radio show, and he writes a weekly column for MSNBC.com. A captivating and stand-out political analyst, he joins us to discuss the hottest issues in today's news.

Federal policy makers' interest in the design, funding adequacy, and investment strategy of State and local pension plans continues to be piqued by media reports on growing retirement and OPEB liabilities as well as increased allocation to alternative investments. NASRA's Director of Federal Relations will discuss the federal political, legislative, and regulatory climate and the potential impacts on State and local pension systems and their investments.

Jeannine Markoe Raymond is the Director of Federal Relations for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA). Ms. Raymond advocates the interests of NASRA members before Congress, the Administration, and the many federal agencies, and is a liaison between NASRA and other retirement organizations and interest groups.

Ms. Raymond participates in and organizes many coalitions, speaks at numerous national and regional forums, and assists in the development of publications and other informational products surrounding legislative and regulatory activity in the public benefits area. She serves on the advisory board of the Wharton Business School's Pension Research Council and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans' Government Liaison Committee.

Formerly, Ms. Raymond was the legislative analyst for the Government Finance Officers Association, and acting director of GFOA's Pension & Benefits Center. She monitored federal activity, and represented the position of state and local governments, surrounding workplace law, pensions and benefits, and other tax-related areas, and also contributed to numerous publications in these areas. Prior, she was a graduate student associate with the California Debt Advisory Commission and was a public management consultant with RJA Management Services, Inc.

Ms. Raymond received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California, San Diego and a master's degree, with honors, in public administration and intergovernmental management from the University of Southern California.

This session will summarize the abundant research about the public pension community published recently. As research director for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, Keith Brainard collects, prepares, and distributes to NASRA member news, studies, and reports pertinent to public retirement system administration and policy. Keith is co-author of the Government Plans Answer Book, Second Edition, and he maintains the Public Fund Survey, an online compendium of public pension data sponsored jointly by NASRA and the National Council on Teacher Retirement.

As research director for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, Keith Brainard collects, prepares and distributes to NASRA members news, studies and reports pertinent to public retirement system administration and policy. NASRA members are the directors of 82 statewide public retirement systems in the United States. Combined, these systems hold assets of more than $2 trillion to fund pension and other benefits for most of the nation's more than 20 million working and retired employees of state and local government.

Mr. Brainard has testified on public pension issues before Congress, state legislative committees, and public pension boards of trustees. He is author of a variety of publications on retirement benefits for employees of state and local government, and he maintains the Public Fund Survey, an online compendium of public pension data sponsored jointly by NASRA and the National Council on Teacher Retirement. Keith also created the State & Local Pension Exchange, a predecessor to the Public Fund Survey, which received the Award for Excellence in Government Finance from the Government Finance Officers Association.

Mr. Brainard previously served as manager of budget & planning for the Arizona State Retirement System, and he provided fiscal research and analysis for the Texas and Arizona legislatures. He has a master's degree from the University of Texas-Austin, LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Moderator: Bill Schwartz, Executive Secretary
MO Local Government Employees Retirement System

Infrastructure investing typically involves investments in control-oriented equity and equity-related investments, as well as selected investments in debt securities and in operating assets across the broad infrastructure sectors of energy, transportation and water. Some managers focus on targeting private placements within small and mid-cap energy companies and projects throughout that sector while other managers concentrate on international operating assets involving transportation, port expansion, and foreign energy sources.

Steven C. Novick, Principal/COO, has over 30 years of real estate experience in all aspects of investing from property acquisitions and dispositions to portfolio construction Mr. Novick's experience is both as a direct investor as well as in the capacity of an advisor and consultant. Mr. Novick also heads the firm's infrastructure practice and is the Chairman of its Investment Committee.

Mr. Novick began his real estate career with the United Housing Foundation where he was responsible for various properties located throughout New York City. He then become a Vice President/ Director of Operations at Integrated Resources, where he performed both acquisition and asset management services. At Integrated, Mr. Novick was responsible for overseeing their national portfolio of properties. His responsibilities included establishing operating policies and procedures, developing leasing strategies and implementing regional management operations. Mr. Novick left Integrated to become an Executive Vice President/Partner/Director of Asset Management for Urdang and Associates Real Estate Advisors. During his eleven years with Urdang, he participated in growing firm assets from 7 to 120 with a total value of $1.5 billion.

Mr. Novick received his B.S. from Long Island University and a C.P.M. from the Institute of Real Estate Management. He is also a member of the National Multi-Housing Council and National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers.

Mr. O'Byrne joined New England Pension Consultants in 2007 and has ten years of investment experience. Mr. O'Byrne is involved in NEPC's private equity and real assets research and due diligence activities, in addition to providing consulting services for the non-traditional asset classes of various public, corporate, Taft-Hartley and endowment/foundation clients.

Prior to joining NEPC, Joseph was an Associate Principal in the Private Markets department at Meketa Investment Group. At Meketa, Joseph performed due diligence on over 200 private equity partnerships per year, and worked at an investment pace over $500 million per year for multiple clients totaling $2.5 billion in private equity assets.

Prior to joining Meketa Investment Group, Joseph was a financial advisor working with the PRIME Consulting Group of UBS Financial Services, Inc. Prior to that, he had extensive experience at a public-sector plan sponsor with responsibilities for the overall portfolio and direct responsibilities for the alternative asset and real estate investments. Joseph has balanced portfolio construction across fund types, sizes, vintage years and client profiles; along with presenting to client boards regarding investment recommendations. He has many years experience in vessel and cargo terminal operations. This experience includes operating out of many of the largest cargo terminals and oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico from Lake Charles, Louisiana to Brownsville, Texas, giving him unique insights into aspects of infrastructure investing.

Joseph graduated with a M.S.F. degree from the University of Houston, and has a B.A. in Philosophy from Adelphi University in New York. He is a member of the Boston Security Analyst (BSAS) society, and is currently pursuing the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, having passed Level I in the certification process. He is also an FAA licensed private pilot. He has given presentations at national financial conferences and been a university guest speaker on private equity topics.

Frank J. Aten, CFA is the Director of Debt and Investment Research for the Public School Retirement Systems' of Missouri. He has primary responsibility for the debt and absolute return allocations for the System.

Frank is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the American Economics Association, Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), National Association of Business Economist and the St. Louis Society of Financial Analyst. Frank currently serves as a Trustee on the Columbia Missouri Police Pension Retirement System. He also served on the St. Louis Federal Reserve Regional Beige Book Committee and spent five years as the Chairman of the Ethics Commission for the city of Wildwood Missouri.

Frank earned his bachelor's degree in finance from Texas Tech University and a Masters of Science in finance from Boston University.

Dr. Poole will provide a candid review of what has happened over the past several years to provide insight into the current environment. He will also explain how the Federal Reserve goes about doing its business and why it does what it does.

William Poole is Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and in the fall will join the faculty of the University of Delaware as Distinguished Scholar in Residence.

Poole retired as President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in March 2008. In that position, which he held from March 1998, he served on the Federal Reserve's main monetary policy body, the Federal Open Market Committee. He directed the Bank's main office in St. Louis and its three branches in Memphis, Little Rock and Louisville.

Before joining the St. Louis Fed, Poole was Herbert H. Goldberger Professor of Economics at Brown University. He served on the Brown faculty from 1974 to 1998 and the faculty of The Johns Hopkins University from 1963 to 1969. Between these two university positions, he was senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington. He was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Reagan administration, from 1982 to 1985.

Poole received his AB degree from Swarthmore College in 1959, and MBA and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago in 1963 and 1966, respectively. Swarthmore honored him with the Doctor of Laws degree in 1989. He was inducted into The Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 2005 and presented with the Adam Smith Award by the National Association for Business Economics in 2006. In 2007, the Global Interdependence Center presented him its Frederick Heldring Award.

Poole has engaged in a wide range of professional activities, including publishing numerous papers in professional journals. He has published two books, Money and the Economy: A Monetarist View, in 1978, and Principles of Economics, in 1991. During his 10 years at the St. Louis Fed, he gave over 150 speeches on a variety of topics. In 1980-81, he was a visiting economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia and in 1991, Bank Mees and Hope Visiting Professor of Economics at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. At various times, he served on advisory boards of the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and New York, and the Congressional Budget Office.

Poole was born and raised in Wilmington, DE. He is married to Geraldine Poole; they have four sons.

Dan Clark is a Certified Trainer, member of the "Speakers Hall of Fame" and Founder/CEO of Clark Success Systems, a multi-million dollar international professional speaking, publishing, sports performance, and management consulting firm. He is primary contributing author to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series

Beth Almeida is the Executive Director of the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS). NIRS is a non-profit research institute based in Washington that was established to promote informed policy making in the retirement arena, by fostering a deep understanding of the value of pension plans to employers, employees, and the economy as a whole. NIRS conducts research, education, and outreach programs that are national in scope.

NIRS was established last year by three well-known groups that have deep roots in the public pension arena - the National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA), the National Council on Teacher Retirement (NCTR), and the Council of Institutional Investors.

Before joining NIRS, Beth served as assistant director for strategic resources and as senior economist with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) where she was instrumental in transitioning some 40,000 airline employees out of terminating or freezing pensions into the IAM's multi-employer defined benefit pension plan. Beth also led research initiatives with the Center for European Integration Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany; the European Institute for Business Administration in Fontainebleau, France; and the Center for Industrial Competitiveness at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She has authored numerous economic and pension publications and is a frequent speaker at domestic and international conferences. Beth earned a bachelor's degree in international business from Lehigh University and a master's degree in economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

A presentation of the findings of four IFEBP studies that benchmark current efforts to control health care costs and proven strategies, best practices and innovative ways to combat cost increases. How can directors of statewide systems leverage their leadership roles to control health care costs and prevent fiscal crises? Is shifting more costs onto employees or setting up wellness programs proving to be sufficient? Session also takes an in-depth look at how bringing in a pharmacy benefits manager and implementing value-based purchasing concepts resulted in millions of dollars of savings for the state of Wisconsin.

Sally Natchek serves as the Senior Director of Research for the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. This nonprofit organization, based in Brookfield, Wisconsin, serves over 35,000 professional members and certificants. IFEBP is dedicated to being a leading objective and independent and global source of employee benefits, compensation, and financial literacy education and information.

Ms. Natchek has over 18 years of experience in employee benefits, compensation and research, having conducted and published studies, surveys and special reports. Working with boards of directors and advisory committees, she developed multiple educational courses and programs to serve the needs of benefits and compensation professionals and trustees who serve benefit plans and initiated a comprehensive system for administering examinations in order to test trustee comprehension of course content. Ms. Natchek worked as part of a team to develop the vision and select the presenters for the Department of Labor's 2002 and 2006 National Summit on Retirement Savings, designed to expand public awareness of the value of personal savings. In addition, she initiated the research department for the Council on Foundations, New York, New York, surveying operating procedures of foundations for a private commission designed to study philanthropy and preparing testimony on philanthropic issues presented before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate.

Ms. Natchek also has an extensive background in career services, having served as the Director of MBA Career and Employer Development for the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. She authored Careers in Employee Benefits, published by the International Foundation and was instrumental in developing IF INTERNS, a unique program of educational and professional development designed to guide talented young people toward careers in employee benefits and compensation.

Ms. Natchek earned her M.A. in nonprofit administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds the CEBS (Certified Employee Benefit Specialist) designation from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and the International Foundation.

As Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds Mr. Stella is responsible for overseeing the provision of employee benefit plans covering over 540,000 participants and over $88 billion in assets. He has more than 22 years experience in managing and administering retirement, deferred compensation (457), tax sheltered annuity [403(b)] and group health and life insurance plans offered to state and local government employees. He has over 35 years experience in a variety of public sector positions in Wisconsin and Colorado. Mr. Stella holds a Bachelors and Masters Degree from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and has earned the designation of Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Mr. Stella also has been awarded the designation of Certified Retirement Administrator through the International Foundation for Retirement Education.

Gregory R. Valliere is a Senior Vice President and co-founder of Stanford Group Company's Policy Research, which has provided political, economic and industry research for institutional investors for more than 30 years.

Mr. Valliere coordinates political and economic research, focusing on how Congress and the White House shape fiscal policies. He is also responsible for coverage of the Federal Reserve Board's interest rate policies.

Mr. Valliere has been covering economic and political developments in Washington for institutional investors for the past 30 years, first at The Washington Forum, the predecessor of Stanford Washington Policy Research. A co-founder of the group, Mr. Valliere joined The Washington Forum in 1974 and became chief political analyst, and editor of The Washington Forum's publications. In 1980, Mr. Valliere was named Research Director. Currently he is Stanford Washington Policy Research's chief strategist.

He began his career in 1972 at "F-D-C" Reports, a trade publication that monitors the pharmaceutical industry, where he became Chief Congressional Correspondent and later News Editor. While in college, he was an intern at The Washington Post.

Mr. Valliere earned a degree in Journalism in 1973 from The George Washington University, where for several years he taught a course in newsletter writing.

Mr. Valliere is an exclusive commentator for CNBC. He appears regularly on all of the network's programs, including "Squawk Box," "Power Lunch," "The Closing Bell," and "Kudlow & Company." He also is quoted extensively in most of the nation's financial publications.

Moderator: James Burton, Chief Executive Officer
World Gold Council

Mr. Black, associate, leads consulting relationships for a select number of EnnisKnupp retainer and project clients. Keith is also a senior member of the firm's opportunistic strategies investment management research group.

Prior to joining EnnisKnupp in 2007, Keith taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor and Senior Lecturer for the past eight years on several subjects, including investments, equity valuation, portfolio management, mutual funds, economics, hedge funds, global investment strategy, finance, and enterprise formation (venture capital). He has also authored a book entitled, "Managing a Hedge Fund: A Complete Guide to Trading, Business Strategies, Risk Management and Regulations," that was published by McGraw Hill in 2004, and has written several published research articles on issues facing hedge funds.

Keith holds a B.A. degree from Whittier College in mathematics/computer science and economics, and an M.B.A. degree from Carnegie Mellon. He is a CFA charterholder and holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation as well.

Moderator: Pat Robertson, Executive Director
Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi

Understanding the role and the edicts of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board is central to a full understanding of public pension administration and policy. Featuring two professionals involved with GASB since its inception, this session will explore GASB's roots, current issues and challenges, and the new project to re-examine Statements 25 and 27.

Mr. Findlay was appointed to the position of Executive Director of the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System (MOSERS) effective August 1, 1994.

Prior to his association with MOSERS, he spent 16 years as an administration and benefit consultant with Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company, a national actuarial and benefits consulting firm that specializes in serving the needs of public employee benefit plans. From 1986 to the time he became Executive Director of MOSERS he also served as CEO of Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company. He had, prior to his association with Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company, served for 5 years as Executive Secretary of the Missouri Local Government Employees' Retirement System.

His present and past activities in the public pension arena include:

• President of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA)
• Chair of the Board of Directors of the Council of Institutional Investors
• Chair of the Public Employees Committee of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
• Member of the Standing Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)
• Member of the Pension Accounting Task Force of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)
• Member of the Committee on Retirement and Benefits Administration of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA)
• Member of the GFOA Executive Board
• Editor - GFOA Guides for Trustees and Administrators
• Co-Author - GFOA Guidelines for the Preparation of a Public Employee Retirement System Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
• Author - numerous articles in trade periodicals regarding public employee retirement and investment issues

He has also served on a number of gubernatorial commissions in Missouri, including the Juvenile Court Personnel Advisory Commission, the Public Safety Retirement Advisory Commission, the State Retirement Advisory Commission, and the Missouri Commission on Total Compensation.

He received a bachelor's degree in business administration with a major in accounting from the University of Missouri at Columbia. Immediately following graduation he entered the U.S. Army as an Infantry Lieutenant - his tour included one year of combat duty in Vietnam.

David R. Bean is the director of research and technical activities for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. He assigns and provides oversight to the GASB's research, technical, and administrative activities. In addition, David advises the GASB chairman on operating and project plans and task force establishment and appointments. David also is a member of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board. Prior to joining the GASB, David worked in public accounting and government. He was the lead author on the 1988 Governmental Accounting, Auditing and Financial Reporting and was the founder of the GAAFR Review. He was the last director of the National Council on Governmental Accounting before the formation of the GASB in 1984. David is a member of the Government Finance Officers Association, the Connecticut and Illinois Government Finance Officers Associations, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Illinois CPA Society, the Association of Government Accountants, the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, and the Municipal Analysts Group of New York.

Moderator: Keith Brainard, Research Director, NASRA

Efforts to change public pension accounting and reporting requirements could transform public pensions. David Kausch will bring his experience as a corporate and public pension actuary and as an instructor in actuarial science, to define and describe the MVL movement and its possible effects.

David joined the actuarial firm Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company in 2006, after working for another national actuarial and consulting firm for 9 years and teaching actuarial science at the university level for 3 years. He currently provides actuarial services to public sector retirement systems and OPEB plan sponsors from small municipalities to state wide funds.

David earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Kalamazoo College and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan. Among David's publications is the recent article in the actuarial magazine Contingencies, "The case for stock in pension plans." David is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), an Enrolled Actuary (EA), a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA), and a Member of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (MSPA).

This presentation will identify best practices and good ideas based on CEM's review of 43 public pension member access sites. The presentation will address tools and site design, security, strategies to increase usage, measurement, site development costs, cost effectiveness and measurement.

Tom Scheibelhut, CFA, is the Managing Partner of CEM Benchmarking Inc ("CEM"). CEM benchmarks the investment and administration performance of large pension systems in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. CEM's services include:

• Pension administration benchmarking - Compares service levels, transaction volumes, best practices and costs for over 70 pension plans representing 23 million members.
• Defined benefit investment benchmarking - Compares investment performance and costs for 280 pension funds representing $2 trillion in assets.
• Defined contribution investment benchmarking - Compares investment performance and costs for 120 U.S. plans representing $600 billion in assets.

At CEM, Tom leads the teams responsible for best practice research and product development. Tom has published articles in the Financial Analyst Journal, the Canadian Investment Review and Pension and Investments Europe. He has presented benchmarking results at NCTR, CIEBA, CEM client conferences, and to the boards of CEM's clients. Prior to heading up CEM, he was a Vice President at a Merchant Bank specializing in private placements and leveraged buy outs.

Reeve's presentation explores a little known episode in Utah and American history. James M. Ashley, a congressman from Toledo, Ohio, is best known as "The Great Impeacher" for leading the charge to impeach President Andrew Johnson following the Civil War. What few historians remember is that as chair of the U. S. House Committee on Territories, Ashley attempted to purge Utah from the map in 1869 in an effort to solve the so called "Mormon Problem." Charges of graft, corruption, and sexual impropriety surrounded Ashley and his failed plan and cost him significant political clout. Reeve's presentation situates this forgotten episode within the broader framework of post Civil War reconstruction and finds a nation struggling to redefine itself, North, South, and West. Even though Ashley failed to eliminate Utah, Congress refused to admit it into the Union for almost thirty more years. Utah statehood came in 1896, only after the Mormons renounced polygamy and Congress deemed it sufficiently Americanized for admission.

W. Paul Reeve holds a BA and MA in history from Brigham Young University and a PhD from the University of Utah. He is on the board of editors of the Utah Historical Quarterly and on the governing board of the Mormon History Association.