Alaska Permanent Fund committee tries to figure out how to stay out of media limelight

At the Governance Committee for the Alaska Permanent Fund Board of Trustees on Monday afternoon, there was much talk about transparency and “building back the trust” with the public.

The committee members and their consultant team discussed the delicate balance the board of trustees has in talking to people who promote investment opportunities to the $80 billion sovereign wealth fund of Alaska, and how the trustees communicates those opportunities to the professional staff.

There was also discussion about the need for better crisis communications to deal with matters that could arise.

All of the discussion was aimed at resolving issues that put the Permanent Fund Corporation in an unflattering limelight over the past few weeks, after someone inside the professional staff leaked out emails to the Alaska Landmine website that showed how uncomfortable the chief investment officer was with trustee Ellie Rubenstein’s perceived heavy-handedness in pushing investments possibly related to her own financial interests.

Rubenstein is vice chair of the board of trustees and chairs the governance committee. She also has a father — David Rubenstein — who is famous for the world-famous private equity fund he started, Carlyle Group, which has in the past managed a small portion of the Alaska Permanent Fund’s investments and would probably appreciate more opportunity. She’s also on speed dial with the governor of Alaska. The leaked emails revealed she may have an interest in getting rid of the board Chairman Ethan Schutt.

Britt Harris IV, who was named acting CEO of the $56.7 billion Austin-based Texas Permanent School Fund Corp., is on the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.’s investment advisory group. He advised the board more than once that there needs to be a clear line of responsibility between the trustees and the the professional staff. He and other advisers reminded the board that although they may be approached by many people at conferences eager for the business of the Alaska Permanent Fund, their role ends after they make a referral to the professional staff. The fund is doing well, they said, and there’s not a lot of room to wedge in another investment adviser.

Britt acknowledged that when at conferences, trustees are expected to treat people they meet with courtesy and professionalism, but passing along the information to the staff should be where it ends.

The committee discussed setting up a common email address where they can send the information, so that other board members and staff could see it, adding to a sense of transparency.

The Funston Advisory Group, which advises Permanent and Sovereign Wealth Funds, had a list of recommendations that were in addition to some of the ideas the trustees and staff came up with:

• – Establish Board term limits

• – Establish an Enterprise Performance Risk Management Program

• – Formalize internal CIO Investment Committee structure, duties and reporting practices

• – Develop clear and expanded compliance monitoring and reporting responsibilities

• – Forrnalize due diligence processes and related compliance reporting

• – Spell out Board Standards Policy discipline options and procedure

• – Consolidate all governance bylaws, charters and policies into Manual

• – Provide secure laptops or tablets to trustees for APFC business Develop investment beliefs to further guide planning and policies

• – Revise the Audit Committee Charter to provide for: o Committee monitoring of compliance with audit report recommendations

• – Audits of investment and operations reports for accuracy and reliability

There were no votes taken during the meeting, which was attended by all members of the board of trustees, with the exception of Chairman Schutt. About 65 other people were dialed into the meeting, but no one from the public offered any comments during the public comment segment of the agenda.