Investment Committee Meeting Minutes

Meeting: September 11, 2025 | Posted: October 27, 2025 | SURS Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

The meeting of the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees of the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) convened on Thursday, September 11, 2025, at 9:00 a.m.

This meeting was held in person at State Universities Retirement System, in Champaign, IL.

The following trustees were present: Dr. Andry Bodnaruk; Mr. Richard Figueroa (Zoom); Dr. Fred Giertz; Mr. Scott Hendrie, chair; Ms. Jeanine Jiganti; Mr. Pranav Kothari; Mr. John Lyons; Mr. Herbert Pitman (Zoom); Dr. Steven Rock; Mr. Collin Van Meter; and Mr. Antonio Vasquez.

Others present: Ms. Suzanne Mayer, Executive Director; Mr. Michael Schlachter, Chief Investment Officer (CIO); Ms. Jessica Pickens, Mr. Alex Ramos, Mr. Joe Duncan and Mr. Shane Willoughby, Sr. Investment Officers; Ms. Stephany Brinkman, Associate Investment Officer; Mr. Al Lund, Mr. Darian Saracevic, Ms. Madison Manns, Ms. Estefany Andrade, and Mr. Graham Turk, Investment Analysts; Ms. Tracy Bennett, Sr. Investment Compliance Analyst; Ms. Bianca Green, General Counsel; Ms. Tara Myers, Chief Financial Officer; Ms. Jackie Hohn, Chief Internal Auditor; Ms. Nichole Hemming, Chief Human Resources Officer; Mr. Jefferey Saiger, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer; Mr. Albert Lee, Associate Legal Counsel; Ms. Kristen Houch, Director of Legislative and Stakeholder Relations; Ms. Kelly Carson, Ms. Chelsea McCarty and Ms. Annette Ackerman, Executive Assistants; Mr. David Sancewich and Mr. Colin Bebee, of Meketa; and Mr. Michael Calabrese of Foley & Lardner LLP.

Investment Committee roll call attendance was taken. Trustee Bodnaruk, present; Trustee Figueroa, not called; Trustee Giertz, present; Trustee Hendrie (chair), present; Trustee Jiganti, present; Trustee Kothari, present; Trustee Lyons, absent; Trustee Pitman, not called; Trustee Rock, present; Trustee Van Meter, present; and Trustee Vasquez, present.

Motion to Allow Trustees to Participate Via Electronic Means

Trustee Rock made the following motion:

• That Trustees Figueroa and Pitman be allowed to participate via video or audio conference call for the Investment Committee Meeting on September 11, 2025, pursuant to Section 7(a) of the Open Meetings Act.

Trustee Giertz seconded the motion which passed via the following roll call vote:

Trustee Bodnaruk – aye
Trustee Figueroa – not called
Trustee Giertz – aye
Trustee Hendrie – aye
Trustee Jiganti – aye
Trustee Kothari – aye
Trustee Lyons – aye
Trustee Pitman – not called
Trustee Rock – aye
Trustee Van Meter – aye
Trustee Vasquez – aye

Roll call attendance for trustees participating via electronic means was taken: Trustee Figueroa, present; Trustee Pitman, present.

Approval of Minutes

Trustee Hendrie presented the minutes from the Investment Committee meeting of June 5, 2025.

Trustee Rock made the following motion:

• That the minutes from the June 5, 2025, Investment Committee meeting be approved as presented.

Trustee Vasquez seconded the motion which passed with all trustees present voting in favor of the motion.

Approval of Closed Minutes

Trustee Hendrie presented the closed minutes from the Investment Committee meeting of June 5, 2025.

Trustee Rock made the following motion:

• That the closed minutes from the June 5, 2025, Investment Committee meeting be approved as presented and remain closed.

Trustee Vasquez seconded the motion which passed via all trustees present voting in favor of the motion.

Chairperson’s Report

Trustee Hendrie did not have a formal chairperson’s report but he did request a moment of silence to recognize and honor the lives lost on September 11.

CIO Report

Mr. Michael Schlachter turned his report time over to Mr. Joe Duncan who informed the Board that SURS was recognized by NASDAQ eVestment as one of the top performers in their Private Debt U.S. Public Funds universe of funds between $10 billion and $50 billion in size for the three-year period ending December 31, 2024. Ms. Jessica Pickens stated that SURS Alternative Risk Premia fund was named the third best performer in the private debt U.S. public funds market. Mr. Michael Schlachter then introduced new staff members that recently joined SURS. Three written reports were provided to trustees titled “CIO Report from the June 2025 Investment Committee Meeting”, “CIO Report Regarding Actions taken Under Delegated Authority” and “Investment Contracts Approved by Executive Director,” each of which contains information relating to delegated authority and the approval of investment contracts.

Closed Session

At 9:11 a.m. Trustee Rock moved that the Investment Committee go into closed session pursuant to §2(c)(7) of the Illinois Open Meetings Act to consider the sale or purchase of securities, investments, or investment contracts. Trustee Van Meter seconded the motion which passed via the following roll call vote:

Trustee Bodnaruk – aye
Trustee Figueroa – aye
Trustee Giertz – aye
Trustee Hendrie – aye
Trustee Jiganti – aye
Trustee Kothari – aye
Trustee Lyons – aye
Trustee Pitman – aye
Trustee Rock – aye
Trustee Van Meter – aye
Trustee Vasquez – aye

Return to Open Session

The Investment Committee returned to open session at 9:24 a.m.

Review of Investment Beliefs

Mr. Colin Bebee reviewed the document titled “SURS Investment Beliefs Review” that contains information relating to SURS’ current investment beliefs and discussed the importance of these beliefs regarding the overall portfolio management and utilization. The Investment Committee asked legal counsel to make certain proposed changes to the beliefs which will be reviewed during the next IC meeting.

Fiscal Year 2026 Investment Plan

Mr. Schlachter presented the written “Investment Plan FY26” that contains information relating to SURS Fiscal Year 2026 Investment Plan, recaps the prior fiscal year’s performance and accomplishments, and establishes the work plan for the current fiscal year.

Presentation on Delegated Authority

Mr. Schlachter provided a written presentation titled “SURS Governance Discussion” that contains information regarding current delegations the board has approved for staff to make independent investment decisions as well as proposed changes to those delegations. He provided details for the proposed process that included the threshold investment amounts SURS staff are allowed to invest without approval from the committee and additional details for the selection process to be used for new investments.

Proposed Changes to SURS Investment Policy and SURS Investment Procurement Policy

Mr. Schlachter provided a written presentation titled “Policy Changes” that contains information regarding the annual review of the SURS Investment Policies and discussed the proposed changes to the Defined Benefit Investment Policy and the Investment Procurement Policy. The Redline and Clean Copy versions for each policy were also presented and discussed.

Trustee Rock made the following motion:

• That based upon the recommendation from SURS Staff and Meketa, the revised Investment Policy for the defined benefit plan be approved as presented with the current modifications approved by the committee.

Trustee Vasquez seconded the motion which passed via the following roll call vote:

Trustee Bodnaruk – aye
Trustee Figueroa – aye
Trustee Giertz – aye
Trustee Hendrie – aye
Trustee Jiganti – aye
Trustee Kothari – aye
Trustee Lyons – aye
Trustee Pitman – absent
Trustee Rock – aye
Trustee Van Meter – aye
Trustee Vasquez – aye

Trustee Rock made the following motion:

• That based upon the recommendations from SURS staff and Meketa, the revised Investment Procurement Policy be approved as presented with the current modifications approved by the committee.

Trustee Kothari seconded the motion which passed via the following roll call vote:

Trustee Bodnaruk – aye
Trustee Figueroa – aye
Trustee Giertz – aye
Trustee Hendrie – aye
Trustee Jiganti – aye
Trustee Kothari – aye
Trustee Lyons – aye
Trustee Pitman – absent
Trustee Rock – aye
Trustee Van Meter – aye
Trustee Vasquez – aye

Co-Investments – Educational Session

Mr. Joe Duncan introduced Mr. Mike Krems and Mr. Kyson Hawkins from Aksia who presented their presentation titled “Co-investment Education and Performance Update” that contains information relating to Co-Investments. During their presentation they discussed the benefits of Co-Investments, explained how they are structured within a portfolio, and reviewed the overall fund performance.

The educational session lasted 50 minutes and concluded at 1:20 p.m.

Quarterly Performance Review

Mr. Bebee and Mr. David Sancewich provided their report titled “25Q2 SURS Board Report” which contains information regarding final total fund performance through June 30, 2025.

Corporate Governance Update

Ms. Stephany Brinkman presented a report titled “Corporate Gov Update” that contains information regarding governance activity as of June 30, 2025, that included a quarterly report, a Council of Institutional Investors (CII) update, and current proxy voting information.

Northern Trust Class Action Discussion

Ms. Bianca Green and Ms. Anna Dempsy provided information to the Trustees regarding the current process for class action matters and new changes made by the master custodian, Northern Trust.

Informational Items Not Requiring Committee Action

1. SURS FY 2025 Private Equity and Private Credit Commitments as of 6.30.2025

Public Comment

There were no public comments presented to the Investment Committee.

Adjournment

There was no further business brought before the committee and Trustee Rock moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Trustee Kothari, and it passed via the following roll call vote:

Trustee Bodnaruk – aye
Trustee Figueroa – aye
Trustee Giertz – aye
Trustee Hendrie – aye
Trustee Jiganti – aye
Trustee Kothari – aye
Trustee Lyons – aye
Trustee Pitman – aye
Trustee Rock – aye
Trustee Van Meter – aye
Trustee Vasquez – aye

Respectfully submitted,

Suzanne Mayer

Executive Director and Secretary, Board of Trustees