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Only stable investment returns can restore lost benefits and still maintain STRS into the future.
There are very few people with Bob's combination of skills that are also qualified to serve on the STRS board. Bob is the ONLY candidate with investment training or experience and the only one with experience in trading currencies, futures, and other instruments once considered exotic. Bob will probably be the only board member who has experience providing training in these types of investments. Judging from questions and comments at board meetings, there may be only one current board member who knows a significant amount of investment vocabulary.
Russell Investments made a presentation at the January board meeting suggesting changes that are similar to Bob's proposals. Russell has been making similar recommendations for some time but the board has maintained familiar but outdated investment policies. Perhaps this presentation, in combination with recent losses, and perhaps some lobbying by Bob, has made the board and staff more receptive to the need for a broader view. There also appears to have been some realization that the familiar asset allocations of the past probably caused STRS to miss some significant investment opportunities. The conversation at the March investment committee meeting suggests that this realization may be shorter lived than hoped. Some present suggested that we choose a new investment advisory firm that would not introduce new ideas. The board should reject this view. An advisor that tells you what you already know and reinforces your superstitions is worse than worthless.
However, the investment advisor can only advise. STRS membership doesn’t make policy. The investment staff does not make the asset allocation decisions and is not responsible for educating the board.
Only board members can vote. Only board members can make motions or direct conversation at board meetings. We need board members with investment training or experience.
While there are several things Bob would change, he would support the basics of Russell’s plan for this year in order to set the stage to get STRS investments moving in a positive direction. More changes would be needed as the year progresses and in future years.
NONE of these statements should be interpreted to suggest that Bob is a financial whiz or that any board members lack a sincere motivation to work for the benefit of STRS. However, most of the board members are elected directly from the ranks of education specialists. Most of them have dedicated their lives to very specialized areas of education practice that are essential to a public education system. Bob focused his training on education needed by a broader population and in an area (trading and investing) not common in public schools. Bob's background is not better – just well suited to this particular task. | 
