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SVIA Announces New Chairman and Elects Seven Board Members

The Stable Value Investment Association (SVIA) has elected a new chairman along with seven new and returning members to its Board of Directors. The board members were elected to three-year terms on the 21-member Board, which serves as SVIA’s governing and policymaking body.

Eric Kirsch, CFA, Managing Director and head of the North America Fixed Income Investment Group at Deutsche Asset Management has assumed the role of Chairman of the SVIA Board. In his role with Deutsche Asset Management, Kirsch is responsible for overseeing the management of active fixed income funds, stable value and bond index funds with over $40 billion in assets. Eric joined Deutsche Asset Management in 1980 and has over 15 years of investment experience relating to fixed income portfolios as well as experience in employee benefit trust administration. In addition to his role on the SVIA Board, he is also a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research. Eric replaces Bill Gardner, who assumes an ex-officio role with the Board as immediate past Chairman.

The newly and re-elected officers are:

• Donald J. Butt, Vice President, Qwest Asset Management Company, Englewood, CO
  
  

  Don has worked for Qwest (formerly US West) for over 30 years. In his present position, Don is responsible for the investment management of the $5 billion Qwest Savings & Investment Plan (401(k)) and Qwest’s award-winning Retirement Education Programs. He formerly served as Chairman of SVIA.

• Robert Fox, Executive Director, Cultural Institutions Retirement System, New York, NY
  
  

  Bob is responsible for three employee benefit plans with combined assets of $1 billion covering 15,000 active, vested and retired members from 350 participating employers. He has previously served as Chairman of the Pension Plan Committee of the National Assembly of National Voluntary Health and Social Welfare Organizations.

• Robert A. Madore, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, T. Rowe Price Stable Asset Management (TRPSAM), Baltimore, MD
  
  

  Bob manages a number of TRPSAM’s largest separately managed stable value portfolios as well as the $3.4 billon T. Rowe Price Stable Value Fund. Bob brings more than 20 years of stable value investment experience to the SVIA Board.

• Marc Magnoli, Vice President, Insurance and Pension Derivatives Group, J.P. Morgan, New York, NY
  
  

  Marc heads the stable value and structured derivative team covering pension and savings plans as well as other institutional investors in need of stable value solutions. Marc has over 12 years of experience in the stable value industry as a portfolio manager, an issuer of stable value products, and a pension investment manager of a Fortune 500 company.

• Kim McCarrel, CFA, Senior Account Manager, PRIMCO Capital Management, Portland, OR
  
  

  Prior to her position with PRIMCO, Kim was head of Wyatt Asset Services’ stable value consulting practice, and before that she was a portfolio manager and analyst with Qualivest Capital Management. She is a returning member of the board, serving a previous three-year term.

• James F. McDevitt, FSA, Senior Vice President and Stable Value Product Manager, State Street Bank, Boston, MA
  
  

  Jim is responsible for the development and issuance of synthetic guaranteed products at State Street Bank, which currently total $12 billion in assets. Prior to joining State Street in 1992, McDevitt had over 20 years experience in the insurance industry and employee benefit consulting. Jim is also returning for a second three-year term on the SVIA Board, where he serves on the Executive Committee.

• James McKay, CFA, Portfolio Manager, American Express Trust Company, Minneapolis, MN
  
  

  Jim has served in his position as Portfolio Manager since 1992. He will begin his second term on the Board and currently leads the SVIA Government Relations Committee.

Many thanks go to SVIA’s retiring Board members: James Curry, Union Carbide Corporation; Bill Gardner, Dwight Asset Management Company (becoming ex-officio); Susan Graef, The Vanguard Group; C. Robert Krebs, NISA Investment Advisors, LLC (ex-officio); and, Karen Watson, CFA, Baxter International, Inc.

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