The Board of Trustees of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC) held a meeting on October 30, 2023 to discuss the strategic planning for the Corporation and the Alaska Permanent Fund. APFC expresses gratitude to Alaskans and stakeholders who provided valuable insights through public testimony during the meeting. We appreciate their interest in the public process and meaningful contributions.
The focus of the meeting was to explore a series of strategic initiatives aimed at growing the Fund and enhancing corporate functionality. During the meeting, the Trustees sought recommendations from staff and advisors and discussed the prioritization of each potential strategic initiative.
Deven Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer, remarks that he “appreciated the conversation about the target rate of return. The ability of the Board to acknowledge and rely on the professionals and consultants – that was impactful.”
The Board maintains the long-standing target return objective of CPI +5% for the portfolio.
Chair Schutt states, “Today’s meeting piqued public interest and may have appeared to be a brainstorming session – but was ultimately a public meeting in action as the Trustees, staff, and advisors debated important topics for the future of the Corporation and the Fund.” He further notes that “none of this is final yet as staff has a bit more work to do to inform the process.”
With further vetting of concepts, the Trustees will take final action on the strategic plan initiatives during the December Board, including-
- Growing the Fund to ensure long-term sustainability and real growth
- A constrained approach to tactical Fund leverage with defined parameters
- Advancing work on key person risk mitigation measures
- Consideration of an Incentive Compensation funding structure for long-term retention of talent
- A long-term vision for expanding APFC’s presence in the heart of financial markets
- Further consideration of the need for Personnel Record Exemptions
APFC’s Board of Trustees approved the following strategic initiatives –
- Enhanced communications to bring together the interests of APFC’s diverse stakeholder groups through a team-based approach that offers statewide, national, and global support.
- Outperformance in the execution of innovative private equity investment strategies through staff expertise and building up the direct investment team.
Allen Waldrop, Director of Private Equity, remarks, “We appreciate the Board’s input into the strategic plan and are looking forward to enhancing our capabilities and deployment approach within the private equity program.”
In discussing measures to support corporate functionality –
- The Board and staff recognized the importance of effective corporate functionality and the need for public transparency. To better serve the mission, the Board discussed measures and ways to support APFC’s effectiveness through improved processes. At this time, APFC will not be pursuing exemptions to the Open Meetings Act and the procurement statutes within the strategic plan.
The next meeting of the Board of Trustees will be on December 13-14, 2023, in Juneau and via webinar.
###