J. Michael Collins is Professor of Public Affairs and Human Ecology where he is Fetzer Family Chair in Consumer and Personal Finance. Collins serves as Faculty Director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Center for Financial Security. He is a faculty affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty, and the Center for Demography and Ecology. Collins studies consumer decision-making in the financial marketplace, including the role of public policy in influencing credit, savings and investment choices.

His work includes the study of financial capability with a focus on low-income families. He directed the Social Security Administration Financial Literacy Research Consortium site at Wisconsin (2009-2012). He is involved in studies of mortgage foreclosure and family well-being supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, financial counseling supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and emergency savings policies for the C.S. Mott Foundation.

Collins brings nearly a decade of applied experience to his research. He founded PolicyLab Consulting Group, a research consulting firm working with national foundations and government agencies, and co-founded MortgageKeeper Referral Services, an online database for mortgage servicers and counselors. He also worked for NeighborWorks America (Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation) and the Millennial Housing Commission.

In 2016, Collins received a Vilas Associates Award from UW-Madison’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education for his project “Financial Capabilities and Medication Persistence and Adherence: A Randomized Trial.”

Edwin joined SWIB in 2018 as managing director, asset and risk allocation. He was appointed executive director/chief investment officer in April 2021.

Before joining SWIB, Edwin was managing director, strategic tilting, at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). Prior to joining CPPIB in 2013, Edwin spent 13 years in asset allocation, currency, and risk management as a portfolio manager at William Blair & Company, managing member at Singer Partners LLC, and managing director and head of asset allocation at UBS Global Asset Management. Earlier in his career, Edwin was an economist at Lehman Brothers, Primark Decision Economics, and Putnam Investments.

Edwin holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Cornell University and a PhD in economics from Northwestern University.

John Voelker became the Secretary of the Department of Employee Trust Funds on April 5, 2021.

He served as ETF Deputy Secretary since 2014. Prior to that, John worked for 11 years leading the Wisconsin Court System as the director of state courts. He also served as executive assistant to the Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

He has been in the WRS for more than 33 years and appreciates the importance sustainable benefit programs have on the economic and physical health of its members, employers, and communities across the state.

A native of Menasha, Wisconsin, John has 33 years of public service experience. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He also possesses a Certificate of Achievement in Public Plan Policy from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

Ed Weisbart MD is the national board secretary and MO chapter chair of Physicians for a National Health Program, a non-profit non-partisan organization of more than 25,000 physicians and other healthcare advocates in support of a publicly financed, non-profit single-payer national health insurance program that would fully cover medical care for all Americans.

After practicing family medicine for 20 years at Rush Medical Center in Chicago, he moved to St. Louis in 2003 to serve as chief medical officer of Express Scripts until retiring in 2010. He volunteered as an assistant professor of clinical medicine at Washington University in St. Louis MO from 2004 until retiring clinically in 2021. He also serves as president of Consumers Council of Missouri, a non-profit organization that works to build a more inclusive and equitable community through advocacy, coalition building, collaboration, and community education.

Dr. Weisbart received his medical degree at the University of Illinois in Chicago in 1979 and completed his family medicine residency and a fellowship in family medicine education at Michigan State University in 1982.

Dr. Weisbart has an extensive history of success across a variety of healthcare environments with a strong focus on strategic planning, medical group leadership, quality and operational improvement, physician practice enhancement, innovative program development, clinical integrity, primary care, and political advocacy. He is a national speaker with dozens of articles published in both national medical journals and local media regarding the healthcare needs of the uninsured.