Wisconsin Coalition of Annuitants

April 20, 2026 Minutes

www.wicoa.org

Meeting called to order by Chair Diane Wilcenski at 9:31AM

DIRECTORS & ALTERNATES PRESENT: Robert Beglinger, AFT-R; Barbara Bird, DOT; James Blank, Bay Lakes United Educators-R; Sandy Drew, SWIB Retiree; Jean Grosklaus, West Allis Retirees; Paul Haubrich, UW Milwaukee Retiree’s Assoc.; Scott Hildebrand, UWRA President; Brian Holmes, Epsilon Sigma Phi; Bruce Johnson, SWIB Retirees; Rick Klemme, Epsilon Sigma Phi; Allen Knop, WEAC-Retired; Jack Lawton, ACE; Laurie Mayberry, Past President, UWRA; John Maydak, West Allis Retirees; Fred Nepple, OCI; Kevin Niemi, President Elect, UWRA; Dee Pettack, WSAA; Elaine Reiter, Kettle Moraine Retired; Robert Schaefer, WI Assoc of Retired Conservationists and State Engineering Association; Sari Simer, ETF; Roger Springman, WFT/AFT Retirees; Jeanne Stangl, Dodge County Area REA; Jim Thiel, Association of Career Employees; Diane Wilcenski, WREA; Rick Wojciak, DNR; Christopher Wren, Wisconsin State Attorneys Association; and wicoa.org

DIRECTORS & ALTERNATES NOT PRESENT: Dave Bosanko, Retired Professional Fire Fighters of WI; Robert Brooks, Central Wisconsin Center Retirees; Sue Conrad, WI AFSCME Retirees Chapter 32; Ed Frank, WI Assoc of Retired Conservationists; Dick Kratz, WI Retired Corrections Personnel; Tara Leithold, Kettle Moraine Retirees; Diane Liebert, AFSCME Subchapter 52: Lucrecia Mattson, UW-Eau Claire Emeritus; Jim Palmer, WI Professional Police Association Retired; Tom Speranza, Retired Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin; Clara Welch, Beloit Area REA

DIRECTORS & ALTERNATES EXCUSED; Mary Czynszak-Lyne, Secretary UWRA; Kathy Kreul, WFT/AFT Retirees

GUESTS; Tarna Hunter, Chris Preisler, Sari Simer

Roll Call: Taken by Rick

Approval of the March Minutes: Minutes approved as printed.

GUEST: Tarna Hunter, Director of Budget and Management, ETF

Tarna began with an update on the legislative update.

· The Senate session ended on March 17, 2026

· There were some small changes to clean up some requests that ETF made.

· ETF request for an independent Office of Internal Office which follows public retirement system best governance practices was vetoed by Governor Evers. ETF requested that the position be unclassified. Governor Evers wanted it to be classified.

· The difference in classified and unclassified is that classified positions are held by state employees that are subject to different rules and protections than unclassified positions. The unclassified position un the bill would have been appointed and under the authority of the ETF Board.

· ETF has started their Strategic Planning and budget request process for 2027 – 2029 budget requests. The budget requests will be presented to the ETF Board in September.

· All other bills are essentially dead until the next session.

· The Insurance Administration System continues to be on track to go live for the Department of Administration on May 1st. Everyone else including retirees and local governments will go live on July 1st.

· ETF is still in contract negotiations for the pension system. The hope is to have them completed within the next two weeks. The contract will then be sent to the DOA for approval. The pension system project will be approximately a five-year project to complete.

· The ETF board is reviewing internal candidates for John Voelker’s replacement. Applications have already been submitted for the position and are being reviewed by the board. John’s last day is July 24th. If a candidate is selected before John leaves, a transition plan will be put in place.

· The Group Insurance Board Meeting is May 21st.

· The ETF Board is scheduled to meet on June 18th.

Guest: Chris Preisler, Senior Communications Specialist, SWIB

Performance preliminary returns as of March 31,2026 Returns on a Five-year Basis

Core -0.33% Benchmark -0.57% Core 6.43% Benchmark 5.74%

Variable -2.82% Benchmark -2.83% Variable 9.97% Benchmark 9.99%

Assets Under Management

Core Fund $140.4B Variable Fund $12.1B for a total of $152.5B in retirement fund assets

Sneak Peak of Preliminary returns as of April 16, 2026

Core Shy of 2.0% Variable About 3.5%

· The volatility of the markets is in roller coaster mode. At the end of March, the market was negative. That has flipped back to the positive as illustrated in the Sneak Peak above.

· The volatility of the markets, the conflict with Iran, the guessing if the Strait of Hormuz is open or closed, and the state of the economy are all factors the markets are dealing with.

· Chris and his team produced a Market Update Podcast with Todd Mattina, SWIB head economist discussing how volatile things are.

· Todd did a good job discussing how the conflict with Iran is raising energy costs and putting pressure on inflation. All these things are weighing on economic activity.

· Chris encourages all of us to listen to this podcast.

· Chris also stated that we have a long way to go in the year, and we will just have to wait and see how things go. He stated that he expects the uncertainty to continue.

· Rick Wojciak asked a question if benchmark values change monthly? Chris explained that the benchmarks for the Core and Variable Trust Fund are comprised of underlying benchmarks that reflect the various types of investments in the overall fund. The composition of the benchmarks is set in advance and then the value changes every month based on market performance. SWIB new website rolled out on Monday, April 20, 2026. Chris encouraged all of us to look at it and share feedback on it. They hoped to make it more user friendly as well ADA compliant.

· Another podcast will be coming out. They are getting ready to record. This podcast will focus on private markets and specifically private credit. Private Credit has been grabbing the headlines a lot lately. It’s a rapidly growing asset class. However, there are lots of things going on with it. It’s facing rising default rates and increasing redemptions from retail client investors. There is also some regulatory scrutiny taking place with private credit.

· The podcast will feature the way retail investors use private credit compared to how SWIB invests in private credit. Two of SWIB’s portfolio managers are going to explain these differences. Look for this towards the end of May.

· If WICOA is interested in having someone from SWIB come and talk about private credit or some of the concerns we are hearing or reading about, Chris would be happy to get someone to come and talk to our group.

· Kevin Niemi asked Chris what kind of metrics he gets on the podcasts. Chris stated that the platform used is Megaphone. He can go into the program and find out listeners, downloads, locations (most are in the Madison area), across the country, and even globally.

· Chris puts this information together on a quarterly basis and would be willing to share some of the numbers with us.

· The market update podcasts numbers have gone up. They seem really popular. SWIB is thinking of producing more market update podcasts that last 10 minutes. Chris also okayed Kevin’s request to republish the link to SWIB podcasts to other groups like ours. In fact, Chris encouraged us to do that!!!!

· Sandy Drew asked if Chris could see specifics when he looked at the metrics. Chris replied that he cannot. He can see that it is someone in the Madison area but nothing specific.

· Chris stated that there are participants and members that are listening as well as a solid audience of other investment professionals.

Annual Conference

·         Tuesday May 13,2026 and Wednesday May 14,2026

·         9:30 to Noon both days

·         You can still register.

·         Rick reported that he sent out an email when registration opened to 480 people.

·         So far 85 people have signed up.

·         Rick will send out a reminder May 1^st or 2^nd.

·         In early May, Rick will send out a link to all directors of the coalition asking them to send it out to their people.

·         During the next couple of weeks, Rick, Diane, and some of the directors will be setting up some behind the scenes stuff.

·         Rick would like all the presenters to have their information to his four or five days ahead of the presentation so he can load everything on his computer.

·         Diane asked the group if there were any topics that we would like SWIB to discuss with us. Please let her know.

·         Diane asked Chris if Rochelle could come and speak to us either in June or July. He will check with Rochelle.

·         Diane asked the group if there were any issues that we thought we should be watching. Suggestions were:

·         Social Security talking about maxing out at $100,000.

·         Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill – what changes are coming for health care

·         Increase in spending on the war.

·         SAVE Bill and the impact on women and voters.

·         IRS Changes

·         Medicare Funding

·         Check out the AAARP website.

New Business:

The Cryptocurrency bill was signed. It limits deposits into crypto kiosks to $1000.00 a day. This was a big win for AARP Wisconsin.

Treasurer Report:

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ASSETS

Savings Account 5.00

Checking Account - beginning balance 6942.74

Income 50.00

Expenses 0.00

Checking Account Balance as of 1/12/26 6992.74

TOTAL ASSESTS 6997.74

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Next Meeting:

There is NO meeting in May due to the conference

The next meeting is Monday, June 15^th at 9:30 via Zoom

Meeting adjourned at 10:09 AM

Respectfully submitted,

Jeanne Stangl

WICOA Secretary.