Press Release
For Immediate Release
April 14, 2006
Contact:
Nancy Ketterhagen, Office of Communications (608) 266-7471
MADISON, (Wis.) – Eric Stanchfield, Secretary of the Department
of Employee Trust Funds (ETF), announced the three Wisconsin Retirement
System (WRS) governing boards recently elected officers for 2006.
Wisconsin statutes require that board officers be elected at the
first meeting of each year. Stanchfield also announced the results
of a recent Teachers Retirement Board election to select three new
members of that board.
Elected Officers, Employee Trust Funds Board
Marilyn J. Wigdahl, a retired financial specialist from the University
of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, was elected to her 15th consecutive term
as Chair. Ms. Wigdahl was appointed by the governor to the Wisconsin
Retirement Board in 1984 and was selected by this board to fill
one of four seats on the Employee Trust Funds Board in 1987.
Wayne Koessl was elected Vice-Chair. Koessl is a local government
affairs representative for WISPARK, LLC, a subsidiary of Wisconsin
Energy Corp. He is also a member of the Wisconsin Retirement Board.
Robert Niendorf was elected Secretary. Niendorf, a retired University
of Wisconsin-Oshkosh finance professor, is also a member of the
Teachers Retirement Board.
Elected Officers, Teachers Retirement Board
Wayne McCaffery, an economics teacher at Stevens Point Area High
School, was elected Chair for the 9th consecutive year. McCaffery
has also served as Vice Chair of the committee. He was first elected
to this board in a 1989 statewide election conducted among public
school teachers. McCaffery is also a member of the Employee Trust
Funds Board.
Lon Mishler, of DePere, was elected Vice-Chair. A retired teacher,
he was first elected to this board in a 2003 statewide election
conducted among retired public school teachers.
David Wiltgen, a Spanish teacher at Eau Claire Memorial High School,
was elected Secretary. He has been a member of this board since
2002.
Elected Officers, Wisconsin Retirement Board
Marilyn J. Wigdahl was chosen to serve her 19th consecutive term
as chair of this board. She also serves as chair of the Employee
Trust Funds Board.
Wayne Koessl was elected Vice-Chair. He also serves as vice-chair
of the Employee Trust Funds Board.
Rick Gale was elected Secretary. Gale, of West Allis, is state
president of Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin. He also serves
on the Employee Trust Funds Board.
Three Elected to Teachers Retirement Board
Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) teachers recently elected three
teachers to serve on the Teachers Retirement (TR) Board. Chosen
from a field of five candidates were Patrick H. Phair, a teacher
at Waupaca High School; Robin F. Starck, a Sheboygan Area School
District teacher; and Leonard J. Herricks, a teacher at Oshkosh
North High School. The Department mailed 71,775 ballots to active
teacher participants.
Phair received 6,314 votes; Starck, 6,090 votes; and Herricks,
4,739 votes. Vote totals for other candidates were Peter J. Kaland,
Columbus, 4,507 votes; and Carl M. Millard, Menomonee Falls, 4,304
votes.
About the Wisconsin Retirement System Boards
The Wisconsin citizens that serve on the WRS play an important
trustee role for the WRS. Board decisions affect the more than 525,000
members participating in the retirement programs and other fringe
benefit programs funded by the trust funds.
The Employee Trust Funds Board is a 13-member
board. This board sets policy for the Department; appoints the ETF
Secretary; approves tables used for computing benefits, contribution
rates and actuarial assumptions; authorizes all annuities except
for disability; approves or rejects ETF administrative rules; and
generally oversees administration of the benefit programs, except
group insurance and deferred compensation.
The Wisconsin Retirement Board is a 9-member board.
The Wisconsin Retirement Board (WR Board) advises the ETF Board
on matters relating to retirement; approves or rejects administrative
rules; authorizes or terminates disability benefits for non-teachers;
and hears appeals of disability rulings. It appoints four members
to the ETF Board and one non-teaching participant to the State of
Wisconsin Investment Board.
The Teachers Retirement Board is a 13-member board.
It advises the ETF Board on retirement and other benefit matters
involving public school, vocational, state and university teachers;
acts on administrative rules and authorizes or terminates teacher
disability benefits and hears disability benefit appeals.
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