State endowment board asks JFAC to approve pay increases for two staff; governor withheld recommendation

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on an unspecified date heard from the Endowment Fund Investment Board about a proposal to increase compensation for two senior investment staff, a request the board approved but the governor did not recommend.

The Endowment Fund Investment Board manages investment assets for state endowments and other funds. Janet Jessup, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the committee the board’s FY2026 request included about $100,000 intended to raise pay for two employees and smaller amounts for general inflation and one-time hardware recommended by the Office of Information Technology.

Why it matters: the board oversees large investment pools that support beneficiaries across state agencies. Chris Antone (identified in the hearing as the board’s manager of investments) and board chair Thomas Wilford told the committee the increases were recommended to address long-standing pay disparities for two senior staff and a risk of turnover if pay is not adjusted.

Antone told the committee that "The recommendations were made by our compensation committee and our board. . . our board had always stood behind those recommendations." Wilford said the pay request reflects a history of an initial hire at a lower level and an effort to catch up: "If we had to replace him someday, that we would have to pay more than we're paying him."

The board presented a breakdown during questioning: the larger portion of the request was intended for a deputy chief investment officer (identified in testimony as Chris Halverson) and a smaller portion for the board’s investment manager. At the hearing Antone gave specific figures: the request included roughly $54,800 for Halverson and about $28,400 for Antone.

State review and the governor’s position: a governor’s office representative who identified herself as Miss Wolfe explained why the governor’s recommendation did not include the requested pay increases. She said the administration reviews CEC and compensation requests with the Division of Human Resources and that, based on that analysis, Halverson’s pay was “close to policy rate for his pay grade,” even while acknowledging state pay scales generally fall short of private-market levels. Wolfe said the governor’s recommendation aimed to keep state pay consistent with policy rates across state government.

Committee members pressed the board on recruitment and retention. Wilford and Antone said the board’s compensation committee and the full board had approved the enhancement and had discussed the issue with the governor’s office but had not reached an agreement at the time the budget was submitted.

Jessup and Antone also gave context on the size and performance of the funds the board manages: Antone said that combined investments for the board and state insurance fund total roughly $5 billion, and he told the committee that since 2010 the board’s investments had generated about $2.5 billion in investment income; the Department of Lands’ related activity had generated over $700 million.

No formal committee action or vote on the pay request was recorded in the transcript of the hearing.

Looking ahead: committee members asked for additional detail and for the board’s chair to remain available as deliberations continue; the board said it would accept the governor’s recommendation if adopted but stood behind its earlier compensation decisions.