NEST Board reviews final Investment Policy Statement, requests staff to refine vendor references

The Board reviewed and discussed the final Investment Policy Statement (IPS) and Program Description at its July 15 meeting. Deputy Treasurer Lesley Mohlenkamp told trustees the packet included the final IPS (PDF page 54) and a redline (PDF page 69) and called out substantial edits in Section 1, Section 5 (Roles and Responsibilities), Section 9 (Recommending Investment Changes to Partner Program) and select appendix definitions.

Member William Palmer, who had proposed edits, urged the Board to avoid duplicating technical custodial and account language in the IPS. "I'd like to see the IPS, rather than us write it, use their documentation and just put a cliff note into our wording saying, reference whatever documents they're using," Palmer said, arguing that vendor documents (for example Vestwell or BNY Mellon) already address account closures, required minimum distributions and similar operational topics.

Deputy Attorney General Nicole Ting said the Attorney General's Office would not direct a specific approach and left the matter to Board discretion. Deputy Treasurer Mohlenkamp confirmed staff would continue to coordinate with board members and legal counsel and treat the IPS as a living document that can be updated for technical clarifications without changing substantive policymaking.

The discussion was procedural; trustees did not vote on substantive changes at the meeting and directed staff to continue refining the documents with input from counsel and vendor partners.