Grills Named IAC Chairman; Three Named IAC Committee Members

RICHMOND, Va., May 19 —Joe Grills, retired IBM Retirement Funds chief investment officer, was named chairman of the Investment Advisory Committee (IAC) of the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) at today’s pension board meeting. He succeeds Raymond D. Smoot, Jr.

In other action, the VRS board named three new members to the IAC, including Rod Smyth of Wachovia Securities; Erwin H. Will, Jr., former VRS Chief Investment Officer and Christopher Brightman of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO). These three individuals fill a vacancy on the IAC and succeed Joseph W. Montgomery and Kenneth G. Lay.

Smyth has over 20 years of global investment experience and has served in a variety of key investment roles with Wachovia and its predecessor firms. He was appointed chief investment strategist at Wachovia in 2000.

Will served as VRS’ chief investment officer until 2001. Prior to coming to VRS, he served as president of Capitoline Investment Management and retired from this position.

Brightman, chief executive officer at UVIMCO, is responsible for overseeing assets approaching $2.5 billion. He was named CEO as of Dec. 1, 2004. He came to UVIMCO from Strategic Investment Group where he served as the chief investment officer.

“The board looks forward to working with the new chairman and IAC members and to receiving continued prudent advice on the management of VRS investments,” said VRS Board Chairman Paul W. Timmreck.

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