Bob Milligan Named Interim Director of the State Board of Administration
By: Tom Crabb
On Tuesday, the trustees of the State Board of Administration named Bob Milligan interim executive director of the agency. Florida Governor Charlie Crist said Mr. Milligan’s “vast experience, integrity and honor will be certain to restore confidence in the management of the state’s investment funds.” Mr. Milligan, formerly Florida’s comptroller and current Insurance Consumer Advocate, succeeds Coleman Stipanovich, who resigned on December 4 in the wake of losses in the Local Government Investment Pool managed by the SBA. A national search will be conducted to find a permanent replacement.
Assets in the Pool dropped to $14 billion from more than $27 billion and were temporarily frozen before reopening last week. The SBA also announced that November’s Pool interest — some $95 million — will be retained to help shore up a $2 billion portion of the fund that is closed to investors and contains investments in troubled subprime mortgages. The November interest would otherwise have been distributed to local governments and school districts. Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has asked the inspector general to investigate whether it was improper for the fund to invest in securitized subprime mortgages.
The SBA trustees also instructed Milligan to initiate a search for investment firms to manage the Pool. BlackRock, Inc., was retained last week to temporarily manage the Pool and immediately set withdrawal restrictions in an attempt to stabilize and restore confidence in the Pool.