Finance Committee

2021-22 Annual Report

The committee reviews the statements from our investment consultants, Fiducient, monthly and then meets with them quarterly in person. During these meetings we look at the performance of our investments, analyze how our investment performance is impacting the budgetary needs of the Valley, and listen to recommendations from Fiducient on asset allocation and underlying portfolio managers. This past year we also began bringing in one of our money managers to present at these meetings to provide a more in depth look at their rationale for investing. The committee then takes our recommendations to the Board of Directors.

The Valley has an external audit done every year, and our audit is available for members to view at any time in the office during normal business hours. The board also appoints an internal auditor to review the monthly financial transactions, and I have performed that duty for the previous year.

The committee also updated our Investment Policy Statement, and this was recently approved and adopted by the board.

While 2021 was a very good year for the markets, so far 2022 has proven to be quite challenging. The committee has reaffirmed with our advisor our strategy and allocation to make sure we are positioned correctly. Over the last couple years, we have strategically taken money out of the market while at all-time highs to fund our capital improvements account. This account funds the short-term and long-term building projects. Our membership should take comfort that all of the recent work on the building was budgeted and paid for while the markets were high, not at their current levels. Another important note regarding our allocation is while the bond markets are down double digits year to date, the Valley owns individual bonds, not bond mutual funds, so all of our bonds will mature at full value.

The Valley of Chicago is financially sound thanks to the hard work of the finance committee. I would like to thank committee members William Tienken, Bruce Zimmerman, Daryl Selock, Dave Koss, and Brian Owen as well as our Treasurer Ken Armbruster, Deputy’s Representative Chuck August and Active Anthony Cracco for their advice, counsel and commitment of time during this past year.

Respectfully Submitted,

Andrew A. Keppy, 33⁰
Finance Committee Chairman