Permanent Fund trustees create committee to review benchmarks tied to staff bonuses

The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation's Board of Trustees created a committee Thursday to review the benchmarks used to measure its investment staff's performance, which also help determine their bonuses.

At the same annual meeting in Nome, Board Chair Jason Brune said the fund missed its benchmark this year, so most staff did not receive incentive pay. CEO Deven Mitchell said nine employees will receive bonuses based on how their individual asset classes performed.

Brune said the incentive program doesn't capture staff decisions aimed at protecting the fund's capital, which he described as "focused on capital preservation and intelligent investing instead of just trying to hit a number." He said that should factor into future decisions on staff pay.

The new Benchmark Review Committee will have three members: a member of the corporation's Investment Advisory Group, a representative of its investment consultant, Callan, and the CEO. It will review the fund's benchmarks each year, consider staff requests to change them and send recommendations to the trustees, who have the final say. Requests have to reach the committee before the board's December meeting because benchmark changes take effect July 1. Trustees approved the committee's charter on a 5-0 roll call vote, with one trustee offline.

Vice Chair Ethan Shutt, who chairs the board's Governance Committee, said the review is how trustees make sure the benchmarks are "appropriate and fair and don't ultimately create incentives to do the wrong thing."

The charter sets a Sept. 30 deadline for proposed changes. Mitchell noted that date had already passed and said staff have "identified adjustments to some of the asset class benchmarks" they want to examine this fall. Trustees set an Oct. 31 deadline for this first year.

Staff first proposed a formal review process in the board's December 2025 meeting packet, according to the corporation's meeting records, and the Governance Committee recommended it in July.