State Universities Retirement System of Illinois

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1 State Universities Retirement System of Illinois Serving Illinois Community Colleges and Universities 1901 Fox Drive Champaign, IL (217) (217) (FAX) Investment Department To: Investment Committee From: Tony J. Lee Date: February 19, 2010 Re: Management Annual Review Overview In March 2005, Management (NCM) was hired as a mid cap growth manager in the Manager Development Program (MDP). NCM was initially funded with $12.5 million. In February 2008, NCM received additional funding of $25 million. As of December 31, 2009, NCM managed $38.3 million for SURS, which represents approximately 20% of the Active U.S. Equity component of the MDP and 9.9% of the Total Manager Development Program. SURS staff conducts conference calls with MDP managers on a quarterly basis. In addition, SURS staff performed an on-site due diligence meeting at NCM s Durham, North Carolina office in July receives an evaluation ranking of B, which results in our retention recommendation. Organization Management registered with the SEC in August of Currently, Maceo K. Sloan, Chairman, CEO & CIO owns 65% of the firm. The remaining 35% is owned by the employees at the firm, who qualify, with at least one full year of employment, for participation in the employee ownership program. Currently, 80% of all qualified employees participate in this program. There have been no changes in ownership or management at in the past year. However, the firm expects to extend the opportunity of ownership to recently hired investment team members in the first quarter of Staffing NCM currently employs 10 investment professionals and 24 total staff. In January 2010, Ron Elmer, Health Care Sector Leader departed from the firm. NCM is in the process of identifying a replacement for Mr. Elmer. Also in January 2010, Marc V. Reid, Head of Client Services, departed from the firm in order to pursue other opportunities. There were no other departures or additions to the firm in the past year. Clients/Assets As of December 31, 2009, NCM managed approximately $2.3 billion in total, with $1.9 billion in equity strategies compared to total assets of $2.1 billion and equity assets of $1.6 billion at the

2 same time last year. In the mid cap growth strategy utilized by SURS, NCM manages $176 million as of December 2009 versus $174 million last year. Over the past year, NCM lost two small accounts and gained two accounts in their mid cap and broad growth strategies for a net increase of approximately $10 million. Additional clients in the mid cap growth strategy include Credit Suisse, Boeing (via Progress Investment) and Chicago Teachers (via Progress Investment), among others. Investment Process NCM integrates quantitative analysis with rigorous fundamental research to construct a portfolio of mid cap growth stocks with accelerating earnings per share growth, positive earnings per share revisions, and attractive valuations. NCM has a seven step investment process which involves a combination of quantitative, technical, and fundamental analysis. Step One: NCM focuses on securities with market capitalizations between $1 billion and $12 billion. NCM screens for stocks in the desired capitalization range with adequate liquidity on a weekly basis to identify a group of select stocks to more thoroughly analyze. Step Two: NCM ranks the approximately 150 stocks that result from the weekly screens according to style-specific and sector-specific screens. Stocks with strong earnings growth profiles rank highly in this process. Step Three: NCM performs fundamental analysis on the top-ranking 100 companies, focusing on the cash flow statement and balance sheet. Steps Four and Five: NCM constructs the final portfolio of 40 to 60 stocks by leveraging the recommendations of its various Sector Leaders. Steps Six and Seven: the Product Leader selects stocks from the pool of 40 to 60 candidates and allocates discretionary weightings to each specific stock while implementing risk controls at the sector, industry and security levels to ensure the portfolio is adequately diversified. Upon constructing the portfolio, the entire team including Sector and Product Leaders are responsible for monitoring the portfolio. As of December 31, 2009, the mid cap growth portfolio consisted of 56 stocks. NCM does not have a stated tracking error or portfolio turnover expectation. In 2009, actual portfolio turnover was 96%. Since inception, tracking error has been 5.9%. Usage of Minority- and Women-Owned Brokerage Firms SURS has set minimum expectation levels for its managers use of minority- and women-owned brokerage firms. Subject to best execution, SURS domestic equity managers are expected to execute at least 25% of their transactions utilizing minority- and women-owned broker/dealers. For the twelve months ending December 31, 2009, NCM directed 31.2% of its brokerage commissions to minority- and women-owned broker/dealers. Client Service In January 2010, Mr. Hal Howard replaced Marc V. Reid, Vice President, Director of Client Services, who previously served as SURS primary client service contact. SURS has been satisfied with the level of responsiveness and service provided.

3 Investment Performance The NCM portfolio returned 45.5% during calendar year 2009 compared to the Russell Midcap Growth Index return of 46.3%. The primary drivers of NCM s underperformance during 2009 were poor stock selection within the consumer staples and health care sectors. The two sectors in aggregate contributed 364 basis points of negative performance in the past year. Despite the recent performance shortfall, NCM s since inception performance still compares favorably. Since inception, the portfolio has surpassed the benchmark by 260 basis points, returning 5.5% compared to the Index return of 2.9%. This level of performance since inception earns a grade of B. EnnnisKnupp s Investment Manager Rating System We have applied EnnisKnupp s Investment Manager Rating System for manager selection and evaluation to NCM. The results of this evaluation fall in the category of Good; which indicates Retain. Areas in which NCM scored well were: Skill, Cost, Product Fit, and Ownership. Consultant Comments After a difficult 2008, mid-cap stocks bounced back strongly in NCM benefited from the market rebound and posted a double-digit return. The portfolio s advance, however, slightly lagged the even stronger return in the market. The portfolio s since-inception result remains ahead of the benchmark. Maceo Sloan, the CEO and CIO of the firm, is a proven investment professional. In our assessment of the firm under our Investment Manager Rating System, the firm is rewarded for being 100% employee owned, its product fit, and trading efficiency (small portfolio size compared to the market). Over time, the firm has been able to successfully grow its business. NCM utilizes fundamental research and quantitative analysis to construct a portfolio of stocks with strong growth potential. EnnisKnupp last met with NCM in March of We agree with staff s assessment of this manager and support the recommendation for retention. Recommendation SURS staff recommends that Management be retained as a domestic equity manager.

4 Ratio of Cumulative Wealth April 2005 through December Apr-05 Oct-05 Apr-06 Oct-06 Apr-07 Oct-07 Apr-08 Oct-08 Apr-09 Oct-09 8 Risk/ (Annualized) April December T-Bills Russell Mid Cap Growth Risk

5 18 Rolling 3 Year s 22 Observations (6) (12) (18) (24) (24) (18) (12) (6) HISTORICAL RETURNS (BY YEAR) NCM Difference 2005 (9 months) Trailing 3-year Since Inception (3/31/05)