# Arkansas State Board of Finance The Arkansas State Board of Finance (SBF) is a state finance body separate from ATRS, APERS, and the other Arkansas state retirement systems. The 6/25/25 Brady production captures two SBF meeting distribution emails (11/1/2024 for the November 6, 2024 meeting; 2/13/2025 for the February 18, 2025 meeting) that document the Board's composition and operations. The SBF appears in this investigation principally as the institutional venue where the Auditor, Treasurer, Bank Commissioner, and DFA Secretary meet together routinely on state finance matters, distinct from the pension boards. ## Composition Per the 11/1/2024 distribution from Treasury staff Autumn Sanson and the 2/13/2025 distribution from Treasury staff Amanda O'Neal, the SBF distribution list spans the following roles: **Treasury office:** - Treasurer John Thurston - Chief Deputy Treasurer Bill Huffman - Deputy Treasurer Kenneth Burleson - Other Treasury staff: Sandra Blount, Andy Babbitt, Amanda O'Neal (General Counsel/Director of Public Relations), Autumn Sanson **Auditor's office:** - Auditor Dennis Milligan - Chief Deputy Auditor Jason Brady - Executive Assistant Wendy Spadoni **State Bank Commissioner:** - Susannah Marshall ([email protected]) **Department of Finance and Administration:** - Cabinet Secretary Jim Hudson - Sharon Mahoney - Andy Babbitt - Kevin Carr - Alan McVey **Other state agencies:** - Insurance Commissioner Alan McClain - Various other agency staff (Holly Beaver, Damon Dortch, Larry Walther, Amy Fecher [APERS], etc.) **Governor's office:** - Erica Freeman (the same Governor's-office scheduler who declined Spadoni's November 2024 Sanders meeting request) - Judd Deere - Selby Tucker - Karen Whatley **Private-sector representatives:** - Chad May at Armor Bank ([email protected]) - Brent Morgan at Bank OZK ([email protected]) - Lorrie Trogden at Arkansas Bankers ([email protected]) **Press:** - Mike Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ([email protected]) ## Significance for the Israel Bonds investigation The SBF distribution lists make several findings significant for the investigation. First, **the State Bank Commissioner is institutionally engaged with the Auditor and Treasurer**. Susannah Marshall is on the SBF distribution alongside Milligan and Thurston. This places the three statutory ATRS Investment Committee members (Marshall and Thurston as ex officio per BP1 Section XII; Milligan as ex officio Operations Committee member but a sitting full Board trustee with general-investment-decision authority) in regular institutional contact through the SBF. The absence of any documented Marshall-Israel-Bonds correspondence in the FOIA productions is therefore not a function of distance from the relevant officials; she is in regular meetings with them through the SBF. The absence is likely a function of FOIA scope or the form in which any Marshall-side communication occurred. Second, **the SBF distribution includes Mike Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette**. The press has standing access to SBF materials. The Wickline Israel Bonds inquiry on 5/14/2025 documented at [[mike-wickline]] arose in this institutional context. Third, **Erica Freeman in the Governor's office is on the SBF distribution**. This is the same Freeman who declined Spadoni's November 2024 Sanders meeting request. The Governor's office is institutionally connected to the SBF activity but did not engage on the Israel Bonds initiative through that channel either. Sanders and Freeman have ongoing access to SBF activity but have not (per the documented record) chosen to participate substantively in the Israel Bonds matter. Fourth, **the private-sector banking representatives provide an industry channel**. Chad May at Armor Bank and Brent Morgan at Bank OZK sit on SBF alongside state officials. The banking-industry presence at SBF gives Arkansas banks observation and informal-influence access to state finance matters discussed at the SBF. ## R2 Milligan calendar adds the 3/26/2025 meeting attendance The R2 Milligan production ([[auditor-foia-r2-milligan]]) captures the Outlook calendar invite for the 3/26/2025 SBF meeting in Milligan's own calendar (labeled "Treasurer of State's Zoom Meeting" rather than "State Board of Finance"). The meeting was Wednesday March 26, 2025 at 10:30-11:00 AM CT, organized by Amanda O'Neal. Attached documents: Advisory Commission Board Documents 3/11/25, 2/18/25 SBF minutes, Agenda SBF March 26 2025, and a service contract "SRV-1 4600055963 - Aptus - Public Student Loan Forgiveness." The mandatory-participant roster confirms simultaneous attendance of Milligan, Marshall ([email protected]), Thurston, Hudson, Spadoni, and a broader roster of Treasury, DFA, Insurance Department, and bank-industry attendees. This is the first calendar-confirmed institutional meeting that establishes Milligan and Marshall as co-attendees in routine state business. Marshall is the second statutory ex officio ATRS Investment Committee member per BP1 Section XII; she has been absent from all documented Israel Bonds correspondence in the ingested FOIA productions, but is in regular institutional meetings with Milligan and Thurston through the SBF. The 3/26 meeting is contemporaneous with the period of active Israel Bonds outreach by the Auditor's office: ten days after the previously-documented 3/16 in-person Berman trip preparation activity, three weeks before the April 14-15 Capitol tour, eleven weeks before the 6/2 ATRS Board vote. Whether Israel Bonds was on the 3/26 SBF agenda is not knowable from the calendar invite alone. The attached "Agenda SBF March 26, 2025" PDF would document this if obtainable; it is a priority cross-reference target. The Milligan calendar invite also includes the optional-attendee designation for Michael Wickline (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter) and Michael Hibblen (likely KUAR reporter), confirming the standing press access to SBF meetings noted in the prior version of this concept page. Wickline broke the APERS Israel Bonds story on 5/15/2025 ([[mike-wickline]]); his presence on SBF distributions and meeting invites predates and may have informed that reporting. The "Aptus Public Student Loan Forgiveness" contract attached to the 3/26 SBF meeting documents the substantive SBF business on that date concerned state student loan forgiveness contracting, not Israel Bonds. ## What the SBF does (per the meeting documents in the production) The 11/6/2024 and 2/18/2025 SBF agendas indicate quarterly meetings with standardized agenda items: target rate of book return for the Treasury portfolio, quarterly motions, portfolio composition by sector, approved broker list, and similar treasury operations content. The meetings discuss Treasury investment operations rather than retirement-system investments, but the institutional overlap (same officials in attendance) means SBF discussions and ATRS/APERS discussions occur in adjacent forums. The Israel Bonds matter does not appear in the SBF agendas captured in this batch. Whether SBF discussed Treasury Israel Bonds purchases, or whether the Treasurer's-office Israel Bonds activity referenced in Brady's 4/7/2025 letter draft ("I worked with and have know Mr. Berman and Israel Bonds since my time in the State Treasury when the Legislature allowed me to purchase bonds of Israel") was discussed at SBF during Milligan's tenure as Treasurer, is not documented in this batch. ## What this batch does not establish Whether Marshall, Hudson, Thurston, or other SBF members were briefed on the Israel Bonds matter through SBF channels. Whether the SBF has a documented role in pension-fund investment decisions or is structurally distinct. The substantive content of any SBF meeting or its bearing on the Israel Bonds matter. ## Evidence > [!evidence] Treasury distribution, State Board of Finance Meeting Documents.pdf p.1, 2/13/2025 > "From: Amanda O'Neal / Sent on: Thursday, February 13, 2025 3:00:52 PM / To: [email protected]; [email protected]; Andy Babbitt; Ben Ellis; Bill Huffman; [email protected]; Celeste Gladden; [email protected]; Damon Dortch; Dennis Milligan; [email protected]; Holly Beaver; Jason Brady; [email protected]; [email protected]; Kenneth Burleson; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Michael Harry; Michael Wickline; Robert Romanik; [email protected]; Steve Pulley; Steven Kilgore; [email protected]; TJ Fowler; John Thurston; Sandra Blount; Wendy Spadoni; [email protected] / Subject: State Board of Finance Meeting Documents" > [!evidence] O'Neal signature, State Board of Finance Meeting Documents.pdf p.1 > "Amanda O'Neal / General Counsel/Director of Public Relations / Arkansas Treasurer of State's Office / (501) 682-3838 / [email protected] / 500 Woodlane, Suite 220 / Little Rock, Arkansas 72201" ## Cross-References [[susannah-marshall]] State Bank Commissioner and SBF participant [[john-thurston]] State Treasurer and SBF host [[dennis-milligan]] [[jason-brady]] [[wendy-spadoni]] Auditor's office SBF participants [[jim-hudson]] DFA Secretary and SBF participant [[mike-wickline]] press recipient on SBF distribution [[erica-freeman]] Governor's office staff on SBF distribution [[atrs-board-governance-structure]] companion concept page on the Investment Committee membership Marshall and Thurston share [[auditor-as-dci-channel]] companion concept page [[auditor-foia-r2-jbrady]] [[auditor-foia-r2-milligan]] source pages ## Tensions This concept page is documentary-inventory and surfaces no first-class tensions. It catalogs the SBF membership roster from Treasury distribution emails (Treasury, Auditor, DFA, State Bank Commissioner, Insurance Commissioner, Governor's office, banking-industry, and press), the recurring institutional contact pattern across the three statutory ATRS Investment Committee members (Marshall, Thurston, Milligan), and the 3/26/2025 SBF meeting attendance record from the Milligan calendar invite. The page documents an absence (no Israel Bonds discussion in the captured SBF agendas) and a gap (Marshall's documentary absence from Israel Bonds correspondence despite SBF presence) but these are documentary gaps rather than competing readings of the same evidence. See [[methodology]] § II for the criteria distinguishing documentary-inventory pages from concept pages that surface contested mechanisms.