# Robyn M. Smith Executive Secretary of the Arkansas State Highway Employees Retirement System. Email [email protected], phone 501-569-2411, fax 501-569-4955. Per her own email signature, Smith's title is "ASHERS Executive Secretary / Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System / Arkansas Department of Transportation." Smith is the ASHERS principal in the wiki's only documented Arkansas pension system to receive and decline the Berman/Young DCI Israel Bonds pitch. Smith was the recipient of Andy Babbitt's 4/16/2025 9:25 AM "Virtual Introductions" email forwarding to her at ASHERS the Lawrence Berman / Brad Young pitch contact information, and the recipient of Berman's 4/17/2025 1:02 PM follow-up pitch email with the APPROVED PPT 2.6.25 JH.pdf attached. Smith did not reply to Berman; the thread terminated after Berman's pitch. See [[ashers-declined-pitch-control-case]] for the analytical framing. ## Role at ASHERS Smith's "Executive Secretary" title at ASHERS positions her as the executive-officer-level point of contact for institutional sales pitches and reporter inquiries. The ASHERS Executive Secretary is functionally parallel to the Executive Director role at ATRS (Mark White) and APERS (Amy Fecher) for outreach-reception purposes, though the title is structurally distinct. Smith handles Wickline's 5/14/2025 FOIA-type inquiry directly without escalation to ASHERS Board members in the documented correspondence. Smith's internal-channel correspondents at ARDOT documented in this production: [[jared-wiley]] ([email protected], the recipient of Smith's two 5/15 forwards of the Wickline thread plus the substantive context note), [[dave-parker]] ([email protected], the recipient of Smith's 5/15 10:53 AM FYI forward), [[crystal-woods]] ([email protected], the 7/14/2025 internal-curiosity correspondent who asked "Are we also purchasing Israeli bonds?" after the Lenow Arkansas Times article). ## Response to the Berman pitch: passive non-engagement The wiki's only documented Smith communication on Israel Bonds with respect to the Berman/Young approach is the absence of communication. Berman's 4/17/2025 1:02 PM pitch email proposed a phone or Zoom meeting "in the next week or two" and offered a Little Rock in-person follow-up. Smith did not reply. No subsequent Berman-Smith correspondence is in the ASHERS production. The decline mechanism Smith executed at ASHERS is documented at [[ashers-declined-pitch-control-case]] as passive non-engagement. ## Response to the Wickline 5/14/2025 inquiry Mike Wickline's 5/14/2025 5:21 PM email to Smith asked: "1. does ASHRS have any Israeli-related investments or Israeli bonds? and if so how much?" Smith responded the next morning at 8:32 AM CDT — three hours and 28 minutes before the APERS IFSC convened to authorize Israel Bonds — with the factual statement and three holdings: > "Good morning, Mike: ASHERS does not hold any Israeli bonds. ASHERS does hold: Cyber-Ark Software LTD - $504,000.00 / Camtek LTD - $690,000.00 / Cellebrite Di LTD - $773,000.00" > Smith to Wickline, FW_ wickline's questions.eml, 5/15/2025 8:32 AM CDT The response distinguishes Israeli equity exposure (three NASDAQ-listed Israeli tech companies, $1,967,000 total) from Israeli sovereign-bond exposure (zero). Smith's framing tracks the analytical line the wiki applies for ATRS's [[atrs-pre-existing-indirect-exposure]] (equity-versus-sovereign-debt). Smith subsequently forwarded the resolved Wickline thread to Wiley and Parker for internal awareness. ## Response to the 7/14/2025 Crystal Woods internal inquiry Crystal Woods, an ARDOT staffer who forwarded a Facebook share of the Lenow Arkansas Times article from her personal AOL account ([email protected]) to her work address on 7/12/2025 7:32 AM, emailed Smith on 7/14/2025 10:35 AM asking "Just curious... Are we also purchasing Israeli bonds?" Smith replied the same day at 10:35 AM: "We are not." The two-word reply communicates institutional stability of ASHERS's no-Israel-Bonds posture nine weeks after the APERS IFSC authorization. ## Evidence > "Robyn M. Smith / ASHERS Executive Secretary / Arkansas State Highway Employees' Retirement System / Arkansas Department of Transportation / Phone: (501) 569-2411 / Fax: (501) 569-4955 / [email protected]" > Smith's email signature, FW_ wickline's questions.eml, 5/15/2025 8:32 AM CDT > "We are not." > Smith to Crystal Woods, RE_ Arkansas Times article about state retirement systems purchasing Israeli bonds.eml, 7/14/2025 10:35 AM CDT ## Cross-references [[ashers-declined-pitch-control-case]] [[ashers-foia-r1-3-27-26]] [[andy-babbitt]] DFA Deputy Director and State Controller who introduced Berman to Smith [[lawrence-berman]] [[brad-young]] DCI representatives whose 4/17/2025 pitch Smith did not reply to [[mike-wickline]] reporter whose 5/14 inquiry Smith answered directly [[jared-wiley]] [[dave-parker]] [[crystal-woods]] ARDOT internal correspondents