# Rod Graves Investment officer at the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System reporting to executive director Mark White. Email [email protected]. The 6/18/25 FOIA production shows Graves as the operational executor of White's Israel Bonds directive: liaison with Aon, manager search coordinator, portfolio data provider, and Reams account opener. Graves appears first in the December 2024 Mryyan FOIA chain. After Mryyan pressed for Israel Bonds details and White asked Graves on 12/11/2024 to investigate pooled fund holdings, Graves identified the State Street SSgA U.S. Aggregate Bond Index NL Fund (CMX6) as the only pooled vehicle providing detailed individual security reporting that included Israel sovereigns. He noted ATRS's participation at "roughly 17.6% of the collective fund" and provided the holdings spreadsheet for the Mryyan response. Graves contacted Aon's PJ Kelly and Katie Comstock on 5/9/2025, the day after White's directive, to schedule the June Board agenda item. The follow-up sequence reaches its commercial decision point in the 5/28/2025 forward from Kelly: an offer from Reams Asset Management at a 3 basis point management fee. Graves's 5/29/2025 response to Kelly was simply "Just give me a call when you want to discuss." On 5/15/2025, in support of White's response to reporter Mike Wickline, Graves provided the portfolio totals: direct holdings approximately $19 million, indirect holdings via passive global index funds approximately $5 million, total portfolio approximately $22.4 billion as of 5/14/2025. Graves later corrected the SSgA Israel bond slice estimate from $800,000 to approximately $1 million, noting "Sorry! I missed one on the excel sheet." After the 6/2/2025 Board action, Graves on 6/3/2025 told FIN Daily reporter Gar Chung "All investment related items were approved as presented." When Chung asked how the mandate would be funded, Graves wrote internally to White: "I expect the mandate to be funded through cash flows based on actual values compared to target asset allocation targets at the time of funding." On 6/4/2025 Donna Bumgardner from ATRS finance asked Graves about the timeline for opening the new Reams fund and whether it would open before fiscal year end. Graves replied that the account "will not open until after fiscal year end. We have to go through the contracting process and Legislative review." He noted the option of opening a shell account at State Street and assigning Reams as manager after the contracting process completed, with full funding rather than a transition. Graves's documented role is operational and executive. The materials do not show him offering substantive views on whether the investment is wise, on credit risk, or on whether Reams is appropriate as manager despite Kelly's caveat that Reams is "light on experience with Israel bonds." ## Evidence > "Please see attached. ATRS is roughly 17.6% of the collective fund." > Rod Graves to Mark White, Emails1.pdf p.29, 12/11/2024 > "Mark would like to add Israel bonds as an agenda item for the June meetings. Can we schedule a call next week to discuss?" > Rod Graves to PJ Kelly and Katie Comstock, Emails3.pdf p.8, 5/9/2025 > "Direct holdings total around $19 million as of 5/14/25. We also have an estimated $5 million invested in Israel through our passive global index funds. Total portfolio is around $22.4 billion as of 5/14/25." > Rod Graves to Mark White, Emails3.pdf p.9, 5/15/2025 > "Sorry! I missed one on the excel sheet. Make the estimate around $1 million." > Rod Graves to Mark White, Emails3.pdf p.12, 5/15/2025 > "All investment related items were approved as presented." > Rod Graves to Gar Chung, Emails4.pdf p.1, 6/3/2025 > "I expect the mandate to be funded through cash flows based on actual values compared to target asset allocation targets at the time of funding." > Rod Graves to Mark White, Emails4.pdf p.3, 6/3/2025 > "At this time I anticipate the account will not open until after fiscal year end. We have to go through the contracting process and Legislative review." > Rod Graves to Donna Bumgardner, Emails5.pdf p.8, 6/4/2025 ## Cross-References [[mark-white]] Graves's principal [[pj-kelly]] [[matt-waz]] external counterparties Graves coordinated with [[reams-asset-management]] selected manager [[atrs-pre-existing-indirect-exposure]] concept page based on Graves's December 2024 SSgA discovery [[atrs-resolution-2025-22]] concept page on the action Graves implemented [[atrs-foia-r1-staff-emails]] [[ssga-cmx6-2024-11-30]] source pages ## Auditor R3 3-3-26 production: the December 2025 Reams capital call disclosure The Auditor R3 production at [[auditor-foia-r3-3-3-26]] documents Graves' Monday 12/29/2025 11:23 AM `ATRS Board Update-Liquidity` email to the ATRS Board Distribution List (cc Mark White), captured in Brady's Inbox via ATRS Board membership. This is the single most substantively significant ATRS-side document in the R3 production: the post-execution disclosure of the December 2025 $50 million Reams Israel Bonds capital call. > *"December payments since the last Board update consisted of several ATRS obligations including capital calls for various investments of approximately $185 million. This includes the Scout (Reams) mandate of $50 million for Israel Bonds and $50 million of the $100 million commitment to the Realty Income US Core Plus Fund."* The funding source disclosed in the same email: > *"Withdrawals totaling $100 million from the SSgA Global Index Fund along with withdrawals totaling $140 million from the BlackRock Global Index Fund were required to cover December liquidity needs."* ATRS deployed the full $50 million maximum authorized by Resolution 2025-22 in a single quarter, overriding Mark White's 5/22/2025 Board preview proposal of *"an investment of up to $50 million spread over 5 years, with up to $10 million per year"*. The SSgA Global Index Fund withdrawal indirectly liquidated ATRS's pre-existing approximately $1 million passive Israel sovereign exposure documented at [[ssga-cmx6-2024-11-30]]; the simultaneous $50 million direct Reams Israel Bonds purchase produced an approximately 50× exposure increase. See [[atrs-reams-capital-call-execution]] for the analysis. Graves' role on the Israel Bonds execution beyond the 12/29 disclosure email is not surfaced in the R3 production. Whether Graves directed Reams to deploy the full $50 million in December 2025 (versus Reams making the call independently within its delegated discretion under Resolution 2025-22) is not documented; the Reams contract negotiation and Reams's internal investment decision-making are FOIA follow-up targets for either ATRS or Reams custodian production.