Dave Mills

Former Executive Director of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board

David Mills has nearly 30 years of experience in the management of public pension plans and investments and an additional 12 years of years of experience in governance and investment of large non-profit organizations and foundations. He left public service in 2007 as Executive Director of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), the independent state agency that managed $95 billion on behalf of the Wisconsin Retirement System and state and local governments. Subsequently, Dave joined the Board of Trustees at Casey Family Programs, a $2.2 billion private operating foundation headquartered in Seattle, where he chairs the Investment and Compensation Committees and serves as the Board's Governance Officer.

Additionally, Dave's experience includes ten years as Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds, the agency which manages health, retirement and other benefit programs for the state and local governments in Wisconsin. His career also includes 10 years of administration in higher education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and as Assistant Dean at Cornell University. Related experience includes five years as a Board member and Chair of Summit Credit Union with assets at the time in excess of $150 million.

Dave's affiliations have included the Council of Institutional Investors (CII), the Government Finance Officers of America (GFOA), the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP), and the National Council on Teacher Retirement (NCTR) for which he served as national President in 2002. He has been a frequent speaker at seminars and conferences held by those organizations on topics involving governance, investment compensation design and organizational development, and cost effective benefit plan design.

Dave has served as a member of the Hewitt EnnisKnupp Investment Client Advisory Committee, advisor to the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program's capital market Long Term Value Creation project, a member of the review panel for the National Public Budgeting Awards Program sponsored by GFOA, and Board member of the Madison Children's Museum. His international engagements have included leading World Bank-sponsored investment compensation design workshops for sovereign wealth funds and as one of 30 world leaders invited to advise the Chinese National Council for Social Security Fund on worldwide best practices for pension investment organizations.

Dave holds a B.A. degree in political science and M.A. degree in public policy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has also completed 31 post-graduate credits in law.