The Washington State Investment Board continues to show strong, relative investment return performance (May 15, 2003) Olympia - First quarter results show the Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) outperformed the median return of other public investment funds with assets under management greater than $1 billion as measured by the Trust Universe Comparison Service (TUCS) in the quarter ending in March 2003 and the 1 year, 3 year, 5 year, and 10 year. The WSIB oversees $48.1 billion of the state's public trust and retirement funds. The latest WSIB investment performance report was released at the Board's regular monthly meeting in Olympia today. Commenting on the report, WSIB Executive Director Joe Dear said "Washington's investment strategies maintain a disciplined focus on long term investment performance, and despite extremely difficult recent financial markets, our 10 year performance of 7.79 percent is still 58 basis points ahead of the 7.21 percent total for the median public fund with assets greater than $1 billion under management in TUCS. That's the result of solid management practices and good investment strategies." In other business today, the WSIB approved one-year extensions for six active international developed markets public equity investment manager extensions. These extensions, through June 30, 2004, were approved for Artisan Partners (Artisan), Delaware International Advisers (Delaware), Dresdner RCM Global Investors (Dresdner RCM), Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management (NACM), Putnam Investments (Putnam), and Pyrford International (Pyrford). The WSIB's Public Equity unit monitors and evaluates these managers in areas of performance, philosophy and process, organization, compliance, and client service. The Board may terminate a manager on five-business days' notice. The Board also voted in favor of a one-year contract extension with Cost Effectiveness Measurement, Inc. (CEM) which provides cost-effectiveness and benchmark analysis services relative to the Board's defined benefit plan. The CEM contract was also extended through June 30, 2004. Copies of WSIB's first quarter performance results and asset allocation results are attached or available on line at www.sib.wa.gov.