He’s also a former newscaster, a celebrity, a diehard ASU Sun Devil fan, a skilled golfer, and an all-around great guy. And as someone who knows the history of tax credits and the impact of CEA on the community, Jeff is an advocate whose commitment has been appreciated for many years. He’s a loyal individual and corporate supporter. He’s a Catholic school parent-we both had daughters that graduated from Xavier College Prep-and just wait until you hear what his beautiful daughter does now. Jeff Marisola is a business leader in Arizona for Lumen Technologies, also known as CenturyLink, and a former member of the Board of Directors for Catholic Education Arizona whom I’ve had the pleasure of knowing for years. There’s so much today that I can say about today’s guest. Catholic Education Arizona is a school tuition organization that accepts tax credit contributions from individuals and corporations and turns them into tuition scholarships for students. I’m Deb Preach, Chief Development Officer for Catholic Education Arizona. You are listening to Creating Future Leaders with Catholic Education Arizona. When I look to the future, the role of the CIO is going to be more important than it ever has been because it will be up to the CIO to look at all of the innovations and all of the wobbles and make a decision.Did you know in Arizona taxpayers have choices about where to direct their state taxes? If you have a desire to help families afford the education they choose for their children, sit back, listen and be inspired. â€œWeâ€™re getting more data than we ever have technology is making everything move faster as well. â€œMarkets and the industry are evolving much faster than they have in the past,â€ she said. In the future, Lutito expects the role of the CIO to expand in some ways in response to the need for continued innovation.

â€œTo me, that says there is an opportunity for new solutions to come forward.â€ Â€œWeâ€™re already seeing elements of defined benefit come over, to help people manage through their whole retirement,â€ she said. Lutito added that she thinks there will be a significant opportunity for further technological and investing innovations in the defined contribution space, especially when it comes to issues such as deaccumulation. Both of these tools have also helped to streamline reporting internally and to board members. For the pension plan, a new liability risk management and reporting tool ensures that the overall portfolio is staying within acceptable risk ranges. For both the DB and DC plans, she and her team use an investment factor risk analysis tool to help them think through portfolio construction. LUMEN/CenturyLink has both a frozen defined benefit (DB) plan and an active defined contribution (DC) plan for employees.

In their search for solutions, Lutito and her team have implemented new technologies to help them manage their investment portfolios. If youâ€™re coming from a place of opportunity, it is much easier to find solutions.â€ Our team has really tried to view this time as an opportunity to understand not only where we are but what the future might look like. Doing that effectively will require innovative thinking to manage change. â€œAs CIOs, we have to balance the short-term and the long-term. Â€œA lot of pension plans are where we are and are doing what weâ€™re doing,â€ Lutito said. The remaining portfolio adjusted its investment strategies to account for the changes. Both the annuity purchases and the spinoff had to be managed closely to limit disruption and ensure that all parties were being well served. The spinoff included $2.5 billion, or approximately 25%, in pension liabilities. Annuity purchases totaled $1.4 billion, approximately 15% of the pensionâ€™s liabilities. Those two decisions shrank the overall size of the pension by about 40% and required significant resources. Not just because of the pandemicâ€”a significant issue in its own rightâ€”but also because LUMEN/CenturyLink has moved to purchase annuities for its retirees and spin off part of the company. The past 18 months have been pretty wobbly. â€œI prefer to call these changes â€˜wobbles.â€™ In my role, Iâ€™m trying to manage the team and the portfolio through the wobbles.â€ Â€œThere will always be change,â€ she told CIO. But for Kathleen Lutito, president and CIO of LUMEN/CenturyLink Investment Management, stability is necessary for innovation. Innovation and stability might seem like two concepts that work at cross purposes.

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