Wtia Employee Benefit Trust

“Michael Schutzler is the chairman of this trust and Chief Executive Officer of the Washington Technology Industry Association (the WTIA). Shannon Swift was a trustee of this trust and is a director of the WTIA. Mike Monroe is Executive Director of this trust and paid by the WTIA.”

“The Trust has contracted with a third-party administrator (Benefit Solutions, Inc.) to provide bookkeeping and administrative services, with Washington Technology Industry Association to provide certain consulting services, and with HR Benefits, Inc. to provide certain administrative, marketing, sales, advisory, monitoring and compliance services.”

“All Trustees are appointed by the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) president and confirmed by the WTIA's executive committee. The Trustees have the authority to either increase or decrease the size of the Board of Trustees. In the event of a termination, resignation, death or vacancy of a Trustee, any new or successor Trustee will be provisionally appointed by the current Trustee(s). In the event there are no current Trustees, an additional or successor Trustees will be provisionally appointed by WTIA. In making the appointment, the remaining Trustee(s) or WTIA will attempt to select an individual from one of the participating employers, it being the intent that the Trustees, as a group, constitute a fair representation of the participating employers. Notice of the provisional appointment will be mailed by the administrative office to all participating employers and will become final thirty (30) days after such notice unless, in the meantime, participating employers representing 51 percent of the participating employees should object, in writing, to the appointment. In the event such an objection is filed, the Trustees will conduct a referendum election among all of the participating employers. Each employer may submit the name of one nominee and in the referendum each employer will be entitled to one vote. Each vote will be weighted, however, by the number of the employer's employees participating in the Trust (as measured by the number of employees reported on the employer's reporting form received by the Trust in the month prior to the month of the election). The nominee who receives the largest number of votes will be declared the new Trustee. The current Trustees or WTIA will have full authority to make the arrangement for the election, including the adoption of any election rules which they may deem appropriate. The costs of the election will be chargeable to the Trust. Each successor Trustee will acknowledge, in writing, his or her acceptance of appointment as successor Trustee.”

“The Form 990 was prepared under the guidance of the Board of Trustees by the independent accounting firm SCHOEDEL & SCHOEDEL, Certified Public Accountants, PLLC. Draft copies of the Trust's financial statements and Form 990 were first provided to the Trust's consultants and advisors, who reviewed the Form 990 for accuracy and completeness. Any questions, concerns or issues raised by the consultants and advisors were addressed and any necessary revisions were made to the Form 990. The revised Form 990 was then provided to the Board of Trustees for its review and approval. Any additional questions, concerns or issues raised by the Board of Trustees were addressed and any necessary revisions were made to the Form 990. The final version of the Form 990 was reviewed, approved and filed by the Board of Trustees.”

“The Trust administration office prepares a list of service providers. This list is distributed to each Trustee, and to each service provider authorized to conduct transactions on behalf of the Trust. Each Trustee and service provider is given copies of: ERISA SS 406(a)(1) and 406(b) which prohibit certain transactions between the Trust and persons or entities that are "parties in interest" with respect to the Trust and the transfer of Trust assets to or the use of such assets by or for the benefit of a "party in interest," as well as a copy of ERISA S 3(14) which sets forth the definition of a "party in interest." This list of parties in interest is updated and distributed to the Board of Trustees annually. The Trust administration office, with assistance from Trust counsel, as appropriate, requests a signed statement from the Trustees affirming they do not have any conflicts of interest. All proposed investments made directly by the Trustees, as well as all proposed relationships with service providers, are reviewed by Trust counsel for compliance with the prohibited-transaction provisions of ERISA. All agreements between the Trust and service providers authorized to conduct transactions on behalf of the Trust are provided to Trust counsel for review before execution to ensure that, whenever applicable, the agreement contains appropriate restrictions or other protections against prohibited transactions with parties in interest. Any Trustee or service provider authorized to conduct transactions on behalf of the Trust who has reason to believe that a proposed transaction might constitute a prohibited transaction with a party in interest consults with Trust counsel and takes whatever additional action may be appropriate to ensure that the proposed transaction is appropriate. Any fiduciary whose participation in a decision may result in a nonexempt prohibited transaction under Section 406 of ERISA recuses himself or herself from discussing or voting on that decision. The Trust Office annually distributes a post-interest questionnaire to plan fiduciaries in conjunction with the annual audit. The Trust Office and Trust Counsel assist the Trust's auditors, as appropriate, with the distribution and return of the party-in-interest inquiries made with respect to the annual audits to ensure that the responses are complete and timely.”

“The Trust performed a comparable salary review to determine the salary of the Executive Director.”

“The Trust's governing documents, conflict of interest policy, financial statements and Form 990 are available to the general public upon written request sent to Benefit Solutions, Inc. at: P.O. Box 6, Mukilteo, WA 98275.”