March 2026 Minutes

Board Attendees:

Chicago:

Jim Argionis

WebEx/Phone:

Kelli Harrison

Joanna Webb-Gauvin

Noah Finley

Christelle Khalaf

Rob Karr

Pat Devaney

Mark Denzler

Rick Terven

Harish Patel

MINUTES

With a quorum of the members present, the meeting was called to order by Chairman Argionis.

1.  Introductions (Jim Argionis)

IDES continues to participate in media briefings, and to that extent, if you are a reporter or member of the media with a media request or question, please submit those to the Department’s PIO, Rebecca Cisco.  She can be reached at Rebecca.Cisco@Illinois.gov.

2.  Minutes from Prior Meeting (Jim Argionis)

The minutes from the December 2025 ESAB meeting were reviewed.  Rob Karr called for a rollcall vote to approve the minutes as final.  Kelli Harrison seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

3.  Director’s Comments (Ray Marchiori)

Thank you Chair Argionis and members of the board, for providing IDES the opportunity to meet with you for our first meeting of the calendar year.  Before we move on, and on behalf of the Department, I would also like to congratulate and welcome our new public board member, Harish Patel.  Thank you for your willingness to serve on the advisory board.  Thank you to the entire board for your service, we are grateful for your continued support.

As mentioned earlier, I am also joined today by my fellow colleagues from the Department, some of whom you will be hearing from shortly, Brett Cox, our CFO, and Marty Johnson the Department’s Director of Labor Market Information will share financial, Trust Fund, and economic outlook activities.

With the Governor’s introduced budget last month for FY27, the Department is currently engaged in legislative session activity as it relates to budget and the appropriation authorization process.  The Department remains focused on delivering and providing core services through innovation and strategic investments, while maintaining a commitment to fiscal stability.  The investments made within the Department in recent fiscal years will continue to shape the plan in preparation for the future.  Additionally, to underscore this type of focus, I would like to mention that an accomplishments report is available on our website highlighting the strides the Department has made in the last couple of years.

In closing, as always, I would like to express my deep appreciation to all my IDES colleagues across the state and recognize them for the work they do each day on behalf of our Department.  Thank you.

Now, I will hand it back to you Chair Argionis.  Thanks to everyone for your time today.

4.  Revenue Update (Brett Cox)

Activity in the Trust Fund continues tracking closely with projections discussed in our last Board meeting.  The Trust Fund balance was $1.26 billion at the end of February [exact balance 1,259,374,463.15 if asked].  Your packet of materials for this meeting also includes an annual report on our Special Administrative Account fund for fiscal year 2025 if anyone has any questions about it.  [If asked about low UTF balance, will inform them that our biggest period for employer contributions is at the end of April when first quarter contributions are due so the balance should be significantly higher at our next Board meeting.  For reference, 54% of contributions during calendar year 2025 were deposited between April 21 – May 2.]

5.  Quarterly Financials Presentation (Marty Johnson)

The state’s UTF account ended the 4th quarter of 2025 with a positive balance of $1.58B.  As the projections provided today indicate, the account is expected to run a revenue deficit in the first and second year of the forecast (2026-2027), with slight surpluses in the outbound years of 2028 and 2029.  With regard to the final net trust fund balance, under the baseline projection, the year-end balance is projected to be a positive balance of $1.09B in 2026 and a positive balance of $0.94B in 2029 – the extent of the forecast horizon.

6.  Open Discussion

As mentioned by the Director during his comments, a report on the accomplishments of the Illinois Department of Employment Security was published to the IDES website, and he provided the link (https://ides.illinois.gov/about/accomplishments-report.html).  A copy of the report and the link was emailed to board members following the meeting.

7.  Adjournment

A motion was made by Rob Karr to adjourn the meeting.  The motion was seconded by Joanna Webb-Gauvin and the rollcall vote unanimously voted to adjourn.

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