Former VRS trustee Edwin Burton contended that investment professionals who serve as trustees and advisers for the $68.1 billion retirement system have an interest in promoting investments that require active management for high fees, rather than relying on less complex stock and bond indices such as the S&P 500. "They're not people who are inclined to indexing," said Burton, a UVA economics professor who served 18 years on the VRS board and often criticized its asset allocation policy for investments.