Influential Investors Forum

Registration and Buffet Lunch (Cambridge Room 2nd Floor)

Welcome Remarks (Harvard Hall main level)
Vishesh Kumar, Editor-in-Chief, Chief Investment Officer

Passive Management: The Perfect Oxymoron
Investors may turn away from active management under the belief they are avoiding making difficult decisions. But they may be unaware of many risks they are exposing themselves to – and the contradiction that other investment choices entail. And other options like ‘passive management’ are filled with contradictions and risks. Those avoiding active management may feel they are sidestepping forecasting, for example.   But they are in fact embracing a dangerous forecast by default: the assumption that what has worked in the past will work in the future. The implicit bias and implication of passive management frameworks like cap weighted strategies, meanwhile, can introduce substantial risk exposure. The huge concentration in US markets – in often very expensive tech stocks – as a result is a prime example.
Contrary to what many investors believe, passive is not neutral and in fact introduces dangerous biases by default. Instead, if investors want to truly avoid forecasting it is crucial that they aim for diversification instead.
Presenter: Yves Choueifaty, President and CIO, TOBAM

Moderator: Leslie Lenzo, Senior Vice President, Investments, Advocate Aurora Health 
Panelists:
Holland Timmins, Chief Investment Officer, Texas Permanent School Fund
Jonathan Grabel, Chief Investment Officer, LACERA
Rob Roy, Chief Investment Officer, Adventist Health System

Emerging Markets: Where to from Here?
While the long-term promise of Emerging Markets shined as bright as ever, the last year also brought into focus the brutal risks of this generational opportunity. Rising rates saw severe pressure on many high growth EM currencies. Dollar-denominated debt amid plummeting currencies took major tolls on capital markets and the real economies of some EMs, despite promising underlying demographics and long-term economic trends. How asset owners can manage risks while accessing this opportunity – and the most important items to prepare for in the year ahead.
Moderator: Rich Nuzum, President, Wealth, Mercer
Panelists:
Raphael Arndt, Chief Investment Officer, Future Fund of Australia 
Robert “Vince” Smith, Chief Investment Officer & Deputy State Investment Officer, New Mexico State Investment Council
Fred Nieuwland, Chief Investment Officer, Mars, Inc.

Coffee Break

New Frontiers in ESG
Poised for further explosive growth, ESG has already recently leapt in recent years from a “box to check” to a central analytical framework in evaluating investment decisions for asset owners. Issues like sustainability and equity now inform investment decisions in a central way never seen before. But ESG is poised to have an even deeper impact, and the social consequences of investments are being pioneered in new directions by the most innovative allocators. Case in point: Increased scrutiny of the technology sector over the last year, where juggernauts like Facebook and Apple faced deep questions from their shareholders. So what are then next frontiers for ESG? Leading allocators and innovators discuss what’s around the corner for ESG.
Moderator: Tim O’Donnell, Senior Vice President, FEG
Panelists:
Chris Ailman, Chief Investment Officer, CalSTRS
Gail Greenwald, Sierra Club Foundation Board and Investment Committee Chair, Sierra Club Foundation
David J Holmgren, Chief Investment Officer, Hartford HealthCare

Private Equity: From Alternative Asset to Center of the Economy?
Private equity – long pigeonholed as an alternative asset – is increasingly becoming core to US economic activity and mainstream investing, according to leading CIOs. Propelling the trend: the shrinking public markets, where de-listings have now whittled the amount of publicly traded companies to 7,000, half the number compared to 1996. Moreover, studies show that the remaining companies tend to be older and slower growing than in the past. And that compares to 8,000 companies currently operated by private equity firms, where a more entrepreneurial environment allows for more dynamism. Private equity also enjoys access to companies through their full life cycle. Innovative CIOs have been upping their allocations to private equity and seeing it driving returns, with benchmarks for the asset class on the rise in future years. The success has created major challenges – extremely high valuations for assets chief among them – expanding traditional concerns like liquidity and leverage that have plagued private equity. The most innovative allocators in private equity dissect the future potential and pitfalls, and key points like manager selection.
Moderator: Mohamed Elkordy, PhD, SPM: Opportunistic & Special Situations, Texas Trust 
Panelists:
Courtney E. Villalta, Senior Investment Manager, Private Markets, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Mansco Perry, Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer, Minnesota State Board of Investment
TJ Carlson, Chief Investment Officer, Texas Municipal Retirement System

The Next Generation Award: Title Round
Moderator: David J Holmgren, Chief Investment Officer, Hartford HealthCare
Finalists:
Nicolas T. H. Dang, Manager – Absolute Return, CN Investment Division
Kristina Koutrakos, Director of Portfolio Strategy, Virginia Retirement System
Susan Yun Lee, Managing Director of Investments, The Eli and Edyth Broad Foundation
Carrie Lo, Portfolio Manager, CalSTRS
Chad Myhre, Portfolio Manager, Missouri Teachers Retirement System
Susan Oh, Senior Portfolio Manager, Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System
Chris Schelling, Director, Private Equity, Texas Municipal Retirement System

Cocktail Reception (Harvard Hall)

Walk to Dinner at New York Public Library