CIO-Only Discussion to Take Place at CIO Summit

After receiving multiple requests from top asset owners, the 10^th annual CIO Summit will be offering a private discussion exclusive to chief investment officers, scheduled on day two of the conference. The secret 45-minute sit down will immediately follow the event’s final lunch on May 17 and offer an opportunity to network and swap ideas in a room of only CIOs.

As for the CIO Summit itself, the two-day event will feature topics such as Bringing the DB Mindset to DC Plans; Recession, Geo-Politics, and Cycle Positioning Hedges; and Improving Returns with Strategic Asset Allocation and Technology. The conference will also open with the Innovative Asset Owner Hotseat Panel, which will feature institutional all-stars Susan Ridlen, Brian Pellegrino, David Holmgren, TJ Carlson, and Charles Van Vleet, who will moderate.

Dubbed “Team Building and Smart Investing in a Topsy-Turvy World,” the CIO Summit will take place May 16 and 17 at the Harvard Club in New York.

Registration for the CIO Summit is still open, so be sure to save your seat for the 10^th annual event. Attendees may register here. The conference is complimentary to select asset owner CIOs from public and private plans, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, and select family offices.

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Interested sponsors may contact Katie Bacon and Carol Popkins for more information.

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CIO Summit Agenda

Tags: CIO, CIO Summit, Conference, Endowments, Foundations, investing, Pension

Thanks to a “plow back” provision that allows reinvestment of savings, the

Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS) will kick up its employer contribution rate. The board also approved a few alternative assets deals during its April 24 board meeting.

The $29 billion institution approved contributing a 33.53% composite rate of its payroll for the 2019‑2020 fiscal year thanks to actuarial calculations and a plow back provision from a fairly recent law. The policy allows for an extra 0.71% of payroll that reinvests savings into the pension system, similar to a stock dividend. Otherwise, the composite rate would have been 32.82%, slightly lower than what other employers pay, 32.90%.

“Act 2017-5 included a savings ’plow back’ provision requiring that the annual savings achieved through SERS benefit changes flow back into the system rather than to other nonpension obligations,” SERS Executive Director Terrill J. Sanchez said. “The ‘plow-back’ contributions, currently calculated to range from 0.10% to 0.93% of payroll, are expected in 13 of the next 23 fiscal years and will work to accelerate the system’s return to fully funded status.”

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The board also agreed to nearly $1 billion in deals for its real estate, multi-strategy, and private equity classes, in line with its 2018-2019 investment plans, which aim to help the classes meet their respective 12%, 10%, and 16% portfolio allocation targets. The classes made up 7.2%, 8.8%, and 16% of Pennsylvania SERS’ investment portfolio on December 31, 2018, according to its most recent quarterly investment report.

It also greenlit a rebalancing of its equities, shifting $1 billion from the Mellon Capital Management Russell 3000 Index portfolio to cash. Other moves included extending its private equity consulting contract with StepStone Group until April 5, 2021, and keeping its membership with corporate governance advocacy group the Council of Institutional Investors.

The plan is 56.5% funded.

Neither Pennsylvania SERS nor StepStone Group could be reached for comment.

Tags: Employer Contributions, Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS), Pension, Plow Back