CIO Summit Lures Best in Class

The Harvard Club was packed May 24 and 25 with a bevy of top CIOs and asset managers for the eighth annual CIO Summit, where discussions under Chatam House Rules ranged from leverage vs. beta, to avoiding litigation, to the Trump administration’s effect on portfolios.

Among the attendees and many speakers were Hartford HealthCare’s David Holmgren, UPS’ Brian Pellegrino, the University of California’s Jagdeep Singh Bachher, Britt Harris of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, New York City’s Scott Evans, and New Mexico’s Robert ‘Vince’ Smith, each of whom shared their unique and knowledgeable perspectives on pressing issues in the world of investing, both on individual and multi-person panels alongside colleagues.

The center theme of the two-day engagement was institutional investing in a brave new world. CIOs weighed in on how rapidly the investment landscape has evolved in recent years and what industry professionals can do to keep up with the times. Summit highlights included panels and fireside chats discussing hedge funds and the public perception, creating high-performance investment offices, and Bachher’s chat about how pension funds, sovereign funds, and endowments are changing investment management and long-term investing. David Holmgren opened the event with a round of surprise questions to CIOs who agreed to be in the “hot seat.”

The summit wasn’t all investments, as guests mixed business with pleasure during cocktail hours, breakfasts, and luncheons. Retaining vast amounts of inside of knowledge while appreciating the refreshments, you could say each attendee multiplied their net worth ten-fold.