Over the last several years, capital markets have experienced significant volatility. The regulatory framework for managing pension funding and accounting requirements has also undergone significant change. All of these forces have resulted in a very challenging environment for plan sponsors in managing their pension risk. One of the primary policy areas that plan sponsors have at their disposal to manage their pension risk is investment strategy.
Event Details
During this session, the panelists will outline a brief history of how plan sponsors have thought about setting investment strategy over time as well as discuss current trends and investment ideas that many plan sponsors are focused on in today's environment. We will also hear directly from a plan sponsor on how his/her organization's investment strategy has evolved over the last several years.
Speaker Profiles
Matt Sloan (Panelist)
Senior Actuary, Towers Watson
http://www.towerswatson.com
Matt is a senior actuary with more than 25 years of actuarial and consulting experience. He has extensive experience helping clients coordinate pension investment, funding and benefit strategies with their overall financial goals, with particular expertise in identifying risks and opportunities in unique or unusual situations or during periods of change. He has been with Towers Watson since, October 2005, when the company acquired the firm he had co-founded in 1992. Matt is an associate of the Society of Actuaries and an enrolled actuary. He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard and a B.S.B.A in actuarial science from Drake University.
Chris Wittemann (Panelist)
Senior Investment Consultant, Towers Watson
http://www.towerswatson.com
Chris is a senior investment consultant whose primary focus is helping clients, within their unique contexts, set and implement the appropriate investment strategy. This includes leading risk-budgeting studies, which involve establishing the appropriate asset allocation and investment manager structure based on liability characteristics and client goals and objectives. Chris leads liability hedging implementations and derivatives execution capabilities. He also helps clients develop new frameworks to monitor and evaluate ongoing future investment performance of LDI strategies. Chris is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries, Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst and Chartered Financial Analyst. He received a B.A. in mathematics from Cornell University and an M.A. in applied mathematics from the University of Chicago.
To Be Announced (Panelist), Pension Plan Sponsor Executive
Questions
Scott Kemper, '06
Director, Client Portfolio Services, LSV Asset Management
312.327.4334
Other Information
The Chicago Booth Alumni Finance Roundtable is a University-sanctioned alumni network, formed and led by alumni professionals within the financial services industry. The common purpose of the finance roundtable is to facilitate interaction among alumni, students and friends of Chicago Booth and the University of Chicago. Our goal is to meld financial theory with real-world application by encouraging intellectual enrichment and professional growth through interactive discussion and presentations from leading finance professionals and academics; as well as elevate the stature of Chicago Booth. Events will be organized around the following three topic areas:
Corporate Finance – capital markets, banking, strategic planning, and mergers and acquisitions Investment Management – asset allocation, asset management, and strategies General/Leadership – micro-finance, specialty finance, regulation, and industry icons
ALUMNI FINANCE ROUNDTABLE COMMITTEE:
- Dustin Weinberger '06; Finance Roundtable, Chair
- Richard Thoroe '07; Finance Roundtable, Co-Chair
- Michael Fisch '02; Corporate Finance, Chair
- John Salvino '06; Corporate Finance, Co-Chair
- Scott Kemper '06; Investment Management, Chair
- Guy Lakonishok'09; Investment Management, Co-Chair
- Vern Broders '94; Leadership and General Topics, Chair
- Kevin Clarke '08; Leadership and General Topics, Co-Chair
ALUMNI FINANCE ROUNTABLE ADVISORY COUNCIL:
- Andy Busch '88; BMO Capital Markets, Global Currency and Public Policy Strategist
- Vern Broders '94; Gentry Partners, Finance Roundtable past-president
- Steven N. Kaplan; Chicago Booth, Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance
- Tom Ricketts '93; Incapital, Founder & Chairman
- Ken Viellieu '84; Moelis & Co, Managing Director & Head of Chicago Office
- Paul Yovovich '75; President, Principal and Co-Founder of Lake Capital