The leaders within the investment industry gathered at the Boca Raton Resort and Club for the flagship events in the marcus evans investment series- Foundations & Endowments Investments and US Pensions Summits. Ushering the delegation into the amazing line-up were Chairpersons Zvi Bodie, Professor of Finance and Economics at the Boston University School of Management and Richard W. Slocum, Director of Private Investments, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In his later presentation entitled “Returning to a New Equilibrium in the Private Market”, Mr Slocum looked at the state of the Private Equity and made suggestions for market stabilization. He suggests that the healing process will include a reduction in fund sizes, a pick up in the secondary market and continued capital migrating to credit.
Outstanding keynotes filled the agenda including: Dr Alan Greenspan, Chairman, The Federal Reserve System (1987-2006); Bradley Belt, Former Executive Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and Charles Paul Blahous III, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute and Former Deputy Director, National Economic Council.
The events also featured several much-anticipated panel discussions. In one such discussion the panelist: Fred R. Buenrostro, Jr., Former Chief Executive Officer, CalPERS; Paul Colonna, President and Chief Investment Officer, Fixed Income, General Electric Asset Management and Brian S. O’ Neil, Chief Investment Officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, tackled the issue of “Future Investment Strategies”.
The highlight of the event however was keynote Dr Alan Greenspan whose session gave the audience the opportunity to have an open conversation about the world economy. Through an in-depth question and answer session facilitated by Brian S. O’ Neil, Chief Investment Officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dr Greenspan gave his views on what factors caused the economic crisis to occur, and what it will take for the economy to recover.
Other presenters featured included:
Sandy J. Matheson, Executive Director, Maine Public Employees Retirement System
Lee Partridge, Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Charles Van Vleet, Director, Portfolio Investments, United Technologies Corporation
Richard Stensrud, Chief Executive Officer, Sacramento County Employees’ Retirement System
John Keane, Executive Director- Administrator, Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund
Joya C. De Foor, Treasurer, City of Los Angeles, CA
Louis Morrell, Vice President, Investment and Treasurer, Wake Forest University
Gabriel Petre, Investment Strategist, Asset Allocation and Quantitative Strategies, World Bank Treasury
Charles Millard, Former Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Tim Nguyen, Senior Investment Analyst, Treasury, University of Connecticut
Scott Anderson, Chief Economist, Wells Fargo & Company
Dana Johnson, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Comerica, Inc.
M. Keith Garrison, Director of Alternative Assets, Texas Christian University
Barbara A. Aaron, Vice President and Director, Finance and Administration, UNC Management Company, Inc.
Kathryn I. Murtagh, Managing Director and Chief Compliance Officer, Harvard Management Company, Inc.
Sanjeev Daga, Chief Operating Officer, Columbia Investment Management Company
Christa Velasquez, Director of Social Investments, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, President and Chief Investment Officer, The Endowment Office
Richard Oldfield, Chair of the Investment Committee, Oxford University
Daniel Brebner, Executive Director, Commodity Research, UBS
Mark Zandi, Chief Economist and Co-Founder, Moody’s Economy.com
Closing Keynote, Charles Paul Blahous III, discussed the Federal Economic Policy and the affect of the aging population. He stressed that the long-term trends embody a bigger problem than the current economic crisis; as baby boomers retire the strain on the federal budget will be unbearable. Part of the solution, he suggests, is to scale back benefits promises for Social Security and Medicaid rather than the alternative of increasing taxes.
About the marcus evans Investment Series
Every year marcus evans produces more than 25 unique investment summits for North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, bringing together both investment managers and investors. Held at exclusive locations, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-on-one business meetings to provide an effective, highly focused interactive event.
