Keynote Speakers

Dick's investment experience dates back to 1972 when he initiated Michigan Bell’s Pension Oversight District in anticipation of the requirements of ERISA. Dick also prepared risk, return and capital structure regulatory testimony, and wrote his master's seminar on pension fund performance evaluation. He was elected Assistant Treasurer in February 1976, overseeing the financial modeling, market research, corporate economics, pension, and math research districts.

After an assignment at AT&T, Dick joined Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in 1981, assuming the investment consulting responsibility for over $25 billion in assets. With Merrill Lynch's decision to leave the institutional investment consulting market at the end of 1985, Dick formed his own firm, New England Pension Consultants, converting 100% of his clients in this process. During the ensuing 22 years, NEPC has become one of the ten largest investment consulting firms in the industry, earning wide acclaim for its superior client ratings in national independent surveys, its unconflicted revenue model and its ability to add value to client investment programs. NEPC currently services 265 full retainer relationships with assets in excess of $300 billion with over $36 billion committed/invested in alternative assets.

Dick is a frequent speaker at national industry conferences and seminars. He served as the Co-Chairman of the Consultant's Performance Presentation Standards Task Force, a two-year effort by the investment consulting industry to develop standards for performance documentation, presentation and disclosure.

Dick’s undergraduate degree is in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Detroit (1965) and his M.B.A., with emphasis in Statistics and Finance, is from Wayne State University (1972). He is also a past director of IMCA, the Investment Management Consultants’ Association

Farouki Majeed, CFA, Senior Investment Officer, Asset Allocation / Risk Management, California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)

Farouki Majeed has led the Asset Allocation / Risk Management areas at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) since August 2007.  In this period, he led two asset allocation reviews resulting in Board adoption of new strategic asset allocation targets as well as the establishment of a new inflation-linked assets program.  Additionally, he has led efforts to enhance the risk measurement and reporting process.

Mr. Majeed came to CalPERS from the Abu Dhabi Retirement Pensions and Benefits Fund of the United Arab Emirates, where he served as the inaugural Chief Investment Officer since 2004 and established a global investment program.  Previously, he was Deputy Director, Investments, for the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System from 2002 to 2004.  Mr. Majeed was Chief Investment Officer for the Orange County Employees Retirement System from 1997 to 2002 and Investment Officer for the Minneapolis Employees Retirement Fund from 1991 - 1997.  Mr. Majeed began his investment career in 1980 with the National Development Bank of Sri Lanka and served in various investment and finance education positions in the United States.

Mr. Majeed holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration-Finance from Rutgers University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from the University of Sri Lanka.  He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.  Mr. Majeed also serves on a voluntary basis as a member of the Investment Advisory Committee of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Provident Fund based in Amman, Jordan.

Keynote Speaker on the Economy

Peter Schiff, President & Chief Global Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital, Inc.

Peter Schiff is President and Chief Global Strategist of Euro Pacific Capital, a full service, registered broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC, which specializes in foreign securities. The firm was founded in 1980, and has offices in New York City; Los Angeles; Westport, CT; Newport Beach, CA; Scottsdale, AZ; and Palm Beach, FL.

Mr. Schiff is recognized for his knowledge of the foreign securities markets as well as the currency and gold markets. He has gathered international attention for accurately predicting the collapse of the housing and credit markets, the subprime crisis, and the increasing price of gold relative to the U.S. dollar.

Mr. Schiff delivers lectures at major economic and investment conferences around the country and the world. He is quoted often in the print media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, L.A. Times, Barron’s, BusinessWeek, Time and Fortune. His broadcast credits include regular guest appearances on CNBC, Fox Business, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel, as well as hosting a weekly radio show.

Mr. Schiff’s first book, Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse, published by Wiley & Co. in early 2007, predicted the 2008 economic crisis while the mainstream commentators were saying it was impossible. Then, at the height of the crisis, Wiley released his follow-up bestseller, The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets, which teaches readers how to help protect their finances in turbulent times. In 2009, Peter released Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse, updating his renowned first book and discussing strategies for the next phase of the financial crisis. In 2010, he updated The Little Book of Bull Moves. His only work of fiction, How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes, is an illustrated fable explaining basic economics to general audiences.

Featured Panel Speakers

A. Marshall Acuff, Jr., CFA, Trustee, Virginia Retirement System

Mr. Acuff is managing director of Cary Street Partners and chairman of its investment committee. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a member of the CFA Institute, and a member of CFA Virginia and the New York Society of Security Analysts, of which he is a past director.  Mr. Acuff is a thirteen-time member of Institutional Investor magazine’s All-American Team.  He has participated in advanced investment seminars at Harvard and Princeton and has been frequently quoted by the media and has appeared on CNN, Bloomberg, PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, NKK, and BBC, and CNBC as guest host of Squawkbox.  His publications include columns for the Nikkei (Japan Economic Journal) and the Handelsblatt newspaper (Germany’s business and financial daily), and articles in Barron’s and Forbes.

Upon graduation from the College of William and Mary (1962), and the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration (1966), Mr. Acuff joined Smith Barney, where in 1970 he became the first individual on Wall Street to be designated portfolio strategist.  After serving as a senior vice president and managing director, Mr. Acuff retired from Salomon Smith Barney in 2001.

Mr. Acuff is chairman of the board of trustees of the Virginia Retirement System.  He is currently a member of the boards of Owens & Minor Inc. (Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee), Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the College of William and Mary Foundation, the William and Mary Business School, the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.  He has been adjunct professor of business administration at the College of William and Mary.  He is Rector Emeritus of the College of William and Mary board of visitors and an emeritus member of the board of trustees of Sweet Briar College.

David Altshuler, PhD, Senior Vice President  - Infrastructure Practice Leader, Meketa Investment Group, Inc.

Mr. Altshuler is in his fourth year at Meketa Investment Group, and tenth in the financial services industry. As Infrastructure Practice Leader, his responsibilities include client consulting, reporting on infrastructure commitments, and sourcing and due diligence of new infrastructure investment opportunities.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Altshuler was Assistant Vice President for Infrastructure Financing at Nuveen Investments, where his responsibilities included investment and business development activities focused on emerging market infrastructure. Before that, he was a senior research analyst covering infrastructure and public finance sectors.

Mr. Altshuler is a frequent speaker at industry events, and has published research papers on infrastructure investing. He has held research positions at the American Bar Foundation and the Czech Academy of Sciences, and as a visiting scholar at the Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects at Stanford University, where he participated in a study of the strategy, structure, and evolution of global infrastructure funds. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from Reed College.

John Barger, Board of Retirement, Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA)

Mr. Barger joins the LACERA Board of Retirement with over 25 years of experience as a lawyer, investor, financial entrepreneur, and public servant. He has expertise in the fields of investment banking, asset management, private equity, and reinsurance. Mr. Barger has direct professional investment experience with traditional and non-traditional asset classes, including equities, fixed income, real estate, venture capital, and private equity. He also has expertise on matters of corporate governance for closely held and public companies.

Stuart Bernstein, Emerging Manager Program Director, Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Stuart currently serves as an Investment Manager at the Investment Division of Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS). TRS is one of the largest pension funds in the world at $95 Billion dollars, serving the investment and benefit needs of over 1.3 million teachers in the State of Texas. TRS maintains investments and exposure in a wide range of markets and asset classes including domestic and international public markets, private equity, alternative investments, real estate, infrastructure, and venture capital. Stuart heads the $1.6 Billion TRS Emerging Mangers Program, which makes investments in early stage or small/middle market opportunities. Additionally, Stuart heads the External Private Markets Strategic Partnership Network, collaborating with some of the most successful financial firms in the world to help provide investment direction for TRS.

Michael Brakebill, CFA, Chief Investment Officer, Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System

Michael Brakebill began his investment management career in 1987 assisting portfolio managers with quantitative tools with Wilshire Associates, Equity Management Division in Santa Monica.  He left Wilshire in 1990 to complete his MBA at the University of Texas at Austin in 1992.  He joined the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) as a technology research analyst in 1994 and began working toward his CFA Charter, with which he was awarded in 1997.  Mr. Brakebill restructured TRS’s $6 billion mid and small cap portfolios in 1997, and was asked to lead TRS’s $55 billion domestic equity portfolio in 1999.  TRS’s Domestic Equity five year returns were second out of the top 20 large public funds during Mr. Brakebill’s tenure as Director. 

As Chief Investment Officer for the Tennessee Treasury, Mr. Brakebill manages the assets of the $33 billion Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, the $7 billion State Government and Local Government Investment Pool (SGIP/LGIP), the Baccalaureate Education System Trust (BEST), and the Chairs of Excellence program.

Scott Chan, CFA, Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Sacramento County Employees' Retirement System (SCERS)

As Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Scott is responsible for leading, coordinating and executing SCERS’ overall investment program including asset allocation, manager monitoring and selection, and risk management. 

Since joining in January 2010, Scott has primarily been responsible for leading the effort to diversify SCERS’ portfolio including increasing allocations to hedge funds and private equity, as well as, creating a real assets class.  He has also largely been responsible for developing a direct investing platform for alternative assets.  SCERS is a $6 billion pension fund that invests across a diversity of asset classes and managers including equities, bonds, private equity, hedge funds, real estate, and commodities.   

From 2002-2009, Scott was a partner and portfolio manager for several hedge funds and managed strategies such as market neutral, long short equity, and an opportunistic fund investing across the capital structure.  Scott began his investing career in equity research at J.P. Morgan covering technology stocks. 

Scott graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Economics and earned an M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.  He is a CFA charter holder.   

Dr. John Claisse, PhD., Head of Portfolio Group, Albourne America LLC

John is an equity partner, member of Albourne’s Executive Committee and co-chairs Albourne’s Investment Advisory Committee. John is head of Albourne’s Portfolio Group and is lead consultant to several public and corporate plans and large Endowments and Foundations. John was previously senior strategy analyst for quantitative equity strategies and relative value multi-strategy funds. John joined Albourne in 1996 to develop the firm’s proprietary risk analytics. John holds a first class Mathematics Degree and a PhD from Sussex University.

George Diehr, PhD, Vice President of the Board of Administration, Vice Chair of the Investment Committee, CalPERS

Dr. George Diehr was first elected to the CalPERS Board in 2002, where he represents approximately 250,000 state employees. He was re-elected for second and third 4-year terms in 2006 and 2010.  He presently serves as Vice President of the Board, Chair of the Finance Committee, Vice Chair of the Investment Committee and Vice Chair of the Health and Pension Benefits Committee.

Dr. Diehr represents CalPERS on several national and international committees including the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and the National Coalition on Health Care where he is Chairman of its Board.

 
Since 1990, Dr. Diehr has been on the faculty of the College of Business Administration at California State University, San Marcos. In addition to teaching, he has held several administrative positions including interim dean and chair of the university’s academic senate. He is also active in the faculty union, the California Faculty Association. His academic research and publications include textbooks and articles in professional journals on database management and applied statistics. Prior to joining the CSU faculty, Dr. Diehr taught at the University of Washington’s School of Business Administration in Seattle.

Allan Emkin, Managing Director, Pension Consulting Alliance, Inc. (PCA)

Allan Emkin founded Pension Consulting Alliance, Inc. in 1988, with offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and Portland, Oregon.

Long a member of the consulting community, Mr. Emkin has twenty five years of general consulting experience emphasizing public plan administration and investment policy, as well as international, global, and real estate investments. 

Mr. Emkin was a Vice President at Wilshire Associates before forming PCA in 1988. Prior to his work in the consulting field, Mr. Emkin worked in the California Governor’s office in the Pension Investment Unit.  Before joining the Brown administration, he was a registered lobbyist for ten years specializing in affordable housing and other matters affecting low-income families.

Mr. Emkin is a frequent speaker at various conferences and educational seminars and has long standing relationships with Liberty Hill Foundation in Santa Monica, California as well as The Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard University.

Glenn Ezard, Senior Consultant, Segal Rogerscasey

Glenn Ezard is a Senior Consultant in Segal Advisors’ Los Angeles office with over 23 years of experience in investment management and consulting. He is responsible for client service in the firm’s West Region and is a member of Segal Advisors’ asset allocation and capital markets committee.

Mr. Ezard works directly with clients on all aspects of investment policy and portfolio construction, including the development of asset allocation strategies, investment manager selection and investment performance review and analysis. In addition to client consulting, Mr. Ezard also works with the firm’s dedicated research team, specializing in private markets and investment strategy. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, where he addresses a wide range of issues including asset allocation and asset liability strategies, portfolio management analysis, and the role of private market investments in institutional portfolios.

Mr. Ezard has direct portfolio management experience in both fixed income and equity securities and he began his career as a securities analyst at JP Morgan. He graduated with a BA magna cum laude, with Honors in Political Science, from Temple University. He also holds a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in Public Finance from New York University’s Wagner School for Public Service.

Jose Fernandez, Partner, StepStone Group, LLC

Mr. Fernandez focuses on US-based small market managers, Latin American investments and venture capital and growth equity investments.  Prior to founding StepStone, Mr. Fernandez was a Managing Director of Pacific Corporate Group.  Mr. Fernandez previously worked with Latham and Watkins LLP’s Private Equity/Investment Fund Group with a practice focused on joint ventures and the structuring, negotiation and operation of pooled investment vehicles such as private equity funds. Mr. Fernandez received his BA from the University f Michigan, Ann Arbor and JD from Stanford Law School.

Deborah E. Gallegos, Director of Manager Research, Strategic Investment Solutions, (SIS)

Deborah E. Gallegos, Director of Manager Research for Strategic Investment Solutions, has more than 20 years of experience in public fund administration, investment management, and plan sponsor consulting.  She is responsible for the overall direction and supervision of SIS’s manager research effort, and oversees the conduct of manager search and selection projects in the public markets asset classes.  Deborah served as New York City’s Chief Investment Officer, where she supervised the development of the overall investment policies, standards and guidelines for the City’s five pension systems totaling $90 billion in assets. 

Previously, Deborah served as Deputy State Investment Officer for the New Mexico State Investment Council.  She was a Vice President at JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management, where she worked for six years for its Global Emerging Markets Fund, and also worked for Morgan Stanley & Co. in its equity research group.  Deborah serves as the Treasurer for the Stern Grove Festival Foundation and sits on the investment committee for the City College of San Francisco.

John W Geissinger, CFA, Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer, North Dakota Retirement and Investment Office

John oversees the investment strategy and implementation for the North Dakota Public Employees Retirement Plan, the Teachers Fund for Retirement Plan, retirement trusts for political sub-divisions, and insurance trusts and non-pension investment vehicles for the State of North Dakota.

John began his investment career in 1983 with Aetna Life and Casualty where he became the Director of Fixed Income Quantitative Research.  He subsequently held senior fixed income portfolio management positions at Putnam Investments, Chancellor Capital Management and Bear Stearns Asset Management.  He was appointed Chief Investment Officer for Bear Stearns Asset Management in 2004 where he was responsible for the asset allocation for the firm’s multi-asset client assignments.  Most recently, John was the Chief Risk Officer for Natsource, LLC, a manager of funds focused on the carbon and environmental cap and trade marketplace.

John is a Chartered Financial Analyst and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Economics from Wake Forest University, and his Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Statistics from New York University.

David Glickman, Managing Director, Pension Consulting Alliance, Inc., (PCA)

Mr. Glickman joined PCA in 2009. He has more than 39 years of institutional investing experience in the U.S. and Europe, with an emphasis on commercial real estate debt and equity for pension and retirement system clients. He founded Ambassador Capital Management, Inc., a registered investment advisor in 1999, specializing in publicly traded real estate related securities.

From 2001-2005, Mr. Glickman was a Partner and Investment Committee Member of Apollo Real Estate Advisors, a sponsor of opportunistic comingled funds. From 1998-99, he was Vice Chairman of Advisory Research, Inc., a registered investment advisor specializing in small cap value equity stocks and taxable and tax-exempt fixed income securities. From 1994-98, he was Chairman, CEO and CIO of Ambassador Apartments, Inc. (NYSE: AAH), a public, value-added REIT, whose IPO he led and which merged with AIMCO (NYSE:AIV) in 1998. From 1972-92, he was Executive Vice President and Member of the Board of Directors and Investment Committee of Heitman Financial, and President of Heitman Advisory Corporation, a Registered Investment Advisor, specializing in core real estate asset management for institutional investors in separate accounts and comingled funds.

Mr. Glickman is a Guest Lecturer in Real Estate at Kellogg Graduate School, Northwestern University. He is an Illinois and Nevada licensed real estate broker, a former Director/Trustee of the National Multifamily Housing Council, Pension Real Estate Association, NAREIT, F.W. Parker School, Menomonee Boys and Girls Club, and is on the Advisory Board of Institutional Real Estate, Inc.

Mr. Glickman received his Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Robert L. Greene, Trustee, Virginia Retirement System

Mr. Greene is a Principal with Syncom Venture Partners, where he leads the firm’s Business Development and Investor Relations processes. He is also actively involved in the portfolio company development process, creating and executing strategies to develop growth opportunities for Syncom’s portfolio companies. In addition, Mr. Greene serves as a Trustee for the Virginia Retirement System (VRS),a $51 billion pension plan sponsor serving Virginia’s Public Employees and Teachers.  At VRS, Mr.Greene serves as Vice Chairman of the Audit & Compliance Committee.

Mr. Greene has been actively involved in the leadership and development of what has come to be known as America’s Emerging Domestic Market. He served concurrently as President of the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC), and as President of The Marathon Club For Entrepreneurship. During his tenure the organizations launched the Journal of EDM Finance magazine, created The Dealmakers Summit and developed a series of beneficial strategic alliances with the Executive Leadership Council, New America Alliance and The Plan Sponsor Consortium.

Previously Mr. Greene served as Director of Private Equity with Arthur Andersen Transaction Advisory Services, where he advised private equity firms on a variety of venture capital and leveraged buyout transactions. Mr. Greene possesses ten years of managerial experience in the Media & Communications industry, serving in a variety assignments in strategy, finance and business development at ATx Business Communications Services.

Mr. Greene holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, Virginia. He is a recipient of the University’s Distinguished Service Award and served as a Virginia Governor’s Fellow.

Brian Guthrie, Executive Director, Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Brian K. Guthrie serves as executive director of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), the sixth largest public pension fund in the United States. 

With a staff of approximately 500 employees, TRS delivers retirement and health benefits as authorized by the Texas Legislature and manages a $105 billion trust fund established to finance member benefits. More than 1.3 million public education and higher education employees and retirees participate in the system.

As TRS executive director, Brian is overseeing a legislatively mandated study of the TRS health care programs, TRS-Care and TRS-ActiveCare, as well as the multi-year TRS Enterprise Application Modernization (TEAM) program that he championed as deputy director. TEAM will replace aging legacy systems and improve internal processes to help ensure TRS continues to provide excellent service to its growing membership.

Brian has an extensive background in state government, legislative relations, budgeting and finance. Before becoming executive director, he served for three years as deputy director of TRS.  Prior to that, he worked in the Texas Governor’s Office of Budget, Planning and Policy for eight years; served as a budget advisor to two lieutenant governors; and began his career at the Legislative Budget Board. In addition to his familiarity with state budget policy, Brian has also worked on higher education, criminal justice, public retirement systems, and state health insurance issues.

Brian has a master’s degree in public affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, UT-Austin, and bachelor’s degrees in economics and history, magna cum laude, from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Brian recently celebrated his 20^th year as a non-native Texan and lives in Austin with his wife and three children.

Andy Hayes, Private Equity Investment Officer, Oregon State Treasury/Oregon Investment Council

Andy Hayes is a Private Equity Investment Officer, with the Office of the State Treasurer of Oregon.  He is currently responsible for Oregon’s Asian and Venture Capital relationships, while also covering other private equity strategies.  Oregon has a well-diversified, global, Private Equity portfolio, with a Fair Market Value of over $13 billion.

Before joining the Private Equity team, at Oregon, in February 2008, Andy worked as an Analyst in Oregon’s Public Equity group.  While working in the Public Equity group Andy assisted with the management of over $30 billion of externally managed capital, and had a great opportunity to learn the public fund environment.

Chae N. Hong, Senior Consultant, Hewitt EnnisKnupp, Inc.

Chae Hong, Senior Consultant, manages consulting assignments for a select number of Hewitt EnnisKnupp retainer and project clients. Chae assists with client projects that require his expertise and is also member of the firm’s real estate research group. He has over 14 years of real estate industry experience within real estate investment, research, and consulting. Prior to joining Hewitt EnnisKnupp in 2010, Chae was a Director at Cliffwater where he served as the primary contact for the firm’s real estate managers and was responsible for the firm's real estate research efforts. He was a Vice President in Callan's real estate group and a senior researcher at RREEF. Chae holds a B.A. and M.B.A. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

John Johnson, CFA, Chief Investment Officer, Wyoming Retirement System

John Johnson has been chosen to be the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for WRS, following the resignation of Trent May in September. Johnson has 20 years of investment experience, most recently as a Senior Investment Officer at WRS where he has been involved in all aspects of restructuring and enhancing the portfolio. Prior to coming to WRS, Johnson was a Senior Analyst at The Boston Company asset management. Previously he served as the Portfolio Manager of the Dreyfus Founders Balanced fund from 2002 until 2006.

Johnson has also served as an Investment Analyst with American Century Investment Management, where he was responsible for stock selections for a mid-capitalization growth product. He also analyzed domestic and international stocks with an emphasis on small to large-capitalization companies in the technology sector for The Abernathy Group. Prior to that, Johnson was a Senior Analyst for Berger Funds, specializing in the technology sector.

Johnson earned a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Arizona State University and a Master’s degree in Finance from the University of Colorado. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Andrew Junkin, CFA, CAIA, Managing Director, Wilshire Consulting

Andrew Junkin joined Wilshire in 2005 to work with the firm's consulting clients. Prior to joining Wilshire, Mr. Junkin was director of research and senior consultant at Asset Services Company where he provided advice to institutional investors. He began his career as a financial consultant with Merrill Lynch in Oklahoma City.

Mr. Junkin earned a BS from Oklahoma City University, attended business school at the University of Oklahoma and earned his MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations.

Damon G. Krytzer, CFA, Trustee, City of San Jose Police and Fire Department Retirement Plan

Damon Krytzer has been involved in the global capital markets for 18 years, with experience in asset management and deal execution. He ran a global tactical asset allocation portfolio, founded a trading desk to manage portfolio risk exposures, and managed a pool of emerging markets rates and currencies. Damon is active in advising board trustees on alternative investments portfolio construction, and has further advised on portfolio liquidity and on trade execution strategy. Damon’s professional experience includes roles with Oppenheimer & Company, UBS Financial Services and Prudential Securities advising investors on portfolio construction and attribution.

Damon leads portfolio construction for Waverly Advisors, a tactical research and advisory firm, and serves on the boards for The City of San Jose Police and Fire Retirement Plan, Mesoloan Financial in India and R2 Alpha Partners. He is a CFA Charterholder, adjunct professor for alternative investments at the University of San Francisco Business School, holds MBA degrees from Columbia Business School and the University of California Haas School of Business, and studied political science at Rutgers University.

John Linder, CFA, CPA, Consultant, Principal, Pension Consulting Alliance, Inc., (PCA)

Mr. Linder joined PCA in 2009 as a Senior Vice President with both consulting and investment research responsibilities. He has lead consultant responsibilities for two clients, and consults to PCA relationships representing over $450 billion in client assets.  Prior to joining PCA, he was a Partner and Senior Investment/Tax Strategist at CTC Consulting in Portland, Oregon, where he worked closely with both the consulting and research arms of CTC Consulting to integrate portfolio structuring, investment strategy, risk management, manager selection and tax management decisions within a consistent analytical framework. He currently provides ongoing advice to investment committees, boards, and executive staff of plan sponsors across a broad range of ongoing investment issues. In addition to ongoing retainer consulting duties, his project consulting engagements have included: analyzing and presenting an absolute return / alternative return strategic class (Oregon Investment Council), restructuring the strategic class framework (CalPERS), consulting on risk measurement and management (CalSTRS), leading asset-liability studies, and conducting absolute return and private partnership due diligence reviews.
 

Prior 2004, he was engaged in various financial market roles including senior buy-side equity analyst at Alsin Capital, manager of business valuation and litigation services with the CPA firm Larson Allen Weishair & Co, LLP, and began his career in the financial services industry in 1996 at the CPA firm McGladrey & Pullen, LLP.
 

Mr. Linder has been a speaker at SACRS, the Superbowl of Indexing, and the Sacramento Chapter of the CFA Society. He is a CFA charter holder and a member of the CFA Society of Portland and the Portland Alternative Investment Association. He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He received his BA in economics from Middlebury College magna cum laude, and his Masters of Accountancy (MAC) from the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at UNC Chapel Hill.

Jeffrey MacLean, President and Chief Executive Officer, Wurts & Associates, Inc.

Mr. MacLean, Chief Executive Officer, is a shareholder of Wurts & Associates. He started with the firm in 1992 and has over 22 years of capital market experience.   Mr. MacLean is responsible for managing the firm and serving as the Senior Consultant to several clients. 

  
Mr. MacLean leads the Research Advisory Committee which supervises the firm’s macro economic research, manager due diligence, capital market assumptions, and asset allocation for discretionary clients.  His longstanding consulting experience includes working with corporate defined benefit plans, defined contribution, public, multi-employer, endowments, and foundations.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. MacLean was Vice President of Shurgard Realty Group and was responsible for raising private real estate capital.  He also worked for Arthur Andersen & Company where he served in their consulting division. Mr. MacLean serves as a Trustee of the Little Company of Mary Foundation and as a member of the Young Presidents Organization.  He also volunteers for Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.  He often speaks at various investment forums regarding investment policy issues, asset allocation strategy, and the macro environment.   Mr. MacLean has a BA in Business from the University of Washington and an MBA from the Darden

Susan Mangiero, PhD, CFA, FRM, Risk Management, Valuation Expert, Fiduciary Leadership, LLC

Susan Mangiero PhD, CFA, FRM, is director, strategic intelligence for Prudential Retirement. As senior pension risk strategist she provides support to the Pension Risk Transfer business which includes creating qualitative and quantitative competitive market and customer research and analysis surrounding pension de-risking.

Prior to joining Prudential, Mangiero worked as an independent consultant to institutional investors and their attorneys, financial service organizations and regulators. She has over twenty years of experience in capital markets, asset-liability management, portfolio management, economic and investment analysis.

During her career in finance, Mangiero worked with or for organizations that include General Electric, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Mesirow Financial, Bankers Trust, Bank of America, World Bank, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, U.S. Department of Labor, Northern Trust Company, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and others.

Mangiero is the author of Risk Management for Pensions, Endowments and Foundations (John Wiley & Sons, 2005), and her articles have appeared in Investment Lawyer, RISK Magazine, Financial Services Review and the Journal of Compensation and Benefits.

Mangiero has a PhD degree in finance from University of Connecticut, an M.B.A. in finance from New York University and an M.A. in economics from George Washington University. In addition she is a CFA charterholder and is certified as a Financial Risk Manager by the Global Association of Risk Professionals.

Kenyatta K. Matheny, Investment Officer, Emerging Managers, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois

Kenyatta K. Matheny has more than 15 years of experience in finance including corporate lending, leverage finance and private equity. He joined the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois (TRS) in 2010 as an Investment Officer to manage a $500 million emerging manager investment portfolio across all asset classes with a particular focus on alternative investments.  Prior to TRS he led a team of corporate lenders and advised middle-market companies on senior debt transactions at Associated Banc-Corp. Early in his career, he received leveraged finance and capital markets training at Heller Financial (now GE Capital) where he underwrote leveraged buyouts up to $500 million while in another capacity managed a $300 million portfolio of LP investments in private equity funds.  He received a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Indiana University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business where he was awarded the Robert A. Toigo Fellowship.

Dan McAllister, Treasurer-Tax Collector, San Diego County, Board Member, San Diego County Employees Retirement System, (SDCERA)

Dan McAllister was elected San Diego County’s Treasurer-Tax Collector in November 2002 and reelected for a second term in June 2006. Not only is he responsible for the collection of more than $4.6 billion in property taxes each year, but his office also manages the investment of approximately $6.3 billion in the County’s Investment Pool, ensuring that these funds are wisely invested and safeguarded for entities such as the school districts and cities in the County. Since assuming office, he has worked extensively to improve customer service, enhance communications and outreach initiatives, and has made numerous operational improvements. He is also a strong advocate for diversity. This is reflected in his staff, which encompasses professionals from all walks of life and backgrounds.

Dan also serves as a member of the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association, which manages an investment pool of approximately $6.2 billion. Additionally, he is a former chairman of the Board of Directors of the internationally recognized San Diego Convention Center Corporation. Prior to his election as San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Dan was a successful financial consultant
and investment broker.

Dan contributes considerable time and resources to community service, such as serving as Chair of the San Diego Unified School District’s Special Audit and Finance Committee and is a participating member of the Board of Directors of the Jackie Robinson YMCA and Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County. He is also on the Board of Directors of the San Diego State University Diversity and Equity Council. McAllister’s service commitment dates back to his Peace Corps stint in the Western Pacific Country of Micronesia.

A second-generation San Diegan, Dan holds a Bachelor’s degree (BA) from California State University, Fresno, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from United States International University. He has also completed executive education programs in portfolio concepts and management at Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Craig Metrick, Principal and U.S. Head of Responsible Investment, Mercer Investment Consulting

Craig Metrick is Principal and US Head of Responsible Investment for Mercer. In this role Mr. Metrick consults to public, private and foundation clients on implementing responsible investment principles and mandates. Previously, Craig was Director of the Corporate Benchmarking Service (CBS) at the Investor Responsibility Research Center, Inc. (IRRC) which provided ESG research to institutional investors. Craig joined Mercer in March 2006 and has more than 15 years experience working in the responsible investment industry and on issues of sustainability and corporate responsibility.

Craig has authored or co-authored several public reports since joining Mercer, including:

• Universal Ownership: Opportunities an Challenges
• Investing in clean energy, clean technology and carbon trading: insights for investors
• Energy efficiency and real estate: Opportunities for investors

In 2011 Craig became a Board Member of the US Social Investment Forum. Craig is also a member of FTSE4Good US Advisory Committee.

Josée Mondoux, CFA, CAIA, FMA, FCSI, Director of Investments, The Canadian Medical Protective Association, (CMPA)

Josée Mondoux is Director of Investments for the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA), responsible for the oversight of a $2.8 billion Reserve for Claims.  In her role, she provides the strategic leadership and management of the CMPA's in-house investment team's three units, namely public assets, private assets and operations/reporting, in addition to being the liaison to the Investment Committee.  She has also worked as Portfolio Manager, Strategic Investments for the CBC Pension Fund.  Josée holds the CFA, CAIA, FMA and FCSI designations.

Herb W. Morgan, Board President, San Diego City Employees' Retirement System

Herb W. Morgan is CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Efficient Market  Advisors, LLC (EMA), which he founded in 2004.

Prior to becoming CEO of EMA, Mr. Morgan held the post of Senior Vice President of Advisory at Linsco/Private Ledger Financial Services, Inc.  Mr. Morgan was also Sr. Vice President with Dreyfus as well as Sr. Vice President with ING Funds group. (Then known as Pilgrim Funds) From 1990 to 1996 Herb held positions with J&W Seligman & Co. Herb Morgan graduated from The University of California, Santa Cruz with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics. (Honors)

Mr. Morgan has been interviewed by multiple publications including Forbes Magazine, CBS Market Watch, Business Week, Investment News, Investors Business Daily and The Wall Street Journal.  Mr. Morgan has also been a guest on Fox News and CNBC television.  Additionally, Herb has served as an expert witness in cases involving mutual fund trustee fiduciary liability.

Herb is President of the Board of Administration of the San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS).

Stephen L. Nesbitt, CEO, Cliffwater LLC

Steve is CEO and CIO of Cliffwater LLC, an investment-consulting firm specializing in alternative investments, including hedge funds, private equity, and real assets. Cliffwater has 35 investment professionals with locations in New York and Los Angeles. Its clients include endowments, foundations, and pension plans with over $15 billion in alternative assets. Prior to forming Cliffwater in 2004, Steve was a Partner at Wilshire Associates where he founded and managed their consulting, hedge fund and private equity groups from 1990 to 2004. He began his career at Wells Fargo Investment Advisors as a portfolio manager within the index fund group. Steve is a frequent industry speaker and his published articles have appeared in The Financial Analysts Journal, The Journal of Portfolio Management, The Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, and other periodicals on topics such as performance fees, currency hedging, private equity, asset-liability management, and corporate governance.

Steve has an MBA from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania.

Ryan P. Parham, JD/MBA, Chief Investment Officer, Public Safety Personnel Retirement System of the State of Arizona, (PSPRS)

Ryan has responsibility for strategic analysis for the PSPRS portfolio and is a senior member of the internal Investment Committee. He is a former corporate council and director of international affairs in the oil and gas industry. He has also served as a consultant in business strategy. Ryan has more than twenty years experience in global investments and business. Ryan has taught graduate students in strategy and business in China, Japan, India and at various U.S. military installations.

Ronald D. Peyton, Chairman, CEO, Callan Associates

Ronald D. Peyton is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Callan Associates Inc., a privately held, employee-owned firm whose mission is to deliver superior consulting solutions that help clients achieve their investment and business objectives.

Mr. Peyton joined Callan Associates in 1974. Since that time, he has worked with many large institutional investors to effectively plan, structure, and evaluate investment programs, products and organizations. He is a frequent speaker at industry investment conferences and meetings.

Mr. Peyton serves on the Board of the United Way Bay Area and is a member of its Road to Recovery Cabinet. He was previously a member of the Kelley School of Business Dean's Council at Indiana University, and currently serves as a Dean's Council "Counselor."  He was past President of the Governing Board of the Filoli Center (a National Trust for historic preservation property) where he still serves on the Executive Committee, Compensation Committee, Audit Committee and is Chairman of the HR Committee. Mr. Peyton is a former member of the Advisory Board of the University of California at Berkeley Extension and The Castilleja School Investment Committee. From 1990 to 1999, he served on the AIMR Performance Standards Implementation Committee.  He is an advocate of the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired where Callan Associates has been a fundraising sponsor for over 20 years.

Mr. Peyton is Chairman of Callan's Management Committee. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors and a shareholder of the firm.

Prior to joining Callan Associates, Mr. Peyton worked with Marathon Oil Company's pension investments, in addition to handling other financial responsibilities. Mr. Peyton earned a B.S. degree in Accounting and an M.B.A. degree in Finance at Indiana University.

Eugene L. Podkaminer, CFA, Vice President, Callan Associates

Eugene L. Podkaminer, CFA, Vice President.  Eugene is a consultant in the Capital Markets Research Group. Eugene is responsible for assisting clients with their strategic investment planning, conducting asset allocation studies, developing optimal investment manager structures, and providing custom research on a variety of investment topics.

Prior to joining Callan in 2010, Eugene spent nearly a decade with Barclays Global Investors. As a Senior Strategist in the Client Advisory Group, he advised some of the world's largest and most sophisticated pension plans, non-profits, and sovereign wealth funds in the areas of strategic asset allocation, liability driven investing, manager structure optimization, and risk budgeting. As Chief Strategist of Barclays' CIO-outsourcing platform, Eugene executed CIO-level functions for corporate pension plans and endowments. Eugene was also a Senior Investment Consultant with Alan Biller and Associates.

Eugene received a B.A. in Economics from the University of San Francisco and an M.B.A. from Yale University. He earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Society of San Francisco and the CFA Institute.

Carmen Racy-Choy, FSA, FCIA, MBA, Chief Investment Officer, San Jose Federated City Employees Retirement System and San Jose Police & Fire Department Retirement Plan

Carmen Racy-Choy is the Chief Investment Officer for the San Jose Federated City Employees Retirement System and the San Jose Police & Fire Department Retirement Plan.  Since her appointment in July 2008, she has made a significant contribution to the analysis of plans assets and liabilities, and spearheaded Trustee education in Alternative Investments.  In addition to her impressive educational credentials, she has extensive experience as an enrolled actuary and a pension plan investment consultant.

Prior to joining the City of San Jose, she was a Principal at Mercer Investment Consulting in Montreal, an Actuary and Director of Risk Management/Finance for Sunlife Financial, Associate Actuary for Manulife Financial and Manager of Investment & Product Risk Management for NN Financial (ING Group).

Carmen graduated with a MBA from INSEAD and a B.S. in Actuarial Mathematics from Concordia University.  She is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries. 

Brian Rice, Investment Officer, California State Teachers’ Retirement System, (CalSTRS)

Mr. Rice is an Investment Officer in the CalSTRS Corporate Governance Department and has been working in the governance group at CalSTRS for nine years.   His main areas of focus at CalSTRS are environmental risk management, the CalSTRS activist manager equity portfolio, and CalSTRS’ corporate governance efforts in Asia. His environmental risk management duties include analyzing potential risks to the CalSTRS investment portfolio, identifying appropriate portfolio investments to engage, and developing and implementing engagement strategies. Mr. Rice is also the staff lead for the CalSTRS Green Initiative Task Force which is responsible for identifying environmental investment opportunities and risk management strategies across CalSTRS’ various asset classes.

John Robinson, CTP, Senior Managing Director, Gray & Company

John C. Robinson, CTP: Mr. Robinson is the Senior Managing Director at Gray & Company.  Mr. Robinson has over 17 years in the financial services industry.  Most recently was in the position as an Associate Director for Raymond James & Associates in the Public Finance Investment Banking Group. He has held the positions of Associate Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Deputy Chief Financial Officer for the District of Columbia. During his tenure with the District of Columbia, he was an ex-officio board member for the District of Columbia Retirement System. Mr. Robinson was the Chief Investment Officer (Cash & Investment) for the City of Atlanta. He also managed the City’s $1.5 billion investment portfolio.  Mr.  Robinson has held several senior level positions at various investment banking firms. He holds a BS in Business Administration from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Business Administration from Kennesaw State University. Mr. Robinson is a member of the Association of Financial Professionals and Government Finance Officers Association. He is a Certified Treasury Professional and CAIA Level II candidate.

Lincoln Smith, CFA, Portfolio Analyst, Albourne America, LLC

Lincoln Smith joined Albourne in October 2007 and works as a Consultant at the firm.  He helps clients construct customized portfolios of hedge funds that meet their Investment Guidelines and also works on the firm’s risk aggregation initiatives. Mr. Smith works with public and private pension plans, endowments and foundations, and family offices.

Prior to Albourne, Mr. Smith started his career as an Analyst in 2003 for Grosvenor Finance which operates a fund management business out of Australia and New Zealand.

Mr. Smith has a Post Graduate Diploma in Finance from Otago University (NZ) and a Degree in Economics also from Otago University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Kevin Q. Tatlow, CAIA, Senior Consultant Private Markets, NEPC, LLC

Kevin is a Senior Consultant in NEPC’s Private Markets Research Group where he specializes in sourcing, evaluating, and monitoring private equity fund investments for the Firm’s institutional clients. He is currently active in the Firm’s research efforts in Middle Market Buyout and Distressed Strategies. In addition Kevin has lead NEPC’s research efforts in the Mezzanine, Venture Capital and Secondary investment areas.

Kevin joined NEPC in 2005. Prior to his career at NEPC, Kevin worked as a Consultant with A.D. Biller & Associates where he was actively involved with client service and research with institutional investors. Prior to moving to the investment consulting field in 2001, Kevin worked for 11 years in engineering, operations and finance with Rohm & Haas Company in California and Texas. Highlights of his career at Rohm and Haas included project leadership roles in the firm’s largest capital spending projects and the role of Engineering Manager at a highly successful Greenfield plant start-up in Texas where he played key roles in design, construction, commissioning and establishing ongoing operations processes.

Kevin earned an MBA from the University of California-Berkeley in 2001; a Master’s in Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1990, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in 1986.

Patrick Welton, Chief Executive Officer, Welton Investment Corporation

Mr. Welton is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Welton Investment Corporation.  He has been an active investor since 1981 and an investment manager since 1989.  Mr. Welton has served on committees for the Managed Funds Association (MFA) and as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Futures Association (NFA) from 1997-2000.  He has also spoken at numerous conferences in the U.S. and internationally, participated in panel presentations in many venues, and authored articles in a variety of publications focusing on alternative investments.  Mr. Welton currently serves as an investment committee member of a foundation, a California pension plan and an endowment.  He holds undergraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin, UCLA, and Stanford University respectively.

Peter Wilamoski, PhD, Director of Capital Markets Research, Wurts & Associates, Inc.

Mr. Peter Wilamoski, Ph.D., Director of Capital Markets Research, joined Wurts & Associates in 2011.  He is joining Wurts from The Threshold Group where he served as the Director of Research.  There he lead all aspects of the research department, including qualitative and quantitative driven manager discovery, selection, and due diligence across traditional and alternative asset classes for high net worth families and foundations with over $3 billion under advisement.   In addition to leading Threshold’s research, Peter oversaw a number of client relationships and prepared market commentary and white papers.  Prior to joining The Threshold Group, Peter served as Director of Manager Research for Greycourt & Company.  Previously Peter worked with the Russell Investment Group in both their capital markets and manager research groups. His duties in capital markets included working with Russell’s 20/20 group on understanding issues facing investors in emerging markets. Within Russell’s manager research group he focused on evaluating US Equity managers and specifically those employing quantitative stock selection models.  He began his career as an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Albers School of Business at Seattle University where he taught international trade and finance as well as macroeconomics to both undergraduates and MBA students. He has a BA from California State University at Sacramento and a PhD in economics from the University of Oregon.