Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Opening Welcome

Sara Hamilton, Founder and CEO, Family Office Exchange

Kristi Kuechler, President, FOX Private Investor Center, Family Office Exchange

Moving Beyond Yale and Harvard:
New Thinking in Asset Allocation

Ken Frier, CFA, Partner, SECOR Asset Management, Former CIO, Stanford Management Co.

Gretchen Tai, Partner, SECOR Asset Management, Former CIO, HP Pension

It is widely accepted that asset allocation is the most important investment decision for a portfolio yet, in recent years, many Chief Investment Officers at large institutions are questioning the mainstream asset allocation frameworks. These CIOs recognize that investment portfolios today face an elevated risk of bad investment outcomes, but existing frameworks may not be helpful to avoid big losses without lowering expected portfolio returns. In this session, two experienced institutional CIOs will discuss and review multiple approaches to making investment allocation decisions, including those developed by Yale and Harvard, and present a new, more dynamic asset allocation approach.

Voice of the Wealth Owner: Moving Beyond the Single Portfolio Allocation

Adam Horowitz, President, Horowitz Group

Eugene Lipitz, Chief Financial Officer & Wealth Strategist, Commodore Management LLC

In this session, the principal of a prominent family will discuss the evolution of their investment approach, from a single portfolio allocation to a segmented portfolio based on goals and risks. They will discuss the challenges of a single “pie chart” and the lessons learned as they moved towards a more tailored approach that better met their investment objectives.

Known Knowns, Known Unknowns, Unknown Unknowns: Real Estate Investing in a Time of Uncertainty

Doug Poutasse, EVP, Head of Strategy and Research, Bentall Kennedy

Real estate investing always involves the underwriting, pricing, and management of a number of risks. Many of these are local and asset-specific. But understanding the impact of macroeconomic, capital market, and demographic risks are also critical to successful property investment. There are times when economic and capital market trends seem relatively benign if not predictable. This is not one of those times. This presentation will focus on what is "known" about the macro environment, what has changed or is expected to change that may be best classified as a "known unknown" and finally what are the "unknown unknowns" that investors should be considering.

Luncheon Keynote
Chasing Yale with a Vengeance

Bimal Patel, PhD, Former CIO of Family Office, Former Head of Portfolio Management, Bank of America

This session will discuss one family office executive's experience running a significant trading portfolio targeting a double-digit return with minimal drawdown. The speaker will share some surprising observations as to what market opportunities family offices should be pursuing, and how they can best exploit their distinct “edge” in the pursuit of returns.

Peer Dialogue Sessions

FOX will assign attendees to an appropriate peer dialogue session. All sessions will be facilitated by a member of the FOX team. Sessions will include:

• FOX Direct Investing Network (DIN)
• FOX Investment Strategy Network (ISN)
• FOX Private Investor Council (PIC)
• FOX Strategic CIO Council (SCIOC)

Advisor attendees will be assigned an Advisor peer discussion.

Please note that some discussion groups will be limited to network members or council members only.

Breakout Sessions
Please select one of the following:

Impact Investing: A Skeptical View

Moderator:

Paul Morelli, CFA, Founder and
Managing Partner, Vernal Point Advisors
 

Panelists:

Tom Baruch, Founder & Chairman, Baruch Future Ventures

Justina Lai, Director of Impact Investing, Wetherby Asset Management

Michele Park, PhD, Partner, Clarus Ventures

Families and family offices express great interest in making investments that provide a competitive return and support a social good. While the “impact investing” space is growing quickly, actual investments are moving more slowly, and many pitfalls exist. This panel will take a cautious view of how “double bottom line” investing should be considered and what measures should be used to determine an investment’s success in meeting its objectives as an “impact investment."

What Would Yale Do if it Were Taxable?

Ran Leshem, CIO, Aperio Group

The session will present the investment and allocation practices from institutional investors but incorporate the critical element of tax management in seeking an optimal after-tax asset allocation. The session will analyze the approach used by the Yale Endowment through the lens of a taxable investor.

Long Only Equity: Active, Passive, and The Space Between

Kristi Kuechler, President, FOX Private Investor Center, Family Office Exchange

Investors have been moving significant capital out of active long-only strategies, driven by the relatively low number that outperform the passive benchmark over time, especially relative to their fees. While indexed ETFs have been the primary beneficiary of this trend, many investors hesitate to own the perceived inefficiencies of a cap-weighted strategy, and thus there has been great interest in “smart beta” or factor-based strategies that combine active bets with a systematic investment approach. This session will discuss developments in active and passive investing, and explore further “the space between."

Integrated Portfolio Construction and Unleashing Investor Alpha

Jeffery Coyle, Founder and CIO, Monograph Wealth Advisors

The financial complexity associated with affluence often limits transparency and the ability for families to make effective, well-informed decisions. As a result, portfolios are often detached from the purpose they are intended to support resulting in a misalignment of assets, insufficient liquidity, and exposure to excess fees and expenses. This session will discuss how families may apply a liability-driven process to suitably align assets to the family’s objectives and systematically access more confident sources of after-tax and expense returns, thus more successfully accessing “investor alpha.”

The Evolution of Alternative Investments: Adapting to Survive

John Claisse, PhD, CEO, Albourne Group

This session will discuss the most important trends affecting the hedge fund and private equity industries, from the investors’ perspective.

• Goodbye 2 and 20, hello 1 or 30; changing the shape of fees
• Hedge funds deconstructed: asset allocation revisited with low cost, liquid, alternative risk premia
• Co-invest with me: the new landscape of customized investments
• New thinking regarding return drivers in private equity: company selection, management alpha, illiquidity premium or leverage?

Closing Remarks

Kristi Kuechler, President, FOX Private Investor Center, Family Office Exchange

Dutch Treat Dinners

FOX will help arrange Dutch Treat dinners for FOX members following the Reception on topics of common interest, including:

• Rethinking Long-Only Equity
• Rethinking Hedge Funds
• Rethinking Asset Allocation
• Rethinking Direct Investing

Additional information about these dinners will be available at the registration table at the event.