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SPEAKER

Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Visiting Associate Professor, Finance, MIT

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SPEAKER

Dominic Garcia

Chief Investment Officer, New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association

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MODERATOR

Kim Evans

Senior Vice President, North America Head of Private Capital Services, Northern Trust

 

PANELISTS

Craig Demko

Director of Private Equity, NC Dept. of State Treasurer

Mike Long

Managing Director, Global Head of Tech Enabled Services, Jefferies

Greg Seward

Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Live Oak Bank

Increasingly, data-driven discussions continue to support that diversity within the alternatives industry delivers higher returns on investment. However, current statistics on diversity within alternatives reveal a substantial gap persists. As boardrooms and managers recognize the need to close the gap, companies are implementing programs and strategies to adopt diversity in senior leadership. But is it happening fast enough? What actions can each stakeholder take to accelerate the inclusion of diversity? The panel will discuss the overall findings, current strategies and best practices for integrating diversity across the alternatives industry.

 

MODERATOR

Sharmila Kassam

CEO, Founder, Aligned Capital Investing

 

PANELISTS

Cindy Esparragoza

Academic Outreach and Program Manager, GWI

Betty Salanic

CEO, Accelerate Investors

Melissa Waller

Director of Public & Private Partnerships, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, AIF Global

The private equity investment environment remains highly competitive, with valuations near the upper end of historical ranges driven by large capital inflows, a benign rate environment, the pace of technology adoption and a relatively stable global economy. However, the maturity of the current economic expansion coupled with policy and geopolitical uncertainties pose significant challenges looking forward. Public market performance has been exceptional recently, but private equity has continued to outperform over the long-term. Against this backdrop, our roundtable will discuss the implications for private equity investors, aiming to develop appropriate tactical responses for investment portfolios.

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MODERATOR

Richard Carson

Managing Director, Cambridge Associates

 

PANELISTS

Wes Bradle

Senior Portfolio Manager, Florida State Board of Administration

Miguel Gonzalo

Partner & Head of Investment Strategy and Risk Management, Adams Street Partners

Nitin Gupta

Managing Partner, Flexstone Partners

Jay Jester

Partner, Plexus Capital

Ed McMahan

Managing Partner, Falfurrias Capital Partners

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is a generic term used to describe the non-financial performance and risk factors that allow investors to evaluate corporate behavior and the impact of these factors on public and private markets investments. Responsible investing spans a range of objectives with one end of the spectrum focusing on maximizing risk-adjusted returns “Socially Responsible Investing” to the other end, “Impact Investing” which prioritizes ethical considerations linked to a social outcome. Increasingly, managers are focusing on responsible investing as part of their investment process as institutional investors make responsible investing a priority. This panel will explore a range of topics related to pension and endowment fund adoption of ESG investing programs.

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MODERATOR

Samar Abbas

Vice President, Stepstone

 

PANELISTS

Laurence Gottlieb

Chairman and CEO, Fundamental Advisors

McComma Grayson

Principal, Harbourvest

Ross Koenig

Vice President, RCP Advisors

Allison Spector

Director, Sustainability, Nuveen

The search for stable returns and recurring yield in a low interest rate environment has prompted investors to steadily increase their allocations to infrastructure over the last ten years. This has contributed to a significant expansion of the private infrastructure market. Global initiatives to reduce carbon emissions are resulting in local actions to support the continued development of renewable energy. Additionally, significant capital is being spent to mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt infrastructure to cope with more volatile climatic events, increase efficiency and reduce wastage. This is driving near-record rate base growth across the sector. However, asset valuations are near all-time highs, and in some cases, may have decoupled from fundamentals. We will examine the global outlook for infrastructure investments with a focus on identifying the segments of the market and places in the capital structure that represent the best opportunities for outsized returns going forward.

 

MODERATOR

Paul Finlayson

Senior Vice President, Product Manager, Northern Trust Corporation

 

PANELISTS

Charles H. Dufresne, Jr.

Co-founder, New America Infrastructure Partners

Hadley Peer Marshall

Managing Director -Infrastructure, Brookfield Asset Management

Ed Pallesen

Head of U.S. Infrastructure, H.I.G. Capital

2019 was another record year for VC investing worldwide on both a deal and dollar volume basis. While the pace of deal-making accelerated, the capital is increasingly concentrated in the hands of fewer players. Fewer players with larger funds are making larger investments at higher valuations and exits. Despite several high profile IPO underperformers, investors continue to realize distributions at an accelerated pace and are redeploying the capital back into the industry. Emerging technologies have disrupted traditional industries and created new ones as a result of capital allocations and guidance from VC’s. The question remains of whether the venture industry has reached a new normal or a peak ahead of a cooling off period. Join our session to review emerging themes for VC investing in 2020.

 

MODERATOR

Mindy Isenstein

Vice President, TrueBridge Capital Partners

 

PANELISTS

Jason Caplain

Co-Founder & General Partner, Bull City Venture Partners

Caitlin Fitzmaurice

Managing Director, UVIMCO

Barry Gonder

Senior Advisor, GroveStreet Advisors

David Mannheim

Partner, Nelson Mullins

Despite signs of slowing global growth and rising volatility in capital markets, demand for private debt is high due to attractive risk adjusted returns across managers since recession. In 2019, the credit market continued to be borrower-friendly due to high levels of unfunded commitments. As a result, loan documentation in many parts of the market has weakened, with high levels of covenant-lite structures in the syndicated space and in some cases, the middle-market. In this environment, underwriting discipline and access to attractive transactions remain key. Strong sponsor relationships to help source transactions and / or direct-sourcing origination platforms, combined with robust underwriting and the ability to provide comprehensive, tailor-made financing solutions at an appropriate risk-adjusted pricing, are important differentiators. Our roundtable will discuss the implications for private credit investors and strategies for positioning portfolios for a late-cycle environment.

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MODERATOR

Sylvia Owens

Managing Director, Global Private Credit Strategist

 

PANELISTS

Michael Becker

Partner, Plexus Capital

Justin Lenarcic

Global Alternative Investment Strategist, Wells Fargo Investment Institute

Jordan Peer

Managing Director and Global Head of Capital Formation, HIG Capital

Eric Storch

Managing Director, Oak Hill Advisors