Institutional Investor Series: CA pensioners benefit from high quality returns of hedge funds

In this Opalesque Institutional Investor Series video interview Protégé Partners Chief Investment Strategist Michael Weinberg, who is also an Adjunct Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School, interviews Sean Bill, Investment Program Manager at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Mr. Bill gives insights into the over and underweights at the SCVTA, discussing the need to seek higher returns due to the drift down in rates by reshaping the fixed income portfolio to accommodate this need, to where now “almost all the managers in fixed income portfolio are hedge funds.”

Specifically, Mr. Bill sees great potential in opportunistic and high yield credit, including direct lending, and a clear preference for hedge funds over traditional long-only for the fixed income bucket. Almost 30% of the overall platform’s interest is in hedge funds, which the platform finds more attractive than beta investing in current market environment.

Mr. Bill was also a Trustee for the San Jose Police and Fire Retirement Plan until late 2014, giving him a unique perspective into the difference between being the Trustee of a Plan, where the focus is on the more big picture policy issues, and being a senior staff member supporting the plan and implementing the board’s programs.

Learn more about:

• The move away from fixed income and the search for unique asset managers
  
• The directives of being both a Manager of a Public Plan and also a Trustee
  
• Finding the right infrastructure-focused manager
  
• Preference for “Contractual Income” – contractual fixed income over equities markets subject to market movements
  
• A thematic approach to fine-tuning a fixed income portfolio
  
• Great potential in opportunistic credit, including direct lending
  
• Preference for hedge funds over traditional long-only for fixed income bucket
  
• How hedge funds can better align fees to attract more pensions
  
• 30% of assets across the platform managed by hedge funds
  
• Investing in emerging managers using consultants

SEAN BILL has extensive experience in both the public and private sectors. Sean served as a Trustee for the City of San Jose’s pension board and is currently the Investment Program Manager at the VTA, at the latter he is responsible for the management and oversight of a multi-billion dollar portfolio. Prior to entering public service, Sean was a Principal at a Global Macro hedge fund based in Newport Beach California. Sean is a sought after keynote speaker and a frequent guest on Bloomberg Television, CNBC and Fox Business News, he brings a unique perspective on the interactions between pension plans, sovereign wealth funds and alternative investments. Sean is a graduate of Indiana University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

MICHAEL WEINBERG has invested for more than two decades directly at the security level and indirectly as an asset allocator in traditional and alternative asset classes. He is Chief Investment Strategist at Protege Partners, where he is a Senior Managing Director. Michael is also an adjunct Associate Professor of Economics and Finance at Columbia Business School, where he teaches Institutional Investing: Alternatives in Pension Plans, an advanced MBA course that he created. He spent nine years at FRM, a multi-strategy fund of fund where he headed the global equity business. Prior to that, Michael was a portfolio manager at Soros, the macro fund and family office, and at Credit Suisse First Boston. Before that he was a Real Estate analyst at Dean Witter. Michael is a member of AIMA's Research and Education Committees and a published author, having written articles for The New York Times, Institutional Investor and CAIA. He has a BS from New York University, an MBA from Columbia Business School and is a CFA.
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In this Opalesque Institutional Investor Series video interview Protégé Partners Chief Investment Strategist Michael Weinberg, who is also an Adjunct Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School, interviews Sean Bill, Investment Program Manager at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Mr. Bill gives insights into the over and underweights at the SCVTA, discussing the need to seek higher returns due to the drift down in rates by reshaping the fixed income portfolio to accommodate this need, to where now “almost all the ...more