Events

The Shifting Bedrock of the Financial Markets – Public vs Private Securities

The financial markets are being buffeted by ever-changing economic and political news at a time when long-term demographics are changing the demand mix for financial securities and corporate financing sources are shifting.  Helping investors navigate these sometimes cyclonic and seemingly unpredictable winds makes investment knowledge and perspective an even more important skill-set. Join us as we delve into the dynamics affecting the various types of securities and strategies that make up institutional investor portfolios when we bring together experts in the field to discuss their views on the near and longer term implications of current events as well as longer-term trends.

Real Assets – Real Estate, Infrastructure and Commodities

In our last session we’ll look at the case for real assets. The rebuilding of the world’s aging infrastructure is in its early innings. People are renting longer, increasing the demand for apartment buildings. Will demand for higher quality foods and an overall increased standard of living from the growing middle class in emerging countries reignite inflation?  Real assets present an investment opportunity that spans both equity and debt securities.

Moderator:

Eden Levinson

Eden Levinson is a real estate investment professional, having spent her career as a REIT analyst and consultant to the institutional investment community. Eden began her real estate career at Duff & Phelps Investment Management where she developed expertise in all property types in her role as a REIT analyst. She then moved on to Harrison Street Securities where she was responsible for health care and Canadian REIT research. Her most recent role was with Mercer where she headed up research for Global REIT funds and US and Canadian private equity real estate funds as well as advising clients on real estate investment allocations.

Panelists:

Tiffany B. Gherlone, MBA, DBA, Head of Real Estate Research and Strategy – US

Tiffany Gherlone leads Research and Strategy for Real Estate US, a business which forms part of Real Estate & Private Markets within UBS Asset Management. She chairs the Strategy Team and is a member of the Investment Committee in the US.

Under Tiffany’s guidance, the firm’s cross-market team performs comprehensive, independent market research through the acquisition and disposition due diligence process and presents key market research findings to the US Investment Committee. For internal and external clients, they compose publications and presentations on the real estate macro view.

She directs modeling and data analytics in support of Portfolio Management. Her team was one of the first to apply machine learning techniques to traditional real estate data.

Tiffany is a featured speaker at annual industry events, including NAREIM and AFIRE. Videos of her commentary on US real estate are regularly published online via UBS Asset Management channels.

She is a former member of the Steering Committee and Advisory Council at the University of Connecticut’s Center for Real Estate, and she volunteers as an American Corporate Partners mentor to military personnel seeking careers in real estate.

Prior to joining UBS, Tiffany held Associate positions at GMAC Real Estate and Waddell & Reed, Inc and interned in Research at ING Clarion Partners.

Her doctoral research centered around the influence of publicly-traded REITs and market-based inflation expectations on daily-priced private commercial real estate performance.

Michelle Johnston – Chief Financial Officer and Senior Managing Director, Tortoise Advisors

Ms. Johnston joined Tortoise in 2006 and is an executive committee member. Ms. Johnston oversees Tortoise’s strategic growth efforts, including business development, partnership and joint venture activities, product development and marketing/communications, across the Tortoise family. She spearheaded Tortoise’s new business ventures and closed-end/open-end fund launches. In 2016, Ms. Johnston executed the acquisition of Bradford & Marzec. Previously, Ms. Johnston was an investment banker for Goldman, Sachs & Co. in its industrial and natural resources group in Chicago and its financial institutions group in New York. She graduated summa cum laude from DePauw University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. Ms. Johnston is a CFA® charterholder.

Caixia Ziegler – Managing Director, Real Assets, MacArthur Foundation

Caixia is responsible for all aspects of MacArthur’s real asset portfolio, including strategy development and implementation, manager due diligence, selection and monitoring, performance reporting, and so on. The real asset portfolio includes real estate, energy and timber investments.

Before joining MacArthur, Caixia was the Associate Director/Head of Real Estate at the Ford Foundation. Prior to that, she was the Director of Global Real Assets at the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust, where she was responsible for its approximately $2.5 billion allocation to real estate, upstream energy, timberland and infrastructure investments.

Caixia earned her bachelor degree from Xiamen University in China and an MBA degree from Wake Forest University. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

She is a Board member of Pension Real Estate Association.

The panels will be held from 4:00-5:30pm and will be followed by a cocktail reception. Registration is required. Please check www.wipchicago.org for updates

The Trailblazer Dinner is a high point of WIP’s annual calendar of events. Each year we focus on women who inspire us in achieving personal and professional excellence.

Keynote Speaker:

Carol W. Geremia, MFS President and Head of Global Distribution
Carol W. Geremia is president of MFS Investment Management® (MFS®) and head of Global Distribution. She leads the firm’s worldwide client-facing teams as well as product and marketing strategy. As a member of the firm’s Management Committee, she helps drive MFS’ long-term corporate strategy. In these roles, Carol oversees the management of the company’s global institutional and retail businesses, which span US and non-US markets. Her responsibilities include oversight of all teams managing relationships with large corporate and public retirement plans, sovereign wealth plans, global intermediaries, insurance companies, retirement platforms and other advisory practices that distribute the firm’s investment products.

Carol joined MFS in 1984 and served as co-head of Global Distribution from 2011 through 2017. She has served as president of the firm’s institutional business since 2004. Prior to that, she was president of MFS Retirement Services, which serviced US plan sponsors and their participants. There, she spent 20 years devoting her expertise in fiduciary responsibility and stewardship to the retirement industry.

Throughout her 34-year career at MFS, Carol has held roles focused primarily on fiduciary responsibility, stewardship and sustainability, and she has actively engaged with clients at all levels to ensure that the firm builds products and services aligned with their needs.

Carol is a member of the City Year Seven Generations Board. She also serves as a member of the MFS Charitable Oversight Committee and as an Advisory Council member for Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Inc.