The 2017 Liquid Alts Symposium

A CFALA & CAIA Sponsored Event

Quantitative/Risk Premia Strategy Panel:

With “beta” becoming cheaper every year and expensive active managers having trouble delivering enough alpha to justify their fees, there has been a movement towards quantitative, factor-based investing that seeks to generate excess return over beta from “risk premia” or “alternative betas” associated with the systematic risks imbedded in capital markets. These investment strategies offer the ability to deliver returns in excess of traditional beta and with costs that are often substantially lower than what is demands by fundamentally driven, active investment managers.

Opportunistic Credit Investment Panel:

With a wide range of opportunistic credit strategies continuing to permeate the investable landscape, investors are faced with a host of decisions to make regarding idiosyncratic, macro-economic, and liquidity considerations. Ensuring that investment merit and risk appetite fully align with both the strategy’s respective mandate as well as the intended access vehicle are among the most important issues to address within the space. From the traditional daily liquid mutual fund, to the private equity style drawdown fund, opportunistic credit managers offer a diverse array of investment vehicles to deliver access. Through a thoughtful discussion with credit managers with deep experience across the tradeable and private market spectrum, we will explore some of the key areas of interest in today’s market environment.

Quantitative/Risk Premia Strategy Panel:

MODERATOR:

Nicolas Amato, CFA, CAIA | Nicolas “Nico” Amato is a managing director of Wilshire Associates and heads Wilshire Funds Management’s alternative portfolio management group. Mr. Amato has more than 17 years of industry experience and is responsible for the investment aspects of Wilshire Funds Management’s alternatives business, including portfolio construction, manager research and investment research. Prior to joining Wilshire Associates, Mr. Amato was at Dorchester Capital Advisors, a Los Angeles–based alternative investments manager, from 2004–2014. At Dorchester Mr. Amato was responsible for managing the firm’s research and risk teams, communicating with existing and potential investors, and overseeing portfolios from a liquidity, risk and portfolio management perspective. Mr. Amato started his career in 1998 at the Merrill Lynch office in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Mr. Amato earned an economics licentiate degree, cum laude, from San Andres University, an MiF (master in finance) from CEMA University (both in Buenos Aires), and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. Mr. Amato is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Chartered Alternative Investments Analyst. Back To Top ^^

PANELISTS:

Dennis Bein, CFA | Dennis Bein oversees the implementation of the firm’s investment strategies as Chief Investment Officer. He is a major contributor to the firm’s ongoing research efforts as well as new product development and strategy applications. As a portfolio manager, Dennis focuses on day-to-day portfolio management and research related to equity-based investment strategies. Prior to joining Analytic Investors, Dennis was a Senior Consultant for Analysis Group, Inc., where he provided investment consulting services for institutional investors and plan sponsors. He advised pension fund managers on topics such as investment objective definition, asset allocation analysis, manager selection and manager performance evaluation. Dennis received an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Riverside. He completed his undergraduate studies in Business Administration at the University of California, Riverside. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts (ICFA) and the Los Angeles Society of Financial Analysts (LASFA). Back To Top ^^

Dr. Michael Heldmann, CFA | Michael Heldmann is the lead portfolio manager of Best Styles US products and head of Best Styles North America since July 2015. Previously, he managed Best Styles Emerging Markets and Best Styles Europe Equity products. Before joining the Systematic Equity team, he worked for the international laboratory CERN, Geneva, Switzerland as a researcher in the field of particle physics. He obtained a master’s degree in physics from the University of Mainz, Germany and a Ph.D. from the University of Freiburg, Germany. He is a CFA charterholder. Back To Top ^^

William Landes, Ph.D. | William Landes is deputy head of global investment solutions and alternative investments for Columbia Threadneedle Investments. Prior to joining one of the Columbia Threadneedle Investments firms in 2014, Dr. Landes was chief investment officer of the multi-asset business for Gottex Fund Management from 2008 to 2014. Before that, he was chief executive officer at 2100 Capital Group from 2004 to 2008. Dr. Landes started his investment career at Putnam Investments as chief investment officer of global asset allocation, global currency and quantitative equity. He was also the firm’s global head of investment research. He has been in the investment community since 1985. Dr. Landes received a B.S. in economics from the University of Findlay and a Ph.D. in finance from University of Cincinnati.

Ron earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Brown University and was awarded a Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1995. Ron is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, a TED speaker, and is quoted nationally and internationally both in print and broadcast media. Ron focuses on fiduciary investment responsibilities and is a member of the Advisory Board of Robertson Stephens. Ron meets with individuals, foundations, and endowments to evaluate investment needs and strategies. Back To Top ^^

Hal W. Reynolds, CFA | Hal Reynolds oversees the investment process of Los Angeles Capital’s Investment Committee as Chief Investment Officer and Chairman . Since co-founding the Firm in 2002, Mr. Reynolds has worked closely with the Research team to develop Investor Preference Theory®, the Dynamic Alpha Stock Selection Model®, and the Forward Attribution® process for developing forwarding looking expected factor returns. Working with the Firm’s Research Directors, he develops the firm’s research goals and provides guidance on key projects to enhance the stock selection, portfolio construction, and trading processes. As a member of the Portfolio Review Committee, he works with senior members of the portfolio management team to establish key portfolio parameters for portfolio construction and rebalancing and developing procedures for monitoring and controlling portfolio risk.

Prior to Los Angeles Capital, Mr. Reynolds was a managing director and principal at Wilshire Associates. Mr. Reynolds joined the consulting division of Wilshire Associates in 1989 where he served as a senior consultant to large ERISA plans. He also designed Wilshire Compass, Wilshire’s asset allocation and manager optimization technology for plan sponsors. In 1996, Mr. Reynolds began consulting for Wilshire Asset Management where he helped develop the Dynamic Alpha Model, which developed into Los Angeles Capital’s Dynamic Alpha Stock Selection Model®, and other quantitative long/short applications for Wilshire Asset Management. In 1998, he joined Wilshire Asset Management as Chief Investment Officer.

Prior to joining Wilshire, Mr. Reynolds was a vice president at Mellon Bank where he was responsible for the design and management of Mellon’s portfolio analysis product for plan sponsors. Back To Top ^^

Opportunistic Credit Investment Panel:

MODERATOR:

Nick Heard, CFA, CAIA | Nick Heard joined City National Rochdale in 2013 and has over 10 years of investment experience. Mr. Heard is responsible for overseeing and enhancing the company’s open architecture platform, which is designed to offer a comprehensive set of externally managed investment strategies across a wide range of traditional and alternative asset classes.

Prior to joining City National Rochdale, Mr. Heard was a Senior Investment Analyst at the Glenmede Trust Company, where he focused on researching and recommending long-only and hedge fund strategies.

Mr. Heard holds a BBA in Finance from Temple University in Pennsylvania. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation, the Chartered Alternative Investments Analyst designation, and is a member of the CFA Institute and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association. Back To Top ^^

PANELISTS:

Americo Cascella | Americo Cascella is a Partner in the Ares Credit Group. He serves as a Vice President of Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund, Inc. (“ARDC”), a NYSE-listed, closed end fund managed by an affiliate of Ares. Additionally, Mr. Cascella serves as a member of select Ares Credit Group investment committees. Prior to joining Ares in 1998, Mr. Cascella was a Senior Associate at Price Waterhouse LLP, where he focused on foreign exchange and interest rate derivative risk analysis and corporate treasury risk management consulting and directed corporate audits of companies in various industries. Mr. Cascella holds a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in Economics, with an emphasis in Business. Back To Top ^^

Christopher Hardison | Christopher Hardison is part of the Private Debt Americas business unit, based in New York. He is a member of the Private Debt Investment Committee. He has been with Partners Group since 2011 and has 15 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Partners Group, he worked at RBC Capital Markets and GE Capital. He holds a bachelor's degree in neuroscience from Hamilton College, New York. Back To Top ^^


Christopher D. Long | Christopher Long founded Palmer Square, an approximately $4 billion AUM asset manager focused on corporate and structured credit, in June 2009. Currently, he serves as President and Portfolio Manager and is responsible for co-managing Palmer Square’s credit and alternative investment effort. Chris’s previous work experience includes key investment roles at Prairie Capital and Sandell Asset Management as well as working at Morgan Stanley in the Credit Derivatives and Distressed Securities Group focused on the firm’s proprietary investments. Before Morgan Stanley, he worked at TH Lee Putnam Ventures, a $1.1 billion private equity fund sponsored by Thomas H Lee Partners and Putnam Investments. In that role, he also served on the Board of Directors of Avero, Inc. and was a Board Observer for Parago, Inc. He started his career at JPMorgan & Co. in Leveraged Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions (FIG Group) advising corporations and private equity firms on investment banking and capital markets. He received an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School and an AB degree in Economics cum laude from Princeton University. Back To Top ^^

Jason Mandinach | Jason Mandinach is an executive vice president and product manager in the Newport Beach office, responsible for corporate credit and mortgage-related strategies. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2010, he worked in business development for the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange. Previously, he was a vice president on the agency CMO desk at Bear Stearns. He has 10 years of investment experience and holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware. Back To Top ^^