Conferences

"Navigating Waves of Change" is the theme for the IFS 2008 Educational Conference for Benefit Plan Fiduciaries. The event will be held Sunday, March 9, 2008, through Tuesday, March 11, 2008, at the Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa located in Hollywood, Florida. This event marks the 4th educational conference that IFS has designed and presented, tailored especially to the unique needs of benefit plan fiduciaries.

Edward Patchett, CFA - Senior VP and Managing Director - participated in the 53rd Annual IFEBP Conference held in Anaheim, CA, November 3-7, 2007. Mr. Patchett presented two investment-related topics - "Overview of Alternative Investments" - and "Diaries of Hedge Fund Investing". Those two presentations are located here.

In September, Edward Patchett, Sr. Vice President, attended the 2007 NCCMP annual conference held in Westin Diplomat Hotel, West Hollywood, Florida.

Samuel (Skip) Halpern also spoke at the Capital Matters conference at Harvard University. In remarks entitled, “From Theory to Practice: Governing Your Investment Program”, he discussed specific subjects and functions that a prudent board of trustees – whether at a public fund or ERISA covered fund – should regularly evaluate and monitor.

Samuel (Skip) Halpern, IFS President, was a featured panelist at the West LegalWorks Seventh Annual ERISA Fiduciary Program in New York City on June 15, 2007. Mr. Halpern presented the perspective of a practicing investment consultant on fiduciary best practices for addressing fees associated with 401k plans. A subject of scrutiny in the wake of numerous lawsuits against major corporate plan sponsors (re: the negotiation and disclosure of fee arrangements with financial industry service providers).

Samuel (Skip) Halpern, President, spoke at the recent M Cube Conference in Dallas, Texas, regarding "Current Issues in Governance." The topics ranged from evaluating investment policies and procedures for public and private defined benefit plans to acting as a fiduciary decision maker regarding employer stock in 401K plans to pre-funding retiree medical liabilities.

Edward Patchett, SVP and Managing Director, presented an educational session entitled "An Explanation of Hedge Funds" at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans' 2007 Investments Institute.

Jeanna Cullins, SVP and Managing Director spoke at the National Employees’ Retirement Fund Summit. During the conference, the industry’s top consultants discussed their ideas on how to re-engineer a pension fund’s investment program through steps such as portable alpha, eliminating home-country bias, controlling vendor fees, and greater due diligence.

Jeanna Cullins, SVP and Managing Director spoke on a panel entitled "Navigating the Current Regulatory Environment." This concentrated on key challenges facing investment fiduciaries of public pension funds.