SAVE THE DATE: NAIC’s 50th Annual Private Equity and Hedge Fund Conference Heads to New York City Please mark your calendar for October 6-7, 2020, as the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) returns to New York City for our 50th Annual NAIC Private Equity and Hedge Fund Conference. With the health and well-being of our members and extended network at the forefront of our considerations, NAIC will continue to monitor COVID-19 developments to make any necessary decisions regarding dates for the Conference. Should any changes be required, we will promptly notify our network through direct emails and LinkedIn.

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Rex Kim Named Oregon State Treasury CIO NAIC congratulates Rex Kim on being been named Oregon State Treasury’s Chief Investment Officer! As CIO, Mr. Kim will lead a staff of nearly 60 while overseeing a globally diversified portfolio, including the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, the Oregon Short Term Fund, and the Common School Fund. Mr. Kim has more than 25 years of experience in investments, with numerous roles in asset management and investment consulting. Most recently, he worked at a Portland-based retirement plan consulting firm where he was a senior consultant advising organizations with fiduciary decisions related to their retirement plans. A graduate of Carleton College, Mr. Kim has also served as an adjunct instructor teaching courses in finance.

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NAIC Perspectives: Diverse Managers - Where the Action Is “We want to be where the action is. We want to be in the room,” says Ellen-Blair Chube, Managing Director and Client Service Officer for William Blair, explaining her firm’s goal of increasing business with diverse managers. In this installment of Perspectives, NAIC's online video series, Chube explains why the firm sees great value in building strong relationships with diverse-owned firms and how she envisions those relationships evolving. William Blair, the leading advisors for diverse asset managers, has led more than $30 billion in buy/sell transactions with diverse managers.

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NAIC Funds of Funds RFP For Growth Equity Funds Initiative Extended to April 10 NAIC is excited to announce that it has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to Funds of Funds to provide solutions for the design and ongoing management of the NAIC Growth Equity Funds Initiative. As part of Phase II of this unprecedented effort to aggregate $1 billion of growth equity capital to invest in ethnically diverse and women-owned business enterprises (DWBEs), NAIC is soliciting competitive solutions from qualified firms, which may ultimately result in a contract to work with NAIC to identify and establish a sustainable supply of growth equity investors focused on diverse entrepreneurs. Made possible with the support of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Initiative’s objective is to provide growth capital to DWBEs, enabling them to scale and create greater wealth in their communities. The deadline to submit proposals is 5:00 p.m. EDT Friday, April 10, 2020.

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NAIC Welcomes Global Endowment Management, Sango Capital Management and Tuatara Capital! NAIC proudly welcomes Global Endowment Management, Sango Capital Management, Tuatara Capital! Global Endowment Management (www.globalendowment.com) is a leading outsourced investment office providing institutional investment capability and access to investment managers worldwide. The firm looks to generate long-term, real returns that support client investors' spending needs today and create additional value for future generations while mitigating risk to avoid significant investment loss. A Grand Cayman-based investment firm focused on delivering high risk-adjusted returns from investments in Africa, Sango Capital’s (www.sangocapital.com) strategy combines international best practice skill sets with deep local networks and a dedicated, on-the-ground presence to unlock unique mid-market focused investment opportunities in Africa. Tuatara (www.tuataracapital.com) is a sector-focused alternative investment manager making investments in legal cannabis. Tuatara's investment philosophy centers around partnership and the firm employs a disciplined investment strategy based on fundamental business analyses with a methodical approach to sourcing, monitoring, and executing investments.

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FIN Searches: A Free and Powerful Sales and Marketing Tool for NAIC Members Through NAIC’s partnerships, member firms gain access to highly relevant solutions and services designed to provide competitive advantages in our challenging industry. Among these essential services is FIN Searches (https://www.finsearches.com/), a powerful sales and marketing tool that combines a comprehensive database with a highly customizable, user-friendly interface to provide unmatched access to intelligence on defined benefit plans, nonprofits, investment managers and consultants. NAIC has worked closely with Matt McCue, Managing Director of FIN News and Emerging Manager Monthly to provide this service on a complimentary basis to our members. In short, through a comprehensive, but easy-to-use interface, FIN Searches allows users to select an allocator, see a list of its capital commitments, the name, size, fund and management of the firm that received the capital, and when the commitment was made – even those dating as far back as the 1990s. It can even generate a map of the allocator’s headquarters and provide contact information for its key decision-makers. The platform offers this and many other helpful search options. This also enables users to determine whether and to what degree a plan is allocating with diverse-owned investment firms. This is especially valuable for younger, smaller firms that may not otherwise have access to such a critical sales and marketing tool. “Investment firms need to know what is going on in the marketplace,” says McCue. “Having details on pension funds, foundations and endowments active in the private equity and hedge fund markets at your fingertips is a critical component of any successful fundraising initiative. FIN Searches can bring you that.”

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The SEC’s Priority List and How to Prepare for Possible Scrutiny The Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced its 2020 Examination Priorities. OCIE will continue examinations into the priority areas that support the SEC’s mission to protect investors, facilitate capital formation, and maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets. In this installment of Compliance Corner, NAIC partner ICSGroup takes a look at the details of what the SEC will be scrutinizing, the rationale behind the announcement, and the kinds of compliance programs and policies registered investment advisors will need to develop.

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DAMI Releases Second Annual Investment Consultant Survey The Diverse Asset Managers Initiative (DAMI) recently released its Second Annual Investment Consultant Survey. The survey provides great insight into the underrepresentation of women and racial or ethnic minorities at some of the largest investment management consulting firms in the United States and how it contributes to an extremely low engagement of diverse asset managers by many retirement plans. This is DAMI’s second time publishing the results of this survey and the beginning of the establishment of a baseline and recurring set of data to serve as a foundation for future progress. Among the key findings are 79% of the consulting firms' entire staff are white, 100% of the senior consultants are white men, while 67% of the junior consultants were white women. There were no women of color within the ranks of the senior or junior consultants.

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Knight Foundation Study Analyzes Diverse-Managed Endowment Investments The Knight Foundation and Global Economics Group recently published "Diversity of Asset Managers in Philanthropy," a study that assesses the representation of diverse asset managers among 26 of the top 50 foundations in the US. Among the report's findings are that $8.62 billion (13.5%) of the $63.95 billion in endowment investments overseen by these foundations are invested with diversely-owned firms (women- and racially or ethnically diverse-owned investment firms). The report also found that the average foundation invests 13.3% of its assets in diversely-owned firms, 10.8% in women-owned firms and 9% in minority-owned firms. The median foundation invests 13.5% in diversely-owned firms, 10.9% in women-owned firms and 7.9% in minority-owned firms.

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