Since the emergence of “Modern Portfolio Theory” and the “Capital Asset Pricing Model” in the late 1960s, institutional investors have taken a quantitatively driven approach to portfolio construction, looking to create portfolio diversification and obtain better risk-adjusted returns by balancing their asset-class exposures. This journey has seen several important advancements in thinking about how to optimally achieve desired results.
Funds that want to take the total portfolio approach first need to get the total portfolio view. To do that they not only need data – and lots of it – but a rock-solid understanding of exactly how they’re going to use it.
Lazberger returns as chair of CFA’s global body
Mark Lazberger, a founding director of the CFA Society in Australia and a former board member of the global CFA Institute, has returned to the governing body as its chair.
Lazberger, who retired from full-time funds management positions in 2018, previously held two of the most senior roles in the industry, as a country and regional chief executive and business head of State Street Global Advisors in Australia, Japan and Europe, and then as chief executive of the former Colonial First State Global Asset Management (now First Sentier Investors), based back in Sydney.
He spent 17 years at State Street and 10 years at CFS GAM. In the past three years he has become founding partner of Omnia Capital Partners, a director of Yarra Capital Management in Melbourne and a director of Fisher Funds in Auckland.
He is the second Australian to serve as the CFA Institute’s chair, a position also held by former Pendal Group chief executive Emilio Gonzalez, another early supporter of the CFAs in Australia. Gonzalez announced his retirement from Pendal in March this year.
However, Lazberger’s appointment is likely to be for three years, rather than the former standard of one year. He was the inaugural chair of what was then the Sydney chapter, in 1995, and served two terms as a board member of the global body.
The appointment followed a global search which came about because of the move to a multi-year term for the chair and consequent higher level of commitment.
Tricia Rothschild, an American CFA, becomes deputy chair of the global organisation. There are 14 directors in total, from eight different countries.
Lazberger said last week (September 1) that his long-standing relationship with the CFA Institute provided him with a unique perspective on the critical importance of the organisation’s vision and future.
“I look forward to furthering these efforts on a global scale in partnership with my colleagues on the board of governors,” he said.
Margaret Franklin, the Institute’s president and chief executive, said: “At the start of the new fiscal year, I am filled with optimism for the ways we can leverage learnings from the challenges of the past year and a half to propel CFA Institute forward.
“We have honed our strategy to guide us forward to further shape the future of the industry and the profession. We will continue to build out a diverse portfolio of learning products and modernize and grow the CFA program.
“And we will focus our thought leadership on market resiliency, sustainability and ESG, financial technology, data and analytics, and on the future trends and behaviors that will change our industry.”
