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.
… as Debby Blakey joins ICGN board
Debby Blakey, the chief executive of HESTA, has joined the board of the International Corporate Governance Network, the overarching global body representing asset owners for the advancement of good governance.
The prestigious appointment follows her other industry directorships at FEAL, ACSI and ASI. Hers was one of three appointments at ICGN announced last week (August 2) in London.
The others were a new chair, Henry Jones, the president of CalPERS in the US, and directors Seiji Kawazoe, a senior stewardship office at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management in Tokyo, and Luz Rodriguez, a corporate governance professional at the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association.
ICGN represents member organisations responsible for assets of US$59 trillion. It promotes investor-led governance standards by influencing public policy and professional practice.
Blakey, who joined HESTA in 2008 and became chief executive in 2015, is an employee benefits consultant by background. She said in a statement: “ICGN’s mission is absolutely critical to ensure that companies and investors alike act with a shared responsibility for improving the sustainability of our global markets and economies. HESTA is committed to the principles of active ownership and responsible investing, and I look forward to the opportunity to contribute to the work of ICGN on a global scale.”
Henry Jones said: “ICGN is a rare entity that unites institutional investors, stakeholders and corporations to develop strategies on issues ranging from responsive and responsible corporate governance to global economic concerns including the societal impacts of investment policies.”
He succeeds the outgoing chair, Robert Walker, a principle of LVC strategies.
