Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project

Conference Presentation Materials

Capital Matters VIII - Managing Labor's Capital - April 21- April 23, 2010

Among the topics on which this year’s Capital Matters conference focused were systemic risk and its pension fund and other implications, various aspects of pension fund risk management, a rethinking of fiduciary duty, an assessment of the success of capital stewardship, challenges faced by employment-based retirement plans and the broader challenge of retirement security for all households, and the new landscape of pension fund investment in infrastructure.

[Downlad Table of Contents]

Conference Agenda:
Welcome Reception & Opening Remarks
Richard Freeman, Professor of Economics, Harvard University; Co-Faculty Director, Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School
Larry W. Beeferman, Director, Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project, Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School

Session #1: Revisiting What Fiduciary Duty Means and Requires
Chair: Mike Musuraca, Managing Director, Blue Wolf Capital Management
• Keith L. Johnson, Chairman, Institutional Investor Services Group, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren [Presentation PDF]

Session #2: Systemic Risk and Economic Crisis – Defining Moments for Pension Investors
Chair: Mike Musuraca, Managing Director, Blue Wolf Capital Management
• Dennak Murphy, Director – Real Estate, Capital Stewardship Program, SEIU [Presentation PDF]

Session #3: The Role of Derivatives in Managing Pension Fund Risk: Pension Fund Practice and Policy
Chair: Larry W. Beeferman, Director, Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project
• Timothy R. Barron, President and CEO Rogerscasey [Presentation PDF]
• Mitchell Shames, Partner, Harrison Fiduciary Group
• Lisa Lindsley, Director, Capital Strategies, AFSCME [Presentation PDF]

Session #4: Criteria and Methods to Assess and Manage Pension Fund Risk: The Long and Short of It
Chair: Hugh Mackenzie, Principal, Hugh Mackenzie & Associates; Trustee, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan
• John M. Mulvey, Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering, Princeton University [Presentation PDF]
• John Garrett, ASA, MAAA, FCA. Principal and Consulting Actuary, Cavanaugh MacDonald Consulting LLC [Presentation PDF]

Session #5: Longevity Risk in Pension Plans: Measuring, Modelling and Managing
Chair: Teresa Ghilarducci, Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz Chair of Economic Policy Analysis, The New School for Social Research
• David Blake, Professor of Pension Economics and Director of the Pensions Institute, Cass Business School, City University, London [Presentation PDF]
• Ari Jacobs, Managing Principal and the Retirement Solutions Leader, Hewitt Associates [Presentation PDF]

Session #6: What Are the Opportunities for Attractive Investments in Infrastructure, Consistent with Labor’s Goals?
Chair: Jeffrey Murphy, Managing Director, Infrastructure Investments, ULLICO Investment Company
• Michael Likosky, Senior Fellow, Institute for Public Knowledge, New York University [Presentation PDF]
• Ryan Orr, Executive Director, The Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects, Stanford University [Presentation PDF]
• Allan Emkin, Founder and Managing Director, Pension Consulting Alliance

Session #7: Capital Stewardship, the Long-View: What Has Been Accomplished? What Needs to Be Done, and How?
Chair: Randy Barber, President, Center for Economic Organizing
• Bill Patterson, Executive Director, CtW Investment Group
• Damon Silvers, Director of Policy and Special Counsel, AFL-CIO

Session #8: Reflections on the Trustee Experience: What We Need to Do and How
• Organizers: Joseph Alejandro, Treasurer, New York City Police Pension Fund; Herman Santos, Trustee, LACERA;
• Leonard Bumbaca, Trustee, Educational Employees' Supplementary Retirement System of Fairfax County;
• Mitch Vogel, President, Board, Illinois SURS

Session #9: Winning the Fight to Preserve Pensions in the Public Sector: Policy, Politics, and Practice
Chair: Nancy McKenzie, Senior Pension Specialist, NEA; Trustee, National Education Association Staff Pension Fund
• Greg Smith, General Counsel, Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association [Presentation PDF]
• Robert L. Clark, Professor, College of Management, North Carolina State University [Presentation PDF]
• Mary Grillo, Assistant Division Director, Public Sector Division, SEIU

Session #10: Winning the Fight to Preserve Pensions in the Private Sector: Policy, Politics, and Practice [Presentation PDF]
Chair: Randy DeFrehn, Executive Director, National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans
• Teresa Ghilarducci, Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz Chair of Economic Policy Analysis, The New School for Social Research; Public Trustee, United Auto Workers’ Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association
• Marc E. LeBlanc, Administrator, Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund
• David Powell, Principal, Groom Law Group Chartered

Session #11: Winning the Struggle for Retirement Security for All: Policy, Politics, and Practice
Chair: Maryann Motza, PhD, Colorado State Social Security Administrator, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment; Trustee, Colorado PERA
• Michael Rafferty, Senior Research Analyst, Workplace Research Centre, University of Sydney [Presentation PDF]
• Emily Kessler, Senior Staff Fellow, Intellectual Capital, Society of Actuaries [Presentation PDF]
• Daniel Halperin, Stanley S. Surrey Professor of Law, Harvard Law School [Presentation PDF]