September 12, 2019 — Boston, Massachusetts — NEPC, an independent and research-driven investment consultant and private wealth advisor, today announced a new diverse manager policy that outlines specific short-term and long-term goals for increasing NEPC’s engagement with diverse managers.
The new policy is a product of thoughtful collaboration between NEPC’s Research team and the firm’s Diverse Managers Committee, which consists of senior consultants and senior research professionals specializing in public markets and alternative investment strategies. NEPC’s new diverse manager policy is a testament to the firm’s commitment to work toward an inclusive and diverse future by outlining the following goals:
- Increase the number of meetings with diverse firms by 10 percent in 2020.
- By year-end 2021, NEPC’s goal is to have diverse managers represent 10% of managers on the firm’s focused placement list, which is comprised of 1-rated managers. This represents a 67 percent increase over the current level of representation.
- Where a diverse manager rated 1 or 2 is available, NEPC will make best efforts to include a diverse manager in searches.
- Address responsiveness to diverse managers by providing preliminary feedback within three months of initial contact.
- Implement accountability toward these diversity targets within the goal-setting and evaluation process for the Research team and Diverse Managers Committee.
NEPC officially unveiled the policy this afternoon during its Closing the Gap Workshop at the firm’s Diverse Investment Managers’ Day, an event that convened more than 60 investment managers. Today’s event featured panelists from Basis Investment Group, a minority- and woman-owned business; Matarin Capital Management, a certified women-owned business; and Trinity Alps Capital, a minority-owned business.
“NEPC understands the value that diverse managers bring to the table and they are intentional about it,” said Tammy K. Jones, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Basis Investment Group. “We found their team and process to be one of the best in the industry.”
NEPC’s Research team also hosted breakout sessions for specific asset classes, including public equity and fixed income, private equity, private/structured credit and real assets, to offer a transparent look inside NEPC’s due diligence process for all investment managers.
“Women- and minority-owned funds are still significantly underrepresented in the portfolios of institutional and high-net-worth investors, despite research that points to positive and, in many cases, superior investment performance of those funds,” said Sam Austin, Partner and Co-Chair of NEPC’s Diverse Managers Committee. “This new policy addresses that gap and is one piece of NEPC’s larger commitment to championing diversity and inclusion within the investment community.”
Currently, NEPC has $32.5 billion of client assets invested with diverse firms across 182 investment strategies. More than 43 percent of NEPC clients currently utilize diverse investment managers across public and private equities, hedge funds, private debt and private real estate. NEPC maintains a proprietary database of over 200 investment firms with majority- or substantial-MWDBE (Minorities, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) ownership.
“At NEPC, we are proud of the strides we’ve taken to thoughtfully increase our engagement with diverse managers to identify the highest-caliber investment managers who are best positioned to fulfill the unique goals, risk parameters and financial objectives of our clients,” said Austin, who also serves as Chair of NEPC’s Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board. “We look forward to continuing to expand this policy and working with the diverse investment manager community.”
NEPC’s Diverse Managers Committee consists of senior research professionals specializing in public markets and alternative investment strategies, alongside experienced consultants serving NEPC’s broad base of clients. The Committee’s primary purpose is to work alongside the firm’s Research team to identify highly qualified diverse investment firms with majority or substantial ownership by minorities, women, veterans and/or disabled individuals, thereby expanding the pool of portfolio management talent available to NEPC’s clients.
About NEPC, LLC
NEPC is an independent investment consultant and private wealth advisor with more than 30 years’ experience creating research-based, bespoke investment portfolios that align to the goals of its clients and their constituencies. Combining a proprietary research team dedicated to the long-term challenges facing institutional and high-net investors, with our unique client-centric model, NEPC builds the investment portfolios defining the future of finance.
We service over 360 retained clients representing assets over $1 trillion from our offices in Boston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Portland and San Francisco with a forward-thinking approach to solving the most complex challenges facing the investment industry.
To learn more about NEPC, please visit https://www.nepc.com/.