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Hyphen Network invites you to:

The 28th Annual
National Pension & Institutional Investor Summit

Dallas Las Colinas, Texas
November 20, 2024

Join us in Dallas Las Colinas,
on November 20, 2024
for a day of knowledge & sharing

– Register today

A summit of trainings, sessions, keynotes in Dallas Las Colinas, Texas. Connect with members of Pension & Institutional Investor community to collaborate, share knowledge and network with leaders.

Sponsor the 28th Annual
National Pension & Institutional Investor Summit

– Sponsorship opportunities available
Email info@hyphennetwork.us for details

The Annual National Pension & Institutional Investor Summit in Dallas has always been an event intended to grow and support the investor community. Now that mission has become more important than ever. In these uncertain times, it is imperative to come together and support the managers and investors that have made this summit what it is today.

Marriott Dallas Las Colinas
223 W Las Colinas Blvd., Irving, TX 75039

2022 Speaker Faculty

Elizabeth Reich
Chief Financial Officer

Elizabeth Reich

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)

Elizabeth’s responsibilities include leading the agency’s accounting, financial reporting, budget, treasury, fare collections and fare payment systems, debt management, investment management, and risk management functions.
Formerly Elizabeth Reich began her service as the City of Dallas’ Chief Financial Officer in September 2016. In this role, Elizabeth is accountable for the financial policy and operations of the nation’s 9th largest city, with an annual budget of over $3 billion. Elizabeth provides executive leadership for budget, procurement, communication & information services, risk management, equipment & fleet management, accounting, investments, and managing some Federal grant funds. In addition, Elizabeth was instrumental in brokering a pension compromise that saved the Dallas Police and Fire Pension after years of mismanagement, risky investments, and expansions of already generous features.
Paul Olschwanger
Founder

Paul Olschwanger

Wendell Rhoads Consulting

Leveraging 35 years in asset management, Paul established Wendell Rhoads Consulting to help people and their organizations thrive with a more human approach to performance coaching, strategic advising, and recruiting. Before founding Wendell Rhoads, he led Olschwanger Partners, with a focus on complex executive searches. Most recently, while at Aon, Paul provided senior-level support for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and human capital development. There he coached over 300 investment professionals globally. A long-time board member of the CFA Society Dallas-Ft. Worth, he hosts their flagship podcast, Charterholder Chatter, and serves on the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board for DCIIA. Paul earned a BBA in Finance from UT-Austin, completed the first AIMSE Investment Institute at The Wharton School, and earned a graduate certification in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Purdue University.
Jim Dolmas
Senior Economist

Jim Dolmas

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Jim Dolmas is an economic policy advisor and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. His main research interests are in the field of macroeconomics, where he has worked on such topics as the costs associated with business cycles, the effectiveness of stabilization policy, inflation measurement, and the politico-economic determinants of inflation, taxation and immigration policy. His research has appeared in scholarly journals such as International Economic Review, Review of Economic Dynamics and Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control.
Dolmas holds a PhD in economics from the University of Rochester and a bachelor’s degree with honors in economics from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the Dallas Fed in June 2000, he taught economics at the undergraduate and graduate level at Southern Methodist University. He has also taught at the University of Rochester and the University of Texas in Austin.
Dolmas developed and maintains the Dallas Fed’s Trimmed Mean PCE inflation rate. In addition to briefing the Bank’s president on national economic conditions, Dolmas writes monthly analyses of inflation data for the Bank’s website.
Meredith Jones
Managing Director

Meredith Jones

EY

Meredith is a consultant and award-winning author of Women of The Street: Why Female Money Managers Generate Higher Returns (And How You Can Too).
She was named one of Inc. magazine’s “17 Inspiring Women To Watch in 2017” and was named a Distinguished Author by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018. She has been a regular columnist for Institutional Investor and Market Watch.
A sought-after speaker, Meredith has presented research in Tokyo, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Sydney, Geneva and more. She delivered a TEDx talk at TEDxUIUC in 2018 and testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on Diversity and Inclusion in June 2019. Meredith also is on the Board of Directors for Rock the Street, Wall Street, a non-profit that provides financial and investment literacy courses for high school girls and she provides mentoring for female entrepreneurs in Nashville through the Pathway Women’s Business Center.
She began her investing career at Van Hedge Fund Advisors International (VAN), as Director of Research. At VAN, Meredith was responsible for manager selection, due diligence, index construction and aggregate hedge fund industry research for the $500 million fund of funds.
Meredith was then recruited by hedge fund analytics provider PerTrac Financial Solutions. At PerTrac she focused on industry trends with an eye to providing actionable insights and information. Her research on emerging managers (initiated in 2006) and women and minority-owned funds created new investment categories. It has changed the way investors and money managers behave - both in the way investors allocate and how money managers market to and seek investors.
Meredith then went on to be Director at Barclays Capital Strategic Consulting Group. There she consulted for clients and authored white papers, including her first paper on women and minority-owned investing. She was recruited to Rothstein Kass, a professional services firm with a focus on alternative investments, from Barclays. There Meredith served as Director of the Rothstein Kass Institute, an Alternative Investment Think Tank and created the first Women in Alternative Investments Hedge Fund Index to measure performance of female hedge fund and private equity managers.
Meredith is a foodie and cultivates a love of charcoal and open flames in her cooking. She is also an avid figure skater and relies on an inexplicable addiction to decaffeinated coffee to survive early morning ice times.
Ryan Wagner
Chief Investment Officer

Ryan Wagner

Dallas Police
& Fire Pension System

Ryan Wagner joined the Dallas Police & Fire Pension System (DPFP) in 2012 as an Investment Analyst and was named Chief Investment Officer in March 2022. During his time at DPFP, Ryan has worked across multiple asset classes. The 4-person investment team oversees and manages the $2B investment portfolio. Ryan is a CAIA charterholder.
Prior to coming to the System, Ryan received his Masters of Business Administration from Texas Christian University, where he also received a BBA. Previous work experience includes roles at Universal Forest Products, Alcon Laboratories and NLM Capital Partners.
Ed Terrill
Portfolio Manager

Ed Terrill

Miller Global Investments

Ed Terrill is a Portfolio Manager and Investment Analyst. He has more than 30 years of direct investment experience in fixed income, equities, and alternative assets both in the United States and international markets. Ed is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.
His previous experience includes serving as a Portfolio Manager for the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), Carlson Capital, and Arvest Wealth Management.
He graduated with a Bachelors of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Texas at Arlington and earned a Masters of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Texas at Arlington.
He is a past president of the CFA Society of Sacramento, a volunteer with the university relations committee of the CFA Society of Dallas/Ft. Worth, and a past grader of the CFA exam for the CFA Institute. He is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Dallas/Ft. Worth. He is married and has three children.
Bruce Lavine
CEO/Founder

Bruce Lavine

NightShares

Bruce is the CEO of NightShares, a new ETF company offering ETFs designed to capture the Night Effect. Bruce was one of the founders of the iShares business in 1999 where he acted as CFO and ran product development in the U.S. and then ran the European iShares business from 2003-2006. Bruce then become the President & COO of WisdomTree as it launched and spent 16 years there as an operator and Board Member.
Greg Hershman
Head of US Policy

Greg Hershman

UNPRI

Greg Hershman is Head of U.S. Policy at the Principles for Responsible Investment, based in Washington, DC. Prior to joining PRI, he spent six years in the U.S. Senate in various roles including working for Senator Tom Carper (Del.), on the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee. Greg received his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University focusing on corporate sustainability and the energy transition.
Derrick Dagnan
Chief Investment Officer

Derrick Dagnan

Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund

Derrick provides leadership, vision, and oversight for the management and strategic growth of the Fund’s $2.25 billion in assets, working closely with the Fund’s Executive Director, Benita Harper, and with the Board and its Investment Committee as well as Fund staff.
Dagnan previously served as Deputy Chief Investment Officer of the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, where he oversaw a team managing a large state pension plan and several small endowment and defined contribution plans. Dagnan received his BS from Purdue University and his MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. He is a CFA Charterholder.
Janet Handley
Investment Risk Committee

Janet Handley

UTIMCO

Janet Handley serves as an advisor to the Finance & Investment Committee.
Ms. Handley graduated Summa Cum Laude from Texas A&M University in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics. She began her career at Shell Oil in Houston and began working for the Shell Pension Trust in 1993, and directed the Equities portfolio at the time she left in 2001.
Ms. Handley launched the Investment Office for the Texas A&M Foundation in April 2001 when it had assets of about $400 million. She built the staff to a total of four and the assets grew from $400 million to approximately $1.5 billion at the time of her retirement at the end of 2016. Additionally, she migrated the portfolio from one consisting almost exclusively of public equities and bonds to a highly diversified ‘endowment-style’ portfolio.
Ms. Handley serves on the Board of Directors for UTIMCO. This investment management company has assets under management of over $45 billion. Its ‘flagship’ asset is the PUF (Permanent University Fund) which provides funding to both The University of Texas and Texas A&M University. She has previously served on the Investment Committee for the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the Venture Capital Advisory Board for Commonfund Capital.
Louis LaValle
Managing DirectorCo-Head of Distribution

Louis LaValle

3iQ Digital Assets

Louis LaValle is a Managing Director for 3iQ Digital Assets (US) with 20 years of institutional investment experience across both public and private markets. Prior to joining 3iQ in 2021, he was Senior Vice President at Neuberger Berman advising clients on the firm’s Private Markets investment platform, which included Private Equity/Venture, Private Credit and Hedge Fund strategies. Prior to this, Louis served as Global Head of Business Development at EACM Advisors, a multi-strategy hedge fund subsidiary of BNY Mellon. Previously, he was Senior Vice President at The Permal Group and Global Head of Platform Distribution at SkyBridge Capital. He began his career in investment management working with HNW individuals and institutional clients of Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. Louis graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts in History (hons).
Supervisory Investigator

James Stringham

Department of Labor

Jim Stringham is a Senior Investigator in the Dallas Regional Office for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). He has conducted numerous complex investigations involving multiemployer plans, employee stock ownership plans, alternative investments, and fiduciary misconduct. Jim began his career at EBSA in the Los Angeles Regional Office before transferring to Dallas in 2016. Prior to joining EBSA, Jim administered decedent trusts and estates with the Public Administrator’s Office for Orange County, California, and worked as a Deputy Sheriff with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Jim has received his Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and his Master’s degree in Political Science from California State University, Fullerton.
The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) for the US Department of Labor is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the civil and criminal provisions of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) as well as related provisions of other Federal laws, such as Federal criminal statutes that apply to ERISA-covered plans. The agency accomplishes this mission by developing effective regulations; assisting and educating workers, plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and service providers; and vigorously enforcing the law. Supervisory Investigator James Stringham from EBSA’s Dallas Regional Office will discuss current EBSA pension-related enforcement initiatives for 2023, fiduciary responsibility with respect to ERISA-covered plan assets, and what to expect from a Department of Labor investigation.
Tim Paulson
Investment Strategist

Tim Paulson

Lord Abbett

Tim Paulson engages regularly with Lord Abbett’s clients around the world,
articulating the firm’s views on economic outlook and capital markets, as well as
practical applications of Lord Abbett’s investment strategies.
Mr. Paulson joined Lord Abbett in 2014. His previous experince includes serving on
the mortgage trading desk at Goldman, Sachs, where he managed the firm’s
mortgage risk while developing close working relationships with Goldman’s largest
counterparties. He transitioned to a senior client services role in 2006. Throughout
his career, he has advised and worked closely with central banks and sovereign
wealth funds around the world, as well as the world’s largest money center banks,
pension funds and hedge funds. He has worked in the financial services industry
since 1998. Tim earned a BA in English from Haverford College and an MBA from Northwestern’s
Kellogg School of Business.
Alison Shimada
Head of Total Emerging Markets Equity

Alison Shimada

Allspring Global Investments

Alison Shimada is a senior portfolio manager and head of the Total Emerging Markets Equity team at Allspring Global Investments. She joined Allspring from its predecessor firm, Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM). Prior to her current role, she served as a senior analyst covering areas of developing Europe and Africa. She began her responsibilities at WFAM as the head of equity research for the developed markets (EAFE) international equity team and as a senior investment analyst for Japan and Australia/New Zealand. Alison joined WFAM after serving as an investment officer of the University of California Regents-Office of the Treasurer. Her prior experience also includes serving as a portfolio manager specializing in Malaysian equities at Commerce Asset Fund Managers and as a senior equity analyst covering Japanese securities at Fidelity Investments Japan. Alison began her investment industry career in 1985. She earned a bachelor's degree in political economies of industrial societies from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in business administration.
Stephanie Roderick
Senior Research Analyst

Stephanie Roderick

IWP Capital

Stephanie is a Senior Research Analyst at IWP Capital. She supports the firm’s institutional clients with ESG and faith-based integration, due diligence, and thematic research. Stephanie also oversees shareholder engagement and proxy voting services for client assets topping $1 billion. Prior to joining IWP Capital, Stephanie served on the Global Strategy and Market Research team at DAI, an international development firm. Stephanie holds a B.A. in Political Science from Saint Louis University and an M.A. in Development Economics from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
John Kiser
President and Fund Manager

John Kiser

Five States Energy Company

John B. Kiser is the President of both Five States Energy Company and Five States Capital.
John graduated from Texas A&M University where in 1984 he received a BS in Petroleum Engineering. In 1997 he received his MBA from SMU.
John B. Kiser is founder and President, L2K Strategic Solutions, a management consulting company.
Previously he led SDL Citadel, LLC, a research company working to unlock the latent energy in post-industrial solid waste and convert it into commercial grade liquid fuels.
Mr. Kiser worked at the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU from 2006 – 2015. Starting as its Director of Strategic Planning, later becoming an Associate Dean, and finally serving as Executive Director of the Hart Center for Engineering Leadership.
Before SMU, John had a wide variety of engineering, marketing and management roles with oil and gas companies including Lyco Energy Corporation (Dallas), Mobil Oil Corporation (Baton Rouge, Dallas, Pittsburgh), and Exxon Company USA (Midland). His exposure to the oil industry began while in high school giving him nearly thirty years of work experience in the industry.
John currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Carr P. Collins Social Service Center for the Salvation Army, where he was its chairman from 2011-2015. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for St. Philip’s School and Community Center where he is leading a strategic planning effort. John previously served on the Town North YMCA Board of Management from 1997 - 2007, serving two years as its chair after having led three annual sustaining campaigns and a $4M capital campaign.