Morningstar is hosting its 26th annual investment conference for financial advisors Wednesday, June 18 through Friday, June 20, at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago.
This year’s keynote speakers are Michael Hasenstab, executive vice president and chief investment officer for global bonds for Franklin Templeton Investments, who will open the conference on June 18; Bill Gross, founder, managing director, and co-chief investment officer of PIMCO, who will address attendees on June 19; and Cliff Asness, founder, managing principal, and chief investment officer of AQR Capital Management, who will speak on June 20. Michael Falk, partner, Focus Consulting Group, and chief strategist and partner for a global macro hedge fund, will speak at the closing general session on June 20.
«This year’s conference features an all-star lineup of managers and industry experts,» Scott Burns, director of global manager research for Morningstar, said. «We’ve selected many of the fund industry’s most prominent thinkers to share their views on navigating today’s market environment. The dialogue over these few days in June will cover superior stock selection, global investing, emerging markets, unconstrained fixed-income strategies, the latest thinking on ‘strategic’ or ‘smart’ beta, up-and-coming managers, dividend investing, and more. Advisors will come away equipped with new insights and resources to better serve their clients and help them meet their investing goals.»
General Sessions:
- Panelists Will Danoff, portfolio manager, Fidelity Asset Management; Dennis Lynch, head of growth investing, Morgan Stanley Investment Management (and winner of Morningstar’s 2013 U.S. Domestic-Stock Fund Manager of the Year award); and Chris Davis, co-portfolio manager, Davis Large Cap portfolios, Davis Funds, will share their take on what contributes to a robust business model and how they uncover early signs of structural shifts to better pick stocks.
- David Herro, portfolio manager, The Oakmark Funds; Sarah Ketterer, chief executive officer and portfolio manager, Causeway Capital Management; and Rob Lovelace, president, Capital Research and Management Company, will discuss prospects and pitfalls in international investing.
- Ben Inker, co-head of asset allocation, GMO, LLC, and Dennis Stattman, managing director and portfolio manager, Blackrock, will shed light on the most compelling investing opportunities amidst a global backdrop.
June 18 Research Roundtable
Morningstar’s Michael Holt, global head of equity and corporate credit research; Bob Johnson, director of economic analysis; Russ Kinnel, director of manager research and editor of Morningstar® FundInvestorSM; and Daniel Needham, global chief investment officer, Morningstar Investment Management, a unit of Morningstar, Inc., will hold a research roundtable, moderated by Burns.
June 19 Breakout Sessions
- Masha Gordon, executive vice president, PIMCO; Justin Leverenz, portfolio manager, OppenheimerFunds; and David Rolley, vice president and portfolio manager, Loomis, Sayles & Company, will debate opportunities and pitfalls in emerging-markets assets.
- Bill Eigen, managing director, J.P. Morgan Asset Management; Mark Egan, chief investment officer, managing director, and portfolio manager, Reams Asset Management; and Mohit Mittal, managing director and portfolio manager, PIMCO, will examine unconstrained bond strategies.
- Rick Ferri, founder, Portfolio Solutions, and Chris Brightman, managing director and head of investment management, Research Affiliates, will explore the pros and cons of the proliferation of new indexes.
- Kinnel will moderate a discussion with Morningstar analystsMichael Rawson, Katie Reichart, and Michelle Ward about Morningstar’s manager research process and some of their favorite funds.
- Up-and-coming managersMarian Kessler, analyst and portfolio manager, Becker Capital Management; Jan Dehn, head of research, Ashmore Investment Management; and Bernard Horn, president and portfolio manager, Polaris Capital Management, LLC, will share their investment approaches.
- John Rogers, founder, chairman, chief executive officer, and chief investment officer, Ariel Investments; Stephen Yacktman, senior vice president, chief investment officer, and portfolio manager, Yacktman Asset Management; and Staley Cates, president and chief investment officer, Southeastern Asset Management, Inc., will discuss how a focus on economic moats can benefit investment returns.
- David Blanchett, head of retirement research, Morningstar Investment Management; Michael Kitces, partner and director of research, Pinnacle Advisory Group; and Allan Roth, founder, financial planner, and writer, Wealth Logic, LLC, will dive into the latest research on hot-button issues in retirement investing.
- Brooks Friederich, director of fund strategist portfolios, Envestnet Asset Management, and Alicia Nisberg, advisory platform product manager, Commonwealth Financial Network, will cover best practices for selecting ETF managed portfolio strategies.
June 20 Breakout Sessions
- Josh Peters, director of equity-income strategy, Morningstar; Thomas Huber, portfolio manager, T. Rowe Price; and Don Kilbride, portfolio manager, Wellington Management, will spotlight opportunities to invest in dividends with downside protection.
- Joel Greenblatt, managing principal and co-chief investment officer, Gotham Asset Management, and Michael Aronstein, portfolio manager, Marketfield Asset Management, will discuss how to succeed in long-short fund management.
- Robert Amodeo, head of municipals, Western Asset Management; Joe Deane, executive vice president and head of municipal-bond portfolio management, PIMCO; and John Miller, co-head of fixed income, Nuveen Asset Management, will delve into the closed-end municipal-bond fund landscape.
- Michael Buchanan, head of credit, Western Asset Management Company; Scott Page, vice president, director, and portfolio manager, Eaton Vance Management; and Eric Mollenhauer, portfolio manager, Fidelity Asset Management, will explore opportunities and potential land mines among bank-loan funds.
Preconference Workshops
All registered attendees to the Morningstar Investment Conference may attend one of two complimentary preconference workshops—on alternative investments or asset allocation—at McCormick Place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Central Time on June 18. Lunch is provided. Registered conference attendees will receive email instructions to sign up for the workshop of their choice.
More information about the Morningstar Investment Conference, including the full agenda, hotel accommodations, attendee registration, and continuing-education credits, is available at this link. Conference updates are also available on Twitter at this link or through the conference hashtag: #MICUS.