NAIC Perspectives

As America continues to become more diverse, it becomes increasingly important to avoid a concentration of investible capital within in a small group of people who could potentially suffer from groupthink or pattern recognition that don’t include diverse people. Here, Robert L. Greene, President & CEO of the NAIC, explains the Diverse Asset Managers Initiative (DAMI) and its campaign to increase the amount of capital flowing to diverse managers.

Daniel L. Black, Managing Partner of the Wicks Group, tackles the issues of diversity within the private equity industry — the causes and potential solutions to ensure barriers are removed for women and people of color. The Wicks Group is a private equity firm that invests in lower-middle-market companies operating in segments of the information, education and media industries principally in the United States and Canada.

Ted Eliopoulos, Chief Investment Officer of CalPERS, discusses the agency’s experience with its decades-long commitment to diverse managers, CalPERS’ usage of the diverse manager pool for acquiring top talent as well as its long-term investment strategy. With more than 1.8 million members and approximately $300 billion in assets CalPERS manages the largest public pension fund in the United States.

David J. Grain, Founder and Managing Partner of Grain Management LLC, shares his thoughts on the value diverse managers bring to their corporate partners and his approach to team-building. An active participant in national civic affairs, President Barack Obama appointed Mr. Grain to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) in July 2011.

The performance of diverse managers in the market (and the data to prove it) has resulted in institutional investors allocating more in the space, with an increased number of allocators creating programs to effectively do just that, according to Joseph Haslip, Chairman of the NAIC. He also cites NAIC member Vista Equity Partners being named as the top private equity firm in the world as a contributor to more allocators looking into the diverse managers marketplace.

Robert Raben, President & Founder of The Raben Group, says the Diverse Asset Managers Initiative will succeed when inclusion and participation by people of color is so complete that a distinct effort is no longer needed. Until then, the initiative will employ advocacy, education and assertive tactics to make the case that diversity means performance.