As the year winds down, we would like to take a moment to wish everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous holiday season and express our sincere appreciation for your continued support. For us, 2019 was an incredible year by every metric with many milestone achievements, exciting new initiatives launched, and a growing suite of services we are proud to offer our member firms and the market.
Below is a quick snapshot of what the NAIC team accomplished in 2019 and underscores the dedication and commitment to assisting diverse-owned private equity firms and hedge funds:
- Grew membership by 42% to reach a modern era high of 78 firms that collectively manage more than $155 billion in assets
- Expanded our team with several new hires who allow us to grow existing and develop future initiatives that will bring great value to our members.
- Hosted five Institutional Investors Roadshows (Washington State Investment Board, Florida SBA, New York Common Retirement Fund, New York State Teachers Retirement System, New York State Insurance Fund, New Jersey Division of Investment and the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, that paired our members with leading capital allocators representing more than $854 billion in assets
- Advanced our legislative efforts and met with the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services to push for allocations to diverse asset managers. On the local level, NAIC provided testimony at a hearing for the New Jersey Joint Committee on Economic Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity in Trenton, NJ to make recommendations on how the state could increase its exposure with diverse investment management firms.
- Formed multi-year partnerships with industry leaders William Blair and Aon that position our members for potential business collaborations and greater access to the best in class products, services, and expertise.
- In partnership with GCM Grosvenor and the Diverse Asset Managers Initiative, we unveiled ENGAGE: Educating the Next Generation of Allocators on the Growth of Emerging and Diverse Managers an innovative program to educate institutional investors and other key stakeholders about the stellar expertise and returns generated by diverse-owned asset management firms and how to build effective small, emerging and diverse manager programs
- Introduced the Next Generation Private Equity Manager Symposia to enhance the pipeline of diverse-owned firms of scale by educating diverse professionals on how to structure and fund-raise to position their firms for future success
- Reached an all-time high for attendees of the NAIC Private Equity and Hedge Fund Conference where we introduced the LP Meetup, one-on-one discussions between NAIC member firms and leading allocators
- Launched the game-changing Minority Growth Equity Fund Initiative in which NAIC will facilitate the aggregation and deployment of $1 billion in growth equity capital to ethnically diverse- and women-owned businesses. This is one of the largest grants ever awarded by the US Commerce Department’s MBDA.
As I mentioned earlier, this year we welcomed three new members to the NAIC team: Carmen Ortiz-McGhee, Executive Vice President; David Smith, Programs and Initiatives Manager; and brought on board our first MBA Fellow, Peter Wright, a second-year MBA student at University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. They have all made significant contributions and join Tina McIntyre, Chief Financial Officer; Dawn Simmons, Office Manager, and our consultants and advisors in helping us achieve our overarching goal of increasing the flow of capital to diverse-owned private equity firms and hedge funds.
For 2020, we will continue our commitment to member services, while adding some exciting new initiatives designed specifically to increase the flow of capital to diverse asset management firms. We hope everyone will join us for the 50th Anniversary of the NAIC Annual Private Equity and Hedge Fund Conference. Set for October 2020 in New York City, it will be not only a celebration of this major milestone but also of our membership and the successes they have achieved over the course of half a century.
Again, thank you for your support and commitment. Without it none of what we do would be possible. We wish everyone a joyous holiday season and look forward to working with each of you to ensure a very Prosperous 2020!
Best regards,
Robert L. Greene
President & CEO