Alongside seasoned investors and distinguished alumni, Neeley students majoring in finance gained remarkable industry and investing insights at the sold-out TCU Investment Strategies Conference. They heard from investment managers, analysts and notable finance experts, alongside professionals who traveled across the globe to attend.
April 25, 2024
By TCU Neeley School of Business
The TCU Investment Strategies Conference is a highlight event of the year for many of the investors, strategists, analysts and others in the finance industry who are able to attend the sold-out conference. The annual event, co-hosted by the Luther King Capital Management Center for Financial Studies in the Neeley School of Business and TCU Investment Management, is celebrating its 20th event with no signs of slowing down.
The conference draws professionals from across the globe to hear from dynamic speakers discussing investment opportunities and the current financial market environment. It’s also a place where TCU Neeley students majoring in finance secure unfettered access to industry experts, influential finance leaders and professionals working in careers they are aspiring to achieve, according to Mauricio Rodriguez a co-host of the conference, director of the LKCM Center for Financial Studies, and Theodore and Beulah Beasley Faculty Fellowship.
Alex Thorne, a junior finance major, described the TCU Investment Strategies Conference as “probably my favorite day at TCU. I am very much a finance nerd, a finance junky.”
Thorne, who was a first-time Investment Strategies Conference attendee said, “We covered all the bases today. This morning, we got into the technical weeds a little bit with the director of equity strategy for Bloomberg... Then we got to hear from Cliff Asness, a legendary name on the quantitative side of investing.”
For Thorne, a special moment was hearing from Dmitry Balyasny, chief investment officer and managing partner for Balyasny Asset Management.
Balyasny’s lunch keynote conversation was moderated by Jason Safran ‘01, TCU’s Chief Investment Officer and leader of TCU Investment Management. During their chat, Balyasny talked about his journey as a first-generation American who put himself through college to become a successful business executive in finance and trading. He shared suggestions on ways to grow an investment team and provided tips on how to lead teams to success.
Balyasny advised leaders to be good at recruiting but equally good at development. Examples he shared that they have implemented at Balyasny Asset Management included an internship program for high school and college students, analyst development program for those with some experience, and a training program for executive-level leadership candidates.
The experiential learning opportunities Balyasny described start for students with identifying the career path that fits their passion, and the Investment Strategies Conference provides a way to evaluate those options in one place one day, said J. Luther King Jr., ’62 (’66 MBA), who is also a member of the TCU Board of Trustees and the TCU Neeley Board of Advisors.
“This [event] gives the students the opportunity to learn and perhaps have a better understanding of what career path they might want to take, because the speakers, while they’re all in the investment business, are in different parts of the investment business. Some are investors. Some are in public. Some in private. Some are technicians. Some are economists,” King said.
Arthur Yeager ’20, who has been a sector analyst at Luther King Capital Management for the past three years, said the Investment Strategies Conference continues to be a source of learning even as a professional. As a student, he utilized the Bloomberg terminals at TCU Neeley for real-time data, news and analytics of the current the market. At the Investment Strategies Conference, Yeager heard from Gina Martin Adams, the global director of portfolio strategy and chief equity strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence, an analyst he said he reads insight from on a daily basis.
The partnership between the LKCM Center for Financial Studies and TCU Investment Management is key to 20 years of successful conferences and providing dynamic opportunities for students, faculty, alumni and finance professionals, said Rodriguez.
Additional conference speakers included:
- Masroor Siddiqui, CIO and Founder, Naya Capital Management
- Katie Stockton, Founder and Managing Partner, Fairlead Strategies, LLC
- Dr. Rod Wong, Managing Partner and CIO, RTW Investments
- Josh Friedman, Co-Founder, Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Canyon Partners, LLC
- Dylan Ross, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, Asset-Backed Finance, TCW
- David Richter, Managing Director, Absolute Return Strategies Investment Committee Chair and Co-head of Absolute Return Strategies Research, GCM Grosvenor
In previous years, speakers have included former United States President George W. Bush; Paul Ryan, past speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; and Janet Yellen, an American economist who is currently serving as Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. In addition, sponsors have generously endorsed this event.
“We appreciate all of our sponsors. We are grateful for the strong support from Mr. King and his firm that has made it possible for us to organize these world-class events,” said Rodriguez.
Sponsors for the 2024 Investment Strategies Conference included:
- Founding sponsor – Luther King Capital Management
- Purple Sponsors:
- Ares
- Crestline
- Engaged Capital
- GCM Grosvenor
- Golub Capital
- Silver Sponsors:
- Blue Owl
- Crow Holdings
- Chevy Chase Trust Investment Advisors
- J.P. Morgan Private Bank
- Kayne Anderson
- Neuberger Berman
- Contributing Sponsor – CFA Society Dallas/Fort Worth
