Services Tags: OCIO

2025 Investment Symposium

Watch the flash talks from Marquette’s 2025 Investment Symposium livestream on September 26 in the player below — use the upper-right list icon to access a specific presentation.

 

Please feel free to reach out to any of the presenters should you have any questions.

3Q 2025 Market Insights Webinar

Please join Marquette’s research team for our 3Q 2025 Market Insights Webinar analyzing the third quarter across the economy and various asset classes as well as themes we’ll be monitoring through the rest of the year. This webinar will be recorded and posted to our website and YouTube channel afterward.

LOGISTICS

  • Register directly with Microsoft Teams using the email invitation sent October 1. Once you register, Microsoft will send an email confirming your registration that also contains the meeting link to join, plus a reminder one hour before the webinar starts. Need an invite? Reach out to our team.
  • Attend on Wednesday, October 22, at 1:00pm CT. All attendees will be held in the webinar lobby until the presentation begins at 1:00.
  • Q&A will be open during the webinar using Microsoft Teams’ Q&A feature. Feel free to send any in advance to our team, too.

Our quarterly Market Insights series examines the primary asset classes we cover for clients including the U.S. economy, fixed income, U.S. and non-U.S. equities, hedge funds, real assets, and private markets, with commentary by our research analysts and directors.

If you have any questions, please send our team an email.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Markets

Over the last several decades, artificial intelligence (“AI”) has evolved from a theoretical concept into a transformative force across a variety of industries. The 1940s saw the advent of the digital computer, which was followed years later by the first artificial neural network, a computational model inspired by the structure of the human brain that consists of algorithms that attempt to recognize relationships in data. In more recent years, researchers have developed “deep learning” systems (i.e., neural networks with many layers) capable of increasingly complex tasks including image recognition, reading comprehension, and predictive reasoning. Given the advances in the space, it should not come as a surprise that the use cases of artificial intelligence are now vast, with AI tools now implemented across fields including health care, retail, finance, and entertainment. Researchers and corporate executives are not the only ones to have noticed the remarkable potential of AI, however, as investors have flocked to the space in droves over the last several years.

This newsletter outlines the growth of AI as an investment theme, including performance, valuations, and earnings growth of AI-related companies and equities, other segments of the market that may stand to benefit from advances in AI, and potential risks for investors.

2025 Investment Symposium

Photograph of the Chicago skyline at sunset, looking south with Hancock Tower near center of frame

Friday, September 26, 2025
8:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Marquette clients – We hope you’ll join us at our 2025 Investment Symposium! This year’s event will be held in person in Chicago and virtually via livestream. To RSVP, please use our email invitation sent August 4 or reach out to our events team.

Our program will begin with an investment manager panel exploring investment opportunities and risks presented by the AI revolution and how firms are using the technology to refine and improve their investment process. From there, our research team and consultants will present several flash talks covering timely investment topics and a snapshot of the current market landscape across various asset classes. Rounding out the day, we’re excited to host Milwood Hobbs, Jr., of Oaktree Capital Management for a fireside chat keynote.

________________________________________

AGENDA

All times in Central Time

8:00am — Registration Open
Livestream will begin at 8:30
Breakfast served until 10:00

8:45 — Welcome Remarks by Brian Wrubel, Chief Executive Officer

9:00 — Opening Panel
Artificial Intelligence: From Investment Opportunities to Practical Implementation
Rich Mathieson, CA, Managing Director, Systematic Equities, Blackrock
Roland Reynolds, Senior Managing Director, Industry Ventures
Seth Weingram, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Director, Client Advisory, Acadian Asset Management

10:00 — Break

10:15 — Flash Talks

Public vs. Private: A Fixed Income Collision
Frank Valle, CFA, CAIA, Associate Director of Fixed Income
Chad Sheaffer, CFA, CAIA, Senior Research Analyst
James Torgerson, Senior Research Analyst

What Makes a Good Fiduciary?
Linsey Schoemehl Payne, Partner, Chief Compliance Officer
Stephanie Osten, Principal

The Changing Face of Real Estate
Greg Leonberger, FSA, EA, MAAA, FCA, Partner, Director of Research

11:00 — Break

11:15 — Flash Talks

U.S. Equity Markets: Trend or New Normal?
Catherine Hillier, Senior Research Analyst

Private Equity in 2026 and Beyond: Allocations, Expectations, and the New Reality
Amy Miller, Associate Director of Private Equity
Chris Caparelli, CFA, Partner

Will U.S. Exceptionalism Continue for Global Equities?
David Hernandez, CFA, Director of Traditional Manager Search

12:00pm — Lunch Break

12:45 — Keynote: Fireside Chat
Milwood Hobbs, Jr., Managing Director at Oaktree Capital Management, in conversation with Greg Leonberger

2:00 — Adjourn

 

VENUE DETAILS

The Union League Club
65 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604
(312) 427-7800

2025 OCIO Update

Marquette Associates is proud to be recognizing 15 years of providing OCIO management services. We stepped into this business in 2010 at the request of clients looking to delegate decision-making authority for their investment programs. Through the trust of that growing cohort of clients, our asset base has grown to $28 billion across 231 portfolios on behalf of 99 individual clients as of June 30, 2025. Please read Marquette’s 2025 OCIO Update from Brian Wrubel, Nat Kellogg, CFA, and Jessica Noviskis, CFA at the link below.

Read > 2025 OCIO Update

Alternatives in Defined Contribution Plans

On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order to expand alternative investment access in defined contribution retirement plans (e.g., 401(k) plans). This order instructs the Department of Labor (DOL) to reexamine its guidance to plan sponsors incorporating alternative investments into these types of retirement plans. According to the order, the six classes of alternative assets included are:

  • Private markets investments, including private equity and private debt
  • Real estate
  • Actively managed vehicles investing in digital assets
  • Commodities
  • Infrastructure
  • Lifetime income strategies, including longevity risk-sharing pools

Treasury Market Creates a Balancing Act

Despite the U.S. economy’s impressive growth in recent decades, the federal government currently faces elevated borrowing costs to fund its persistent budget deficits. While current bid-to-cover ratios remain robust in absolute terms, a declining trend in shorter maturities could represent one early warning sign that the traditional investor base demand is waning.

This newsletter examines the Treasury’s challenge of balancing funding costs with market demand and potential fiscal and monetary policy implications.

Marquette Speaking at Institutional Investor 2025 Roundtable for Consultants & Institutional Investors 10/8

On Wednesday, October 8, Nat Kellogg, CFA, Frank Valle, CFA, CAIA, and Evan Frazier, CFA, CAIA will be speaking at Institutional Investor’s 2025 Roundtable for Consultants & Institutional Investors in Chicago.

Nat will be joining a panel entitled, “Consultant CEO/CIO Perspective: Keep Calm & Carry On – Steering Through Volatility,” discussing the following questions:

  • It’s been an interesting year…. What are your biggest takeaways, surprises, and/or lessons learned?
  • Are your approaches to risk and asset allocation changing in this environment? How are you advising your clients for the near and longer term? How to form long-term return expectations amid such heightened uncertainty and volatility? How to prioritize investments/assets to invest in?
  • Beyond diversification, how do you mitigate volatility in portfolios? What does a resilient portfolio look like today?
  • What investment opportunities are you most/least excited about? Are there opportunities emerging from the shifting market dynamics that you are paying particular attention to?
  • How are you viewing the ‘democratization’ of private markets? Will this unlock more opportunities for institutional investors or limit them?
  • Have your manager selection processes changed, or do you anticipate them changing? If so, why and how?
  • At this event last year we discussed the evolving role of investment consultants and the growing scope of asset owner needs: how has this conversation moved forward over this past 12 months?
  • How are you viewing continued consolidation within the investment consulting and the asset management industries? What are the implications for allocators?
  • Are you approaching 2026 with optimism or pessimism? What is one piece of professional advice that you would give the allocators in the audience?

Frank will be co-leading a session entitled, “Think Tank: Balancing Liquidity and Diversification in Fixed Income Portfolios.”

Evan will be joining a panel entitled, “Strategically Leveraging Hedge Funds Today – The Allocator Perspective,” described as follows: As allocators reassess the role of hedge funds in their portfolios we dig into the “how’s and the why’s” — are they being used to offset privates in the portfolio, as a fixed income substitute or for something else? Are they primarily being used for diversification and downside protection or to capture alpha in a higher-volatility environment? Portable alpha and quant strategies are back in vogue — what are the ingredients from a macroeconomic perspective for differing strategies? In this session we hear how allocators are leveraging hedge funds, what they are looking for from their inclusion and how they are capitalizing on their strategies.

The Roundtable for Consultants & Institutional Investors will offer insights from leading industry experts and a forum for valuable exchanges with peers. For more information, please visit the event webpage.

2025 Halftime Market Insights

This video is a recording of a live webinar held July 17 by Marquette’s research team analyzing the first half of the year across the economy and various asset classes as well as themes we’ll be monitoring through the rest of 2025.

 

Our quarterly Market Insights series examines the primary asset classes we cover for clients including the U.S. economy, fixed income, U.S. and non-U.S. equities, hedge funds, real assets, and private markets, with commentary by our research analysts and directors.

Featuring:
Greg Leonberger, FSA, EA, MAAA, FCA, Partner, Director of Research
Frank Valle, CFA, CAIA, Associate Director of Fixed Income
James Torgerson, Senior Research Analyst
Catherine Hillier, Senior Research Analyst
David Hernandez, CFA, Director of Traditional Manager Search
Evan Frazier, CFA, CAIA, Senior Research Analyst
Dennis Yu, Research Analyst
Amy Miller, Associate Director of Private Equity
Chad Sheaffer, CFA, CAIA Senior Research Analyst

Sign up for research alerts to be invited to future webinars and notified when we publish new videos.

If you have any questions, please send our team an email.

Policy Uncertainty Blurs the Outlook

As we enter the second half of the year, Liberation Day-induced market volatility seems like a distant memory with the S&P hitting another all-time high on July 10th and non-U.S. stocks significantly outpacing their U.S. counterparts through June 30th. Meanwhile, the One Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law by President Trump on July 4th with varying expectations on its impact to growth but a consensus view that it will push the deficit higher.

In this edition:

  • Tariff and policy uncertainty
  • Risk factors and market indicators
  • Equity market drivers
  • Currency and regional trends
  • What to watch in the second half