Blog
The Importance of Ongoing Education
As the leader in providing education and training to public pension professionals, NCPERS aims to make ongoing education as easy as possible for our members.
By: Hank Kim, Executive Director and Counsel, NCPERS
This article was originally featured in the April 2023 issue of The Monitor.
The days are getting longer, the flowers are beginning to bloom, and—like many parents across the country—I've been anxiously awaiting news about my two children's college admissions (Genevieve got into University of Colorado and Cameron got into University of Vermont, if you were wondering).
After nearly 13 years in school, they're diligently preparing to continue the next steps in their education. But, after graduation, it can be hard to figure out where to learn new skills or how to stay on top of the latest developments in your field. Ongoing education, however, is so important for success—no matter your profession (even for professional hockey players, like my son aspires to be).
As the leader in providing education and training to public pension professionals, NCPERS aims to make ongoing education as easy as possible for our members. While each of our conferences is unique, attendees know they will find quality programming that will equip them to succeed. Our networking receptions and events are where long-term industry relationships are built. These are the contacts you can reach out to with questions, vendor recommendations, or just to grab lunch when you're in town. With so many repeat attendees, NCPERS post-pandemic networking receptions have sometimes felt like a family reunion!
Our Annual Conference & Exhibition (ACE) is our most comprehensive educational event, featuring fast-paced general sessions, highly focused breakout sessions, and networking opportunities. We take special care to welcome first-time attendees with a meet and greet on the first day to help facilitate networking. We've just released the agenda, which features a fantastic lineup of speakers.
The opening general session will cover responsible investment in private equity, as Jennifer O'Dell of LiUNA and Dan Pedrotty of NABTU discuss how funds can implement responsible contractor policies for investments in real estate and infrastructure.
Day two opens with a general session on the macro outlook for 2023 and ends with a breakout session on how to effectively engage with your actuary. During the breakout session, “Risk Management: A Key Reason for the Wisconsin Retirement System's Success,” Brian Murphy of Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company and Matt Stohr of WRS will discuss how the retirement system has found success with stress testing every two years in collaboration with the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.
Day three features sessions on cybersecurity, ESG, legislative and regulatory updates, and more. Tom Vicente and Jim Ritchie of Bolton will explore the challenges that changing demographics pose to pension plans and their sponsors during their session, “The US Workforce is Changing – Evolving Pension Offerings to Serve the Future Membership.”
On the final day, attendees will learn about investing with diverse and emerging managers, what the new actuarial standards mean for your plan, and more. The program closes with a general session on crisis communications, where Michelle Holleman of the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund will discuss how to prepare your team for a crisis and share strategies for engaging with the media and stakeholders.
Less than a month after our Annual Conference, NCPERS will host public pension executives in Denver for the Chief Officers Summit. This event is designed to prepare pension CEOs and CIOs to drive their organizations forward in the face of constantly evolving opportunities and challenges. The agenda is created by an advisory faculty of c-suite pension leaders, covering vital skills such as risk management, governance, technology, and more.
Be sure to check our calendar to see all of our upcoming conferences and visit our Center for Online Learning to take advantage of the many opportunities NCPERS offers to continue your education and stay up to date on the latest developments in the public pension industry.
Comments
There have been no comments made on this article. Why not be the first and add your own comment using the form below.
Leave a comment
Please complete the form below to submit a comment on this article. A valid email address is required to submit a comment though it will not be displayed on the site.
HTML has been disabled but if you wish to add any hyperlinks or text formatting you can use any of the following codes: [B]bold text[/B], [I]italic text[/I], [U]underlined text[/U], [S]
strike through text[/S], [URL]http://www.yourlink.com[/URL], [URL=http//www.yourlink.com]your text[/URL]