The National Strategic Investment Dialogue, 2009

The National Strategic Investment Dialogue (NSID) is an annual national series of discussions among fiduciaries and leaders of the investment community to address issues of vital importance to institutional investors. In 2009, the focus of the program was:

Values at Risk:
Reinventing Markets and Strategies for the New Financial Era

The National Strategic Investment Dialogue (NSID), a series of two separate day-long discussions in Washington D.C. and Chicago, brought together selected groups of respected fiduciaries and leaders of the investment community. The purpose was to examine and debate the challenges and complexities and innovation associated with managing portfolios.

The discussion identified the events that were transformational in nature, separating the truly significant from the cocktail of hype and panic that defined much of the coverage in 2008-2009. We explored the implications of the recent downturn for accepted market and non-market risk models and focus on precisely why and on what this may imply for new approaches to anticipating and mitigating risk. Given the difficulty most investors had in anticipating where this market will turn next, looked at different scenarios for how the remainder of this period of crisis is likely to unfold, what signals may indicate future downturns and which may ultimately signal recovery. We also sought to translate these insights into practical strategies that can be implemented.

Participants were culled from a variety of organizations and represent a broad range of investment professionals, including money managers, plan sponsors, foundation and endowment investors, board members, and third-party service providers.