Ask Jackson Allen why he chose TCU and he will tell you: “Days like Wednesday.”
The sophomore finance and accounting major found the 20th annual TCU Investment Strategies Conference (ISC) to be much more than just attending an event. There is no class equivalent to talking to Josh Friedman, co-founder, co-chairman and co-CEO of Canyon Partners, while escorting him around all morning. There is no line in a textbook quite as informative as having a front-row seat to Cliff Asness, founder, managing principal and chief investment officer at AQR, delivering career advice to Horned Frogs. There is no lecture equivalent to landing an internship with Jason Safran ’01, TCU’s chief investment officer, and his investment management team, and learning how to grow an endowment.
“I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to attend the Investment Strategies Conference,” Allen said. “I walked away with a fuller understanding of business, what it takes to be successful and how I can leverage my skills and abilities in today’s world.”
TCU Investment Management and the Luther King Capital Management Center for Financial Studies at the TCU Neeley School of Business partner to host this sold-out conference on campus each year, and Allen echoed a sentiment shared by almost everybody in attendance. The ISC attracts influential and impactful minds in the investment industry. Over its 20-year existence, the ISC has featured keynote speakers like former President George W. Bush, former House Speaker Paul Ryan and Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen.
The theme of this year’s conference was “The Quest for Alpha,” which was defined as excess return that captures investment skill. Asness spoke directly to the students, many of whom were in the front row. His belief that grit and orneriness are of greater import than technical proficiency felt like wisdom for life and not simply finances. The keynote speaker, Dmitry Balyasny, CIO and managing partner at Balyasny Asset Management, also spoke about the importance of finding analysts and portfolio managers with mental determination and flexibility.
While the conference has grown in size and stature, it still maintains the spirit intended by J. Luther King Jr. ’62 (MBA ’66). He is the president and founder of LKCM whose generous endowment in 2002 made the LKCM Center for Financial Studies at TCU Neeley and the ISC possible and is a former chair of the TCU Board of Trustees.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for TCU students to interface with successful investment professionals, many of whom have created and built important firms,” said King, who was the keynote speaker at the very first ISC in 2003. “What I have never forgotten is how TCU created those opportunities for me.”
If alpha is excess return that captures investment skill, King and his wife, Teresa,
and sons Mason and Bryan have achieved alpha with regard to student and institutional
impact. The conference is a perfect collaboration between academic and practical applications,
between informing current professionals and teaching the next generation and between
leading on while at TCU and beyond. Previous ISCs have covered topics from “Activist
Investing” to “The Global Competition for Capital.”
“We want to pour into students,” Safran said, “and part of how we do that is by growing the endowment that supports the university’s mission and makes a TCU education more accessible to talented students. This conference establishes TCU as a leader in finance and investments, and offers incredible access and benefit to the students who are able to attend.”
Safran acknowledged the leadership of Jim Hille, TCU’s retired CIO, in establishing the conference.
“We stand on Jim's shoulders,” Safran said.
Hille leveraged his network, inviting financial experts he admired to Fort Worth for the conference.
“We wanted to make it like the conferences we’d attend on the coasts. This area was
overlooked,” Hille said. “What’s really fascinating is you have students coming back
as working professionals and the network being built.”
Vassil Mihov, TCU Neeley professor and Beasley Fellow in Finance, has been teaching graduate and undergraduate students at TCU since 2000 and has watched the ISC grow into this year’s standing-room-only crowd. What he saw April 24 were former students who now hold seats as investment professionals. He believes that as important as hearing from finance industry icons is, the training Horned Frogs receive on how to become those people is just as important. Demi Fritz, senior investment analyst in the TCU Investment Management office, hosted an orientation with all of the TCU students who were attending. She coached them on what to wear, how to engage with these titans of the finance world and how to make an impression.
“Student involvement is a really important part of this,” said Mauricio Rodriguez, director of the LKCM Center. “We want them interacting with the speakers and the attendees.”
Allen said the biggest takeaway was that nothing is handed to you.
“It was eye opening being in a room of such successful and intelligent people,” Allen
said. “I took a lot away from the conference and I want to carve my own path like
many of the people at the conference have and be able to provide insight and experience
that will inevitably help those who come after me.”