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 LKCM 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 George W. Bush, Paul Ryan and 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.
“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’s 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, 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 for Financial Studies at the Neeley School of Business.
“We want them interacting with the speakers and the attendees.”
The LKCM Center and TCU Investment Management partner every year to bring this conference
to TCU.
“My biggest takeaway from today is that nothing is handed to you,” Allen said. “It
was eye opening being in a room of such successful and intelligent people. 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.”
