Forum VIII Agenda

SAA Golf Tournament
(Prizes provided by Strategic Asset Alliance)

Welcome Reception & Dinner

Dinner Cruise Sunbeam luxury yacht

Breakfast Buffet

Michael C. Koetters
Managing Director, Strategic Asset Alliance
 

  :The Times They Are A-Changin’

Alton Cogert
President & CEO, Strategic Asset Alliance

Although never written for the purpose, Bob Dylan’s "The Times They Are A-Changin’" could apply to the landscape facing insurer investment professionals today.  Increasing financial market turbulence has produced a swing from greed to fear in the markets, while regulators react, rating agencies back pedal, and scared auditors change measurement standards.  How are your peers successfully dealing with this investment landscape?  What does SAA believe is hurting and helping the investment results of insurers?  Most importantly, what do you want to lear at this conference and how will you achieve those goals today?

CIO Roundtable

Moderator: John Davidson
President & CEO
Partner Re Asset Management

Are we headed for a slow growth or a recession?  And, if a ression, how deep will it be?  What does this mean for interest rates, spreads, equities, and the risk we cannot hedge: liquidity?  Mr. Davidson is a well-known observer of the economy and financial markets, and he will lead a discussion where all attendees will participate as part of this CIO Roundtable. Hear what your peers think of different investment ideas and trends.  What are the most important investment issues facing insurers today, and how are they being addressed?  How does the investment process at other insurers’ differ from your company’s and why?  Every year, this is one of the most popular of all the sessions on the agenda.
 

CIO Perspectives on the Investment Process - Part I

 Mark Cummins, Executive Vice President-Chief Investment Officer and Treasurer, Harleysville Group
Martha Leiper, Senior Vice President & Deputy Chief Investment Officer, UNUM Group
C.T. Urban, Chief Investment Officer, Caterpillar Insurance

These highly regarded investment professionals will talk about their company’s investment process and answer your questions.  What can you learn from the challenges at other insurers?  And how can you apply their approach to your company?  What are the key challenges facing an insurer’s investment process?  How can these challenges be met while focusing on the company’s key performance metrics of success?  What do the latest accounting and regulatory threats mean for insurer portfolios? What are your peers doing in the investment arena that you might want to consider? How can you best measure and manage performance in light of your company’s key goals and objectives?
 

Lunch

"Current Financial Follies"

 Allan Sloan, Senior Editor-at-Large, Fortune

Investment Manager Rodeo

John Schaefer, President and Chief Executive Officer, AAM
Patrick Tuohy,Managing Director, Hyperion Brookfield Asset Management

After listening to your investment manager’s views, did you ever wonder what other similarly respected managers are thinking?  This entertaining and interactive session will allow you to anonymously ask those questions. Each investment manager will then have a limited amount of time to directly answer each of your questions. This streamlined, timed format provides keen insight on how the answers differ among each of the managers on this panel as well as how they may differ from your current manager’s thoughts.

Credit Crunch Perspectives

Christopher Whalen,  Managing Director, Institutional Risk Analyst

 The credit crunch started with sub-prime mortgages and its impact is seeping into other areas of the economy and markets.  Chris Whalen is a well known and nationally quoted editor of the Institutional Risk Analyst, a newsletter focused on these and related issues, especially the impacts on the banking industry, a cornerstone of the economy.  Chris will provide his typically prescient insights and ideas in this lively, interactive session. 

Conference Summary and Wrap-Up

What were the most interesting ideas you heard at the conference and how might they be utilized in your organization?  Were your personal goals and objectives for attending the conference achieved?  In this open ended discussion, we all ahve the opportunity to share our summary thoughts and ideas.

 Adjourn

Forum IX Overview
Sample Agenda - Forum VIII
Past Forum Review