The Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems held its 2022 Annual Conference at The Worthington Renaissance Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas, April 3-6, 2022.

This year's theme was Powering Up Pensions. Nearly 530 members attended - many came to level up their skills as trustees and administrators of public employee pension funds.

"TEXPERS applauds the sponsors and presenters for the diligent work in planning their educational content for the 27 sessions held during our 2022 Annual Conference," said Art Alfaro, the association's executive director. "The atmosphere at this year's event was almost electric in how enthused our members were to learn and network to strengthen pensions for Texas' state and local government employees. It was evident in our attendance numbers."

TEXPERS' System Members were invited to plug into the minds of the pensions and investment industry's top thought leaders and power up their governance, fiduciary, and investment performance. 

Event Highlights

Day 1: Sunday, April 3

Day one of the conference allowed attendees to focus on networking and peer connection during TEXPERS' Annual Golf Tournament at Rockwood Golf Course. The day also included the association's annual business meeting and the start of conference registration.

Day 2: Monday, April 4

On day two of the conference, after our opening ceremony, attendees heard from the event's first keynote speaker, Ari Rastegar of Rastegar Property Co., a Gold Sponsor of the conference. Ari, the founder and CEO of the company, outlined the importance of fiduciary duty and how real estate can be a hedge against inflation. (Presentation slide deck unavailable)

More Videos and Presentations from Day 2 

• John Christmas, HPS Partners; Private Credit Solutions (PDF Presentation)
• Paul Sanford, TriLinc Global; Private Credit: A Fresh Global Perspective (PDF Presentation)
• Anthony Bassili, Coinbase; Digital Assets & Financial Innovation: A Primer (PDF Presentation)
• Bob Klausner, Klausner, Kaufman, Jensen & Levinson; Just When You Thought it Was Save Again - New Perils for Fiduciaries (PDF Presentation)
• Paul Nasser, Intercontinental Real Estate Corp.; The Changing Landscape of Commercial Real Estate (PDF Presentation)
• Stephen Hagenbuckle, TerraCap Management; The Long-Term Drivers for Value Creation in U.S. Real Estate (PDF Presentation)
• Ryan Shockley, BlackRock; Capturing the $100 Trillion Opportunity in Infrastructure (PDF Presentation)
• Josh Rubin, Thornburg Investment Management; & Scott Whalen, Verus Investments; Past, Present & Future of Emerging Markets (PDF Presentation)
• Martin Cabrera, Cabrera Capital Markets; & Gilbert Garcia, Garcia Hamilton & Associates; Hidden Performance in Plain Sight - How Increasing Competition Has Top Performing Pension Funds Tapping an Unlikely Source (A slide deck was not utilized during the presentation)
• Joe Gimenez, G3 public Relations; Tyler Grossman, El Paso Fire & Police Pension Fund; & Kolby Beckham, Longview Firemens Relief & Retirement Fund; Is 2022 Your Last Best Shot for Pension Obligation Bonds? (A slide deck was not utilized during the presentation)

Day 3: Tuesday, April 5

Keynote speaker Steve Chiavarone, vice-president/head of multi-asset solutions at Federated Hermes, a Gold Sponsor of the conference, kicked off day three by discussing inflation's impact on the markets.

More Videos and Presentations from Day 3 

• Justin "Biff" Ourso, Nuveen Investments; Today's Global Megatrends and the Real Assets of the Future (PDF Presentation)
• Adam Savett, Levi & Korsinsky, Serena Hallowell, Motley Rice; & Harry Griffin, San Antonio Fire & Police Pension Fund; Making the Best of a Bad Situations: How to Implement Best Practices for Portfolio Monitoring
• John Ide, Star Mountain Capital; Finding Alpha in the Less Efficient U.S. Lower Middle-Market (PDF Presentation) 
• Mary Kathryn Campion, Ph.D., Champion Capital Research; Inflation or Stagflation: That is the Question! (PDF Presentation) 
• Art Alfaro, TEXPERS; & Rep. Rafael Anchi, D-Dallas; Fireside Chat: Legislative Update (PDF Presentation)
• Amy Tripp Cardona & Madilyn Jarman, Texas Pension Review Board; Update on Funding Soundness Restoration Plan (PDF Presentation)
• Alex Dauria, Aksia; Darrick Dagnan, Fort Worth Employees' Retirement System; Steve Swanson, Chicago Park Employee's Annuity; & Daniel Miller, NYC Board of Education Retirement System; CIO/Executive Director Round Table
• Kevin Vandolder, AndCo Consulting; Brandon Smith, Boston Partners; Mark Anderson, & National Investment Services; Breakout A: A Deep Dive Into Macro Economic Factors - Interest Rates, Inflation and Central Banks ... Should We Be Running For Cover?
• David Fann, Aksia; Ashmi Mehrotra, JP Morgan Asset Management; & Tom Tull, Star Mountain Capital; Breakout B: Private Equity - What's In Store for the Vintages of 2022, 2023 and Beyond (Video not available)
• Tony Kay, AndCo Consulting; David Grumhaus, Duff & Phelps Investment Management; Paul Noland, L&B Realty Advisors; Jay Steigerwald, Ashford Securities; & Christy Gahr, Virtus Real Estate Capital; Breakout A: Real Assets - How to Avoid "Fake Assets" and Are They Still a Powerful Diversification Play?
  
• Scott Whalen, Verus Investments; Dan Clare, Constitution Capital Partners; Bob Kricheff, Shenkman Capital Management; Thomas Hall, Capital Dynamics, & Salvatore Giannetti III, PennantPark Investment Advisers; Breakout B: The Current State of and Outlook for the Public & Private Credit Markets (Video not available)

Day 4: Wednesday, April 6

On day four, the final day began of the conference started with an overview of public pension issues and trends by the Texas Pension Review Board's vice-chair, Keith Brainard. Keith compared public retirement benefits to the private sector and said that as of Dec. 31, 2021, public pensions in the U.S. had $5.85 trillion in assets. (PDF Presentation)

More Videos and Presentations from Day 4 

• Gera McGuire & Grayson Nichols, Moody's Rating Agency; Pension Underfunding Impacts Ratings  (PDF Presentation) 
• James Perry, Maples Fund Services; TEXPERS Asset Allocation Study (Click here to access the presentation & click here to access the full report)
• Brian Greene, Zeno AN Solutions, & Ben Webster, OWL ESG Inc; Peeling Back the Onion on ESG Due Diligence & Compliance Monitoring (PDF Presentation)

Educational Opportunities

TEXPERS hosts educational programs for the trustees and administrators that manage the retirement funds of police officers, firefighters, and municipal and district employees throughout Texas. TEXPERS has conducted the Annual Conference for 33 years, offering a professional development edge to sessions and workshops designed around current topics and trends focused on public fund management and investment issues. 

The 2022 Annual Conference in Fort Worth marked the association's 32nd event, having canceled its 2020 Annual Conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The association has 68 member pension systems that manage $32.7 billion in retirement assets for 57,728 active members and 60,737 retirees and beneficiary annuitants. TEXPERS' Annual Conference brings Texas' key pension stakeholders together for education, training, and networking.

"We invite our member system trustees and administrators to take advantage of our whole conference experience, from state-approved trustee training to peer-to-peer networking," said Alfaro, the association's executive director. "TEXPERS' Annual Conference is the perfect time to learn industry tactics and gain fresh perspectives from some of the industry's top thought leaders."

The next chance for TEXPERS' members to network and develop their pension management skills is during its Summer Educational Forum, Aug. 21-23, in El Paso, Texas. The venue is at 10 Henry Trost Ct., El Paso, TX 79901. 

Registration isn't open yet. Check our event page for additional details as they become available. For sponsorship information, email [email protected].