Champaign, IL – The State Universities Retirement System (SURS) has created an online Diverse Manager Portal designed specifically to provide an opportunity for diversely-owned investment management firms with greater than 51% ownership by minorities, women, or people with a disability (MWDB) to schedule meetings with the SURS investment team, its manager-of-manager partners, and/or its consultants. The portal is an enhancement to the Diverse Manager Week SURS has hosted for the past four years.
SURS investment team previewed the portal at the March 9 Investment Committee meeting of the SURS Board of Trustees.
Through the portal, SURS aims to promote visibility of MWDB firms from across the country to an audience of institutional level asset allocators. Interested firms may schedule virtual and in-person meetings on specific dates throughout the year in several categories including Public Equity, Private Equity, Real Assets, Public Credit and Private Credit.
“I am very proud of the progress SURS has made expanding coverage and investments with diverse managers,” said Chief Investment Officer Doug Wesley. “We view this portal as an opportunity to continue improving our outreach efforts to gain access to a larger pool of investment talent.”
As of June 30, 2022, forty percent (35 of 87) of SURS investment managers are owned by minorities, women or persons with a disability. SURS assets managed by these 35 firms total $9.3 billion, representing 40.9% of the total investment portfolio.
Meetings conducted are introductory and do not replace or bypass the SURS procurement process. Potential SURS allocations are possible upon successfully completing the selection process outlined by the SURS procurement policy.
Questions about scheduling may be directed to Alex Ramos or Stephany Brinkman at [email protected].
In other business, SURS board voted to terminate the Alternative Risk Premia mandate managed by Lombard Odier. The liquidated assets will be used for general portfolio rebalancing purposes.