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A Letter From Our Society President

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Joshua M. Howard, CFA

Society Members –

The Board of Directors of the CFA Society of Minnesota has spent the last few years diligently improving our strategic planning and governance processes. This commenced four years ago with a review and restatement of our mission and vision, followed by the creation of a new 3-5 year strategic plan. I have shared the outcomes of those activities with you in the past, and I will be sending a status update on the strategic plan sometime in May or June.

We are now working on the next step in the process to improve how the Board functions. The Executive Committee and full Board are in the midst of revising our bylaws, which haven’t been updated in many years. Some of the changes are non-material, such as updating our office location, but some changes will have material effects on Board processes and committee structures. We are undertaking this revision to make sure we are adopting best practices in governance, as well as to better align with our current mission, vision and staff structure.

In late spring, we will be sharing our proposed revisions of the bylaws with the full membership, as well as highlighting the material edits. Changes to bylaws require a 75% vote from our entire membership, a very high bar, so I strongly encourage everyone to take a minute to review the changes and provide any feedback before we put the bylaws out for a vote. When the proposed revisions are released to Society membership, please take time to vote yes or no. We have more than 1,300 members, which requires us to get consent from almost 1,000 members before the new bylaws can be approved.

The Board and staff have worked very hard on making sure your local Society is operating efficiently while still providing value-add programming and fellowship. We also care deeply about putting in place proper governance procedures along with the right amount of oversight of staff and Society finances. The bylaws revisions, which may seem modest at first glance, will help us be an even more effective organization in the future.

Josh Howard, CFA
President, CFA Society of Minnesota

P.S. Please take a few minutes today to log in and update your CFA Institute profile – especially your email address, which we’ll need for voting.

A Letter From Our Society President

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Joshua M. Howard, CFA

Society Members –

I write to you at the end of a very eventful year, especially for economies and governments. There were unexpected results in many elections and referendums, and the extent to which markets and pollsters misjudged major votes was astounding. Brexit, the Columbian Peace Deal, the US presidential election, the Italian constitutional referendum – the models and analysis that seemed to work so well in the past were upended by new trends and patterns that will require a major revision to the way political scientists, economists and investment professionals model the world. It is a good reminder to those of us who rely on quantitative models to continually test our assumptions, be skeptical of small sample sizes and not rely too heavily on historical data when predicting the future.

Another theme in 2016 was the dismal reputations that bankers and asset managers have in society right now. Each candidate in the presidential primaries and the main election seemed to get the loudest cheers when bashing Wall Street and hedge fund managers. But members of the CFA Society are helping to counteract this reputation. Besides our adherence to a Code of Ethics we have Society members providing financial education in high school classrooms with BestPrep, a partner program of CFA Society Minnesota. Other charterholders mentor younger colleagues through our professional mentorship program. Some help develop CFA curriculum through the Program Practice Analysis process, or teach our Level I, II and III prep classes, or do a myriad of other volunteer activities that help determine the future of finance and its reputation in the country.     

I sincerely appreciate all of the volunteers who support CFA Society Minnesota initiatives. I also want to thank each and every one of our members for the work you do each day for your clients, and for adhering to the highest ethical standards despite the turmoil that sometimes surrounds us. I am constantly impressed and inspired by the work being done by charterholders in the region, and I appreciate your commitment to our Society and the industry.

As 2016 comes to a close, I want to wish all Society members and their families a very happy New Year.

Josh Howard, CFA
President, CFA Society of Minnesota