Tag Archives: Josh Howard

Day in the Life of a Director of Research Event Recap

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By Steven Rohrich, CFA, Associate Director, Performance Analytics, Pavilion Advisory Group Inc.

On November 16, a group of students and their professor, along with other business professionals had a chance to learn from  Josh Howard, CFA and Scott Opsal, CFA. Over the course of lunch, our speakers shared with us their backgrounds as Directors of Research, daily tasks, and important tips to become investment professionals.

Background

Josh Howard, CFA, Director of Investment Risk and Performance at RBC Global Asset Management, and past President of the CFA Society of MN, taught high school math before breaking into the investment field. Josh was always interested in AP Statistics and began his career as a quantitative analyst building models for risk and returns. Scott Opsal, CFA, Director of Research at The Leuthold Group, LLC, began his career working on the management side of funds typically held in pensions and 401(K)s. He also taught Security Analysis at UW Whitewater. Both are now working closely with quantitative funds. Scott focuses on tactical allocation, and Josh’s concentration is on factor investing and managing risk. Like their roles, the firms they work for are quite different as well. The Leuthold Group, LLC is an RIA with 25 employees, over 1 billion AUM focusing on sell side, and buy side mutual funds and SMAs. RBC GAM, headquartered in Toronto with the operations based in Minneapolis, employs 180+ in the US and has about CAD $370 billion AUM. When asked the question about finding a firm that is a good fit, Scott provided the insight of “find a firm that shares similar values and philosophy you have as it will be the best fit.”

Director of Research Tasks

There are many responsibilities that a Director of Research has, but our speakers were able to provide some of their main tasks and favorite aspects of each day.

  • Investment Process
    • Including, but not limited to, managing investment tools and resources, generating and screening for new investment ideas, and assisting with portfolio construction and allocation.
    • Facilitating information between analysts and Portfolio Managers and running attribution to determine where returns in the portfolio are coming from.
  • Team Management
    • Managing the relationship between Portfolio Managers and analysts.
    • Hiring the people that fit with the team and firms philosophy and training new staff.
    • Performing Human Resource functions.

As a Director of Research, there are numerous opportunities to improve processes, develop the next generation of professionals, and have an impact on investment performance and client results. However, this career also has its challenges and pressures for returns, time management, and determining what is a fad and what is a true innovation.

Things to Consider

Our speakers provided some guidance not only on how to become a Director of Research but to start a career in investments. A good candidate will have:

  • High ethical standards, intellectual curiosity, expertise in investment process and theory, and strong writing and communication skills.
  • Ability to teach oneself to use the tools used in the investment process.
  • Desire to read investment books.
  • Passion to find a firm that shares their same philosophy.

A Letter from Our President

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I just returned from the 2017 CFA Institute Society Leadership Conference, held this year in Philadelphia. I have now attended seven Institute conferences for Society leaders over the past six years, covering both Society Leadership and America’s Regional conferences. It was also likely my last Society Leadership Conference, as I will finish my term as President of CFA Society Minnesota in August.

The Society Leadership Conference is attended by 2-3 representatives from all of the CFA Societies around the world. It is one of my favorite things I get to do as a Society rep, as I love mingling with industry practitioners from Ireland, Vietnam, Argentina, Vancouver, Qatar, Germany, Australia, Shenzhen and dozens more countries and cities from around the world. Regardless of where we call home we have the shared experience of having taken (and passed) all three CFA exams, in English, on the first Saturday in June over the course of 3, 4 or 10 years.

As I have mentioned in prior letters these conferences get better every year. The theme this year was “The Power of the Personal,” with many of the sessions focusing not just on Institute and Society initiatives but on personal and professional development. These sessions included training on delivering media interviews, improving presentation skills, and how to use mindfulness to improve health and job performance. It was a great combination of information and training for managing the local Society as well as improving my own professional skills.

During the plenary session on Friday morning I was able to participate in a debate on the future of the profession. Besides myself, the debate included Society leaders from New Zealand, France and South Africa. The moderator was from Turkey, making it a truly global panel. The exact motion we debated was “This house believes that the investment profession as we know it will be obsolete in 10 years.” I represented the opposition, arguing that the profession will not be obsolete at that time. We had a lot of fun during the debate and it was a highlight of the conference for many attendees. It definitely spurred lots of interesting conversation afterward.

Here is a summary of my argument. Despite the headlines of job losses in the industry, the flows from active to passive and the threat of artificial intelligence on analyst and research jobs, I believe that the investment profession’s core purposes of helping create wealth (by mobilizing capital to productive uses for future growth) and managing client savings, spending and financial risk through time will still be needed 10 years from now, and will still require human ingenuity and discernment.

The only risk is that if the profession isn’t trusted and transparent parts of the industry may be killed off by regulation, technology and disintermediation. But if we work together to align incentives between asset owners, asset managers, savers and beneficiaries the profession as we know it will be even stronger 10 years from now. We will continue to gain more tools than ever to fulfill our duties as investment professionals, tools we should embrace. And if we use those tools properly I expect that the demand for our services will only grow over time, not become obsolete, and will also help create a better society.

Have a differing view, or want to share your opinion on this motion? Please post a comment below. I look forward to reading your thoughts and ideas on the future of the investment profession.

Joshua M. Howard, CFA
President, CFA Society Minnesota

A Letter From Our Society President

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Joshua M. Howard, CFA

Society Members –

One of my favorite events of the year is the CFA Society Minnesota’s New Charterholder Dinner. There is an excitement in the air that equals or exceeds all of our other events, for reasons that those of us who have completed the three exams can easily understand. The excitement extends beyond just the honorees – the guests in attendance are usually just as relieved as the new charterholders that their partner or spouse is finally done with all that studying.

As I handed out charters at the dinner I couldn’t help but wonder what these new charterholders will be doing ten or fifteen years from now. My fifteen-year-career in the industry has seen the explosion of fundamental indexing and smart beta strategies, the rapid growth of ETFs, the slow bleed of actively managed assets and the massive shrinking of employment in traditional equity trading and investment banking. The next 15 years may continue some of these trends, or be upended and taken in a new direction by big data, increased regulation, demography or some unforeseen events (which seem to be happening a lot lately).

In 2013 CFA Institute launched an initiative called the Future of Finance. This initiative is an effort to “shape a trustworthy, forward thinking financial industry that better serves society.”  I do not discount the challenge of taking the time to be “forward thinking,” given the time demands placed upon us to complete our regular day to day tasks and the constant short termism we face from markets, investors and clients.  But, it is useful to step back every once in a while and really contemplate the future of the industry.

  • How will new and developing technologies such as block chain and artificial intelligence affect investment management and wealth management?
  • Will passive continue to take asset from active, or is there a limit to the amount of money that can be invested passively and still have efficient markets?
  • Are defined contribution plans an effective way to provide retirement security, or will they need to be reimagined or replaced?
  • How will states and companies fund their huge pension deficits in a world of low returns and expensive assets?

These are important questions that will need to be answered, some sooner than others, and hopefully by people with financial expertise. In the meantime, I want to once again congratulate our 70 new CFA charterholders and 34 Level III Pass Candidates in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, and to the others around the world.  It is a tremendous accomplishment to get through all three exams while working in the industry, and I look forward to seeing you at future CFAMN Society events and programs.

Josh Howard, CFA
President, CFA Society Minnesota

A Letter From Our Society President

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Joshua M. Howard, CFA

Society Members –

I just returned from the CFA Institute’s annual Americas Regional conference, held this year in Miami, FL. Also attending the conference were Society Vice President Mark Peiler, CFA and two of our Society staff, Mark Salter, CAE, ABC and Diane Senjem.

The Americas Region is the largest of three regions into which the Institute has grouped Societies: the other two are Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the fastest growing region, Asia Pacific (APAC). Even though this conference was a regional conference I once again came away impressed with the global reach of the charter. I listened to presentations from Society leaders from Mexico and Cayman Islands, networked with charterholders from Bozeman, Bahamas, and Boston, and attempted to keep up at social events with the Argentinians.

I want to convey to the members of CFA Society Minnesota my takeaways from the conference. The theme of the conference was “Ideas to Impact.” Too often great ideas have little impact because there is no strategy in place to execute those ideas. This conference attempted to get all of us to focus on not just coming up with big ideas, but to consider our strategy for implementing those ideas to have the greatest impact on our membership.

After last fall’s Society Leadership Conference I wrote to you about the CFA Institute’s determination to better partner with Societies through additional funding, improved IT resources, better branding and increased dialogue between Institute staff and Society volunteers. I can attest that this has occurred over the past year and is expanding over time, which allows volunteers at the local Society level to better implement our ideas and have a bigger impact.

The Institute staff – from CEO Paul Smith to Society Relations personnel – continue to listen to us, involve us in major initiatives and provide funding for innovative programs and projects. Through the brand campaign they are raising awareness of the CFA charter amongst employers, clients, potential charterholders and regulators. Through the Asset Manager Code of Professional Conduct, now adopted by over 1,300 firms worldwide, they are leading the investment profession to maintain the highest standards of ethics when dealing with clients. Through their credentialing programs they are educating the next generation of investment professionals with the latest skills and knowledge required to work in the industry today.

We are part of an organization that has over 147,000 members in 158 countries, represented by 147 Societies. We are committed to upholding the highest standards of professional excellence and education, and I am excited to lead the local Society as we partner with the global body to develop future professionals, deliver member value and build market integrity.

Josh Howard, CFA
President, CFA Society Minnesota

A Letter from Your Society President – January

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Joshua M. Howard, CFA

The holidays are behind us and the busyness of life has returned for most of us. The same is true for the CFA Society, as we have a number of events on the calendar over the next few weeks. Most importantly we have our signature event of the year next week, the Annual Economic Dinner. This year’s guest speaker is Michael Pettis, a China expert who currently works and writes in Beijing. There are still tickets available and I encourage you to attend if you are able to. In addition to the dinner our calendar is full of other programming as well, including lunches, happy hours and career support, which you can access here Events Calendar.

Also, in case you missed it in December, we have released our Society Annual report and the annual Compensation Survey, which was expanded this year to include many cities in the Midwest. I encourage you to read both. Our Annual report contains our financial statement for the most recent fiscal year, among other information, and as dues paying members I hope you will take the time to review our sources of revenue and how we spend your dues. Less than 30% of our revenue comes from your member dues, though it is still the single largest source of our receipts. We spend just under half of our total revenue on staff, administration and board expenses, with the majority of our expense going directly toward programming and education for our members. The Board takes its fiscal responsibility seriously, and we attempt to offer the highest quality programming to our members while limiting increases to dues and event fees. If you have any questions about our financials please let me know.

The compensation survey is also a valuable resource, whether you are looking for a job, attempting to hire someone or moving to a different part of the region. A special thanks to all who responded to the survey, and to our Advocacy Committee for their work on collecting and analyzing this information. As always, please contact me with any questions. I look forward to seeing many of you at the Economic Dinner next week.

Joshua M. Howard, CFA
President, CFA Society Minnesota