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Mike Simutin

Research Committee Co-Chair
ICPM, Associate Director of Research

Mike Simutin is ICPM’s Associate Director – Research and is the content lead for research activities.

Mike is also an Associate Professor of finance at the Rotman School of Management. His research focuses on studying institutional money management and understanding risks that affect asset prices. Mike’s research has been published in leading finance journals, including the Journal of Finance, the Review of Financial Studies, and the Journal of Financial Economics. He has received multiple research awards, including the Best Paper Award by the Review of Asset Pricing Studies and the Governor’s Award from the Bank of Canada. Mike has also received multiple teaching accolades, including being named one of the 40-Under-40 Most Outstanding Business School Professors and being voted instructor of the year by the MBA students. His research has been presented at numerous academic conferences and practitioner events.

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Jaap van Dam

Research Committee Co-Chair
PGGM

Netherlands

Jaap is Principal Director of Investment Strategy at PGGM. He is chairman of the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO), of the Advisory Board of the Erasmus Platform for Sustainable Value Creation. He is co-chair of the research committee van ICPM.

Jaap has performed many roles within the field, ranging from fundamental and quantitative analysis to external manager selection and portfolio construction. He joined PGGM in 2005 as Head of Internal Equity Management. In 2006 he was appointed Chief Strategist. Jaap is a member of the NEST (UK) Investment Committee.

Together with prof. Kees Koedijk and prof Alfred Slager, he authored the book Achieving Investment Excellence, a practical guide for Trustees of Pension Funds, Endowments and foundations (2019). He received  his Master’s degree in Finance at the Erasmus Universiteit in Rotterdam.

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Susan Banta

Pew

United States

Susan M. Banta is a fiscal economist with over 20 years of experience in advising governments on public finance, tax policy, budget formulation and execution, tax administration, and revenue estimation. As Director of Research with the States’ Public Sector Retirement Systems at the Pew Charitable Trusts, Ms. Banta leads a team of researchers studying state retirement system funding policies, investment practices, governance and benefits. Ms. Banta most recently served as Senior Budget Officer in the Executive Office of District of Columbia Mayor Vincent C. Gray, where she advised the mayor on tax policy and managed the economic development portfolio of the District’s $10 billion annual budget. She was also the Director of the Office of Policy Analysis at the Council of the District of Columbia, and a Director with KPMG Barents Group LLC, where she advised state and international governments on fiscal reform.

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James Davis

OPTrust

Canada

Mr. Davis joined OPTrust in 2015. He leads the organization’s investment strategy and oversees its diversified portfolio spanning the globe with public market, private market, infrastructure, and real estate assets in North America, Europe, Developed Asia and emerging markets.

Mr. Davis has over 25 years of strategic investment planning and leadership experience, including proven results in liability driven investing and portfolio design. Most recently, he held the role of Vice President, Strategy & Asset Mix and Chief Economist at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’).

Before joining Teachers’, Mr. Davis was President of FuturesTrend Capital Corporation in Prince Edward Island and Vice President & Head, Global Fixed Income & Currencies at RBC Global Investment Management in Toronto.

Mr. Davis is widely recognized as an engaging speaker in a broad range of forums within the pension industry, and is known for his insights on global economics, portfolio construction and investment strategy.

In addition to degrees in Mathematics and Meteorology, Mr. Davis holds an MBA in Finance from Dalhousie University and is a CFA charterholder.

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Bing Han

Rotman School of Management

Canada

Bing Han is a Professor of Finance at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Finance from UCLA. His research focuses on Behavioral Finance, Investments, and Risk Management. He has published in top finance, economics and management journals including Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Economic Theory, Management Science, Review of Finance, as well as practitioner oriented journals such as Journal of Investment Management, Journal of Portfolio Management.

His research has been presented at many international and national conferences, and featured in mainstream media such as New York Times and Wall Street Journal. He has previously taught both undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Chicago, Ohio State University and University of Texas at Austin. He has also worked for J.P. Morgan and served on the advisory board of a multi-billion hedge fund.

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David Richardson

TIAA-CREF Investment Management

United States

David P. Richardson is a Senior Economist at the TIAA-CREF Institute. Prior to joining the Institute, David P. Richardson served as Senior Economist for Public Finance at the White House Council of Economic Advisers and held the New York Life Chair in Risk Management and Insurance at Georgia State University. Previously, Richardson worked as a Financial Economist in the Office of Tax Policy at the U.S. Treasury, and was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Davidson College. Richardson’s research interests focus on public pensions, employer retirement plans, and household financial security, including retirement preparedness, retiree healthcare, and the allocation of retiree risk burdens.

He has served as a research fellow for the China Center for Insurance and Social Security Research at Peking University, a research fellow for the Center for Risk Management Research and as a research associate at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. Richardson is a member of the American Economic Association, the American Risk and Insurance Association, and the National Tax Association. He earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from Boston College, and a B.B.A. from the University of Georgia.

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Onno Steenbeek

Algemene Pensioen Groep (APG)

Netherlands

Onno Steenbeek (1967) is managing director of ALM and Solutions at APG Asset Management. This department is responsible for APG’s ALM and risk advisory, as well as investment and pensions research. The quantitative models employed by the department are used to optimize the financial strategy of associated pension funds (with AUM totaling over Euro 400 billion), for overall risk budgeting and for reporting purposes. In addition, the department leads research projects into e.g. the sustainability of current pension contracts, longevity risk and a broad range of investment topics. Steenbeek also holds a Chair in Pension Fund Risk Management at the Erasmus School of Economics in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Apart from lecturing on various finance subjects, he conducts academic research and publishes books and articles. Every other year, he organizes policy-oriented pension conferences at the Erasmus School of Economics. In addition to his primary affiliations to APG and Erasmus University, Steenbeek is a member of the Supervisory Board of Optimix Investment Funds N.V. and a member of the Investment Advisory Committee of ABN-Amro Pension Fund. He recently served in 2 committees advising the State Secretary of Social Affairs & Employment on specific aspects of the new pension law.

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Michael Preisel

Independent

Worldwide

Michael Preisel is currently Independent. He was previously an Investment Officer at the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund and also Chief Quantitative Officer at ATP.

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Scott McIntosh

OMERS

Canada

Scott McIntosh is Executive Vice President & Head of Global Multi-Asset Strategies at OMERS Capital Markets and has overall accountability for the Global Multi-Asset business, including the Quant Strategies Group, Event-Driven and Macro, Rates and FX teams. He also leads Balance Sheet Management. Scott joined OMERS in October 2013.

Prior to this, Scott was the Head of Canadian Asset Allocation at Manulife Asset Management, and a Portfolio Manager on both Canadian and U.S. diversified portfolios totaling $90 billion. Before coming to Canada, Scott worked in asset allocation and portfolio strategy roles in Australia.

In addition to his role at OMERS, Scott is a member of the research committee for the International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM), a global research-based network of pension organizations.

Scott holds a Bachelor of Business from the Queensland University of Technology, Australia, and a Master of Commerce (Applied Finance) from the University of Queensland, Australia.

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Fernando Larrain

Asociación de AFP (AAFP)

Chile

Fernando Larrain is currently General Manager of the Chilean trade union organization AAFP, where he is responsible for the design, implementation, and evaluation of AAFP’s strategy. Prior to this, he was a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank, UNICEF, and the Organization of American States on issues of state modernization, corruption, public management and political economy. Mr. Larrain has a diverse government background, holding several advisory roles to various Chilean Ministers and the President.

Mr. Larrain sits on a number of boards. He was a founding member and board director for the Chilean Society of Public Policies, a scientific corporation whose mission is to improve the quality of public policies; as well as the Fundación Trabajoen la Calle, a non-governmental organization pioneering social development work for marginalized urban communities. He was named an Eisenhower Fellow in 2015 and One of Chile’s 100 Leaders in 2013. He has authored several publications.

Mr. Larrain holds a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University, a Certificate in Policy and Governance from Duke University/Graduate Institute of International Studies, as well as a Bachelors of Economics and Business Administration from Pontificia Universidad Catolicade Chile. After eight years as a full time professor, he remains a visiting Scholar at three universities (UAI Chile, ESEN El Salvador, and IDE Ecuador).

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Gabriel Petre

The World Bank

United States

Gabriel Petre leads the team responsible for developing the asset allocation and ESG integration strategy for the World Bank’s post-retirement benefit funds. As part of his work he is also involved in advising public pension funds of developing countries on governance, investment policy and asset allocation issues and official institutions of commodity-rich countries in setting up sovereign wealth funds.  

He joined the World Bank Treasury in July 2006. Before joining the World Bank, he worked for the National Bank of Romania, as part of the team in charge of the Foreign Reserves portfolio.  He has an MBA from Georgetown McDonough School of Business and is a CFA and CAIA charterholder.