Verus believes that varied perspectives lead to better decision making. We are committed to promoting tolerance and respect for differing worldviews in our workplace and the institutional investment consulting industry as a whole, and to support utilization of smaller, newer teams in our process for sourcing investment products and strategies.
The Pillars Committee was established to guide, inspire, and foster a culture of tolerance and respect for differing ideas, opinions and perspectives within our firm. We believe that groupthink can lead to less than optimal outcomes for our firm and our clients. The Committee leads in the creation of initiatives and best practices to integrate holistic thinking and viewpoints into our consulting practices, outreach, and overall mission as a company.
Marianne Feeley
Managing Director | Public Markets
Samantha Grant
Senior Consultant
Kin Lam
Director | Private Markets
Anneke Meulblok
Business Operations Specialist
Mike Patalsky
Managing Director | Senior Consultant
Warren Spencer
Chief Compliance Officer
Verus believes that broad and differing viewpoints enhance decision-making and improve outcomes. This has been evidenced in various studies of corporate decision making. Our dedication to this belief is reflected in our three foundational pillars:
1) Maintaining an ‘open tent’ at Verus by minimizing bias against sex, race, age or disability
2) Expanding access to smaller, newer and less well known investment managers
3) Remaining focused on talent development in the institutional investment industry
These pillars guide our actions and decisions.
Ours is a multi-cultural world; the ideal workplace should be representative of that fact. Verus is committed to further promoting broad cultural representation through our recruitment, retention, and inclusion efforts. Studies show that organizations which strive to avoid ‘groupthink’ by welcoming different backgrounds and perspectives in the decision-making process have higher success in achieving corporate objectives. We believe our staff composition represents this commitment to excellence. Verus constantly assesses how well we meet this goal.
Many of our clients aim to increase their exposure to smaller, newer firms. Anecdotal evidence supports hiring asset managers earlier in their corporate lifecycle as they typically can achieve higher value-added versus later in the lifecycle after lots of assets and clients have been garnered.
To meet this demand and uphold our responsibility to assist clients in hiring skillful managers, Verus seeks to broaden and deepen our coverage of smaller, newer or ‘emerging’ managers. The Verus approach to research is to remove unintentional hurdles based on firm size or ownership, and our ongoing research process includes emerging and diverse-owned firms in our initial research universe. We are always looking for new and innovative investment opportunities. Managers from emerging firms are invited to submit their information to the Verus Manager Research team.
Verus collects public markets manager data via the eVestment global database. We understand eVestment can appear daunting to complete for smaller or newer firms. At minimum, please include the product name, its benchmark, and any track record regardless of length. Verus also collects private markets data based on the ILPA framework.
Most industry studies support the idea that the alpha-generating ability of emerging and diverse managers is at least no different from that of other managers in the universe, and may provide a broadening of the opportunity set of skilled managers available for selection.
Verus employs a disciplined framework for evaluating investment strategies. The key elements of what we’re looking for are listed below.
Organizational structures to attract and retain talent
Describe how your firm’s recruiting and retention policies contribute to ensuring your investment process continues to evolve?
Willingness to be different than the benchmark and peers
How do you bring diverse points of view to your idea-generation process?
Sensible and repeatable
Describe the interactions of your investment team. How do you incorporate views of members at various levels of experience?
Self knowledge and making active bets where there is skill
How do members of the team challenge their own and each others’ thinking?
Explaining performance headwinds and tailwinds
What types of market conditions favor or don’t favor your approach? How do team members reinforce the ability to stick to your approach in markets that don’t favor it?
We support numerous organizations that promote attracting and growing young talent to and within the institutional investment industry—whether it be through sponsorships, mentorship programs, or speaking roles.
Some of the organizations we support:
Our whitepapers provide an in-depth analysis for organizations about the potential benefits of including emerging managers within their portfolios.
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