From the CIO: Here’s Why an Inclusive Approach Is Crucial for Wespath
By Johara Farhadieh
Chief Investment Officer (CIO)
A couple weeks ago, I explained how I want to help our institutional investors and participants reach their goals by providing investment excellence. I hope you enjoyed the blog and video!
As I stated in both, the primary way Wespath provides investment excellence is to hire and provide access to top-tier asset managers. This week I’m excited to dive a little deeper into how we find industry-leading asset managers and detail why I believe an inclusive approach can improve investment returns.
Before I detail my philosophy, let's start with some background on the asset management industry. The traditional databases used to find asset managers often do not include newer or smaller boutique firms. This search process inherently screens out many women- and minority-owned asset managers.
And yet I know from experience that some women- and minority-owned asset managers are top-tier asset managers. Prior to joining Wespath, I was the executive director and chief investment officer at the Illinois State Board of Investment (ISBI). During my time at ISBI, it had the best performing private equity portfolio in 2019, 2020 and 2021 among all public pension funds in the U.S.—and 24% of the assets of that portfolio were committed to women- and minority-owned private equity managers.
In the below video, I share a little bit more about my experience working with women- and minority-owned asset managers at ISBI:
Based on both my experience at ISBI and the research I’ve reviewed, it is part of my philosophy as chief investment officer that having diversity of thought and lived experience adds value and helps business leaders make smarter, more informed decisions.
As one of the world’s largest faith-based pension funds, Wespath can use its leverage to ask asset managers to disclose information about their efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Sometimes just asking for these disclosures alone can create positive change in the asset manager's process. Our job in investment management is to continuously hold our asset managers accountable to meet our investment objectives.
I am pleased to say that Wespath was already leading the way with some of this work before I joined. Wespath and ISBI are both members of the Midwest Investors Diversity Initiative (MIDI). Traditionally, MIDI worked with companies in the Midwest to increase racial, ethnic and gender diversity on their corporate boards and among their workforces because of the correlation to strong performance. Inspired by a suggestion from Wespath, MIDI is now also talking with asset managers about their own diversity and diversity policies—as well as their engagement with corporations and proxy voting practices related to diversity.
MIDI has 16 members, who collectively have over $1 trillion in assets under management and advisement. When MIDI engages a corporation or an asset manager as an initiative, it carries more heft than if Wespath were to go at it alone.
For our participants and institutional investors related to the United Methodist Church, employing an inclusive approach aligns with the Church's mission of inclusivity and economic justice. The UMC advocates for the empowerment of marginalized racial and ethnic groups. At Wespath, we support the principles of inclusivity and equality in the financial sector both by the firms we hire and by the commitments we have made to DEI within our institution.
Wespath’s organizational commitment is overseen by the DEI Council that meets regularly and has worked with human resources and senior leaders to expand professional development and recognition opportunities for diverse employees. In addition, I am honored to take part in Wespath’s DEI listening sessions, which offer employees with similar backgrounds the opportunity to have a confidential discussion with senior leaders. Wespath’s commitment to an environment where everyone feels respected and valued is one of countless reasons I chose to be part of the Wespath team.
On the Wespath investment team, an inclusive approach to investments is a collaborative endeavor. Our Sustainable Investment Strategies team leads engagements on diversity and inclusivity, but it can’t achieve its objectives without support from the Investment Management team, which holds asset managers accountable. As the chief investment officer, it’s my job to be the unifying piece that brings all these ideas, goals and people together to ensure we meet your investment objectives.