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Investment Planning

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Presenters: Dominic Maister and Rene Casis

Hour 1 - Navigating the ETF Landscape | Myths and Realities - Presenter Dominic Maister

In an ever changing investment landscape, ETFs have become a larger part of the discussion for investors. However, there are still many questions. This discussion will provide you with perspective on the current landscape; where we’ve been, where we are today and trends moving forward. It will also address some of the myths and realities of ETFs while providing a framework to make more sound decisions when considering ETFs in today’s constantly changing landscape.

Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, attendees will:
  • Gain a basic knowledge of the ETF market trends and dynamics and the impact on the market
  • Be able to create more efficient portfolios for their clients
  • Identify the key drivers of ETF market growth
  • Understand the differences in Indexes and index providers

Hour 2 - Smart Beta and Factor Investing - Presenter Rene Casis

Smart Beta continues to evolve and investors are increasingly implementing factor-based strategies. There is, however, continued debate about the definition of Smart Beta. This session will provide insight and industry perspective on smart beta – how it is defined, how portfolios are designed, and how they are used to help achieve investment outcomes.

Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, attendees will:
  • Understand what Smart Beta and Investing factors are and how they can be tools for achieving desired outcomes
  • Gain a more in-depth knowledge of widely acknowledged and persistent factors and how combining multiple factors seeks better risk adjusted returns.
  • Learn how Smart Beta can be put into practice
Dominic Maister, Director - BlackRock

Dominic Maister
Director - BlackRock
Dominic Maister, Director, joined BlackRock in 2010 on the iShares ETF Due Diligence Team. The team reviews models, recommended lists and platforms for partner firms and delivers collaborative implementation guides and timely new product, product enhancement, educational and competitive intelligence content.

Previously recently, Mr. Maister was an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley and head of Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) and Closed-End Fund (CEF) Research. He led a team that provided research commentary on the ETF industry and over 900 ETFs listed in the United States. Under his leadership, Morgan Stanley was recognized by Capital Link as having the best ETF research team in 2009 and 2010. In addition, the team provided research recommendations on over 100 CEFs. Mr. Maister began his professional career at Raymond James Financial and he joined Morgan Stanley in 1998. His prior roles at Morgan Stanley included six years in Equity Capital Market Sales.

Dominic Maister graduated from the John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, MO., with a major in business and a minor in legal studies.
Rene Casis, Director - BlackRock

Rene Casis
Director - BlackRock
Rene Casis, Director, is a Strategist in the iShares Equity Smart Beta segment. In this capacity, Mr. Casis is responsible for providing subject matter expertise on Smart Beta investment strategies, evaluation of new product development and design, and content delivery for the product segment.

Mr. Casis's service with the firm dates back to 1997, including his years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Prior to his current role, he was an ETF Product Strategist member of the Product Strategist in the iShares Product Strategy and Consulting Group. Mr. Casis was previously a team leader and Senior Portfolio Manager for equity iShares funds within BlackRock's Index Equity team. Mr. Casis returned to index portfolio management after over three years at Barclays Capital as the New York team leader on the equity synthetic trading desk, where he oversaw the US and global delta-1 equity strategies as well as proprietary North American relative value and index rebalance trading. At his prior role at BGI, Mr. Casis was a Portfolio Manager focusing on Index Plus and index strategies.

Rene Casis earned a BA degree in business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1997.