AIF is a thought leadership forum or "portable think tank." It promotes the sound use of alternative investment tools and strategies by institutional investors to achieve their objectives. It strives to do so by bringing the world's leading investment minds to the owners of its largest pools of capital for a free exchange of investment ideas. AIF aims to be an objective investor resource and to help investors best invest to meet their objectives.
- Alternative investments are, for AIF's purposes, defined to be all investments other than "traditional" long-only investment strategies applied to publicly traded equities and fixed income investments, and cash and cash equivalents. They include: direct and indirect investments in private equity (including buyout and venture capital); hedge funds; real estate; infrastructure; managed futures; commodities; and other real assets.
- Institutional investors are, for AIF's purposes, defined to be the ultimate owners of all large pools of capital worldwide that may employ alternative investments, including: public, corporate and union pension plans; endowments; foundations; insurance companies; and sovereign wealth funds.
- AIF understands that alternative investment allocations do not occur in isolation - they are made in the context of the overall portfolio. AIF sessions, therefore, always start with a discussion of overall portfolio construction and rebalancing, including the use of asset allocation modeling and risk management tools, and then drill down to the different "asset classes" and investment strategies that may be utilized by investors to achieve their objectives (recognizing that not all investors have the same objectives or desired means of achieving them).
Ideas and communication – AIF:
- Uses discussion forums in which leading alternative investment professionals exchange views and information with investors.
- Exposes investors to a broader range of investment ideas.
- Furthers best practices among investors by aiding their strategic planning, asset allocation, manager selection, and risk management processes.
- Educates investors throughout an online library of recommended research and readings by AIF's Academic Advisory Board members.
AIF holds educational roundtable discussion forums focusing on those topics of greatest interest to the investors at the time they are held. Those forums will have an investor-only session devoted to portfolio level issues, separate roundtable discussions devoted exclusively to private equity, hedge funds and real estate investing, and a separate session devoted to trustee/board level issues. Participation is by invitation only.
- AIF strives for an appropriate mix of institutional investors and fund managers by size, type and investment style. A leading consultant and/or academician in the relevant asset class leads in structuring his or her roundtable and serving as its moderator alongside a leading "real world" academic.
- Each roundtable discussion is limited to about 20 participants communicating as equals rather than the more traditional, passive speaker/audience format. Only a senior investment decision maker from a participating entity may take a seat at the table. There is a strict prohibition against marketing of any sort. No press is permitted. No tickets are sold. No service providers are present. These conditions are needed for AIF to achieve its primary goal: a pure, high level, extemporaneous discussion of investment issues among leading investment professionals.
- Forums are held regionally to accommodate investors' schedules and travel policies.
Membership Standards - AIF membership is limited to the most respected investment managers in their respective asset classes.
Limited Size - AIF’s forums must be large enough to elicit a range of perspectives yet small enough to allow for a productive roundtable discussion among all participants.
Cross-section of Members - AIF aims to have a cross-section of members by asset class, size and investment style. Its goal is to create a forum in which new and fresh investment ideas can be exchanged freely and comfortably in a neutral forum.
AIF's Advisory Board is chaired by Harvard Business School Professor of Investment Banking Josh Lerner. Its other academic members include MIT Professor of Investments Randolph Cohen, University of California at Berkeley Haas Business School Professor Ken Rosen, and former Harvard Business School Professor of Finance Mark Mitchell. Other Advisory Board members include leading investment consulting firms and present and former senior investment officers and trustees and investment board members of the largest investors.
The primary roles of the Advisory Board are (i) to develop and maintain a dynamic investor-oriented curriculum and an online library of recommended research and readings and (ii) to engage their peers in the most productive discussion of best practices and ideas.
AIF and P&I (the leading newspaper of money management) have entered into a strategic partnership called the Institutional Investments Forum to build a global investments think tank. P&I Article