Ron Surz discusses, “Contemporary Investment Performance Evaluation: Unifying Best Practices to Create Superior Diagnostics” Ronald J. Surz is President of PPCA, Inc., (http://www.PPCA-Inc.com) an investment technology firm in San Clemente, CA , specializing in performance evaluation and attribution software, primarily for financial consultants and sophisticated institutional investors. Ron is also…

Keith Black discusses, “Searching for a Hedge Fund Bubble” Keith Black teaches at the Stuart Graduate School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology. His courses include Global Market Economics, Equity Valuation, Investments, Mutual Funds, Hedge Funds and Global Investment Strategy. Mr. Black’s interest in hedge funds inspired him…

Dr. Kaplan discusses “Collared Weighting:  A Bridge Between Market and Fundamental Approaches.” Dr. Paul D. Kaplan is director of research at Morningstar, responsible for the quantitative methodologies behind Morningstar’s fund analysis, stock analysis, advice, advisor tools, and other services. He conducts research on style analysis, performance measurement and attribution, equity…

Hilary Till provides a presentation based on the following article, “Predict the Future in Commodities:  Nobody Has a Crystal Ball, But an Examination of the Drivers of Commodity Returns Can Help,” Global Alternatives Magazine, 2006.

Mr. Ray discusses the money flows into the commodity markets, Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT)  opportunities and CBOT products.  In addition he discusses the growth of CBOT agricultural futures and options as well as the growth of the CBOT metals marketplace.  He also discusses JADE – the Joint Asian Derivatives…

Mr. Stein discusses “Combining Commodities Alpha and Beta”, where he discusses combining passive and active exposure to commodities. Mr. Jon Stein is the Chief Strategic Officer and co-CIO of AlphaMetrix, and is also a member of the firm.  Mr. Stein is responsible for operation of the Platform and Investment Committee…

Dr. Gorham discusses, “Exchange Competition” including how and why exchanges compete. Dr. Gorham joined the Illinois Institute of Technology as the Director of the IIT Center for Financial Markets in July 2004.  The Center offers MS degrees in Finance, Financial Markets, and Mathematical Finance.  In addition, he currently serves on…

Mr. Davis discusses, “The Year That Was in Mutual Funds A look at 2005” which includes: drivers of mutual fund performance in 2005; where the inflows were; mutual fund developments in 2005; and a look ahead to 2006. Mr. Chris Davis is a mutual fund analyst for Morningstar, Inc.  He…

Ms. Graham discusses, “Financial Careers: What’s Hot What’s Not” including a review of leading indicators to predict the 2006 financial services jobs forecast.  It also includes a summary by sector of those jobs that may have slow growth and those that may have strong growth in 2006. Ms. Kathleen A.…

Mr. Hightower discusses “Boom or Bust Pricing” in the globally traded commodity markets. Mr. David Hightower has had 20 years of very specific commodity research experience in nearly every aspect of the futures industry. Mr. Hightower is a frequent guest on CNN, Bloomberg Television, and many other industry groups. In…