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Program Experience
Highlights and Key Outcomes
Through the IFEBP-Wharton programs, you will:
- Learn the core concepts and tools needed for effective portfolio oversight
- Obtain a solid grounding in the principles of modern portfolio theory
- Enhance your ability to assess the strategic impact of your competitors' moves and how to maintain competitive advantage
- Learn the intricacies of alternate investment strategies, from real estate and hedge funds to private equity
Experience & Impact
Wharton faculty will apply their field-based research and the latest strategic insights to give you a strong foundation, theory, and practical application of investment management.
Each program is an independent unit that may be completed in any sequence, although we strongly encourage individuals with little experience with investment programs to complete the Portfolio Concepts and Management program as a foundation prior, to attending others.
Portfolio Concepts and Management
May 12-15, 2025, Philadelphia PA
This program provides the core principles of portfolio theory and investment performance measurement, offering practical tools and experiences to help you make reliable investment management decisions. Grow confidence in your ability to evaluate investments with a broad, fundamental understanding of investment products and practices. Program attendees will learn in a variety of settings — lecture/discussion sessions, problem solving exercises and small-group case study sessions.
Overall, you will:
- Obtain a solid grounding in the principles of modern portfolio theory
- Learn the fundamental concepts needed for effective portfolio oversight
- Enhance your ability to manage pensions in a risky global environment
- Apply what you have learned in an interactive case study
Due to our application review period, applications submitted after 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday for programs beginning the following Monday may not be processed in time to grant admission. Applicants will be contacted by a member of our Client Relations Team to discuss options for future programs and dates.
Who Should Attend
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans: Investment Courses is designed for International Foundation member trustees and other benefit professionals with varying levels of knowledge and experience, including administrators and staff, human resources and benefits professionals, corporate officers and executives, and finance personnel and investment managers. The courses also attract investment professionals and multiemployer and public plan trustees in both the U.S. and Canada.
Participants leave the program with an expanded peer network, plus specific tools and frameworks they can use to be more effective administrators and investment managers. They also gain new insight into the global marketplace and how it impacts their funds’ investment strategy.
Fluency in English, written and spoken, is required for participation in Wharton Executive Education programs unless otherwise indicated.
Faculty
Gordon Bodnar, PhDSee Faculty Bio
Director, International Economics Program, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University
Research Interests: International finance, corporate finance
Stephan Dieckmann, PhDSee Faculty Bio
Senior Lecturer of Finance, The Wharton School
Itamar Drechsler, PhDSee Faculty Bio
Ervin Miller-Arthur M. Freedman Professor; Professor of Finance, Co-Director, Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research, The Wharton School
Geoffrey Gerber, PhDSee Faculty Bio
Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Twin Capital Management
A. Craig MacKinlay, PhDSee Faculty Bio
Joseph P. Wargrove Professor of Finance, The Wharton School
Research Interests: Asset pricing models, behavior of futures prices, econometric modeling, stock market behavior
Testimonials
The Foundation and Wharton continue to provide a stellar investment program. The curriculum and faculty present real-world information that I can take home and apply immediately. There is no doubt I will be a better trustee because of it.”
Michael Brown Board Chairman, Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Michigan
An incredibly deep dive into emerging markets that broadened not only my understanding of the markets but my fiduciary responsibilities.”
James Rossler Jr. Trustee, Ohio School Employees Retirement System
Thought-provoking, mind-expanding yet understandable teaching from these professors who are very knowledgeable and experts in their fields. I will continue onward in the Wharton pathway of education for the board trustees.”
Barbara M. Phillips School Bus Driver, Ashland City Schools and Board Trustee, Ohio’s School Employee Retirement System
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