Pension Fund Excellence: Creating Value for Stockholders

"This is a landmark book on pension fund management. All those with a stake in building pension wealth will profit from this commonsense and clearly readable guide to improved pension fund performance." ––Burton G. Malkiel author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street and Chemical Bank Chairman′s Professor of Economics, Princeton University.

"This is not just another book of theory about how pension funds should be managed, or about how one expert thinks an appropriate asset allocation should be determined. . . . There is keen analysis by Messrs. Ambachtsheer and Ezra, both of whom are veteran pension consultants noted for thinking outside the box." ––Michael J. Clowes, Editorial Director Pensions & Investments.

"Keith Ambachtsheer and Don Ezra, two leading consultants, have written the most comprehensive handbook ever published on pension fund management. It′s must reading for all those in a fiduciary role." ––W. Allen Reed, President General Motors Investment Management Corp.

"Don Ezra and Keith Ambachtsheer are two of the best thinkers in the world of pension fund management. All who care about retirement assets will learn valuable lessons from their new book." ––Charles D. Ellis, Managing Partner Greenwich Associates.

". . . powerful, authoritative, and provocative critique of a subject that concerns all of us . . ." ––Peter L. Bernstein, President Peter L. Bernstein, Inc. author of Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk.

No longer obscure investment vehicles, pension funds have stepped out of the shadows and into the global spotlight. More and more, they are being seen as special financial institutions that need to create value for their millions of members and employers around the world. With assets close to $12 trillion––$7 trillion in the United States alone––pension funds are dominant players in financial markets and in corporate governance.

Yet they continue to be misunderstood and are often poorly managed. As advisors to many of the world′s premier pension funds, Keith P. Ambachtsheer and D. Don Ezra have an international reputation as experts in the field. Now, their combined talents and experience yield a timely and thorough book on effective pension fund management. Pension Fund Excellence presents a guiding paradigm for articulating a fund′s mission and for what needs to be done to accomplish it.

Along the way, the authors provide new insights on fundamental issues. What key elements integrate pension fund governance, management, and operations? What decision structure does an excellent pension fund organization use? What do the best decision–makers know about fiduciary responsibilities, pension economics, and the markets for financial capital and investment management services? What policies do they adopt? How do they measure results and tie results to compensation? How should small funds face their special challenges?

Their advice is made practical through real–world case studies that focus on the best practices employed by the world′s premier pension funds. Their clear focus is on creating value for stakeholders.

Finally, Pension Fund Excellence looks beyond today, offering the authors′ incisive views on three critical pension issues for the twenty–first century: the rise of defined contribution plans, fixing "broke" national social security schemes, and the growing economic power of pension funds.

Written by two leading authorities, Pension Fund Excellence contains the most up–to–date, insightful, practical information and advice available on this now hot topic. It is must reading for anyone seeking effective, proven management principles and techniques to create value for pension fund stakeholders.

PENSION FUNDS AS FINANCIAL BUSINESSES: THE NEW "EXCELLENCE" PARADIGM.

The Coming Era of Pension Fund Capitalism.

How Good Is Pension Fund Management?

Mapping the Road to Excellence.

WHAT EVERY PENSION FUND FIDUCIARY SHOULD KNOW ...

OR HAVE A VIEW ON.

What Fiduciaries Should Know about Pension Law and Pension Economics.

What Fiduciaries Should Know about Capital Markets.

What Fiduciaries Should Know about the Investment Management Services Market.

MANAGING THE PENSION FUND BUSINESS.

Effective Pension Fund Governance.

The Right Funding Policy.

The Right Asset Allocation Policy.

Creating Value through Policy Implementation.

From Data to Information to Knowledge.

Managing Small Pension Funds.

EXCELLENCE IN ACTION: FROM CASE STUDIES.

Excellence in Action: The Teachers′ Pension Fund.

Excellence in Action: HiTechCo, Mid–West Resources Pension Fund, and the Yale University Investments Office.

PENSION FUNDS IN THE TWENTY–FIRST CENTURY: THREE CRITICAL ISSUES.

Defined Contribution Plans Are Different, But Are They Better?

Fixing "Broke" National Pension Schemes.

Pension Funds, Politics, and Power.

Index.

KEITH P. AMBACHTSHEER is President of KPA Advisory Services Inc., a pension fund advisory firm based in Toronto. He writes The Ambachtsheer Letter and is the cofounder of Cost Effectiveness Measurement Inc., which monitors the organizational performance of many of the world′s largest pension funds. He has contributed to numerous financial publications and is the author of Pension Funds and the Bottom Line.

D. DON EZRA has held a number of senior positions in the United States with Frank Russell Company, a pension fund advisory firm whose clients′ assets exceed $1 trillion. He is currently Director of European Consulting, based in London. He writes frequently for financial publications. His most recent book was The Struggle for Pension Wealth.

"This is a landmark book on pension fund management. All those with a stake in building pension wealth will profit from this common–sense, and clearly readable, guide to improved pension fund performance."––Burton G. Malkiel, author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street, and Chemical Bank Chairman′s Professor of Economics, Princeton University

"This is not just another book of theory about how pension funds should be managed, or about how one expert thinks an appropriate asset allocation should be determined . . . There is keen analysis by Messrs. Ambachtsheer and Ezra, both of whom are veteran pension consultants noted for thinking outside the box."––Michael J. Clowes, Editorial Director, Pensions & Investments

"Keith Ambachtsheer and Don Ezra, two leading consultants, have written the most comprehensive handbook ever published on pension fund management. It′s must reading for all those in a fiduciary role."––W. Allen Reed, President, General Motors Investment Management Corp.

"Don Ezra and Keith Ambachtsheer are two of the best thinkers in the world of pension fund management. All who care about retirement assets will learn valuable lessons from their new book."––Charles D. Ellis, Managing Partner, Greenwich Associates

". . . powerful, authoritative, and provocative critique of a subject that concerns all of us . . ."––Peter L. Bernstein, President, Peter L. Bernstein, Inc., author Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk