Willis Investment Counsel Headlines Ivy Family Office Palm Beach, FL Event
Palm Beach, FL (PRWEB) November 27, 2013 -- The Ivy Family Office Network hosted its 2014 Family Office Outlook Forum in Palm Beach, FL on November 19th with a discussion on “Non Correlated Investments” led by George Kushner, Head of Business Development, Willis Investment Counsel.
According to Mr. Kushner, “Willis Investment Counsel (WIC) views volatility management as a means for clients to better control their downside participation, while simultaneously maintaining upside equity market exposure, just in a more defensive posture. Although we set the market exposure parameters in our comingled fund, investors that want more or less exposure can control their volatility target in a managed account. What we have seen post 2008 is that for clients who are first and foremost tasked with preserving capital, volatility management, while still maintaining equity market exposure, is critical.“
With that being said, the overall objectives of this fund are to 1) provide downside protection, 2) deliver an acceptable risk adjusted return, 3) lower volatility, 4) stock appreciation and 5) generate reliable cash flow. Our clients fully appreciate and are keenly aware of the impact of negative compounding, so to be able to capture a good portion of stock appreciation, but also have downside protection in place is a value added proposition.
Moreover, “We do not deploy any gearing, or leverage in our Managed Volatility & Income Fund strategy. In our comingled fund we offer monthly liquidity, and in our managed accounts, clients have immediate liquidity. ”
Other speakers on the panel included Andrew Mehalko of AM Global Family Investment Office and Brett Langbert of Israel A. Englander & Co..
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Mr. Kushner is head of business development at Willis Investment Counsel, having responsibility for both Institutional and High Net Worth clients. Prior to joining WIC, Mr. Kushner spent approximately thirteen years as an institutional fixed income salesman covering larger institutional clients including Central Banks, Pension Plans, Financial Institutions and Hedge Funds. For the past seven years, Mr. Kushner focused on Alternative Investments working for such firms as Merrill Lynch’s Hedge Fund Development & Management Group, Permal and most recently the Man Group.
Mr. Kushner holds a BA in History from Georgia State University and an Executive MBA from The Goizueta School of Business at Emory University.
About Willis Investment Counsel
Willis Investment Counsel (WIC) is an independent investment management firm specializing in the management of equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios for individuals, institutions, corporations, foundations, and endowments. For more than 34 years, WIC has managed portfolios for a wide array of clients. Since inception, the firm has operated independently, without affiliation with any brokerage firms, mutual fund companies, banks, or other financial institutions. WIC is owned and managed by its four principals.
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The Ivy Family Office Network Forum, IvyFON, provides an ongoing dialogue for family offices to support high-value education and information on trends for family office investing, structure and operational excellence. Attendees gain practical strategies and solutions to achieve both short and long-term objectives. The program features off-the-record, peer-to-peer discussions in a non-commercial setting, in-depth and highly interactive sessions.
IvyFON, is a leading peer to peer global family office network with several hundred family offices attending events around The Americas every year. Some of the more than 1,500 past speakers include more than half of the top 10 largest asset allocating consultancies, pre-eminent alternative investment funds, leading institutional investors, best-in-class asset management professionals, family office subject matter experts and world-class family offices.
Forum sessions are multi-format and cross-disciplinary covering a range of family office centric topics.
IvyFON originates from one of the United States’ oldest and largest alternative investment networks, the IvyPlus network. IvyPlus originated as a peer to peer private equity, real estate and hedge fund network consisting of Ivy League and comparable school alumni as well as meritorious participants in the program. The group includes New York City and Los Angeles deal networks across multiple disciplines including private equity, health care and real estate. More than 12,000 investment, family office and institutional investment professionals have attended forums globally.
For more information on Willis Investment Counsel contact George Kushner at GKushner(at)wicinvest(dot)com or at 770-718-0706. For more information on the Ivy Family Office Network, contact us at 646-290-8114 or at ivyfon.com/contact.html.
Marty Secada, Ivy Plus, +1 (646) 290-8114, [email protected]
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