Bud Haslett, CFA
Executive Director
CFA Institute Research Foundation
The 54th year for the CFA Institute Research Foundation (RF) is now complete, and it was quite a year. As usual, investment publications lead the highlights, with four monographs, a literature review, and six briefs published during the year. Topics for the monographs included governance, retirement, economic productivity, and behavioral finance. In addition, we published literature reviews and briefs on performance attribution, reflections on the great crash, endowments, tontines, and relationships in private wealth. We also added a second edition to our very popular regional publications, this time on the African capital markets in partnership with the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) and some of our member societies in Africa.
Instead of having a number of firsts, as we did in 2018, in 2019 we chose to expand and refine the new projects brought on in 2018. The updated RF website is shaping up nicely, and it is now searchable by year and by type of product (e.g., multimedia audio and video). The new accounting system is close to being fully optimized, providing valuable information for our future decision making. We also expanded the RF translation program to six languages, adding Arabic and Japanese versions of selected RF content alongside Chinese, French, Portuguese, and Spanish versions. These translations—as well as the growing volume of global RF
content—highlight the truly global nature of the Research Foundation.
The year was not without its new projects, however, as 2019 saw a digitization program that will make available over 30 previously unavailable pieces of RF content. In addition, the Research Foundation introduced new interactive content sites for the Research Foundation Review 2018 and African Capital Markets that are visually stunning. We look forward to producing many more of these easy-to-navigate sites in the future. Also, RF content on trading and exchange-traded funds will be added to the upcoming CFA exam curriculum, and other RF content is being reviewed for future inclusion.
Producing great content is not enough if no one reads it, so during 2019, the Research Foundation embarked on an expanded social media program to increase content usage. In addition to the $10,000 a month of free search advertising provided by the Google Grants program, we expanded our LinkedIn and Twitter presence substantially during the year. If you have not done so already, please take a moment to follow us on these two important platforms.
On a different note, we chose to shutter our popular Research Foundation Society Award in its eighth year because it is being replaced by a research award representing the entire research group (the Research Foundation, Financial Analysts Journal, Future of Finance, and Enterprising Investor). We extend our thanks to the more than 30 CFA Institute member societies that won the award over the years and assure them that their projects and activities will live on in future RF events and content.
In May 2019, RF chair Ted Aronson moderated the 18th Research Foundation Workshop for the Practitioner held during the CFA Institute Annual Conference in London. This year’s lineup was a blockbuster, featuring BlackRock’s Ronald Kahn discussing his monograph
The Future of Investment Management and Yale’s Roger Ibbotson discussing his monograph on popularity. Both authors took time after their presentation to sign books for attendees and conducted multi-stop presentations at various member societies in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. Copies of their books and videos of their presentations are available at
https://www.cfainstitute. org/en/research/foundation for your learning enjoyment. And in May 2020, make sure to check out the 19th RF Workshop, featuring Meir Statman and Pedro Matos discussing behavioral finance and environmental, social, and governance concerns at the CFA Institute Annual Conference in Atlanta.
2019 Vertin Award winner John Bogle with son John Bogle, Jr.
Unfortunately, a sad note surrounded the 2019 Vertin Award as winner John Bogle passed away soon after learning of his selection for the award. We were pleased to know that Jack was delighted to receive the award, and his son John Bogle, Jr., CFA, accepted the Vertin Award in his father’s honor at the CFA Society Boston Annual Meeting. All in attendance at the ceremony were moved by John Jr.’s heartfelt speech, with current CFA Institute chair and RF board member Diane Nordin, CFA, making the presentation. We thank Jack for making tremendous contributions to the field of investment management and recognize he will be greatly missed by all who knew him as well as all in the investment business.
The Research Foundation once again had the honor of working with numerous global CFA Institute member societies during 2019. This initiative is incredibly important for the Research Foundation: We provide complimentary books and speakers for dozens upon dozens of society events as well as partner with the societies to bring important investment content to the marketplace. We also had the honor of being hosted by CFA Society Victoria and CFA Society Emirates for our 2019 June and November board meetings, respectively. These meetings are critical in developing the strategical guidance for the future path of the Research Foundation. They also feature a great opportunity for the RF board to meet and mingle with society leaders and members during the joint social events held on the evening between the two-day board meeting.
Speaking of the RF board, we would like to take a moment to thank Diane Lambert, George Hoguet, CFA, and past RF chair Jeff Bailey, CFA, for their multi-year commitment to the Research Foundation and welcome new board members Lotta Moberg, CFA, Dave Uduanu, CFA, and Roger Ibbotson to the 2020 RF board. We would also like to congratulate Joanne Hill for her new role as vice chair and wish her luck when she assumes the RF chair next year.
2018–2019 CFA Institute Research Foundation Board members at board
meeting in Victoria, British Columbia.
As the Research Foundation completes yet another year, we take this opportunity to thank the many dozens of people responsible for its operation. From the great staff and leadership at CFA Institute to the excellent strategic guidance provided by the RF board to the financial contributions by CFA Institute and the many thousands of members and others who each year donate to the Research Foundation, we could not do it without you. To our research directors Laurence B. Siegel and Luis Garcia-Feijóo, CFA, CIPM; CFA Institute Research Group leader Rhodri Preece, CFA; project manager Jessica Lawson; and the dozens of talented authors writing RF content: We could not do it without you. And finally, to the tens of thousands of people who have, over the years, read our content and gained valuable knowledge from it, we thank you.
2019–2020 CFA Institute Research Foundation board members at board
meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
As I approach the latter years of my career in the investment industry, it is with the utmost honor that I serve as executive director of this esteemed organization. I pledge to dedicate the remaining years of my career to continuing to make the Research Foundation prosper, and I very much look forward to announcing in 2020 a new RF project that will greatly expand our value and offerings to all CFA Institute members and others in the investment community. Many thanks for the privilege.
Section I Content:
Executive Director’s Report
