Strategic and Dynamic Investment Advisory
Strategic and Dynamic Investment Advisory services focus on supporting investor needs through forward-looking guidance on the themes that will drive success. Whether you need experienced CIO-level expertise to support your team, or you’re a seasoned CIO looking for an experienced peer to collaborate with on strategy and complex matters, independent advisory support adds significant value.
30+ years of institutional experience. $10 billion managed as CIO. Over $50 billion currently advised.
Advisory Themes
Core Asset Class Foundation and Long-Term Positioning
- Global equity allocation: regional versus global – A practical look at whether country bets still matter in a world dominated by U.S. megacaps. When a global mandate is enough, when regional tilts add value, and how Canadian plans should think about home bias. Does added value after fees and resources provide a benefit? Since resources are constrained, should the focus of internal resources be redirected to where active management provides the largest benefit (e.g., private markets)?
- Dynamic versus strategic asset mix – How plans can use dynamic levers without drifting into tactical guessing. When to adjust asset mix, how to document decisions, and what boards need for credible oversight.
- Currency hedging for Canadian plans – The Canadian dollar often behaves counter to global equities. How much to hedge, when to hedge more or less, and how to communicate these decisions to plan sponsors.
- Fixed income: are today’s yields finally a true liability hedge – Many plans have waited more than a decade for duration to pay off again. When the math now supports increasing LDI exposure and how to balance credit risk with liability protection.
Strategic Portfolio Structure, Resource Focus, and Leadership Alignment
- Managing surpluses in well-funded plans – Many Canadian plans are above 100 percent funded. What should they do now? Surplus protection, long-term sustainability, contribution stability, and the goal of avoiding future special payments.
- Outsourcing investment functions – The real pros and cons. Independence, conflicts, pricing power with managers, and the challenge that many OCIO providers benefit from fee discount arbitrage. How to select an OCIO model that preserves governance and avoids product bias.
Real Assets and Long-Term Resilience
- Private equity design: primary, co-investment, and secondaries – How to structure programs with lower blind pool risk, better fee efficiency, and improved pacing. The rising importance of secondaries in liquidity management. Issues on continuation funds (ethics).
- Private debt: structural issues and how to navigate them – Coverage ratios, documentation deterioration, and platform concentration are real risks. Where genuine opportunities remain and how to build a resilient private credit allocation.
- Infrastructure: the blurring line between core and value add – Traditional buckets no longer describe real risk exposures. An updated framework for evaluating asset-level cash flow stability, contract structures, and demand risks.
- Real estate: poor recent returns and whether this is the next opportunity – Analysis of valuation resets, debt rollover risk, and sector dynamics. How to judge when a real estate recovery becomes investable and how to enter today without catching falling knives.
Oversight, Modernization, and Independence
- Oversight of external service providers and asset managers – Governance expectations are rising. What good oversight looks like, how to evaluate performance beyond returns, and how to redesign reporting to focus on risk, cost, and accountability.
- Using AI to manage institutional portfolios – Practical use cases: due diligence quality control, manager monitoring, stress tests, scenario analysis, and liquidity forecasting. Where AI adds value and where human judgment remains essential.
Strategic guidance focused on the themes that will drive success ahead, not performance reviews of what happened in the past. Quarterly advisory sessions, independent validation of major decisions, and governance support that helps boards focus their oversight on critical strategic decisions like asset mix and objectives.
A modest advisory investment typically saves millions through improved decision-making, fee optimization, and stronger governance.
Testimonial
“As the CIO of a mid-size pension plan, I have found Robert’s practical experience invaluable. His deep expertise in investment strategies, portfolio structuring, governance issues, and earning the trust of boards and committees has been instrumental. Robert’s approach to dynamically manage asset mix is particularly noteworthy. His unique perspective, having once been in my position, sets him apart from other advisors. His advice and insights have greatly benefited our organization.”
Carolyn Tsen
Hydro One Inc.