“I’m honored to assume the role as Chair of the CFA Institute Board of Governors and continue the vital work of the governors, the Leadership Team, and the global membership to maintain the highest professional standards of our industry,” said Mark Lazberger. “My long-standing relationship with CFA Institute provides me with a unique perspective on the critical importance of the organisation’s vision and future, and I look forward to furthering these efforts on a global scale in partnership with my colleagues on the Board of Governors.”

Margaret Franklin, CFA, President and CEO, CFA Institute, said: “At the start of the new fiscal year, I am filled with optimism for the ways we can leverage learnings from the challenges of the past year and a half to propel CFA Institute forward. We have honed our strategy to guide us forward to further shape the future of the industry and the profession. We will continue to build out a diverse portfolio of learning products and modernize and grow the CFA Program. And we will focus our thought leadership on market resiliency, sustainability and ESG, financial technology, data and analytics, and on the future trends and behaviors that will change our industry. I look forward to working alongside Mark, Tricia, and our entire Board to deliver on our mission, and I am confident that their collective perspectives will prove invaluable in the months and years ahead.”

Lazberger is the Chairman at Omnia Capital Partners, based in Sydney, Australia. He also holds non-executive Director positions at Yarra Capital Management and Fisher Funds Management. He also serves as a Director for the Children’s Cancer Institute.

He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of Colonial First State Global Asset Management and First State Investments, now known as First Sentier Investors, and oversaw more than $160 billion in funds and assets under management across equities, debt, infrastructure, and property. Prior to that, Lazberger was president, international, and executive vice president of State Street Global Advisors. Before this, he was head of international businesses, president and CEO of State Street Japan, and a Principal and regional managing director of State Street Global Advisors’ businesses in Japan and Australia.

In his prior Board service at CFA Institute (FY2012-FY2018), Lazberger served on various Board Committees including the Audit and Risk Committee, the Compensation Committee, and the External Relationship and Volunteer Involvement Committee, among others. He is also the Founding President and Member of CFA Society Sydney, a former board member of CFA Society Japan, and a member of the Future of Finance Advisory Council. Lazberger earned a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia.

Tricia Rothschild, CFA, of Chicago, Illinois will serve as the Vice Chair of the Board of Governors. She previously served as the President of Apex Fintech Solutions, where she was responsible for the strategic planning, development, and overall growth of the company. She is the former Chief Product Officer and Co-Head of Global Markets at Morningstar and is currently an advisor to The TIFIN Group and a board member of the Financial Fitness Group. In her volunteer capacity at CFA Institute, she’s served as the Chair of the Risk Committee, on the Audit and Risk Committee, and on the Governance Committee. Rothschild earned a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University and Master of Arts from Indiana University.

Board of Governors Roster

The FY2022 CFA Institute Board of Governors comprises a diverse group of 14 members who reside in eight countries, namely: Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Malaysia, United Kingdom, and the United States. CFA Institute membership elects officers for a one-year term and Governors for a three-year term that runs from September 1 to August 31. The full list of members for the new FY2022 term is:

• Mark Lazberger, CFA, (Australia), Omnia Capital Partners
• Tricia Rothschild, CFA, (United States), Advisor, The TIFIN Group and Board Member, Financial Fitness Group
• Marshall Bailey, CFA, (United Kingdom) Non-Executive Chairman, MUFG Securities EMEA plc
• Alexander Birkin (United Kingdom), EY
• Dan Fasciano, CFA, (United States), GW&K Investment Management
• Margaret Franklin, CFA (Canada), President and CEO, CFA Institute
• Joanne Hill, PhD, (United States), Cboe Vest
• Heinz Hockmann, PhD, (Germany), Senior Advisor and Member, Advisory Council, Lovell Minnick Partners LLC.
• Punita Kumar-Sinha, PhD, CFA, (India/United States), Pacific Paradigm Advisors LLC.
• Yimei Li, CFA (China), China Asset Management Co. Ltd.
• Karina Litvack (United Kingdom), Non-Executive Director, Eni s.p.a.
• Geoffrey Ng, CFA, (Malaysia), Fortress Capital Asset Management
• Diane Nordin, CFA, (United States), Director, Federal National Mortgage Association
• Maria Wilton, CFA, (Australia), Director, Victorian Funds Management Corporation

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Maria Wilton

Franklin Templeton Investments has cautioned Australian investors that increasing allocations to passive strategies may limit their ability to grow their retirement income potential.

Speaking in Sydney ahead of Franklin Templeton’s Asia Pacific Investor Forum, which brings together portfolio managers from around the world to share perspectives on topics impacting a large range of markets, Franklin Templeton’s Australian Managing Director, Maria Wilton, emphasised that the growing trend towards allocating funds to passive strategies could prove counterproductive for Australians’ long-term investment goals.

“The market environment that we have seen since the GFC coupled with the divergence of monetary policies and economic results across world markets have created significant opportunities for active strategies,” said Ms Wilton.

“The single pursuit of “low cost” investment vehicles may be counterproductive over the long term. Avoiding asset classes or strategies that may be more expensive to manage and allocating to passive strategies is false economy.

“Passive strategies not only potentially increase the risk of being exposed to overvalued stocks in a market decline, but miss the opportunity to enhance return from active stock selection and tax management. By definition, these strategies buy more of the securities whose prices are rising while selling the securities whose prices are falling.

“Allocating capital to yesterday’s winners, without regard for fundamentals or valuation, is counterintuitive. Through the assessment of valuation opportunities, Australian investors stand to gain far more when they did not ‘follow the crowd’ into funds that merely track a benchmark index,” said Ms Wilton.

“By engaging an active manager with a distinctive, contrarian style, investors are well placed to take advantage of those market inefficiencies coming about as a result of a movement of capital towards index tracking strategies. Active management and diversification, with a focus on value and not just fees, provide the best opportunity to meet the investment objectives,” Ms Wilton added.

“The past year has been an eventful one for financial markets, dominated by heightened geopolitical risk, a global economic recovery that has failed to meet market expectations, and significant uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of monetary policy changes in major economies. In order to meet the challenges ahead, we need to keep an open mind and use all the resources at our disposal to stay on top of trends in an increasingly volatile and divergent global economy,” concluded Ms Wilton.

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