Overview

Are women superior investors? The data, the stories, and the interviews in Meredith Jones’ book, Women of the Street make a compelling case that it pays to invest with or like a woman. As a veteran on wall street with 20+ years of experience in investment management and consulting roles, Jones is uniquely qualified to conduct relevant research and interviews to explore how women think about investing and what gives them a money management edge.

Key takeaways:

• Gain insights into the behavioral and biological investment research that suggest there is a gender advantage in investing

• Become financially empowered through hearing experiences and anecdotes from exceptional female investors

• Learn how to emulate the innate skills and unique traits that help women outperform in a male-dominated field

About Women of the Street

Why would an investor care whether a money manager wears Louboutins or loafers? Because money--how to keep it and how to make more of it--is on everyone's mind. Study after study shows that women invest differently than men. From less overconfidence, overtrading, and testosterone to a greater tolerance for market noise and a more consistent application of investment strategy, there are a number reasons why women approach investing in a unique way. Women create both cognitive and behavioral "alpha" with their investment style which contributes over the long-run to outsized investment returns. Women of The Street: Why Female Money Managers Generate Higher Returns (And How You Can Too) looks at behavioral and biological investment research to explore how women think about investing, and to determine why women may have a money management edge. The book then identifies and interviews 11 top female "market wizards" in hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, and other asset classes to see how women's innate investing characteristics translate in different strategies and markets into significant profits. The conversations provide market wisdom that can enhance your portfolio, regardless of your gender. It also provides interesting "insider information" on the financial industry. And finally, Women of The Street provides role models for the next generation of female money managers. 

Featured Speaker

Meredith Jones is an internationally-recognized researcher, writer, and speaker. She is a well-known expert in the investment industry with 20+ years of experience.

Currently, an ESG consultant at EY for asset managers and insurance/reinsurance firms, Meredith is the award-winning author of Women of The Street: Why Female Money Managers Generate Higher Returns (And How You Can Too). She was named one of Inc. magazine’s “17 Inspiring Women To Watch in 2017” and as a Distinguished Author by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018.  She was also a regular columnist for Institutional Investor and Market Watch. 

Prior to joining EY, Meredith was the Global Head of Responsible Investing for Aon Investment Consulting, an institutional investment consultant with more than $3 trillion in assets under advisement. There, she worked with global pensions, endowments, foundations and defined contribution plans to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG), impact investing, diverse manager investing, decarbonization and socially responsible investment techniques into investment portfolios, across all asset classes. She also worked in ESG across insurance, reinsurance, mergers and acquisitions transaction advisory, the New Ventures Group, health and human capital during her tenure at the firm.

Meredith began her investing career at Van Hedge Fund Advisors International (VAN), as Director of Research. At VAN, Meredith was responsible for manager selection, due diligence, index construction and aggregate hedge fund industry research for the $500 million fund of funds.

She was then recruited by hedge fund analytics provider PerTrac Financial Solutions. At PerTrac she focused on industry trends with an eye to providing actionable insights and information. Her research on emerging managers (initiated in 2006) and women and minority-owned funds created new investment categories. It has changed the way investors and money managers behave - both in the way investors allocate and how money managers market to and seek investors.

Meredith then went on to be Director at Barclays Capital Strategic Consulting Group. There she consulted for clients and authored white papers, including her first paper on women and minority-owned investing. She was recruited to Rothstein Kass, a professional services firm with a focus on alternative investments, from Barclays. There Meredith served as Director of the Rothstein Kass Institute, an Alternative Investment Think Tank and created the first Women in Alternative Investments Hedge Fund Index to measure performance of female hedge fund and private equity managers.

A sought-after speaker, Meredith has presented research in Tokyo, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Sydney, Geneva and more. She delivered a TEDx talk at TEDxUIUC in 2018 and testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on Diversity and Inclusion in June 2019. Meredith also is on the Board of Directors for Rock the Street, Wall Street, a non-profit that provides financial and investment literacy courses for high school girls and she has served as a mentor for female entrepreneurs in Nashville through the Pathway Women’s Business Center.

Meredith is a foodie and cultivates a love of charcoal and open flames in her cooking. She is also an avid figure skater and relies on an inexplicable addiction to decaffeinated coffee to survive early morning ice times.

For more information or to submit your questions in advance, please email [email protected].

CFA Institute Qualified Activity: Eligible for 1.0 PL credit hours

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