Speakers short bios
Timothy R. Bruce, Director of Traditional Research, Partner, NEPC: Tim joined NEPC in 2008. As director of traditional research at NEPC, Tim oversees a broad area of investment research spanning equities, fixed income, and real assets. Tim is also active in NEPC’s investment research and due diligence activities in alternative investments with a particular focus on hedged equity strategies. Outside of his formal research responsibilities, Tim provides consulting services for both traditional and non-traditional asset classes of various public, corporate, Taft-Hartley and endowment/foundation clients. Tim is a member of NEPC’s International Equity Advisory Group and the Traditional Research Group. A frequent conference speaker, Tim has authored multiple white papers across a broad range of asset classes and investment strategies while at NEPC.
Prior to joining NEPC, Tim was an Investment Analyst for the $12 billion dollar Partners Healthcare Investment Office. At Partners, Tim was responsible for conducting investment research and analysis for the institutions’ endowment and pension fund. He specialized in foreign equity and hedge fund investments and was accountable for foreign equity, hedge fund allocations, portfolio construction and investment selection. Tim received his M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with concentrations in Finance and Strategic Management. Tim received his B.A. in Economics from Brown University.
Katie Nixon, CIO, Northern Trust: Katie is Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for the Wealth Management business at Northern Trust. In that capacity, Katie leads the national investment management practice for Northern Trust’s Wealth Management business from the firm’s Chicago headquarters. Her responsibilities include investment policy development with a particular focus on portfolio construction and implementation. She also directs the investment management activities of over 200 Northern Trust portfolio managers across the firm’s 60+ Wealth Management offices. Katie sits on the Firm’s Investment Policy Committee and Tactical Asset Allocation Committee, and she chairs the Wealth Management Investment Advisory Committee. Katie was selected as one of Private Asset Management’s ‘50 Most Influential Women in Private Wealth’ for 2016.
Christopher Philips, CFA, heads Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services®: He leads the teams of investment professionals who provide asset allocation modeling, investment policy consulting, portfolio construction recommendations, and ongoing investment management to endowment, foundation, and defined benefit clients. Prior to this role, he led a team of relationship managers for Vanguard’s institutional investment-only clients focusing on defined benefit, defined contribution, nonprofit, and corporate assets. Through 2014, he spent 12 years in Vanguard Investment Strategy Group where he was responsible for creating and presenting investment thought leadership on a wide range of topics and consulting with retail, institutional, and intermediary clients. He joined Vanguard in 2000.
Gregory M. Dowling, CIO/Head of Research, Fund Evaluation Group: Gregory is an Investment professional since 1997 and a FEG team member since 2004. He has an MBA in Business Administration from Xavier University and a BSBA in Business Administration from the University of Cincinnati, he was been nominated for the 2014 “Hedge Fund Consultant of the Year Award” by Institutional Investor and was named one of the 2015 “World’s Most Influential (Specialist) Consultants” by Chief Investment Officer, he was Adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati and Vice President of Bowling Portfolio Management.
