Mark is currently the President and Executive Director of Nuveen Investments in Chicago. Nuveen and its operating subsidiaries manage $170 billion of assets for separately managed accounts, high net worth, institutional, and mutual fund clients across a broad array of strategies including domestic and international growth, value and quantitative equities, CDOs, equity long/short and market neutral hedge funds, 130/30 equity products, convertible bond arbitrage, high yield, taxable fixed income, municipal bonds and blue chip growth equities.

Previously, Mark Anson had the unique role of being both the Chief Executive Officer of the British Telecommunications Pension Scheme (BTPS) as well as the Chief Executive Officer of Hermes Pensions Management Ltd. At over £37 billion (approximately $75 billion), the BTPS is the largest pension fund in the United Kingdom, and at £70 billion (approximately $140 billion) assets under management, Hermes is one of the largest asset managers in the City of London. By wearing two very different hats, Mark has the perspective of both an end user of investment products as well as a product developer for the asset management industry. At BTPS, Mark had full authority for every asset class in which the pension fund invested, including domestic and international equity, net zero equity products, Gilts, inflation linked bonds, high yield bonds, credit default swaps, CDOs, real estate, corporate governance, commodities, securities lending, venture capital, leveraged buyouts, and hedge funds. At Hermes, Mark led a high alpha product team of 350 professionals with annual revenues over £120 million and operating profits of £28 million. In addition, Mark undertook a significant change in the asset allocation for BTPS which generated 120 basis points of out performance for the pension scheme in 2006—equal to approximately £420 million.

Mark is also the former Chairman of the Board of the International Corporate Governance Network. The ICGN is the largest organization in the world dedicated to better governance of public corporations. Its membership includes every large pension fund from around the globe with asset ownership of over $10 Trillion.

Prior to his role at Hermes and BTPS, Mark was the Chief Investment Officer at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS). At CalPERS, Mark had full responsibility for all asset classes in which CalPERS invested as well as the business plan for CalPERS’ Investment Office including tactical asset allocation, risk management, business development, budget authority, new investment programs, trading technology, staffing, and back office operations. Mark also took the lead on many of CalPERS’ Corporate Governance initiatives. His responsibilities included an operating budget of $410 million, directing a professional staff of 180 and the generation of $7 billion in annual benefit payments. While at CalPERS, Mark oversaw an increase in fund value from $127 billion to $210 billion. In addition, he implemented the concept of separating beta from alpha which generated over $12 billion of excess returns for the Fund.

Mark is a recognized expert in separating alpha from beta and has received numerous industry awards for investment excellence including The Distinguished Scholar Award from the Institute of International Education and the Fulbright Foundation, The Lifetime Achievement Award in Institutional Fund Management from Plan Sponsor, and The Best Paper award from the Journal of Portfolio Management.

Mark received a scholarship to attend the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago where he received his law degree and graduated with honors as the Executive/Production Editor of the Northwestern University Law Review. Mark also received a scholarship to attend the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York City where he received both his Ph.D. and Masters in Finance, again with honors, as Beta Gamma Sigma. Mark graduated With Distinction from St. Olaf College in Minnesota with a double major in Economics and Chemistry.

Mark is a member of the New York and Illinois State Bar Associations. He has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and Certified Internal Auditor professional degrees. Last, Mark has received the Series 3, 4, 7, 8, 24, and 63 NASD securities industry licenses.

Mark is the author of the Handbook of Alternative Assets, which is the primary textbook for the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst program. In addition, Mark has published three other financial textbooks as well as over 80 research articles on the topics of separating beta from alpha, institutional fund management, business models for the asset management industry, corporate governance, hedge funds, real estate, currency overlay, credit risk, private equity, risk management, and asset allocation. Mark has presented over 70 keynote speeches at investment conferences around the world on these topics. Further, Mark sits on editorial and advisory boards for The Journal of Portfolio Management, The Journal of Alternative Investments, The Journal of Private Equity, The Journal of Investment Consulting, and The Journal of Derivatives Accounting.

In addition to his Chairmanship of the ICGN Mark also serves on the Board of Governors of the CFA Institute. Other professional boards upon which Mark serves include the Advisory and Executive Committees for the New York Stock Exchange and EuroNext, MSCI-Barra International Indexes, the Educational and Exam Committee for the Professional Risk Managers International Association, the International Association of Financial Engineers, The CFA Institute’s Task Force on Corporate Governance, The CFA Institute’s Committee on Global Investment Performance Standards, The Professional Standards Committee for the Chartered Alternative Investment Association, The Conference Board Commission on Public Trust, The Center for Excellence in Accounting and Security Analysis at Columbia University, The Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index Board, and the National Association of State Investment Officers.