U.Va. Investing Conference to Examine the Impact of Global Politics on Investing

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The European sovereign debt crisis, the 2012 American political elections and the toppling of governments in the Middle East create great uncertainty for today's investors. Under these conditions, how can they make the best financial decisions possible? An inspired group of investors, investment managers, journalists and analysts will convene at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business to discuss and share how geopolitical events will impact global investing at the University of Virginia Investing Conference (UVIC). The event will take place Thursday, 10 November and Friday, 11 November.

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Speakers such as Liaquat Ahamed, investment manager and author of the critically acclaimed best-seller, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, and Kyle Bass, managing partner of Hayman Capital Management, will debate various aspects of the investment landscape.

Darden's Dean Robert Bruner will host an interview with George Tenet, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and current managing director at Allen & Company.

"In the next 15 months, the global business community faces a wave of elections that could potentially change the investing landscape," writes Dean Bruner in a recent blog post. "The aim of this year's conference is to explore the impact of political change on the investing climate for equities, fixed income securities, commodities, real estate and other asset classes." He adds, "There will be plenty to discuss."

Other highlights include keynote addresses by:

Peter Fisher, senior managing director and head of fixed income at BlackRock
Steve Galbraith, partner of Maverick Capital
Vincent Reinhart, resident scholar at American Enterprise Institute
Paul Singer, founder, CEO and co-CIO of Elliott Management Corporation

There will be a macro roundtable moderated by Tom Keene, editor-at-large for Bloomberg News, featuring Strategas Research Partners: Daniel Clifton, partner and head of policy research; Donald Rissmiller, partner and chief economist; and Jason Trennert, managing partner and chief investment strategist. An investors panel will include Lawrence Kochard, CEO of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO); Richard Mayo, founder and chairman of Mayo Capital Partners; Afsaneh Beschloss, president and CEO of The Rock Creek Group; and Nina Scherago (MBA '86), managing director at The Investment Fund for Foundations.

Conference topics will include:

Historical lessons about the geopolitical cycle
Investing in the current environment
The political and regulatory environment
The politics of inflation

"Our financial markets continue to experience high levels of volatility that are influenced by both domestic and foreign uncertainties," said Darden Finance Professor Ken Eades, who is also a coordinator of UVIC. "The interdependencies of the global markets have never been so apparent, and learning how the experts connect all the political and economic dots is a key objective of the conference and represents an exciting opportunity for all the participants."

UVIC is held twice per year, hosted in the fall by Darden and in the spring by U.Va.'s McIntire School of Commerce. The mission of the conference is to assemble the investing public, professional investors, scholars and students to highlight best practices, honor best practitioners and discuss new trends and developments in the field.

For more information or to register, please contact Jennifer Hicks (+1-434-924-4922) or Deanne Rhynard (+1-434-982-2915).

This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise. For more information, visit http://www.newswise.com.

SOURCE University of Virginia's Darden School of Business