NAVIGATING MARKET COMPLEXITY
Recommendations for an uncertain road ahead
Investment, economic and social factors throughout 2020 brought a variety of unique challenges for pension plan sponsors. Overcoming these challenges starts with a plan that is made before it is needed and then focuses on making informed, timely investment decisions that prudently balance risk and return.
We are pension investment managers. We can help.
Decades of portfolio management experience have endowed us with insights that can help you navigate market challenges. Watch our video series below to learn what our pension investment leaders have observed—and what they recommend for your portfolio.
The importance of liquidity
Our investment professionals have found that plan sponsors—particularly those who manage single-employer plans—generally share four challenges during times of market crisis: liquidity management, portfolio rebalancing, investment decision implementation and stakeholder communication.
Now is the time to plan for these challenges so that even in times of complexity and volatility, your portfolio is positioned to play both risk-mitigating defense and return-generating offense.
Learn more about managing these common challenges
Our experienced, independent insights
The keys to effective rebalancing
With Alex Pekker, Investment Managing Director, Pensions
With Sona Menon, Head of North American Pensions Practice
Investment decision implementation
Communication and the big picture
With Brian McDonnell, Global Head of Pensions Practice
With Sona Menon, Head of North American Pensions Practice
Read Navigating Market Crises:
Insights and Recommendations for US Plan Sponsors.
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Alex Pekker
Investment Managing Director, Pensions
Alexander Pekker is a Managing Director at Cambridge Associates, specializing in asset allocation, investment strategy design, risk management, asset/liability analysis, and fixed income portfolio construction. Alex joined Cambridge Associates in 2016 and has over a decade of investment experience working with retirement plans, healthcare institutions, and insurance companies.
A key contributor to pension investment strategy research, he authored papers on corporate and multiemployer pension strategy, liability-hedging portfolio design and implementation, and fixed income management. His research appears in industry publications, and he presents at conferences hosted by the Society of Actuaries, P&I and others.
Prior to joining Cambridge Associates, Alex was the Director of Quantitative Strategies at Sage Advisory Services, where he led the quantitative strategies group in developing customized investment solutions for institutional investors. Prior to Sage, he worked at Wilshire Associates in fixed income analytics and at Mercer in actuarial consulting.
Sona Menon
Head of North American Pensions Practice
Sona Menon is the Head of Cambridge Associate’s North American Pension Practice. Based in Boston, she also serves as an Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) for a diverse group of pension clients. Sona has been with Cambridge Associates since 2001 and brings nearly 23 years of investment industry experience to her clients.
Sona works with a variety of institutional investors that include corporate, public, multiemployer, and non-profit plan sponsors; health care institutions; and other investors with multi-asset pools. As an OCIO, Sona serves in both fully discretionary and non-discretionary capacities, overseeing plans’ investment portfolios. Sona has authored and contributed to several research papers on key investment topics impacting the North American pension industry and regularly speaks at industry conferences.
Sona began her tenure at Cambridge Associates building endowment portfolios. Prior to her senior roles in the Pension Practice, Sona spent over two years working in Cambridge Associates’ London office, where she served institutional investors located in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and the Middle East. Prior to joining the firm, she worked at JP Morgan in the sovereign risk research department, as well as on the emerging markets sales and foreign exchange trading desks.
Brian McDonnell
Global Head of Pensions Practice
Brian is the Global Head of Cambridge Associates’ Pension Practice and has more than 15 years of investment experience. He joined Cambridge Associates in 2008 and 2008 and oversees the firm’s work with more than 150 plan sponsors globally, including public, multiemployer, and non-profit plan sponsors; healthcare institutions; and other institutional investors with multi-asset pools. Brian also works directly with clients, managing portfolios on their behalf and serving as an extension to plan sponsors’ in-house investment teams.
Brian is a regular speaker at global industry events, including for organizations such as Pension Bridge, Institutional Investor, the National Associations of Corporate Treasurers, and the Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Plan Assets (CIEBA). He has contributed to several Cambridge Associates publications on strategic pension plan management, including ABalancing Act: Strategies for Financial Executives in Managing Pension Risk.
Before joining Cambridge Associates, Brian was a Senior Associate at Parthenon Capital, a middle-market market private equity firm in Boston. Prior to this, he covered the transportation industry as an Investment Banking Analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York City.
A video series sharing our insights
Cambridge Associates’ pension investment leaders have learned from decades of portfolio management. Their insights into navigating through market complexity and crisis offer guidance on how to make informed, timely investment decisions that prudently balance risk and return. Despite a recovery after the March 2020 market correction,
investment and economic factors remain complex and the outlook for returns over the next decade is uncertain.
We are pension investors. We can help navigate the challenges that lie ahead.
Get started with our introduction video
Your plan is unique. Contact us to discuss
your specific needs and objectives.
Get additional insights
Sona Menon
Head of North American Pensions Practice
Sona Menon is the Head of Cambridge Associate’s North American Pension Practice. Based in Boston, she also serves as an Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) for a diverse group of pension clients. Sona has been with Cambridge Associates since 2001 and brings nearly 23 years of investment industry experience to her clients.
Sona works with a variety of institutional investors that include corporate, public, multiemployer, and non-profit plan sponsors; health care institutions; and other investors with multi-asset pools. As an OCIO, Sona serves in both fully discretionary and non-discretionary capacities, overseeing plans’ investment portfolios. Sona has authored and contributed to several research papers on key investment topics impacting the North American pension industry and regularly speaks at industry conferences.
Sona began her tenure at Cambridge Associates building endowment portfolios. Prior to her senior roles in the Pension Practice, Sona spent over two years working in Cambridge Associates’ London office, where she served institutional investors located in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and the Middle East. Prior to joining the firm, she worked at JP Morgan in the sovereign risk research department, as well as on the emerging markets sales and foreign exchange trading desks.