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Biller shared some of his preferences and views on institutional investment consulting with MML's Hillary Flynn.
Alan Biller and Associates is a Menlo Park, Calif.-based institutional investment consulting firm with approximately $70 billion assets under advisement. Biller founded the eponymous firm in 1982. The firm has worked primarily with multi-employer pension plans since 1983, when it began consulting to the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust, the largest multi-employer fund in the country. The firm now services single-employer and corporate retirement benefit plans and private individuals and families.
On Asset Managers
Two paramount qualities Biller looks for in asset management teams are candor and transparency. "During the hiring process I ask myself,'Are these managers giving me the information my firm wants?'" Biller says. "I do not want to feel as though I'm looking into a black box when I'm inquiring about their portfolio history or their past clients. If people cannot divulge certain details, I walk away."
Beyond an open flow of information, Biller considers an asset manager's strategy crucial. He studies a management team's planned approach during the hiring process to determine the likely efficacy of the strategy given his estimation of the team's competence. He says, simply, "The strategy just has to make sense."
While there are no unique qualities that an asset management firm must possess in order to be an ideal fit to manage union funds, Biller...