Don't Miss These Webinars

3 Free Webinars You Must Sign Up for Today

By TEXPERS Staff

As trustees and administrators of public employee retirement systems, it is important to keep up with the latest trends in pension governance, investments, and retirement. Webinars allow you to obtain critical information relevant to your pension system and more easily fit them into your busy schedule. 

A webinar is an online event hosted by an organization or company and broadcast to a select group of individuals through the internet. Webinars allow a speaker to share a presentation with audiences that can be located anywhere. Some webinar presenters allow users to interact with them by submitting questions and taking part in polls. Some webinars offer downloadable electronic handouts with additional information.

The ability to sign up online, create a calendar reminder, and log-in at the appointed time is less time consuming than having to spend time traveling to and from an in-person talk. And many webinars require users to sign-in as viewers only, meaning you often don’t have to worry about being on camera and can easily attend from the convenience of your home officer or workplace.

The popularity of webinars has been on the rise for quite some time, but because of the social distancing restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, most webinar platforms are reporting huge spikes in hosting. Professional organizations, including TEXPERS, have turned to webinars to stay in touch with their members and to continue offering educational programming that may have previously been offered solely during in-person events.

Webinars have become extremely useful tools for many professionals to continue to gain the education they need to develop their careers. Here are several upcoming webinars you should sign up for today. Oh, and they are free to register.

Learn from Industry Peers 

Despite the pandemic, public employee retirement systems are meeting the needs of their members, retirees, and staff. Gain insights during “How the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia Prioritizes for Success in the Age of COVID-19,” a webinar to be held at 2 p.m. CST on Thursday, Jan. 28. The webinar features Buster Evans, executive director; J. Gregory McQueen, chief technology officer; and Sony Kinley, human resources director; of the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia. The presentation is part of a National Council on Teacher Retirement series of online programs exploring how individual plans have prioritized for success during the pandemic. Click here to register.

Gain Insight on the New Administration’s Positions on Retirement 

The new Biden Administration and the new 117th Congress will make changes within Federal departments, agencies and commissions. Learn what public pensions and other institutional investors expect as far as retirement policy, taxes and regulations are concerned during this National Council on Teacher Retirement webinar at 2 p.m. CST on Thursday, Feb. 4. 

Leigh Snell, NCTR’s director of federal relations, will discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the retirement industry with three thought leaders who have worked on pension issues in the nation’s capital. The guests are John Stanton, partner at Hogan Lovells US LLP and Washington Representative for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System; Ed Jayne, associate director of federal government affairs at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; and Jeff Mahoney, general counsel at the Council of Institutional Investors. Click here to register.

Learn and Earn Continuing Education Hours

Join TEXPERS for a “webinar highlighting increased, new, and possibly yet unknown risks facing institutional investors.” Part of TEXPERS’ series of online learning programs, the webinar is set for 10 a.m. CST on Tuesday, Feb. 9. Presented by Smith Group Asset Management, join Sara Mongerson, the firm’s managing director of investor relations as she moderates a discussion with the three of Smith Group’s thought leaders. The panelists are professor Dr. Harvey Rosenblum, of the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, and advisory board member at Smith Group; John Brim, CFA, chief investment officer at Smith Group; and Stephanie C. Jones, CPA, portfolio manager, director of non-U.S. equities at Smith Group. The panel will examine federal monetary policy and financial regulation, review the impact of incoming policymakers, provide an analysis of stock risk in the U.S. and non-U.S. markets, review ways to mitigate these risks, and explore still to be found opportunities. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentation. Click here to register. 

Pension fund trustees and administrators looking to earn Continuing Education hours to fulfill Pension Review Board of Texas training requirements are encouraged to register for the webinar. To earn the credit hour, attendees will be required to sit through the entire webinar and participate in two polls during the program. The attendees will also be required to provide a special code, to be highlighted on the final image of the presentation, in a survey that will emailed to attendees roughly two hours after the session ends.

There are a number of other webinars planned by TEXPERS and its national partners. Visit our website to check for upcoming events. Also, look for posts announcing additional pension industry webinars on TEXPERS’ Facebook and Twitter channels as well as this blog.