FOR RELEASE
May 19, 2008

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Kate Hendrickson
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Investment Management Consultants Association Presents Awards in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS—May 19, 2008—Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA) today is presenting seven prestigious awards at its 2008 Spring Professional Development Conference in New Orleans.

William F. Sharpe, Ph.D.: 2008 Matthew McArthur Award for his outstanding contributions to the profession of investment management consulting and to the advancement of the skills of investment management consulting. Dr. Sharpe is architect of the capital asset pricing model, creator of the Sharpe ratio for investment performance analysis, one of the fathers of modern portfolio theory, and contributor to the binomial method for the valuation of options, the gradient method for asset allocation optimization, and returns-based style analysis for evaluating the style and performance of investment funds. The world of financial economics has been shaped by his pioneering work, which was recognized (along with that of Harry M. Markowitz and Merton M. Miller) with the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1990.

Robert A. Prentice, J.D.: 2008 Richard Davis Ethics Award for “Ethical Decision Making: More Needed Than Good Intentions” (Financial Analysts Journal 63, no. 6, November/December 2007: 17–30). The article effectively illustrates how well-intentioned people can stumble into ethical minefields if they do not guard against errors in judgment that people are often predisposed to make. Mr. Prentice makes his case by describing cognitive biases and mental shortcuts that can lead to ethical traps as well as the attitudes and actions that can help minimize, if not eliminate, the danger. Mr. Prentice is a professor in the Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management at the McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin.

Thomas Oberlechner, Ph.D.: 2008 Richard Davis Ethics Honorable Distinction Award for his book, The Psychology of Ethics in the Finance and Investment Industry, which was published in 2007 by The Research Foundation of CFA Institute. Dr. Oberlechner is senior research professor and psychology department head at Webster University in Vienna, Austria.

Hersh Shefrin, Ph.D.: 2008 IMCA Journalism Award for “How the Disposition Effect and Momentum Impact Investment Professionals" (Journal of Investment Consulting 8, no. 2, summer 2007). The award honors the author(s) of a book or article exemplifying the best writing in the investment management consulting industry during the previous year. Recipients must demonstrate academic and analytical vision and relevance to the everyday work of investment management consultants. Dr. Shefrin’s article highlights the pieces of disposition-effect literature that are of special interest to investment professionals and notes that the disposition effect and momentum are key determinants in the separation of outperforming investors from underperforming investors. Dr. Shefrin is the Mario Belotti Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University.

Howard Weiss and Jim Flinchum, CIMA^®, CFP^®: 2008 Stephen Kessler Writing Award for “The Evolution of Family Governance: Emerging Trends and Their Challenges for the Investment Consultant” (IMCA Monitor, November/December 2007). Mr. Weiss is a senior vice president and wealth management consultant at Bank of America in Baltimore. Mr. Flinchum is a principal with Bay Capital Advisors, a multifamily office based in Virginia Beach. The Kessler Award honors IMCA members for their excellent editorial contributions the previous year to IMCA’s bimonthly educational magazine, Investments & Wealth Monitor.

The following two authors are receiving 2008 Kessler Honorable Distinction awards: Bruce Curwood, CIMA^®, CFA^®, for “Narrowing the Knowing-Doing Gap in Investments through Effective Fund Governance” (March/April 2007); and Benjamin Valore-Caplan, CIMA^®, for “Hard Truths of Advising Nonprofit Organizations” (March/April 2007). Mr. Curwood is director, investment strategy with Russell Investments Canada in Toronto. Mr. Valore-Caplan is a senior vice president of investments and an institutional consultant with UBS Financial Services in Denver.

For more information on IMCA’s Awards click here.

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