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Videos and Webinars

Council Videos and Webinars

Featured on this page are videos of industry experts (all members of the Council’s Speakers Bureau) addressing various aspects of active management, as well as academics exploring the findings of research papers they have authored for the Active Managers Council.

What Is an Active ETF?

Active ETFs are gaining popularity, and you’re hearing about them more. But what are they? Let’s dive into the what, why, and how of this type of fund.

Yes, Active Managers Can Outperform

Council Research Task Force member Apurva Schwartz of Harding Loevner balances the narrative on active management by discussing manager performance, whether successful managers can be identified in advance, and reframing the active/passive debate.

What Is Active Management?

This short video explains the foundation of active management and the differences between active and passive, highlighting how active management can benefit investors at-large.

How Embracing Active Management Benefits Investors

Geoff Warren of Australian National University sets the record straight on active management, Sharpe’s famous theory, and active vs. passive investing.

The Active Managers Council Action Plan

Toth active and passive play important roles in investment management. However, a misleading narrative has emerged, pitting active against passive in a false dichotomy. In 2018, the IAA formed the Active Managers Council to help balance the narrative on active and passive. In this complimentary webinar, we reviewed the Council’s thought leadership and advocacy since its inception five years ago, the impact that it has had, and the agenda moving forward.

Active ETFs Step Out of the Shadows

After years in the shadows, active ETFs are having their day in the sun. According to Morningstar, in the first half of 2023, active ETFs grew 14%, albeit from a small base, far exceeding the 3% growth in passive ETFs in the same period. In this webinar, we’ll delve into this emerging trend.

The Power of Active Management

The Investment Adviser Association’s Active Managers Council is changing the conventional — and misguided — narrative pitting active management against passive. A more accurate, balanced narrative is active and passive. In this video, University of Maryland Finance Professor Russ Wermers and industry experts Anne Lester (Portfolio Manager for Council member J.P. Morgan Asset Management) and Michael Cross (Analyst and Principal for Council member SouthernSun Asset Management) discuss the crucial importance of active managers to investors and the markets, combining active and passive strategies to meet investor goals, common misconceptions about passive funds, and potential market dislocations if there is too great a tilt toward passive investment.

Active? Passive? Focus on Outcomes First

When investors ask whether their investment strategy should be active or passive, Anne Lester of Council member J.P. Morgan Asset Management tells them they should be using both strategies to get the right exposure to the asset classes that will give them the highest chance of achieving their investment goals.

White Paper: A More Balanced Narrative

The tug of war between active and passive investment strategies has grown increasingly one-sided in recent years. This paper examines the current narrative surrounding the two styles and challenges the conventional wisdom driving the three most common criticisms of actively managed investments: that active managers don’t outperform their indexes, that active managers can’t outperform their indexes, and that identifying above-average active managers isn’t possible. (See related blog post and white paper)

Fiduciary Duty and Investments in DC Plans

In this webinar, we heard from two experts on fiduciary duty, Alison Douglass and Christina Hennecken of the law firm Goodwin Procter, in conversation with Kevin Lyman, Director, Global Thought Leadership, Invesco Ltd. They explained the nature of fiduciary duty in DC plans and how it has evolved through regulation and court decisions – and they provided practical tips on how plan sponsors can ensure that they’re pursuing participants’ best interests when they make decisions about investment lineups.

Academic Review: Active Management Is Crucial to Market Efficiency

Active managers play a crucial role in the efficiency of the U.S. capital markets, according to Professor Russ Wermers of the University of Maryland’s prestigious Robert H. Smith School of Business. Discussing his new paper “Active Management and Market Efficiency,” Wermers said that among other things, active management ensures that stock prices are fair. And he predicted that as we become tilted “way too heavily” toward passive management, there will be major dislocations in markets.

Academic Review: a New Conventional Wisdom on Active Management

Martijn Cremers, the Bernard J. Hank Professor of Finance at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, discussed findings of his comprehensive review of academic literature regarding active management at the Investment Adviser Association’s 2018 Leadership Conference. His review concludes that contrary to the currently popular narrative, actively managed funds generate positive value for investors.

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