Nareit Senior Vice President for Investment Affairs & Investor Education Meredith Despins delivered a presentation at the National Council on Teacher Retirement (NCTR) Virtual Trustee Workshop, on July 20. NCTR represents 63 state, territorial, and local pension systems serving more than 19 million teachers, non-teaching personnel, and other public employees; with combined pension and retirement system assets of more than $2 trillion. The trustee workshop, in its sixth year, was presented in affiliation with the UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business. The workshop is designed specifically for public pension board trustees and the curriculum is developed with input from trustee members of the NCTR Trustee Education Committee. The Workshop agenda covered a wide range of educational content for both new and experienced trustees delivered by industry thought leaders and UC Berkeley faculty.
Nareit’s presentation was delivered during a panel discussion on “How to Expertly Navigate the Changing Workplace.” Despins’ message to trustees was that while the real estate economy and how we live, work, play, and learn may be profoundly impacted by COVID-19; trustee responsibility to their pension funds hasn’t changed. The presentation focused on how REITs are positioned in the current environment, and how REIT-based real estate investment provides investors with the flexibility to effectively manage risk, build value, and position portfolios to capitalize on opportunities across the real estate investment spectrum.
The presentation was attended by 65 trustees representing 23 pension systems from across the U.S. including California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Illinois, New Mexico, Massachusetts, and Hawaii.
(Contact: Meredith Despins at mdespins@nareit.com)