Recognizing the complexity of effective investment portfolio management, Wharton and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) together are offering courses to help investment and benefits professionals more strategically manage risk and their organizations' investment portfolios.
Four programs are offered on a rotating basis at either Wharton's Philadelphia or San Francisco campus. These programs are designed to broaden your understanding of the markets and your fiduciary responsibilities, strengthen your portfolio oversight, and provide the knowledge and tools to make more informed investment decisions.
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Through the IFEBP-Wharton programs, you will:
Wharton faculty — led by Associate Professor Jeffrey Jaffe, an expert on corporate finance, investments, and money management — will apply their field-based research and the latest strategic insights to give you a strong foundation, theory, and practical application of investment management.
Each program is an independent unit that may be completed in any sequence, although we strongly encourage individuals with little experience with investment programs to complete the Portfolio Concepts and Management program as a foundation prior, to attending others.
Through lectures, exercises, and participation in an interactive case study, you will examine the latest thinking in portfolio investment and grow your confidence in your ability to evaluate investments with a broad, fundamental understanding of investment products and practices.
Overall, you will:
This program is for those who have a solid grasp of investment management fundamentals and seek to learn more, or have taken the Portfolio Concepts and Management program and are looking for the “next step.” It is assumed participants will already understand the basic principles of portfolio theory, performance evaluation, and risk/return.
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans: Investment Courses is designed for International Foundation member trustees and other benefit professionals with varying levels of knowledge and experience, including administrators and staff, human resources and benefits professionals, corporate officers and executives, and finance personnel and investment managers. The courses also attract investment professionals and multiemployer and public plan trustees in both the U.S. and Canada.
Participants leave the program with an expanded peer network, plus specific tools and frameworks they can use to be more effective administrators and investment managers. They also gain new insight into the global marketplace and how it impacts their funds’ investment strategy.
Fluency in English, written and spoken, is required for participation in Wharton Executive Education programs unless otherwise indicated.
Jeffrey Jaffe, PhDSee Faculty Bio
Academic Director
Associate Professor of Finance, The Wharton School
Research Interests: Corporate finance, investments, money management, and the effects of information on the behavior of security prices
A. Craig MacKinley, PhDSee Faculty Bio
Joseph P. Wargrove Professor of Finance, The Wharton School
Research Interests: Asset pricing models, behavior of futures prices, econometric modeling, stock market behavior
Christopher Geczy, PhDSee Faculty Bio
Adjunct Professor of Finance; Academic Director, Wharton Wealth Management Initiative; Academic Director, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research, The Wharton School
Todd Sinai, PhDSee Faculty Bio
Professor of Real Estate and Business Economics and Public Policy, The Wharton School
Research Interests: Commercial real estate and real estate investment trusts, real estate and public economics, risk and pricing in housing markets, taxation of real estate and capital gains
The Foundation and Wharton continue to provide a stellar investment program. The curriculum and faculty present real-world information that I can take home and apply immediately. There is no doubt I will be a better trustee because of it.”
Michael BrownBoard Chairman, Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Michigan
An incredibly deep dive into emerging markets that broadened not only my understanding of the markets but my fiduciary responsibilities.”
James Rossler Jr.Trustee, Ohio School Employees Retirement System
Thought-provoking, mind-expanding yet understandable teaching from these professors who are very knowledgeable and experts in their fields. I will continue onward in the Wharton pathway of education for the board trustees.”
Barbara M. PhillipsSchool Bus Driver, Ashland City Schools and Board Trustee, Ohio’s School Employee Retirement System
International Travel Information »
To learn more about these programs, visit the International Foundation website or contact: Tiffany Ulbing, at +1.262.373.7652 or via email.
For further information regarding the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) designation, please contact +1.262.786.6710, option 3.
Wharton Wealth Management InitiativeWe distill the most cutting-edge financial research into real-world, real-time knowledge that wealth managers and investors can use for immediate impact.
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Still considering your options? View programs within Industry Association Programs or use our Program Finder.
