Ivy’s Investment Committee sets the strategic course for both the creation and management of investment portfolios. Comprised of the most senior investment professionals in the firm who represent a full-complement of capabilities and disciplines, the Committee is led by Peter Noris, the firm’s Chief Investment Officer. The Committee meets regularly – at least once per month – to examine overall holdings and evaluate opportunities in the context of current investment issues and foreseeable trends.

The Investment Committee works with and receives bottom-up analyses from the four specialized Groups that comprise the Investments Division – the Global Manager Research; Portfolio Management; Risk Management & Quantitative Research; and Operational Due Diligence Groups -- in arriving at decisions. The Committee is ultimately responsible for manager approvals and terminations; finalizing investment parameters on portfolios; and reviewing manager risk profiles. Specifically, the Investment Committee oversees the following key elements of Ivy’s investment process:

• Portfolio Guidelines
  The Investment Committee plays an important role in the portfolio management process. Providing a top-down perspective, it provides guidance on the strategies to pursue and trends to avoid while taking into account client feedback on areas of investment interest and risk tolerance. Ivy has established a series of guidelines that dictate portfolio parameters from the number of managers and manager size within any given portfolio to the total dollar amounts that can be invested with any given manager across the firm.

  The Investment Committee is also ultimately responsible for the approval of all portfolios. This includes the green-lighting of new portfolios to final sign-off on the performance of existing accounts. In so doing, it relies heavily on the recommendations of the senior members of the Global Manager Research and Portfolio Management Groups who are responsible for the actual development of new portfolios and their ongoing monitoring and rebalancing, as well as, the recommendations of the Investment Risk Management Committee and their assignment of risk profiles.

• Manager Ranking System
  Ivy has an intricate and detailed Manager Ranking System for all managers on its approved list. This effectively maximizes Ivy’s extensive quantitative and analytical capabilities as well as its qualitative experience and judgment.

  The system utilizes individual ranking inputs from the Global Manager Research, Portfolio Management and Risk Management & Quantitative Research Groups. Managers are judged on current position “tilts”, correlations, liquidity of positions, geographic exposure, leverage and other matters related to their performance. The risk management team also conducts analyses that assess each manager’s tail risk as well as sensitivity to a number of risk factors.

• Risk Profiles
  Risk management is essential to the investment process and particularly critical during volatile periods. Ivy’s Investment Committee has ultimate authority for managing the amount of portfolio risk. In so doing, it pays strict attention to the guidelines of the Investment Risk Management Committee, which in establishing and monitoring the investment risk management policies and procedures at Ivy, assigns manager risk profiles. These profiles incorporate the views of the Global Manager Research, Risk Management & Quantitative Research, and Operational Due Diligence Groups. These risk profile scores are “absolute” because they are independent of any invested capital and diversification benefits at a portfolio level.
• Formal Watch List
  Managers in jeopardy of not meeting Ivy’s expectations are placed on a formal “watch list” for review and ongoing monitoring. A manager’s failure to adhere to its described philosophy, unfavorable changes in the manager’s organization and poor performance, as measured against its peers and/or against a suitable benchmark, are primary examples of circumstances that would lead to a manager being placed on the watch list.

  No further allocations can be made during the time a manager is placed on this list. The Investment Committee reviews each manager on the watch list monthly and based on this monitoring is solely responsible for deciding whether to remove a manager from the watch list or terminate Ivy’s investment entirely.

Ivy complements its top-down asset allocation strategic approach with robust bottom-up methodologies. The Global Manager Research and Portfolio Management Groups are led by Stuart Davies, Global Head of Investments who brings global experience and rigorous investment disciplines to these functions. In addition, the Risk Management & Quantitative Research team is led by Dr. Greg van Inwegen, who combines financial experience with the latest academic theories to ensure the most advanced and disciplined approach possible.

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