Julex-OCIO has served advisors for 15 years. We understand the financial planner’s reality. Several of us have our own direct clients and thereby live a similar reality, embracing investor emotion, behavioral bias, and the greed & fear that define bull & bear market cycles. The OCIO team has over 90 years of collective experience designing and managing publicly traded stock, bond, cash, and REIT portfolios. And over 70 years (collectively) selecting institutional-quality alternative investments, private and public. The Team Leader, Dr. Rob Brown served in senior executive roles at SEI, Envestnet, AssetMark, Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management, and Integrated Financial Partners and thereby appreciates the advisor’s daily challenges and opportunities.
“Advisors don’t need or want more investment products, instead they desire practical client-centric support that makes the advisor’s life easier and the client’s journey more predictable.”
“Advisors don’t need or want more investment products, instead they desire practical client-centric support that makes the advisor’s life easier and the client’s journey more predictable.”
Dr. Rob Brown
Julex-OCIO Team Leader
Career Highlights:
- Chief Investment Officer and SVP, Integrated Financial Partners, Waltham
- Chief Investment Officer, Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management, Los Angeles
- Chief Investment Officer, Genworth Financial Asset Management, Los Angeles
- Chief Investment Officer, Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, Phoenix
- Director – Curriculum, CFA Institute, Charlottesville
- Executive Vice President, PMC International (later Envestnet), Denver
- Managing Director – Research, SEI, Chicago
- Assistant Professor of Finance, University of Colorado, Boulder
- PhD, Finance, Northwestern University
- Oversaw and/or managed hundreds of billions of dollars of client assets
- Editorial Board member for the Journal of Investing, Journal of Finance and Market, and International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences.
Education
- AB, Economics and Mathematics, Oberlin College
- MA, Economics, University of Maryland at College Park
- MA, Economics, Northwestern University
- PhD, Finance, Northwestern University
- Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®)
Began Career in 1985
- As the Team Leader, Rob leads the design, delivery, and pricing for the OCIO menu of available products and services. This offering covers seven key areas: Client communications, Advisor preparation, New business proposals, Client/prospect events, Investment management, Regulatory support, and Ad hoc consultants. Two of these areas (Client communications and Advisor preparation) concentrate on seven pertinent topic areas: Recent model-portfolio performance, General investment market behavior, Economic developments, Expected future model-portfolio performance, Geopolitical developments, Domestic political developments, and Crisis events.
- Rob is a senior level investment professional with over 35 years of experience in portfolio management for large, sophisticated foundations, endowments, pensions, and the ultra-high net worth. Prior to Julex-OCIO, he held executive positions with Goldman Sachs, Genworth Financial, SEI, Envestnet, Integrated Financial Partners, and the CFA Institute, where he directed the ongoing development of the educational curriculum for the CFA certification program and its examination.
- During his tenure with Goldman Sachs, he directed the investment management department, a team that included 9 CFA® Charterholders who oversaw $18.6 billion. While at Genworth, Rob served as the Chief Investment Officer directing a $7.5 billion institutional portfolio of domestic and international securities. At SEI, he worked as the Managing Director overseeing SEI’s Research Department that supported the wealth management needs of over $300 billion of pension, endowment, and foundation assets under advisement. At Envestnet, Rob served as the Chairman-Investment Policy Committee, Executive Vice President, and Senior Managing Director-Consulting Division for PMC International (later acquired by Envestnet), where he led the investment decision-making for a $3.3 billion portfolio. Rob also worked in the public sector, where he held the position of Chief Investment Officer for one of our nation’s larger state public pension plans, the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System.
- Prior to joining the investments industry, Rob served as a Professor of Finance at the University of Colorado in Boulder from 1985 through 1989. During this time, he held a faculty position within the graduate school and taught students at the PhD, MBA, and undergraduate levels.
- He is a member of the Financial Management Association and the Financial Planning Association. Rob has completed Six Sigma Quality Control training with General Electric and holds GE’s Green Belt process management designation. He also maintains his FINRA Series 65 securities license.
- Rob serves as an Editorial Board member for the Journal of Investing, Journal of Finance and Market, and International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Derivatives and Hedge Funds, Journal of Investing, Journal of Investment Consulting, Journal of Beta Investment Strategies, Pensions & Investments, FA Magazine, RIA Central, On Wall Street Magazine, Royal Alliance Associates Sourcebook, Bank Investment Consultant, Investment News Magazine, London Financial Times, Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Financial Planning, Financial Advisor, Journal of Finance and Market, Journal of Wealth Management, and Journal of Financial Planning.
Dr. Brown’s Recent Publications
“Optimal Use of Commodities Within a TAA Framework,” The Journal of Beta Investment Strategies, July 2024, forthcoming
“Ex-Post Cherry Picking,” The Journal of Wealth Management, July 2024, forthcoming
“The Emperor’s New Clothes – Balanced Portfolio Construction,” The Journal of Investing, June 2024, forthcoming
“Risk-mitigated Deep Value – Bigger Bang Less Buck,” The Journal of Beta Investment Strategies, 28 September 2023
“Target Date Funds, Mis-sold and Misused,” The Journal of Wealth Management, 19 September 2023
“Inflation Hedging Tools – What Works and What Doesn’t,” The Journal of Investing, 29 July 2023
“Time to Retire the 4% Withdrawal Rule,” The Journal of Investing, July 2023
“Will Real Estate Fail When Interest Rates Rise?” The Journal of Wealth Management, Winter 2022
“Winners Repeat, Losers Repeat,” The Journal of Investing, August 2022
“A Pretty Good Outcome,” Yahoo! Finance, March 19, 2021
“What Happens To Stocks When Interest Rates Rise?,” Financial Advisor IQ ThinkTank, March 19, 2021
“Bonds – An ‘Investment’ or ‘Speculation’,” Yahoo! Finance, October 28, 2020
“TAA Properly Defined,” Finance and Market journal, Universe Scientific Publishing, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2019
“Intelligent Rebalancing,” The Journal of Investing, Spring 2018, 27 (1) 31-42
“The Case for Tactical Asset Allocation,” FA Financial Advisor, September 25, 2014
“Don’t Equivocate on Bonds,” FA Financial Advisor, May, 2014
“What Happens to Stocks When Interest Rates Go Up?,” Financial Advisor Magazine, November 2013
“What Happens to Stocks When Interest Rates Rise?” Financial Advisor Magazine, September 17, 2013
“4% Failure,” Financial Advisor Magazine, September 4, 2013
“Dispelling the Misunderstandings Surrounding Inflation Protection,” Financial Advisor Magazine, August 15, 2013
“Commodities and Precious Metals as Inflation Protection,” RIA Central Magazine, August 9, 2013
“Risk Tolerance Questionnaire Failure,” Financial Advisor Magazine, August Issue, July 26, 2013
“Who Owns the Investment Decision?,” RIA Central Magazine, June 18, 2013
“Marcus Welby Portfolio Construction,” Financial Advisor Magazine, May Issue, April 29, 2013
“Disservice of Risk Tolerance Questionnaires,” RIA Central Magazine, April 17, 2013
“Housing vs. Stocks – Is buying a rental house better than buying the S&P 500?,” Financial Advisor Magazine, April 4, 2013
“Time for Commodities?,” Connection Monthly Report, Invesco Powershares, Issue 3, March 2013, Pages 9-10
“Stocks In a Weak Economy – What to Do?,” RIA Central Magazine, March 12, 2013
“The Next 20 Years for Bonds,” Financial Advisor Magazine, March 7, 2013
“Opportunity Always Exists – Somewhere, Several Asset Classes are Generating Remarkably Large Returns,” Nationwide Financial Retirement Resource, March 2013
“Two Rare and Attractive Investment Opportunities,” RIA Central Magazine, February 5, 2013
“Dollar’s Decline Has Only Just Begun,” RIA Central Magazine, January 17, 2013
“TIPS Are Grossly Overpriced,” FA Magazine, EXPERT VIEWS, January 7, 2013
Investment Perspectives
The Julex-OCIO team of investment professionals maintains current perspectives on key economic factors and investment market relationships, e.g., inflation, interest rates, economic growth, recession, governmental policy, and fundamental investment market valuation levels.
Below is a link to several of our more popular and commonly accessed perspectives.
News and Blog
Julex-OCIO has served advisors for 15 years. We understand the financial planner’s reality. Several of us have our own direct clients and thereby live a similar reality, embracing investor emotion, behavioral bias, and the greed & fear that define bull & bear market cycles. The OCIO team has over 90 years of collective experience designing and managing publicly traded stock, bond, cash, and REIT portfolios. And over 70 years (collectively) selecting institutional-quality alternative investments, private and public. The Team Leader, Dr. Rob Brown served in senior executive roles at SEI, Envestnet, AssetMark, Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management, and Integrated Financial Partners and thereby appreciates the advisor’s daily challenges and opportunities.
