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Jeff Diermeier, CFA, began his career
as an equity analyst at First Chicago Investment Advisors.
He earned the CFA charter in 1979, and held many leadership
roles, including global chief investment officer, throughout
the firm’s evolution to what is now UBS Global Asset
Management. He is now the CEO
and president of CFA Institute.
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Diermeier
urges new investment professionals to consider their motivation
for getting into the business in the first place. “One of
the biggest problems for employers of money managers and investment
professionals today is that many of the new kids coming in have
dollar signs in their eyes,” says Diermeier, who doesn’t
find fault in the drive for financial success but believes that
drive must be balanced by an ongoing desire to broaden one’s
grasp of the business.
He says an intense
intellectual curiosity in economics, finance, and the investment
decision-making process motivated him to jump on any and every opportunity
to broaden his understanding of the capital markets and doing so
has made all the difference to his career. In the nearly 30 years
Diermeier was with UBS and its predecessors, he served as head of
asset allocation, head of the US equity division, deputy chief investment
officer, and co-head of global equity. As global chief investment
officer, he oversaw the management of more than US $400 billion
in assets, covering asset allocation, equities, fixed-income, real
estate, and currencies, as well as a staff of 435 investment professionals
in 10 countries.
Diermeier admits
not knowing exactly what he was getting himself into when he began
his investment career in 1975 as an equity analyst for the former
First National Bank of Chicago. He knew that many people did not
succeed in the investment business, and he was prepared to retreat
to another field entirely should his first job not work out.
But Diermeier also
had had a taste of real-world money management while working on
his MBA at the University of Wisconsin. He won a place in the year-long
Applied Securities Analysis Program, in which two teams of students
were tasked with running investment funds involving real money.
When he graduated at the top of his class at age 22, Diermeier says
he already had a clear understanding of what was necessary for success
in the industry and intended to enroll in the CFA Program as soon
as he became eligible.
“If you participated
in the Applied Securities Analysis Program and didn’t go after
the CFA charter, you were not considered to be someone intending
to have a serious investment career. In fact, it wasn’t until
years later that I learned that the CFA Program wasn’t indoctrinated
[as the obvious next step for finance professionals] at some business
schools,” notes Diermeier.
The knowledge base
acquired through the CFA Program proved to be fundamental to Diermeier’s
success as an investment practitioner, and he cautions candidates
whose sole aim is to pass the exam. “Realize that the CFA
Program [is the product] of many very smart people who have an intimate
knowledge of their respective areas of expertise and who have determined
that only if you really fully understand this body of information
should you be deserving of the CFA charter and accepted in the community
of serious investment professionals,” he says.
Diermeier also made
a point early on to surround himself with people who would steer
him in the right direction. “Some of the older gentlemen in
the office at First Chicago were some of the earliest charterholders,”
he notes. “The organization’s strong emphasis on knowledge
and ethics is probably what attracted me to it in the first place.”
He also involved
himself in the Investment Analysts Society of Chicago, which, as
a co-founding society of the original forerunner to CFA Institute,
had among its members many of the most vocal promoters of the CFA
Program.
Throughout his career,
Diermeier periodically attended conferences and executive training
programs both inside and outside the industry to help him “triangulate
on certain concepts,” which he explains is necessary to gain
perspective and keep up with a quickly evolving industry. “The
most important industry change occurring right now is the movement
toward hedge funds and the expanded use of alternative investments,
including foreign securities, venture capital, leveraged buy outs,
private equity, and real estate in various forms,” he points
out, urging CFA candidates and new investment practitioners to stay
current on these topic areas in the future.
Diermeier adds,
“Once you earn the CFA charter, you’ve positioned yourself
for a career of life-long learning. If you’re committed to
ongoing learning, you will have opportunities to further your career,
either to become more specialized or to move into a broader management
role where knowledge across many, many areas will be important.” |
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feel
extremely lucky. For me, my jobs haven’t been work,”
says Jeff Diermeier, CFA, former global chief investment officer
at UBS Global Asset Management and new CEO and president of CFA
Institute. “It’s what I would want to do even if I wasn’t
paid for it.”