Trustee Governance Guide

More than 80% of the financial assets in the United States fall under the purview of a trustee. That's a bigresponsibility for an estimated 1% (around 1.5 million people) of the U.S. working population charged with overseeing investments for millions and millions of beneficiaries, public sector, and non-profit organizations. In a worldproliferated by investment products, increasingly dominated by indexes, faced-particularly in the pension world-with increasing liabilities, more regulation, and a growingnumber of social and sustainability objectives, what's a trustee to do? The Trustee Governance Guide is here to help guide today's board trustee through the brave new world of 21st century investing. The bookfocuses on the critical aspects of the Five Imperatives: Governance, Knowledge, Diversification, Discipline, and Impact. Based on more than a decade of research, practice, anddiscussions with many key decision makers and influencers across the industry, this book addresses the many topics related to better governance, greater mission-driven financial performance, and impact. The questions the book addresses include: · What is good governance, how do we know it when we see it, andwhydoes it matter? · How much knowledge is necessary to be a competent board member? · How big should my endowment be? · What are the key elements of a diversified portfolio? · How much does cost matter? · What's the difference between sociallyresponsible and ESG investing? · Can I focus on sustainability and still be a good fiduciary? This book provides a way for boards to improve and benchmark their own governance performance alongside their peers, and uniquely covers related investment topics in each chapter.