Meet the Speakers Who Will Guide You Through the Decade of Disruption

People say John Mauldin has the best Rolodex on Wall Street. Every year, he gives it a good spin and brings both old friends and new faces to his Strategic Investment Conferences—and this year the line-up of experts and thought leaders was truly exceptional.

To give you a taste of what you can expect, here are just a few highlights:

Richard W. Fisher was President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from 2005 to 2015. In this role, Fisher served as a member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and as the chair of the Conference of Federal Reserve Bank Presidents. Currently, Richard is senior advisor to Barclays.

Since leaving the Fed, he has become one of its most outspoken critics, recently observing that the Fed used “cocaine and heroin” through the use of quantitative easing to stimulate the economy, and that the economy is today being maintained “on Ritalin.” His commentary on the Fed at SIC was equally colorful…

James Grant is the founder and editor of the iconic Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, a twice-monthly journal of the investment markets. His latest book, The Forgotten Depression, 1921: The Crash That Cured Itself, won the 2015 Hayek Prize of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

A famously eloquent analyst of markets since the 1970s, James’ unwavering skepticism and view of the markets as “predictably inefficient” led him to advise investors to short subprime mortgage securities before the housing crash. Today, he remains a strong advocate of the gold standard and a fierce critic of the Fed, which he recently accused of chasing an inflation target “it has pulled out of thin air, like so much of its productions.”

Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil. is Laurence A. Tisch professor of history at Harvard University, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing.

He is the bestselling author of fourteen books on economics, finance, and geopolitics, including The Cash Nexus, and an accomplished filmmaker, having won an Emmy for The Ascent of Money. His not-to-be-missed talk at SIC 2016 delved into how economic, geographic, and cultural forces beyond anyone’s control are steering current generations in a new direction.

Dr. Pippa Malmgren is the founder of the DPRM Group and co-founder of H Robotics. She was a member of the National Economic Council in the White House where she served on the President’s Working Group on Corporate Governance and the Working Group on Financial Markets, helping to negotiate Sarbanes-Oxley and the PATRIOT Act. After 9/11, she was responsible for looking into terrorism risks to the economy on the National Economic Council.

Dr. Malmgren is the author of Signals: The Breakdown of the Social Contract and the Rise of Geopolitics and Geopolitics for Investors, and dissected current and future geopolitical turmoil at SIC.

Dr. George Friedman Friedman is a leading expert in intelligence and international geopolitics. The founder of Stratfor, and most recently, intelligence service Geopolitical Futures, George has also authored several bestselling books, including The Next Decade and The Next 100 Years, which discuss his prescient predictions of the decline of the European Union and the rising tension between Russia and the West.

At SIC, he discussed the rapidly changing geopolitical agenda and how it will affect us all in the Decade of Disruption. As Newsweek previously said of George: “Expect the unexpected... He can see without the crystal ball.”

Mark Yusko is the founder, CEO and chief investment officer of Morgan Creek Capital Management. He is a proponent of the Endowment Model of investing, and is a sought-after commentator on the alternative investment industry.

Last year, Mark called $30 oil. This year? He predicts a “messy bankruptcy” for at least one commodity company, speculates that the Fed “has maybe lost control,” and says that a recession is coming “as sure as the sun rises.” But amid the gloom, Mark sees plenty of opportunities for emerging-market investors—and he shared them at SIC.

Dr. Lacy Hunt is an internationally renowned economist who knows finance from all perspectives—the private sector (he served as chief US economist for the HSBC Group) as well as the government (from his former position as senior economist for the Dallas Fed). Currently, he is EVP of Hoisington Investment Management Company (HIMCO), a firm that manages $6.5 billion for pension funds, endowments, insurance companies, and others.

Just how much of the disappointing US output growth during the current economic recovery can be laid at the feet of the Federal Reserve? That's just one of the topics Lacy touched on during his no-holds-barred session at SIC.

David Rosenberg is chief economist and strategist for independent wealth management firm Gluskin Sheff. David brings a top-down perspective to the firm’s investment management process. He was previously the chief North American economist for Merrill Lynch, where he was consistently ranked in the Institutional Investor All-Star Analyst rankings. Financial Post magazine named David one of the five most influential Canadians in investing, and Business Insider called him one of the 12 smartest people on Wall Street.

David has long been one of the biggest draws at SIC—and he’s drawn to SIC too, saying: “The faculty always consists of an impressive collection of the financial industry’s best. Each year I’m left with numerous thought-provoking insights and investing ideas.”

David Zervos chief market strategist of Jefferies LLC and chief investment officer of the Global Macro Division of Jefferies Investment Advisers, is best known for his timely, insightful macroeconomic commentary and viewpoints. In his role as chief market strategist, he exchanges ideas with the world’s leading money managers, hedge funds, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds. He appears regularly in financial media and is a frequent speaker at key industry conferences and events.

The question on everyone's lips ahead of his SIC session was why he recently recommended emerging markets for the first time while at Jefferies… Tune into his gripping presentation to find out.

Dr. Gary Shilling has an analysis career spanning five decades and was Merrill Lynch’s first chief economist. Currently, he is president of consultancy A. Gary Shilling & Co., Inc, and publisher of INSIGHT, a monthly report of economic forecasts and investment strategy. He also has authored seven books, most recently The Age of Deleveraging: Investment Strategies for a Decade of Slow Growth and Deflation.

An in-demand speaker, Gary has twice been ranked by the Institutional Investor magazine as Wall Street’s top economist. In 2003, MoneySense magazine named him the third-best stock market forecaster in the world, right behind Warren Buffett.

John Mauldin is chairman of Mauldin Economics and author of Thoughts from the Frontline, one of the most widely read investment newsletters in the world. His books, including Endgame, Code Red, and Bull’s Eye Investing, have appeared on the New York Times best-seller list.

John has dedicated his career to helping investors better understand Wall Street, global markets, and the drivers of the world economy. Readers around the globe turn to John for his view on Wall Street, markets, and history.

Neil Howe is a historian, economist, demographer, and the founder of Saeculum Research. He writes and speaks frequently on generations, the economy, and social change. He is the nation’s leading thinker on who today’s generations are, what motivates them, and how they will shape America’s future.

Neil made a special first-time presentation at SIC which enthralled the room. His speech was entitled “The First Turning,” a preview of the book he is writing, which is a follow-up to one of the most prescient books ever written, The Fourth Turning.

Also sharing their insights, advice, and predictions at SIC were:

• Juan Williams, Fox News political analyst and author of bestselling and critically acclaimed books including America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965.

• Michael Barone, senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

• Stephen Moore, an economic writer, political analyst, and former chief economist at the Heritage Foundation through 2014. He also has authored four books, including It’s Getting Better All the Time: The 100 Greatest Trends of the Last Century.

• Brian Lockhart, the founder and chief investment officer of Peak Capital Management, LLC (PCM). With over 20 years of portfolio management experience, he has led the company through exceptional growth since its inception.

• Stephen J. Cucchiaro, president, CIO, and chairman of newly-minted 3EDGE Asset Management. Stephen is known for his use of proprietary investment research methods including the application of concepts from engineering, system dynamics, and complexity economics in order to analyze the cause and effect relationships that drive the global capital markets.

• Jason Hsu, CEO and chairman of Asia-focused investment firm Rayliant Global Advisors. As eyes move from West to East, his insights at SIC were highly anticipated.

• Charles Gave, Louis-Vincent Gave, and Anatole Kaletsky, the powerhouse trio who founded Gavekal. As John Mauldin says, it’s a rare event for them to gather from around the world—and it’s always fireworks when they’re together.

• Jared Dillian, editor of The Daily Dirtnap, Street Freak, and The 10th Man at Mauldin Economics. A die-hard contrarian with a razor-sharp mind and irreverent wit, Jared is the former head of ETF Trading at Lehman Brothers and a master of market psychology.

• Patrick Cox, editor of Transformational Technology Alert at Mauldin Economics. Patrick Cox has lived deep inside the world of technology breakthroughs for the past 30 years, and has a clearer view than most of how technology will disrupt the upcoming decade.

• Tony Sagami, editor of Rational Bear and Yield Shark at Mauldin Economics. Tony has worked in almost every part of the financial-services industry, and is one of the most widely read market writers of the last generation.

In addition to speakers’ individual presentations, we also made sure to include our always popular on-stage roundtables…