SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 1, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wilshire Consulting, the institutional investment advisory and outsourced-CIO business unit of Wilshire Associates Incorporated (Wilshire®), today announced it has named Steven J. Foresti as its chief investment officer (CIO).
Foresti, a managing director, will continue as head of Wilshire Consulting's Investment Research Group, which oversees strategic investment research and the development of asset class assumptions for use in Wilshire Consulting's asset allocation modeling. Appointing him as CIO helps reinforce Foresti's role in harnessing Wilshire's investment and manager research into actionable recommendations for Consulting non-discretionary and OCIO clients.
"In this important role as Chief Investment Officer, Steve will continue to lead our investment research efforts including chairing Wilshire Consulting's Investment Committee and carrying forward our rich tradition of thought leadership within the institutional investment profession," said Julia K. Bonafede, CFA, president of Wilshire Consulting. "Steve has been deeply involved in developing Wilshire's capital market assumptions and publishing strategic investment research on behalf of Wilshire clients. This direct experience makes Steve the ideal person for this new role. In many ways, he has performed the activities of a CIO for years and his appointment simply formalizes his responsibilities," she added.
"It is an honor to serve as CIO of Wilshire Consulting," said Foresti. "I recognize how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to work alongside such an incredibly talented group of investment professionals. I take great pride in helping to channel the creativity that results from our collaborative research process and in packaging those ideas into valuable insights on behalf of clients who have placed their trust in Wilshire."
Foresti, who is based in Wilshire Associates' Santa Monica, Calif., headquarters office, joined the firm in 1994. He has authored papers on a broad range of topics across both the traditional and alternative investment areas. Among the recent research papers Foresti has authored are, "A Practical Approach to Factor-Based Asset Allocation," "Bonds Gone Wild: The Role of Unconstrained Bond Strategies" and "The Bucket List: Utilizing Broad Investment Groupings in Asset-Liability Studies." In addition to serving as chair of Wilshire Consulting's Investment Committee, Foresti chairs Wilshire Associates' 401(k) Committee and is a member of the firm's Manager Research Oversight Committee and Index Oversight Committee.
Prior to joining Wilshire Consulting, Foresti spent nine years with Wilshire Analytics where he developed and supported quantitative attribution and risk models within the Wilshire Quantum SeriesSM of investment analytics. He also made major contributions to the creation of Wilshire's analytic models, including the Wilshire U.S. Equity Risk Model and the Wilshire GR6 Equity Risk Model.
Foresti has worked directly with large institutional investors including public and corporate defined benefit plans, foundations, endowments and insurance companies. He earned a BS in finance from Lehigh University and an MBA in finance and accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.
About Wilshire Consulting
The institutional investment advisory and outsourced-CIO business unit of Wilshire Associates, Wilshire Consulting has provided custom investment consulting solutions to plan sponsors for nearly 35 years. Established in 1981, advisory consulting is the core of its consulting relationships. Wilshire consultants provide strategic advice on asset-liability analysis, asset allocation, investment policy development, asset class structuring, investment manager evaluation and monitoring and performance measurement.
Wilshire Consulting's customized OCIO services include full discretionary services or implemented services where plans outsource their back office. Wilshire's Actuarial Services Group works closely with Wilshire Consultants and the OCIO team, in a non-advisory capacity, to assist clients with managing their plan through this challenging environment.
As a leader in risk management and cost control, Wilshire Consulting excels at providing advisory consulting, discretionary and investment technology solutions and actuarial services to the market place. It currently provides consulting services to some of the nation's largest public and corporate retirement plans, endowments, foundations and major insurance companies with combined total assets of nearly $1 trillion. Follow us on Twitter: @WilshireConsult.
About Wilshire Associates
Wilshire Associates, a leading global, independent investment consulting and services firm, provides consulting services, analytics solutions and customized investment products to plan sponsors, investment managers and financial intermediaries. Its business units include Wilshire Analytics, Wilshire Consulting, Wilshire Funds Management and Wilshire Private Markets. The firm was founded in 1972, providing revolutionary technology and acting as an early innovator in the application of investment analytics and research to investment managers in the institutional marketplace. Wilshire also is credited with helping to develop the field of quantitative investment analysis that uses mathematical tools to analyze market risks. All other business units evolved from Wilshire's strong analytics foundation. Wilshire developed the Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM and became an early innovator in creating integrated asset/liability analysis/simulation models as well as practical models in risk budgeting through beta and active risk analysis. Wilshire has grown to a firm of more than 300 employees serving the needs of investors around the world.
Based in Santa Monica, Calif., Wilshire serves over 500 clients across 20 countries with combined assets exceeding $7 trillion*. With 11 offices on four continents, Wilshire Associates and its affiliates are dedicated to providing clients with the highest quality counsel, products and services. Wilshire® is a registered service mark of Wilshire Associates Incorporated. Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM and Wilshire Quantum SeriesSM are service marks of Wilshire Associates Incorporated. Please visit http://www.wilshire.com.
*Client assets are as represented by Pensions and Investments, detailed in P&I's "Largest Retirement Funds" and P&I's "Largest Money Managers (U.S. institutional tax-exempt assets)" as of 9/30/13 and 12/31/13, and published 2/3/14 and 5/26/14, respectively.