Fundsters are heading to the central time zone this week for at least two industry events, including one that's two months earlier than usual.

Kunal Kapoor M* Chief Executive Officer

On Wednesday in Chicago, the Morningstar team will kick off the 29th annual Morningstar Investment Conference, the first since Kunal Kapoor took over as the Chicago-based investment research giant's CEO in January. As in the past, the three-day event is being held at the McCormick Place convention center. Yet for the first time, the event has been moved up from June to April.

The M* team expects more than 2,000 attendees at their conference.

Speakers scheduled to take the main stage at the M* conference this week include: Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard; Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management; Sonal Desai, senior vice president and director of research at Templeton Global Macro; Larry Fink, CEO and co-founder of BlackRock; Dan Ivascyn, group chief investment officer at Pimco; Michael Kitces, partner and director of research for Pinnacle Advisory Group; Michael Lewis, best-selling author of Liar's Poker; Laura Lutton, North American practice leader for manager research at Morningstar Research Services; Sarah Newcomb, behavioral economist at M*; Don Phillips, managing director at M*; Rick Rieder, managing director and global chief investment officer of fixed income at BlackRock; Tricia Rothschild, chief product officer for M*; Paolo Sironi, global thought leader for wealth management and investment analytics at IBM; Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia; Greggory Warren, senior equity analyst for Morningstar Research Services; and Kapoor himself.

Big sponsors of the M* conference this week include: Capital Group's American Funds; BlackRock; J.P. Morgan Asset Management; New York Life's MainStay Investments; OppenheimerFunds; PGIM Investments (formerly Prudential Investments); Pimco; Invesco's PowerShares; and Vanguard.

Meanwhile, this afternoon in New Orleans the Gemini Companies team will kick off the Gemini Edge Conference, just two weeks after Kevin Hesselbirg took over as CEO of the Hauppauge, New York-based mutual fund back-office and series trust provider. The three-day event is being held at the New Orleans Marriott in the Big Easy's famous French Quarter.

Speakers scheduled to take the main stage at the Gemini conference this week include: Mark Allen, six-time Ironman Triathlon world champion; Andrew Rogers, Hesselbirg's predecessor as Gemini CEO; Rob Stein, CEO of Astor Investment Management; and Hesselbirg himself.

Other industry events scheduled for this week include: the FPA Retreat 2017 in Braselton, Georgia; informa's FundForum Asia in Hong Kong; FRA's Converge: The Robo-Advisory Forum and the 8th annual Freeman & Co. Financial Services Conference, both in New York City; and the Pensionmark conference in San Diego. 

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE