Keith Black | CFA Institute

Personal Details

Bio

Thirty years of experience in a variety of institutional investment roles, spanning the alternative investment arena. Consulting experience includes designing alternative investment portfolios for corporate and public pension plans, where manager due diligence led to over $600 million in client investments. Direct trading experience includes commodity swaps and futures; equities, including options and futures; and a long-short equity hedge fund. Teaching, writing and public speaking topics have included hedge funds, private equity, real estate, cryptocurrencies, machine learning, and infrastructure. CFA, FDP, and CAIA charterholder and a member of the CFA Speakers' Bureau. Published eight books, twelve refereed journal articles, and serve on the editorial board of the CFA Digest, Journal of Alternative Investments, and The Journal of Investment Consulting. Selected as a 2010 Hedge Fund Rising Star by Institutional Investor magazine

Specialties: Hedge funds, commodities, real assets, options, futures, derivatives, volatility, portfolio construction, alternative investments, academic research, professor, cryptocurrencies, machine learning, artificial intelligence, alternative data

Current position (2)

Managing Director

RIA Channel

Adjunct Faculty

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Degrees (2)

PhD, Management Science

Illinois Institute of Technology

2009 to 2010

MS, Industrial Administration

Carnegie Mellon University

1988 to 1990

Presentations

Presentations (5)

Implementing Models using Traditional Data and Alternative Data in Public and Private Equity Markets

Quantitative investors have long used traditional data sources, such as income statements and balance sheets of public firms, to drive stock selection models. With the explosion in the amount and diversity of data in the last five years, alternative data sources are quickly revolutionizing quantitative investing. Alternative data sources can include natural language processing of news and social media content, review of credit card transactions and consumer emails, and geolocation data using cell phone signals and satellite images. Alternative data is more complex to process, moves in a different time frame than traditional data, and may provide a new window into information availability for private companies.

Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets: Market Structure, Risks, and Opportunities

The digital asset market seeks an innovative solution to build a global, decentralized, and secure network that facilitates payments and other transactions. We will explore how proof-of-work, such as Bitcoin mining, and proof-of-stake protocols, such as Cardano, are used to secure networks and complete transactions. Behind many of these currencies are real businesses, such as Ethereum smart contracts that facilitate borrowing and lending as well as options and futures trading. Stablecoins pegged to USD or EUR can earn yields of up to 7% with minimal volatility. Returns and volatility data will be presented, as well as evidence on how digital assets can add return to a diversified portfolio without adding to portfolio volatility. Risks of digital assets will also be discussed, including regulatory risks, technology risk, and valuation risk.

Valuation Models for Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets

There are currently over 11,000 cryptocurrencies and digital assets. With many experiencing price volatility of over 100% per year, or five times the volatility of stocks, there is substantial disagreement on how to value these assets. Some valuation models used for traditional equity valuation can be used to price these assets. Investors may also find it useful to understand business models, emerging industries, and oligopolistic models.

Private Equity Exit Strategies: IPOs, SPACS, Direct Listings, and Mergers

This presentation describes and compares the many ways that entrepreneurs and their private equity owners can exit their ownership in a private company. While IPOs have declined in importance in recent years, there has been an increase in strategic mergers, financial mergers, and secondary buyouts. More recently, a growing number of companies have sought to become publicly traded through direct listings and special purpose acquisition corporations (SPACs).

Protecting your Portfolio from Inflation: The Case for Real Assets

Many investors are seeking to add assets to their portfolio that can be effective in hedging increasing rates of inflation. Assets that have been considered to hedge inflation risk include equities, real estate, commodity futures, farmland, timberland, inflation-linked bonds, infrastructure, and master limited partnerships. Each of these assets varies in its ability to hedge inflation risks, as well as in the liquidity provisions.