Agenda
Agenda
Agenda
2026 SEM Consortium Agenda
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
3:00pm - 5:30pm
Registration & Check-In
5:00pm - 6:30pm
GCM Grosvenor’s 11th Annual Women’s Networking Reception is back — and this year, we’re bringing the portfolio to life.
In addition to the signature networking and community-building that has made this reception a highlight of the SEM Consortium program, attendees will have the opportunity to engage directly with a curated exhibit of women-owned portfolio companies. Browse products, meet founders, and experience firsthand the businesses you’re helping to build — a powerful reminder of the real-world impact behind every investment decision.
A celebration of community, capital, and the companies we’re building together.
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
7:45am - 10:00am
Registration & Check-In
8:00am - 10:00am
VIP Connect brings together LPs, consultants, and emerging managers for structured one-on-one conversations in a relaxed, informal setting — focused on investment programs, strategies, and fit. No pitches, just meaningful dialogue.
Note: These introductory meetings are intended for information exchange and relationship-building only.
15-Minute Meetings, 5-Minute Transitions
8:00AM – 8:15AM
8:20AM – 8:35AM
8:40AM – 8:55AM
9:00AM – 9:15AM
9:20AM – 9:35AM
9:40AM – 9:55AM
10:15am - 11:00am
Welcome Remarks & Manager Highlight
11:20am - 12:50pm
LP Intensive
Wealth Management Intensive
11:20am - 12:50pm
For GPs, getting the attention of LPs and consultants is more challenging than ever. Meanwhile, LPs and consultants continue to look for more efficient ways to cut through the noise and identify the best new and diverse managers.
This session will be created with both groups’ objectives in mind. In this session, qualifying GPs will submit a video of their pitch and marketing materials for review by a panel of top institutional investors, consultants and the GCM Grosvenor investment teams. These panels will select a handful of GPs among the submissions and provide live feedback intended to help shape the GP’s materials and hone their presentation skills.
GP Bootcamp Private Equity
GP Bootcamp Absolute Return Strategies + Credit
GP Bootcamp: Real Estate & Infrastructure
1:00pm - 2:20pm
Lunch and Featured Speaker
2:40pm - 3:25pm
Credit
Credit Secondaries: A Growing Opportunity in Private Markets
As demand for liquidity continues to reshape private markets, credit secondaries have become an increasingly important source of investment opportunities. Hear from GCM Grosvenor’s credit specialists as they discuss current market trends, portfolio construction benefits, and how investors can capitalize on this evolving landscape.
Real Estate
7 is the New 3: What it will take to compete in the current real estate environment.
General Session: The Global Perspective
3:40pm - 4:25pm
Consultant
Private Equity
In Your Corner: The Emerging Manager’s Playbook for Co-Investments and Continuation Vehicles
Two contenders. One ring. As the next generation of private equity managers steps into the spotlight, which strategy lands the knockout for GP-LP alignment — co-investments or continuation vehicles?
Round by Round:
- Round 1 — Tale of the Tape
- (Co-Investments enter first) Why are emerging managers often well positioned to generate attractive co-investment opportunities?
- Round 2 — The Challenger Steps In
- (Continuation Vehicles) Should emerging managers pursue CVs? How can that impact fundraising? (CV throws its first real punch.)
- Round 3 — Know Your Opponent
- What characteristics make a portfolio company a candidate for a continuation vehicle? (Scouting report — what CV is actually built to do.)
- Round 4 — The Direct Exchange
- Will CVs reduce the need for co-investments? (The two strategies trade blows head-to-head — is this a zero-sum fight or can both stay standing?)
- Round 5 — Judges’ Scorecard
- How should LPs approach decisions for continuation vehicles and co-investments? (The judges weigh in on both fighters.)
- Round 6 — Rules of Engagement
- What alignment mechanisms are most important when underwriting these transactions? (The referee’s rulebook — keeping both fighters honest.)
- Round 7 — The Bigger Arena
- How has the rapid growth of GP-led secondaries changed the relationship between managers and their investors? (Zooming out — the crowd, the stakes, the whole arena has changed.)
- Round 8 — Final Bell
- What trends do you expect over the next five years for emerging managers, co-investments, and continuation vehicles? (The decision — split, unanimous, or a rematch already brewing?)
Absolute Return Strategies
One-on-one on the Richter Scale
David Richter, GCM Grosvenor’s Absolute Return Strategies Investment Committee Chair, hosts his annual one-on-one discussion with a prominent hedge fund manager, who will share views on the current macroeconomic environment, the US election, and potential impacts on markets and sectors.
Moderator: David Richter, Managing Director, GCM Grosvenor
Speaker: Edwin Jager, Managing Director of D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. and, as a member of the Executive Committee of D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. and D. E. Shaw & Co., L.L.C.
5:00pm - 6:00pm
Invite Only Reception
6:00pm - 9:00pm
SEM Consortium 2026 Reception
Thursday, October 29, 2026
8:30am - 10:00am
General Breakfast
8:00am - 9:00am
VIP Connect brings together LPs, consultants, and emerging managers for structured one-on-one conversations in a relaxed, informal setting — focused on investment programs, strategies, and fit. No pitches, just meaningful dialogue.
Note: These introductory meetings are intended for information exchange and relationship-building only.
15-Minute Meetings, 5-Minute Transitions
8:00AM – 8:15AM
8:20AM – 8:35AM
8:40AM – 8:55AM
9:15am - 10:00am
Investing in Transformational Times
AI and the energy transition aren’t just disrupting sectors—they’re rewriting the macro playbook investors have relied on for decades. To open day two, Fred Pollock leads a discussion on what it really means to invest through transformation: how AI is reshaping workforces and power demand simultaneously, and where conviction beats reaction in a market in flux.
10:20am - 11:05am
General Session: Wealth Management
Evergreen vs. Drawdown: Designing the Right Vehicle for the Wealth Channel
Building on 2025’s “Perpetual Motion” session, this practical discussion helps emerging managers decide how to structure offerings for individual investors — weighing cost, compliance implications, and the NAV-based reporting burden each structure demands.
Infrastructure
Choosing the Right Path: Accessing Infrastructure Through Closed-End Funds, Retail Funds, and Separately Managed Accounts
As infrastructure continues to attract investor interest amid heightened demand for resilient, income-generating, and inflation-aware assets, investors have more ways than ever to access the asset class. This panel brings together experienced institutional infrastructure investors to discuss the merits of the industry’s primary investment structures—closed-end private funds, retail funds, and separately managed accounts (SMAs). Drawing on their respective perspectives, panelists will explore how each approach addresses key considerations such as liquidity, governance, portfolio customization, diversification, deployment pace, reporting, and operational complexity. While each structure serves different investor objectives and constraints, all provide compelling avenues for building long-term exposure to essential infrastructure assets. Attendees will gain practical insights into the trade-offs among these investment vehicles, learn which structures may be best suited for different types of investors, and better understand why infrastructure continues to play an increasingly important role in institutional portfolios.
Private Equity
Real Life Succession: Why Great Founders Leave, and Why They Stay
A candid look at the two paths available to top investors at established PE firms: build the internal architecture that lets a firm outlast its founder or spin out and build something new — and what separates the managers who get either path right from the ones who don’t.
Every established firm eventually faces the same critical decision point. Some engineer a next-generation transition from within — investing years in hiring philosophy, team composition, and cultural scaffolding so the firm’s edge survives a change in leadership. Others watch their best people conclude the more rational move is to leave and build their own shop. Neither path is inherently right; both can produce great outcomes, and this panel will dissect what separates a successful internal transition from a successful spinout, and why the same underlying dynamics — economics, governance, culture, trust — determine which way a given firm and person go.
11:20am - 12:05pm
Absolute Return Strategies
Rewiring the Investment Process: How Hedge Funds Are Building With AI
Description: AI’s role in the investment process has moved well beyond screening and summarization. What began as a productivity layer has evolved into something more foundational, reshaping how managers generate ideas, evaluate information, and assess investment performance. This panel brings together hedge fund managers to discuss how they are actively investing in their own businesses through AI, from tools that accelerate idea velocity and sharpen research workflows to approaches that help evaluate investment team performance and decision-making quality. The conversation will also explore what this evolution means beyond the portfolio, how the same forces reshaping how managers run their firms are playing out across industries and markets, and what that means for where opportunity and risk are found.
Credit
Where Conviction Meets Opportunity
What opportunities are top private credit managers pursuing today? In this fast-paced session, several managers will each present a compelling investment idea, offering attendees an inside look at current market dynamics, underwriting considerations, and the themes shaping their portfolios.
Real Estate
A New World Order:
How the real estate investment management business has changed and what it means for emerging managers.
12:20pm - 1:45pm
Networking Lunch and Keynote
2:00pm - 3:00pm
Closing Remarks & Dessert Networking Reception
Top-Tier Content
Leadership Council
The Leadership Council helps to shape the event’s agenda and move the program forward.
