2025 IDEAS Webinar Series: Portable Alpha

Derek Drummond

SBAI Trustee; Head of Strategy, Funds Alpha, State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)

Derek Drummond, CAIA, is the Portfolio Manager for the Funds Alpha team at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), overseeing approximately $30B in assets.

Derek and his team are responsible for the sourcing, evaluation and implementation of external investment managers across both traditional and alternative investment strategies.

Derek has over 20 years of experience developing and implementing investment structures for both asset owners and managers, including developing portfolio construction, analytics and risk management frameworks, and establishing manager due diligence and evaluation processes.

Pete Hecht

MD & Head of North America Portfolio Solutions Group, AQR Capital Management

Pete Hecht is a Managing Director and Head of the North America Portfolio Solutions Group at AQR Capital Management. In this role, Pete focuses on advising clients on portfolio challenges and investment strategies, and developing thought leadership and investor education pieces.

Prior to AQR, Pete was a senior investment strategist with Evanston Capital Management. He has also served in various portfolio management and strategy roles for Allstate’s insurance portfolio and pension plan. Before that, Pete was an Assistant Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School.

Pete earned a B.S. in economics and engineering sciences from Dartmouth College as well as an M.B.A. and Ph.D. in finance from the University of Chicago, where he was Eugene Fama’s student and teaching assistant.

Brian Jandrucko

Managing Director, Church Pension Fund

Mr. Jandrucko joined The Church Pension Fund in 2009. He is responsible for the Fund’s public equity, hedge fund, absolute return and portable alpha strategies globally. Previously, he served as a partner and portfolio manager at Manchester Capital, and was a Vice President and portfolio manager at The J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

He received his undergraduate degrees from Fordham University in Philosophy and Communications, and an M.B.A. from The Stern School of Business at New York University. Mr. Jandrucko is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, and was named by Institutional Investor magazine as one of its “Hedge Fund Rising Stars of 2018.

Mario Therrien

SBAI Trustee; Head of Investment Funds and External Management, La Caisse

Mario Therrien leads CDPQ’s investment funds activities. The teams he oversees invest in private investment funds and credit in private markets, as well as in venture capital in Québec and internationally. They are also responsible for external management in equity markets, as well as developing and managing strategic and institutional relationships. His mandate consists of adding value by building portfolios with the best external managers, while improving in-house management through the sharing of knowledge and expertise. He sits on the Investment-Risk Committee.

Prior to this role, Mr. Therrien was Senior Vice-President and Head of Strategic Partnerships, Developed Markets. He joined CDPQ in 1993 as an Analyst before taking on the role of Portfolio Manager in the group responsible for absolute return activities. Subsequently, he was mandated to develop external management activities in liquid-asset classes.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in Finance from Université de Sherbrooke. He has also completed the Canadian Securities Course given by the Canadian Securities Institute, and is a CFA charter holder.