In our Private Markets Classroom Series, IPC faculty, fellows, and other experts will provide an educational dive into a broad range of important private capital topics. Register below and join live to learn and ask questions in real time. You will also find recordings of past sessions for our members to revisit.
Oct 15, 2025 – 11:00AM (ET)
The increasingly popular “Total Portfolio Approach” is often described as a unified way or assessing risk and return of the whole portfolio. But what does this look like in practice? In this classroom series, Prof. David Robinson (Duke Fuqua School of Business) will provide an academic overview of the broad trends in asset management and in modern institutional portfolio management – including the rise of TPA. Will Scott (CPP Investments) will then join in conversation to discuss CPP’s approach.
Sept 24, 2025 – 11:00AM (ET)
The Trump administration has unleashed an unprecedented series of major policy initiatives with the potential to fundamentally alter the geopolitical landscape. In this session, Prof. Christian Lundblad (UNC Kenan-Flagler) will explore the effect of policy shifts on markets year to date as well as potential future impacts. Specific topics will include possible re-alignment of trade blocks, stagflation risk, risk of declining USD dominance, and fiscal/monetary policy effects.
Aug 20, 2025 – 11:00AM (ET)
This session featured Juliana Hadas (Alternative Investments Strategist, Goldman Sachs Asset Management) and Prof. Greg Brown (UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School) for an in-depth look at Evergreen Funds, with insights from Goldman Sachs recent white paper “Choose Your Vehicle: A Closer Look at Private Market Fund Structures“. This discussion will explore the unique benefits and trade-offs of Evergreen Fund structures, and what their increasing popularity signals for investors and the evolving private markets landscape.
July 30, 2025 – 11:00AM (ET)
Prof. Greg Brown will discuss how investible markets have evolved over the last 75 years. The analysis starts with the resurgence of public markets after WW-II followed by the transformational role of structured finance and derivatives in the 1970s and 1980s. These technological developments along with the growth of large institutional investors paved the way for the phenomenal growth of private markets over the last 25 years. Prof. Brown will discuss what this means for various types of investors and how investors in private markets must consider a wider range of investment factors than investors in public markets.
June 18, 2025 – 11:00AM (ET)
In this session Pete Witte (Global Private Equity Lead Analyst, EY) will present findings from the new EY Private Equity Value Creation Benchmark Survey. As financing costs rise and multiple expansion opportunities decline, operational value creation and the Operating Partner role have become central to how firms manage risk and drive returns. Firms have invested in various models, from in-house generalist advisors to specialized teams and external advisors. This survey analyzes industry practices in diligence, value creation initiatives, and the staffing and deployment of operating resources, and considers the merits and limitations of different approaches.
May 28, 2025 – 11:00AM (ET)
In this webinar, Prof. Aymeric Bellon (UNC Kenan-Flagler), will explore the emerging field of energy transition finance, focusing on how private capital can support the decarbonization of modern economies. Financing the energy transition is distinct due to significant tax incentives and the presence of stakeholders driven by more than just financial returns. We will offer a comprehensive overview of key industry trends, financial instruments, core concepts, and the challenges shaping this evolving field.
April 16, 2025 – 11:00AM (ET)
In this session Alex Abell (Managing Partner at RCP Investments) will provide a comprehensive overview of the lower middle market – how it is defined, how it operates, and how it differs from larger buyout markets. This discussion will highlight the unique opportunities that are available to investors entering into this market, as well as challenges to consider, and what you need to know to navigate them successfully. Alex’s talk will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Prof. David Robinson (Duke Fuqua), so join live to ask your questions.
March 19, 2025 – 11:00AM (ET)
In this session Prof. Greg Brown (IPC; UNC Kenan-Flagler) presents findings from a new IPC study on the relationship between General Partner (GP) commitment levels and private equity fund performance. Using a first-of-its-kind large-sample analysis of 1,503 funds, the study examines the trade-off between GP-LP incentive alignment and GP risk-aversion, finding that the optimal GP commitment percentage falls within the 10-13% range – substantially higher than the current average commitment levels. Phil Berney, Chairman of Kelso, will join for a discussion of the role of GP commits, and the perspective from a practitioner.
February 19, 2025 – 11:00AM (ET)
Combining data from leading commercial hedge fund vendor databases with confidential regulatory filings, Juha Joenväärä (Associate Professor of Finance at Aalto University) provides a comprehensive evaluation of hedge fund industry size, performance, and investor flows. We estimate that the industry manage worldwide net assets that are much bigger than the largest vendor estimate. Funds that report only via regulatory filings exhibit better risk-adjusted performance (“alpha”), stronger performance persistence, and a lower sensitivity of investor flows to past returns, relative to those reporting to vendor databases.
January 22, 2025 – 11:00AM (ET)
Wes Bradle (FLSBA) and Mike Elio (StepStone Group) discuss best practices in conducting due diligence of private equity investment opportunities. Topics will include assessing performance, unpacking return drivers, and determining value-creation potential. This will be an opportunity to see how sophisticated investors get under the hood to uncover return opportunities and risk profiles of a general partner’s investment process.
December 11, 2024 – 11:00AM (ET)
Prof. Andrei Goncalves (Ohio State University) presents on the effects of illiquidity and smoothed returns in performance measurement.
November 20, 2024 – 11:00AM (ET)
Join Prof. Greg Brown (UNC Chapel Hill) for an overview of recent research projects from the Private Equity Research Consortium (PERC).
October 16, 2024 – 11:00AM (ET)
The session will address approaches to measuring performance persistence, what the evidence tells us about GPs’ success in repeating good performance, whether/how LP investors can benefit from persistence, and how things differ between buyout and venture capital funds. With Bob Harris, C. Stewart Sheppard Professor of Business Administration, UVA Darden
September 25, 2024 – 11:00AM (ET)
Research has identified a variety of factors related to vintage year performance. This presentation reviews these results and discusses the feasibility of timing LP commitments to funds in an effort to add value through investment cycles. With David Robinson, James and Gail Vander Weide Professor of Finance at Duke Fuqua.
August 21, 2024 – 11:00AM (ET)
In this session, Arthur Korteweg, Associate Professor of Finance and Business Economics at USC Marshall, will give an overview of estimation methods for assessing VC and buyout risk.
July 24, 2024
This session with Greg Brown, IPC Research Director and UNC Kenan-Flagler Professor, discusses the issues which LPs should be most cognizant of when utilizing fund performance measures.
June 19, 2024
With Greg Brown, IPC Research Director and UNC Kenan-Flagler Professor, this session will cover the most common performance metrics in private markets including pros and cons of different methods.