Kansa provides Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) investment consulting services to institutional fiduciaries
Why Kansa Advisory?
Focus. Experience. Scope. Kansa Advisory offers clients 30+ years of combined institutional and OCIO experience, spanning a variety of senior industry positions including the Chief Investment Officer role. We solely provide OCIO services and only to fiduciaries of non-profit organizations. And we offer OCIO services that we believe are deep and broad in scope within the OCIO industry.
Investment Experience
Our clients work directly with senior professionals who have diverse investment, operating and problem-solving skills developed over decades. Our founder and lead consultant has 30+ years of senior-level investment industry experience. Our senior advisors have decades of OCIO-related experience and are an important resource for our clients.
OCIO Approach
Founded in 2017, we are a client-centric boutique providing professional services to OCIO-focused institutional clients only. We are independent and employee-owned. Rather than employing entry and mid-level personnel, Kansa engages highly motivated, deeply experienced, successful professionals on retainer and through contractual relationships. Our firm adheres to the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.
OCIO Services
Search Assignments
After thorough review, our objective is that clients select an OCIO who has earned their highest confidence, holds top-tier credentials, demonstrates proven and consistent success, provides outstanding client service, and is willing to negotiate competitive fees and terms. Each OCIO search is custom-designed, and execution is based on best practices and is built to reflect client requirements and preferences. Kansa professionals proactively participate in the entire search process, including the negotiation of the OCIO’s investment management agreement (IMA).
Fiduciary Monitoring
We support our clients with their ongoing and non-transferable responsibilities of OCIO fiduciary oversight. This proactive service adds value for our clients in a variety of ways: greater transparency in performance reporting and business practices, improved client service quality, better alignment of interests, and opportunities for better risk-adjusted performance. We believe to be both effective and successful, this service requires the type of team we offer: seasoned professionals with Chief Investment Officer and other long-tenured, senior-level operating experiences. We are available to discuss the past successes our clients have benefited from this service.
Due Diligence Reviews
After a three-to-seven-year period, fiduciaries often internally require an independent due diligence review of the investment performance and service quality of their OCIO. We provide a comprehensive written analysis, including candid feedback and recommendations, of the OCIO’s past successes and problem areas as well as potential future issues. This OCIO analysis reviews the client’s overall satisfaction with the relationship, performance relative to both defined objectives and industry peers, competitiveness of fees and terms, variance from industry operational best practices, and other major qualitative and quantitative factors. The depth of our OCIO and investment industry experience is a competitive advantage in this service.
About Us
As the investment committee chair of non-profits with OCIO relationships for more than a decade, Dennis Sugino has experienced the front-line benefits, ongoing transparency issues, and potential conflicts inherent in OCIO relationships. We believe that this insight, combined with his other senior-level industry experiences and the support of his extensive network of industry experts, provide unique skills and proven value-add in supporting your fiduciary oversight duties.
Headquartered in Huntington Beach, California, Dennis founded Kansa Advisory in 2017 after 30+ years of senior-level investment industry history. Dennis’ previous professional experiences include serving as the Chief Investment Officer of the City of Los Angeles, President and Co-Founder of Cliffwater (an alternative investment consulting firm), Managing Director and Principal of Wilshire Associates (a global investment consulting firm), and Partner and Executive Committee member of Aristotle Capital Management (an asset management firm). In addition to serving as the chair of various non-profit investment committees, he served as a board member and Audit Committee Chair of The Investment Fund for Foundations (TIFF). TIFF started as a pioneering advisor in the OCIO industry 30+ years ago. Dennis earned a BSc. from California State University, Dominguez Hills and a M.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.
A key component of our investment research and client service model is partnering with seasoned investment professionals who have deep industry experiences. Key senior advisors are on a retainer relationship. Our advisors include professionals with prior OCIO experience and other industry experience as an investment professional, investment consultant, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Technology Officer, or Institutional Investor editor. Clients have appreciated our service quality compared to firms supported by entry and mid-level employees.
Contact Us
Dennis R. Sugino, Founder
dsugino@kansallc.com