Our History …

• In 1994 Bill Blythe, John Thompson, and Bill Baxley began a discussion that lead to the idea of holding a conference where both the public and private plan sponsors could get together for a one-day conference.
• In 1995 we established an annual one day Summit with high quality industry speakers and panelists addressing Equity, Fixed Income, Real Estate, Alternative Investment Issues, Asset Analysis Allocation, DB & DC issues, as well as Economic Outlooks. This was a joint effort where TEXPERS provided the back-office work to produce the Summits while Bill Blythe and John Thompson recruited topics, speakers, and panelists.
• In 1999 the National Society of Pension Professionals (NSPP) was formed to host and run the annual Summits. TEXPERS continued to provide the back-office work to produce the Summit, but NSPP handled the finances. By the time the 2000 Summit was held there were over 200 members and the Dallas Chapter was formed for the Dallas local group of plan sponsors that met over lunch regularly.
• In 2004 TEXPERS withdrew from the Summit and Denny Howell was hired to produce the 10th Summit. The format was changed to a three-day event with workshops in addition to the full day Summit. Attendance dropped and NSPP declined to continue the Summit.
• The 2005 Summit was quickly produced by the local Dallas group, the Dallas Chapter of the National Society of Pension Professionals and went back to the original one-day format and brought the attendance up.
• In late 2005, the Dallas group saw the need for an organization to take on responsibility for the 2006 Summit and the National Society of Institutional Investment Professionals (NSIIP) was established as a non-profit corporation with officers and By-Laws. NSIIP then established a Texas Advisory Board, diversified by region and plan type, to meet 3-4 times annually, through conference calls and at our annual Summit for non-financial support and advice.
• NSIIP sponsored the annual Summit for 10 years, from 2006 through 2016, traditionally held in the fall at one of the hotels in Dallas and attended by corporate, public, non-profits, hospitals, and consultants from throughout Texas and some of the surrounding states. The Summit is a daylong event packed with speakers and panel discussions on timely subjects with around 150 in attendance. Of course, there is a reception the previous day and a private dinner for asset owners.
• Beginning in 2017, Hyphen Network was asked to take the lead in producing the 2017 Summit and future Summits. NSIIP continued to promote and advise on the 2017 and 2018 Summits. NSIIP was dissolved in 2019 after we were assured that Hyphen Network would continue the Summits.
• In late 2018 the DFW Institutional Investment FORUM (“DFW FORUM”) was formed and will continue to promote and advise on the 2019 and future Summits. The DFW FORUM replaces the Dallas Chapter of the National Society of Pension Professionals and holds eight regular meetings each year, along with several special meetings. The regular meetings are held at the Park Cities Club in North Dallas with a speaker and networking opportunity for the price of lunch. With the COVID19 disruption, meetings are held VIRTUALLY.
  1. Special meetings have included annual meetings at the Dallas Federal Reserve and luncheons with Alan Greenspan and others.
  2. We have also partnered with others such as the Thompson Reuters’s Buyouts Magazine for the Buyouts Texas Annual Conference hosted in Dallas providing venues with multiple Private Equity Investment Managers.