Wilshire’s Annual Diverse-Owned Manager Report Reveals the Ongoing Importance of Consultants in Improving DE&I

SANTA MONICA, Calif., — June 5, 2024 — Wilshire, a leading global financial services firm, today released the results of its annual Diverse-Owned Manager Initiative Report, highlighting the firm’s continued commitment and progress to increasing access to diverse and emerging asset managers in manager searches, as well as improving diversity, equity and inclusion (“DE&I”) in the workplace. In the past six years, this initiative has demonstrated continued momentum in expanding the representation of asset managers and products from under represented groups, thereby bolstering the win rate of diverse-owned firms and assets managed by the community.

“The inclusion of diverse managers in manager searches has been a hallmark of Wilshire for the past two decades and since we started to formally report on our efforts in 2018, we’ve seen tremendous growth, but there is still a long way to go,” said Joanna Bewick, CFA, Managing Director, Portfolio Manager at Wilshire. “As the investment management industry becomes increasingly complex and investors’ needs evolve, our annual report reaffirms our commitment to raising the profile of these managers among our clients and consultants.”

Since first launching this report, Wilshire's total consultant meeting hours with diverse-owned firms has more than doubled from 58 in 2018 to 121 in 2023, underscoring the ongoing momentum resulting from the Diverse-Owned Manager Initiative.  

Report Highlights

Key findings from the report include:

• ‍Inclusion Rate Shows Notable Growth – The inclusion rate of diverse-owned manager firms in searches accelerated from 46% in 2018 to 71% in 2023, showcasing Wilshire’s ongoing commitment to include at least one diverse-owned firm in every public securities manager search conducted for non-discretionary consulting clients. ‍
• Broadening the Scope of Opportunities with Private Markets Firms – Wilshire’s proprietary manager portal that tracks firm ownership data for alternative firms allowed the firm to identify 242 private market firms as diverse-owned managers – nearly a 77% increase from 2021 in a space where tracking diversity data is incredibly difficult. ‍
• Increased Number of Clients Investing with Diverse Managers – Half (51%) of Wilshire’s discretionary and non-discretionary clients are investing with diverse-owned firms and continue to affirm an interest in diverse-owned managers, a 30% increase since the inception of the 2018 report. ‍
• Expansion of Highly Rated Managers and Products – Wilshire generated double-digit growth from 2018-2023 in the number of diverse-owned firms and products rated in the top four deciles, offering clients greater choice while potentially increasing the likelihood of matching mandates to managers.

“We recognize that in order to create a diverse and inclusive culture in manager searches, we must lead by example, improving opportunities and outcomes not only for our clients and associates, but for our own talent as well,” said Leah Emkin, Chief Client Officer at Wilshire. “While change doesn’t happen overnight, we recognize the role that we play in improving DE&I and we hold ourselves publicly accountable as we work towards a more inclusive asset management industry.”

Next Steps

Next steps for the program include:

• Maintaining a workplace culture that fosters respect and appreciation for diverse talent
• Leveraging the baseline established by this report to provide accountability and determine where efforts are having a direct impact  
• Enhancing transparency by incorporating Manager Research meeting hours to highlight the growth in meetings between diverse-owned firms and the Manager Research team
• Expanding the scope of diverse-owned firms and strategies rated by Manager Research to include asset classes where representation is challenged, such as real assets and non-traditional fixed income
• Including the firm’s diversity profile data as a component of the manager research evaluation
• Promoting the value proposition of diverse-owned firms to Wilshire’s clientele

“The goal of this report has always been to take the findings and adapt Wilshire and influence the industry to ensure meaningful progress,” added Joanna Bewick, CFA, Managing Director, Portfolio Manager at Wilshire. “Over the past six years, we have broadened our scope to fill the gap in approved managers for the asset classes where diverse representation is limited, and we continue to see strong progress. By engaging diverse-owned firms across both public and private markets, we seek to improve business and cultural outcomes.”

The full report can be found here.

About Wilshire

Wilshire is a leading global financial services firm and trusted partner to a diverse range of approximately 500 leading institutional investors and financial intermediaries. Our clients rely on us to improve investment outcomes for a better future. Wilshire advises on over $1.4 trillion in assets and manages $112 billion in assets as of December 31, 2023. Wilshire is headquartered in the United States with offices worldwide.

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