P.D. Soros Fellowship for New Americans

Gene Podkaminer is executive vice president and head of research for Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions. In this role he directs research activities across markets and asset classes, strategic and tactical asset allocation, manager due diligence and selection, including quantitative and fundamental approaches. Gene chairs the Investment Strategy Research Committee which informs asset allocation strategy across the multi-asset solution organization.

Prior to joining Franklin Templeton in 2018, Gene worked with Callan in the Capital Markets Research group where he was responsible for assisting clients with their strategic investment planning, conducting asset allocation studies, developing optimal investment manager structures, and providing custom research on a variety of investment topics. Prior to Callan, Gene spent nearly a decade with Barclays Global Investors. As a Senior Strategist in the Client Advisory Group he advised some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated pension plans, non-profits, and sovereign wealth funds in the areas of strategic asset allocation, liability driven investing, manager structure optimization, and risk budgeting. As Chief Strategist of Barclays’ CIO-outsourcing platform Gene executed CIO-level functions for corporate pension plans and endowments.

Gene received a BA in Economics from the University of San Francisco and an MBA from Yale University. He earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Society of San Francisco and CFA Institute, where he consults on curriculum development. He is a frequent speaker on investment related topics and has been featured in numerous publications; in 2014 he was named CIO Magazine’s “Consultant of the Year.” “Risk Factors as Building Blocks for Portfolio Diversification: The Chemistry of Asset Allocation,” was published by the CFA Institute, “The Education of Beta: Can Alternative Indices Make Your Portfolio Smarter,” was featured in the Journal of Investing, and both “Smart Beta is the Gateway Drug to Risk Factor Investing” and “Preparing a Multi-Asset Portfolio for Shocks to Economic Growth” appear in the Journal of Portfolio Management.