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Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York

Last Thursday at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, members of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA) association met to honor Dr. Mark Anson for his leadership in the field of alternative investments. The CAIA Leadership Award is the most prestigious award given for leadership in the alternative investments industry. I spoke with Florence Lombard, CEO, CAIA and Dr. Mark Anson about CAIA, the award, and where the industry is headed in 2012.

The evolution of a designation Lombard co-founded CAIA with Thomas Schneeweis in 1999. At the time, Lombard was CEO and Executive Director of Policy and Government Affairs at the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA). She notes that the idea came out of working with Schneeweis at AIMA, where they saw the need for a professional qualification for the hedge fund industry akin to the CFA qualification.

Lombard explains,"we didn't want it to be just about hedge funds, we wanted it to help investors put hedge funds in a context of a well diversified portfolio of alternative investments and assets. So we broadened it out beyond hedge funds to private equity, commodities, derivatives, real estate. We revise the curriculum every two years based on new investments and asset classes, based on where the investors are looking when they look at alternative investments. So more recently, for example, we've added infrastructure fun......................

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