ALTSOZ 2026 Sidelines coverage delivered the year’s most candid conversations on Australian alternatives.
On May 7, 2026, Markets Group and the CAIA Association convened the country’s most influential CIOs, family office principals, and allocators for a single, investor-only day. Cbus. HESTA. UniSuper. JANA. Perpetual. Meanwhile, the CAIA Association leadership team flew in from the US. In addition, family offices and private wealth firms running portfolios from $1 billion to $100 billion-plus came to compare notes on a rewired global order.
Inflation that refuses to behave. Geopolitical fracture lines redrawing capital flows. Private credit moving from alternative to essential. Furthermore, the 60/40 portfolio is under real pressure. These were the through-lines.
The sessions stayed in the room. However, our Sidelines team was on the ground, capturing candid, unscripted insights straight from the sidelines. Below: five conversations from Melbourne.
ALTSOZ 2026 Sidelines: Brett Chatfield Receives the Lifetime Achievement Award
Brett Chatfield, Chief Investment Officer at a private family office and former CIO of Cbus Super, received the ALTSOZ 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award. Kristian Fok, CEO of Cbus Super, presented the award alongside Thomas Tam of UniSuper. Afterward, Chatfield sat with Orlanda Poblete of Markets Group.
During Chatfield’s tenure at Cbus, the fund grew from roughly $22 billion to over $100 billion. Moreover, it ranked among the top five performers in the Superratings survey across 10 and 15-year horizons.
On the recognition, Chatfield was characteristically understated. Peer nomination, he said, was what made it meaningful. Then, asked what he would tell anyone weighing a career in institutional investment, his answer cut to the point. The work shapes the retirements and financial futures of real people. Consequently, it comes with significant accountability. That, he said, is why the industry is worth joining. His advice: learn broadly, build networks, stay in it.
ALTSOZ 2026 Sidelines: Christopher McAvoy on Why Alternatives Are No Longer Optional
Christopher McAvoy, Head of Alternative Investment Strategies at JANA, joined Rebecca Webb of Markets Group after the afternoon liquid alternatives panel.
McAvoy framed the macro backdrop bluntly. Volatility driven by geopolitical events and inflation uncertainty is pushing alternatives into a central role in client portfolios. Additionally, the day’s roundtables hit exactly where JANA’s clients are focused right now. Specifically, insurance-linked securities and the question of fraud risk inside private credit.
He also made a point about disagreement on stage. Sharing the panel with allocators from Perpetual Wealth and Viola Private Wealth was valuable, he said, precisely because the views did not always align. Ultimately, stress-testing house thinking against peer challenge is part of why the day works.
Aaron Filbeck and Nick Pollard on What Makes Australian Investors Distinct
Aaron Filbeck, Managing Director of Content & Community Strategy at the CAIA Association, joined Nick Pollard, Managing Director, Asia Pacific at CAIA. Together, they debriefed after Filbeck moderated the morning keynote panel anchored in CAIA’s latest research.
Filbeck pointed to a striking observation from his first trip to Australia. What occupies Australian investors is genuinely different from what dominates conversations in the US and Europe. For instance, home country bias took center stage in Melbourne. By contrast, geopolitics registered less directly. Meanwhile, wealth management product vehicles remain nascent in the Australian market.
Pollard built on that with reflections from a recent CAIA trip through India and China alongside John Bowman, CEO of the CAIA Association. Supply chain disruption and shifting global trade are reshaping how Asian investors think about portfolio construction. Therefore, Pollard suggested, Australia will increasingly need to engage with those forces directly. Both pointed to CAIA’s latest research, first introduced at ALTSLA, as the framework anchoring the day.
📹 Watch Aaron Filbeck and Nick Pollard’s interview on LinkedIn
Daniel Kelly on Building Through a Post-Globalization Shift
Daniel Kelly, Chief Investment Officer at Viola Private Wealth, spoke with Rebecca Webb of Markets Group after the opening keynote panel.
Kelly laid out two convictions shaping Viola’s portfolio thinking over the past 18 months. First, geographic diversification in a world he sees as moving away from the globalization peak that followed the GFC. Second, building portfolios designed to withstand persistent inflation in Australia. Specifically, that means strategic asset allocation calibrated to CPI-plus targets across rolling five-year windows.
He also pointed to why allocators show up to forums like this. Namely, sense-checking house views against competitors. Additionally, continuing the professional education the industry depends on.
Carlos Medrano on Spotting Opportunity Inside the Volatility
Carlos Medrano, Founder and Principal Adviser at Atrium Private Wealth Advisory, sat with Orlanda Poblete of Markets Group after the morning keynote panel. There, he joined Daniel Kelly and Aaron Filbeck of the CAIA Association.
Medrano described a conversation that ranged across macroeconomics and global volatility. However, he pushed back on the idea that uncertainty is purely defensive territory. Instead, he said, allocators are actively finding opportunity inside the noise. Above all, the value of the room was hearing how peers are positioning around it.
Five conversations, one through-line. Australia’s alternatives industry is not waiting for the next cycle to define itself. From a Lifetime Achievement Award recognizing decades of capital stewardship, to JANA, CAIA, and family offices openly debating where alternatives fit next, ALTSOZ 2026 reflected an industry actively rewiring itself in real time. Next, the Sidelines team will be on the ground in Hong Kong.
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