The secondaries market can sound a bit esoteric until you consider that — with the exception of new stock shares created by IPOs, follow-on offerings and such — the world’s stock exchanges are secondary markets. With regard to private equity, the secondary market is the only way for investors to make an early exit from their private equity investments as their situations and strategies change over time, while simultaneously creating opportunities for incoming investors to buy those positions several years into their performance cycle and generally at a discounted price.

The digital transformation of the multifamily industry has been an ongoing process for about a decade, but in the past year the COVID-19 pandemic and a corresponding softening of multifamily economics have added impetus for changes.

How many times have we heard energy companies profess their commitment to clean energy, only to make trifling efforts toward that goal? Enough times that we don’t take promises of that kind seriously anymore. Actions speak louder than paper-mache words in this case, which is why the accomplishments racked up by NewEra Energy — the nation’s most valuable energy company — are especially impressive and noteworthy.

In one of the most exhaustive studies of the investment performance of U.S. nonprofit endowment funds, Sandeep Dahiya of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and David Yermack of New York University’s Stern School of Business found that “nonprofit endowments badly underperform market benchmarks.”

The old adage claims there are two taboo subjects people should never discuss over the dinner table: religion and politics. As the holidays approach, I fear private equity needs to be added to that list because it has become this year’s hot potato — now represented by well over $4 trillion in investable assets, and about 40 percent of that in dry powder. Why the sensitivity?

Last year, I led off the 2020 prediction feature with a sentence that succinctly summed up the mood of the economic world: “If you liked 2019, then settle back and enjoy 2020.” Well, that didn’t age well. By April, the United States’ economy hadn’t just run out of steam; it had run smack into the side of a mountain. Within a matter of weeks, the unemployment rate had whipsawed from historic low levels to historic high levels. GDP had fallen off the cliff, and industrial activity had slowed to a crawl. In the blink of an eye, the COVID-19 pandemic had dropped an anvil on the longest period of U.S. economic expansion in history.

Roundtable: What do you consider the chief thematic investing theme of the current decade?

The COVID-19 pandemic, and associated shutdowns, has taken a toll on the real estate industry, with retail real estate among the most affected. That has led to renewed focus on alternative uses for traditional retail. Retail-to-industrial conversion is one idea gaining steam. Another is locating self-storage space in retail centers.

President-elect Joe Biden has promised U.S. voters a radically different energy policy compared with sitting President Donald Trump, one focused on boosting renewables to address the threat of climate change. He will enter the White House with a goal of setting the United States on course for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and will recommit the country to the Paris climate agreement. But there is a good chance the Republicans will retain control of the Senate, limiting how much of the Biden agenda can actually be delivered.

As restaurants learn to subsist on a pandemic diet of fewer and fewer calories, they find themselves devising a new menu of survival strategies capable of bulking up their business regimen.

The drive to research and eliminate COVID-19 has accelerated pre-existing trends in the life sciences sector, which in recent years has been buoyed by scientific advancements and technological innovation. The pandemic provides a stark illustration of the importance of the life sciences industry to the economy as a whole, according to Tim Wright, senior managing director in the capital markets group at JLL, and Greg LaBine, managing director in the capital markets group at JLL.

For years a debate has raged over what constitutes fiduciary behavior. Regulators have questioned whether it’s possible for advisers who earn all or a significant portion of their income through commissions to maintain objectivity when providing advice that is supposed to be solely in the interests of their clients.

Long before the COVID-19 crisis, the manner in which we live, work and play was already shifting in meaningful ways. Driven by demographics, technology and evolving preferences over the past decade, the built environment has also evolved, and continues to do so. As a result of these changing demand patterns, alternative property types have arisen and today represent what we believe to be an increasingly important component of the future real estate market. Assets such as data centers, cell towers, single-family rentals, life sciences labs and cold-storage facilities are poised to benefit from secular tailwinds. Yet, these properties often require more sophisticated management platforms, with a heavier focus on specialized development, operations, and human capital. In response, the REIT market has embraced these complexities at a pace that is years ahead of traditional “core” private real estate strategies, thus becoming the optimal gateway for investors to access the alternatives in an efficient manner.

Renee LaRoche-Morris was a peculiar kid, by her own estimation. She read the dictionary and was more interested in hanging with the adults rather than her contemporaries. Even at age of 5, she sought to play a leading role, taking control of situations and telling those around her what to do, which did not exactly endear her to the adults in her life. She read the newspaper and taught herself to type on a manual typewriter in fifth grade. “I was just different,” she says.