September 25, 2023
GEM’s proprietary Enterprise Assessment framework provides a structured approach to aligning an institution’s investment policy with its financial realities, strategic goals, and risk tolerances. By evaluating key factors such as budget dependence, operating performance, balance sheet strength, and endowment flows, the framework clarifies an organization’s capacity to accept investment risk. These insights are combined with mission-driven priorities and stakeholder preferences to determine appropriate risk-return objectives. The resulting analysis guides the development of customized portfolios and Investment Policy Statements that balance long-term growth with stability, support effective governance, and help institutions sustain their missions over time.
We believe the lower middle market remains one of private equity’s most durable and least crowded sources of outperformance. In our latest research report, we examine the data behind our thesis and explain why we think disciplined manager selection creates a distinct edge.
In this mid-year follow-up to our 2026 Outlook, we revisit the four themes shaping this year's markets—AI's debt-financed buildout, accelerating private market access, biotech's continued momentum, and a slowly healing real estate market—and take stock of what's playing out as anticipated and what isn’t.
Three years after our last Investment Policy review, the regime has shifted: higher rates, sticky inflation, and a positive stock-bond correlation. In this conversation, GEM’s CIO Matt Bank revisits not just capital market assumptions but the framework itself, from methodology to implementation and risk management.
Let’s start a conversation about how we can help.
