Uncertain Times: A Chief Investment Officer's Story  was written by Alton R Cogert, President and Chief Executive Officer, Strategic Asset Alliance, an investment consulting that exclusively servers insurers.

Alton Cogert, CFA, CPA, CAIA founded Strategic Asset Alliance in 1994 as the first investment consulting firm that exclusively serves insurance companies. 

He is a former member of the Board of Directors and former chairman of the Investment Committee of the National Alliance of Life Companies. He has served as a technical advisor to the NAIC Invested Assets Working Group and the Model Investment Law Working Group. He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Texas, and is editor of Insurer Investment Strategies.

Mr. Cogert has written several articles for BestWeek, including: “Piercing the Seven Deadly Myths of Insurance Investing,” “Insurance Investment Management Shifts to the WIRE Paradigm,” “Achieving Higher Risk Adjusted Returns,” “Outside Money Managers Performance Depends Upon How Well They’re Managed,” “The Search for a Truly Customized Investment Benchmark,” and “The Roller Coaster Ride Of Interest Rates: How To Protect Against Falling Off The Track.” His articles about the regulatory process include, “After 125 Years, the NAIC Needs to Get Back to Basics.”

Mr. Cogert has more than twenty-five years of financial institution experience, with more than half of that time in senior financial management. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Altenative Investment Analyst.   Mr. Cogert holds a BS from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

Strategic Asset Alliance (SAA) is an investment consulting firm that exclusively serves insurance companies.   SAA focuses on improving the investment process and, concurrently, the financial results of its insurer clients.  

Led by four former chief investment officers of insurers, SAA has no conflicts of interest with investment managers, broker/dealers or others.  Most importantly, SAA considers itself first to be part of the insurance industry and then an investment consulting firm that exclusively serves the insurance industry.