Cigar bars, the movie business, and a dual-retirement were the themes last night for the opening parties at the 2017 ICI Mutual Funds and Investment Management Conference (MFIM). About 1,300 fundsters and allies have converged on Palm Desert, California this week (while 500,000 tennis fans gather in nearby Indian Wells for the giant BNP Paribas Open) for MFIM at the JW Marriott Desert Springs.

Marie O'Connor PricewaterhouseCoopers Partner

Last night at the annual Irish Funds St. Patrick's Day party at MFIM, the trade group and PwC celebrated the upcoming retirement of two Irish mutual fund industry pioneers: Marie O'Connor and Pat Wall. O'Connor was the first female partner at PwC and once led its asset management group. And Wall, who was involved nearly three decades ago in the first Irish UCITS fund and is also a partner at PwC, even said goodbye to the industry with a song.

Gunn, Steers and U.S. Bank sponsored the official MFIM opening party for all. The indoor-outdoor bash featured a classic Hollywood theme with sunscreen, sunglasses, and inflatable drink-holding flamingos as giveaways.

EY and KPMG also hosted bashes last night, both featuring supplementing dessert with cigar bars.

This morning after sponsored breakfasts, ICI general counsel David Blass' welcome speech will kick off the conference sessions, and then Blass will interview SEC investment management division chief David Grim. Today will also feature sessions on what to expect from Washington this year and more. And this afternoon Lori Nishiura Mackenzie from Stanford will speak at the women in leadership event. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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