Dimensional and William Blair brief ISERS board on emerging‑markets strategies, recent performance

Dimensional Fund Advisors and William Blair presented updates on their emerging‑markets strategies to the Imperial County Employees’ Retirement System (ISERS) board at the board’s May 21, 2025 meeting, outlining why recent market behavior drove near‑term underperformance and how each firm is positioning for potential rebounds.

The presentations matter because ISERS’ allocations to emerging‑markets managers are a material part of the system’s equity exposure and short‑term performance changes can affect the portfolio’s relative return and rebalancing decisions.

Ted Simpson, regional director and vice president for Dimensional Fund Advisors, said the firm’s emerging‑markets all‑cap value strategy leans into three long‑term drivers: smaller capitalization stocks, cheaper (value) relative price, and profitability. Simpson told trustees the strategy “is very broadly diversified, thousands of securities, low fees,” and described the manager’s process as “process driven” and academic in…