Episoder
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Margaret Casely-Hayford, CBE, until recently was Chancellor of Coventry University, a role she held for close to 7 years. She has had an extensive career having been a partner at Dentons in legal practice for close to 20 years, and has held roles as NED of the NHS, as a Special Trustee at Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens’ Charity, Chair at Shakespeares’ Globe, and as a Board Member of Co-op, to name just a few. We featured her on our podcast in February 2021, where we discussed her role as a champion for diversity in the law and are delighted to now welcome her back to discuss her candidacy for the Chancellorship at Oxford University, an institution of which she is herself an alumna.
In order to look forward we first briefly look back - at her legacy from Chancellor of Coventry University - at her vision for educational institutions in terms of growth, access and relevance in the decades to come. We speak about her initiatives there, and her vision for leadership as well as enriching the student body. We move then to some of the issues at stake in the coming election and cycle through them in terms of the unique nature of Oxford given its Oxford specific college/hall identity/symbolism, how it can blend this with a robust research agenda and the other expectations of a modern institution. We return to the topic of value for money of a university degree and the fundraising agenda that must accompany any such role. We move then to Margaret's unique style of leadership and advocacy and her stance on freedom of expression, academic freedoms and other freedoms within the university setting. Modern institution
Margaret's career has been characterized by taking a stand, grit, advocacy, transparency and winning trust through partnership and collaboration. Tune in to hear her unique vision for the Chancellorship role at Oxford University. -
Professor Orla Sheils is the Vice-Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Trinity College Dublin as well as holding the position of Professor of Molecular Diagnostics. Prior to her appointment as Vice-Provost in 2021, Orla served as the Director of
Medical Ethics in the School of Medicine, was the founding Director of the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, and was Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences from 2019-2021. Most recently, Orla was elected as a member of Scientific Council of the International Agency for Research on Cancer for 2024-27. IARC is a cancer research agency of the World Health Organisation that supports cancer prevention research.
Our conversation starts with exploring the rich fabric of Orla's career, and her path to the Vice Provost role as well as the causes and movements that have motivated her over the course of her professional life.
We move then to discuss her initiatives in the Vice-Provost role, in particular the initiatives at Trinity College Dublin around micro-credentials and the origins of this flexible and progressive approach to learning, which improves access for a wider range of students and important, skill-based learning. As the workplace is reinvented, so too should education adapt to respond to needs to upskill and retrain later in life. As universities evolve to blend online and in-person teaching, micro-credentials are a way to provide access not only to Trinity's body of teaching but also so much around the world. The four pillars of the current offering of micro-credentials of Environment Sustainability, Wellbeing, ICT, Datascience and Engineering and People, Leadership and Culture,
Please enjoy this discussion on the future of third level education and insights into what a cross-disciplinary learning environment might look like. You can see a short video of Orla discussing Micro-Credentials on Fiftyfaces TV here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDShVwCWajQ
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ― Mahatma Gandhi -
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Duncan MacInnes is an Investment Director at Ruffer LLP, where he has spent over a decade. He previously worked in wealth management. I have enjoyed listening to Duncan discuss positioning and multi-asset insights on the conference circuit and wanted to take this opportunity to discuss his views on the current macro backdrop as well as the state of play in finance circles as we wrestle with failing banks and what this means for investors.
We start our conversation with a run through Duncan’s upbringing in Scotland and his initial study of law, his passage into first wealth management and then asset management. His initial training in wealth management took him to Asia and we discuss how that total immersion experience lit the fire for an interest in economics, markets and multi-asset class investing.
Moving to his current outlook we discuss Ruffer’s preference for “minimax regret” which is the practice of minimizing the probability of your maximum regret – and focusing on capital preservation. We discuss the impact of the Fed tightening cycle on taking money out of the system and what this means for the velocity of money and money concentrating in the centre. We then turn to a number of other areas in turn – de-dollarization, the shifting appeal of fixed income and the coming chronic phase of the crisis.
Our discussion around diversity focuses on creating an organization that can speak multiple languages – metaphorically speaking – some the language of number and quantitative analysis, some the language of sales and client partnerships
Duncan discusses some of the finance books that he recommends to others and these are: The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke, The Most Important Thing by Howard Marks and SuperForecasting by Philip Tetlock.
Series 3 of the 2023 Fiftyfaces Podcast is supported by Eagle Point Credit Management. Eagle Point Credit Management is a specialist investment manager principally focused on income-oriented credit investments in niche and inefficient markets. Founded by Thomas Majewski in partnership with Stone Point Capital in 2012, Eagle Point currently manages over $7.8 billion in AUM. Investment strategies pursued by the firm include collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”), portfolio debt securities, and other opportunities across the credit universe. Currently, we believe that Eagle Point is the largest investor in CLO equity in the world and one of the largest non-bank lenders focused on providing financing solutions to credit funds. Learn more about Eagle Point at http://eaglepointcredit.com/
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Cathy Ulozas is Chief Investment Officer at Drexel University where she has just celebrated her 13th anniversary as CIO. She has had a long career in asset management, including stints as a bond trader and portfolio manager.
We start at the beginning of that career, trace its twists and turns and discover some of the unexpected areas that she found intense professional growth. We start with her time in insurance and move to what she learned as a bond trader and the camaraderie she felt on the trading floor. One unexpected turn was into a role in process improvement which after two years saved over $80 m for the bank and was an intense period of learning in areas of managing of people, implementing change and wringing efficiencies from processes.
Our conversation then turns to what is on Cathy’s mind as CIO at a university today and how the investment office works. We examine the role of a university investment office in fulfilling the mission of a university and how these can be aligned in unique opportunities.
Cathy’s experience has offered her a wealth of opportunities to learn from the wisdom of others and develop her own insights, and she shares many examples of these with us at the end of the podcast.
Series 3 of the 2023 Fiftyfaces Podcast is supported by Eagle Point Credit Management. Eagle Point Credit Management is a specialist investment manager principally focused on income-oriented credit investments in niche and inefficient markets. Founded by Thomas Majewski in partnership with Stone Point Capital in 2012, Eagle Point currently manages over $7.8 billion in AUM. Investment strategies pursued by the firm include collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”), portfolio debt securities, and other opportunities across the credit universe. Currently, we believe that Eagle Point is the largest investor in CLO equity in the world and one of the largest non-bank lenders focused on providing financing solutions to credit funds. Learn more about Eagle Point at http://eaglepointcredit.com/
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Libby Cantrill is a managing director in PIMCO’s portfolio management group. In her role, she analyzes policy and political risk for the firm’s Investment Committee and leads U.S. policymaker engagement and policy strategy for the firm. She also works closely with PIMCO’s Global Advisory Board, led by former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2007, she served as a legislative aide in the House of Representatives and also worked in the investment banking division at Morgan Stanley.
Our conversation starts with her early interests in policy and politics, and how the seeds were sown as early as in grade school in Colorado. We trace this interest through her time as a legislative aide in Washington DC, and ask what she learned from her time on “the Hill” about conflict and compromise in politics. We move then to her switch into finance and her current role at PIMCO, in which she wears two hats essentially. One is as a political strategist providing political intelligence to the investment team, investment committee and clients, while the other is leading in policymaker engagement.
We speak about polarization in politics and what remains at the center, and discuss this at multiple levels, ending in the area of ESG and sustainability investing and how politics is intersecting with this aspect of investing.
We then discuss her role with the Global Pimco Advisory Board and I ask what it is like to work with the venerable Ben Bernanke. To find out what this is like and to hear more from Libby about her reflections on the diversity and development of the industry, tune in.
Series 3 of the 2023 Fiftyfaces Podcast is supported by Eagle Point Credit Management. Eagle Point Credit Management is a specialist investment manager principally focused on income-oriented credit investments in niche and inefficient markets. Founded by Thomas Majewski in partnership with Stone Point Capital in 2012, Eagle Point currently manages over $7.8 billion in AUM. Investment strategies pursued by the firm include collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”), portfolio debt securities, and other opportunities across the credit universe. Currently, we believe that Eagle Point is the largest investor in CLO equity in the world and one of the largest non-bank lenders focused on providing financing solutions to credit funds. Learn more about Eagle Point at http://eaglepointcredit.com/
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Tory Hyndman is a Partner at Charta Partners. She has had a career of 25 years in executive search focused on investment management, having spent time at Heidrick & Struggles as well as David Barrett Partners, where she established the London office and wider EMEA business. She is passionate about educating women about careers in the City and is a volunteer for Founders4Schools as well as Maths4Girls as well as an Ambassador for The Diversity Project.
Our conversation starts with Tory’s upbringing in Vancouver, her university career at Queen’s in Kingston and how she was first introduced to the concept of executive search. A spell in Hong Kong followed and then a long career in some of the most storied search firms servicing the financial sector.
This deep dive into human capital starts with her craft – attracting and retaining it. We discuss how hybrid working has led to lower turnover in some quarters, and how it has leveled the playing field for so many. We look at the areas where attracting talent has been challenged and how the changing shape of social media – including in particular LinkedIN – is changing the landscape for search.
We then move on to another aspect of human capital – finding it and lighting the spark for math and finance at an early stage. Tory is passionate about encouraging financial literacy and getting more girls to study STEM. She describes the impact of such programs and the work that she does for The Diversity Project as an ambassador.
Series 3 of the 2023 Fiftyfaces Podcast is supported by Eagle Point Credit Management. Eagle Point Credit Management is a specialist investment manager principally focused on income-oriented credit investments in niche and inefficient markets. Founded by Thomas Majewski in partnership with Stone Point Capital in 2012, Eagle Point currently manages over $7.8 billion in AUM. Investment strategies pursued by the firm include collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”), portfolio debt securities, and other opportunities across the credit universe. Currently, we believe that Eagle Point is the largest investor in CLO equity in the world and one of the largest non-bank lenders focused on providing financing solutions to credit funds. Learn more about Eagle Point at http://eaglepointcredit.com/
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Monika Mantilla is the President and CEO of Altura Capital, which provides institutional investors and strategic partners a mechanism of investing in underserved markets including high-performing small and diverse businesses. She is also a Co-Founder and Managing Member of Small Business Community Capital. She is a Member of the Board of Directors of Los Cidrines, based in Puerto Rico and Florida as well as holding a number of other board roles.
Our conversation captures Monika’s upbringing in Bogota, Colombia and her path through law and logistics into the world of investment. We dig in then to what the vision is for Altura Capital – which means “Height” as well as “dignity”. Raising small business and underrepresented diverse-owned businesses to new heights with dignity. We discuss what impact means and how it is measured.
We discuss then other entities that have similar missions such as Minority Business Development Agency and the Knight Foundation has done. We end then with the importance of relationships, self-reflection and building powerful networks.
Series 3 of the 2023 Fiftyfaces Podcast is supported by Eagle Point Credit Management. Eagle Point Credit Management is a specialist investment manager principally focused on income-oriented credit investments in niche and inefficient markets. Founded by Thomas Majewski in partnership with Stone Point Capital in 2012, Eagle Point currently manages over $7.8 billion in AUM. Investment strategies pursued by the firm include collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”), portfolio debt securities, and other opportunities across the credit universe. Currently, we believe that Eagle Point is the largest investor in CLO equity in the world and one of the largest non-bank lenders focused on providing financing solutions to credit funds. Learn more about Eagle Point at http://eaglepointcredit.com/
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Sonali Patel Wilson is Managing Director and Director of Alternatives, Americas at Wellington Management where she is based in the New York City area. She sits on the investment committee of the Harry and Jeanette Foundation in Baltimore and she is the trustee of EWAAB Encouraging Women Across All Borders, which helps college aged women and non-binary individuals build their confidence to enter STEM and finance fields. She previously held various positions at PIMCO focused on account management in the alternatives area and has held various investor relations and analyst roles.
Our conversation traces Sonali’s roots and the path her parents took as immigrants from India as well as the entrepreneurship and sacrifice that served as the backdrop to her childhood. The entrepreneurship journey took them from lobby convenience store stands to real estate and the focus was on studying and academic achievement and, always, hard work.
We move then to her journey into investment and finance and how she found her voice and style in developing a network and some of the surprising turns that that journey took. This discussion infuses Sonali’s personal and professional lives, in which she followed a tradition of “breaking with tradition” in her own choice of life partner, and this has given her a new appreciation for diversity and inclusion.
Sonali has numerous interests that are close to her heart and many of them relate to STEM and finance and getting those areas more diverse. In particular her work with EWAAB (Encouraging Women Across All Borders) is impactful in this respect and we discuss what drives her to do more in this area.
Series 3 of the 2023 Fiftyfaces Podcast is supported by Eagle Point Credit Management. Eagle Point Credit Management is a specialist investment manager principally focused on income-oriented credit investments in niche and inefficient markets. Founded by Thomas Majewski in partnership with Stone Point Capital in 2012, Eagle Point currently manages over $7.8 billion in AUM. Investment strategies pursued by the firm include collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”), portfolio debt securities, and other opportunities across the credit universe. Currently, they believe that Eagle Point is the largest investor in CLO equity in the world and one of the largest non-bank lenders focused on providing financing solutions to credit funds. Learn more about Eagle Point at http://eaglepointcredit.com/
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David Semmens is Chief Investment Officer at Cadro and an External Investment Committee Member at Wealthify where he was previously CIO. He holds additional Investment Committee and advisory roles and is an adjunct lecturer at Heriot-Watt University.
Our conversation starts with David’s path into the world of investment which took him around various European cities and ultimately to Edinburgh where he decided to settle. We speak about the impact of Fintech on the way that wealth is managed and discuss its disruptive nature as well as the focus on dynamism and change. This is a significant shift from the older, more static, approach to managing money towards a more personalized and interactive approach.
We trace the beginning of this interactivity to ESG and sustainable investing trends and now examine how it is becoming more widespread. We return to the concept of communication and how key that is to get ideas across.
Series 3 of the 2023 Fiftyfaces Podcast is supported by Eagle Point Credit Management. Eagle Point Credit Management is a specialist investment manager principally focused on income-oriented credit investments in niche and inefficient markets. Founded by Thomas Majewski in partnership with Stone Point Capital in 2012, Eagle Point currently manages over $7.8 billion in AUM. Investment strategies pursued by the firm include collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”), portfolio debt securities, and other opportunities across the credit universe.
Currently, they believe that Eagle Point is the largest investor in CLO equity in the world and one of the largest non-bank lenders focused on providing financing solutions to credit funds. Learn more about Eagle Point at http://eaglepointcredit.com/ -
Tom Raber is the founder and Managing Director of London-based Alvine Capital, a reverse enquiry solutions firm that Tom founded in 2005, with a particular focus on finding solutions for institutional investors in alternative assets. Originally from Sweden, he previously held leadership roles at Key Asset Management and a series of investment banks.
We start by discussing Tom’s path and education and the determination that he showed to get a job on “Wall Street” where he ultimately arrived via a role in investment banking in London. We chart that path, then learn what led to his move to a fund of hedge funds fund raising during the hedge fund peak and ultimately to founding Alvine Capital.
Alvine Capital was, in my view, the pioneer of the “reverse enquiry” form of capital raising. Instead of relying on a push strategy for alternative products it derived a pull strategy from its many relationships with providers of institutional capital. It was a strategy perhaps initially necessitated by the requirement to stay efficient as a small, boutique operator. Ultimately, though, it became a differentiator and value proposition.
I asked Tom about how he learned to succeed in sales, and about the need for a thick skin and techniques to actually seal the deal. What follows is a series of insights on preparation, reading the room, reading the client and ultimately finding the moment at which a decision is likely and bringing that decision around, whatever it might be. We discuss the importance of preparation and follow up, two areas which may not always be receiving the right focus.
Finally we bring our discussion to the human side of sales, the need to adapt, shift habits, pace oneself. It is a rich discussion with one of the best there is.
This podcast is kindly supported by Tom and Alvine Capital who have supported Fiftyfaces Productions every year since its inception by sponsoring a podcast series. This year they are sponsoring Series 4. There is more information about Alvine Capital on the website: alvinecapital.com
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Christine Reed is an analyst on the Fixed Income team at Ninety One covering Latin American sovereign and currency markets. Based in New York, Christine is responsible for all Latin America coverage and supports the alpha decision-making process across investment capabilities. She previously worked at Goldman Sachs Asset and Citigroup.
Our conversation starts with Christine’s first foray into finance and how she found herself fitting on a trading floor. We then trace her path into emerging markets and some initial early lessons on having to take risk, and “own” that risk. We then do a deep dive into emerging markets and work around the region analyzing central bank policy, the strength of institutions, the reaction to inflation and the road ahead. We spend a dedicated section discussing ESG integration and some of the leapfrogging that is occurring in developing countries. We look at past systemic crises in certain EM regions and ask why this has been avoided in the most recent crisis post-Covid.
When it comes to portfolio construction in an Emerging Market Debt portfolio we look at the interplay of quantitative and qualitative inputs and how divergent some of the components of an index can be. Finally in this section we examine recent geopolitical risk and concerns and investors’ reaction to them.
Christine’s perspective on diversity in the industry is informed by her time spent in emerging markets where different support systems and social structures exist supporting working parents. We look at the importance of these support systems in enabling leaders to thrive and ask how far away we are from this equilibrium in our current industry state.
This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Tom Raber and Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and fund placement boutique with offices in London and Stockholm. An early adopter of the “reverse enquiry” form of placement, Alvine relies on insight and dialogue with its pan-European investor base to develop and source investment solutions from a wide variety of industry providers.
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Howard Fischer was the original founder of Basso Capital hedge fund and the co-founder of the Gratitude Railroad initiative in 2013. He is now the Chairman Emeritus of Basso Capital and “Chief Evangelist” at The Gratitude Railroad. The Gratitude Railroad is an initiative that unites 9 “tracks” or different concepts using capitalism to solve a social or environmental problem.
Our conversation starts by tracing Howard’s route into finance and some of the serendipity and chance that led to his first training in the field. We follow this through the areas of merger arbitrage, convertible bond arbitrage and special situations and hear about what led to his founding of his own firm, Basso Capital. We discuss then the deeply humbling process of capital raising and learn about some of its ups and downs.
Market volatility has been a constant backing sound track to the years that Basso Capital has been in business and Howard discusses the impact of particularly difficult market periods such as 2008 and the mindset that assisted him in navigating it.
We move then to Howard’s current evangelical passion – with the Gratitude Railroad. We discuss how it originated, following his participation in the Harvard Leadership Initiative – https://www.advancedleadership.harvard.edu/, which is designed to unleash the potential of experienced leaders to help solve society’s most pressing challenges. The Gratitude Railroad (https://gratituderailroad.com/) has various intersecting strategies focused on impact and includes direct venture capital, incubation, education, collaboration and partnerships.
In the discussion we discuss what impact means and touch on subjects as diverse as grassfed beef, rotational grazing, regenerative agriculture, social justice, renewable energy and other concepts that fall under the definition of conscious capitalism.
This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Tom Raber and Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and fund placement boutique with offices in London and Stockholm. An early adopter of the “reverse enquiry” form of placement, Alvine relies on insight and dialogue with its pan-European investor base to develop and source investment solutions from a wide variety of industry providers
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Jennifer Barry is an investment advisor at Aaron Wealth Advisors in Chicago. She previously spent over 26 years at Citi, where she held a series of roles and focused on institutional equity sales most recently.
We start with Jenn’s upbringing in the suburbs of Detroit and the culture of owning restaurants in her family that instilled in her the value of a dollar, and a habit of hard work. We follow her love of sports (and volleyball in particular), discuss the coaches and support team that believed in her, and trace her path into finance.
After a career in finance that was fast-paced and intense Jenn felt the need to make a change and after 26 years changed gears to become an investment advisor. We discuss how the focus of that has shifted from advising clients on their finances to advising them on their lives.
We look at what this entails and how the role of a financial advisor is evolving to incorporate behavior – both of the advisor and the clients. There is a shoutout to the Building the Behavioral Advisor program hosted by our mutual friend – and upcoming podcast guest – Brian Portnoy and his team at Shaping Wealth and a discussion of how women in particular are serviced in the wealth advisory business.
This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Tom Raber and Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and fund placement boutique with offices in London and Stockholm. An early adopter of the “reverse enquiry” form of placement, Alvine relies on insight and dialogue with its pan-European investor base to develop and source investment solutions from a wide variety of industry providers
Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC is registered as an investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC only transacts business in states where it is properly registered or is excluded or exempted from registration requirements. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the Commission, nor does it indicate that the adviser has attained a particular level of skill or ability.
This material is not intended to be a recommendation or investment advice, does not constitute a solicitation to buy or sell securities, and is not provided in a fiduciary capacity. The information provided does not take into account the specific objectives or circumstances of any particular investor or suggest any specific course of action. Investment decisions should be made based on an investor’s objectives and circumstances and in consultation with his or her advisors.
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Brian Portnoy is the founder of Shaping Wealth, a learning technology platform transforming the human experience of money. It combines science and story to show people how to underwrite a meaningful life, and is the source of the term “funded contentment. He previously led investor education across a series of investment firms and prior to that was head of manager selection at a Chicago-based fund of hedge funds.
Our conversation starts with a quick summary of Brian’s background, his academic journey through politics, economics and sociology and his love of teaching. We trace this speciality into his career in investing, which always involved a deep involvement in learning and education, and then examine his research around wealth, and in particular the study of the goals of wealth management.
Brian is credited with coining the term “funded contentment” and we establish what this is, and why the concept has resonated so well with his audience. We also dissect the current state of behavioral science and in particular examine the type of behavior that a chief behavioral officer might focus on.
Brian asks whether we should be focusing on the “who” and not simply the “why” when it comes to analyzing a client’s objectives. He posits that everyone has multiple versions of themselves now and in the future. He suggests that a really, really good financial plan is going to tap into those multiple identities and that requires the adviser to have some good questions prepared and some thinking on this topic.
This is a robust and stimulating discussion about what matters for financial advisors, their clients and the future evolution of the industry. There is more information about Shaping Wealth and their Outsourced Chief Behavioral Officer program here: https://www.shapingwealth.com/
This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Tom Raber and Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and fund placement boutique with offices in London and Stockholm. An early adopter of the “reverse enquiry” form of placement, Alvine relies on insight and dialogue with its pan-European investor base to develop and source investment solutions from a wide variety of industry providers.
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Betsy Cohen has built financial businesses for her whole career. She is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Cohen Circle, a growth stage investment firm focused on the fintech and impact spaces. She was previously CEO at The Bancorp Bank, which she founded in 2000 and previously worked at Jefferson Bank for 26 years. She sits on numerous boards and has received several awards being named a Forbes 2022 Most Powerful Self-Made Woman, 25 outstanding women bankers and many more.
Betsy is Executive Committee member and Secretary of Asia Society; Founding Member of the Asia Society Policy Institute; Trustee of The Brookings Institute; Honorary Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Treasurer, Managing Director, and Finance Committee member of The Metropolitan Opera.
Our conversation covers the “series of opportunities” that have characterized Betsy’s arc, which she doesn’t define as a career, strictly speaking. Therein lies the most vivid depiction of her approach to seizing opportunities throughout her career and building businesses where there was “white space”.
We look at the fundamentals of financial institutions as well as the opportunity now in fintech, and how she developed an ability to go up and down the capital structure stack at Cohen Circle including launching a SPAC practice. Our discussion then moves to her large number of Board roles and examine what it is that she brings to these roles and what it takes to be successful in them.
We end with reflections on a remarkable and ground-breaking path that Betsy has forged through the world of financial institutions and then FinTech, her belief in needing to think on ones feet and not always wait for the precedent and the ability to learn at every stage.
This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Tom Raber and Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and fund placement boutique with offices in London and Stockholm. An early adopter of the “reverse enquiry” form of placement, Alvine relies on insight and dialogue with its pan-European investor base to develop and source investment solutions from a wide variety of industry providers.
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Paul Guilliotti is Assistant Director – Financial Services – at Richmond and Wandsworth Councils. He has had a long career in local government and is a frequent participant in discussions around leveling up and LGPS pooling. Our conversation starts with Paul’s childhood where he spent some time in Zambia during his early school years. We speak about any take-aways from that time and then dig into the origins of his unusual name a little.
We then trace his long years of service in public service, and how he ended up in a pension fund role and the investment beliefs that he developed over the years.
We then cycle through many topics, including leveling up, local investing, the origins and success of local government pooling and the challenges facing pension plans such as his today. We talk about managing a funding level that is now over 100% and Paul’s interest in getting ahead of the pools when it comes to renewable energy investment. We speak also about a certain lack of diversity in the investment industry particularly as it relates to socio-economic diversity and mobility.
The last part of our discussion is dedicated to Paul’s side passion which is for football and we learn that he is a hugely devoted volunteer to a League 2 football team, Sutton United. Paul does a range of different roles for that team and it is now gaining traction although has not yet attracted the Hollywood star wattage of Wrexham. While we hope that this Fiftyfaces Podcast can achieve that, we are not, at this stage certain it can go quite that far – but it is a start.
This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Tom Raber and Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and fund placement boutique with offices in London and Stockholm. An early adopter of the “reverse enquiry” form of placement, Alvine relies on insight and dialogue with its pan-European investor base to develop and source investment solutions from a wide variety of industry providers.
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Colin Robertson is an independent advisor to two LGPS funds – London Borough of Tower Hamlets and London Borough of Harrow, within a portfolio career that he has had since 2013. He previously held the role of Global Head of Asset Allocation for Aon Hewitt and previously at Mercury Asset Management. He has extensive experience in working with a wide range of institutional clients.
In this podcast we go on a journey from Scotland to the University of California – Berkeley around the end of the Flower Power era. It was there that Colin studied for a year and focused on Game Theory, a subject that he likens to risk management. Colin describes the evolution of his investment beliefs and how they have evolved to incorporate more behavioural aspects.
We cycle through the various roles that Colin has had, in which he spent time working on both equity and fixed income investments before becoming a Chief Investment Officer. He subsequently decided to focus on economics and asset allocation, holding major global positions. After retiring from full time employment, he has taken on independent advisory work amongst other roles. We examine what it takes to be an independent advisor and the level of challenge that is appropriate.
Returning to the topic of behaviour science, we examine what it is that makes people lose some of their over-confidence and arrogance in the investment arena over time. Colin discusses how the role of interpreting the mass of data we have out there is more important than ever and reflects on the satisfaction he has enjoyed from being able to innovate throughout his career.
This podcast is part of a special collaboration with Crispin Derby Limited.
This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Tom Raber and Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and fund placement boutique with offices in London and Stockholm. An early adopter of the “reverse enquiry” form of placement, Alvine relies on insight and dialogue with its pan-European investor base to develop and source investment solutions from a wide variety of industry providers.
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Andy Ayim, MBE is an investor and founder based in the UK, and runs an Angel Investing School designed to “teach people how to invest small tickets in start-ups effortlessly.” He has run the School since January 2020, and is a venture partner and board member of numerous technology companies. Passionate about financial education and entrepreneurship, he has held been entrepreneur in residence at accelerators such as Entrepreneur First, and OneTech and spent time as Managing Director at the London Accelerator Backstage Capital, which focuses on supporting underrepresented founders. He was awarded an MBE in 2020 for services to diversity in technology.
Our conversation starts with Andy’s early interest in finance and investing and he describes how his family had to order the Financial Times specially to their local newsagent in Tottenham. He became an entrepreneur at an early age and became fascinated by the business of investing and building a business. We trace this through his love of music and then hear about how he entered an accelerator program. Andy describes what makes an accelerator program successful and he stresses the importance for him of building deep relationships and trust at the early stages of an entrepreneurial venture.
We turn then to the Angel Investing School and bust some myths about what it is to be an angel investor and what the curriculum taught at the school entails. We conclude with a discussion of the upcoming London Tech Week and what it offers for entrepreneurs and budding angel investors.
Learn more about The Angel Investing School: https://angelinvestingschool.com/Sign up to Andy’s weekly newsletter here: https://andyayim.com/LTW: https://londontechweek.com/Connect with Andy on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyayim/This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Tom Raber and Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and fund placement boutique with offices in London and Stockholm. An early adopter of the “reverse enquiry” form of placement, Alvine relies on insight and dialogue with its pan-European investor base to develop and source investment solutions from a wide variety of industry providers.
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Caroline Lovelace is Founding Partner at Rose Hill Park Alternative Asset Managers, as well as Preserver Partners as CIO and Co-Portfolio Manager. Preserver is diverse-owned and Memphis-based. It runs a multi-strategy fund that invests through external managers. She has had an extensive career in researching and investing in hedge funds and in promoting emerging private equity and hedge fund investment programs.
Our conversation starts with her upbringing and academic career and the mentors who spotted her talents and nurtured them. We talk about the sometimes painstaking process of learning to take risk, about career setbacks, pivots and restarts. We learn about the importance of plan B and beyond and the importance of developing the agility to pivot to these alternatives. This requires a dose of realism and we talk about how to set expectations appropriately and how to advocate for oneself and to be coachable.
Moving through Caroline’s various roles, we look at the skills needed to progress successfully through investment banking, then onto the buyside, then into a founder role. We move to speak about the challenges faced by diverse founders more broadly, and how we might move the needle more in this area.
This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Tom Raber and Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and fund placement boutique with offices in London and Stockholm. An early adopter of the “reverse enquiry” form of placement, Alvine relies on insight and dialogue with its pan-European investor base to develop and source investment solutions from a wide variety of industry providers.
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Cathie Wood is CEO of ARK Investment Management LLC (“ARK”). Prior to ARK, Cathie spent twelve years at AllianceBernstein as Chief Investment Officer of Global Thematic Strategies where she managed $5 billion. Cathie joined Alliance Capital from Tupelo Capital Management, a hedge fund she co-founded which, in 2000, where she managed $800 million in global thematic strategies. Prior to her tenure at Tupelo Capital, she worked for 18 years with Jennison Associates as Chief Economist, Equity Research Analyst, Portfolio Manager and Director. She started her career in Los Angeles, California at The Capital Group as an Assistant Economist.
This was our second podcast recording together but the first for the Fiftyfaces Podcast. We started by tracing Cathie’s upbringing and the fusion of innovation, entrepreneurship and travel that led to a peripatetic youth, including a spell in Ireland. We hear what drove her interest in finance and investing, and how she started her career.
Our conversation moves then to the founding of ARK, and the almost spiritual reckoning that led to Cathie’s decision to strike out on her own. We hear about her commitment to transparency and openness when it comes to research, and to the overarching importance of making their research open source. The team at ARK believes that this makes their process more robust, more resilient and adaptive, and they give the example of the evolution of their “autonomous cars” segment to embrace all of AI and how they have cross-checked some of their assumptions around growth in other sectors.
Given how topical the subject is, we dive into a discussion about AI and its likely impact on the investment management industry. Cathie’s thesis is an optimistic one, that should get the industry back to its original, forward-looking focus on themes and creativity. Finally we speak about pushback, criticism and debate that ARK and its theses have occasionally attracted.
This podcast will be part of Series 5 of the 2023 Fiftyfaces Podcast which is kindly sponsored by With Intelligence, which has the mission of connecting investors and managers to the right people and data to raise and allocate assets effectively
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