Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

David Blood is co-founder and Senior Partner of Generation Investment Management, a pioneering sustainable investing firm he started with seven partners in 2004, including Vice President Al Gore. Our conversation covers the importance of culture in organizations, building businesses at Goldman Sachs, and David's fortuitous introduction to Al Gore. We turn to Generation's investment philosophy, principles, and investment process, including its focus on desirable industries, great businesses, and integration of ESG factors in research. We close by looking out at the next 5-10 years and addressing the urgency of the initiatives to improve the climate and social injustice. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Manny Citron is Managing Partner at Volery Capital, a private equity firm he co-founded in 2017 to invest in asset management businesses and companies that generate positive social and environmental impact. Manny and his team have canvassed a landscape of over one thousand sustainable investing focused funds and shares a glimpse of what that research discovered. We discuss Manny's path to founding Volery, mapping the universe of impact managers, identifying attractive manager characteristics and thematic opportunities, conducting due diligence, measuring impact, and adding value to portfolio companies. We then turn to investor interest in the space, risks, Volery's backing of Renewable Resources Group, and the future of impact investing. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Bob Litterman is a founding partner and Chairman of the Risk Committee at Kepos Capital. Prior to Kepos, he spent 23 years at Goldman Sachs, where his roles included heading the firm-wide risk function and the Quantitative Investment Strategies Group at GSAM. Bob was one of the original inductees into Risk Magazine's Risk Management Hall of Fame and is well known for co-developing the Black-Litterman Global Asset Allocation model with the late Fisher Black. After leaving Goldman in 2009, he became fascinated by the risk management problem posed by climate change, and that is the focus of this 3rd episode in Sustainable Investing, the Next Frontier. Our conversation covers Bob's background in quantitative research, applying risk management principles to address climate change, modeling the price of carbon emissions, and concluding that we must slam on the brakes immediately to address global warming. We then turn to his work on policy to implement his conviction and his activity in the public markets across the World Wildlife Fund's stranded asset swap and research at Kepos to play a rapid adoption theme from the lens of a quant investor.

Liqian Ma is the Head of Impact Investing Research at Cambridge Associates. Liqian developed an early interest in the climate growing up in a coal-dependent city in China. He began focusing on sustainable investing over a decade ago and leads Cambridge Associates work with its 150 clients focused on the space. Our conversation provides an allocator's overview of sustainable investing. We start with Liqian's path and turn to how interested investors go about creating and implementing sustainable investment strategies. Along the way, we touch on manager selection, portfolio integration, investment opportunities and risks, and the implementation of sustainable investing concepts across the rest of Cambridge Associates activities. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Wendy Cromwell is Vice-Chair of Wellington Management and the Director of Sustainable Investment at the firm. She joined Wellington out of business school 25 years ago and has been there ever since. A year and a half ago, Wendy also became one of two asset managers on the 10 person Board of the UN PRI, or United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment. PRI is the world's leading proponent of responsible investment, canvassing 2,500 signatories globally across asset owners, asset managers and service providers. Their mission is to understand the investment implications of ESG factors and support the incorporation of those factors globally. Our conversation discusses Wendy's path within Wellington, the lingo of sustainable investment, market inefficiencies for an active manager in the space, implementation of sustainable investing across a large asset management firm, growth of interest in sustainable investing, integration of scientific climate research, rapidly rising interest and research in social considerations in companies, and developments on the come with carbon footprint, divestment, and regulation. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Jean Hynes is a Managing Partner at Wellington Management, where she one of three people responsible for the governance of Wellington's storied partnership. Jean also is the sector leader of the firm's healthcare team that manages the Vanguard Healthcare Fund, three global healthcare hedge funds, and global healthcare sector portfolios. She joined Wellington after graduating from college in 1991 and has been at the firm ever since. Our conversation covers Wellington's humanistic culture, its evolution from a U.S. value shop to a global federation of boutiques, talent recruitment, the successful merit-based partnership structure, and the Wellington of the future. Along the way we touch on Jean's progression from an administrative assistant to a Managing Partner, the healthcare team's investment philosophy and process, a day in her work life, and topical issues of active vs. passive, public and private investing, and large vs. small firms. Learn More Discuss show and Read the Transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Join the Capital Allocators Forum Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Clarke Futch is a co-founder, Managing Partner and Chairman of the Investment Committee at Healthcare Royalty Partners, an investment firm that purchases royalties and uses debt-like instruments to generate non-correlated return streams from biopharmaceutical assets. The firm is a leader in the space and has invested over $3 billion in 70 investments since its founding 14 years ago. Our conversation covers Clarke's background in investment banking and path to pharmaceutical royalties in the earliest days of the business. We discuss the nature of the opportunity, the reason why it exists, and how it works, and the team in place at Healthcare Royalty Partners that makes it happen. We then turn to the investment process, covering sourcing, screening criteria, due diligence, deal structure, portfolio construction, competitive landscape, risks, and opportunities in the current market. Clarke offers an inside look at one of the more intriguing modern investment strategies with great insight and examples along the way.

Brett Jefferson is the President and Co-CIO of Hildene Capital Management, an asset manager he founded in 2008 that oversees $9 billion in structured credit strategies and was listed in Barron's Top 100 Annual Hedge Funds ranking for six consecutive years. Our conversation starts with Brett's education, in which he majored in lacrosse and minored in school. We hit on the early days of CDOs, putting his knowledge to work at Marathon Asset Management, taking a break, and then starting Hildene in the aftermath of the GFC. We then turn to Hildene's success in the inefficient market for bank trust preferred securities, its evolution from a founder-driven firm, success factors in the business, current opportunities and risks in CLOs, and Brett's involvement in the Premier Lacrosse League founded by Paul Rabil, who discussed the league on Episode 95 that follows in the feed. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Paul Rabil is the co-founder and CEO of the Premier Lacrosse League or PLL, a new tour-based league of the top professional lacrosse players in the world that will debut on June 1st. Paul was the #1 player in the draft for Major League Lacrosse in 2008 after winning a national championship at Johns Hopkins. He is a 7-time Champion and 3-time MVP. Alongside his on-the-field accomplishments, Paul is a passionate entrepreneur who was the first lacrosse player to earn $1 million in endorsements. Our conversation covers Paul's early interest in lacrosse, developing a social media fan following, the importance of sponsorship revenue for athletes, and the leverage athletes have over teams. We then turn to the formation of the PLL, including Paul's attempt to purchase the MLL with a search fund, his shift in business model from private equity to venture capital, the tour-based model, operations, distribution, and the on-field product. We close by discussing Suiting Up, Paul's podcast where he interviews top professional athletes and coaches, and the Paul Rabil Foundation, which brings lacrosse to schools for children with learning differences. Paul is as savvy off-the-field as his is skilled on it, and as the PLL takes off as I suspect it will, this conversation may well mark an important moment in time for this fascinating start-up league. Tune in to NBC to watch the first games from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts on the first weekend in June. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Daylian Cain is a Senior Lecturer in Negotiations and Ethics at the Yale University School of Management. His research focuses on "judgment and decision-making" and "behavioral business ethics." In other words, he studies the reasons why smart people do dumb things. Daylian teaches a course in negotiations and we turned to that for the subject of this show. Our conversation covers tactics for successful negotiating, things like preparing, deciding whether to 'go first', playing a weaker hand, asking for more, and gaining value from walking away. We close with current research in the field and in a closing question, tips on delivering effective constructive criticism. This was the last conversation I recorded before the onset of shelter-in-place, and I've been chomping at the bit to put it out ever since. Daylian refers to an online course he taught in April, and that sold out faster than he ever imagined. He's put together a new online training program called Negotiating in Difficult Times that I'm excited to take. The presale is now available, which you can access at negotiationmindgames.com. He's kindly offered a 20% discount to listeners of the show – just use the coupon code "allocators" when you sign up. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Larry Siegel is the Gary Brinson director of research at the CFA Institute Research Foundation and an independent consultant, writer and speaker. Before his "retirement", he spent fifteen years as the head of research at the Ford Foundation and a dozen before that at Ibbotson Associates. Our conversation starts with lessons Larry learned in his time as an allocator and turns to his recent paper describing the 10 Myths of investing, an allocator's version of Byron Wien's annual surprises. After walking through each, we touch on his recently released book "Fewer, Richer, Greener," which offers a case for long-term prosperity and growth, even amidst the unexpectedly challenging times we're currently facing. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Daniel Adamson is a Senior Managing Director at Wafra and the President of Capital Constellation, a joint venture between mega asset owners in Europe, North America and the Middle East that invests in the next generation of private equity managers. Our conversation focuses on this innovative joint venture and how a group of large asset owners came together to scale their resources. We touch on a host of issues relating to the formation and implementation of the business, the many possibilities that are arising from this novel setup, and the serious challenges in bringing it to fruition. I suspect we'll see more efforts by asset owners to disintermediate pieces of the investment value chain, although as you'll hear, it's a lot easier said than done. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Tim McCusker is the Chief Investment Officer at consulting powerhouse NEPC, who serves 350 clients with total assets over $1.2 trillion. Tim joined me for the last of our special updates from the field during this unique and challenging period. Our conversation touches on the separation of short-term and long-term strategies, different responses across hospitals, public funds, corporate funds and private clients, opportunities in credit, the state of private equity, due diligence conducted virtually, and long-lasting changes in workflow. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Tim McCusker is the Chief Investment Officer at NEPC, an investment consultant that advises on $1 trillion in assets on behalf of 400 institutional clients. Tim oversees NEPC's 50-person investment research team and leads investment strategy for the firm. In each of 2014, 2015, and 2016, CIO Magazine recognized Tim as one of the world's most influential consultants. Our conversation covers NEPC's client centric model, meeting the needs of a range of client types, forming and implementing capital market views, researching managers, sourcing in public and private assets, allocating to scarce capacity managers, and forming and leaning into the megatrends of artificial intelligence, income inequality, demographics, and shifting currency regimes. Learn More Discuss show and Read the Transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Join the Capital Allocators Forum Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Michael Mervosh, clinical psychologist and founder of the Hero's Journey Foundation. Michael joined me to talk about how people are managing their way through the crisis. Our conversation covers the unexpected resonance of shelter-in-place, facing ordeals, valuing connection, and discovering creativity. We close with a simple tip to participate in something bigger than yourself, and a poetic word about kindness. If you'd like to learn more about Michael and his work, in which I've been an active participant, check out herosjourneyfoundation.org/introduction, and have a listen to our previous conversation that follows on the feed. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Both times I was interviewed (by Khe Hy and Patrick O'Shaughnessy) and shared those conversations on Capital Allocators, I made reference to a special experience I've participated in for the last five years called the Hero's Journey. The weeklong journey in the mountains of West Virginia provides a setting and platform for each participant to access their best self. Michael Mervosh is the deeply insightful Executive Director of the Hero's Journey Foundation, an organization he created that provides experiential learning opportunities for human development and transformation based on Joseph Campbell's mythic hero's journey. He has a passion and indescribable skill in enlivening the developmental process and fostering vitality, meaning and well-being in individuals, groups, and organizations. When not running programs or training others, Michael practices psychotherapy at the Nuin Center in Pittsburgh, where he has professionally resided for 25 years. Our conversation took place in the mountains towards the end of this year's journey and is quite different from those you may be accustomed to hearing on the show. We cover Michael's path to creating the experience, the myth of the Hero, lessons in how the world actually works, the call to adventure, perfectionism, uncertainty, fear, and poetry. If you're intrigued, I strongly encourage you to check out herosjourneyfoundation.org. Spaces are limited for the annual summer Men's and Women's Journeys, so sign up for next year's trip at the website or reach out to me. I intend to be back on the mountain next year and hope to see you there. Learn More Discuss the show and Read the transcript Join Ted's monthly Mailing List Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast Book Links Phillip Shepherd, New Self, New World: Recovering Our Senses in the Twenty-First Century Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces Jack Kornfeld, After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path Joseph Jastrab, Sacred Manhood Sacred Earth: A Vision Quest into the Wilderness of a Man's Heart

Andy Golden is the President of PRINCO, where he has overseen the management of Princeton University's $25 billion endowment since 1995. He was an early guest on the show and came back to discuss steering the ship in this tricky time. Our conversation covers communicating remotely, adding value incrementally in volatile markets, managing time, considering liquidity, and playing offense. Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

After getting some great feedback from the replay of my conversation with Scott Malpass, I am going to repeat some gems from the past every few months. This week I picked out my conversation with Andy Golden, the venerable head of Princeton's 24 billion dollar endowment. It's another master class in endowment management from a seasoned veteran. Andy Golden is the President of Princeton University's Investment Management Company (PRINCO). Having grown from $3B at the time of his arrival in 1995 to $22.5B today, PRINCO has been among the highest performing endowments in the world. Andy came to PRINCO from Duke Management Company, where he was an Investment Director, and received his formative training in the business working for David Swensen at the Yale University Investments Office. Andy currently serves on the fund Advisory Boards of several well-known private equity and venture capital managers, including Bain Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Greylock Partners. He was a founding member of the Investors' Committee of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets and serves as a Trustee of the Princeton Area Community Foundation and Rutgers Preparatory School. Andy holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Duke University and an M.P.P.M. from the Yale School of Management. Our conversation discusses Princeton's endowment two decades ago and today, including its strategic advantages as an institution, shifts in thinking about asset allocation, decision making, team development, and partnership with managers. Andy's long tenure in his seat, insight, and wisdom provides a treasure trove of information about how a top endowment manager practices his craft, and his subtle wit always keeps things light. CapSigLearn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

My friend Brian Portnoy recently put together a Zoom call where he and Jonathan Novy interviewed Annie Duke about decision making in the crisis. Brian was a long-time fund investor and has authored two books in the field of behavioral finance. He and I discussed his second book, The Geometry of Wealth, on Episode 57 that follows on the feed. He is currently a financial wellness consultant for advisors, corporations, and industry associations. Jonathan is a financial advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management, a prominent and fast-growing RIA. And Annie is a regular on the show. She's a poker legend, decision-making theorist and best selling author. And, she's releasing a new book later this year entitled How To Decide, but that's subject matter for another show down the road What follows is the segment of their call pertaining to the crisis. They discuss the difference between complicated and complex decisions, the tradeoff between time and certainty when making decisions, the process of preparing clients to make good investment decisions today, and decision-making education for children. Please enjoy Brian and Jonathan's conversation with Annie Duke. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Brian Portnoy Brian is currently the Director of Investment Education at $100B investment solutions provider Virtus Investment Partners, where he strives to simplify the complex world of money in an effort to help investors make better decisions and lead a joyful life. For the past two decades, he has held senior investment, research, and strategy roles in the hedge fund and mutual fund industries at Chicago Equity Partners, Mesirow Financial, and Morningstar. Brian is the author of "The Investor's Paradox," a book about manager selection rooted in choice theory. His second book, "The Geometry of Wealth" hits electronic and physical bookstores this week. Our conversation covers Brian's experience in manager research and lessons learned, choice theory and managing expectations, differences between institutional investment and private wealth management, distinction between seeking wealth and trying to get rich, his terrific new book, and why volatility is risk. Brian's insightful take on investing and his journey from the complex to the simple is full of investment nuggets of gold. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

My guest on today's show once again is Annie Duke, decision-making expert, former world-famous poker player, and author of the best seller, Thinking in Bets. I had a chance to interview Annie at The Investment Institute's Fall Forum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and the live interview follows. Special thanks to Andrea Szigethy and Donna Holly, founders of the Institute, for having Annie and me down for their terrific event. Our conversation covers the challenge of separating signal from noise in making decisions, the formation and confirmation of beliefs, forming decision groups, communicating with teams, and mistakes Annie's advisory clients have made after reading her book. We close with some questions from the audience and end with two great poker stories of how Annie approached being a woman in the male-dominated poker world. Annie's irrepressible brain was on display this time around, covering a few of the same ideas from our last conversation and some new ones with different anecdotes along the way. Learn More Discuss show and Read the Transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Join the Capital Allocators Forum Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Sandra Robertson, OU Endowment Management's esteemed CEO and CIO, rejoined me for an update on how she and her team have been navigating the markets. It's quick and chock full of wisdom, including her priorities, calibration of the portfolio, assessment of opportunities, and shopping list in a time that she renders too late to sell and too early to buy. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Sandra Robertson is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of OU Endowment Management Ltd, a subsidiary company of the University of Oxford that manages the 4 billion GBP Oxford Endowment Fund. Simply put, she is one of the most respected endowment managers in the world. Our conversation covers Sandra's start at the Wellcome Trust in the mid-90s, her arrival at Oxford in 2007, Oxford's investing lens across inefficiencies, talent and themes, decision making, behavior and actions in volatile markets, private equity fees and alignment, and ESG. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Steve Nelson is CEO of the Institutional Limited Partners Association or ILPA, a non-profit that engages, empowers and connects limited partners (LPs) to maximize their performance. It has over 500 member institutions that represent $2 trillion in private assets under management or approximately 50% of the global institutional market. ILPA is the only global organization dedicated exclusively to advancing the interests of LPs and their beneficiaries through best-in-class education, research, advocacy, and events. Our conversation covers Steve's twenty years at Cambridge Associates leading to his time at ILPA, the mission of ILPA and the ways it achieves that mission. We then turn to the most important needs of private asset allocators before this crisis, their focus during this challenging period of time, and the current status of capital calls, position marks, subscription lines, communication between managers and clients, impacting investing, and the outlook for ILPA's efforts going forward. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Eric Peters is the founder and CIO One River Asset Management, an investment manager dedicated to delivering high conviction absolute-return strategies, where each individual strategy comes out of the team's expertise in thematic macro, volatility, systematic, and inflation trading/investing. Eric has been a long-time trader and writes a widely dispersed email called Weekend Notes, in which he shares macro insights through colorful anecdotes. Our conversation starts with Eric's early exposure to trading, macro blow-ups, and the formation and activities of One River. We then turn to the current environment and get his sobering thoughts on what has transpired and what the turmoil will mean for private equity and asset allocation going forward. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Mark Baumgartner is the CIO of the Institute for Advanced Study, where he oversees a $1 billion portfolio. I reached out to Mark in this rapidly changing environment to get his take on how he's navigating these rough seas. He was kind to spare a few moments to share his thoughts. Our conversation covers Mark's framework for approaching this crisis, communicating with his team, orienting to the environment, communicating with managers, filtering and prioritizing the opportunity set, and taking action. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Mark Baumgartner is the CIO of the Institute for Advance Study, where he oversees a $1 billion portfolio that seeks to achieve just median returns but with significantly less risk. Prior to joining IAS, Mark had stints at the Ford Foundation overseeing risk, at Morgan Stanley's Alternative Investment Partners, at both quantitative and qualitative hedge funds, and as a management consultant. Oh, and he studied to be a rocket scientist before that. Our conversation covers Mark's path to IAS and the principles of luck, risk, and uncertainty on that path. We discuss the IAS portfolio, one catered to achieve a low risk profile, and how he has stayed the course when that structure hasn't been rewarded by markets. We talk about identifying managers that fit into his approach and different metrics of defining risk at both the manager and portfolio levels. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Jennifer Prosek is the founder and CEO of Prosek Partners, a leading international public relations and financial communications consultancy with offices in New York, London, Los Angeles and Connecticut. Prosek Partners ranks among the top 10 independent public relations firms in the U.S., and among the top financial communications consultancies. The firm has been listed as an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company for nine years running. Jen is also a two-time author. Our conversation covers the foibles of professional marketing in asset management, building a brand, measuring a successful branding effort, managing the story of weak performance, and describing the differences in hedge fund and private equity branding. We then turn to some of Jen's fascinating observations learned from her experience, including raising entrepreneurial children, working with millennials and Gen Z staffers, and implementing the principals of 'Just Ask', behave with humanity, and not thinking in black and white. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Ben Inker is the head of the Asset Allocation team at GMO, a $60 billion asset manager known for its value bias under founder Jeremy Grantham. Ben joined GMO right out of college nearly thirty years ago and has been there ever since. Our conversation starts with Ben's early investment lessons from renown economics professors at Yale and how that led him to GMO upon graduation. We discuss his framework for thinking about investing and the struggles of value investing over the last decade, including the impact of global dominators, technology, and interest rates. We then turn to the case for value today, the challenges of value going forward, and the characteristics Ben sees in allocators' successes and mistakes. Lastly, our conversation took place a few weeks ago, but the world's changed a lot since then. I reached back out to Ben late last week to get his current thoughts on the market. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Michael Mauboussin is the Head of Consilient Research at Counterpoint Global and fortunately, a regular guest on the show. Michael is an astute researcher of behavior, decision-making and complex systems, and I reached out to him to get his reasoned temperature on the current climate. We discussed frameworks for making a good decision in turbulent markets, monitoring stress, assessing valuation, and determining where to look for opportunities. We then touch on Michael's current research and detour to our inevitable topic of sports. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Michael Mauboussin is the well-known investment strategist currently plying his wares at Blue Mountain Capital. He joined me for the second time to discuss his new research entitled "Who's on the Other Side?" Our conversation dives into the work, discussing how investors can focus on process over outcome, the four types of investment edges, behavioral traits of single and group portfolio managers, portfolio position weighting, informational edges available from paying attention and complexity, the principal-agent issues that create cycles and opportunities during dislocations, the growth of private markets, and implementing his research. We close with a discussion of data analytics in the game of lacrosse. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Michael Mauboussin currently is the Director of Research at BlueMountain Capital, a multi-billion dollar hedge fund and asset manager. He spent the majority of his professional career thinking and writing about decision making, behavior and complex systems, with long stints at Credit Suisse and nearly a decade alongside Bill Miller at Legg Mason. Michael has been an Adjust Professor at Columbia Business School for 24 years. Our conversation covers Michael's early career, the paradox of skill, academic research more favorable to active management, decision-making, optimal size and composition of teams, unsettling features in the market, data analysis in sports, career risk, the Santa Fe Institute, and Michael's new research on the horizon. Every time I speak to Michael I come away thinking better and feeling smarter, and this time was no exception. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

In the midst of this unprecedented time, I thought it would be helpful to hear from James Aitken, the extraordinary macro strategist who specializes in understanding the functioning of the financial system. I reached out to James with one key question in mind – are we facing a systemic risk outside of what we see happening to the economy and markets. That conversation follows. Please stay safe and healthy. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Greg Fleming is the founding CEO of Rockefeller Capital Management, where he took the helm of a storied family office in 2018 to build and serve other families and institutions as well. Prior to taking on this challenge, Greg was the President of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Morgan Stanley Investment Management and before that spent seventeen years at Merrill Lynch, culminating in serving as President and Chief Operating Officer from 2007-2009. Our conversation walks through some of Greg's career path, including highlights from the financial crisis, and the Rockefeller Capital Management business and strategy. We hit on ESG investing, serving clients, and leadership. And I couldn't help asking Greg about his relationship with Yankee great Derek Jeter. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Christie Hamilton is the Head of Investments at the $2 billion Children's Health Medical Center of Dallas. She's perhaps the most well-followed institutional allocator on Twitter, under the handle @ROIChristie. Our conversation covers Christie's career path, experience with Twitter, and the investment process at Children's, covering the mission, strategy, manager selection, opportunities and risks. In our closing questions, you won't want to miss Christie's list of investment pet peeves and life lessons learned. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Mike Mauzé is the General Partner at VMG Partners, which is one of those little known, closed capacity private equity firms that a small number of top institutions have loyally invested with since its founding 15 years ago. VMG manages $2 billion focused solely on building iconic consumer brands and has an astonishing record of delivering a 45% IRR to its LPs since inception. Our conversation covers Mike's path from banking to private equity investing, VMG's thesis in the CPG space, its investment criteria, sourcing, work with portfolio companies, assessment of brands and exit strategy. We then discuss the firm's decision-making process, how it built a business with a core group of loyal LPs, and the globalization of brands and work in China. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Doug Phillips is the CIO of the University of Rochester, where he has overseen the school's $2.6 billion endowment for twenty years. Doug's two-decade tenure at Rochester constitutes only the back half of his work in the endowment world, as he previously managed Williams College's endowment for fourteen years and started his career in the early eighties at Princeton. Our conversation covers the history of Rochester's endowment, the University's broad stakeholders, asset allocation, manager sourcing, research process, investment committee, assessment of past decisions, and efforts to be a good partner to managers. We then dive into each asset class, touching on traditional equity, hedge funds, real assets, private equity and venture capital. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Dan Rasmussen is the Founder and portfolio manager at Verdad Advisers, which he launched in 2014 to replicate the historical success of private equity in the public markets. He's an outspoken critic of the market's enthusiasm for private equity, resulting from research he conducted in the business while working at Bain Capital. Our conversation covers Dan's early education in the Socratic method, research into why private equity works, current risk in the private equity and private credit markets, and the launch of Verdad to find private equity-like outcomes in the public markets. We then turn to Verdad, including key lessons upon shifting to public equity investing, stock screens, portfolio construction, position sizing and the competitive advantage of capacity constraints. Lastly, we touch on Verdad's written research and preparing a portfolio for a recession. If you like Dan's thought process, you can sign up to receive his team's weekly research at verdadcap.com/strategy. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

I'm excited to announce Capital Allocators LIVE!, a live event that will take place in NYC on June 18th. I'll host a series of live podcasts with Michael Mauboussin, Morgan Housel, Andre Perold, Atomic Habits author James Clear, and Annie Duke. You can hear us live and sit alongside a bunch of other past guests on the show as well. Founder's Class Tickets and Golden Tickets are now available. Founder's Class Members will receive a discounted price for the event and the same price for all future LIVE! events. There are just 50 Founder's Class Memberships available for those early birds catching the worm. Golden Tickets are also available, and those include the event and a special dinner afterwards with Annie, James, Morgan and me for those 25 Golden Ticket holders. Hop onto capitalallocatorspodcast.com and buy your tickets today!

James Aitken is the Founder and Managing Partner of Aitken Advisors, a one-man macroeconomic research boutique based in Wimbledon, England from where he pens his weekly "Notes from a Small Island" and consults approximately one hundred of the most influential pools of capital in the world. After a wildly popular show two years ago, James came back for another doozy. Our conversation covers the ESG tsunami and the impact fund flows will create on business economics, politics, and investments, the dynamics of Brexit and incumbent Investment opportunities, China's evolving economic plan, and the tenuous plumbing of the US financial system. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Peter Kraus is the Chairman and CEO of Aperture Investors, a $5 billion asset manager he founded after a storied four-decade career on Wall Street, including heading the Investment Management Division at Goldman Sachs and serving as Chairman and CEO of AllianceBernstein. Throughout his career, Peter has been a vocal proponent of pay-for-performance compensation models and the need for trust between active managers and their clients. He ultimately decided that a successful culture of performance-linked fees that properly aligns the manager and client could only occur in a new firm built from scratch. He teamed up with Italian insurance company Generali to launch Aperture in 2018. Our conversation covers Peter's career at Goldman Sachs and AllianceBernstein, the structural problem of incentives in the asset management industry, and Peter's attempt to disrupt that structure. We then discuss his process for selecting managers on Aperture's platform, including screening, due diligence, and the nuances in idea generation, track record, value system, and managing teams. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Last year, I appeared on the Rational Reminder podcast, a show hosted by Cameron Passmore and Ben Felix of PWL Capital, a terrific Ottawa, Canada-based wealth manager that focuses on low cost, passive investing. We discussed the depth of the institutional investment research process, hedge funds, alternatives for individuals, index fund investing around the world, lessons from the big Bet, and a few other fun topics. Cameron and Ben are thoughtful investors and offer high-quality content through their podcast. I'd encourage you to have a listen. Please enjoy Cameron and Ben's interview with me. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Beezer Clarkson is Managing Director at Sapphire Ventures where she is responsible for the management of Sapphire's fund investments in early stage venture funds globally. Her career through direct and fund investing has left her with unusually deep knowledge and insights in the space. Our conversation starts with Beezer's meandering career and turns to her work at Sapphire, including its structure and unique relationship with SAP, Series A investing, winnowing through a massive funnel of fund opportunities, the due diligence process and re-underwriting process, implications of companies staying private longer, and #OpenLP, a public forum to hear the voice of VC LPs that Beezer created with past podcast guest Chris Douvos. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Gregory Zuckerman is a special writer at the Wall Street Journal and the author of five books, including his most recent, The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution. Greg joined the Journal in 1996 and writes about big financial trades, firms, and personalities. He's a three-time winner of the Gerald Loeb award, the highest honor in business journalism, and his work has included breaking the stories of the discord between Bill Gross and PIMCO, the London Whale trade, subprime mortgage collapse, and meltdown of hedge fund Amaranth in 2007. Our conversation starts with Greg's path to journalism, touches on the aftermath of his book The Greatest Trade Ever about John Paulson and the subprime meltdown. We then turn to his recent tome on Jim Simons and Renaissance, including the formation and evolution of the Medallion fund, precarious moments in its history, the human element of a quant shop, differences between Renaissance and other quant competitors, leadership, impacting the world with vast wealth, and why Renaissance has been so special. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Our annual rundown of the most downloaded shows of 2019. Wishing you a new year filled with wealth, health, and joy. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Dr. Sarel Vorster is a practicing neuro surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, where he performs procedures on the brain and spinal cord. Sarel has a cross-disciplinary interest in the effect of stress and risk on cognition and decision-making. He attended Yale to study for an MBA at the ripe age of 50 to pursue that interest. Our conversation covers the process of conducting surgery, offering an thorough example in a high stakes field. We discuss communicating with patients, making the decision to operate, preparing, using checklists, assessing outcomes, managing risk in a life or death situation, managing a team, improving skills, coping with stress, and seeing similarities between surgery and finance. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Neal Triplett is the CIO of DUMAC, the organization that oversees Duke University's $19 billion endowment, and Kim Lew is the CIO of the Carnegie Corporation, where she manages the $3.5 billion foundation created by Andrew Carnegie. A few weeks ago, Institutional Investor named Kim its CIO of the Year. She also appeared on the show last year in Episode 52, which is replayed after this one on the feed. I had the chance to interview Neal and Kim at the 2019 TIFF Annual Investment Forum. Neal and Kim are Board members of TIFF, a non-profit organization founded in 1991 as The Investment Fund for Foundations, that today manages $7.5 billion on behalf of only other non-profit pools of capital. Our conversation covers a number of topics relating to Neal and Kim's respective day jobs, including the evolving of their investment approach, integrating macroeconomic risk, defining their own competitive advantage, managing a team, countering behavioral biases, using data in manager evaluation, and tackling the most challenging part of their jobs. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Kip McDaniel is the Chief Content Officer and Editor-in-Chief at Institutional Investor. In the early days of Capital Allocators, Kip joined me to share his insights about the CIOs he covers as a journalist. You can find that show in the feed right after this one. This time, we got together to talk about II's business and the lessons he's learned in producing content for allocators. We cover the four key characteristics of a well-written story, the increasing use of PR firms by asset managers, and the essential importance and tricks of the trade of effectively packaging content. Kip stays true to his roots as a storyteller and offers a few great ones here again. On the intro, I recorded Please enjoy twice - use the second one (Please enjoy my second conversation with Kip McDaniel) Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Kip McDaniel is the Chief Content Officer and Editorial Director at Institutional Investor. Prior to joining II a year ago, Kip spent seven years as the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of CIO Magazine, a media platform that led him to interview 2,000 Chief Investment Officers across every type of asset base around the world. Kip is a graduate of Harvard College, received a Master's at Cambridge University, and was an elite crew rower, culminating in bringing home bronze medals for Team Canada in two World Championships. Kip is inordinately well-liked in the community, and I had a hunch I would learn a lot from getting his perspective on the people who make capital allocation happen. Suffice it to say, I wasn't disappointed. Our conversation starts with an inside look at Chief Investment Officers – how Kip finds them, ranks them, and discovers what makes them tick. Over the back half of the discussion, we turn to the lessons he's learned about investment success, incentives, fads, and issues that permeate capital allocation. Kip's modus operandi is story-telling, and this conversation is chock full of good ones. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Anne Martin is the Chief Investment Officer for Wesleyan University, where she manages the school's $1 billion endowment. Anne's career started in the tech world and shifted to endowment management at Yale's famed investments office. She took over at Wesleyan a decade ago, as one of a handful of Yale Investment alumns serving other institutions. Our conversation covers Anne's path from competitive rowing to the tech world and a fortuitous connection with David Swensen. We cover the transferable skills from private equity to endowment management, key lessons learned at Yale, experience taking on a "start-up" at Wesleyan, application of knowledge to a smaller pool of capital, development of a team and a portfolio, perspectives on natural resources and venture capital, and Wesleyan's competitive advantage as an allocator. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast