The HPScast

Host Colbert Cannon speaks with Deji Davies, Head of European Loan Trading at J.P. Morgan. We discuss his experience managing J.P. Morgan’s par and stressed trading operation through market volatility. He shares how he balances a foundational understanding of corporate credits against a commitment to remaining nimble as markets evolve in the short term. Deji also shares his background as a semi-professional soccer player, or footballer for our international audience, at clubs including Boreham Wood and Slough Town. Then, we discuss his most recent appointment as Chair of the Inclusion Advisory Board at The Football Association and how he plans to lead the charge for greater representation and more accessibility in the sport.Learn more about Deji Davies tenure at JP Morgan here and his new position Chair of the Football Association Inclusion Advisory Board here. You can check out our guest’s Best Idea, Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection by Dr. John Sarno, here. Or read Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, here.

Join host Colbert Cannon in conversation with Jae S. Yoon, Chief Investment Officer of New York Life Investment Management and Chairman of New York Life Investment Asia. Jae shares how he turned a proclivity for mathematics into quantitative analysis roles in risk management for the Asia offices of firms like Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan. We hear how he navigated turbulent times such as the 1997 Asian financial crisis. We then pivot to discuss Jae’s role as a macro manager for New York Life Investment Management, the asset management business of New York Life Insurance. He shares how he uses everything from historical events like the Great Inflation of the 1970s to conversations with cab drivers to build a robust understanding of the local markets that shape our global economy.    Learn more about Jae S. Yoon’s role at New York Life Investment Management here. Check out the menu at Oiji MI, Colbert’s Best Idea for the week, here.

This week, host Colbert Cannon sits down with friend and colleague Michael Fenstermacher, a Managing Director and the Co-Head of North American Core Senior Lending at HPS Investment Partners. We talk about his early days at Bank One, where he got his start in credit lending. He walks us through Bank One’s eventual merger with J.P. Morgan and how he decided to make the move to the latter’s New York City office during that transition. We discuss the diversity of learning opportunities and exposure to investment banking that Michael steeped himself in during that time before coming to HPS in 2008. He shares what it was like to join the firm’s direct lending arm amid the global financial crisis. Then, he offers a look into the evolution of the direct lending landscape in relation to the broadly syndicated market and how current market  volatility is impacting the space.Learn more about Michael Fenstermacher’s tenure at HPS Investment Partners here. You can check out our guest’s Best Idea, The Cook Political Report, here. Watch The League, Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, here.

Join host Colbert Cannon for a conversation with Geetha Murali, the CEO of Room to Read, a global non-profit organization that focuses on working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments to improve literacy and gender equality in education. Geetha shares how she’s used her biostatistics background to help grow the organization's reach to now serve 32 million children across 21 countries. She discusses how the global pandemic pushed her team to find new ways of reaching communities both online and offline amid shutdowns that cut off their primary channel of distribution - schools. She also delves into how the binary between for-profit and nonprofit organizations is becoming a thing of the past with the increase in impact investing and ESG frameworks across the board.Learn more about Geetha Murali’s tenure at Room to Read here. Learn more about Room to Read and how to donate here. You can check out our guest’s Best Idea, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, here. Read Circe by Madeline Miller, Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, here.

On this week’s episode, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Patrick McGinnis, a venture capitalist, podcast host and international best-selling author who, in 2004, coined the popular term FOMO, or fear of missing out. We hear the origin story of the phrase, which Patrick first started using amongst friends at Harvard Business School after suffering from an extreme bout of it in the choice-rich environment. He tells us how that mentality led him to reevaluate how we make decisions more effectively. We also hear how Patrick weathered the 2008 financial crisis at AIG before joining its investing arm spinoff PineBridge Investments, and eventually starting his own investment and advisory firm, Dirigo Advisors, working with fast growing companies, corporations and international organizations. Learn more about what Patrick McGinnis is working on here. Listen to his podcast FOMO Sapiens here. 

Host Colbert Cannon sits down with Aldo Mazzocco, the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Generali Real Estate SpA for a discussion full of lessons for business and life. Aldo shares his path to real estate investment as he moved from general manager of a construction company to eventually run Beni Stabili SpA. There, he more than doubled the Italian real estate company's portfolio before overseeing its merger with Foncière des Régions to create what is now Covivio. Then, Aldo discusses his move to Generali Real Estate, where he was tasked with modernizing the business and creating a viable third party asset management strategy. He talks about the challenges of building something new in a business more than 190 years old. Aldo also shares how he managed his team during the Covid-19 crisis as it roiled the commercial real estate industry, drawing deeply from his past handlings of the Lehman Brother crisis, the European sovereign debt crisis and Italy’s triple dip recession. And he offers up one incredibly sound piece of advice sourced from the Dolomites in northeast Italy that still guides him today.           Learn more about Aldo Mazzocco’s tenure at Generali Real Estate here. You can find out more about Generali’s philanthropic housing initiative, The Human Safety Net, here.

On this week’s episode, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Chris Halpin, the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of IAC, or InterActiveCorp, the holding company behind digital consumer brands like Angie’s List, Dotdash Meredith and Care.com. Chris launched his career at Goldman Sachs’ real estate investment principal investing arm before pivoting to private equity at Providence Equity Partners. There, he had the opportunity to establish the firm’s China business from Hong Kong – and a front row seat to the 2008 global financial crisis. Upon returning stateside, Chris tackled a new and humbling challenge with the NFL. He shares how he navigated the complexities of building consensus among 32 teams and steered the league into international markets before exiting to explore a new frontier in digital media tech.Learn more about Chris Halpin’s role at IAC here. You can check out our guest’s Best Idea, the book Black-and-White Thinking: The Burden of a Binary Brain in a Complex World by Kevin Dutton, here. Or read The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science by  J. Kenji López-Alt, Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, here.

On this week’s episode, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Vikas Keswani, Managing Director at HPS Investment Partners and Head of North American Specialty Lending. He walks us through the evolution of the direct lending industry and how he found his way to it. He explains the nuances of a direct lending solution and where the private credit business is going. He also shares his early career path at BlackRock, where he first found his footing in the credit investing industry. Learn more about Vikas Keswani’s tenure at HPS Investment Partners here. Read The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire by William Dalrymple, Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, here.

We’re back with Season 7 of The HPScast. This week, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Jessica Gelman, Chief Executive Officer of Kraft Analytics Group and co-founder of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Jessica discusses how data is being used to redefine the sports industry, from helping us better understand how we consume sports media to spotlighting gaps in equality to shape a more just future. Jessica shares her winding path into sports and entertainment, which included a stint of professional basketball in Europe and consulting work before heading back to business school, where she merged her love for the game with an appetite for intellectual rigor to carve the unique path she walks today. And find out how the renowned MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference was started over a quick drink.Learn more about Jessica Gelman and her role at Kraft Analytics Group here, and check out the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference here. Find out more about Jessica’s Best Idea, the autobiography All In by Billie Jean King, here. You can also read Colbert’s Best Idea, the book Dream Team by Jack McCallum, here.

This week marks the end of Season 6 of The HPScast. Host Colbert Cannon shares key moments from a season full of diverse perspectives and insights across industries – from restaurants to global logistics and credit lending to making television. We’ll be back soon with all new episodes, but in the interim, check out the over 50 conversations of The HPScast available now in your feed. You can also try some of the Best Ideas featured in each episode – they’re meant to be recommendations that are well worth your time. You can find links to those in the show notes of each episode.