Investment Management Operations

Jim La Creta is the Chief Technology and Information Officer for Brandeis University.Jim shares a fascinating and different perspective on technology for an investment office and university broadly. We discuss his career path at Brandeis which started at the help desk 21 years ago to the CTO seat. He shares how he partners with the investment committee and the CIO to assess risk with new technology and information security for its investment office.  We also discussed common challenges and how to partner with technology teams for better outcomes when selecting technology.In addition to being a CTO, Jim is an adjunct professor in organizational leadership at Brandeis. I found this interesting because there is no playbook for leadership, but Jim shares his lessons learned about leading teams today, the impact of going hybrid and creating teams built for flexibility.Learn MoreFollow Capital Allocators at @tseides or LinkedInSubscribe to the mailing listAccess transcript with Premium Membership

Adam Weinstein is a Managing Director, COO, and CFO of New Mountain Capital, a $50 billion private equity firm focused on middle market buyout, credit, and net lease strategies. I really enjoyed this conversation because we focused on two critical elements of building investment firms: people and process. Adam discusses their investment committee governance process that seeks to foster broad input from the team to mitigate errors and promote consistency. We also uncover some of the challenges in group decision making and why New Mountain is opposed to the term “back office.” We then dig into how inclusiveness drives performance reviews, compensation structures and how to develop a mentor program.  Learn MoreFollow Capital Allocators at @tseides or LinkedInSubscribe to the mailing listAccess transcript with Premium Membership

Steven Schwab is the GC and CCO for Thoma Bravo, a $142 billion private equity firm that invests in growing software and technology companies. Prior to joining Thoma Bravo in 2015, Steven practiced law at Winston and Strawn and Katten Munchin. Steven shares how to make best use of your legal resources. He shares his thoughts on when to bring legal in-house, how to get the most out of your outside counsel, and why they opted to combine the GC and CCO roles.  We also discuss the current state of fundraising and how LPs are interacting with GPs. Learn MoreFollow Capital Allocators at @tseides or LinkedInSubscribe to the mailing listAccess transcript with Premium Membership

Nicole Adrien, Chief Product Officer at Oaktree Capital, shares insights on client demands shaped by the GFC. Topics include transparency, speed, accuracy, continuous info demand, new product development, effective prospect meetings, and hiring culture.

Taimur Hyat, COO at PGIM, discusses being a strategic COO, understanding global markets, identifying MegaTrends, and the importance of a global mindset in investment management. His journey from economic research to consulting to asset management provides valuable insights on the evolving role of a COO and navigating challenges in the industry.

Hank Boughner, CEO of Dynamo Software, talks about software vertical consolidation, platform solutions, and the future of investment technology. He discusses brand awareness, user adoption, and the impact of M&A activity on industry players.

Darshan Desai is the COO and Head of Risk at Beach Point Capital, a $15 billion credit shop based in Santa Monica, CA.Darshan and I discuss his career path, which began at York Capital, his move to Kansas City to works for BATS, and then finding his way to Beach Point in 2010. Darshan shares his experience and learnings from seeing two firms ramp up assets and people.I was curious to speak to Darshan as he is also the Head of Risk, making for a unique opportunity to talk about data/analytics, how to be a risk-oriented COO, and why they outsourced their entire middle office.We close with the importance of IQ and EQ when building teams and how Covid changed the way he manages others.Learn MoreFollow Capital Allocators at @tseides or LinkedInSubscribe to the mailing listAccess transcript with Premium Membership

Amy Knapp, COO of Corsair Capital, shares insights on transitioning from public accounting to COO, discussing operational challenges, ESG/DEI, and shifting from controller to strategic CFO/COO roles. Corsair's best practices and the importance of culture preservation and succession planning are highlighted.

This Sponsored Insight highlights Nasdaq’s Solovis, a multi-asset class portfolio, data, and risk management system for asset owners.We spoke with Jeff Manning of Verger Capital Management, a $2.8 billion OCIO that was created out of the Wake Forest University Office of Investments. Verger’s CIO, Jim Dunn, was an early guest on Capital Allocators, and that conversation is replayed in the feed.Jeff oversees all financial operations at Verger including the team, reporting, and strategic decisions. He provides a detailed case study on how Verger enhanced its operational capabilities as it scaled and how a partnership with Solovis helped drive efficiency.We are grateful for Nasdaq Solovis’s sponsorship of Investment Management Operations and are eager to highlight their contributions to the asset owner community.Learn MoreFollow Capital Allocators at @tseides or LinkedInSubscribe to the mailing listAccess transcript with Premium Membership

Jim Dunn is the CEO and CIO of Verger Capital Management, an Outsourced CIO business whose anchor client is Wake Forest University. Prior to forming Verger, he served as CIO of Wake Forest for five years. That transition from a sole client to an OCIO business, is a fascinating part of our conversation. Before joining Wake, Jim traveled the world as CIO of Wilshire Associates, where among other things he experienced the best story of a manager getting their foot in the door that I’ve ever heard. He got his start in the business trading death spiral convertible bonds at a now defunct hedge fund and got introduced to manager selection at Investorforce.Our conversation starts with Jim’s career path, and covers a full range issues in allocating capital. We discuss defining risk tolerance, a factor-based approach to asset allocation, separating talent from luck in manager selection, the politics of endowment management, challenges using internal management, and culture. If you listen carefully, you’ll hear a few one-liners. Jim is chock full of gems and life lessons.Learn MoreFollow Capital Allocators at @tseides or LinkedInSubscribe to the mailing listAccess transcript with Premium Membership