The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Jon Salstrom is Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer at the Cincinnati Retirement System, a role he has held for almost two years. He previously worked in a series of consulting and financial analyst roles. Our conversation starts by tracing his earlier career path, and particularly his roles in consulting which set him up well for the current role with the City of Cincinnati. We dive in then to what shifts he noticed in himself, and in his backdrop, when he made the move to public service, and explore the best practice in governance that is key to making progress and protecting capital in this area. Moving to mission and purpose we discuss the fund’s asset mix, key priorities as well as size and funding level, and the overarching sense of purpose that guides him and his team. "Strength in Unity" is the motto of the City of Cincinnati.  Why we made this? US public defined benefit funds are a key component of the US institutional landscape. Sitting at the intersection of politics and finance, these funds may have to wrestle with funding, cash flow and stakeholder issues that are complex, while often operating with lean teams. Jon Salstrom is a relatively new leader in this space, and we wanted to capture his perspectives and approach as an allocator in Cincinnati. Why you may find this useful? The discussion provides insight into what is top of mind for a  public fund allocator today, as well as an charming description of a shift from the private sector to embracing public sector mission and purpose. With thanks to Baillie Gifford for sponsoring Series 4 of 2025. Baillie Gifford is a long-term investment manager, dedicated to discovering the innovations and changemakers that deliver exceptional growth opportunities for its clients.

I am delighted to launch this bonus series featuring leading financial thinkers in Latin America with this podcast with Nicolás Dujovne, recorded live in Buenos Aires in late August. Nicolás is an Argentine economist and former Minister of the Treasury between 2017 and 2019 under the administration of Mauricio Macri. He has had a long career in financial markets, primarily as an economist, and since 2020 has been a partner of Tenac Asset Management, which recently won best Emerging Markets Macro Fund over two years as awarded by the Hedge Fund Journal.  Our conversation traces Nicolás's early interest in photography, and how this shaped his sense of perspective in his chose career as an economist. We dive in to his core beliefs as an economist and some of the "truths" that his experience in living and working through economic crises has taught him about the importance of fiscal discipline.We trace the evolution of the economic backdrop throughout his career, moving in to his time in the Treasury and his assessment of the current state of reforms being implemented under President Milei. With elections looming in September much remains to be seen, but we discuss potential paths and hopes for the future. Finally we turn to his current role at Tenac Asset Management, and examine some of the macro drivers in markets today and the level of difficulty in navigating them. This special series focused on South America will be released occasionally on a Friday. We welcome feedback, guest suggestions and more. 

Nadia Cobalovic is Senior Vice President at Northern Trust and Global Head of Omnium Services, where she oversees teams encompassing Middle Office Operations, Back Office Administration and Data Delivery. She also contributes to business growth, strategic initiatives and new initiatives. Our conversation starts with her early career aspirations to be a war correspondent and later, to work in U.S. government agencies. Delays and bottlenecks ultimately led to a forced—but serendipitous—pivot into financial services. What began as a temporary role at Citadel became the start of a dynamic 25+ year journey, one that now finds her leading Omnium Services at Northern Trust—still alongside some of the same colleagues who have been part of her career from the very beginning.We speak then about the evolving world of hedge fund services and how AI, cyber security concerns and changing investor and fund needs are shaping it. Moving to career reflections we discuss the importance of giving credit where it is due – sometimes to oneself, and the joys that working for a supportive team – and together – for over 25 years can bring. With thanks to Baillie Gifford for sponsoring Series 4 of 2025. Baillie Gifford is a long-term investment manager, dedicated to discovering the innovations and changemakers that deliver exceptional growth opportunities for its clients.

It has been an exciting summer, but we have managed to squeeze in a set of global guests for Series 4 of our 2025 Fiftyfaces Podcast – which takes us from the evolving world of hedge funds and the support infrastructure needed, to emerging market equities to late-stage venture capital to public pension pooling.We start with hearing from Nadia Cobalovic, and the evolving world of hedge fund operations, then turn to Jon Salstrom, one of two Cincinnati investors on this Series, who describes the mission with which the Cincinnati employees retirement system runs their pension scheme. Staying with local government we change gears to the UK and the fast-paced set of changes occurring there, hearing from Jo Donnelly, CEO of LPFA. We revert to sustainability, with a side of dance, in a joyful discussion with Lauren Juliff of Storebrand, and then move to our first foray into Emerging Markets this series with an in-person interview with Jose Manuel Silva, conducted live in Santiago, his base. We then go back to Cincinnati, to check in with Karl Scheer, CIO of the University of Cincinnati endowment. It is back to Emerging Markets then, with an interview with James Fletcher, founder of Ethos Investment Management, and from emerging markets to emerging sectors, we then hear what excites Karey Barker of Crosscreek ventures, also based in Salt Lake City about the current opportunity set in innovation.Because we like to hear of movers and shakers who are forcing us to think differently about how we show up in work, an engaging discussion with Candice Richards, will remind you to “buy your own baubles” and let your authenticity shine through at work, and finally are back to picks and shovels, with a discussion with Sam Garetano of Brookfield Asset Management on the appeal of data center investing.  Thank you to Baillie Gifford for sponsoring Series 4 of 2025. Baillie Gifford is an asset management boutique that seeks out game-changing companies and other assets that can sustain long-term growth and remain resilient in a changing world. As an investment manager, it aims to deliver strong returns for its clients while supporting the firms that are backed on their behalf to succeed.

Lisa Laird is CIO at Mercy Investment Services in St. Louis. She has previously held senior strategist roles as well as other healthcare leadership roles, and currently holds a number of additional board roles. Our conversation starts with her dream to become a ballet dancer, and how this ultimately required a serious pivot, and we then hear about a series of financial services roles that ultimately culminated in her current CIO role for a religious institution. Having not had many guests with this connection on our podcast before it was interesting to dig into some of the unique characteristics of this type of role, which in Lisa’s case includes a commitment to impactful investments. We discuss the definition of impact in this case, and how it is implemented and complementary to some of the charity and philanthropic work done by this institution. Finally we reflect on the importance of kindness and how it can be a touchstone through one’s career and life. Thank you to GCM Grosvenor and Resolute Investment Managers, Inc. for sponsoring Series 3 of 2025. GCM Grosvenor is a global alternative asset management firm with a longstanding commitment to supporting small, emerging, and diverse investment managers. For over 30 years, the firm has developed expertise in funding and guiding these managers as part of its broader activity across alternative investments. With over $20 billion in AUM dedicated to small and emerging managers and $16 billion in AUM dedicated to diverse managers, GCM Grosvenor leverages its experienced team, broad network, and proprietary sourcing capabilities to support their success. Through the Small, Emerging, and Diverse Manager Program, the firm creates opportunities for investors to access a wide range of talent while seeking to drive strong returns and impact. For more information, visit www.gcmgrosvenor.com Resolute Investment Managers, Inc. is a diversified, multi-affiliate asset management platform that partners with more than 30 best-in-class affiliated and independent investment managers. Its unique platform delivers strategic value through a full suite of distribution, operational and administrative services available to affiliates and partners.

Nick Spencer is a senior consultant and sustainability risk specialist in the Milliman Life and Financial Services practice based in London. He is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and past Chair of its Sustainability Board and a past Council Member. He has written extensively on the integration of climate risks into actuarial work as well as on natural capital, biodiversity and broadly on aspects of the climate transition. Our sweeping discussion starts with risk, which, as an actuary, has been the backbone of Nick’s career – analyzing it, measuring it, mitigating it. We look at the challenge of sustainability through a risk lens, and ask whether carbon should remain at the forefront of the discussion or whether it is more critical now to expand the list of priorities. Staying on the topic of risk we speak about standards, reporting and mitigation, and circle into adjacent areas such as the challenge of biodiversity loss, renewable agriculture and the hydrology cycle.  Naturally, some of these seem to be at times insurmountable challenges, and we assess the right mindset for staying in this industry long term.Nick suggested the following resources - see fiftyfaceshub for more details.   Sustainability Accelerator - Chatham House   https://donellameadows.org/systems-thinking-resources/   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review  https://global-tipping-points.org/resources-gtp/Planetary Solvency – Finding Our Balance with Nature and  Planetary Solvency Dashboard ; Thank you to GCM Grosvenor and Resolute Investment Managers, Inc. for sponsoring Series 3 of 2025. GCM Grosvenor is a global alternative asset management firm with a longstanding commitment to supporting small, emerging, and diverse investment managers. For over 30 years, the firm has developed expertise in funding and guiding these managers as part of its broader activity across alternative investments. With over $20 billion in AUM dedicated to small and emerging managers and $16 billion in AUM dedicated to diverse managers, GCM Grosvenor leverages its experienced team, broad network, and proprietary sourcing capabilities to support their success. Through the Small, Emerging, and Diverse Manager Program, the firm creates opportunities for investors to access a wide range of talent while seeking to drive strong returns and impact. For more information, visit www.gcmgrosvenor.com Resolute Investment Managers, Inc. is a diversified, multi-affiliate asset management platform that partners with more than 30 best-in-class affiliated and independent investment managers. Its unique platform delivers strategic value through a full suite of distribution, operational and administrative services available to affiliates and partners.

In Part 1 of this special series focused on our brain power and whether we are losing our minds, we addressed the slide we are reported to be experiencing in terms of attention span and critical thinking capacity.  Now In Part 2 we ask what we can do now to address slide. We are joined again by Carolina Pacheco-Punceles. She is a Behavioral Economist, AI Survival Kit Creator, Executive Function Strategist and her Linked In bio states that she is Equipping Humans with the Skills to Think Clearly, Lead Wisely & Thrive in a Disrupted World We suggest that the first step is acknowledging the problem – we then discuss the idea of training our minds and “going to the mental gym”, and look at strategies from those discussed by Niall Ferguson – creating an analogue study system where books are read in paper form and discussed without the use of electronic devices, to hybrid strateiges that encourage us to harness AI without relying it on exclusively. If you enjoyed this short podcast series please send us your ideas for addressing the slide in our cognitive capacities. 

Kristen Van Gelder is Partner and Co-CIO at Evanston Capital Mangement, where she has spent her entire career since college.  We begin our conversation with the roots of Kristen’s career, which corresponds quite closely with the roots and growth of Evanston Capital Management from the Northwestern University Endowment Management Team. Her career has spanned a significant period in the evolution and use of hedge funds in a portfolio and we spend some time on this, given the enduring focus on Evanston on this particular asset class. Kristen’s view is nuanced and original and it is particularly interesting to probe beneath the headlines to assess the true state of affairs for this still significant asset area.  Finally we reflect on advice she internalized in recent years (from a unique source, it must be said) to be secure in “running her own race”. We discuss this as advice for the next generation. Thank you to GCM Grosvenor and Resolute Investment Managers, Inc. for sponsoring Series 3 of 2025. GCM Grosvenor is a global alternative asset management firm with a longstanding commitment to supporting small, emerging, and diverse investment managers. For over 30 years, the firm has developed expertise in funding and guiding these managers as part of its broader activity across alternative investments. With over $20 billion in AUM dedicated to small and emerging managers and $16 billion in AUM dedicated to diverse managers, GCM Grosvenor leverages its experienced team, broad network, and proprietary sourcing capabilities to support their success. Through the Small, Emerging, and Diverse Manager Program, the firm creates opportunities for investors to access a wide range of talent while seeking to drive strong returns and impact. For more information, visit www.gcmgrosvenor.com Resolute Investment Managers, Inc. is a diversified, multi-affiliate asset management platform that partners with more than 30 best-in-class affiliated and independent investment managers. Its unique platform delivers strategic value through a full suite of distribution, operational and administrative services available to affiliates and partners. 

Are we slipping in our intellectual abilities? Have we lost the ability to read, reason, analyze, and more importantly pay attention?  Over the past decade we have seen a deluge of challenges – from Covid and its disruptive effect on education, to the rising use of screens and smart phones to the more recent threat from LLMs and an increasingly proficient set of AI tools that threaten to compete with and ultimately replace humans in almost every dimension. Each of these threats is nuanced and subjective, but we are starting to see patterns emerge in terms of the impact  on our attention span, and ability to think critically and absorb new information. I’m delighted to welcome Carolina Pacheco-Punceles to the podcast. She is a Behavioral Economist, AI Survival Kit Creator, Executive Function Strategist and her Linked In bio states that she is Equipping Humans with the Skills to Think Clearly, Lead Wisely & Thrive in a Disrupted World. We connected over linked In when responding to a post by Jonathan Haidt about the erosion of attention spans and the ability to pay attention, and shared experiences about how we could address this slide.  In this special two-part series we first look at some of the data and recent findings around the erosion of our attention spans and ability to reason and process complex data.Part 2 then will set out various techniques that we have found to try to address this slide. Here in part one we talk about the problem – and discuss this article from the Financial Times that triggered our discussion Have humans passed peak brain power? https://www.ft.com/content/a8016c64-63b7-458b-a371-e0e1c54a13fc  We ask if intelligence is a capacity to understand and question why performance in reasoning and problem solving tests is declining. We look at another article which reveals that the percentage of fourth graders who score below basic in reading skills on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests is the highest it has been in 20 years. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/opinion/education-smart-thinking-reading-tariffs.html?smid=li-share Our discussion continues into the general slide in literacy in cognitive function and set up for Part 2, when we discuss some of the potential ways to address this.

Artemiza Woodgate is Founding Partner at Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC, based in Seattle.  She has spent most of her career in the quantitative investment arena, including close to 5 years with Numeric, Man Group, and over 11 years with Russell Investments. Our conversation opens with the 3Ms that Artemiza says define her – she is a mother, a mathematician and a lover of mountains. We return then to her roots, she grew up in communist Romania and how that impacted her and her approach to risk, money and outlook. She completed a PhD in finance at the University of Washington and following a career in quantitative investment and ultimately launched her own firm. We dive into her focus within the quantitative investing sphere – and discuss in particular her focus on asset pricing, earnings management, and price momentum, emphasizing the importance of minimizing estimation error and integrating risk and alpha.  Turning to career Artemiza stresses the challenges of balancing motherhood and career, the importance of networks, and the role of emerging manager programs in fostering innovation in asset management. Thank you to GCM Grosvenor and Resolute Investment Managers, Inc. for sponsoring Series 3 of 2025. GCM Grosvenor is a global alternative asset management firm with a longstanding commitment to supporting small, emerging, and diverse investment managers. For over 30 years, the firm has developed expertise in funding and guiding these managers as part of its broader activity across alternative investments. With over $20 billion in AUM dedicated to small and emerging managers and $16 billion in AUM dedicated to diverse managers, GCM Grosvenor leverages its experienced team, broad network, and proprietary sourcing capabilities to support their success. Through the Small, Emerging, and Diverse Manager Program, the firm creates opportunities for investors to access a wide range of talent while seeking to drive strong returns and impact. For more information, visit www.gcmgrosvenor.com Resolute Investment Managers, Inc. is a diversified, multi-affiliate asset management platform that partners with more than 30 best-in-class affiliated and independent investment managers. Its unique platform delivers strategic value through a full suite of distribution, operational and administrative services available to affiliates and partners.