The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Les Bond is CEO at Attucks Asset Management, a firm he founded over 20 years ago.  Attucks is an MBE-certified registered investment advisor which builds portfolios of emerging investment managers- in particular female and minority owned firms. Our conversation traces Les's college days where a major in sub-Saharan African studies kickstarted his interest in economics and trade.  This saw a trip to Cuba and visits to Sugar Plantations where he saw the promise of but fraught nature of diplomacy and brokering deals. We then see how he got his start in the industry, and how his time in Atlanta, interacting with successive mayors of the city, taught him how politics could be instrumental in forcing change, targets and the role of public pots of assets. We turn then to the genesis of Attucks Asset Management and the role that it plays in not only promoting and amplifying emerging and minority owned managers but also in nurturing them through guidance and feedback. Series 3 is brought to you with the kind support of Federated Hermes, Inc., a leading global investment manager. Guided by their conviction that responsible investing is the best way to create wealth over the long term, their investment solutions span equity, fixed-income, alternative/private markets, multi-asset and liquidity strategies and a range of separately managed accounts, distributed through intermediaries worldwide.

Kerry Duffain is head of institutional client solutions at Fidante Partners.  She has had a long career, that has involved over two decades of working with institutional investors and consultants, but also a number of other intriguing positions, such as her first position - as a newsreader of English news in Bahrain. This ability to improvise, adapt, work hard and step outside her comfort zone has been a constant throughout her career - which has seen Kerry move around the world - in industries involving factory floors, a brewery, engineering electronics, until she finally became "hooked" on finance.Kerry has built businesses large and small, but what remains the same is her sheer hard work, her persistence and her ability to pivot and adapt. She isn't deterred by getting a no - she sees the positive in at least getting an answer - and the potential for building a relationship that is solutions focused. She shares that in building businesses to be successful one needs to be like a three legged stool, with a business focus, a client focus and a focus on how the business operates. Kerry, of course, makes fusing these three look easy. Series 3 is brought to you with the kind support of Federated Hermes, Inc., a leading global investment manager. Guided by their conviction that responsible investing is the best way to create wealth over the long term, their investment solutions span equity, fixed-income, alternative/private markets, multi-asset and liquidity strategies and a range of separately managed accounts, distributed through intermediaries worldwide.

LaRoy Brantley is a managing principal at Meketa Investment Group. He has over 20 years experience in an investment consulting capacity. We first met when we joined Cambridge associates earlier in our careers. He has had multiple public fund board positions and has a particular focus on raising awareness of diverse investment managers. Our conversation starts with LaRoy's unconventional path into investments - he was a classics major and following his degree spent seven years as a teacher, until his blended love of languages, classics and technology saw him pursue a graduate degree at MIT. We reflect on the learnings that can come from classics - the attention to detail, the approach to education and conveying information, and the focus on creating institutions that endure.Now he invests his time, talent and treasure across his consulting work and work on boards, particularly college boards.  We talk about his investment discipline, as well as his commitment to amplifying emerging managers and forcing those sometimes uncomfortable conversations that lead to change - LaRoy believes that discomfort has its place on a constructive path to improvement. Please enjoy this tour through core investment beliefs, market truths and an educator's view as to how our industry can grow. Series 3 is brought to you with the kind support of Federated Hermes, Inc., a leading global investment manager. Guided by their conviction that responsible investing is the best way to create wealth over the long term, their investment solutions span equity, fixed-income, alternative/private markets, multi-asset and liquidity strategies and a range of separately managed accounts, distributed through intermediaries worldwide.

Sinead Colton Grant is Global Head of Investor Solutions at BNY Mellon, based in NYC.  She has over 25 years of global multi-asset experience across investment and wealth management in both Europe and the US, and started out in derivatives sales and later currency management. She was included in the 2022 Worth.com groundbreakers list https://www.worth.com/groundbreakers2022/Our conversation starts with Sinead's upbringing in Ireland and her family history of "strong women" where she grew up believing that any career was open to her and that no area was off limits.  We tracked then her entry into financial services, the world of trading and where she learned her craft.Moving now to the realm of investment solutions we ask what this burgeoning area actually means for clients and find out how she is thinking about this area in light of growing geo-political uncertainty, inflation and the rising awareness of ESG risks. Given Sinead's experience in currencies, we talk at length about currency exposures in portfolios, whether and how to hedge exposure and how to think about volality. Finally she reflects on role models who have influenced her throughout her life, from a finance lecturer who enlightened the classroom with vignettes from the financial field to other industry figures. We speak about the importance of self-advocacy, about communicating as a leader and about having a career plan. It is an empowering conversation that I hope you enjoy.Series 3 is brought to you with the kind support of Federated Hermes, Inc., a leading global investment manager. Guided by their conviction that responsible investing is the best way to create wealth over the long term, their investment solutions span equity, fixed-income, alternative/private markets, multi-asset and liquidity strategies and a range of separately managed accounts, distributed through intermediaries worldwide. 

John Robinson is Chief Executive Officer at Bridge Capital Advisors, a firm he founded in mid 2021.  He previously was Chief Executive Officer at Consequent Capital Management and is a Board Member of Mifugo Hela, a fintech company based in Kenya. Our conversation starts with John's childhood where he was born into a family of entrepreneurs, restaurant and business owners.  The lessons learned there in terms of hard work, risk and resilience stayed with him throughout his life.We move then to discussing John's roles in finance and investment and how he conceived the notion of Bridge Capital Advisors.  Given his long involvement with Africa we dig in in particular to his work there as well as the gap that exists between what investors do know, and what they should know about opportunities in the region. Series 3 is brought to you with the kind support of Federated Hermes, Inc., a leading global investment manager. Guided by their conviction that responsible investing is the best way to create wealth over the long term, their investment solutions span equity, fixed-income, alternative/private markets, multi-asset and liquidity strategies and a range of separately managed accounts, distributed through intermediaries worldwide.

Doug Heron is Chief Executive Officer at CERN pension fund based in Geneva, a role he assumed in August 2021. He was formerly Chief Executive Officer of Lothian Pension Fund, and prior to that held a number of finance industry roles throughout banking and asset management. He's a trustee director of the NatWest group pension funds and was a Member of the Business Council of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland for five years. Our conversation covers Doug's early career and some of the stints abroad that proved to be formative - namely a spell in China and now the current life change which saw him move his family to Geneva from Scotland in the summer of 2021 to take up the role at CERN. We examine the challenges and tremendous opportunities in embarking upon an international career and look at some of the similarities in running pension funds no matter the context.  Doug shares some of his core investment beliefs and working habits - such as his preference for low waste - keeping communications efficient and accessible.We reflect on some of Doug's outside interest - such as coaching youth sport and his role on the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, and how this informed his investing work, and finally turn to some key advice for all of us - to "leave early and cycle home" as a nod to wellness, avoiding burnout and retaining perspective in life. This podcast is a collaboration between Fiftyfaces Productions and Room151. Room151 is an online news, opinion and resource service for local authority Section 151 and other senior officers covering treasury, strategic finance, funding, resources and risk. Room151 was launched on 8th November, 2011, by Longview Productions Ltd, the organiser of the Local Authority Treasurers’ Investment Forum and is a small, privately owned, publishing and events company. There is more information about Room151 here: https://www.room151.co.uk/about/

David Vickers is Chief Investment Officer at Brunel Pensions Partnership Limited, which manages assets on behalf of 10 partner funds within the local government pension scheme, representing about £30 billion He has extensive experience and investing in the multi asset arena, where he has spent time managing assets for a range of institutional investors. Our conversation starts with David's upbringing in Essex, where the City beckoned, even if it wasn't a familiar career field for him growing up as his parents were teachers. We recall how even notwithstanding the drama and volatility of incidents like the Barings crash the pace and energy of the place had an allure.We move then to the body of his career which saw him initially work in fund management and later transition to managing teams. David relates how he developed a passion for journaling, particularly as it relates to investment decisions, and for investment processes that were robust and sustainable. He describes himself as a pragmatic investor and he translates this concept into his current role at Brunel.Our discussion turns to recent initiatives in the field of Paris-aligned and sustainable investing at Brunel, in particular the development of a Paris-aligned index along with FTSE Russell. He looks at the likely future evolution not only of sustainable investing products but also practices and ultimately what this will mean for the leveling up agenda and local investment in the UK. This podcast is a collaboration between Fiftyfaces Productions and Room151. Room151 is an online news, opinion and resource service for local authority Section 151 and other senior officers covering treasury, strategic finance, funding, resources and risk. Room151 was launched on 8th November, 2011, by Longview Productions Ltd, the organiser of the Local Authority Treasurers’ Investment Forum and is a small, privately owned, publishing and events company. There is more information about Room151 here: https://www.room151.co.uk/about/

Chris Hitchen is Chairman of the Border to Coast pension partnership, as well as the Pension Super Fund and Trustee and Chair of the Investment Committee at Nest, the National Employment Savings Trust. He holds a number of other Board and director roles and was formerly chief executive of RPMI representing over £27 billion of pension arrangements for the UK rail industry.Our conversation is a far-reaching one that starts with Chris's educational path into investment consulting and how his breadth of interests was in evidence even then - including a passion for singing and violin. Another passion is trains, and when he was given an opportunity to join the investment team of RPMI, then known as Railpens he seized the opportunity.  That close to 20 year assignment saw him create a unified investment plan from over 100 separate initial liability pots, transition ultimately from an outsourced investment model to a hybrid one that included in-house managers and prioritize value for money.  We dig in to what this means and the various governance models that work well in different investment entities.With his extensive governance experience Chris has extensive insight into the importance of institutions "carrying on" into the future - and what a sustainable institution looks like. We examine ESG integration and how this is affected by governance as well as how it is driving it and assess the diversity of the finance industry as it currently stands. This podcast is a collaboration between Fiftyfaces Productions and Room151. Room151 is an online news, opinion and resource service for local authority Section 151 and other senior officers covering treasury, strategic finance, funding, resources and risk. Room151 was launched on 8th November, 2011, by Longview Productions Ltd, the organiser of the Local Authority Treasurers’ Investment Forum and is a small, privately owned, publishing and events company. There is more information about Room151 here: https://www.room151.co.uk/about/

Mike O’Donnell is Chief Executive Officer of London LGPS CIV Ltd., a position he has held since March 2019, following a career of over 30 years in local government including a range of finance-related roles.  He recently announced his intention to step down from that role in March 2023.Our conversation celebrates his roots in Leicester, and notes the learnings from his parents who had emigrated from Ireland in the 1950s. We move to his education - first in science, then in accounting, then as a CIPFA trainee. We move then to his career in public service and some of the highs and lows that that involved.  We look at the role of politics, governance and budgets and then move to his current role at the helm of the London CIV.At the London CIV Mike has three priorities- 1.  Delivering the right products at the right time for the pool's  32 clients with a broad range of investment strategies and investment managers. 2. ESG and climate change, in particular, where the challenge is about both having a product range and reporting and measuring progress. He notes that strong engagement and voting through the fund managers has become a huge piece of work over recent years. 3. Building the team and building the strong processes required of an FCA regulated body. We examine what it is to have effective governance and how training is so key and reflect on a piece of wisdom Mike has learned over his years working in public service is "if you can't change it, don't worry about it".We end by talking about a cause that Mike has championed throughout his career which is that of homelessness.  As trustee and Treasurer of the National Homelessness Alliance Mike pursues advocacy and strategy on areas such as affordable housing, social housing and the housing crisis.  This is echoed in his local government work, particularly as it relates to the "leveling up" agenda. This podcast is a collaboration between Fiftyfaces Productions and Room151. Room151 is an online news, opinion and resource service for local authority Section 151 and other senior officers covering treasury, strategic finance, funding, resources and risk. Room151 was launched on 8th November, 2011, by Longview Productions Ltd, the organiser of the Local Authority Treasurers’ Investment Forum and is a small, privately owned, publishing and events company. There is more information about Room151 here: https://www.room151.co.uk/about/

Fabiola Schneider is a doctoral researcher at UCD Michael Smurfit business school, where she focuses on sustainable finance with a particular focus on progressing the UN SDG agenda.  She is Research Co-Lead on Greenwatch, which applies AI to detect Greenwashing in the market.  She is also passionate about issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. Our discussion is a wide-reaching one which cycles through Fabiola's diverse areas of research.  We start with what what attracted her to the field of sustainable finance and then turn to the the most dynamic areas of change in this arena.  We unpack the concept of net zero goals, and examine how they can be set and ultimately reached.  We examine the European taxonomy, and ask if it is fit for purpose, then examine the prevalence of greenwashing, and look at how artificial intelligence can be employed to detect it.There is more information on Greenwatch here https://www.greenwatch.ai/as well as on other aspects of our discussion such as the ECB's dirty bond purchases here https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3630112 and on Investment Banks as fossil fuel brokers https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00343404.2021.1995601.Like many of the other guests in this Series 3, Fabiola is a truth seeker and a diligent student of policy and the frequent gaps between policy and practice.  She also is skilled at explaining complex concepts in layperson's terms, using imagery such as a "diet" and a bathtub to convey relative performance measures, and the problem with a net and not an absolute emissions goal. Series 3 is brought to you with the kind support of Federated Hermes, Inc., a leading global investment manager. Guided by their conviction that responsible investing is the best way to create wealth over the long term, their investment solutions span equity, fixed-income, alternative/private markets, multi-asset and liquidity strategies and a range of separately managed accounts, distributed through intermediaries worldwide.