The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Adam Demuyakor is the founder and managing partner at Wilshire Lane Capital, a venture capital and private equity firm that focuses on PropTech solutions based in Los Angeles California.  Born in the US to a family originally from Ghana, Adam started out on Wall Street in investment banking and held a number of private equity and venture capital roles before found in Wilshire Lane.  He also holds a number of Board roles and is a Board of Trustee of the education nonprofit 9 Dots.Our conversation starts with his family roots, and the expectations that accompanied his schooling and career choices. We hear how he came to be interested in real estate and how he gained experience in both the private and public side of the business, and ultimately the vision with which he launched his own firm.  This is an opportunity for our discussion to dive into PropTech and discuss what the technology that is transforming real estate looks like, and how these theses are playing out.  Among some of the concepts discussed are Ghost Kitchens and the new look Self Storage outfits, and we discuss some of the business models that are exciting him most at this juncture.As an early stage venture capital firm, Wilshire Lane Capital, is highly focused on the entrepreneurs and their vision that they support, and many of them are diverse founders themselves.  In fact in an industry in which female and black and brown founders are poorly represented, Wilshire Lane is breaking the mould - 36% of their companies are led by women outright, 29% of their companies have a black founder on them, and 79% of their companies have an underrepresented minority or a female in the C suite. Wilshire Lane Capital recently entered into a strategic partnership with Nile Capital which sponsored our original diverse founders and VCs series, and we speak about how these ideas came together. We speak about 9 Dots, a nonprofit, based in Los Angeles, that focuses on providing subsidized computer science courses for the poorest students in the city.  Adam shares why this is one of the most fulfilling of all of his roles.  Finally, we discuss some highs and lows of his career so far, what Adam looks for in a founder and what it means to pass the "Shower Test". This podcast will feature in our mini-series featuring professionals from the Ghanaian diaspora as well as our second diverse founders and venture capitalist series. 

Pat Lynch, who was Founder, President and CEO of Chicago Equity Partners, a Chicago based asset manager for over 20 years.  He now holds investment and strategic advisory roles within the investment industry and is on the board of directors of Loyola Business School, as well as the Ballmer Center for Social Justice.Our conversation covers Pat's decades of experience in finance, including starting out in the investment arm of a bank, forming Chicago Equity Partners with a group of partners and growing that business. We spend quite a bit of time on how to make a sale, and how we must be careful not to project how we "buy" onto others.  Knowing clients is about so much more than how they buy of course, and we speak about the importance of networks, developing direct client relationships and how the shape of finance is changing with more involvement of intermediaries.  We also take a broader survey of the dynamics of the finance industry and how it is evolving.This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Constance Freedman is Founder and Managing Partner at Moderne Ventures as well as Moderne Passport – an early stage investment fund and industry immersion program which is focused on investing in technology companies in and around the multi-trillion dollar industries of real estate, finance, insurance, hospitality and home services.  It has just closed its (over-subscribed) second fund at over $200 m. She sits on numerous boards and has received several awards including Crain’s Business 40 under 40 and Chicago Top Tech 50 (on three occasions). Our conversation - a bonus episode, which will also appear in our next Diverse Founders and VCs series - focuses on her professional journey and the fascinating world of Proptech - technology that is related to real estate and other property. This has been an area of expertise for Constance for some time, and we start with describing the opportunity in the area and then how Constance moved from working within another venture firm to starting Moderne Ventures.  One of the most fascinating aspects of Moderne Ventures is the Moderne Passport program, which creates an ecosystem for over 700 founders as well as industry members to network, work together and create synergies.  It is also about creating network effects and enriching the social capital of founders, as well as enabling innovation to flourish through a system of pilot programs and providing feedback. There is more information about Moderne Ventures and the Moderne Passport program on: https://www.moderneventures.com

Elina Kovaleva, who is head of research at Velox Capital Partners, an equity long/short market neutral hedge fund firm based in London, a position she has held for 3 years. She previously held a number of research and analyst roles, at investment banks and hedge funds. Our conversation starts with Elina's upbringing in Russia in the 1990s and her route into finance and centers in particular on why she believes hedge funds, with their merit-based performance culture where results matter, can be a perfect place for women to work and thrive. We dig into some of the unexpected variety and areas of deep satisfaction in stock analysis, and in the increasing integration of ESG in the process. We transition then to a discussion of impact and why it is increasingly integrated with instead of separate from the investment case.  When it comes to life lessons, Elina draws one from chess - which is to be pessimistic about your next move, but optimistic about your ability.  To be kind, and to consider the world your "Everest" - something that can be conquered, if you are up for the challenge. This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

David Miller is an Executive Director at Quilter Cheviot, where he manages over £1.1 bn pounds in client funds.  He has been in the investing business for over 40 years and and is the author of the 7 year old “Diary of a Fund Manager” weekly diary, which has a readership of over 15,000 across 57 countries.  Our conversation charts David's entry into finance and why it continues to be his passion and why he has returned to running money, after some spells managing people and teams. We start with how he accidentally fell into finance, after studying organic chemistry.  His investment beliefs have evolved over time, but he continues to be focused (perhaps deriving from his roots as a scientist) on empirical evidence, and does not believe that finance is a dark art, but is instead about engaging with the real world.  He speaks about his aversion to having too much "conviction" and certainty around market direction and asset classes. Given David's extensive experience in rendering advice, we compare working with individual clients to institutions, and how the attitude to risk, time horizon and capital preservation might be different. We move to talk about his writing - which he likens to "going to the mental gym" each week, and the sense of discipline and clarity that writing his thoughts down brings to him.This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Alexandra Noble is an independent strategic advisor to financial institutions and charities, and has a particular interest in mentoring the next generation of investment leaders.  Her portfolio career includes a consulting role for Pensions for Purpose, coaching and strategic advice to firms, a Chair role at Future-Fit Ltd and roles as a charity trustee and director.  Our conversation is a broad-ranging one which starts with Alexandra's entry, into finance and her time as a fund manager as well as a manager of people.  We discuss the traits that made her a leader, and what she learned from the industry as well as peers.  We move to her current portfolio career and the passion she has to mentor the next generation of leaders, and how the complexities of business and the world today necessitate a different style of coaching.This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Tim Hodgson is co-head of the Thinking Ahead Institute at Willis Towers Watson.  He previously worked as an investment consultant. Our wide ranging conversation covers the genesis of the Thinking Ahead institute and what prompted the desire to gather industry thought leaders together to work on the most pressing issues facing not only the industry but the planet.Tim's own career has had many twists and turns and we spend some time on how he learned to think in exponential terms instead of strictly linearly. We translate this thinking into what the outlook for the planet is and Tim is surprisingly sanguine about what progress we will make and the change that we will see in 5 years. This podcast discusses similar themes to those discussed in Episode 72 with Tim's colleague, Marisa Hall co-head of the Thinking Ahead institute. You can find the link to that here:https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ITfgkpUg8NOzDY6XrqEx5?si=0zLrNlEwSKOCybf-MA4R7wThis podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Eoin Murray is Head of Investment at the international business of Federated Hermes.  He has had a long career in investment management, spending time as a hedge fund manager and a quantitative equity specialist.  He recently obtained a certificate in energy innovation and emerging technologies and is a passionate advocate for sustainable investing, greater awareness of climate change and in driving change in the investment industry towards these goals.  He also has a diploma in specialist rescue which includes Swift Water Rescue, Powered Boat Rescue, Water Incident Management, & Rope Rescue via Outreach Rescue.  It is these unusual intersections that we discuss in this podcast, which is also included in the Fiftyfaces Focus Intersections Series. Our conversations starts with Eoin's proud Glaswegian routes, and how he stumbled into a career in investing and finance almost by accident.  We learn about his passion for quantitative methods and what prompted him to start his own firm in 2008 - which he admits did not have the best timing.  We cycle through his investment interests to his current focus on sustainable investing, pushing for greater awareness of climate change and the integration of climate change resilience into portfolios, as well as the drive for positive impact.  We then turn to a fascinating parallel interest of Eoin's which is specialist rescue, and discuss how this interest originated and what lessons it has taught him for life as well as his career. He recounts some of the highs and lows of this emotionally charged pursuit, the long hours of training and skill maintenance and why he feels so passionately about it.  I hope you enjoy this refreshing conversation with a professional committed to lifelong learning and pushing boundaries. 

Susan Soh, is Head of Capital Formation and Business Development at GrowthCurve Capital, a private equity firm focused on building world-class businesses by leveraging data, analytics, and machine learning, combined with a comprehensive approach to human capital, to accelerate growth and drive value creation.  At the time of the podcast recording she was Chief of Strategy and Capital Development for the private investment activities at Two Sigma, a $60B financial sciences firm with businesses in investment management, insurance, private equity and venture capital.  She was previously a founding partner and Global Head of Marketing and Client Services at Perella Weinberg Partners and prior to that held a series of roles in business development at a series of hedge funds and private equity firms. She originally trained as a lawyer and M&A banker. She is a Board Member of AAAIM since 2014 – Association of Asian American Investment Managers.Our conversation traces Susan's childhood and the expectations of her Chinese American family, as well as her cycle through her expected career, and then an unexpected one.  This naturally led us to discuss what Susan describes as "AQ" - adaptive intelligence, and how being able to pivot and adapt to life's surprises is so key.  We return to the topic of diversity time and time again - in particular the unique position of Asian Americans and why setting the standard is so important for role models of all kinds. This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Andrien Meyers is a Councilman in the City of London Corporation as well as a Head of Pensions Investments at the London Borough of Sutton and Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.  He is a Non Executive Director of Resonance Limited as well as a strategic business advisor to bfinance. Our conversation starts with his upbringing in India, and moves through his move to the UK, his early career in accounting and how he was attracted in to the investment area.  We talk about what it means to be a steward of capital in the public fund area. We talk through his investment beliefs, such as what responsible investing means to him, his conviction in asset management and the importance of accurate measurement and reporting. Passionate about financial literacy, Andrien describes the after school program that he has helped create that focuses on "fusion skills" such as Resume Writing, Interview skills and Presentation Skils. We move then to speak about his work on the Anti-Racism Taskforce for the City of London, of which Andrien is a member and discuss how delicate and sometimes nuanced actions take have to be, especially in a place as laced with history and tradition as the City of London.  This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.