The Fiftyfaces Podcast

William Bourne is a long-time adviser to the local government pension schemes in the UK, and has over 30 years experience on all sides of the asset allocation business. He in the founder of Linchpin, which provides advice on investments and governance to institutional investors, and has worked in sales as well as investment roles, and has spent a considerable amount of time in Japan. He is a frequent commentator and participant on the investment advice conference circuit and a co-host of an occasional webinar series with me in which we bring together a lively group of investors and their advisers. Our conversation starts with William's long and varied career which has been both global and hyper-local, and has included many start-up situations, some of which had varying degrees of success. We discuss his investment beliefs, and how helps his client to navigate the current market volatility and how his views have evolved over time.We then dive what William terms his "hinterland", which is a particularly rich one - from his love of small-craft sailing, which included some stormy encounters and even a shipwreck, to his passion for bridge, which is one that he is committed to passing on to younger generations. We talk about some of the under-appreciated aspects of bridge - how it makes you think, and the skills it lays down for life. There is more information about William and Linchpin (including William's blog) on: https://www.linchpin-advisory.com/homeThis podcast was made possible by the kind support of Alvine Capital, a specialist advisor and placement boutique, based in London.

Justin Onuekwusi is a Fund Manager and Head of Retail Multi-Asset Funds at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) based in London. He started his career as an investment consultant in an actuarial consulting firm, and moved to a research and portfolio manager role, where he has specialized in multi-asset fund management. Our conversation starts with Justin's upbringing in Manchester, and some of the challenges that came with it, and then moves to how he became interested in the actuarial profession and ultimately the world of investing. We discuss his recent blog post on LinkedIN called “where do we go from here?” which describes the early age he became aware of racism, learning how to code switch as early as primary school and micro-aggressions that he experienced throughout his career. We explore all of these in more detail, examining what it is to truly feel like you belong, and how firms can create a better sense of inclusion for all of their employees. Justin discusses his passion for mentorship and the circles that he coaches, which enable younger career entrants to develop and ultimately thrive.Justin was pivotal in the recent #talkaboutblack campaign and speaks about what that means, and why it is important to be colour brave instead of colour blind, and to work to improve race fluency. His prescription for this is grounded in empathy, and in creating psychological safety for all colleagues to make mistakes without judgment. See Justin's LinkedIN blog post here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6732603742996299776/ and follow him on LinkedIN for more information about #talkaboutblack and the 10,000 Black Interns campaign that he supports (https://www.10000blackinterns.com/).This podcast was supported by Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and placement boutique, based in London, and the Guild of Investment Managers, which was found in 2015 by a group of investment managers, to combine the benefits of a modern, diverse and dynamic network organization with the traditions of the livery world.

Terry Mellish just recently retired from a head of international public policy diversity and inclusion role at Natixis Investment Managers, capping a career in the city that spanned over 50 years. He is continuing in an active role in the industry as an ambassador of The Diversity Project where he heads up the ability work stream, and is a frequent participant in industry networking events and diversity and inclusion themed initiatives.Our conversation, and this podcast's title, references an article recently published featuring Terry in which he describes being born "on the wrong side of the tracks" but nonetheless entering the city at a very young age and working his way up. Terry spent much of his life working with institutional clients and he describes his extraordinary work ethic in which he learned to express his opinion only after finding how much it was valued. There were many changes in the City over the course of his career and we discuss whether the City has come far enough in encouraging socio-economic diversity and mobility and how it needs to improve.One of the most affirming aspects of my conversation with Terry is our discussion of the energizing effect that his taking on a diversity and inclusion role had towards the end of his career. This unexpected turn, facilitated by a supportive sponsor, provided a new beginning at a time when careers typically wind down, and acted as launch pad for the next active chapter of his life - post retirement.There is more information on the Diversity Project at: https://diversityproject.com/This podcast was made possible by the kind support of Alvine Capital, a London based specialist investment advisor and placement boutique.

Robert (Rob) Gardner is Director of Investments at St. James’s Place Wealth Management, a position he has held since early 2019. He was a co-founder of Redington, a consulting firm, where he spent 14 years and remains a non-executive Director. Rob describes himself as a financial activist – on a mission to make money a force for good for people and the planet and create “financial wellbeing in a world worth living in”. He is a passionate advocate for financial literacy and has written a children’s book on the topic called "Save your Acorns" (see: https://saveyouracorns.com/). He is on the expert committee of the Retirement Investment Systems Reform Project of the World Economic Forum.Our multi-layered conversation looks back to Rob's youth, when he spent a period of time in Argentina and later in a boarding school in the UK. His early days of juggling exchange rates and experiencing the reality of hyper-inflation sowed the seeds for a passion for numbers and finance, and we trace his years in finance before he took the leap to found Redington. We then pivot to some of Rob's core beliefs that guide his current advocacy - his passionate focus on increasing financial literacy, particularly in young children, and his advice around what it means to invest for a world worth living in. We speak about his current work that encourage planning for living to 100 (and beyond) and how investing with a sustainable lens is critical. Rob leaves us with some of the advice he gives to the young people he mentors: that they should begin with the end in mind - and to nurture their three pools of capital: intellectual capital, social capital, and financial capital. This endorsement to keep learning, build networks and to manage risk and finances prudently is a powerful trinity that applies well beyond the walls of finance and investment. This podcast was supported by Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and placement boutique, based in London, and the Guild of Investment Managers, which was found in 2015 by a group of investment managers, to combine the benefits of a modern, diverse and dynamic network organization with the traditions of the livery world.

William Heard is the founder and CIO of Heard Capital, a Chicago-based hedge fund firm that he founded when he was in his 20s, and where he is distinguished by a high conviction concentrated investment style. He was recently named one of Fortune’s 40 under 40 in the finance sector. Our conversation looks back to William's entry into finance, what sparked his fascination with markets and his early training within a multi-strategy hedge fund firm. A self-described introvert in his style, William discusses how his team relies on debates not screens and focuses on what company management says v. what they do in order to determine where the value lies.We turn then to the decision to launch his own firm, which he took at a particularly young age. We note the support he had from a range of backers who saw talent and believed in it, and how he has now built on his initial traction to gain scale. William has a clear love of markets, their complexity and unpredictability, and this conversation is a refreshing look at what makes them so appealing and filled with opportunity. This series of The Fiftyfaces Podcast was made possible by the kind support of Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and placement boutique based in London.

I’m joined today by Cary Krosinsky who is a lecturer at Yale University where he teaches and advises on sustainable finance, energy studies and climate and investing. He also holds posts at Brown University, Columbia University, and Xian Jiaotong University. Hs is a published author, most recently of “Modern China: Financial Cooperation for Solving Sustainability Challenges” as well as other publications in the area of Sustainable Innovation and Impact. He is co-founder of the Sustainable Finance Institute as well as the Carbon Tracker Initiative among other initiatives and has worked closely with institutional investors to develop sustainable investment strategies and goals.My conversation with Cary traces the different phases of his career - which he counts (to date) as five. We talk about his early interest in sustainability, how he approaches cultural differences, particularly when taking the message to China and beyond, and how he has seen the field evolve. His endorsement to be flexible in one's career ambitions, to take time to allow careers to breathe, is one that resonates particularly well in today's volatile times. This podcast was supported by Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and placement boutique, based in London.

Luba Nikulina is Global Head of Research at Willis Towers Watson, based in London, where she oversees the quality of research and investment decisions, new investment solutions as well as technology and strategy in research. She is a Non-Executive director at the Investor Forum, which focus on positioning stewardship at the heart of investment decision making. She has a strong interest in ESG and innovation in investment strategy. Our conversation discusses her upbringing in Russia, her stint as an entrepreneur, her academic journey to London and her move into investment consulting and research. Luba speaks about what excites her most in the area of investment research today and her passion for stewardship and why she believes that this will be central to investment strategy going forward. This podcast was supported by Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and placement boutique, based in London, and the Guild of Investment Managers, which was found in 2015 by a group of investment managers, to combine the benefits of a modern, diverse and dynamic network organization with the traditions of the livery world.

We are absolutely delighted to be back with our 2021 series of The Fiftyfaces Podcast, which is like seeing a group of old friends - something long overdue for many of us. In this first series we continue our exploration of some of the fascinating backgrounds behind some of our investment industry colleagues, and discuss their struggles, their triumphs and their guiding beliefs. We learn about the benefits of orthogonal thinking to address complex problems, comparing that ratio of what management does v. what it says, the imperative of improving financial literacy. Shifting gears, we learn about the joys of bridge, how having a family can actually drive a career, why it is important to let your career breathe and the wisdom shared both by a London black cab driver and D. H. Lawrence. Tune in on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Twitter (@fiftyfacespod).This series was produced by Fiftyfaces Productions Ltd., and was made possible by the kind support of Alvine Capital Management, a London-based specialist investment advisor and placement boutique.

In this very special bonus episode of The Fiftyfaces Podcast we provide a preview of our next spin-off series Fiftyfaces Focus - Inspiring People in the law.The Honorable Judge Victoria Kolakowski, is a judge of the Superior Court of Alameda County, in the Bay Area of California and in November 2010 she was the first Transgender person to be elected a Trial Judge.Judge Kolakowski is a committed advocate for transgender people and makes herself available throughout the United States and internationally for conferences, seminars and interviews acting as a role-model and providing support.Her conversation with a new host, Patrick Devitt, goes back to her childhood, to her earliest days of wishing she were a girl, through adolescence, college and law school.She talks about her transition, reactions to it, the support network that made it possible and how being transgender affected her employment opportunities and career path.We hope you enjoy this profoundly moving interview that we are releasing to coincide with LGBT History Month in the UK. There is more information about Judge Kolakowski on the following links:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Kolakowskihttps://vkolakowski.com/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzPT40eaEGY&list=PLIsDBjtKYyJalB8rWNJqtKt-bAhhX2h6T

It seemed to be only fair that after the extraordinary generosity of the 58 guests of the first season of The Fiftyfaces Podcast I should open myself up to the same questions. To do this, I chose one of the best, Ted Seides, interviewer extraordinaire, and host of The Capital Allocators Podcast, which you can check out here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/capital-allocators/id1223764016Our conversation is a bit of a hybrid of The Fiftyfaces Podcast and Ted's own format, so we discuss my investment journey, lessons learned, adversity faced and what drives me, and also some fun questions about my daily habits, learning from my parents and lessons I wish I had learned earlier. As a former entrepreneur I have more than a little experience in bootstrapping an organization, and discuss that, as well as the essential pivots that had to be made in 2008 following the financial crisis. I also talk about the origins of The Fiftyfaces Podcast, the journey of listening and learning that absorbed me during the summer of 2020, and the life lessons that I took away from that humbling experience.