The Fiftyfaces Podcast

This summary is less a trailer than a highlight reel. The year started with a new administration in the US and an explosion of the culture wars and backlash against DEI and ESG labelling. Even engagement has become more cumbersome and some may feel the hard won policies of years ago are going into reverse.  Because we had lined up a list of industry experts with a focus on sustainable investing for this series, we had an excellent opportunity to ask them about the headwinds and the view of them. The views were surprisingly nuanced and positive, from the insights of a sustainable equity manager about the impact that was still happening, to the views of two founders of a nature based solutions manager about the decline of net zero alliances and how the shift of focus from carbon might be a good thing. The guests of Series 1 are Chelsea Smith of Bernstein Private Wealth, Anastasia Guha of Redington, Denise Le Gal of Brightworth, Abdiel Santiago of the Panama Sovereign Wealth Fund, Bjorn Thelander (formerly of the Dyson Family Office), Stephanie Niven of Ninety One, Rob Gardner and Eoin Murray of Rebalance Earth and Steve Neel of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board and Stephen Oxley of OXC. This series of the Fiftyfaces Podcast is proudly brought to you by bfinance—a trusted partner to the world’s leading institutional investors. With a proven track record in strategy, implementation, and oversight, bfinance delivers bespoke investment consultancy that empowers asset owners to achieve their unique objectives. Whether it’s refining portfolio strategy, selecting fund managers, monitoring performance or getting better value for money, bfinance combines global expertise with tailored solutions to unlock value for their clients. To learn more about how they’ve supported over 500 clients in 45 countries, managing assets totalling over $9 trillion, visit bfinance.com.

Chelsea Smith is Senior National Director, Family Office Services at Bernstein Private Wealth Management, based in Chicago. She started her career as an equity trader, and in recent years has been heavily involved in diversity initiatives designed to attract a more diverse pipeline into the finance industry. Our conversation starts with Chelsea's upbringing - as one of three triplet girls, she had a unique family structure from the very beginning and spent her childhood cycling through different schools and neighborhoods with her father's work. We follow then the mentor that advised her to work in finance and the ongoing role that mentors like that played in shaping her career.Now in private wealth, we discuss the evolution of the private wealth product offering, where alternatives fit, and where values fit. We also talk about values in the workplace and some of the ways that Chelsea is instilling her values in the pipeline of talent, by nurturing it and helping it grow. This is a poignant story of triumph and grit, which should serve as an inspiration for future generations. It is particularly appropriate that we are releasing this in Women's History Month and in celebration of International Women's Day. This episode of the Fiftyfaces Podcast is proudly brought to you by bfinance—a trusted partner to the world’s leading institutional investors. With a proven track record in strategy, implementation, and oversight, bfinance delivers bespoke investment consultancy that empowers asset owners to achieve their unique objectives. Whether it’s refining portfolio strategy, selecting fund managers, monitoring performance or getting better value for money, bfinance combines global expertise with tailored solutions to unlock value for their clients. To learn more about how they’ve supported over 500 clients in 45 countries, managing assets totalling over $9 trillion, visit bfinance.com.

Denise Le Gal is Independent Chair at Brightwell as well as a Chair and Trustee Director of JP Morgan Chase Retirement Plan among other portfolio roles  She was Chair of the Brunel Pension Partnership Limited for close to 8 years.Our conversation goes back to Denise's roots, and she describes how she grew up in a large family on a farm near Winnipeg - a place where nature and its force loomed large. This taught a deference towards nature and the impact of climate, and it has been something that Denise has remembered throughout her life.We trace then her academic path through music and business, and how she ultimately found her way into finance, and then eventually into the type of finance that suited her.  International moves, a stint in politics and a long term role in public pensions followed.We discuss the current outlook for governance and public pensions as well as the likely further role of pooling in the UK LGPS. This is a rich conversation with many twists and turns.This episode of the Fiftyfaces Podcast is proudly brought to you by bfinance—a trusted partner to the world’s leading institutional investors. With a proven track record in strategy, implementation, and oversight, bfinance delivers bespoke investment consultancy that empowers asset owners to achieve their unique objectives. Whether it’s refining portfolio strategy, selecting fund managers, monitoring performance or getting better value for money, bfinance combines global expertise with tailored solutions to unlock value for their clients. To learn more about how they’ve supported over 500 clients in 45 countries, managing assets totalling over $9 trillion, visit bfinance.com.

In this special episode we are thrilled to share the stage with Robert Morier, host of the Dakota Live Podcast and Professor of Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital at Drexel University. We reflect on what podcasting has taught us, how our respective platforms have evolved, how diversity factors in to our guest list and our approach, and what the future looks like for podcasting, for our industry and for how we talk about it. You can find out more about the Dakota Live Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQXvBjpCC80gqthSXD3BSjA

Abdiel Santiago is Secretary (CIO) of the Fondo de Ahorro de Panama, a role he has held for over 11 years. He holds a number of board roles in addition – including Advisory Committee Member of the Export-Import Bank of the US, a Board Advisory Committee Member of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds and a Committee Member of the Milken Institute. He is also a Board Leadership Fellow at the National Association of Corporate Directors.Our conversation starts with his early years in the US military, and the lessons learned there around leadership, team work and chain of command. We cycle through his career in finance, some of its ups and down and what led to the offer he couldn't refuse to join the start up sovereign wealth funding his home country of Panama.This series we have a special focus on sovereign wealth funs with the coming podcast with Victoria Barbary, Director of Strategy & Communications for the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, and Abdiel provides on the ground insight into building a fund from scratch, responding to governance concerns and considering local impact. Our discussion ends with a discussion of board roles and governance, and how the allure of these roles might not be always as they seem. This episode of the Fiftyfaces Podcast is proudly brought to you by bfinance—a trusted partner to the world’s leading institutional investors. With a proven track record in strategy, implementation, and oversight, bfinance delivers bespoke investment consultancy that empowers asset owners to achieve their unique objectives. Whether it’s refining portfolio strategy, selecting fund managers, monitoring performance or getting better value for money, bfinance combines global expertise with tailored solutions to unlock value for their clients. To learn more about how they’ve supported over 500 clients in 45 countries, managing assets totalling over $9 trillion, visit bfinance.com.

Stephen Oxley is founder of Oxley Capital Connections (OXC) a firm he founded in the UAE in 2024 dedicated to helping global investment managers raise capital in the Middle East. He was formerly held a serious of business development functions in the Middle East and Europe and worked as an investment consultant.I have known Stephen for many years, and have always known about his fascinating backstory as an actor – and a performer in a one man show at that – Stephen starred in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy. This seemed like a natural launch point for a discussion around the lessons learned through building a career as a successful actor, and in particular the skills needed to connect with a crowd when you are quite literally a “one man show”. Stephen describes the tactics of connecting with an audience, and a different audience every night, and the kind of rejection that hurt more than others. We move then to discuss OXC and the marketplace of the Middle East where he is now focused. We learn about asset allocation preferences, relationship building and the fast-moving dynamic of this region.This episode of the Fiftyfaces Podcast is proudly brought to you by bfinance—a trusted partner to the world’s leading institutional investors. With a proven track record in strategy, implementation, and oversight, bfinance delivers bespoke investment consultancy that empowers asset owners to achieve their unique objectives. Whether it’s refining portfolio strategy, selecting fund managers, monitoring performance or getting better value for money, bfinance combines global expertise with tailored solutions to unlock value for their clients. To learn more about how they’ve supported over 500 clients in 45 countries, managing assets totalling over $9 trillion, visit bfinance.com.

Why does every organization have to be a "learning organization"? What is the future of computing? How can quantum computing be a force for good? This bonus episode with Kelly Richdale is a master class in the potential of quantum computing how the essence of cyber security has changed - to become cyber resilience. Kelly is an independent board director and advisor with a portfolio of international mandates based on technology innovation and digital transformation, with a particular focus on quantum, AI, blockchain, crypto and cybersecurity. Based in Geneva, she is an executive fellow at the WEF, a Senior Advisor at Sandbox AQ and has various board roles.  We are also fellow alums of INSEAD.Our conversation cycles through the promise and challenges of AI, and the future of quantum computing.  Given Kelly's board roles we discuss how best to get board members on the learning curve on these complex and ever changing topics and discuss the challenges of building cyber resilience in the current climate. We end with a discussion of the level of diversity within STEM and what can be done to move the needle.This is an outstanding study of a career defined by non-conformity but evidenced by brilliance, advocacy and a sense that nothing is impossible. 

Stephanie Niven is a Global Sustainable Equity Portfolio Manager at Ninety One. She started her career as an equity analyst and subsequently held a series of portfolio management roles.  She was previously an ambassador for the Diversity Project and sits on the Advisory Board of Girls Who Invest. Our conversation traces Stephanie's love of sport, and water polo in particular, and we discuss how that primed her for a career in investing.  We dig in then to what is sustainable equity and what sustainable investing means to her today, tackling head on the headwinds that this strategy is facing.Because this is a subject that is core to the mission and purpose of Ninety One we also cover culture in an investment team, how to nurture it and how to know when it is working. This episode of the Fiftyfaces Podcast is proudly brought to you by bfinance—a trusted partner to the world’s leading institutional investors. With a proven track record in strategy, implementation, and oversight, bfinance delivers bespoke investment consultancy that empowers asset owners to achieve their unique objectives. Whether it’s refining portfolio strategy, selecting fund managers, monitoring performance or getting better value for money, bfinance combines global expertise with tailored solutions to unlock value for their clients. To learn more about how they’ve supported over 500 clients in 45 countries, managing assets totalling over $9 trillion, visit bfinance.com.

Our guests on this episode, Rob Gardner and Eoin Murray, both previous guests on this podcast, join us again to discuss how they have come together at Rebalance Earth.  Rob is the CEO and CoFounder of Rebalance Earth, which redirects the flow of capital to protect and restore nature at scale. He was a guest on this podcast in 2021 when we discussed his Redington journey and again last year when we discussed his book EARN IT, KEEP IT, GROW IT. Eoin is the incoming CIO of Rebalance Earth, and was also a guest on this podcast in 2021.  He was formerly Head of Investments at Federated Hermes International. I have gathered Eoin and Rob together to discuss the vision and future outlook for Rebalance Earth, and we start by looking at the case for investing in nature and how instruments and markets have evolved to make this doable. We speak about the hydrology cycle, and how water, not carbon, lies at the heart of bio-diversity preservation as well as many of the risk factors facing companies whether from a shortage of water or an excess of it (flooding). We address the current zeitgeist, and the push back around net zero alliances and sustainable finance in general, and Rob and Eoin share some interesting perspectives. You can listen to Rob's previous podcasts here: https://www.fiftyfaceshub.com/281-rob-gardner-on-attaining-financial-freedom-the-secret-of-earn-it-keep-it-grow-it/ (on Financial Freedom) and here: https://www.fiftyfaceshub.com/robert-gardner-how-to-make-money-a-force-for-good/ and Eoin's podcast is here: https://www.fiftyfaceshub.com/eoin-murray-of-federated-hermes-sustainable-investing-and-mountain-and-water-rescue/This episode of the Fiftyfaces Podcast is proudly brought to you by bfinance—a trusted partner to the world’s leading institutional investors. With a proven track record in strategy, implementation, and oversight, bfinance delivers bespoke investment consultancy that empowers asset owners to achieve their unique objectives. Whether it’s refining portfolio strategy, selecting fund managers, monitoring performance or getting better value for money, bfinance combines global expertise with tailored solutions to unlock value for their clients. To learn more about how they’ve supported over 500 clients in 45 countries, managing assets totalling over $9 trillion, visit bfinance.com.

Anastasia Guha is a sustainable investing expert at Redington with over 17 years of experience.  She advises on sustainable investing strategy and beliefs, best practices for integrating ESG factors into investment projects, engagement and ESG reporting and measurement. Our conversation starts with Anastasia's roots and the discipline of learning that was laid down within her family. We then trace her career moves through consulting into her current sustainable finance expertise and start a whistle stop tour of the topics, controversies and progress that has been made in sustainable finance throughout her career to date, and we craft an outlook as to what is on the horizon.We examine the disconnect between volume of data and saliency, and discuss this as a continuously iterative discipline of always asking what the meaning of certain data and its intended use is. We move then to the role of engagement and the possibility of making change - whether on the social side through engagement and in other areas. We discuss the effectiveness of emissions disclosures, the current backlash against ESG investing and the likely evolution of this area over coming years. This is a riveting discussion grounded in common sense that is more important now than ever.