The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Kurt Summers is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Public-Private Partnerships inBlackstone’s Infrastructure Group. In this capacity, Mr. Summers is responsible forinvestment strategies in partnership with governments, public entities, civic and labororganizations, and broader stakeholders to help advance local infrastructure prioritiesand he also advances Blackstone Infrastructure’s ESG efforts. Mr. Summers waselected and served as Chicago’s 70th City Treasurer until 2019. Mr. Summers alsoserved as both Chairman of the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, where he led the largestlighting retrofit project in North America, and Chairman of the Chicago CommunityCatalyst Fund, a first-of-its-kind $100 million local investment fund focused on privateinvestments in Chicago neighborhoods..Kurt’s chapters of public service are numerous and varied, and we chart these from start tofinish. We hear about the extraordinary responsibility that came with some of the roles, thenumbers of employees within the coverage areas and the budget at stake. This sparks adiscussion of the difference between public and private sector careers, and the kind ofexperience that the former can provide, mainly due to the fact that some responsibility can comeearly in one’s career.We move then to discuss infrastructure and the public/private partnership opportunity anddiscuss some of the particular transactions that make sense as well as the impact that theseprojects can have.Series 3 of 2024 is supported by Ruffer and Nuveen. Ruffer is a London based asset manager -founded in 1994 - managing over $25 billion for institutions, pension funds, charities andindividuals. They have a single investment approach that aims to deliver positive returns acrossthe full range of market conditions.  Nuveen has provided investment excellence for 125years. With expertise across income and alternatives, Nuveen continues to expand itscapabilities while maintaining its legacy as a leading investment manager. Visit Nuveen.comto learn more. Investing involves risk; loss of principal is possible.

Kevin Leonard is Partner and Practice Group Director – Public Funds and Taft Hartley at NEPC. He has had a long career in consulting and started his career as an accountant.Kevin has had a career of over 30 years in investment consulting, and it had a somewhat “accidental” start – being driven more by location and convenience than a calling.  Things quickly shifted however, and Kevin found that working with public funds where the possibility to add value and have impact was high and the touchpoints with investment committees and Boards frequent and satisfying.We move then to discuss some of the challenges facing public funds more broadly and the mélange of policy issues, economic challenges and resource constraints that create a unique workload for the investment consultants serving this segment.  Staying with policy we discuss the relevance of ESG and D&I issues for this client segment and how investment consultants are staying ahead of the curve to ensure that this mission can be fulfilled. Series 3 of 2024 is supported by Ruffer and Nuveen. Ruffer is a London based asset manager - founded in 1994 - managing over $25 billion for institutions, pension funds, charities and individuals. They have a single investment approach that aims to deliver positive returns across the full range of market conditions.  Nuveen has provided investment excellence for 125 years. With expertise across income and alternatives, Nuveen continues to expand its capabilities while maintaining its legacy as a leading investment manager. Visit Nuveen.com to learn more. Investing involves risk; loss of principal is possible.

David Golub is President at Golub Capital, a direct lender and credit manager established in 1994, and celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. As the son of a psychiatrist and psychologist, a path into finance was originally a divergent path, and a somewhat non-linear one at that.As we chart the course of David’s career we chart the arc of Golub Capital’s at the same time – discussing the origins of the concept of a private lending firm and how it had its roots in private equity.  Designed to solve a problem, offer certainty of execution and built on a network of relationships we hear how a lot of hard work – and a little bit of luck – lead to the positioning that they enjoy today.We move then to discuss the nature of the private credit market and how it has evolved over the course of Golub’s history.  We examine its significantly enhanced breadth and sophistication today.One of David’s key personal interests is in culture and we speak in particular about the role that culture plays at Golub.  The firm dedicates significant resources to training, coaching and creating a sense of belonging for its team members. We speak about the role of feedback and accountability as well as the way that junior professionals are mentored and learn how to take risk.  Finally we discuss the role of worrying and how for a credit investor it seems to go with the territory. Series 3 of 2024 is supported by Ruffer and Nuveen. Ruffer is a London based asset manager - founded in 1994 - managing over $25 billion for institutions, pension funds, charities and individuals. They have a single investment approach that aims to deliver positive returns across the full range of market conditions.  Nuveen has provided investment excellence for 125 years. With expertise across income and alternatives, Nuveen continues to expand its capabilities while maintaining its legacy as a leading investment manager. Visit Nuveen.com to learn more. Investing involves risk; loss of principal is possible.  

Derek Walker from CPP Investments discusses his unconventional career path from technology to finance. Topics include Total Fund Investing, organization size impact on decision-making, factor-first approach to portfolio construction, and the mission-driven motivation at CPP serving beneficiaries and contributors.

Anna McDonald has a dual role at Moneta, a St. Louis based RIA with over $32 billion in assets under management. She supports athletes in all aspects of their financial lives, preparing them for sustained success beyond their athletic careers. She knows this segment well as she previously spent six years as an ESPN reporter, covering Major League Baseball and the National Football League. During this time she was a spokesperson around health and safety concerns of the NFL.  In addition to her work with athletes, she also serves as Moneta’s Director of Family Learning. In this capacity, she works at the net as client facing teams to facilitate learning programs for families to transfer wealth to younger generations.Having bridged both journalism and financial advice, we start with the mysterious world of professional sports and reporting on them.  Anna describes how she won the trust of athletes, getting them to open up to her as a reporter, and discusses how meeting them at their level of discussion in terms of technical knowledge was the key to rising above some of the “fluff” in sports coverage.  She translated this counseling and advisory capacity into a broader desire to work with athletes to plan their lives beyond their financial careers and her role at Moneta was born.The profile of professional athletes is unique in terms of earning – and can resemble the inverse of a J curve – in that earnings can be front end loaded but can taper off once a career recedes or retirement occurs.  This underscores the importance of planning, budgeting and preparing for a career beyond elite sports, and we discuss the educational and practical components of this.Series 3 of 2024 is supported by Ruffer and Nuveen. Ruffer is a London based asset manager - founded in 1994 - managing over $25 billion for institutions, pension funds, charities and individuals. They have a single investment approach that aims to deliver positive returns across the full range of market conditions.  Nuveen has provided investment excellence for 125 years. With expertise across income and alternatives, Nuveen continues to expand its capabilities while maintaining its legacy as a leading investment manager. Visit Nuveen.com to learn more. Investing involves risk; loss of principal is possible.

Nicci Take featured in our first Pride series in 2021 and shared her story as a prominent transgender advocate, inspirational speaker and coach.  We have watched Nicci’s presence grow and thrive over the past 3 years, she posts frequent inspirational content on Linked IN and we we wanted to ask her back onto the podcast to share some of that wisdom  - particularly as we get ready to launch our pride series of 2024 in coming weeks. Now global head coach at MMC Marsh McLennan, Nicci works with teams to help the company secure more deals.  We speak about the dynamics of being memorable in these presentations, and how prioritizing the needs of the audience is paramount.  We discuss the poor retention levels of audiences, citing the Ebbinghaus Curve of Forgetting and the staggering amount of information that is forgotten as time passes from the date of acquiring it.  This reinforces the importance of repetition and follow up.  Nicci cites the “day, week, month” mantra for follow up, which sets the cadence for interactions after the initial meeting, and a host of other tips for making presentations memorable, including that it really is not about the presenter.  

Varun Laijawalla is a Portfolio Manager at Ninety One, where he manages long only EM and EM ex-China portfolios.  He started his career as a consultant and moved into stockpicking via Asia focused sales.Our conversation starts with his international background, which saw his family move from India to Holland when Varun was only 4 years old, and the imprint that that multi-cultural yet well-integrated backdrop provided. We hear then about his career journey, which saw him move from management consulting into investing via a serendipitous meeting and reading material, which encouraged him to “follow his dream”.A move to Hong Kong followed, and a career in emerging market investing unfolded, with all of the travel, variety and intellectual stimuli that such a career would suggest. We discuss the features of emerging market investing, the rout that it has experienced over the past few years and the increased investor interest in emerging markets ex-China portfolios.  Finally we reflect on some of the most insightful investor letters that Varun has enjoyed receiving because they provide insights as to how to think. We return to the exhortation to “follow the dream” and examine what makes it worthwhile.  Series 3 of 2024 is supported by Ruffer and Nuveen. Ruffer is a London based asset manager - founded in 1994 - managing over $25 billion for institutions, pension funds, charities and individuals. They have a single investment approach that aims to deliver positive returns across the full range of market conditions.  Nuveen has provided investment excellence for 125 years. With expertise across income and alternatives, Nuveen continues to expand its capabilities while maintaining its legacy as a leading investment manager. Visit Nuveen.com to learn more. Investing involves risk; loss of principal is possible.  

In this bonus episode we meet with fellow INSEAD alumna Avivah Wittenberg-Cox advocates for new thinking in generational and gender balance. She is a consultant, coach and speaker on the rising impact of longevity on the people and on the workplace and provides advice to help businesses thrive. She is the author of seven books on gender, leadership and longevity and the host of the podcast 4-Quarter lives, where she applauds podcasts as a way to create “real conversations in a very noisy world”.   In this very real conversation we talk about Avivah’s path to coaching and the importance of rethinking what we thought we knew about our lifespans, employment trajectories and retirement path. She draws upon her analogy of life having four quarters, and makes the point that most of us have discounted the potential of the third quarter – the years between 50 and 75.  We discuss the perils of trying to compress too much into the second quarter in particular – to try to “have it all” instead of spreading out goals and achievements.  We look at the endless potential of this phase and ask how employers can embrace this and in so doing promote more diversity in the workplace and more sustainable employment practices.  Given that Avivah is a coach we discuss the role of coaching and how it might be integrated into careers at an earlier stage than currently.  We also discuss continuing education and how universities and other institutions should adapt to the demand for lifelong learning.  Finally we look at the role of intuition, and how trusting one’s instincts can be central to career success.   

Jim McNamee, is President of the National Public Pension Fund Association.  He is director of Stonegate Insurance, Unique Insurance Company and Resolute Global Partners as well as the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association which he founded in 1985. He was formerly a police officer.Our conversation starts with the school of hard knocks – a strict Catholic schooling outside Chicago, and we trace Jim’s early years, which weren’t always easy within the school system. After dropping out of high school he joined the military and this was the regulation that he needed to calm down and develop a plan.  He spent decades in the police and there became interested in the pension system and protections in place for beneficiaries.This sparked a second career as a connector, Trustee and advocate for public pension funds around the US, and the founding of first the Illinois Public Pension Funds Association and then the National Public Pension Funds Association. We talk about the challenges and priorities for public pension funds today and the way that advocates, officers and trustees are beginning to tackle them.Series 3 of 2024 is supported by Ruffer and Nuveen. Ruffer is a London based asset manager - founded in 1994 - managing over $25 billion for institutions, pension funds, charities and individuals. They have a single investment approach that aims to deliver positive returns across the full range of market conditions.  Nuveen has provided investment excellence for 125 years. With expertise across income and alternatives, Nuveen continues to expand its capabilities while maintaining its legacy as a leading investment manager. Visit Nuveen.com to learn more. Investing involves risk; loss of principal is possible. 

Stephanie Drescher is Chief Client and Product Development Officer at Apollo.  She started her career in the Alternative Investment Group at JP Morgan and is a Board Member at ADT.  We start our discussion with a tribute to Stephanie’s grandmother who taught her about stocks and the markets, sowing the seeds of an interest in finance that has been lifelong. We trace her education in a women’s college, through to her entry into finance and her progression through the ranks of an investment bank.We move then to discuss the evolving nature of institutional and private wealth product demand, and how it has changed over recent years.  We speak in particular about the role of alternative assets and the culture of firms that endure. Series 3 of 2024 is supported by Ruffer and Nuveen. Ruffer is a London based asset manager - founded in 1994 - managing over $25 billion for institutions, pension funds, charities and individuals. They have a single investment approach that aims to deliver positive returns across the full range of market conditions.  Nuveen has provided investment excellence for 125 years. With expertise across income and alternatives, Nuveen continues to expand its capabilities while maintaining its legacy as a leading investment manager. Visit Nuveen.com to learn more. Investing involves risk; loss of principal is possible.