Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Andrew Tsai is the Chief Investment Officer of Chalkstream Capital Group, which he founded in 2003 to manage the assets of quant guru Peter Muller. Andrew's fascinating background started on the Lehman arbitrage desk in the early 1990s, after which he formed a quantitative hedge fund in 1997, built a dot.comlogistics business in 1999, and led the turnaround of a private equity-backed business thereafter. He combined his wide range of skills to focus on investing at Chalkstream. Our conversation walks through the stories and lessons from Andrew's background and turns to Chalkstream. His investment program is the opposite of asset allocation, emphasizing deep dive research, concentrated themes in niche spaces, low beta, long tails, and culture. We close by fleshing out examples of Chalkstream's themes in Japan and electricity trading. Learn More Discuss show and Read the Transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Join the Capital Allocators Forum Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Michael Schwimer is the CEO of Big League Advance, a company that makes investments in Minor League baseball players in exchange for an agreed-upon percentage of their future earnings. Before founding BLA, Michael was a professional baseball player, working his way through the minors and reaching the majors as a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. A shoulder injury left him pondering what to do next, which led to the creation of BLA. Our conversation discusses Michael's career as a player, the difficult life of Minor Leaguers, and his mission to improve their fortunes. We discuss his passion for statistics, application of Sabremetrics, and development of a team of All-Stars in the game of sports analytics. We close with a look into the future of BLA and Michael's prediction for this year's World Series Champion. Whether his bet proves right or wrong, Michael's rationale exemplifies second order thinking through the lens of data analytics that is never far from his mind. Learn More Discuss show and Read the Transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Join the Capital Allocators Forum Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Michael Batnick is the Director of Research at Ritholz Wealth Management, author of theIrrelevant Investor blog, co-host of the Animal Spirits podcast, and recently, author of his first book, Big Mistakes: The Best Investors and Their Worst Investments. Our conversation starts with Michael's atypical career path, his arrival at Ritholz, and his blog. We then turn to stories from his book about Ben Graham, Jesse Livermore, Jack Bogle, Stan Druckenmiller, John Maynard Keynes, Charlie Munger, and Chris Sacca. Lastly, we discuss how Michael applies the lessons in his book at Ritholz. Michael is a widely followed rising star in financial social media, and our conversation is packed with nuggets of timeless investment wisdom. Learn More Discuss show and Read the Transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Join the Capital Allocators Forum Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

After getting some great feedback from the replay of my conversation with Scott Malpass, I am going to repeat some gems from the past every few months. This week I picked out my conversation with Andy Golden, the venerable head of Princeton's 24 billion dollar endowment. It's another master class in endowment management from a seasoned veteran. Andy Golden is the President of Princeton University's Investment Management Company (PRINCO). Having grown from $3B at the time of his arrival in 1995 to $22.5B today, PRINCO has been among the highest performing endowments in the world. Andy came to PRINCO from Duke Management Company, where he was an Investment Director, and received his formative training in the business working for David Swensen at the Yale University Investments Office. Andy currently serves on the fund Advisory Boards of several well-known private equity and venture capital managers, including Bain Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Greylock Partners. He was a founding member of the Investors' Committee of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets and serves as a Trustee of the Princeton Area Community Foundation and Rutgers Preparatory School. Andy holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Duke University and an M.P.P.M. from the Yale School of Management. Our conversation discusses Princeton's endowment two decades ago and today, including its strategic advantages as an institution, shifts in thinking about asset allocation, decision making, team development, and partnership with managers. Andy's long tenure in his seat, insight, and wisdom provides a treasure trove of information about how a top endowment manager practices his craft, and his subtle wit always keeps things light. Learn more at www.PeterAttiaMD.com Connect with Peter on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Raff Arndt is the Chief Investment Officer of Australia's AUZ$145 billion Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Future Fund. He trained as an engineer and dove into infrastructure policy at the beginning of Australia's privatizations in the late 1990s. After investing in the space for six year, he joined the Future Fund in 2008 to head the infrastructure team. Six years later, Raff became CIO. Our conversation spans all aspects of the management of a next generation institutional portfolio, including a one team, one portfolio philosophy, disaggregating beta and factors from skill in public markets, separating the impact of leverage and timing from skill in private markets, venture capital and co-investment opportunities in a large pool of capital, the option value of flexibility, the team required to make decisions in this format, compensation, fees, views on China, and the current market environment. Australia created the Future Fund only eleven years ago with a mandate to compound capital for 20 years before even contemplating withdrawals. It has been described to me as a pool of capital with the size and transparency of CalPERS and the sophistication of Yale. I'm sure you'll soon understand why. Discuss the show and Read the transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Professor Stephen McKeon spent six years out of college working in finance for venture-backed startups before returning to graduate school and earning his PhD in finance in 2011. Blending his interest and experience, Steve focuses his research on corporate finance, M&A, security issuance, and most recently, crypto assets, where he has become a leading academic authority in the nascent area. Our conversation starts with Steve's first job smack into the teeth of the tech meltdown in 2000 and his subsequent roles at a winery and a drone company. We then turn to his work as an academic in the world of crypto assets, walking through the thesis for security tokens. Steve presents a case for the future of security tokens that is tangible and achievable. Now that the noise from soaring crypto currency prices has died down, we can learn a lot from Steve about what blockchain technology may bring to investing in the years ahead. Discuss the show and Read the transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Both times I was interviewed (by Khe Hy and Patrick O'Shaughnessy) and shared those conversations on Capital Allocators, I made reference to a special experience I've participated in for the last five years called the Hero's Journey. The weeklong journey in the mountains of West Virginia provides a setting and platform for each participant to access their best self. Michael Mervosh is the deeply insightful Executive Director of the Hero's Journey Foundation, an organization he created that provides experiential learning opportunities for human development and transformation based on Joseph Campbell's mythic hero's journey. He has a passion and indescribable skill in enlivening the developmental process and fostering vitality, meaning and well-being in individuals, groups, and organizations. When not running programs or training others, Michael practices psychotherapy at the Nuin Center in Pittsburgh, where he has professionally resided for 25 years. Our conversation took place in the mountains towards the end of this year's journey and is quite different from those you may be accustomed to hearing on the show. We cover Michael's path to creating the experience, the myth of the Hero, lessons in how the world actually works, the call to adventure, perfectionism, uncertainty, fear, and poetry. If you're intrigued, I strongly encourage you to check out herosjourneyfoundation.org. Spaces are limited for the annual summer Men's and Women's Journeys, so sign up for next year's trip at the website or reach out to me. I intend to be back on the mountain next year and hope to see you there. Learn More Discuss the show and Read the transcript Join Ted's monthly Mailing List Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast Book Links Phillip Shepherd, New Self, New World: Recovering Our Senses in the Twenty-First Century Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces Jack Kornfeld, After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path Joseph Jastrab, Sacred Manhood Sacred Earth: A Vision Quest into the Wilderness of a Man's Heart

Sarah Williamson is the CEO of FCLTGlobal, a non-profit consortium of large asset managers, allocators, and corporations dedicated to encouraging long-term behavior in business and investment decision-making. FCLTGlobal conducts research, convenes business leaders, develops actionable tools, and generates broad awareness of ways in which a longer-term focus can increase innovation, economic growth, and future savings. Prior to joining FCLTGlobal in 2016, Sarah spent 21 years at Wellington Management Company, where she was most recently a Partner and Director of Alternative Investments. She started her career at Goldman Sachs, and had stints at the U.S. Department of State and McKinsey before joining Wellington. Our conversation beings with Sarah's career and turns to FCLTGlobal. We talk about potential improvements at the corporate level, including eliminating quarterly guidance, executive compensation, capital allocation, and Board dynamics, and then turn to the relationship between money managers and allocators, including fee structures, setting expectations, reporting returns, and governance. Lastly, Sarah discusses new research initiatives. I'm pulling for Sarah. If her work bears fruit, we all will be better off, and most importantly, so will our clients. Discuss the show and Read the transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Kristian Fok is the Chief Investment Officer of Australia's A46B ($35B USD) Construction & Building Industry Superannuation Fund, or CBUS. Prior to joining CBUS in 2012, Kristian spent 14 years consulting to Australian Super Funds at Frontier Advisors. Australia's Superannuation program mandates that employers contribute 9.5% of its employee salaries into a Super Fund, which is owned by the employee, like a 401k in the U.S., and grows with investment returns until retirement. The employees, in turn, have a choice of providers to invest their savings. The model has been one of the most successful in the world in preparing the population for retirement. Our conversation starts with Kristian's path to the CIO seat at CBUS and focuses on the hybrid investment model blending internal and external management. We discuss the transition to internal management as assets scale, example of CBUS' internal property company, economics of internal management, talent recruiting and retention, portfolio structure, external manager selection, people management, and investment with a long time-horizon. Discuss the show and Read the transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Josh Wolfe is the co-founder of Lux Capital, a $1.5 billion venture capital firm formed to support scientists and entrepreneurs who pursue counter-conventional solutions to the most vexing puzzles of our time. Josh's innovative thought process across his activities offers frameworks and insights applicable across the spectrum of investing. Our conversation covers Josh's early passion for science and finance, building a competitive advantage in venture capital from scratch, sourcing ideas, conducting due diligence, making investment decisions, constructing portfolios, making exits, learning from mistakes, navigating a challenging private equity environment, posting on Twitter, active vs. passive management, dinner table conversation, and life lessons. Discuss the show and Read the transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast