CFA DFW Charterholder Chatter

Some people think, others say, and rarely do you find someone who thinks, says, and does. Our special guest today is that rare individual and he is super-fast at all three. He is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, financial advisor, podcast host, and proud father and husband.

John Hagensen serves as a Managing Director and Partner at Creative Planning, overseeing offices in Arizona and North Dakota, and works directly with his clients to create and maintain a customized financial plan addressing all aspects of a healthy financial life, including tax planning, retirement, employee benefits and estate planning. He also hosts "Rethink Your Money," a weekly radio show and podcast, and has authored two books, including his most recent, "The Retirement Flight Plan."

John brings to his clients more than 13 years of professional experience. Prior to joining Creative, he was the founder and Managing Partner of a national registered independent advisory firm. An airline pilot prior to entering the financial industry, John applies the precision, detail, and quality judgment he used as an aviator to his wealth management approach.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in biblical studies from Corban University, has a Master of Science in financial services from the Institute of Business & Finance and obtained a professional certification in Strategic Decision and Risk Management from Stanford University. John has a lot of letters or credentials after his name, just know he is CERTIFIED as an expert in FINANCIAL PLANNING™, FUNDS™, ESTATE AND TRUST, TAX, and INCOME ™.

On today's podcast, John shares more about his unique and successful journey, making the transition from being a business owner, best practices for wealth creation, and aligning purpose and money.

Several years ago, I traveled to Toronto thinking this would be just another business trip, meeting with colleagues, figuring out ways to collaborate, perhaps developing new coaching relationships where I could help individuals and teams reach their potential. My expectations were far exceeded when I met today's guest who has the rare combination of intelligence, compassion, humility, and willingness to take on new challenges.

Calum Mackenzie is a manager on the client solutions team at Connor, Clark & Lunn Investment Management, based in Vancouver. Prior to joining CC&L Investment Management in 2023, he worked in several progressively senior investment management roles at Aon, including leadership posts in both Canada and the UK.

Calum earned an MBA (with Distinction) and a Master of Science in Economic Management and Policy from the University of Strathclyde Business School, Glasgow, as well as an MA in Economic Science from the University of Aberdeen. He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and earned the Investment Management Certificate from CFA Institute while in the UK.

On today's episode, Calum shares his journey, including growing businesses, the importance of developing relationships, thoughts on DE&I, and achieving balance.

If you have listened to our podcasts, you know by now that we strive to have a diverse set of guests, from allocators to leaders and everything in the middle, while maintaining our requirements for humility and inspiration. Today's guest has plenty of letters after his name covering the liability and asset pieces along with all asset classes. And he is an exceptional leader and communicator.

Tim McCusker is a partner and CIO at NEPC, a private employee-owned investment advisory firm based in Boston, where he is responsible for investment research, investment strategy development, and education of investment strategies. He also works closely with a wide variety of clients. He is a member of several committees at NEPC, including Marketable and Private Investments, and Asset Allocation. He has been recognized on several occasions for being one of the most influential investment consultants. Before joining the firm over 16 years ago, Tim was an associate at Towers Perrin, where he provided actuarial consulting advice.

He earned his B.A. in Math from Colgate University, is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and holds the CFA and CAIA designations.

On today's episode, Tim shares his unique journey, making the successful transition from actuary to CIO, key topics of a future commencement speech, and his approach to communication.

Episode 46: Sticking to Calling Balls and Strikes – Talking OCIO Performance Integrity with Brian Schroeder

Outsourcing the CIO or OCIO function at a university endowment, corporate pension plan, or healthcare system has become commonplace over the past 10 years. In the early days, the deciding factors were operational efficiencies, meeting a target goal objective, and cost. Today, these same organizations want to make sure they made the right decision to outsource, and did they select the right OCIO.

Today's guest is Brian Schroeder, who is the founder of OCIO Monitor, a specialty consulting firm that provides due diligence of investment consultants and outsourced chief investment officers. He has over 30 years of investment experience, as both an institutional manager and consultant, and is one of the leading experts in benchmarking and performance reporting transparency. He has been consulted by academics and recently presented to the Securities Exchange Commission's Division of Exams' investigators on how to spot performance reporting fraud when conducting routine firm inspections. His forensic analysis is novel by quantitatively scoring the value-add of investment consultants and OCIOs in their five main duties- strategic asset allocation, tactical asset allocation, rebalancing, active manager hiring and active manager firing.

Schroeder has a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Cal State University – East Bay and a Master of Science degree in financial analysis from St. Mary's College. Growing up, he watched Wall Street Week with Luis Rukeyser. In 7th grade, he read Adam Smith's Money Game.

On this episode, Brian shares his professional journey, why/how he ended up worrying so much about the performance of OCIO providers, and the importance of mistake-based learning.

Too often in our industry, we want to talk about strategies, processes, and achieving alpha. Today, you are in for a treat if you want to hear more about the importance of self and team awareness, culture, making better decisions, and taking advantage of science and research as we better understand personalities, preferences, and motivations.

Zach Wieder is the Chief Executive Officer of Principles, a company he started with Bridgewater founder and Chairman Ray Dalio. At Principles, he is responsible for building their world-class personality assessment product, PrinciplesYou, that boasts over 2M users, which he built in partnership with world-renowned psychologists Adam Grant and Brian Little. He brings nearly 15 years of experience across management, strategy, operations, and human capital, including 10 years at Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, where Zach worked directly with Dalio as Head of People and Culture and oversaw the team responsible for key initiatives related to Bridgewater's management transition. In the context of his experience at Bridgewater and Principles, he has coached over 1,000 employees as well as advised executive teams at multiple startups and fortune 500 companies to help them achieve their performance and culture goals. Zach received his Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature from Princeton University.

On today's episode, Zach shares more about his journey and transition to helping people, teams and organizations improve their level of awareness, collaboration, growth, and having a well-defined culture.

Our podcast is all about the journey, not the destination and today's special guest has dedicated her professional journey to areas she deeply cares about as she is an inspiration to many throughout the world with her research, writing, and speaking, all in her unique style of communication, which is clear, valuable, and humorous.

Meredith Jones is a well-known expert in the investment industry with over 20 years of experience. Who else can claim a successful TedTalk, being an award-winning author, testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, and creating the first Women in Alternative Investments Hedge Fund index? She was also a regular columnist for Institutional Investor and Market Watch. She won't tell you this, but we will – she is a rock star in our industry with a unique talent and ability to make others laugh while they are learning.

Currently Managing Director and ESG Practice Leader at EY, and Founder of MJ Alternative Investment Research, Meredith is a board member of Rock the Street, Wall Street, which offers programs to educate and equip high school girls with the skills to succeed financially and potentially pursue a career in finance. She was previously a Partner, Global Head of Responsible Investing at Aon, and held senior roles at Rothstein Kass, Barclays Capital, PerTrac Financial Solutions, and Van Hedge Fund Advisors. She is the author of Women of the Street: Why Female Money Managers Generate Higher Returns (And How You Can Too) which provides insight into the behavioral, biological, and cognitive edge female investors can provide.

Her research on emerging managers (initiated in 2006) and women and minority-owned funds created new investment categories. It has changed the way investors and money managers behave - both in the way investors allocate and how money managers market to and seek investors.

On today's episode, Meredith shares more about her personal and professional journey, being a strong female voice in a male-dominated industry, and why the combination of intelligence and humor makes her such an effective communicator.

Today's guest is in the words of a mutual connection a former badass short seller wrapped in the body of a sweet Texas lady. She gave up the short seller life a few years ago to start Paradigm Advisors, an independent fee-only financial advisory firm, catering to younger high net worth professionals.

Michelle Underwood Gass has a passion for helping people and resolving complex issues for her clients while navigating their path towards financial freedom. Her diverse experiences working in different areas of finance – accounting, tax, family office environment, hedge funds and ultimately becoming an entrepreneur – make her uniquely qualified.

Michelle has a Master of Accountancy with a concentration in Taxation and an undergraduate accounting degree, both from the University of Tennessee. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Financial Planner, and Registered Life Planner.

On today's podcast, Michelle shares her professional journey, importance of working happy, being intellectually curious, networking, and proudest moments.

The combination of experience and conviction is typically a decent recipe for success and today's guest is a great example of having the courage to pivot professionally (Equity Sales Side Analyst to Portfolio Manager) for what you believe in.

Arvind Sanger is the founder and managing partner of Geosphere Capital, a global long-short fund manager currently investing in natural resources, new energy, and Indian equities. Previously, he was a Portfolio Manager at SAC Capital (his portfolio grew very quickly), running one of the largest equity portfolios and managing a global team based in New York and Singapore. Prior to his tenure at SAC, Arvind had a 15-year career as a top-ranked sell-side oil services & equipment analyst at several firms, including Deutsche Bank, DLJ and Kidder Peabody, among others. Arvind graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and received his MBA from Tulane University. He is on the board of the Alexander Hamilton Society, Pratham USA and Pratham Educational Foundation in India.

On our episode, Arvind shares his professional journey, why the focus on sustainable energy, time at SAC Capital, inspirations along the way, and proudest moments.

Many times, on our podcast, I ask guests what they are most proud of. Well, on today's episode, I am beaming with pride to have such a distinguished investment professional who despite incredible success, continues to give back in so many ways. Her curiosity, love for learning, willingness to challenge, and break barriers have contributed to her numerous accomplishments and legacy, while giving back those representing the future.

Jane Buchan has thirty-four years of experience in investment management and portfolio construction with institutional investors and is currently Chief Executive Officer of Martlet Asset Management, a family office established in 2018. Prior to founding Martlet, Jane was CEO of PAAMCO, a fund of hedge funds, which she co-founded in 2000. Under her leadership, the firm grew to $32 billion in assets under management. She began her career at J.P. Morgan Investment Management in the Capital Markets Group, has been an Assistant Professor of Finance at Dartmouth, and recently served as chairwoman of the board for CAIA and is a member of the Advisory Board for the Master of Financial Engineering Program at UCLA Anderson School of Management. In addition, Jane is currently serving on the boards of AGF Management Ltd. and Globe Life, where our local baseball team who just won the World Series calls home. Jane has won so many awards we don't have time to list them all. Just know she is a rock star in our industry and has been actively involved in initiatives to advance the careers of women in finance and is a founding Angel for 100 Women in Finance. Jane holds both a Ph.D. and an MA in Business Economics (Finance) from Harvard and earned a BA in Economics from Yale.

Today, Jane shares her amazing professional journey, commitment to education, and why she is so excited about the future of our industry.

Our podcast is all about storytelling. Afterall, who wants to hear another opinion about inflation and interest rates? How many people do you know who grew up working on a cattle ranch, got a degree in music and ended up in the asset management industry? Today, Franklin Parker may not be a famous singer/songwriter in Hollywood, but he has written an interesting book about goals-based investing, which came out last year.

On this episode, Franklin shares his professional and personal journey, the why behind his belief in goals-based investing, and his advice to current and future wealth managers.

Franklin is the founder and chief investment officer of Directional Advisors in Dallas. He is a CFA charterholder, international speaker, and author of numerous peer-reviewed papers and articles. In 2017, Parker was awarded the NAAIM Founder's Award for Investment Research for his work on merging active investment management and goals-based investing. Before starting Directional Advisors, Franklin was CIO at Bright Wealth Management, Managing Director at CH Wealth Management, and Financial Advisor at Edward Jones and LPL. His degree in music was achieved at the University of North Texas.