The Fiftyfaces Podcast

"An investment in education gives the best returns” Benjamin Franklin

Tony Miller is managing director of Excolere Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on the education space.  He holds a number of board roles including Apollo Education group, ACT, Criteria Corp and Go Guardian.  He was co-founder of the Vistria Group, a Chicago based private equity firm and prior to that was Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer in the US Department of Education. 

Our conversation traces his extensive career in education, including roles at McKinsey, Silver Lake, Vistria and the US Department of Education. He emphasizes the importance of deploying private capital in education to achieve significant impact at scale and highlights the need for innovative solutions that can be scaled across various educational sectors. 

We turn then to the potential role of AI in transforming education, and how to align financial returns with educational outcomes. Miller underscores the significance of diversity and inclusion in education and shares personal reflections on career highs and lows.

This podcast is kindly supported by GCM Grosvenor. GCM Grosvenor is a global alternative asset management firm with a longstanding commitment to supporting small, emerging, and diverse investment managers. For over 30 years, the firm has developed expertise in funding and guiding these managers as part of its broader activity across alternative investments. 

With over $20 billion in AUM dedicated to small and emerging managers and $16 billion in AUM dedicated to diverse managers, GCM Grosvenor leverages its experienced team, broad network, and proprietary sourcing capabilities to support their success. Through the Small, Emerging, and Diverse Manager Program, the firm creates opportunities for investors to access a wide range of talent while seeking to drive strong returns and impact. For more information, visit www.gcmgrosvenor.com.

Ilya Zaides is CIO and Founder of 14B. He started his career as a lawyer, eventually transitioning to an allocator role within two leading hedge fund allocators. He then made a switch into fund management, founding 14B 15 years ago.

Our conversation starts with Ilya’s childhood and the impact of his parent’s immigrant’s journey – in which they   traveled from the former Soviet Union. We examine the impact that this has on work ethic, subject choice, and some of the philosophical underpinnings that he inherited from his parents.

We speak about his own journey from law, what it was that he didn’t enjoy about this area of study, and how he transitioned into the world of investment. We turn then to his current focus at 14B and the challenge of navigating the current turmoil in markets. 

This podcast is kindly supported by GCM Grosvenor. GCM Grosvenor is a global alternative asset management firm with a longstanding commitment to supporting small, emerging, and diverse investment managers. For over 30 years, the firm has developed expertise in funding and guiding these managers as part of its broader activity across
alternative investments. 

With over $20 billion in AUM dedicated to small and emerging managers and $16 billion in AUM dedicated to diverse managers, GCM Grosvenor leverages its experienced team, broad network, and proprietary sourcing capabilities to support their success. Through the Small, Emerging, and Diverse Manager Program, the firm creates opportunities for investors to access a wide range of talent while seeking to drive strong returns and impact. For more information, visit www.gcmgrosvenor.com.

Jeanie Coomber is the founder of the Warriors at Work platform, and an executive coach.  Our discussion charts her journey from a corporate career at Alliance Bernstein to becoming a coach. We talk about the personality type necessary to be a coach, and Jeanie Coomber highlighted her unique approach to coaching, integrating her mother's psychotherapy expertise. There is more information on the Warriors at Work platform here: https://jeaniecoomber.com/warriors-at-work-show/

In discussing what she is tackling in her coaching conversations today, we also discussed the evolving needs of executives, such as navigating politics and fostering human-oriented conversations. Jeanie emphasized the importance of courageous conversations and self-reflection. She shared challenges that have been faced, including starting her business post-maternity leave and managing her family medical issues. 

This podcast is kindly supported by GCM Grosvenor. GCM Grosvenor is a global alternative asset management firm with a longstanding commitment to supporting small, emerging, and diverse investment managers. For over 30 years, the firm has developed expertise in funding and guiding these managers as part of its broader activity across alternative investments. 

With over $20 billion in AUM dedicated to small and emerging managers and $16 billion in AUM dedicated to diverse managers, GCM Grosvenor leverages its experienced team, broad network, and proprietary sourcing capabilities to support their success. Through the Small, Emerging, and Diverse Manager Program, the firm creates opportunities for investors to access a wide range of talent while seeking to drive strong returns and impact. For more information, visit www.gcmgrosvenor.com.

Shan Chen was until recently a portfolio manager focused on mostly private investments at the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, where he spent over 17 years. He previously worked primarily within information technology and did research work in biochemistry. He has recently retired from the PSPRS and is focusing full time on developing AI solutions for investment management. 

Our conversation traces his route into the investment world from his science background and his years of learning under the leadership of Mark Steed, CIO at the PSPRS, whose podcast we captured in July 2021. 

We move then to the innovation in place at the PSPRS investment process including the development of more refined and reliable predictions and the embrace of machine learning. We examine the potential for this in the asset allocation function  as well as how AI can assist allocators with getting through the sheer mass of information and documents that they face. 

This is a self-aware retrospective by a member of the most forward thinking investment offices in the US public fund arena.

This podcast is kindly supported by GCM Grosvenor. GCM Grosvenor is a global alternative asset management firm with a longstanding commitment to supporting small, emerging, and diverse investment managers. For over 30 years, the firm has developed expertise in funding and guiding these managers as part of its broader activity across alternative investments. 

With over $20 billion in AUM dedicated to small and emerging managers and $16 billion in AUM dedicated to diverse managers, GCM Grosvenor leverages its experienced team, broad network, and proprietary sourcing capabilities to support their success. Through the Small, Emerging, and Diverse Manager Program, the firm creates opportunities for investors to access a wide range of talent while seeking to drive strong returns and impact. For more information, visit www.gcmgrosvenor.com.

Wendy Li is the co-founder and CIO of Ivy Invest, a FinTech asset management firm.  She previously worked in the investment office of the endowment of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. In our discussion we start with her immigrant background in Pennsylvania, and her ascent through studying finance to a role in an allocator. 

Our discussion then turns to the founder's journey - the challenge and opportunity that FinTech and WealthTech present, and why the human element is unlikely to be replaced fully.  Wendy emphasized the value of mentorship and the significance of giving back to the community through nonprofits like EWAAB and Flight Path Dance Project.

Wendy has a newsletter, which can be accessed here: askacio.ivyinvest.co

This podcast is kindly supported by GCM Grosvenor. GCM Grosvenor is a global alternative asset management firm with a longstanding commitment to supporting small, emerging, and diverse investment managers. For over 30 years, the firm has developed expertise in funding and guiding these managers as part of its broader activity across alternative investments. 

With over $20 billion in AUM dedicated to small and emerging managers and $16 billion in AUM dedicated to diverse managers, GCM Grosvenor leverages its experienced team, broad network, and proprietary sourcing capabilities to support their success. Through the Small, Emerging, and Diverse Manager Program, the firm creates opportunities for investors to access a wide range of talent while seeking to drive strong returns and impact. For more information, visit www.gcmgrosvenor.com.

Jennifer Ryan is Head of North American Distribution at Lazard Asset Management.  She previously was Head of UK Institutional Sales at BlackRock and Head of the US Institutional Pensions at Blackrock, and started her career at Goldman Sachs.

In our conversation we tackle the craft of fund distribution, and Jennifer highlights the importance of understanding client ecosystems, building trust, and adapting to evolving client needs. She stresses the significance of team-based approaches and mentorship in her success. 

Moving to the changing shape of the institutional landscape Jennifer notes the impact of market changes, such as the shift to private markets and the generational shift in CIOs, on client needs. We talk about the importance of honesty and transparency in client relationships and return to the oft-repeated themes of risk-taking and investing in networks.

GCM Grosvenor is a global alternative asset management firm with a longstanding commitment to supporting small, emerging, and diverse investment managers. For over 30 years, the firm has developed expertise in funding and guiding these managers as part of its broader activity across alternative investments. With over $20 billion in AUM dedicated to small and emerging managers and $16 billion in AUM dedicated to diverse managers, GCM Grosvenorleverages its experienced team, broad network, and proprietary sourcing capabilities to support their success. Through the Small, Emerging, and Diverse Manager Program, the firm creates opportunities for investors to access a wide range of talent while seeking to drive strong returns and impact. For more information, visit www.gcmgrosvenor.com.

 It has been a highly charged summer.  Between the big year of elections, a series of political and geopolitical surprises and a few market shocks, it has been anything but the silly season.  We have launched a few episodes of Fiftyfaces TV focused on investor identity and responsible investing and we have continued covering the issue of maternal mortality, women in sports and other matters close to our hearts.  

Now we are back to our main series and we are delighted to bring you another 10 inspiring guests who share their insights on careers, markets, overlooked opportunities and advice for fulfillment. 

Tune in as we cycle through investment opportunities in Fintech considering the implication of AI as an advisor as well as how it can help allocators to wade through and organize the vast document load that comprises due diligence these days. 

We turn to the challenge of front-line client interactions and the changing shape of client need as markets and investment products evolve, get "in deep" when it comes to what really happens after a Merger, and expose the shocking gaps in financial literacy that are jeopardizing retirements and pension pots everywhere. 

We dig some more - into soil science and regenerative agriculture, and where such products fit within a portfolio, then chat with an executive coach about her trending topics and how "breakdowns lead to breakthroughs". A veteran of risk management and non-executive roles shares her journey from "the age of the dinosaurs" in the City of London today's different challenges, a fund manager recalls his father's refrain to "take things back to formula" and an education investor stresses the importance of scale. 

The guests on Series 5 are:

Tune in from next week..  You can find all of our podcasts on The Fiftyfaces Hub, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Tammy Parlour, is the co-founder of Women’s Sport Trust.  She works with leaders from across sport, media and business to understand how to practically raise visibility, increase impact and create a stronger women’s sport ecosystem and was awarded an MBE in 2019 for services to gender equality in sport. She is a Master in the Korean martial art of Hapkido, having practiced for over 40 years, and currently runs a club in central London. She is a club rep on The FA Women’s National League Board since the end of 2023 and sums up her approach to life succinctly on her biography on LinkedIn as “I love learning”.

Our conversation starts with how she discovered martial arts and hapkido in particular and the collateral impact of building extreme proficiency in the sport – in particular how moving to each belt level required “inhabiting” the roles and responsibilities that came with each level (e.g. to teach other classes).  We trace then her move back to the UK from the US and setting up a studio in the discipline.

This discussion is a particularly personal one, as we explore the benefits that sport and discipline can bring to an impressionable teenage mind, particularly one that might have struggled with other issues such as an eating disorder, and we discuss how this informed a life-long mission for Tammy to further equality in sport and the creation of a stronger women’s sport ecosystem. 

The themes of voice, empowerment, inner strength, discipline, loyalty and passion are all intertwined in this conversation, which we bring to you as a special bonus in the aftermath of the Olympics 2024, which were a triumph for diversity and inclusion.

Jessica Karr is the founder and managing director of Coyote Ventures, an investment firm that focuses on backing founders who are solving problems that disproportionately affect overlooked populations with a foundation in women’s health.  She is also a limited partner of Portfolia FemTech II Fund, designed for women who want to back entrepreneurial companies for returns and impact, among other advisory roles.

Our discussion starts with her early career and what led her into venture and an interest in healthcare in particular.  We speak about the mentors that inspired her at this stage of her career and what led to her decision to launch Coyote Ventures. We turn then to the the fundraising experience and the level of attention given to women’s health and the innovations in same.  Unfortunately these areas are often overlooked and underfunded.  She then describes the support that has come from across the industry and how innovative methods of drawing support – such as allocating a percentage of real estate deals to Coyote Ventures has been such an unique way to raise visibility for these issues and the Fund in particular.

There is more information about Coyote Ventures on https://www.coyote.ventures/

This episode was first launched as part of a collaboration between The Fiftyfaces Podcast at fiftyfaceshub.comand The Mindshare Podcast at www.monumentalme.com/podcast. It is being re-released here as our final episode in Series 4 of 2024.

Jennifer Devine is Head of Wiltshire Pension Fund, and a thought leader in the field of sustainable investing. I was thrilled to welcome her to the podcast in order to capture some of the vision that she implements at Wiltshire and translates for its members in easy to understand and relatable posts on social media and their home page that highlight concrete examples of impact investments.

This podcast starts with chemistry  - which was Jennifer’s initial focus at university, then followed by a pivot into accounting and ultimately public pensions.  Although her use of her science background has been limited since graduation we do draw a little on the themes of connections – which Wiltshire seeks to create for its beneficiaries – as well as catalysts – and we think about the drivers behind the fund’s very intentional and well telegraphed sustainable investing policy.

We dig in a little into the nuts and bolts of this strategy – examining the underlying funds – including sustainable equities, climate tech and venture and impact investing including renewable infrastructure and affordable housing.  We speak about the powerful communications policy that is employed and why Wiltshire prioritizes this – which is about creating connection with its beneficiaries – encouraging them to relate to their pension and engage with it in the most meaningful way possible. The preponderance of women among the beneficiaries underscores the importance of seeing the value of diversity and inclusion expressed as much as possible and this is another objective of the sustainable policy that the fund pursues.

This podcast is a lively snapshot of a fund and a leader that has met their moment.

This episode is supported by PIMCO, a global leader in active fixed income with deep expertise across public and private markets. PIMCO invests their clients’ capital in income and credit opportunities that span the liquidity spectrum, leveraging their decades of experience navigating complex debt markets. Their flexible capital base and deep relationships with issuers have helped them become one of the world’s largest providers of traditional and alternative investment solutions and a valued financing partner. Visit pimco.com to learn more.

PIMCO as a general matter provides services to qualified institutions, financial intermediaries and institutional investors. Individual investors should contact their own financial professional to determine the most appropriate investment options for their financial situation. PIMCO is a trademark of Allianz Asset Management of America LLC in the United States and throughout the world.