The HPScast

On this week’s episode, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Chris Halpin, the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of IAC, or InterActiveCorp, the holding company behind digital consumer brands like Angie’s List, Dotdash Meredith and Care.com. Chris launched his career at Goldman Sachs’ real estate investment principal investing arm before pivoting to private equity at Providence Equity Partners. There, he had the opportunity to establish the firm’s China business from Hong Kong – and a front row seat to the 2008 global financial crisis. Upon returning stateside, Chris tackled a new and humbling challenge with the NFL. He shares how he navigated the complexities of building consensus among 32 teams and steered the league into international markets before exiting to explore a new frontier in digital media tech.

Learn more about Chris Halpin’s role at IAC here. You can check out our guest’s Best Idea, the book Black-and-White Thinking: The Burden of a Binary Brain in a Complex World by Kevin Dutton, here. Or read The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science by  J. Kenji López-Alt, Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, here.

On this week’s episode, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Vikas Keswani, Managing Director at HPS Investment Partners and Head of North American Specialty Lending. He walks us through the evolution of the direct lending industry and how he found his way to it. He explains the nuances of a direct lending solution and where the private credit business is going. He also shares his early career path at BlackRock, where he first found his footing in the credit investing industry. 

Learn more about Vikas Keswani’s tenure at HPS Investment Partners here. Read The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire by William Dalrymple, Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, here.

We’re back with Season 7 of The HPScast. This week, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Jessica Gelman, Chief Executive Officer of Kraft Analytics Group and co-founder of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Jessica discusses how data is being used to redefine the sports industry, from helping us better understand how we consume sports media to spotlighting gaps in equality to shape a more just future. Jessica shares her winding path into sports and entertainment, which included a stint of professional basketball in Europe and consulting work before heading back to business school, where she merged her love for the game with an appetite for intellectual rigor to carve the unique path she walks today. And find out how the renowned MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference was started over a quick drink.

Learn more about Jessica Gelman and her role at Kraft Analytics Group here, and check out the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference here. Find out more about Jessica’s Best Idea, the autobiography All In by Billie Jean King, here. You can also read Colbert’s Best Idea, the book Dream Team by Jack McCallum, here.

This week marks the end of Season 6 of The HPScast. Host Colbert Cannon shares key moments from a season full of diverse perspectives and insights across industries – from restaurants to global logistics and credit lending to making television. 

We’ll be back soon with all new episodes, but in the interim, check out the over 50 conversations of The HPScast available now in your feed. You can also try some of the Best Ideas featured in each episode – they’re meant to be recommendations that are well worth your time. You can find links to those in the show notes of each episode.

On this week’s episode, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Kent Collier, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Reorg, a provider of data and analysis around bankruptcy, distressed debt and leveraged finance in the U.S, Europe and Asia. Kent discusses his early career on the buy side of high yield and distressed credit investing, where he had a front row seat to market-shaping events from the collapse of Lehman Brothers to Parmalat’s fraudulent bankruptcy. He shares how he navigated a steep learning curve to understand the bankruptcy landscape, including countless hours spent sifting through PACER, the electronic court records for every federal court case in the country. He describes how the unwieldy ways of sourcing that information ultimately led him to found Reorg with the mission to democratize access to information. Then, we hear how Kent transitioned to become a product-driven founder, and the simple, “15 minute” question he uses to keep his company as relevant as ever.   

Learn more about Kent and his company, Reorg, here. You can check out Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, the podcast Whistlestop with John Dickerson here.

This week, host Colbert speaks with Priscilla Sims Brown, the President and CEO of Amalgamated Bank, the largest – and one of the only – union-owned banks in the U.S. We hear how Priscilla is using her position to push forward socially responsible initiatives such as its recently approved petition to create a new merchant category code to better track gun and ammunition sales. She explains how doing good and doing well are not mutually exclusive and offers a look into how she’s moved toward mission-focused work with every step of her career. We hear how Priscilla made her way into the financial industry through her insatiable curiosity as a young producer reporting on business. And she walks us through her varied experiences since making the leap into finance, including an 18-year stint at multiline insurance company Lincoln Financial Group and trying to start an annuities business during the Great Recession. 

Learn more about Priscilla’s tenure at Amalgamated Bank here. Check out Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, the 1984 film classic The Killing Floor directed by Bill Duke, here.

This week, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Jackie Hernández, the CEO and co-founder of New Majority Ready. Jackie is a media executive with a storied career at iconic companies like TIME, People en Español and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo. She shares how she rose through the ranks to help shape Spanish-language television and expand the industry’s understanding of the rapidly growing Hispanic market. We also hear about Jackie’s latest venture, New Majority Ready, a marketing strategy consulting company that helps companies to attract and retain Hispanic audiences through more nuanced marketing strategies that meet these consumers where they’re at. 

Learn more about Jackie Hernández tenure at New Majority Ready here. You can read our guest’s Best Idea, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take by Paul Polman & Andrew Winston, here. Watch Money Heist, Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, here.

Join host Colbert Cannon as he sits down with Mark Machin, the former President & CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), one of the world’s largest investment funds with over $500 billion in assets under management. Mark shares his path to join the CPPIB after two decades at Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong. And he discusses how he navigated the transition to working within the Canadian pension system. We also hear about Mark’s earlier days at Goldman Sachs in their global finance division and how he acclimated to the business culture in Asia. And Mark shares his latest venture as co-founder & CEO of investment startup Opto Investments alongside Joe Lonsdale.

Learn more about Mark Machin’s career here. Watch HBO Max series Tokyo Vice, Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, here.

Join host Colbert Cannon as he sits down with Paul Taubman, CEO of PJT Partners, a global advisory-focused investment bank, Paul started in 2014 which has now grown into a $3 billion market cap public company. We discuss how Paul started the firm against the backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis, and how clients emerged from that period more open to leaving traditional bulge bracket banking than ever before. We also hear about Paul’s own departure from big banking when he stepped down from Morgan Stanley in 2012 after 30 years spanning several key leadership roles. He also shares insights into how the evolution of private credit over the last decade has impacted the traditional banking business.

Learn more about Paul Taubman’s career here. Read Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, here.