The Zurich Project: Build a Great Investment Firm - presented by MOI Global

Dustin Johnson, senior manager at Pala Investments, based in Zug, Switzerland, talks about his approach to value investing in sectors such as oil and gas as well as metals and mining.

Dustin rejoined Pala in 2016 as a manager focusing on equity investments within the liquid investment strategy. From 2012 to 2014, Dustin was an associate within the Pala investment team, where he participated in a number of transactions and investments. Specifically, he played a significant role in the advancement of Sierra Rutile (AIM: SRX), including the development of the Lanti Dry mining project and a variety of corporate strategy initiatives. Prior to rejoining Pala, Dustin was a Private Equity Manager at the Brazilian investment bank, BTG Pactual, where he monitored and managed the bank’s JV investment in Petrobras Oil & Gas B.V. Dustin also has over 4 years of investment banking experience with BMO Capital Markets, where he advised on various M&A transactions and capital raising processes both in the mining and energy sectors. Dustin holds an MBA from INSEAD, a B.Comm (with distinction) from the University of Saskatchewan and he is a CFA charterholder.

Matthew Haynes, chief investment officer of 1949 Value Advisors, based in Mahwah, NJ talks about “Pedigree vs. ‘PhD’ (Poor, hungry and Driven)".

Matthew is the chief investment officer and portfolio manager at 1949 Value Advisors, a traditional value-driven global equity investment management company serving accredited investors including family offices and select institutions. Matthew purchased a first edition copy of The Intelligent Investor nearly 25 years ago for the grand price of $1 in an antique shop in New Hope, PA. It has served as his investing bible ever since. 1949 Value Advisors seeks to provide investment solutions for conservative long-term investors who share the firm’s core principles in the face of an increasingly short-term and emotion-driven capital market environment. Matthew and his team are bottom-up, fundamental research-driven value investors, seeking to outperform the MSCI World Index with less absolute risk through the careful selection of high conviction stock ideas from around the world.

Mark Walker, global equity investment manager with Seven Pillars Capital, based in London, discusses the process of making better decisions.

Mark developed a passion for long-term value investing independently while working in equity research on the sell side. He left to find a working environment more conducive to sound investment practice, one in which competitive edge is behavioral, characterized by inaction, fostering independent thought, intellectual humility, and patience. Today he works for a small fund in London as a global equity research analyst. Mark also personally manages family capital in separate accounts.

Michael Lee, managing member of Hypotenuse Capital Management in North Hollywood, CA opines on the topic, “What my toddlers have taught me about investing”.

Mike founded Hypotenuse in March 2013. Previously, he was a partner at Royal Capital Management, a multi-billion dollar investment manager based in New York. Prior to Royal, Mike was a private equity associate at Parthenon in Boston and an investment banking analyst at Bear Stearns in New York.

Johan Bynelius of Fair Investments in Stockholm, Sweden shares perspectives on Warren Buffett’s quote, “I am a better investor because I am a businessman and a better businessman because I am an investor.”

Johan has been an entrepreneur since young age. He started his first “toll bridge” when he was four years old as gate opener for cars passing the cow meadow. In his young years and teenage years he entered into ventures ranging from animal breeding, party and travel arranger, wrecked cars speculator, all the way to running a toilet advertising company. In his professional life he was one of five owners of Accept, a Swedish Management Consulting company, worked as an intrepreneur inside Öhman Fondkommission and EFG Investment Bank, running his own company with separate accounting inside the structure of the banks. In 2011 he founded Fair Investments, the only asset manager in Sweden with a strict performance-based fee model.

Brian Stout, Assistant Professor at the Minerva Project, based in North Stonington, CT, talks about deliberate practice and 10,000 hours of deep work in value investing. He also touches on fascinating aspects of learning math and how mathematics applies to life.

Brian is joining Minerva Schools from the U.S. Naval Academy. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Mathematics from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center in 2013 and 2011, respectively. After finishing his Ph.D., he joined the U.S. Naval Academy as an Assistant Professor from 2013 to 2016. Professor Stout researches in arithmetic dynamics, a confluence of number theory and discrete dynamical systems, where he has had several publications in journals such as Journal of Number Theory and Acta Arithmetica. Professor Stout has taught a broad array of Mathematics and Statistics courses at CUNY and the U.S. Naval Academy. He has also supervised several undergraduate research projects in number theory and dynamics. Professor Stout views mathematics as a quantitative framework that assists in problem solving in wide contexts.

Alirio Sendrea Sabina, Equity Analyst at Invexcel Patrimonio in Madrid, Spain, talks about “200: A story of conviction, hard work, humility and kindness“.

Alirio is an equity analyst at Invexcel, an IFA firm specialized in institutional vehicles. He focuses on independent, bottom-up analysis of European small and mid-caps. Prior to joining Invexcel, he worked in various financial analysis, valuation, banking, restructuring, and audit roles in Spain and Venezuela. Alirio holds a BA in accounting from Universidad Central de Venezuela and is a CFA charterholder.

Jim Roumell, President of Roumell Asset Management in Chevy Chase, Maryland, discusses what failure taught him — lessons learned from two decades of building an investment firm.

Mr. Roumell entered the securities industry in 1986. Before founding the firm in 1998, he was a Registered Principal at Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Mr. Roumell was selected to participate in, and won, two consecutive Wall Street Journal stock picking contests (in 2001 and 2002) before the contest was discontinued. Mr. Roumell has been featured in such publications as Barron's, Kiplinger's, Value Investor Insight, Financial Planning Magazine, and The Washington Post. Mr. Roumell is also listed and quoted in The Art of Value Investing: How the World's Best Investor's Beat the Market. He is a graduate of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He is married with two children (one living/working in Denver, CO and the other still at home) and lives in Chevy Chase, MD.

Phil Ordway, Managing Principal of Anabatic Investment Partners, based in Oak Brook, IL, discusses the genesis of his investment firm.

Phil is principal and portfolio manager of Anabatic Fund, L.P. Previously, Phil was a partner at Chicago Fundamental Investment Partners (CFIP). At CFIP, which he joined in 2007, Phil was responsible for investments across the capital structure in various industries. Prior to joining Chicago Fundamental Investment Partners, Phil was an analyst in structured corporate finance with Citigroup Global Markets from 2002 to 2005, where he was part of a team responsible for identifying financing solutions for companies initially in the global power and utilities group and ultimately in the global autos and industrials group. Phil earned his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2007 and his B.S. in Education & Social Policy and Economics from Northwestern in 2002.

Fang Li, Managing Partner of Baleen Capital, based in New York City, talks about “starting with the customer": customer value, customer-centric investing, and finding great products.

Fang is founder and managing partner of Baleen Capital. Baleen invests in companies with outstanding products, unit economics, and growth potential. It has a flexible, long-term strategy, and invests across a variety of structures, including publicly listed stocks, private businesses, and venture capital. Baleen invests across multiple areas as an industry generalist, with a focus on great products. Before starting Baleen five years ago, Fang worked at a Tiger-seeded long-short fund, in late-stage private equity in New York and Hong Kong, in mergers and acquisitions, sales and trading, and at Bridgewater.