AAAIM High ELI

Our guest for today's podcast is Eunice McHugh, Director of Private Credit at San Francisco Employees' Retirement System ("SFERS").   Eunice is responsible for the buildout and management of the Private Credit portfolio, which has a 10% target allocation for the fund.   Eunice has led SFERS' Private Credit efforts (initially as part of the Fixed Income portfolio) since she joined SFERS in early 20...

Our guest for today's podcast is Jonathan Xiong, former Asia-Pacific Co-CEO of Millennium.   After a 20+ year career in portfolio management working for some of the top investment houses in the business including Millennium, GSAM, Mellon Capital and Franklin Templeton, Jonathan has taken the bold step to start his own asset management business.   I was intrigued with Jonathan's background after re...

Our guest for today's podcast is Amanda Moore, CEO and Co-Founder of Aurora Peak Capital, a mission-driven investment firm, dedicated to alleviating the U.S. housing affordability crisis through investments in below market-rate multifamily housing communities.   Amanda's first home in the United States was an affordable housing complex in Los Angeles County. Her family were Vietnam war refugees wh...

Our guest for today's podcast is Soo Kim, Managing Partner and CIO of Standard General, an investment firm he started in 2007.   Soo also serves as Chairman of Bally's Corporation. Soo has been investing in special situations strategies since 1997, including as co-founder of Cyrus Capital Partners from 2005 to 2007 and at Och-Ziff Capital Management from 1999 to 2005, where he was a Principal and...

Our guest for today's podcast is Eva Ho, General Partner of Fika Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm that invests in founders solving meaningful, systemic problems through the use of data, related AI-enabled technologies, and automation. While this horizontal thesis allows Fika Ventures to be fairly sector agnostic, the firm is especially drawn to innovations in enterprise software, fint...

Our guest for today's podcast is Marcie Frost, Chief Executive Officer of CalPERS.   Marcie joined CalPERS as CEO in October 2016. She is the ninth CEO and second woman to head America's largest pension fund. As CEO, Marcie oversees an annual budget of $1.8 billion, an experienced team of 2,800 professionals, and three lines of business for the fund: pensions, health benefits, and investments. Cal...

Our guest for today's podcast is Arun Assumall, Global Head of Cross Asset QIS and Commodity Investor Products at Macquarie Group.   Since joining Macquarie in 2011, Arun has built an impressive global business within the bank by offering sophisticated investors access to beta and risk premia strategies commonly referred to as Quantitative Investment Strategies, QIS.   In a recent article publishe...

Our guest for today's podcast is Andy Lee, Managing Partner of Parallaxes Capital, an investment firm he founded in 2017 at the age of 26.   Previously, Andy was with Lone Star Funds and, with Lone Star's support, he spun off to form Parallaxes Capital to take advantage of an esoteric and growing asset class – Tax Receivable Agreements (TRAs).   Andy is as smart and talented as they come, having e...

Our guest for today's podcast is David Ng, who is a Vice President at Avante Capital Partners, a boutique private credit firm with approximately $1 bn in AUM that harnesses the power of diversity and challenges the status quo.  David joined Avante in 2022 and is responsible for identifying, underwriting, executing and managing investment opportunities.   David has over 10 years of middle-market de...

Our guest for today's podcast is Sarah Hammer, Managing Director of the Center for Innovation in Finance and Senior Fellow of the Alternative Investments Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and who most recently served as Acting Secretary of the Dept of Banking for Commonwealth of PA and has now returned to her love for private capital investing and financial technology...

Our guest for today's podcast is Pedro Ramos, CEO of Somar Capital Management, a consumer focused equity long/short hedge fund he started in 2015 after perfecting his craft as a portfolio manager at Tremblant Capital.   Pedro combines strategy consulting, investment banking, entrepreneurial and buy-side public and private investing experience in multiple industries and countries. His investing act...

Our guest for today's podcast is Damien Dwin, Founder and CEO of Lafayette Square, a national investment platform he founded in November 2020. Lafayette Square aims to create investment opportunities in overlooked places and underserved markets. We invest across asset classes and seek to provide robust risk-adjusted returns to investors while positively supporting people and communities.  By incre...

Our guest for today's podcast is Chris Shen, Co-Founder and COO of Revere VC, a start-up that he co-founded with Eric Woo, a veteran of the venture capital fund of fund business.  Revere VC is looking to become "the Morningstar of Venture Capital" and is building the first rating system for evaluating early-stage venture capital firms.   Chris' professional work experience is deep and wide where h...

Our guest for today's podcast is Victor Hu, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Lumos Capital Group, an investment firm focused on growth companies in the human capital development and education technology sectors globally. Lumos partners with companies that are creating better outcomes for individuals and institutions in the learning, teaching and talent markets. Victor believes deeply in the powe...

Our guest for today's podcast is Jon Grabel, CIO of the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, also known as LACERA.   In his role, Jon has the responsibility for managing over $70 billion in AUM on behalf of LACERA's active and retired members.   Prior to LACERA, Jon was the CIO for New Mexico PERA and the Montgomery County Public Schools.  In total, Jon has served the important rol...

Our guest for today's podcast is Ellen Hung, Deputy CIO at the State Universities Retirement System (also knowns as SURS), which is based in Champaign, Illinois.  As Deputy CIO, Ellen oversees over $22bn in fund assets and works closely with the CIO on asset allocation and implementing new initiatives across the fund.  More recently, Ellen helped to develop SURS' Crisis Risk sleeve which includes...

Our guest for today's podcast is Anthony Chiu, Deputy CIO at the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority based in Louisville, Kentucky.  As Deputy CIO, Anthony is part of a team of 4 that oversees approximately $22 bn in fund assets.  Anthony's specific focus is on the fund's private equity and alternatives program.   Anthony is as talented as they come, having graduated as valedictorian of his high sc...

Our guest for today's podcast is Gretchen Tai, VP of Investments at CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer.  In her role, Gretchen effectively serves as the CIO and has a team of 7 investment professionals that oversees $10 billion in assets.   Gretchen joined CSAA in 2019 after serving as a portfolio manager at SECOR Asset Management, a boutique global asset management firm known for providing compr...

Our guest for today's podcast is Scott Chan, Deputy Chief Investment Officer of the California State Teachers' Retirement System (better known as CalSTRS).  CalSTRS is the largest teachers' retirement system and second largest public pension fund in the United States.  A world-class financial services institution and state agency, CalSTRS is known for its unique organizational culture which emphas...

Our guest for today's podcast is Amie Patel, CEO of Elevar Equity, a venture capital impact firm with headquarters in India.   Elevar Equity fuels the economic resilience and vibrancy of underserved customers and low income communities by investing early growth capital in entrepreneurs building at the intersection of inclusivity, affordability and massive scale. Led by an entrepreneurial emerging...

Our guest for today's podcast is Brian O'Neil, Chief Investment Officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  Brian is a legend in the business and has been at the helm of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the past 20 years helping to grow its foundation to well over $14 billion in AUM.  Effective January 1st, 2023, Brian will be retiring from his role as CIO.   What a pleasure it was for m...

Our guest for today's podcast is Jane Ma who is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where she specializes in advising clients in the Asset Management and Wealth Management sector. She has over 15 years of investment banking experience. Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Jane worked at both Greenhill and Deutsche Bank focusing on M&A. Jane holds a B.S. in Applied Economics & Management from Cor...

Our guest for today's podcast is Eugene Zhang, Founder & Partner of TSVC, a venture capital firm he started in 2010 to focus on seed stage investing.  An engineer by training, Eugene spent his formative years working for a number of the top tech companies in our time including Sun Microsystems, Cisco and Juniper Networks.  After successfully selling his own side hustle tech startup, Eugene took an...

Our guest for today's podcast is Grace Chen, Founder and CEO of Upmarket.  Upmarket opens up alternative investment opportunities to qualified individual investors. Qualified investors now have direct access to selected private equity, hedge funds and other alternative private fund offerings with lower investment minimums, simplified online subscription and post reporting process. UpMarket aims to...

Our guest for today's podcast is Amy Chen, Chief Investment Officer at the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum, educational and research complex.  Amy oversees overall investment strategy and management of the institution's endowment.  Under Amy's leadership since 2006, the investment office has grown from $800 million to $2.5 billion while distributing $1 billion along the way… no...