In Conversation with Julie Segal

Private credit isn’t the new story anymore. The more interesting questions are about what happens as the industry matures. That's where my conversation with Churchill CEO Ken Kencel begins. I found myself coming back to one phrase from our conversation: "the sediment at the bottom of the barrel." It's how Kencel explains why the highest-returning private credit manager isn't necessarily the best o...

More than a decade ago, I wrote a story called "Is Alpha Dead?" The premise was simple: Markets had become so competitive, so efficient, and so crowded that generating excess returns was getting harder and harder. Andre Perold, CIO of HighVista Strategies, was one of the people I interviewed for that piece. So I was curious how he thinks about the question today. Perold argues that we're living th...

In this episode, I spoke with Stuart Fiertz, co-founder and president of Cheyne Capital. I've known Stuart for years and one of the things I appreciate most about him is his willingness to say things that many people in the industry are thinking but few will say publicly. This conversation was a good example. We started with private credit, because, well, there’s a lot to say. Stuart argued that m...

In this episode, I speak with Luke Sarsfield of Ridgepost Capital about what’s actually changing in private markets — and what isn’t. At the center of our conversation is a tension that’s easy to miss: investors in private markets aren’t just dealing with slower distributions or questions about liquidity. They’re adjusting to a broader mix of investors that are participating, but don’t behave the...

In this episode, Nick Liolis explains how Guardian reworked its investment model, moving its investment function into partnerships with HPS Investment Partners, Janus Henderson, and Hamilton Lane. Instead of simply allocating capital, the firm consolidated mandates, transferred teams, and structured those relationships to share in the upside — not just pay fees — while keeping core decisions aroun...

Julie Segal speaks with Hamza Lemssouguer about the evolution of credit markets and the risks emerging in parts of private credit. They discuss how Europe’s fragmented system differs from the U.S., how the post-2022 shift in rates and liquidity is reshaping opportunities, and why some credit strategies are becoming more dependent on growth, capital markets access, and exit conditions. As Hamza exp...

After years of directing time, attention, and capital toward private markets, institutional investors are taking a fresh look at whether they underinvested — intellectually and operationally  — in public markets. Gerard O’Reilly, co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors, said many large investors are reassessing their approach after treating public markets largely as a low-cost, passive allocation. Wit...

Amherst Group CEO Sean Dobson discusses the push to restrict institutional homebuyers, his work with lawmakers in Washington, and the politics driving the debate over single-family rentals. Take a listen and email me with your thoughts and ideas at ⁠jsegal@institutionalinvestor.com⁠ .

I first got to know Soraya Chabarek the way many relationships now begin: entirely on screen. Meeting in person was different. As Soraya notes in this episode, technology accelerates access, but it can’t replace human connection — a belief that has shaped how she invests, leads, and builds organizations.  That philosophy sits at the heart of her work as president and CEO of Manulife CQS Investment...

In Episode 11, which was recorded live at the Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago, Julie Segal talked to BlackRock’s Rick Rieder, who created THE buzz at the conference after his morning presentation, which he boldly called ‘What Is Money’ (and which included a prediction that AI would create a 15-hour work week.) Julie got Rick, the CIO of $3 trillion in global fixed income, to finish —...

Imagine waking up to discover that decades of data on stocks never included key industries (technology anyone?), making every major index misleading and leaving people to question everything about their equity portfolios, including how much they’ve invested, the risk. and expected long-term returns. With hedge funds, this isn’t just a thought experiment—it’s an unsettling truth. And a fix matters...

In episode 9, Julie talks to Robert Goldstein, who has been the chief operating officer of BlackRock for 10 years and who started as a ‘green package’ analyst 30 years ago in 1994. Rob, who was part of groups that built the iconic green package into Aladdin as well as BlackRock Solutions, talks in detail about what carries over from the early days of the company to inform what it does now (a lot)...

In episode 8, Julie talks to Ignacio Jayanti, CEO of private equity firm Corsair Capital, which spun out of J.P. Morgan Chase in 2006. Before that, Jayanti had been on the investment team of the predecessor Corsair funds and managed the operations of the business for almost a decade. Jayanti covers a lot of ground in this conversation, including how the model of private equity buyouts that took sh...

David Hunt, president and CEO of PGIM, addresses how economies are being funded differently, what that means for investors’ portfolios, and how to foster contrarian thinking. Listen to Julie and David discuss: The rise in private market investments and how that reflects a fundamental change in how economies are being funded. And why an understanding of that dynamic is necessary to answer the quest...

In episode 6, Julie talks to John Wright about why it’s not enough anymore to just pick the best credits. While clearly counterintuitive statement, John, who is global head of credit and a partner, does go on to explain the alpha-generating techniques that now go into managing private credit portfolios. In the hyper-competitive world that private credit has become, John says “It’s harder to differ...

In episode 5, Julie talks to Oliver Fadly of NEPC about why he’s cautious on private credit right now after the explosive growth in the asset class over the last 15 years, why he expects much more transparency in the coming years, and why it’s hard to find managers with true track records that you can dig into to get a picture of their investment chops. Oliver and Julie discuss the good and the ba...

Michael Levy, CEO of Crow Holdings, says the bottom third of office buildings are redevelopment projects that are a “multi-decade problem.” In today’s episode, Julie sits down in New York to talk with Michael Levy, CEO of Crow Holdings, the private real estate developer and investment firm in Dallas. After an 18-year career at Morgan Stanley, which included restructuring the firm’s real estate bus...

Rishi Ganti argues there is a meaningful alternative to investing in tradeable markets — but it’s not easy. In this episode of the podcast, Julie Segal talks to Rishi Ganti, a veteran of J.P. Morgan and Two Sigma and co-founder of Orthogon Partners, which invests in untraded or esoteric assets. Or what might be even better described as investments that require discovery, a process Rishi calls magi...

Bob Elliott wants to offer ETFs that replicate the return streams of hedge funds and other alternatives to both pensions and individuals who can’t justify paying 2 and 20. Bob Elliott is a co-founder of Unlimited, which wants to bring sophisticated hedge fund strategies to individual investors who haven’t had access to strategies that could help protect their savings from market swings or a prolon...

Today I’m talking to Jonathan Lavin e, co-managing partner of Bain Capital and chief investment officer of Bain Capital Credit. In this episode, Jonathan talks about his path to the esoteric world of private credit, the transformation of risk-taking on Wall Street after the global financial crisis, and his view of those changes 15 years later. With many market crises under his belt, Jonathan walks...

Welcome to In Conversation with Julie Segal, a podcast about the world of institutional investors.  Music: Motivate Me by Mixaund