The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Dr. David Kelly is Chief Global Strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management, a position he has held for over 14 years.  He lives in Massachusetts. He was previously economic advisor at Putnam Investments, and prior to that held a range of roles in the financial services industry.  Originally from Dublin, like myself, he's a PhD in Economics from Michigan State University.  Our conversation starts wit...

Preeti Singh was until recently an LP reporter in the private equity area at the Wall Street Journal. She graduated from the Graduate School of journalism at Columbia University, and has worked in a range of roles and financial journalism. She has spent time as a Content Manager for publishing company in executive search prior to entering journalism, and is known for her ability to cultivate deep...

I'm joined today by Eugene O'Callaghan, who is a business and investment advisor based in Dublin, where he advises a range of asset managers and sovereign wealth funds on strategic initiatives. He was formerly director of the Irish Strategic Investment Fund and prior to that Director of the National Pensions Reserve Fund of Ireland. He started his career as an accountant.  Our conversation starts...

Geri McMahon is a partner at AON and Co-head of Responsible Investment at the firm. She started her career at Price Waterhouse Coopers in Sydney, and spent time as a fixed income trader before moving to a healthcare technology, business and ultimately moving to AON in 2018. She wrote a powerful LinkedIn post about returners, which led me to want to find out more about returnship programs and their...

Blair Smith is Senior Director of the Center for Financial Markets at the Milken Institute, where he leads the Center’s Access to Capital and strategic innovative financing initiatives to enhance economic and social impact.   Prior to joining Milken he was an adjunct professor at the Columbia Business School.  He is the former Chief Investment Officer for the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Devel...

Emma Jane Joyce is a sustainability specialist at the National Treasury Management Agency based in Dublin. She spent most of her career at the Agency holding roles such as Head of Responsible Investment and Investment Director. She's a member of the Ireland steering committee of the CDP Global Environmental Reporting System.  We start with Emma Jane's university education which was in the field of...

James Brooke Turner is Director of Yoke and Co and Investment Director of the Nuffield Foundation. He was voted one of the inaugural four Inspiring Leaders in the Voluntary Sector and writes about financial governance for charities. Our conversation starts with his study of art history, how he found that discipline and the perspective and insight it gave him for his ultimate career in finance. We...

Terri Duhon is an award winning educator, TEDx speaker, Board Director and speaker, who has over 25 years of experience in financial markets. She wrote the book "How the Trading Floor Really Works", founded her own financial markets firm, and is an Associate Fellow at the SAID Business School in Oxford. She sits on the Board of Morgan Stanley International, which she is Chair of the Risk Committee...

David Holmgren is Chief Investment Officer at Hartford Healthcare, based in Connecticut, and has had over 30 years of experience in running both internal and external investment portfolios in a range of settings. Aside from being a nonprofit CIO, David also serves on the investment board for the Hartford Community Foundation.  Our podcast starts with David's journey into investing, his early work...

As we bring our third series and second full year of podcasting to a close we have assembled a library of over 170 diverse role models in this series.  As the macro backdrop churns these dynamic personalities are our touchstones, our human constants, through the market noise.   In Series 5 of 2022 we hear from leaders from large institutions, a charity, a sovereign wealth fund, as well as a strate...

Steve Kim is a partner in investment strategy and risk management at Verdis Investment Management in the Philadelphia area. He has focused over 30 years in his career in implementing and managing operating infrastructures. Prior to his role at Verdis held various Chief Technology Officer roles. He now focuses on integrating his insight from systems modeling and data analysis into an investment app...

Matthew Sherwood, Ph. D. is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of WeVidIt Media, a video streaming platform that leverages data and analytics for a more inclusive and profitable entertainment industry. We met while he worked as an asset allocator, where he headed up public market investments for MMBB Financial Services.  He has spent time as a guest lecturer and an appointed professor at Colum...

Jason Mitchell is co-head of responsible investments at MAN Group, and the host of a Sustainable Future Podcast at the MAN Institute, a podcast that he has hosted since 2018, which has now passed its 55th episode. He writes and speaks widely on sustainability issues, as well as serving on a number of committees such as the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, and World Bank Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalit...

Zia Uddin is President of Monroe Capital LLC, an asset management firm headquartered in Chicago, which invests in middle market companies in North America through a range of products. Prior to joining Monroe he focused on middle market private equity investing for most of his career. Currently, he sits on a range of private company boards, as well as on the Board of a public company.  We start out...

Eve Ellis is a wealth advisor with William Blair, and is based in the New York City Area. She has a particular interest in socially responsible and impact investments and manages two proprietary portfolios, the gender parity strategy, and the Matterhorn Affinity, Diversity and Inclusion strategy. She's also a member of the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. She has received multiple...

Aaron Joseph is Senior Vice President of Investor Solutions at Blue Vista Capital Management, a Chicago-based real estate investment manager focused in particular on middle market equity, student housing and real estate credit. He previously worked as Deputy Sustainability Officer in the Office of the Mayor in the city of Chicago, and as a Strategy Manager at Urban Partnership Bank focused on prov...

Cynthia Steer has had a multi-decade career in investment management, spending time as an investment director, CIO, and Chief Retirement Strategist at a series of large consulting firms, and she now holds a broad range of investment committee and independent director roles. We start by discussing Cynthia's global career, which saw her based in the US but travel frequently around the world at the h...

John Bowman is executive Vice President of the Caia Association, and a prolific writer and commentator on the investment management industry. He has written about the subject of culture, restoring the virtuous reputation of the industry and ensuring that dialogue and education are maximized, particularly in the area of alternative investing. Our conversation starts with his thoughts on being a "ma...

Heather Brilliant is the President and CEO at Diamond Hill Capital Management, a $30 billion asset manager headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. She previously was Chief Executive Officer Americas at First State Investments and prior to that was CEO at Morningstar, Australasia, and formerly Global Head of Equity and Credit research. She's had a career long involvement with the CFA Institute globally, a...

James Penney is Chairman of Darwin Alternative Investment Management Ltd, a firm that offers innovative alpha driven investment solutions for long term investors. Our conversation covers his exceptionally diverse background, and his experience with studying theology, languages and living in Latin America doing mission-based work. Our conversation starts with his varied university career, and how h...

In our summer Series 4 of the 2022 Fiftyfaces Podcast we invite you to see our industry through fresh eyes through hearing the stories of 10 extraordinary professionals.  We hear of the training and perspective obtained through playing tennis at a professional level, challenging ice-skating routines and practicing the ancient Japanese martial art of Kendo.  We hear about formative life experiences...

Matteo Dante Puccio, is President International  and a Partner at Wave Financial Group. He's had an extensive career across the wealth management, VC tech investing and family office space. He's currently focused on digital assets at Wave Financial Group. Our conversation starts with Matteo's first love, which was for theatre.  We hear how being raised in the US by an Italian family formed his glo...

Deirdre Cooper  is Co-Head of Thematic Equity at Ninety One, with a particular focus on sustainable investing.  She is an Advisory Board Member at the Imperial College Centre for Climate Finance and an Advisory Board Member of Girls Who Invest.  She previously founded the Clean Tech group in Morgan Stanley where she worked in M&A in London and Menlo Park.  Our conversation starts with her Iris...

Les Bond is CEO at Attucks Asset Management, a firm he founded over 20 years ago.  Attucks is an MBE-certified registered investment advisor which builds portfolios of emerging investment managers- in particular female and minority owned firms.  Our conversation traces Les's college days where a major in sub-Saharan African studies kickstarted his interest in economics and trade.  This saw a trip...

Kerry Duffain is head of institutional client solutions at Fidante Partners.  She has had a long career, that has involved over two decades of working with institutional investors and consultants, but also a number of other intriguing positions, such as her first position - as a newsreader of English news in Bahrain.  This ability to improvise, adapt, work hard and step outside her comfort zone ha...