The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Cynthia Tusan is CEO and Chairman of Strategic Global Advisors, a fundamentally inspired and quantitatively driven investment manager focused on global equities, a role she has held for over 16 years.  She previously was a portfolio manager at Wells Capital Management and is based in the Newport Beach area. Our conversation starts with her upbringing which was the ultimate marriage of science and...

Stephanie Braming is Global Head of Investment Management at William Blair & Co.  based in Chicago. She was previously a portfolio manager and specialist at William Blair. And prior to that investment consultant, she started her career as an examiner in the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. We start with her upbringing in a rural town in the Midwest and how she moved from an English literature...

In Series 2 of the 2022 podcast we discussing taking a stand – a stand against climate change, against bias, against  recruitment processes that aren’t generating the results and against stereotypical thinking.  We hear from another 10 inspiring guests from around the world.  From the academic who realized he could make a better impact with his sustainable finance agenda in the world through publi...

Diana Kiluta Amoa, is Chief Investment Officer of Kirkoswald, a US based hedge fund, and she formerly spent over a decade in financial services in a range of roles including fixed income and rates trading, with a focus on Emerging Markets. She is a Board Member of the Global Nomads Group among other roles.   Our conversation starts with her upbringing in Kenya, her education in the UK and how she...

Joel Moreland is a Principal Consultant at Social and Environmental Finance.   He has worked in early stage investing, corporate finance, fund management and mainstream banking. In this discussion we start with how he was born into a culture of activism, thanks to the work his parents had done, and then delve into a broad and multi-faceted discussion about the issue of climate change and the vario...

Stavros Siokos is managing partner and co-founder at Astarte Capital Partners. He started his career with Salomon Brothers in NYC in the mid-nineties, was sent to London and later was managing director of Citigroup responsible for the global trading strategies across the firm and for the product solution for all pension funds and insurance companies across the world. He was formerly Head of Invest...

Seema Hingorani is the founder and chair of Girls Who Invest and a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley Investment Mangement.  She previously was CIO at her own hedge fund and Chief Investment Officer of NYC Retirement Systems where she spent 4 years following a long career in asset management. Seema's story has been told just recently in this podcast hosted by my friend Susan Soh so we took things...

Simon Chisholm is Chief Investment Officer at Resonance Limited, an investment manager focused on achieving social and place-based impact.  It currently runs funds focused on three themes – homelessness, housing for vulnerable women, and housing for adults with learning differences.  It has over 20 years of an Impact Track Record and has housed over 2300 people in 1000 properties since inception. ...

Dr. Rania Azmi is the Founder of Alexandrite Decisions, a NATO registered management consultancy and training firm that fuses her three interests of investment strategy, academia and cancer patient advocacy. Based in Kuwait, she was strategic adviser to the Kuwait Sovereign Wealth Fund for over 10 years and has had a long career in academia and is a member of the executive education board at the W...

Vitali Kalesnik is a partner and senior member of the investment team at Research Affiliates, a Newport Beach headquartered investment firm.  Vitali is based in London.  He has focused his career in equity based research and has a Phd in economics.  He has written extensively in academic journals and has received various industry rewards for his content.  He is originally from Belarus.   Our conve...

Rachel Green is Director of Institutional Sales at Nuveen. She started her career in risk management and moved into a sales role in 2014.  She has been a prominent voice in the City of London on issues of diversity and inclusion and is the founder of The Skills Workshop, to help women and young people understand their career options, share stories and to identify with others as well to create a se...

David Hutchings recently retired from Albourne Americas where he was most recently Partner Emeritus having spent over 14 years at the firm where he founded the private equity research practice when he joined. He previously held a range of senior private equity roles in a career that spanned over 50 years. We start with the serendipitous start to his career - how he was tapped on the shoulder while...

Kimberly Smith is Head of Capital Formation at Techstars.  She was previously Director of Marketing and Investor Relations at Owl Creek Asset Management and before that worked at Davidson Kempner and ABN AMRO.  She holds a number of Board Roles and is an active advocate for education. Kim is already known as a force in the world of client development and client service in the hedge fund arena. We...

Welcome back to The Fiftyfaces Podcast in 2022. In this first series we meet with ten more inspiring guests and draw out in particular themes relating to impact and the importance of education.  For some of our guests their commitment to educating the next generation – whether through personal sponsorship, Board Roles, teaching decision making or the founding of The Skills Workshop – there is univ...

In this last episode in this collection we go primarily to the US and Middle East, where we meet with some seasoned as well as newer directors to hear their thoughts on the evolution of the role and the power of diversity. We also hear from two guests, Dr. Rania Azmi and Kimberly Smith, who will feature in the first series of our 2022 Fiftyfaces Podcast.   First we hear from Jan Nicholson, who is...

In Series 3 of this FiftyFaces Focus Series focusing on the Next Chapter – and specifically portfolio careers and what makes an effective Board Member and Chari we meet with Alexandra Noble, Daniele Beasley, Susan Martin and Henry Tapper.  We hear from a group of leaders committed to training the next generation of leaders, coaching through change and ensuring that all pensioners get to retire wit...

In our second podcast of our Fiftyfaces Focus Next Chapter Series we hear from four more seasoned voices who are all pursuing a rich and diverse set of roles.  First we meet with Margaret Casely Hayford, CBE, Chancellor of Coventry University, Special Trustee at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and Chair at Shakespeare’s Globe, among other board roles.  She talks about the steep lea...

Caroline Burton has a portfolio career which includes roles as an independent advisor to local authority pension plans and a NED role. She previously spent over 25 years at the Guardian Royal Exchange, where she was promoted to manager at the age of 28. She retired from that organization in 1999 and has since built a portfolio career.  Our conversation starts in what seems like an entirely differe...

Sharmila Kassam is the founder of Aligned Capital Investing, as well as holding a portfolio of Board roles. She was previously Deputy Chief Investment Officer of the Employees Retirement System of Texas, a public defined benefit plan with around $30 bn in AUM, where she held a series of roles for almost 12 years. She previously worked as an attorney and a venture industry professional. She is a Se...

Debbie Clarke was Global Research Chair and Global Head of Investment Research at Mercer for close to 16 years, following an extensive career in asset management and consulting which included 20 years as a portfolio manager.  She retired from her position at Mercer in June 2021 and is building a portfolio career, including a NED role on the EMEA board of Blackrock and a member of the UK CFA Instit...

We are issuing this replay of Sally Bridgeland's podcast - Sally featured in the first series of The Fiftyfaces Podcast in August 2020.  Sally Bridgeland needs no introduction in London institutional investing circles. Following a long career as an actuary, investment consultant and investor, culminating in a role of CEO at BP Pension Trustees for the 19 BN GBP BP pension fund, she has pivoted to...

In this inaugural "next chapter" podcast episode, we hear from four extraordinary leaders in investment management circles - each pathbreakers in their own right, and each of whom is dedicating this current chapter of their career to a portfolio of Board and other roles. Many executives enter a portfolio or "plural" career once they finish up a traditional executive role, but there is a distinct l...

Margaux O’Brien is Investment Director at the University of California investment office, based in Oakland, CA.  She previously spent over 14 years in the fund of hedge fund area, where she specialized in equity long/short and other equity hedge funds. Prior to that she was an investment consultant.   Our conversation starts with Margaux's upbringing in South Africa, her introduction to investment...

Adam Demuyakor is the founder and managing partner at Wilshire Lane Capital, a venture capital and private equity firm that focuses on PropTech solutions based in Los Angeles California.  Born in the US to a family originally from Ghana, Adam started out on Wall Street in investment banking and held a number of private equity and venture capital roles before found in Wilshire Lane.  He also holds...

Pat Lynch, who was Founder, President and CEO of Chicago Equity Partners, a Chicago based asset manager for over 20 years.  He now holds investment and strategic advisory roles within the investment industry and is on the board of directors of Loyola Business School, as well as the Ballmer Center for Social Justice. Our conversation covers Pat's decades of experience in finance, including starting...