The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Stephan Breban is Head of Research at Renewity, the Founder of Giants Shoulders Capital and a consultant to a number of different firms.  He is known as one of London’s original (and legendary) private equity investors and advisors and has witnessed some of the good, the bad and the ugly of that the sector presents. We had the pleasure of working together, side by side in our own entrepreneurial v...

Deb 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 Institute...

Mark Steed is Chief Investment Officer at Arizona PSPRS Trust, a US public defined benefit fund with over $13 bn AUM, where he has spent over 14 years.  He previously worked as a banker and prior to that as a financial analyst, and has a Masters in Predictive Analytics.  He describes himself as an “investment ideas” guy and an out of the box thinker at that.   This wide-ranging conversation canter...

Bevon Joseph is co-founder of the Greenwood project, which is an organization that connects Black and LatinX students with career opportunities in financial services and fin-tech.  He previously held a series of roles in investment banks and other financial service firms, mainly in trading management functions. He is an advisory board member at the DePaul Career Center and is a graduate of the GS...

Annabel Gillard is an International Advisory Council Member at the Institute of Business Ethics.  She previously had a long career in asset management where she ran institutional business development businesses for large asset managers and held various board and committee roles in the CFA UK organization. She is currently pursuing a post-graduate degree in the twin disciplines of Philosophy and AI...

Julian Tregoning has worked in the asset management business for many years, having had senior roles in the Flemings Group (where he also covered Latin America) and at BNY Mellon. He has held multiple Director and Chair roles and is a member of the investment committee for SAUL, a multi-employer defined benefit scheme for the non-academic employees of the University of London, which is where we me...

Esther Peiner is Co-Head of the Infrastructure Group Europe in Partners Group, based In Zug.  She previously spent close to 11 years at Macquarie Group, where she was a managing director focused initially on the TMT sector and then infrastructure and real assets.  Our conversation traces her entry into investment banking, how she thrived there and how she found being in a minority worked to her ad...

Sam Kunz is Chief Investment Officer at Core Financial Partners, a firm that provides financial planning to small and medium sized businesses based in Venice, CA. He was previously a Senior Managing Director responsible for asset allocation and investment strategy at the University of California and prior to that he was my predecessor as CIO at the Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund.   O...

Sandy Urie is Chairman Emeritus at Cambridge Associates, a role she has held since 2016, when she retired as Chairman and CEO, having held the CEO role since 2001, and capping an over 30 year career at the firm. Her current focuses include sustainability and impact investing and she has held multiple board and investment committee roles. Currently she sits on the boards of the Stanford Management...

Faisal Rafi is head of research at Riscura, based in London – Riscura is a South Africa-based financial services firm that focuses on providing purpose driven investment solutions for investors as well as investment managers. He previously worked as an investment manager at a UK corporate hedge fund, and prior to that in various asset management and consulting roles. He trained as an actuary. Our...

Susana Coutinho is a Research Director at MainStreet Partners, a firm that provides investment Advisory and Portfolio Analytics on Sustainable, ESG and Impact investments. She is Portuguese, and has studied and worked in Italy as well as London, and has previously worked as an ESG analyst and in accounting. Our conversation covers how Susana entered the field of ESG analysis and impact investing,...

Uche Orji is CEO of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, based in Abuja, Nigeria. A native of Nigeria, he has had over 20 years experience in various financial roles including semiconductor analyst in Europe and the US, before returning to Nigeria just over 8 years ago. He also holds a number of Board roles. Our conversation starts with Uche's early career in investment banking and particu...

Series 3 of the Fiftyfaces Podcast 2021 is all about bold thinking. We hear from Uche Orji of the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Authority about his vision for investing in innovation in Africa, and from Faisal Rafi of Riscura, again an Africa based consulting firm, about the ground breaking changes underway in China, and what this means for an investment thesis. We speak with Susana Coutinho about ESG...

Yele Aluko is Chief Medical Officer at EY, a role he has held for close to 4 years. He is Co-Chair, Health Equity Advisory, at the international Well Building Institute, an Advisory Board Member at the Children’s National Hospital and a Board Member at the Wake Forest University School of Business. He has worked as a Cardiologist in hospital settings for over 30 years. Yele was born in Nigeria and...

Aman Kapadia is managing partner at Akaris Global, a hedge fund firm based in New York City. He previously worked at another fund Fir Tree Partners, and before that was an investment analyst focused on an event driven style of investing. Our conversation starts with Aman's childhood which was spent living around the world, and then a taxing academic load, which included both a JD and an MBA, after...

Shruti Van Dyke Gandhi is General Partner and Founding Engineer at Array Ventures which invests in enterprise deep tech early-stage companies. Shruti is also a professor in the computer science department at Columbia University. She spent her early career as a developer on mainframe security, collaboration tools, and data analytics. Post engineering, she invested in early-stage companies at True V...

Mitesh Sheth is CEO of Redington, an investment consulting firm based in London, where he has spent almost 8 years. He started his career as an investment analyst and held various roles in asset management firms and in his own strategy and innovation consulting business. We talk about his childhood first and how he learned to bring his authentic self into the workplace. Something seemingly minor -...

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 differen...

Oli Shakir-Khalil is an investment director in EM Debt at Fidelity International, based in London. We met at an industry conference where he discussed his role as a mental health ambassador within his firm and the industry and his efforts to amplify the importance of mental health awareness. He is passionate about the need to reinforce listening within organizations and the debunk the myth that th...

Andrew Osayemi is a specialist diversity recruiter at Rare Recruitment and the creator of the Netflix TV show Meet the Abebanjos. He started his career as a city trader and then took the plunge into starting a TV production company, MTA productions – although, as he claims he did not “know anything about TV”. He is the author of the book “How my Disastrous Teenage Love Life Will Get You Your Dream...

Heidi Ridley is Co-Founder and CEO at Radiant ESG, based in the Bay Area of California. She has had a long career in asset management, including roles as CEO of Rosenberg Equities, a division of AXA Investment Managers, global head of client service and head of North America institutional sales. She is a member of the Advisory Council at the Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership. Our conversati...

Michiel Timmerman is founder and managing partner at Mbuyu Capital Partners, which is an Africa focused investment boutique focused on financial services and agriculture, as well as Equity for Africa and EFTA, both focused on equipment leasing in Tanzania. He previously held a series of CIO roles across various asset management businesses in the City of London, including Ignis Asset Managemnent, w...

Marisa Hall is co-head of the Thinking Ahead Institute at Willis Towers Watson, where she has spent most of her career, starting initially as an investment consultant. She was named Woman of the Year in the 2020 Women in Finance Summit & Awards Series and was on the 2020 List of Financial News Rising Stars in Asset Management in Europe. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Diversit...

Jim Maloney is a director at the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association and a director of Beachpoint Capital Management. He was a trustee of the Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund for over 11 years, including 1.5 years as interim chief investment officer. He retired from the Chicago Police in 2017, after 35 years of service, which saw him rise to the rank of Lieutenant. Jim has been ac...

Leon Brujis is a Partner a Palladium Equity Partners, a private equity firm, headquartered in NYC. The firm is focused on making investments in middle market companies with a special focus on partnering with founders and family-owned businesses, and a particular focus on the Latinx consumer. He has held a number of board roles, and is currently on the Board of New America Alliance, a not for profi...