The Fiftyfaces Podcast

GuyLaine Charles and I met when we started on the same day as junior associates in a NYC law firm in the mid-90s. GuyLaine became a specialist in derivatives and recently launched her own firm, Charles Law PLLC, to represent clients in the negotiation of financial agreements including prime brokerage, futures and options, limited partnership and credit agreements - in fact anything that might repr...

Daniel Booth is Chief Investment Officer at the Borders to Coast Pensions Partnership, which manages assets on behalf of 11 partner funds within the UK Local Government Pension Scheme. He has extensive experience as a chief investment officer, and he has had a particular emphasis on alternative investments throughout his career, where he has spent time in Saudi Arabia, Frankfurt as well as the UK....

Elizabeth Burton is CIO at the Hawaii Employee’s Retirement System, a US public pensions plan with over $17 bn in AUM. Before moving to Hawaii in 2018 she was managing director of the quantitative strategies group at Maryland State Retirement and Pension System. Prior to that she ran her own strategy consulting business, and worked as an economist, in portfolio management at a fund of hedge funds...

Ivory Day is Managing Partner at Ivory Day Clear Investment Consulting based in the Chicago area. He started his career close to 50 years ago and has held a long succession of investment consulting roles, during which he advised public, Taft-Hartley, corporate, endowment and foundation plans. He is a frequent participant on the industry conference circuit where he discusses his views on asset allo...

Erin Archer is Treasurer at Syracuse University, which she recently joined after a period as Treasurer and Director of Investments of DePaul University in Chicago, where she oversaw the endowment. She started her career in sell-side research and has had a global career including four years in London and two years in South Africa, where she focused on the consumer sector. Our conversation covers Er...

Rod June is Chief Investment Officer of the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System, (which has $19.5 bn in AUM), where he has spent over 8 years. He previously held the same title at the Hawaii Employees Retirement System, where he spent over 4 years. In this podcast we discuss Rod's long history of public service in public pension funds, how he entered finance and some of the key influence...

Katie Wyatt is CIO of the endowment of Loyola University in Chicago, a role she has held for close to two years. She was previously director of investments at the pharmaceutical company Abbott, where she spent over 11 years, and prior to that held a range of roles in equity research. She recently became a member of the Board of Directors of the CFA Society of Chicago. We discuss Katie's career jou...

Kirk Sims is a Senior Investment Manager and Head of the Emerging Manager Program at the Teachers Retirement System of Texas, a public pension plan with over $150 bn in assets under management. He previously worked at the Teachers Retirement System of Illinois, where he spent close to 7 years, and where he had oversight of the $7 bn minority investment program and the $750 m emerging manager progr...

In Series 5 of the Fiftyfaces Podcast we talk to 10 investment professionals about their passions such as jazz, sport, faith and "speaking truth to power". We hear from a CIO who has thoughtfully mapped out how to create an inclusive workforce and industry, and from another CIO who works daily to incorporate the mission of her Jesuit institution in to her investment strategy. We hear about global...

Bev Durston is Managing Director of Edgehaven, an alternatives partner which works with mostly institutional clients to select alternative investments. She splits her time between her native Sydney and London and has over 30 years of experience in financial services. She previously worked at a number of Superannuation Funds in Australia as well as the British Airways Pension Fund in the UK and has...

Rendel Solomon, who recently worked in a Chicago-based private equity firm, is a leading voice for diversity in finance. He is the founder of the One Stock One Future, an initiative which aims to turn one million youth into public company shareholders. He serves on the Board of NASP and West Side Forward, and he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Latin School, which he himself attended....

Kristin Staffeldt is a Senior Portfolio Analyst in the Real Assets area at the University of Chicago endowment, which has around $8.5 bn in assets under management. She has spent most of her career in a range of roles in real estate, having focused on land economics in her university degree. Our discussion covers the nuances of real estate investing, how it fits an institutional portfolio and how...

Gary Greenberg leads the Emerging Markets Equity team at the international business of Federated Hermes. He has had the role of portfolio manager in the flagship fund for over 9 years, and recently passed the baton on this to his co-portfolio manager Kunjal Gala on September 1 of this year. He has had a long career in investment, but what has fascinated me most about Gary is his parallel focus on...

Leslie Lenzo is Chief Investment Officer at Advocate Aurora Health, a hospital plan in Illinois with over $10 bn in Assets under Management. She has worked in asset management at hospital plans for over 16 years and has also spent time in equity research. She is an advocate for building both a diverse investment team within her own organization as well as for promoting more diversity within the in...

Tom Soto is Founder and Managing Partner at Diverse Communities Impact Fund, a Los Angeles based private equity fund focused on making impactful investments in local communities, which he founded in 2018. He has had a long career in asset management, and an expansive portfolio of board and committee roles, with a particular focus on raising the profile of the American Latino community. His roles i...

Yvonne Bajela is an investor in early stage companies at Impact X Capital, which invests in start-ups across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She has worked across the globe in investment banking, corporate venture capital and in academia, and is a frequent speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and female empowerment. She was listed as a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30. Our conversation co...

Luke Ellis is the Chief Executive Officer of Man Group, and has had a long career in asset management, with a particular focus originally on fixed income and derivatives and later hedge funds. He is vice chair of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments, and Chair of the Board of Trustees of Greenhouse Sports, which focuses on developing young people through sport. Our conversation starts w...

Machel Allen is President and Chief Investment Officer of Metis Global Partners, a firm she founded in November 2013. The firm, based in San Diego, is focused on global equity investment across the size spectrum from micro-cap to large cap. She previously spent time as an equity and research analyst at a range of asset management firms. Our conversation covers the entry level roles that revealed t...

Greg Williams is a business development manager at Wellington Management Company, a Boston-based asset management firm. Greg is based in their Chicago office. Before pivoting to a career in finance he worked as a professional actor, and after business school spent time as an equity research analyst and has long experience in consultative selling and business development. As an Alum of the Robert T...

In Series 4 of The Fiftyfaces Podcast we meet 10 more diverse investment professionals. One learned to play cards at the age of 3, and thus began his love of markets, one used to be a professional actor, one grew up on a hog farm in Iowa, and one low income on the west side of Chicago. We meet the CIO of a large US hospital plan, a real estate specialist at a large US endowment, a female fund foun...

Sorina Zahan is managing partner and Chief Investment Officer at Core Capital in Chicago, an asset manager focused on building specialty portfolios in the alternatives area, as well as Founder and CEO of Aiperion, a research development and fintech firm which aims to change the way we think about investment risk. Before entering asset management she previously worked as an engineer and as a profes...

Emanuel Arbib is the Chief Executive Officer of IAM Capital Group in London, an asset manager whose product range includes real estate, hedge fund of funds and green opportunity products. Prior to founding IAM he was a director at a NASDAQ listed company that controlled an Italian motorcycle manufacturer, and prior to that a director of a family office based in Jersey and Monte Carlo. He works ext...

Sorca Kelly-Scholte is Head of Pensions Solutions and Advisory for EMEA at a large asset management firm. She trained as an actuary, and spent time as an investment consultant before assuming her current role. She is a frequent writer on the topic of institutional asset allocation, strategy and portfolio construction. Our conversation covers her undergraduate degree in Mathematics, and how it taug...

Shawn Evans is an investment officer at a large corporate pension plan in Chicago and prior to that held a series of similar roles in Chicago-based public pension funds. He started his career as an accountant, and is a CPA as well as a CFA. He works as a volunteer leader with Chicago Cares, and has participated in college and high school mentor programs. Our conversation covers how Shawn came into...

Roxanne Martino is Managing Partner at OceanM19 family office in Chicago, and has had a long career in asset management. She founded Aurora Investment Management in 1988, a firm which provided hedge fund portfolio solutions to institutional investors for over 28 years. She is Co-Chairperson of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Council, Chairperson of the Boards of the Ann & Ro...