The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Luba Nikulina is Global Head of Research at Willis Towers Watson, based in London, where she oversees the quality of research and investment decisions, new investment solutions as well as technology and strategy in research. She is a Non-Executive director at the Investor Forum, which focus on positioning stewardship at the heart of investment decision making. She has a strong interest in ESG and...

We are absolutely delighted to be back with our 2021 series of The Fiftyfaces Podcast, which is like seeing a group of old friends - something long overdue for many of us. In this first series we continue our exploration of some of the fascinating backgrounds behind some of our investment industry colleagues, and discuss their struggles, their triumphs and their guiding beliefs. We learn about the...

In this very special bonus episode of The Fiftyfaces Podcast we provide a preview of our next spin-off series Fiftyfaces Focus - Inspiring People in the law. The Honorable Judge Victoria Kolakowski, is a judge of the Superior Court of Alameda County, in the Bay Area of California and in November 2010 she was the first Transgender person to be elected a Trial Judge. Judge Kolakowski is a committed...

It seemed to be only fair that after the extraordinary generosity of the 58 guests of the first season of The Fiftyfaces Podcast I should open myself up to the same questions. To do this, I chose one of the best, Ted Seides, interviewer extraordinaire, and host of The Capital Allocators Podcast, which you can check out here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/capital-allocators/id1223764016 Our...

Bola Tobun is Investments and Treasury Manager at the London Borough of Enfield. She is a frequent participant on the local government conference circuit, which is where we met, and she has a long history of experience in pension fund roles across local government and pensions administration businesses. Our conversation starts with Bola's background in chemical engineering, and how this drove her...

Dr. Ylva Baeckstrom is a lecturer and researcher in finance at King’s College Business School in London, where she has a particular interest in behavioural finance, investment decision making and investment advice, with a special interest in gender and the interplay between advisors and their clients. She previously worked in banking for over 15 years, and also has a psychotherapy practice, which...

Genia Diamond was most recently a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Merlyn Advisors, a special situations advisory and investment firm. She was previously a partner of Cantab Capital, where she headed up the business development area for over 8 years. She started her career in asset management in research and then held a series of business development roles at a range of asset managers. Sh...

Kristin Finney-Cooke is an investment consultant based in Chicago, who works with a range of public pension plans across the Midwest, along with other institutional investors. She has a particular interest in promoting and encouraging diverse asset management firms, particularly those that are female and minority owned. In this conversation we do a deep dive into her rich family history of academi...

Connie Teska is principal and co-founder of Pluscios Management, a fund of hedge funds manager based in the Chicago area. Pluscios is a Greek term meaning wealth, abundance, and riches and the firm, founded in 2006, has two female founders. She has a long history in investment management, particularly in the area of alternative investments. Our conversation returns to Connie's Greek roots, and wha...

Kelli Schrade is an institutional consultant and director at Graystone Consulting, a Morgan Stanley company, and is based in Chicago. She has had a long career in manager selection and investment consulting and is a self-described “market junkie”, who is committed to making change through her work with clients and diverse investment managers, among other causes. She is a Board Member at the Lincol...

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...

Kourtney Gibson is President of Chicago-based Loop Capital Markets, one of the largest privately-held investment banks in the country. After joining the company as an intern more than 20 years ago, she has held various roles at the firm, including spearheading its global equity division for more than a decade. She is a member of The Economic Club of Chicago and sits on the board of trustees of the...

In this bonus series of the Fiftyfaces podcast we meet eight accomplished women who offer a frank assessment of their journeys into the investment world and their experience in it. We hear about being underestimated, and whose problem this is, really. We discuss the imposter syndrome, the high drop-out rate of senior women, and how a Board Director is using her position to drive inclusion and know...

Carrie Pickett has had a long career in asset management, and was recently a founder and principal of Blueprint Capital Advisors, having held a series of roles as Controller, director of operations, and marketing and investor relations in other asset management firms. She is a frequent contributor to the dialogue around the need for more diversity in the asset management industry. Our conversation...

Ariane Barker is CEO of Scale Investors Ltd, based in Melbourne, which invests patient capital in female-founded Australian early stage businesses. She has had a long career in global finance, including roles in investment banking in the US, Europe, Japan and Australasia, and in 2011 was identified as one of seventy high potential board-ready women after being awarded an AICD board diversity schol...

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...