The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Karen Shackleton is the founder and head of Pensions for Purpose, a collaborative initiative to promote understanding of impact investment for institutional investors. This is in addition to a portfolio career which includes roles as investment adviser to four local authority pension funds, as well as Chair and Non-Executive Director roles. She has spent most of her career in investment, including...

Arthur Olunwa is an investment professional based in Chicago, whom I got to know when he worked as a senior fixed income allocator at a large corporate pension plan there. Prior to this he spent time in fixed income risk management as well as a portfolio manager in a multi-asset team. He sits on the advisory committee of the CFA Society of Chicago and is the Chairperson of the Chicago Investment G...

Justina Etteh is a transaction banking associate at a large global investment bank, based in London. She hails from Ghana and participated in a graduate training program sponsored by that bank that recruited her directly from Ghana. She spends a lot of her time mentoring young black students and colleagues in the world of finance and sharing her experiences in the workplace. Our conversation trace...

David Hickey is portfolio manager and responsible investment lead at the Lothian Pension Fund, a public pension fund based in Edinburgh. He previously was a fund manager for a European Small Cap Equity team among other investment related roles. David is a prominent voice in furthering the cause of responsible investing and creating diversity within the financial services arena. Our conversation tr...

Jenna Gerstenlauer is founder and managing partner of Sound Mark Partners, a commercial real estate investment firm based in Connecticut, which focuses on investing in real estate debt for an institutional client base. The firm is notable for its all female executive team. Our conversation centers on her experience as a founder, and some of the nuances of real estate finance. She discusses the peo...

Dawid Konotey-Ahulu is an entrepreneur in financial services, technology and elderly care and the co-founder of Redington, the London-based independent pensions and insurance advisory group with $500 bn in assets under advisement, as well as mallowstreet.com, a social media platform connecting the pensions and insurance industry. He has had a long career in financial services and is a high-profile...

In Series 2 of the Fifty Faces Podcast we speak with another 10 investors from areas as diverse as private wealth, investment consulting, public pension funds, real estate, venture capital and asset management. We hear about their lived experience, what it was and is like to be a minority in our profession, and about their setbacks and what drives them now. We hear what they think of recent initia...

Grainne Dooley was most recently Deputy CIO at ClearMacro Ltd, and previously ran fixed income portfolios at a large asset manager. She has extensive experience in the areas of fixed income, derivatives and a strong interest in innovation within financial services. Our conversation discusses her journey into investment in London in the 1990s as well her experience as an investment committee member...

Alison Major Lépine is Head of Research and Strategy at Absolute Return Partners, based in London, which she joined in 2015 after almost 10 years at the UK Railways pension scheme, where she was responsible for over £1bn in various absolute return strategies. Previously, she was an Investment Manager at IKANO across a number of asset classes. Prior to joining IKANO, she worked as an Associate at R...

Mel Lindsey is Managing Partner of Nile Capital Group based in the Los Angeles Area. He is already a veteran of the asset management industry having established the US asset management arm of a Swiss Asset Manager in 2004 and grown it to a peak of $78 bn in AUM in 2008 before successfully launching an IPO in 2009. In 2014 he set up Nile Capital Management, which is a company that takes strategic s...

Patricia (Trish) Halper is a member of the Board of Advisors of Ativo Capital, a Chicago-based asset manager. Trish was previously CIO and Partner at Chicago Equity Partners, where she spent 21 years and most recently headed up the quantitative equity investment process. She is a trustee of the La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Chicago, among other board and volunteer roles. Our conversation covers...

Rahul Moodgal has been described as a “Master Fundraiser” and currently works in a business development for various asset managers, including hedge funds as well as having a rich portfolio career which includes various charities and a role as an angel investor. He describes himself as a Contrarian and a Humanitarian. Our conversation discusses how to build a business in asset management, the centr...

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 an extensive portfolio career. Since 2014 she has held roles at Nest, USS, Lloyds Banking Group, Avida International, RAF Central Fund, N...

Roy Kuo is team head of alternative strategies at the Church Commissioners for England, which has £8.5bn in assets under management, with £1.4bn in hedge fund strategies and £1.7bn in alternative private market strategies. He previously held a series of roles in consulting and asset management, and is an active participant on the conference circuit for alternative assets, as well as a thought lead...

Angela Miller May is CIO at the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund, a public defined benefit fund based in Chicago, which has $11 bn in assets under management. The fund is a leader in promoting the G in ESG – i.e. in ensuring that the managers it does business with walk the talk in improving the diversity of their investment teams. The fund has an aspirational goal of investing 20% of its assets with...

Jan Nicholson is President of two private family foundations, The Nicholson Foundation in NJ and The Grable Foundation in Pittsburgh PA. She recently retired from a Board Role at MDRC, a non-partisan research organization based in NYC, and has held Board Positions at Rubbermaid, Ball Corporation, and Radian Group, Inc. from 1990 to 2015. She has an extensive background in finance having worked at...

Jesus Amadeo is CFO and Senior VP at MDRC, a non-partisan research organization based in NYC and Oakland CA, and is a partner at an emerging venture capital fund focused on the defense and security industry. He was born in Puerto Rico and came to study at Columbia University in New York City at the age of 17. In the early part of his career he traveled and worked extensively in Latin America and C...

The world of investment is volatile, complex and unpredictable. It is also full of captivating and richly experienced people. People who have navigated through multiple market crises. People who have lost it all and lived to fight another day. People with nerves of steel, people with missions that run generations deep. This podcast series is about bringing you some of their stories. And while no o...