The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Katie Stitch is a partner at W Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in the NYC area that provides secondary liquidity solutions to private company shareholders and to PE/VC investment firms. She has held a number of Board roles and started her career as an analyst in investment banking. Our conversation tracks her education at U Penn and her discovery of the world of secondary investments...

Kate Fox is an Investment Manager at Baillie Gifford based in Edinburgh, where she leads the impact strategy Positive Change and is a Partner at the Firm. Our conversation traces her career journey, explores the meaning of "positive change" within an investment context and examines the way to develop a successful career in portfolio management. We start with Kate's upbringing in a small village ne...

If you have heard the term abundance of riches, that is what we have been experiencing this year in terms of our guests. So we are very pleased to bring you this bonus series, sponsored by Sound Mark Partners, a women led real estate debt firm that exemplifies so much of what we endorse and promote in the investment industry. We learn about accidental career paths, innovative strategies such as fu...

Apurva Schwartz is a portfolio specialist at Harding Loevner LP. She was previously a principal at Rocaton Investment Advisors, where she was a senior member of the investment team. Prior to that she held a series of roles in equity analysis and investing. Our conversation starts with her serendipitous start in finance and how that experience of picking stocks drove her to launch her own hedge fun...

Geeta Kapadia is Chief Investment Officer at Fordham University, a role she has held since August 2022. She was previously Associate Treasurer and Director of Investments at Yale New Haven Health where she headed a 5 person investment team, and prior to that had a range of roles in investment consulting and other financial roles. Our conversation traces her early college years, which saw her consi...

Cathie Wood is CEO of ARK Investment Management LLC (“ARK”). Prior to ARK, Cathie spent twelve years at AllianceBernstein as Chief Investment Officer of Global Thematic Strategies where she managed $5 billion. Cathie joined Alliance Capital from Tupelo Capital Management, a hedge fund she co-founded which, in 2000, where she managed $800 million in global thematic strategies. Prior to her tenure a...

Bruno Kaiser is CFO at Smile CDR Inc, a digital health company based in Toronto. He previously spent over 20 years in a series of investment banking leadership roles with a particular focus on the Metals and Mining Sector. We were classmates at INSEAD from 1999-2000. Our conversation takes a journey from the old economy to the new economy – starting with Bruno’s upbringing in Canada, his path into...

We are delighted to bring you this lively bonus episode of a live conversation with the legendary Steven Eisman, who became famous for shorting Collateralized Debt Obligations in the run up to the 2008 financial crisis. He was featured in the film adaptation of The Big Short under the name of Mark Baum, and portrayed by Steve Carell. In September 2014, he joined Neuberger Berman in the Private Ass...

We have brought you this story to showcase an extraordinary physical challenge - the world's toughest row - that one of our own - investment manager Laura Langton - is about to embark upon. We examine what motivates a person to take on something so extreme and so obviously strenuous and physically taxing. We look at the preparation and mental journey that is involved, and ask what it teaches her a...

Julia Kwamya is an associate at Tikehau Capital, the global alternative asset manager, where she is based in NYC.  She has trained as an actor, musician and voiceover artist and has released her first album “Feel Good about Feeling Bad”.  We are featuring songs from this album on this entire Series 5 of 2023.  She has been Creator in Residence at Kickstarter, as well as a casting assistant among o...

Ben Phillips is Head of Asset Management Global Advisory Services at Broadridge Financial Solutions, based in New York, He has had a long background in consulting at firms such as Casey, Quirk, Deloitte and Cerulli Associates and has focused for much of his career on the dynamics and evolution of the asset management industry. I asked Ben here to let us look over his shoulder into his crystal ball...

Melanie Pickett is Executive VP and Head of Asset Owners, Americas at Northern Trust, based in the Chicago area.  She oversees the Alternative Asset Servicing Group and directs the firm’s strategy , growth and delivery of all firmwide products for asset owners and allocators in the America’s region. She was named 2021 Top 40 Women in Fintech and the 2021 Global Banking & Finance US Business Wo...

Francois Bourdon is Managing Partner of Nordis Capital, based in Montreal. He is also Managing Partner in Sustainable Market Strategies, an independent investment strategy research service tracking global developments in ESG/impact-investing worldwide.  He was formerly Chief Investment Officer at Fiera Capital.   Our conversation starts with Francois's life long obsession with data and statistics,...

Paula Horn is Chief Investment Officer of the public securities group of Brookfield Asset Management. She has had an extensive career in investing, which has spanned investment grade credit, credit derivatives and other public investing. She holds a number of investment committee and Trustee roles. Our conversation starts with her upbringing in an Italian American family in the suburbs of Boston,...

Debbie Fielder is deputy head of Clwyd Pension Fund at Flintshire County Council, where she has spent over 27 years. She is a leading voice on the LGPS investment circuit having been an early adopter of broad diversification and a founding member of the Welsh Pensions Partnership. Our conversation traces her start in local government and finance functions and how this led to a role in pensions.  W...

It is our last official series of The Fiftyfaces Podcast for 2023 but we have a ton of actionable content for you for the rest of the year. In Series 5 we are looking around the corner at the future of AI, and how it will enable us to go back to the future.  We will look at what lies ahead for digital health and how better inclusion, particularly of people with disabilities, empowers all employees...

Claudia Buffini is Corporate Responsibility Advisor to the Chief of Staff at Schroders. In this role she supports Schroders on delivering its purpose –whilst being a sustainable business, addressing The Sustainable Development Goal 10, ‘Promoting Equalities’. She previously worked as a communications consultant in the branding industry to help companies articulate their values and purpose to both...

As a special treat in the run up to the release of Series 5 we are delighted to bring you this additional conversation with Dr. David Kelly, Chief Global Strategist of J P Morgan Asset Management. Our conversation is filled with Dr. Kelly's trademark turns of phrase and is a relatable tour through market dynamics. We start by asking why so many market pundits got the recent market strength wrong a...

David Carthy is Managing Partner Ireland of DLA Piper.  He was previously a partner at William Fry in Dublin as well as President of the Irish Exporters Association..  He previously spent over 7 years with the Ireland India Business Association where he spent 5 years as Chairman.   Our conversation starts with David's path into law and his early focus on the commercial aspects of his practice.  He...

As we take a short break before Series 5 of 2023 launches, we wanted to share with you some nuggets of a conversation with fellow podcast host Anthony Amunategui that we are launching over on our founders podcast channel. It is jam packed full of insights on leadership, learning to create an image with words and ultimately make the sale. Enjoy! Anthony Amunategui is founder of CDO Group, a women o...

Cathie Wood is CEO of ARK Investment Management LLC (“ARK”). Prior to ARK, Cathie spent twelve years at AllianceBernstein as Chief Investment Officer of Global Thematic Strategies where she managed $5 billion. Cathie joined Alliance Capital from Tupelo Capital Management, a hedge fund she co-founded which, in 2000, where she managed $800 million in global thematic strategies. Prior to her tenure a...

Caroline Lovelace is Founding Partner at Rose Hill Park Alternative Asset Managers, as well as Preserver Partners as CIO and Co-Portfolio Manager. Preserver is diverse-owned and Memphis-based. It runs a multi-strategy fund that invests through external managers. She has had an extensive career in researching and investing in hedge funds and in promoting emerging private equity and hedge fund inves...

Andy Ayim, MBE is an investor and founder based in the UK, and runs an Angel Investing School designed to “teach people how to invest small tickets in start-ups effortlessly.” He has run the School since January 2020, and is a venture partner and board member of numerous technology companies. Passionate about financial education and entrepreneurship, he has held been entrepreneur in residence at a...

Tom Raber is the founder and Managing Director of London-based Alvine Capital, a reverse enquiry solutions firm that Tom founded in 2005, with a particular focus on finding solutions for institutional investors in alternative assets.  Originally from Sweden, he previously held leadership roles at Key Asset Management  and a series of investment banks.  We start by discussing Tom's path and educati...

Colin Robertson is an independent advisor to two LGPS funds – London Borough of Tower Hamlets and London Borough of Harrow, within a portfolio career that he has had since 2013. He previously held the role of Global Head of Asset Allocation for Aon Hewitt and previously at Mercury Asset Management. He has extensive experience in working with a wide range of institutional clients.  In this podcast...