The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Matthew Rice is Chief Investment Officer of Vistamark Investments LLC where he leads the creation and execution of innovative, research-driven investment strategies anchored in disciplined portfolio management .He launched the firm in June of 2025 after a long career at Fiducient Advsors.  Our conversation starts with his career as a college and then professional athlete and the way that this experience shaped him in terms of resilience and teamwork. We move then to his continued formative years in investment consulting at the firm that was then DiMeo Schneider and follow this with what led him to launch Vistamark.  Matt emphasized the importance of qualitative analysis alongside quantitative models and shared his approach to maximizing return at a given risk budget. He also discussed the challenges of mission-driven investing, such as removing fossil fuels from portfolios. His final advice is around the importance of being honest, hardworking, and true to oneself as an investor.This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm.

Welcome to Series 1 of 2026 – we are now approaching the age of 6 – if we were a person we would be entering school, so we have come of age, and we are going deep.Tune in to a series in which we question what it is to stick to one’s investment beliefs, hear about the changing world of OCIOs and take a different take on pension fund thinking. Our guests are: Kirsty Gibson of Baillie Gifford who discusses investment beliefs and the conviction of being an active manager Rich Nuzum of Franklin Templeton, who discusses the evolution of OCIOs Klaus Peterson of Apera Capital, discussing the opportunity in lower and middle market lending in Germany and the surrounding region Corey Then, general counsel - regulation at Circle, lifts the veil on Stablecoin and their promise Thomas Knowles of the Gratitude Railroad reveals the evolved state of impact investing William McGrath of C Suite Strategies has an unorthodox view on DB pensions and he would like you to know why Larissa Herczeg of 1 Seed, who shares the secret to seeding managers in the real estate arena Alison Taylor, of NYU Stern school, a legend in the corporate responsibility area Matt Rice of newly formed Vistamark Capital on the potential for OCIO and family advisory businesses. Adam Blitz of Evanston Capital, who explains their unique approach to unearthing talent in hedge fund investing  This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm

Alison Taylor is Clinical Professor at the NY Stern School of Business – her Linkedin profile describes her as having “lots of other hats and even more opinions”. She is the author of “Higher Ground – How Business can do the right thing in a Turbulent World”, and has a successful Substack as well as being a member of multiple governance oriented boards such as the FT Moral Money Advisory Board as well as holding senior advisor roles at KKR and Unilever. Our conversation starts out with her career journey, in which before joining the academic world she had such intriguing roles as a fraud and corruption investigator in the US and the Middle East. We discuss how this framed her mindset entering the corporate world, and then the pathway that led her to Stern School of Business.Moving then to the central theme of corporate governance and corporate responsibility we discuss what it means to do the "right" thing, and some of the challenges that performative responsibility has led to. We speak about the prime importance of leadership and culture, and Alison emphasizes the need to focus on group behavior and predictable actions rather than individual morality. The importance of authenticity is noted as well as the need for credible and defensible approaches to diversity and sustainability.Alison notes the trend of thinking becoming a luxury good and the need for offline, in-person events to foster critical judgment and EQ and we discuss the impact that AI will have on all of that.Finally we discuss Alison's recent launch on Substack and the reception that that kind of engagement has received compared to Linked In.This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm. 

Larissa Herczeg is Founder and Managing Partner of 1 Seed Partners. One Seed Partners backs rising stars across the real estate complex Prior to founding 1 Seed she was Head of Seeding at Blue Owl, and prior to that CIO at Oak Street Capital before which she had series of financial roles. She was a 2025 Honoree for the Influential Women in Institutional Investing Awards.  Our conversation traces Larissa's first foray into real estate - how it was a default option rather than an original direction - but how it turned out optimally. We discuss the reasons she was attracted to the industry and the strong "human" component that drives deal success as well as organizational sustainability.We turn then to discuss the seeding business in particular, and how so much more than capital is involved. We discuss today's landscape for emerging managers, how the goal posts have changed and how barriers to entry affect capital raising as well as getting a head start.This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm

Corey Then is the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel - Global Policy at Circle, a global financial technology company. He previously held a series of legal roles, and spent a period in the White House as an economics and Department of Justice lead. He's also an adjunct professor at the Washington University School of Law. We got to know eachother while Corey was in-house counsel at Moneta in St Louis. Our conversation starts with Corey's entry into law and how his stint in the White House was formative in terms of his approach to problem solving and working with teams. We move then to what interested him first in crypto assets and what brought him to Circle. Corey explains what it is about Stablecoins that makes them so transformational. He suggests that they will  enable commerce to speed up and that this increase in money velocity, will bring more prosperity to more people around the world..In terms of the risks to this trajectory, Corey suggests that if there are not comparable laws around the world, that StableCoin won't meet its full potential. He suggests that if there are balkanized regulatory structures around the world, we could end up with stable coins stopping at borders, which would be a huge disservice to consumers around the world. This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm.

William McGrath is CEO of C suite pension strategies. He has a financial and industrial sector background and was a longtime CEO of AGA range master. He has an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University for work to sustain the relevance of the Midlands industrial heritage. He returned to the financial sector after 25 years working in industry.In our discussion we trace William's own career path and the source of his interest in pensions and the financial sector more generally. Moving then to his current perspective on pension funds at  C Suite Pension Strategies, he discusses the importance of corporate pensions, emphasizing that they should be seen as a corporate wealth fund rather than a burden. He highlights that there is still £1.2 trillion in private sector investments in the UK, advocating for a "run on" strategy over "buyout." William criticizes the lack of scrutiny in actuarial work and calls for better regulation and oversight of some of the workings of this sector. Overall he emphasizes the importance of a "members first" approach which puts member interests at the center of pension fund governance.   We move then to broader governance issues and we talk in some detail about his experience in leadership at Aga and getting back to his love of history and the industrial heartland refers us to “Aga, Allied and Ogilvy – The Management of Groups”, which contains remarkable Boardroom records of a group of allied iron founders seeking to integrate businesses between the 1930s and 1950s – https://homehearthistory.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/aga-allied-ogilvy-book.pdfThis podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm.

Thomas Knowles is Managing Partner of Gratitude Railroad. Gratitude Railroad is a community driven impact investing firm championing innovative businesses that generate compelling financial returns and enduring impact. He was previously an Operating Partner at the Builders Fund and prior to that held a series of other roles, having started out in venture at SVB Capital. We speak about the evolution of the focus on The Gratitude Railroad since our last conversation with one of its Founders, Howard Fischer in July 2023. You can find Howard’s podcast here. Thomas elaborates on the investment focus areas, including climate (energy transition, energy efficiency, waste to value) and social impact (education, healthcare, financial services). We examine the impact that has been delivered to date, some of the obstacles and challenges that have delivered important lessons and the future of impact investing amid the current zeitgeist. This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm.

Klaus Peterson is a founding partner at Apera Asset Management, based in Munich. Apera is a lower mid-market private debt investor that provides financing solutions to European SMEs and asset management services to investors. Apera focuses on the DACH region, the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries, France and Benelux.Apera is part of Franklin Templeton a global investment management organization with $1.5 trillion assets under management. Our conversation starts with Klaus's journey into finance and his early start as a lawyer, before he finally discovered private credit via a route of private equity. We then turn to the focus on Apera's business, which is in the lower middle market and stress the difference between this size of issuer and the larger issuers which tend to occupy private credit headlines. We move through some case studies - the good, the bad and the ugly - and Klaus shares how he learned to focus on the detail, to kick the tires, and emphasizes the importance of understanding investments and questioning assumptions, sharing a lesson learned from a printing business investment.We discuss some of the challenges facing private credit as it continues to grow in size, and then focus in particular on the German market, examining the risk profile of most institutional investors and their expectations when it comes to their credit portfolioslOverall, this is a unique deep dive into a niche area of credit investing that is often overlooked in the sweeping generalizations made about the mainstream credit markets. This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm

Rich Nuzum is head of OCIO at Franklin Templeton. He joined Franklin Templeton from Mercer where he spent more than three decades providing investment consulting advice to institutional investors. Nuzum holds an MBA in analytic finance and accounting from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in mathematical sciences and mathematical economic analysis from Rice University. Rich also did graduate work in international economics at Tokyo University. Our conversation starts with Rich’s upbringing and growing up with his parents as school teachers. He describes how he came upon finance as a career, and the impact of the time spent in Tokyo studying economics, one of the most difficult academic paths he has ever navigated. We speak then about his various phases in investment consulting which saw some movements to head up different areas, some planned and some serendipitous.  We turn then to the concept of Outsourced CIO (OCIO) serviced and how this service offering has evolved in recent years – often to be less of a complete substitute for an investment team and more of an adjacent set of complementary skills at times. We discuss the global experience of OCIO adoption and where the future integration of this might lie.  This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm

Kirsty Gibson is an investment manager at Baillie Gifford, where she has spent over 13 years.  She is currently focused in particular on investing in US equities with a growth orientation. Our conversation starts with Kirsty’s roots and her training in classical ballet. This was an unusual yet direct route to Baillie Gifford as she first came across the firm when she saw that they were sponsoring a ballet performance they had attended – evidence that sponsorship of similar events does in fact get noticed and yield returns! We move then to her investment beliefs, her Masters in carbon management and what she derived from it and her approach to stock picking. We dive into the cultural aspects that make a firm a rewarding place to work, and about the mindset needed to thrive as an active equity manager today.  This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm.

This inaugural episode of The Long and Short of It with Ian McKnight kicks off with a reflection on a news-filled Christmas period where geopolitics started the year in explosive fashion and markets started to digest the aftermath.Today's episode features Aoifinn Devitt, Senior Investment Advisor at Moneta, as a guest and we discuss topics as diverse as the impact of geopolitics, UK growth, interest rates and the need for the triumph of hope over nihilism!We conduct a health check on US equity markets, looking at valuations and of course the Mag 7, tracing their fortunes along the course of the year, and check in on how stocks such as ‪@tesla‬  have forged their own path and how the "average may lie" when it comes to both earning expectations and returns

Everaldo Franca is CEO at PPS Portfolio Performance, a role he has held since 1996. He has deep experience with advising pensions and institutional investors in Brazil. Our conversation starts with his upbringing in Sao Paolo and the straitened circumstances wrought by the economy  that forced various job changes and a combination of academic and professional pursuits. We discuss what it means to build one's career in an economy under strain, with high inflation, unpredictability and volatility. We discuss then the process behind starting PPS Portfolio Perfomance and the proof of concept that led to traction for the business. We end with a detailed discussion of the challenges facing pension funds and other institutions in Brazil at a time when interest rates for domestic short term rates. Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Matias Guajardo Marchant who is a Portfolio Manager Farmland at Toesca Asset Management in Santiago. He is an Agronomist with a career fully dedicated to agriculture, firmly believing that this sector is one of the fundamental pillars of both the Chilean and global economy. He is a mentor with Startup Chile and has held a series of financial roles throughout his career. Our discussion dives into the nature of agriculture as an asset class and the potential to structure investments in high-value, sustainable agriculture for institutional investors. Matias describes the favorable political and economic backdrop to this strategy in Chile today where the economy is open and there are numerous trade agreements in effect.We discuss the wave of focus on sustainability and how this can enhance the return for investors as well as how the sustainability impacts are measured. Finally we reflect on some of the learnings that he has internalized over the course of his career - including, memorably, the notion that if you look after the small money, the big money will look after itself as well as the importance of patience, long term thinking, and strategic planning.This podcast is appearing as our penultimate episode in our special Latin American voices focus series.

James Clark is senior managing director at Blue Owl and the Global Head of Institutional Capital. He has 26 years of asset management experience, and prior to Blue Owl, worked for Pimco, Golden Tree Asset Management and Landmark Partners.   We had met on the circuit during my time as an allocator with Chicago Policemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund, and I recently enjoyed listening to him on this podcast with Ted Seides of Capital Allocators. https://youtu.be/laLuf6XrrDw?si=uixmWOvMGnPNeydfI wanted to catch up with James to capture some of his lessons learned amid such an accomplished career as an institutional capital raiser - he has an innate ability to play the long game, and a sharpened set of skills that enable him to know what a client needs and when, as well as when to dial things back. Diving in to these skills, he notes the value of active listening, core competencies, and the alignment of values in leadership. We end with a discussion of the changing dynamics of the private credit market, and the team’s approach to building strong partnerships with clients.Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Jamila Osman is a trainee investment manager in the graduate training program at Baillie Gifford. She graduated from Edinburgh University with a First in Chemical Engineering. Our conversation starts with her upbringing in Ghana and the pioneering training high school training program that prepared her for a demanding academic load in science that paved her way to Edinburgh University.We describe how she developed an interest in finance and this then transitions into a discussion as to what her generation is looking for in an employer today. This includes paying more than mere lip service to employee wellbeing, being mindful of mental health, offering flexible work solutions and stretch opportunities. She describes a typically intense and varied work day at Baillie Gifford and the blend of deep research time with industry network events that is so essential in an apprenticeship. This podcast is also being released as part of our Ghanaian voices series.Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Rebecca Heun is Managing Director of Aksia LLC where she is a senior leader in their Operational Due Diligence function. She has spent 18 years at Aksia and prior to that held a series of other financial roles. We met during a recent trip to Omaha, and what followed was a fascinating fresh look at the process of operational due diligence as well as a deep dive into financial sector start up life.Our conversation starts with Rebecca's aspirations to be on Broadway, and how some practical realities led to a detour into initially fraud investigations and other back office financial roles. A move to NYC followed and some assertive moves that led to Rebecca ultimately interviewing to be one of the early employees at Aksia, then a bare start up. She helped build the operational due diligence function there and later led Aksia's expansion into London. We dig in to the craft of operational due diligence and the importance of psychology, studying human behavior, the desire to present everything in a glowing and positive light and the importance of both reading between the lines and digging in to motivations and the reasons for certain disclosures. This gets to the essence of fraud, and we learn about the fraud triangle and the circumstances that often have to be in place for fraud to take place.Moving then to the recent phase of her career, we hear about pivots, dialing up and dialing down intensity when necessary, as well as other entrepreneurial urges that she has occasionally listened to. Her latest passion is a focus on health, and the importance of modulating stress so as to focus on the body's balance and resilience.This is a fascinating discussion about a less well understood aspect of the due diligence process.Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Jo Natauri is Founder and managing Partner of Invidia Capital Management, a healthcare focused private equity firm founded in 2024, with a focus on middle-market buyouts in North America. She was formerly Global Head of Healthcare Investing in the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs.We start by discussing Jo's path to investment banking and how she chose the business side of healthcare over policy. We discuss her long period of apprenticeship and then leading investments while at Goldman Sachs and her decision to strike out in her own firm. Jo explains the diversity within healthcare, from biotech to hospitals, and the permanent base of demand that makes it a good sector to invest in.  She discusses her core beliefs, including avoiding investments that increase drug prices or target vulnerable populations, and discusses the opportunity set that excites her in the middle market arena. When it comes to mentors Jo has had some legendary investors within her circle and cites the apprentice nature of the investment business as a key aspect to be remembered and observed across the seniority spectrum. Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Lindsey Bass is Head of Marketing and in charge of Fundraising at ImpactA Global, a position she has held since late 2023. She is a passionate advocate for more diversity in the investment industry as well as emerging managers. She has been active on the Asset Owner Diversity Charter as an Advisory Board Member, and in the Diversity Project – investment industry, where she has co-led the Mental Health Workstream as well as other responsibilities. She has also been an early and consistent supporter of Fiftyfaces – for which we are hugely grateful.Our conversation starts with Lindsey's upbringing and her creative household, which saw her naturally gravitate towards storytelling in TV production, and then later expressing herself via the fashion industry before eventually settling in the world of finance. Moving to her work at ImpactA Global as well as finance more broadly we start out by sketching the landscape in terms of asset classes, large and small participants as well as strategies that create impact and how it should be defined. With the particular subsector that ImpactA focuses on, Lindsey explains the firm's focus on infrastructure financing in lower and middle-income regions, aiming to deliver better economic outcomes and address inequalities. We define impact and discuss some of the unexpected benefits such as the multiplier effect that investing in communities can have. Moving on to other industry contributions Lindsey highlights her involvement in the Asset Owner Diversity Charter, focusing on improving data and conversations between asset owners and managers, as well as her advocacy for emerging managers more generally.Lindsey is a tireless advocate and enthusiastic and creative member of the London financial services industry. It was a pleasure to celebrate her numerous contributions in this forum. Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

George Graham is Director and Head of Fund at South Yorkshire Pensions Authority. He has spent a long career in public service, culminating in the last 8 years at SYPA, and prior to that he spent his career in various finance roles at Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Chorley, Lancashire and LPP. He is Governor and Vice Chair of Barnsley College as well as Independent Chair of the Local Pension Board at Lincolnshire County Council. George will be retiring from his role as Head of Fund at SYPA at the end of the year, and this discussion was an opportunity to reflect on a career in which public service dominated, and against which a dramatically changing market backdrop cast a long - and positive - shadow. We track his early insights into the challenges of local government, and how his finance roles started to overlap with the investment function. This sight of the investment function led him to be an early mover in local government pooling - starting with the Lancashire and LPFA merger a decade ago - and he explains why the rationale is, for him, so clear cut as the demands of institutional investing have grown.We speak too about his commitment to local investing as well as to a sustainability agenda, which, as in many of his endeavours has been bold and ahead of its time. Finally we reflect on learnings from a long and varied career, about the development of a leadership style, about learning to go against a natural tendency to be more introverted and deliberately reach out to team members to support them. We end with a discussion of legacy, which in George's case will be a long and impactful one. Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Pilar Gomez-Bravo is Co-Chief Investment Officer fixed income and portfolio manager at MFS Investment Management. She was previously a managing director at Neuberger Berman, and prior to that, spent a significant amount of her career at Lehman Brothers.Our conversation starts with Pilar's childhood which saw her move around a lot with her family - this forced an adaptability and resilience that served her well when her career in finance took many unexpected turns. Market and segment volatility played a notable supporting role in Pilar's early career, most particularly with a massive setback when Lehman Brothers collapsed and again when she joined a start-up hedge fund for a short period of time. MFS represented another change of direction, but ended up as a very fertile one, as she steadily progressed through the ranks there until ultimately co-leading the fixed income function in her current role. We discuss what makes an employer a positive influence, and how a nurturing work setting can bring out the best in teams.Finally we reflect on what it is to have a full life, and the importance of staying diversified in life as well as in work.Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.