Improving Alpha: Innovation in Investing, ESG and Technology

There’s a famous sports adage on how great defenses win championships, but can defensive layers be efficiently applied to pension plans that have close to $128 billion in AUM and provide secure retirement benefits to 850,000 participants? In addition to positioning your defense, how can CIOs reduce drawdown risk while navigating investment board politics, innovation goals, and uncovering longer-term sources of strategic alpha? ​In our first episode of 2026 for the Improving Alpha podcast, we uncovered allocation strategies for the Employees’ Retirement System of Hawaii. This time, we traveled ~5,000 miles to welcome Andrew Junkin, Chief Investment Officer of the Virginia Retirement System (VRS). Host, Michael Oliver Weinberg, speaks with Andrew about his journey from investment consulting to moving east of the Mississippi, where he took on the CIO role at the State of Rhode Island during COVID, before landing at VRS. Key takeaways from Andrew’s discussion include: Why, after 150 nights on the consulting road, did Andrew look for a career change? How does Andrew balance the Code of Virginia rules in avoiding large drawdowns by adding layers of defense to the portfolio? Can good investment decisions be freed up from political perspectives, and how does that shape governance of the $128BN fund? Does cash on hand actually create drag in asset owner portfolios, or does it help liquidity, avoiding the ‘shaking of couch cushions to fund capital calls and more? With equity prices and valuations at all-time highs, and spreads tightening, are there still investment opportunities out there to take advantage of for your beneficiaries? Red flags on asset gathering mode by fund managers, and flipping the right switches on investment partnerships. Why the Chief Investment title shouldn’t be about picking investments, but rather focus on machine building for the future. And more! Connect with Andrew Junkin: LinkedIn: Andrew Junkin Website: Virginia Retirement System Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio About Our Guest: Andrew Junkin serves as the Chief Investment Officer of the Virginia Retirement System where he manages and oversees the investment program for the fund, valued at more than $100 billion. The fund serves approximately 773,000 active members, retirees and beneficiaries. VRS covers teachers, state employees and most employees of the Commonwealth’s counties, cities, towns and political subdivisions.  Previously, Junkin served as the Chief Investment Officer for the State of Rhode Island’s pension plan, defined contribution and 529 plans, as well as cash and operating funds and debt management program.  Prior to his public fund experience with Rhode Island, he worked at Wilshire Associates in California and Colorado, where he served in various capacities, including Managing Director and President from 2015 to 2020. During his tenure, Junkin also served as the Lead Consultant for a $400 billion pension plan and was responsible for driving overall strategy, asset allocation, risk management, implementation and sourcing new strategies.  From 1995 to 2005, Junkin was the President of Asset Services Company in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where he served as Lead Consultant for family office and foundation clients.  Junkin holds a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School and a bachelor’s degree in Business from Oklahoma City University. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

When running a pension plan for 150,000 active and retired members across the state of Hawaii, there are several factors that help achieve a 7% return. Governance, portfolio risk awareness, and culture all weigh on the minds of the investment team at the Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Hawaii. In our last official recording of the 2025 Improving Alpha podcast season, we welcome Kristin Varela, Chief Investment Officer, Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Hawaii. Kristin and her team oversee the $25 billion plan, which has a mission of ensuring the financial dignity and multi-generational wealth for plan employees in this generation and for those in the future. In this discussion with our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg, Kristin details her ‘fingerprint’ of principles and practices to prioritize steady and reliable results for the plan. Highlights include: What initially excited Kristin about the CIO position at ERS of the State of Hawaii, and how her operational and cultural background moved her to the top of the candidate pool. Why diversification is at the core of their investment beliefs, and how it enables her team to innovate alternative investment structures while adopting a proactive approach to asset management. Looking at the value of complexity over time and understanding the opportunity costs involved in making capital decisions. What were the steps in doubling down on fund managers that represented our core values and understood our mission versus those that were less innovative and aligned to the ERS mission? How her past experience working with Jonathan Grabel (a past guest of the Improving Alpha Podcast) shaped her view of ESG and how she puts ESG to work, given the culture of Hawaii. Why is food security such an interesting advancement for the pension plan, and what are some of the plays that Kristin and her team are navigating today in this space? How AI is featuring in capital plans, whether it’s on the manager side and implementing systemic strategies or through investment plays like data centers or larger energy transition themes. Disruption across private market investments and how Kristin keeps her plays in things like private credit and real assets at a high level of quality. And more Connect with Kristin Varela: LinkedIn: Kristin Varela Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio About Our Guest: Kristin Varela is the Chief Investment Officer for the Employees Retirement System of the State of Hawaii, a $23b pension plan, serving nearly 150,000 active and retired members across the state of Hawaii. She is responsible for the design and implementation of the Fund’s overall strategic goals, policies, and programs.  Kristin holds over 15 years of experience in the institutional investment industry and has served in both public and private sectors throughout her career. Prior to her time in Hawaii, Kristin served as the Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Interim Chief Investment Officer for the Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico. In these roles Kristin oversaw the delegated implementation of a $17b pension portfolio, ensuring the long-term solvency of the Plan, and serving over 90,000 active and retired members.  Kristin holds broad expertise in modeling, market analysis and manager-specific due diligence across various asset classes of public, private, and alternative markets. She specializes in risk-based asset allocation and portfolio management, real asset investment opportunities, innovative investment solutions, and prudent portfolio implementation through focused operational management.  Kristin holds a BBA in Finance from New Mexico Highlands University, and is a recognized industry leader, featured in Market Group’s “2024 Elite 100 CIOs” (2024), as well as a Chief Investment Officer “Industry Innovation Awards” finalist (2021), and a top “Forty-Under-Forty” next generation leader (2017). She is from a multi-generational family of local New Mexicans and is a proud mother to her 15-year-old son. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Evaluating all the investment pieces in a modern-day endowment portfolio requires a keen eye. You might have capital demands pouring in from the university to improve campus buildings, student education opportunities and equipment, professor salaries, and more.  Today, these demands are then multiplied by concerns over inflation, regulation, and, in the case of our next guest, adhering to Jesuit principles, that have been mandated by the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. In our latest episode of the Improving Alpha podcast, we welcome Geeta Kapadia, CFA, Vice President and CIO, Fordham University. Geeta brings +13 years of experience heading up the investment office at Yale New Haven Medical Center before landing at Fordham University. Across its multiple locations, Fordham is home to over 17,000 students and $1BN in AUM. In this discussion with host Michael Oliver Weinberg, Geeta highlights the following key ideas that she’s paying attention to in managing Fordham’s portfolio and ways that she is separating the noise and hype from actionable investment ideas: How are inflation pressures managed today by the endowment, and what is the impact on future university spending? Given the breakneck speed of innovation in endowments, how is Fordham providing opportunities for students, the community surrounding their campuses, and their overall legacy? In contrast to our last episode entry with Aswath Damodaran, what does Geeta think of ESG in the endowment setting, and why is she proud of the Bronx Green Jobs Center? In terms of technology and AI,  how is Fordham’s endowment leveraging technology and interacting with others in the endowment space to develop best practices not only in their investing process but also in running their jobs more efficiently? What are the ramifications of not having a sounding board to bounce investment ideas and other thoughts off in the endowment space? What is the likelihood of major endowments moving into the position of being sellers in private market assets, and what does Geeta really think of the democratization of alternatives? And more. Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio Connect with Geeta Kapadia: LinkedIn: Geeta Kapadia Website: Fordham University About Our Guest: Geeta M. Kapadia, CFA, is a global institutional investment leader and strategist with success advising on, developing, and implementing sophisticated investment portfolios. She is the Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Fordham University, where she is responsible for all aspects of managing the endowment of $1 billion in assets. For over thirteen years prior to joining Fordham in August 2022, she was the Associate Treasurer of Investments at Yale New Haven Health System, where she led the team responsible for assets of approximately $5.5 billion. Prior to joining Yale New Haven Health, Ms. Kapadia served as Senior Investment Consultant for Mercer Investment Consulting in the United Kingdom, where she provided strategic investment advice to institutional investors and was responsible for heading up specific research into asset classes. Before Mercer, she served as Investment Analyst and Director of Marketing at Capital Metrics & Risk Solutions in Pune, India. Early in her career, Ms. Kapadia worked in a clinical setting at an academic medical center as part of a research team conducting phase one chemotherapy studies. While she found the work tremendously rewarding, she decided to leverage her undergraduate degree in mathematics and started her investment profession as an investment analyst at Stratford Advisory Group in Chicago, where she rose to consultant, leading institutional investor relationships and heading up asset class research. Ms. Kapadia holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in financial markets and trading from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is a CFA charterholder and holds the UK’s Investment Management Certificate. She is a member of the CFA Institute, the CFA Society of New York, and 100 Women in Finance. In 2019, she was named one of the Top 30 Healthcare Chief Investment Officers Investing by Trusted Insight. She is the President of the Board of Chester County Family Academy, a Board of Trustees and Finance Committee member for the Memorial Library of Radnor Township, and a board member of the FINRA Investor Issues Committee. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

​Can a generalist provide a much broader view of the institutional markets and uncover things that so-called experts miss? Can the sins of Wall Street be traced back to a genuine lack of perspective and ineffective communication when a crisis arises? These are some of the questions and answers that we’ll uncover in our latest episode of the Improving Alpha podcast. ​For this episode, we welcome Aswath Damodaran, Kerschner Family Chair and Finance Education Professor, NYU Stern. Aswath will take the audience through his perspectives on how to address some of the challenges posed by AI, including the Damdaran Bot, the ESG scam, the Mag 7, and more. Additional highlights include: Why those in active investing shouldn’t be concerned about the introduction of AI, and the threat that it could take this industry to the cleaners. The challenge of ESG and why those who write about it may be hiding an agenda to make it look better than what it actually is today. So what if there’s an AI bubble? Isn’t overconfidence and a high degree of optimism going to be corrected by the markets? Crypto currencies – are they a currency or collectible, and what perspectives should you take on them for 2026. The gaming of quarterly reporting and potential solutions for allocators paying attention to these reports. And more. Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio Connect with Aswath Damodaran: LinkedIn: Aswath Damodaran Website: Aswath Damodaran Blog: Musings on Markets YouTube: Aswath Damodaran About Our Guest: Aswath Damodaran holds the Kerschner Family Chair in Finance Education and is Professor of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business. Before coming to Stern, he also lectured in Finance at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Damodaran received a B.A. in Accounting from Madras University and a postgraduate diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management. He earned an M.B.A. (1981) and then Ph.D. (1985), both in Finance, from the University of California, Los Angeles. Professor Damodaran’s contributions to the field of Finance have been recognized many times over. He has been the recipient of Giblin, Glucksman, and Heyman Fellowships, a David Margolis Teaching Excellence Fellowship, and the Richard L. Rosenthal Award for Innovation in Investment Management and Corporate Finance. His skill and enthusiasm in the classroom garnered him the Schools of Business Excellence in Teaching Award in 1988, and the Distinguished Teaching award from NYU in 1990. His student accolades are no less impressive: he has been voted “Professor of the Year” by the graduating M.B.A. class nine times during his career at NYU. In addition to myriad publications in academic journals, Professor Damodaran is the author of several highly-regarded and widely-used academic texts on Valuation, Corporate Finance, and Investment Management. Professor Damodaran currently teaches Corporate Finance and Valuation to the MBAs, and his interests lie in disentangling value drivers and understanding market pricing and behavior. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Institutional investors continually seek top-tier managers, relying on insights, industry signals, and rigorous due diligence led by expert portfolio teams before committing any capital. While these preliminary drivers are widely adopted and can often contribute 100 to 300 basis points above relevant benchmarks, the pursuit of above-average alpha remains relentless. Could convex alternative investments help add alpha to a university, library, hospital, pension, or endowment system? The Improving Alpha podcast is pleased to welcome Dave Morehead, CIO, Baylor University. In this episode, Michael Oliver Weinberg chats with Dave about his journey in the world of marketable investments, while sharing allocator insights that have defined his 15-year tenure managing Baylor University’s endowment. Key takeaways from Dave’s discussion include: What was the evolution of Baylor’s endowment, now valued at $2.3Bn, coming out of the global financial crisis and the steps needed to stabilize its future? Why is there less focus on a hard percentage return target for Baylor and more emphasis placed on strategic internal goals? Tweaking the traditional diversification strategies that many endowments use today in order to diversify the means by which alpha is created. How data center and marina investments play a role in Baylor’s convexity investment approach. Baylor’s triangulation approach in combining the quantitative with qualitative manager checks and character assessments in order to more effectively avoid red flags in investing. Why the institutional investment market can kneecap you when you make assumptions on manager purity and humility prior to an allocation decision. Lessons learned about portfolio risk, organizational structure, and mentoring the next generation of investment professionals. And more. Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio Connect with Dave Morehead: LinkedIn: Dave Morehead Baylor University About Our Guest: Dave Morehead joined the Baylor University Office of Investments in 2011 and currently serves as the Chief Investment Officer. From 2019-2024, Mr. Morehead co-taught the Large Cap and Small Cap practicum classes at Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business. Previously, he was a senior portfolio manager at Lotsoff Capital Management, where he managed securities across the corporate capital structure, and a partner at Highview Capital Management, where he focused on public and private energy investments. Prior to this, he was a portfolio manager at Ritchie Capital Management, responsible for a generalist corporate relative value and distressed portfolio and spent time performing equity research on the transportation/logistics and specialty retail sectors at William Blair & Company. Mr. Morehead also held roles at Bank of America, where he was responsible for the risk management of the bank’s interest rate derivatives desk, and First Trust Advisors, where he advised community banks on their investment portfolios. Dave graduated summa cum laude from Wheaton College and earned his MBA in finance and entrepreneurship with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.   The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

​Many talented endowment CIOs evolve from engineering backgrounds, consultancies, and other disciplines. These past experiences allow CIOs to transform investment office teams, broadening the search for alpha through improved portfolio construction, balancing liquidity concerns, outpacing endowment peers, and creating an environment where investment staff are valued for their continued contributions. On the latest Improving Alpha podcast, Michael Oliver Weinberg is joined by Jim Bethea, CFA, CAIA, Chief Investment Officer, West Virginia University Foundation. By the time this episode airs, Jim will have been in the WVU Foundation role for only a few months, but the insights that he provides from his time at RVK Consulting, the University of Iowa Center for Advancement, and now the WVU Foundation are priceless for institutional asset owners.   Key takeaways from Jim Bethea’s discussion with Michael include: What were the lightbulb moments that made Jim decide to make a switch to endowment portfolio management? When sitting in the CIO seat at a major endowment, why should you look less at inflation and more towards fee spending and risk tolerance? Risk in PR, liquidity, etc. What is Jim’s mindset when the campus needs capital, and how to navigate that when considering future fiscal year projections? Staff buy-in and how that helps to accelerate an investment edge or interest level across the team on the search for alpha across various asset classes. More importantly, if there isn’t an edge in a given asset class, can beta be leveraged to generate median returns? Why having an ESG policy might be hurting your approach to managing total portfolio returns. How AI and future innovations in technology will be shaping his portfolio allocations. Red flags in VC fund managers and why you should be worried as an endowment CIO if these managers start touting 3X gains. Reshoring efforts, incremental capital destination with GPs, retaining staff, and more! Resources: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio Connect with Jim Bethea: LinkedIn: Jim Bethea West Virginia University Foundation About Our Guest: Jim Bethea is the Chief Investment Officer of the West Virginia University Foundation. He oversees the management of the Foundation’s investment portfolio, bringing decades of experience in institutional investing, manager research, and portfolio construction. Prior to joining WVU, he served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at the University of Iowa Center for Advancement, where he led investment strategy and expanded the endowment’s portfolio diversification. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Can prior career opportunities help you discover your true potential in institutional investing even if they’re not related to the finance sector? Maybe it reveals that ideal ‘a-ha’ moment that sets your future course.  In our latest episode of the Improving Alpha podcast, we welcome Devana Cohen, Chief Investment Officer of the United Jewish Appeal Federation, (UJA) to discuss her three-pronged mission approach, which manages $2 billion in assets. Listen in as Devana shares her journey from modeling electrons flowing through silicon as a semiconductor R&D analyst to careers in finance at The Ford Foundation, California Endowment, and then landing at the UJA. Host Michael Oliver Weinberg and Devana Cohen cover the following key takeaways and more:  How are current geopolitics impacting the UJA’s mission today. The prevailing thoughts on value investing strategies at the UJA and how Devana adds downside protection to the portfolio. The engineering mindset and how her process-oriented approach helps in manager selection, especially when thinking about ESG. Given the recent U.S. administration changes, how does the UJA view ESG investments, like carbon capture and sequestration. Does distressed credit offer attractive yields for the UJA portfolio today, and could Europe offer some unique options. Could there be less demand for venture capital in the future which will level the playing field and provide more early-stage opportunities. Real thoughts on co-portfolio managers and the challenges that exist with this model. And more! Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio Connect with Devana Cohen: LinkedIn: Devana Cohen UJA-Federation of New York About Our Guest: Devana Cohen is the Chief Investment Officer for the UJA-Federation of New York’s Endowment and Retirement Plans. Before joining UJA-Federation of New York in 2013, Ms. Cohen spent five years managing public market investments at the Ford Foundation and The California Endowment.  Ms. Cohen was an Asset-Liability Manager at Toyota Motor Sales, where she also served as a member of the investment team that managed the pension plan assets. Before starting a career in investments, she was a Design Engineer developing semiconductor devices for International Rectifier.  Ms. Cohen graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with dual BS degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and earned an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, specializing in Finance and Entrepreneurial Studies. Ms. Cohen is a CFA charterholder. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Being able to source accurate data across alternative markets is a complex process. Stocks, bonds, and futures offer continuous price updates and greater intelligence for investors. The landscape is evolving, with a growing number of cutting-edge investment researchers enhancing decision-making on policy issues that will help shape private markets investments for the future. In our latest episode of the Improving Alpha podcast, host Michael Oliver Weinberg welcomes Greg Brown, professor of finance at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School and founder of the Institute for Private Capital. Dive into their insightful dialogue as they explore groundbreaking research on the risk-adjusted returns of private funds, dissect GP portfolio deal structures and commitments, unravel the correlation of returns, and debate the potential of real assets as effective inflation hedges. Further highlights from this discussion include: What is the Institute for Private Capital and what is its role in furthering alternative investment research. Greg’s thoughts on the use of public market equivalents (PMEs) to measure benchmarks for private funds vs. simple multiple or IRR. How does risk figure into the equations around buyouts or VC funds today and how are certain endowments and foundations finding success in the VC space. Decisions around GP portfolio creation covering deployment of capital, deal size, diversification, how many deals can be handled at once, and how much leverage should be added to the deals. Real estate’s true value as an inflation hedge and whether historic claims showcasing this fact are truthful or not. And more. Connect with Greg Brown: LinkedIn: Greg Brown University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School Institute for Private Capital Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio About Our Guest: Greg Brown’s research centers on alternative investments, including hedge funds and private equity funds. He also is a leading expert on financial risk and the use of derivative contracts as risk management tools. He is the founder and research director of the Institute for Private Capital, faculty director of the Hodges Scholars Program and a member of the Private Equity Research Consortium (PERC) advisory board. Dr. Brown served as the executive director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise from 2015-2023. His research has been published in leading academic and practitioner finance journals, including The Journal of Finance, The Journal of Financial Economics, The Review of Financial Studies, The Journal of Derivatives, The Journal of Portfolio Management and The Financial Analyst Journal. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Alternative Investments. Dr. Brown serves on the board of directors of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association. He previously served as director of research for Amundi Smith Breeden, a global asset management firm specializing in fixed income investments. He has served as a consultant on financial risk and portfolio management for money management firms, the U.S. government, non-profits and Fortune 500 companies. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Institutional investors are not only concerned with searching for alpha opportunities in this market but how technology can aid in that search over time. In an age of digital transformation, how can investors become more competitive in their allocation decisions, and are they effectively adapting to geopolitical concerns, risk, inflation, and more? For this next entry into the Improving Alpha podcast series, host Michael Oliver Weinberg is joined by Robert Wolcott, Co-Founder & Chairman TWIN Global, Adjunct Professor of Innovation at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, and author of “Proximity”, who brings a fresh perspective on technology innovation and its profound implications on investment strategies. Robert highlights the following concepts in this episode: How digital technology is helping us to see greater contours of the market, moving production and provision of value closer to the moment of actual demand. What are some differences in engaging the ‘Proximity’ revolution for both incumbents and new market entrants, and how Disney presents a prime example for this discussion. How a company like Axon Enterprises is searching out those alpha (technology) opportunities within the security category, regardless of what the actual implementation might become in the future. Flexibility in manufacturing and how disruptive technology is pushing manufacturing into a global hybrid model. The critical role that sustainability and resilience play in creating infrastructure that meets the demands of our modern world. How investors can apply this revolution to their due diligence strategies by asking more innovation questions vs why we might be recreating something from the 20th century. And more Robert’s latest book, Proximity, a way to reshape the way businesses and industries innovate, adapt, and thrive in an ever change world is out now. Learn more about the book here. Resources: Proximity: How Coming Breakthroughs in Just-in-Time Transform Business, Society, and Daily Life by Robert C. Wolcott Energy, Sustainability & Resilience: Lessons From Bhutan & Bangladesh (Forbes article) The Founding of New England by James Truslow Adams Connect with Robert Wolcott: TWIN Global LinkedIn: Robert Wolcott Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio About Our Guest: Robert C. Wolcott is Adjunct Professor of Innovation at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, and Adjunct Professor of Executive Education at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. From 2010 – 2019, he served as Clinical Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Kellogg. Wolcott won Teacher of the Year from Kellogg’s EMBA program in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017. He’s co-founder and chair of The World Innovation Network (TWIN), a global community of nearly 4,000 innovation and growth leaders from over 30 countries and across sectors (business, government, the arts, academia, defense). TWIN gathers 400 delegates for TWIN Global each year in Chicago to explore the future, in addition to smaller gatherings and online sessions. The objective is to build trusted relationships across sectors. He is a regular contributor for Forbes on the impact of technology on business, society and humanity. His book, Grow From Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation (McGraw-Hill, 2010) has been published in Chinese and Japanese. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

In just a few days the second Trump administration will be sworn in to the office of the presidency. There has already been a lot of debate around security regulations and what that might mean for institutional investors. Could we see Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies go higher, how will carbon emissions be regulated and reported to investors, and how will active, index, and quantitative investors be impacted by this new administration. In our first 2025 episode of the Improving Alpha podcast, host Michael Oliver Weinberg sits down with John C. Coffee, Jr., Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law, Columbia Law School to explore these issues while presenting case examples covering Elon Musk’s compensation battles, SouthWest Airlines, and more. John further highlights his insights on:  The formation and purpose of a shadow SEC to advise on current securities regulation issues and hopefully keep Congress from legislating in a manner that disrupts the actual SEC. The three major institutional investment groups holding over 70% of US public corporations’ stocks and how they approach policy changes and systemic risk. what is the right amount of institutional investment intelligence regarding carbon emissions today? the Delaware Court’s competence on rulings in governance, and corporate law versus other state court approaches. activist investing and how he came to write, The Wolf at the Door: The Impact of Hedge Fund Activism on Corporate Governance. And more Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio Connect with John Coffee: LinkedIn: John Coffee Columbia Law School About Our Guest: A prolific scholar, sought-after speaker, and frequent news commentator, John C. Coffee Jr. is active in several fields and is a recognized leading authority on securities law, corporate governance, white-collar crime, complex litigation, and class actions. Coffee has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a life fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute and the American Bar Foundation. He has also been repeatedly listed by the National Law Journal on its annual list of the 100 most influential lawyers in America. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Back in the 16th century, when paper money made its debut in Venice, skeptics doubted it could ever replace the clinking of metal coins. Fast forward to today, and we find ourselves seamlessly blending paper, coins, and cryptocurrency. This cutting-edge currency has skyrocketed to a market capitalization of $2-$3 trillion and continues to surge. Just last month, Bitcoin values were on the brink of reaching the monumental $100K milestone. In our latest Improving Alpha podcast, host Michael Oliver Weinberg sits down with Koray Caliskan, Co-Director, MS Strategic Design and Management, The New School Parsons to discuss more on crypto, taxation, governance, and social innovation.  Koray highlights the following:  why are there losers and survivors in cryptocurrency and how can allocators navigate the nuances of these systems when making strategic asset allocations. how will the regulation of cryptocurrencies need to evolve for wider adoption and can you tax crypto with normal paper and metal money. his views on social innovation and why it’s so important for his students to pay attention to when choosing a career path. where will artificial intelligence and LLMs feature in institutional investing and how are his students applying best practices today. And more Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio Connect with Koray Caliskan: LinkedIn: Koray Caliskan Parsons School of Design About Our Guest: With 25 years of experience in research and design, Koray is a scientist and designer who works in economies, management, and societies. His latest book is Data Money: Inside Cryptocurrencies and their Communities, Blockchains and Markets (Columbia UP). It is based on his award-winning multi-methods research, which was selected as the Scientific Breakthrough of the Year in Social Sciences and Humanities by the Falling Walls Foundation in 2021. He is also a co-founder of Mamame, a social enterprise that empowers under-represented women’s labor, and a former filmmaker whose work has been shown at the Cannes Film Festival. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Design Strategies and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Cultural Economy. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Last year, we were honored to have Chris Ailman as a guest on the Improving Alpha podcast. Fast forward 12 months, and lightning has struck twice for the Improving Alpha team, as we welcome Scott Chan, the current CIO of CalSTRS, to the guest chair.  As the second-largest pension fund in the United States and the premier teacher’s retirement fund globally, CalSTRS manages over $340 billion in assets. Handling a portfolio of this magnitude requires a sophisticated asset allocation strategy that seamlessly integrates cost-saving initiatives, maximizes returns, and enhances risk management on a grand scale. To date, Scott’s innovative strategies have resulted in an impressive $1.6 billion in cost savings. Tune in to the newest episode of the Improving Alpha podcast and discover the insights Scott reveals on: how he approaches the ‘reverse pyramid’ structure of his professional career, what he’s inherited from Chris’s tenure at CalSTRS, and the strategic allocation priorities he’s set for the future. navigating the trending opinions on private credit and fixed income, and how it impacts the team’s total portfolio approach. the CalSTRS collaboration model, and how the model is assisting the team to do more sophisticated transactions to boost alpha, including co-investments and joint ventures. ESG and his 3-pronged approach to net zero.  his perspective on investment technology and its power to amplify CalSTRS’ vast reservoirs of data and insights, guiding strategic allocation choices. the current state of interest rates and inflation and whether this period is our new normal or should we expect a ‘reset’ to occur soon. investing red flags and the concept of diversity of thought and risk management. and more. Resources: Improving Alpha: Christopher Ailman, CalSTRS on Catching the Big Waves in Institutional Investing Connect with Scott Chan: CalSTRS LinkedIn: Scott Chan, CFA Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

If you are a CEO at a large public company, who do you speak with when concerned about strategy, formulation of innovative ideas, or even execution of a plan to scale your business investments? Many believe that unless there’s a large activist event or news story, decision-making is solely your own. Is there a way to bring back active governance and drive engagement from board members and investors? In this latest installment of the Improving Alpha: Innovation in Investing, ESG, and Technology podcast Michael Oliver Weinberg and Shivaram, Rajgopal, Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division, Columbia University explore the challenges in corporate governance. Shivaram goes into what makes governance so difficult, the impact of corporate boards on the direction of governance, and why governance can be imagined as a slow-burning background fire that isn’t significant enough to spark investor attention. Additional Shivaram highlights include:  his early background as a chartered accountant and what led him to Columbia Business School. where do CEOs go if they want to improve their strategy, execution and formulation in governance, especially when it seems there’s no one on the other side listening outside of an activist event. why are companies in the S&P 1500 becoming zombies (in the economic sense), and getting capital that they don’t deserve instead of someone making the hard decisions to kick out of the index. what is the right timeframe to hold an investment in today’s market and is private equity superior to public equity to optimize long-term performance. how can the carrot and stick theory help governance when looking at board structures. what is causing the Japanese markets to model our investment texts (decades later), and why is this so important to governance. When looking at Europe, where are the European Uber, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, or Tesla, and how the governance code impacts their innovation. And more! Resources: Forbes: It Should Be Mandatory To Disclose Political Influence Seeking And Payoffs From The State—There’s An Evidence Based Reason Why House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs and Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services     Do Socially Responsible Firms Walk the Talk? The Black Swan by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Bed of Procrustes by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb EconTalk Connect with Shivaram Rajgopal: LinkedIn: Shivaram Rajgopal Email: sr3269@gsb.columbia.edu  Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio About Our Guest: Shiva Rajgopal is the Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing at Columbia Business School. He has also been a faculty member at the Duke University, Emory University and the University of Washington. Professor Rajgopal’s research interests span financial reporting, earnings quality, fraud, executive compensation and corporate culture.  His research is frequently cited in the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, Financial Times, Business Week, and the Economist. He teaches fundamental analysis of financial statements for investors, managers and entrepreneurs and a PhD seminar on accounting regulation.   The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Information overload can occur in even the most skilled institutional investor when considering the amount of managers and intelligence competing for their time and attention. How can a leading endowment CIO or portfolio manager navigate the volume of financial statements, capital calls, risk/reward ratios, and more? How can they mentor junior analysts to find the diamonds in the rough to help generate alpha? In our latest Improving Alpha podcast, host Michael Oliver Weinberg sits down with Catherine Ulozas, Chief Investment Officer, Senior Vice President, Investment, Drexel University. Catherine shares her extensive background from the early years at ING Direct prioritizing safety in fixed-income investments and how that brought her to the CIO role at Drexel University.  Additional highlights from Catherine’s podcast interview include:  how is Catherine looking at the endowment risk today, especially in light of increased inflation, increasing spending rates by the university, and more. why was it a critical mission of the endowment to save St. Christopher’s Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, and how did the $40 million line of credit get paid back in record time. the innovations that her team is making both on an operational level and through advanced analytics. how Drexel’s endowment considers ESG and why Catherine believes the “G” tends to drive a lot of progress across the environment and social aspects of this acronym. positive aspects in real asset investing and the appeal of emerging markets for future asset allocation. how was Drexel able to overcome the deployment challenges of assets in private markets and what are the red flags that her endowment team uncovers when considering investment opportunities. and more Resources: Quit by: Annie Duke To Rescue the Republic by Bret Baier & Catherine Whitney St. Christopher’s Children’s Hospital Aetna  Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio Connect with Catherine Ulozas: LinkedIn: Catherine Ulozas Drexel University  About Catherine Ulozas: With over 30 years of investment experience, Catherine Ulozas is a senior executive who has managed pools of capital for endowments, insurance companies, the largest US thrift, and a state pension fund. Catherine is the Chief Investment Officer at Drexel University and has continued to improve the Drexel Endowment’s quality and returns, scoring in the top 10% in the Wilshire Consulting Foundations and Endowment Universe for the last 5 years.  The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Today there’s tremendous focus around the practice of good medicine, the advancement of healthcare innovations, and positive patient outcomes. One company that embodies these characteristics and provides services to the healthcare industry is The Doctor’s Company. The Doctors Company began in 1976 during a crisis period in medical malpractice claims that were skyrocketing. Formed out of historic legislation for the time, and starting with only 450 members this organization has grown to over 90,000 members. As the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurance company it takes a steady hand and solid grasp of the balancing that needs to occur in both the underwriting and asset allocation areas of the business.  Join Michael Oliver Weinberg, host, Improving Alpha Podcast, as he sits down with TC Wilson, Chief Investment Officer, The Doctors Company. Learn more about TC’s journey and the balancing of investments and underwriting to help generate alpha.  TC highlights the following:  the generation of alpha opportunities across US investment grade and non-traditional investments and how they differ from an endowment or foundation. how he’s looking at private credit and private equity and where the innovation and creativity lie today. how The Doctors Company integrates ESG considerations and supports California’s climate and carbon initiatives in asset allocation strategies, governance, monitoring, and due diligence. what does the organization known as California Organized Investment Network, (COIN) do for environmental benefits in California? how does the challenging regulatory environment impact TC’s diversification strategies in managing his shop? Does he believe that they might be getting penalized prematurely for other players’ bad market moves? steps for identifying red flags in investment strategies and culture. And more Resources: The Doctors Company  California Organized Investment Network (COIN) Body by Science by: John R. Little & Doug McGuff Connect with TC Wilson: LinkedIn: TC Wilson Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio About Our Guest: Chief Investment Officer and Senior Vice President TC Wilson joined The Doctors Company as its first Chief Investment Officer in 2017. Mr. Wilson is responsible for the development, management, and oversight of the company’s strategic investment program. He also ensures that overall investment and growth objectives are met in support of the company’s underwriting profile and operating results. He contributes to The Doctors Company’s strategic growth plan as it relates to investment review and assessment of new partnerships and opportunities. On a day-to-day basis, Mr. Wilson oversees the company’s investment portfolio with the goal of preserving and growing surplus. He also serves as Chairman of The Doctors Company’s 401(k) Committee. Prior to joining The Doctors Company, Mr. Wilson served as Head of Institutional Consulting for The Optimal Service Group (OSG), an investment consultant that specializes in investment advice to the medical malpractice industry. At OSG, he was the lead investment consultant to The Doctors Company from 2000 through 2017. Mr. Wilson has nearly 30 years of investment and consulting experience, including his initial five-year stint with one of the nation’s leading benefits consulting firms in Richmond, Virginia. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Allocators face a barrage of ideas and debates around the use of artificial intelligence and large language models, better known as LLMs. How can huge amounts of investor data be transformed and enriched to solve challenges in asset allocations and improve an investment team’s strategy? Better yet, have we accumulated enough ‘scar tissue’ in artificial intelligence to understand what AI gets wrong and is easily corrected, versus what is instantaneously correct and becomes actionable intelligence? In our latest episode of the Improving Alpha podcast, host Michael Oliver Weinberg sits down with Chris H. Wiggins, Chief Data Scientist, The New York Times and Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, to dive deeper into the fundamentals of data science, dashboarding, and KPIs. Further highlights from Michael’s discussion with Chris include:  in a crowded field of AI adopters, where does the advantage lie today? With the new disruptors in a given industry or the incumbents? what are the forces behind data science and how does the framework of descriptive data sets, predictive models, and prescriptive solutions help inform those wishing to leverage AI or LLMs? when adding a data scientist to an investment team, what should the hiring organization be on the lookout for, before extending an offer? the ‘shocking’ acceptance of the AI problem. AI’s impact on the labor force in the next few years. from an investment play is it better to buy into the AI craze and the deep learning networks, or is the real ‘gold rush’ centered around the requirements necessary to expand artificial intelligence usage via data centers, people who train the models, and the data contained in these models?  Listen now to find out more.  Resources: The Silo Effect by: Gillian Tett  Algorithms to Live By by: Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths  How Data Happened by: Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones  Data Science in Context by: Alfred Z. Spector, Peter Norvig, Chris Wiggins, and Jeannette M. Wing Connect with Chris Wiggins: LinkedIn: Chris Wiggins Columbia University: Chris Wiggins  Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio About Our Guest: Chris Wiggins is an associate professor of applied mathematics at Columbia University and the Chief Data Scientist at the New York Times. At Columbia he is a founding member of the Department of Systems Biology, the executive committee of the Data Science Institute (http://datascience.columbia.edu/), and the Institute’s education and entrepreneurship committees. He is also an affiliate of Columbia’s Department of Statistics and a founding member of Columbia’s Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (C2B2). He is a co-founder and co-organizer of hackNY (http://hackNY.org), a nonprofit that since 2010 has organized once-a-semester student hackathons and the hackNY Fellows Program, a structured summer internship at NYC startups. Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia he was a Courant Instructor at NYU (1998-2001) and earned his PhD at Princeton University (1993-1998) in theoretical physics. In 2014 he was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society and is a recipient of Columbia’s Avanessians Diversity Award. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

In an age of artificial intelligence, (AI) many allocators are realizing that humans alone, or software alone, can’t match or exceed the gains that occur when software and human expertise combine. Layer that into the ability of generative AI to do something better, faster, and more cheaply, and investors can begin to see a game-changing impact on business operations. Join Michael Oliver Weinberg, host of the Improving Alpha: Innovation in Investing ESG, and Technology podcast and Olivier Toubia, Glaubinger Professor of Business Marketing Division, Columbia Business School, for a deep dive into how modern advancements, particularly generative AI, are reshaping the landscape of allocation strategies and more. Olivier shares his journey from early beginnings in math and engineering to the evolution of data science and how new analytical techniques (machine learning, natural language processing, and large language models), can be leveraged to better understand humans and optimize business operations.  Further highlights that Olivier shares:  the +20 years of thought leadership and insight around innovation that went into his Columbia Business School course, Foundations of Innovation. what are some of the granular applications for artificial intelligence as it relates to Wall Street and other allocators. the training of artificial intelligence models and the output guardrails that get included in human stereotypes. can we remove human biases from training data when humans are tagging or labeling data that may be aligned to political affiliations, education, personal experiences, or more? emerging research of brainstorming with generative artificial intelligence and what is happening with screening or rating of the ideas that are pulled through brainstorming. And more Resources: Living with Our Dead by Delphine Horvilleur The Periodic Table by Primo Levi Columbia Business School: The Business of AI: Shaping the Future of Business with Generative AI Connect with Olivier Toubia: Columbia Business School: Olivier Toubia LinkedIn: Olivier Toubia Olivier Toubia is the Glaubinger Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. His research focuses on various aspects of innovation, including preference measurement and idea generation. Specifically, he combines methods from social sciences and data science, to study human processes such as motivation, choice, and creativity. He currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief at the journal Marketing Science. He teaches a course on Foundations of Innovation and the core marketing course. He received his MS in Operations Research and PhD in Marketing from MIT. Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

The portfolio diversification game takes a ton of time, energy, effort, and even during the best of times companies that you might be super bullish about can flame out, just as easily as those that are near death, can suddenly rebound. This is certainly the case in areas of venture capital (VC) or angel investing. In our latest episode of the Improving Alpha podcast, host Michael Oliver Weinberg is joined by David Teten, Venture Partner, Coolwater Capital to discuss thoughts on becoming a serial builder of venture capital firms, how investment tools being used to generate alpha are evolving, and more. Listen as David shares his journey from the early days as an investment banker to becoming a key player in building and scaling venture capital firms, emphasizing the pivotal role of technology and strategic asset allocation in modern investment practices. Further highlights:  why strategic allocators give money to investors, and why the answer is not as simple as the generation of alpha. what is so attractive about alternative VC models and could it be a way for VC investors to get a larger part of the investment pie? what sort of challenges exist today for VCs in achieving investment goals, and why Warren Buffet quotes like, “You should invest when there’s blood in the water”, don’t paint the full metaphoric picture for this type of investor. are family offices overestimating their competencies and what is one of the biggest secrets (as David sees it) in institutional investing today? macro trends in the VC universe and what is the most disruptive theme impacting investing today. And more. Resources: iRobot by Isaac Asimov To University and Beyond by David Teten and Mandee Heller Adler PEVCtech.com Founders’ Next Move Connect with David Teten: LinkedIn: David Teten Teten.com Coolwatercapital.com  David Teten is a Venture Partner with Coolwater Capital, known as “Y Combinator for emerging VCs”. Coolwater runs an accelerator for emerging VC fund managers and invests as a limited partner, in general partnerships, in fund management companies, and also directly into startups. He is the Founder of Versatile VC, backing “investment tech” companies which help investors generate alpha and succeed. He is Chair of PEVCTech, a community of private equity and VC funds working to generate alpha by leveraging technology and analytics. Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Navigating the world of technology innovations as a chief investment officer or portfolio manager is akin to a thrilling game of high-stakes poker or a graceful tango. Your success hinges on your ability to not just welcome incoming innovations but also effectively implement them, enhancing data transparency, boosting portfolio returns, and more. In this episode of the Improving Alpha podcast, Michael Oliver Weinberg is joined by Mazen Jabban, Chairman & CEO, Vidrio Financial. Mazen details his journey on what led him to create Vidrio Financial, and how allocators should look at the paradigm shifts occurring in innovations across the investment community.  Mazen further highlights:  how the revolutionary impact of artificial intelligence and large language models (LLM) could shape the landscape for institutional investors. the continued significance of transparency within the GP-LP relationship and the transformative influence of technology on these dialogues. the investment for allocators to dedicate resources towards purchasing or constructing infrastructure to enhance data management practices.. how can institutional investors successfully implement a comprehensive portfolio strategy when faced with segmented teams spanning private equity, real estate, and hedge funds, each with their unique risk, data, and performance methodologies. insights on private credit and the transformative potential of technology advancements for this asset class. And more. Resources: The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. Christensen Connect with Mazen Jabban: LinkedIn: Mazen Jabban Vidrio Mazen Jabban is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Vidrio Financial, a New York-based company that provides institutional investors managing alternative investments with investment management solutions on a single platform. He is responsible for setting strategic direction and the firm’s product development roadmap.  As an entrepreneur at heart, with years of experience in investment strategies, IT systems, management consulting, real estate development, and investment he is always looking for new ways to grow. Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source

Can a culture of growth and experimentation in institutional investing unlock deeper-level benefits to improving alpha? Would you be able to risk the old conception of yourself or your organization by exploring new forms of action and inquiry to help identify the best talent through due diligence or to combine two cultures post-Merger & Acquisition? In the latest installment of the Improving Alpha podcast, Michael Oliver Weinberg speaks with global organization leader and executive coach Karen Yeyinmen to unravel the intricacies of leadership psychology for asset managers (particularly Private Equity firms) and allocators.  Together, they delve into the transformative power of understanding one’s internal motivations and behaviors to foster sustainable organizational change. Through the lens of action inquiry, Karen provides listeners with a roadmap to align their developmental stage with the challenges of their leadership roles.   Karen highlights:  her early intellectual awakening to the delicate balance between influencing behaviors and eroding trust. how a practice of action inquiry can be applied in the investment world to accelerate growth and create value through enhanced performance. versatility of the action-inquiry toolkit and how it can be applied holistically or modularly to address specific growth and performance challenges. Understanding center of gravity action logics and how these can be deployed and developed for team success. and more Resources: Articles & Books Written by Karen Yeyinmen  Connect with Karen Yeyinmen: LinkedIn: Karen Yeyinmen  Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:  Michael Oliver Weinberg Vidrio The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning. The release date may not correspond to the recording date. Source