Podcast
Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry
Hosted by Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert · EN
Allocator and asset management expert, Ted Seides, conducts in-depth interviews with leaders in the institutional investing industry. Guests include Chief Investment Officers from leading allocators, asset managers, strategists, thought leaders, and many more. Our mission is to learn, share, and help implement the process of premier investors. Learn more and join our community at capitalallocators.com.
206episodes
Episodes
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Economic Growth, Governance, and Capital Allocation – Dambisa Moyo (EP.410)
Yesterday00:54:10Summary readyBaroness Dambisa Moyo is a global economist, author, board member, and investor who sits at the intersection of public policy, corporate governance, and capital allocation. Dambisa serves in the U.K. House of Lords, sits on the boards of Chevron, Starbucks, Condé Nast, and Oxford University's investment committee, is Chair of the Economic Club of New York, and oversees Altered Trajectory alongside her husband, Jared Smith, the family office formed after his sale of Qualtrics in 2018. Our conversation traces Dambisa's journey from growing up in Zambia to becoming a leading voice on global economic development and governance. We discuss how her experiences across more than 80 countries and on the boards of four global companies shaped her judgment on economic growth, governance, and decision-making. We then turn to the application of those lessons at Altered Trajectory, including the evolution away from an endowment-style portfolio, balancing Dambisa's macro convictions with Jared's moonshot investing style, and positioning for long-term themes. Along the way, we discuss the challenge of investing through structural change while avoiding ideological thinking. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
SummaryWTT: 5.5 Lessons at 55.5
4d ago00:08:09Summary readyThis WTT, 5.5 Lessons at 55.5 reflects on what five-and-a-half decades of investing, podcasting, and mistakes have taught me about people, markets, and myself. Read Ted's blog here. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
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Moat Investing Nuances – Pat Dorsey (EP.509)
1w ago01:07:00Summary readyPat Dorsey is the Founder of Dorsey Asset Management, a $1.7 billion global public equity manager focused on companies with competitive advantages and long investment runways. Pat created Morningstar's moat research framework and led its equity research efforts for a dozen years before launching his firm in 2014. Our conversation covers the nuances of investing in businesses with wide moats across quantitative analysis, switching costs, network effects, brands, management, alignment, capital allocation, and reinvestment runways. We then turn to Pat's application of moat analysis to his investing, including concentration, global scope, position sizing, decision making, and lessons learned. Any leader should see for themselves the benefits of elite coaching. Try ALEX: tryalex.admiredleadership.com. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
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Senior Decision Makers: Nicholas Csicsko, Trinity Wall Street (EP.508)
2w ago00:58:18Summary readyOur first guest on the Senior Decision Makers mini-series is Nick Csicsko. Nick is a Managing Director at the Trinity Wall Street endowment, where he joined CIO Meredith Jenkins at the founding of the investment office in 2016 and has spent the last decade helping build a young endowment inside a 320-year-old institution. Today the endowment has grown to over $6 billion. Nick's path into investing is a fascinating one. He studied composition and earned his Doctorate of Music at Juilliard. While there, he talked his way into an internship at Juilliard's endowment and never looked back. Our conversation covers the lessons he carried from music into investing, his investment philosophy, and the details of his process. Manager selection sits at the heart of his work, and he articulates what separates the relationships that endure from the ones that don't. Nick is a remarkable storyteller and shares a number of real-life examples of manager relationships — some that worked out well, some that didn't, and others with insights for allocators and managers alike. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
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Homegrown CIO at Williams College - Abigail Wattley (EP.507)
3w ago00:47:24Summary readyAbigail Wattley is the Chief Investment Officer of Williams College, where she oversees the school's $4.5 billion endowment. She became CIO three years ago upon the retirement of Collette Chilton, whose past conversation is replayed in the feed. Abigail has spent two decades in the Williams investment office, and her tenure manifests the benefits of duration and institutional knowledge in the seat. Our conversation traces Abigail's nearly twenty-year journey inside the Williams Investment Office, from joining as an early analyst to becoming the internal successor CIO. We discuss the consistent mandate throughout alongside Abigail's evolution from analyst to deputy to decision-maker, including the knowledge retained as an internal candidate, the tension between respecting an institution's history and putting her own stamp on the portfolio, and perspectives on hedge funds, private markets, liquidity management, real assets, team development, and AI. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com) Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership
Summary[REPLAY] Collette Chilton – Humility and Loyalty at Williams College (EP.174)
3w ago00:53:46Summary readyCollette Chilton is the CIO of Williams College where she has overseen its $3 billion since 2006. Collette is nothing short of a legend in the business. She has sat in a CIO seat since the early 1990s at the helm of public pension MassPrim and corporate pension Lucent before joining Williams. Institutional Investors bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award on Collette in 2019, and Barron's named her one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Finance in 2020. Our conversation covers Collette's career path and lessons learned before joining Williams. We then turn to her arrival at Williams in 2006 to a phone, a computer, and a legacy portfolio, Williams' governance structure leveraging alumni advisors, asset allocation, manager selection, manager monitoring, hedge funds, venture capital, and navigating around popular managers. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com) Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership
SummaryWTT: AI: Fundamentals, Valuation, and the Next Allocator Dilemma
4w ago00:08:17Summary readyThis WTT, AI: Fundamentals, Valuation, and the Next Allocator Dilemma takes on a high-level assessment of AI companies as late-stage private winners prepare to go public, and the next big challenge allocators face as a result. Read Ted's blog here. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
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Hotel Investing at EOS – Jonathan Wang (EP.506)
4w ago00:56:18Summary readyJonathan Wang is the founder and CEO of EOS Investors, where he has built three real estate investment platforms totaling $2 billion in assets under management across the hotel and residential sectors. Jonathan also created a wholly owned hotel management company that oversees 60 properties for the EOS funds and five core partners. Our conversation covers Jonathan's path to hotel investing and EOS' hotel investment process across market selection, property type, underwriting, vertically integrated operations, and managing through cycles. We also discuss extensions into residential real estate, hotel credit, and opportunities and risks going forward. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com) Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership
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Contrarian Quality at GQG Partners – Rajiv Jain (EP.505)
Jun 801:04:57Summary readyRajiv Jain is the Chairman and CIO of GQG Partners, a global equity manager he founded in 2016 that has soared to $160 billion in assets, rebuffing the challenging decade for active managers. Our conversation covers Rajiv's path from trading in India to his long tenure at Vontobel and founding of GQG. We discuss the periodic crisis lessons that shaped his approach, his definition of quality, team dynamics, and portfolio construction to avoid losses. We then turn to Rajiv's contrarian views, including current significant positions in energy, utilities, steel, tobacco, and emerging markets, avoidance of hyperscalers and semiconductors, and nimbleness to change his mind. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership
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Operator-Led Private Equity at Ethos - Erik Brooks (EP.504)
Jun 100:58:25Summary readyErik Brooks is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Ethos Capital, a middle-market private equity firm built to bring seasoned C-Suite operators into every aspect of the investment process. Erik's experience prior to founding Ethos in 2019 spanned privatizations in Eastern Europe, value investing at Baupost, and twenty years at Abry Partners. Our conversation covers Erik's path to private equity, lessons learned about risk, the importance of betting on people, and the evolution in his thinking that led to forming Ethos. We then cover Ethos' focus on durable business models, one-deal-a-year cadence, operating system to evaluate and improve companies, and an investment example that brings it all to life. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
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