Masters in Business: Why Private Assets Are Essential

Guest: Stephanie Drescher, Chief Client and Product Development Officer at Apollo
Host: Barry Ritholtz
Date: January 2, 2026
Podcast: Bloomberg Masters in Business

Episode Overview

In this episode, Barry Ritholtz sits down with Stephanie Drescher, a leading force at private investment giant Apollo, to discuss the evolving landscape of private assets. The conversation traverses Drescher’s career from JP Morgan to Apollo, the significant role of private equity and private credit today, why private markets are now essential (not just a “nice-to-have”), and Apollo’s approach to aligning its interests with clients through co-investing, cultural values, and strategic wealth initiatives. Whether you're interested in the mechanics of private market investing, the democratization of alternatives, or the ongoing changes in finance, this episode is packed with insights from a top industry leader.

Guest Introduction

• Stephanie Drescher: Chief Client and Product Development Officer, Apollo. 20+ years at Apollo, previously at JP Morgan. Key architect of Apollo’s expansion into private markets and wealth management. Regularly named on Barron's Women in Finance.

Highlights & Key Discussion Points

Early Influences & Career Path

• Family Inspiration: Drescher’s grandmother, a Wall Street Journal reader born in the 1800s, influenced her love of markets from a young age.

  • “She used to read the Wall Street Journal cover to cover every day. Super smart, loved tracking stocks, and so we started to track stocks together.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 03:33)

• Early Exposure: Interned in a women-led healthcare consulting firm before moving into finance, later joining JP Morgan immediately after business school.

• JP Morgan Experience: Rotated between global divisions (e.g., fixed income in New York, private banking in Geneva), developing an early focus on alternatives for ultra-high-net-worth clients.

Private Markets: Then and Now

• Alternative Investments in the 90s-2000s:

  • Private markets were niche; clients were primarily large families and ultra-high net worth individuals.
  • “It was very early days and a very small fraction... Now I feel like there are probably dozens [of offerings] on the shelf available for clients every day, every quarter.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 09:25)

• Market Crises as Catalysts:

  • Both the dot-com bust and the Great Financial Crisis accelerated client interest in alternatives for their more stable, less correlated returns.
  • “They make it look so easy on the investment side. But it actually takes so much work and rigor to be in position to make those big investment calls in those moments in time.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 12:47)

• Key Principle:

  • “Purchase price matters.” (Stephanie Drescher, 15:02)
  • Investment discipline is crucial—value and timing are central to superior outcomes.

Apollo’s Culture & Approach

• Role at Apollo: Drescher leads client outreach, product innovation, and global partnerships, bringing an institutional background to wealth.

• Culture Focus: Emphasizes innovation, meritocracy, a high-performance team ethos, and collaborative problem-solving.

  • “I often say to my team, it's we, not me. And that's really powerful.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 21:10)

• Pandemic Lessons: Maintained culture through deliberate virtual and in-person community building, encouraging casual interactions to foster collaboration.

  • “We have the... ‘casual collision’. That’s really important to our culture to kind of show up.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 23:14)

Alignment with Clients: Co-Investing & Performance

• Apollo’s Differentiator: Regularly co-invests alongside clients with substantial balance sheet commitments—far surpassing industry norms.

  • “A commitment from an asset manager might be... 2.5% or 3.5%. It's an outlier if it's a 5% commitment... in one strategy of ours... we are two thirds of that portfolio.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 25:19)

• Performance First Mentality: Apollo is not AUM-driven but performance- and outcome-driven.

  • “We're not focused on an AUM goal. That is the reward for good performance.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 26:15)

Wealth Channel, Distribution, and Innovation

• Strategic Shift to Wealth: Over the past five years, Apollo has transformed wealth management from episodic to a core, global strategic focus—with massive investment in tech and platform partnerships.

• Massive Lift for Wealth Platforms: Success requires scale, relationships, product breadth, education, service, and technology.

  • “We have spent actually a billion dollars, $1 billion from our balance sheet in wealth tech investments alone.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 28:49)

• Distribution: Spans private banks, wires, RIAs, broker dealers, family offices, and global markets (EMEA, Asia, North and Latin America).

• Innovation in Access:

  • New structures (interval funds, semi-liquid strategies, private market ETFs with State Street) are lowering barriers and improving reporting and liquidity for private investments.
  • “It's a journey, but I think it's already getting better. And I do see a world where it becomes so much easier, more efficient to access.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 32:34)

The Case for Private Assets in Portfolios

• No Longer Niche:

  • Private equity, credit, and infrastructure are now essential—providing real diversification, return potential, and institutional-like access for individuals.

• Core, Not Peripheral:

  • “It’s no longer nice to have private markets in a portfolio. It’s a need to have in order to meet the long-term financial goals of the client.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 39:08)

• Shrinking Public Markets:

  • Fewer public companies mean private markets are critical for exposure to the broad opportunity set.
  • “90% of companies globally are in fact private. So if someone truly wants representative exposure in their portfolio, it's really hard to rationalize eliminating 90%.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 40:22)

Liquidity, Semi-Liquidity, and Illiquidity

• Sophisticated Portfolio Construction:
  • Modern portfolios blend public/private and different liquidity profiles to optimize for return and flexibility, breaking free from the traditional 60/40 split.
  • “There are options where private markets can be a part of an overall portfolio, like an ETF format... or an investment grade strategy [that] may be monthly in nature.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 44:04)

Rethinking Private Credit & Democratization

• Changing Paradigm:

  • The risk/return and illiquidity tradeoff concepts have shifted—semi-liquid and diversified structures are mainstream and accessible.
  • “The idea of... alternatives being that very high risk portion of a portfolio... that's just no longer the modern thinking.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 45:10)

• Institutions vs. Individuals:

  • Institutions average 20%+ private market allocations; individuals still lag at ~3%, a gap expected to close rapidly.

• Origination is King:

  • Apollo invests heavily in proprietary origination (16 specialized engines across geographies and sectors) to maximize alpha.

Regulatory Shifts & Democratization

• Global Trends:

  • Regulatory changes (in the US, EU, UK) are accelerating access to private markets for retirement savers and individuals—a necessary shift given retirement challenges.
  • “There’s a global theme of the desire to allow more access of private markets to the individual...”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 50:40)

• Mismatch in Liquidity Needs:

  • Long time horizons of retirement savings are not well-matched by daily-liquid options—private assets are a better fit.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Purchase price matters.” (Stephanie Drescher, 15:02)
• “It’s we, not me. And that’s really powerful.” (Stephanie Drescher, 21:10)
• “A commitment from an asset manager might be... 2.5% or 3.5%... in one strategy of ours... we are two thirds of that portfolio.” (Stephanie Drescher, 25:19)
• “We have spent actually a billion dollars, $1 billion from our balance sheet in wealth tech investments alone...” (Stephanie Drescher, 28:49)
• “It’s no longer nice to have private markets in a portfolio. It’s a need to have in order to meet the long-term financial goals of the client.” (Stephanie Drescher, 39:08)
• “90% of companies globally are in fact private. So if someone truly wants representative exposure in their portfolio, it's really hard to rationalize eliminating 90%.” (Stephanie Drescher, 40:22)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Early Life and Market Inspiration – 02:38–05:18
• JP Morgan, Early Alternatives Experience – 05:50–09:25
• Impact of Market Crises on Private Markets – 11:16–15:02
• Apollo's Culture and Employee Engagement – 17:58–23:37
• Co-Investing and Client Alignment – 23:37–26:15
• Transforming Wealth Management/Distribution – 27:08–32:34
• Current State of Private Markets – 36:10–39:41
• Shrinking Public Markets and Portfolio Construction – 39:41–44:50
• Liquidity Innovations and Product Design – 42:30–44:50
• Paradigm Shift in Private Credit/Democratization – 44:50–47:00
• Proprietary Origination and Investment Focus – 47:00–50:00
• Regulatory Shifts and Retirement Access – 50:40–53:04

Final Thoughts & Advice

• To Young Professionals:

  • “Stay curious... if you’re tuned in from a curiosity perspective coupled with kind of strong work ethic, I think that’s a winning recipe.”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 56:54)

• On Change & Adaptation:

  • “The one thing that stays the same is change. And to embrace that and to be flexible...”
    (Stephanie Drescher, 57:48)

This episode offers a comprehensive guide to the evolution and future of private markets, making the case for their essential role in modern portfolios. Stephanie Drescher combines decades of experience with strategic and practical perspectives, making this a must-listen (and a must-read summary) for anyone interested in the intersection of wealth, innovation, and private investment.