Dakota Live! Podcast

What does it look like to sit in the CIO seat?This episode of Dakota Live was recorded on campus at West Virginia University, bringing students directly into the room with institutional investors responsible for billions in capital.Rob Morier sits down with:Jim Bethea, CIO of the WVU FoundationCraig Slaughter, CIO of the West Virginia Investment Management BoardJosh Hall, Dean of the WVU Business SchoolThis is not a surface-level discussion.It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how portfolios are actually built—and what matters far more than most people think.We cover:How endowments and pensions allocate capitalThe real role of governance in investment outcomesHow CIOs evaluate managers (and why it’s not a pure science)Private markets vs public markets todayActive vs passive: where the opportunity may be shiftingWhat students and young professionals need to know to break into investingOne of the biggest takeaways:Most CIOs don’t spend their time talking about managers.They talk about governance, process, and decision-making.If you’re an allocator, asset manager, or student trying to understand how institutional investing actually works—this episode is for you.

Instead of sitting across from an allocator, this week we flip the table—and sit in the seat of an emerging manager building a firm from the ground up.In this conversation with Brandon Ladoff, Founder & Portfolio Manager of Denmark Capital, we explore what it actually looks like to launch a boutique investment firm in today’s market—where every decision mirrors the exact questions allocators ask behind closed doors.From fundraising realities to portfolio construction, from volatility to conviction, this episode is a case study in what emerging managers must get right to survive—and win.What we cover: • The leap from established firm to founder: “burning the boats” • How emerging managers think about alignment, patience, and capital base • The tension between unconstrained investing and allocators’ expectations • The reality of fundraising when your strategy embraces volatilityWhy this episode is different:Most conversations focus on how allocators evaluate managers.This one shows you the other side:👉 What it feels like to be the emerging manager👉 The trade-offs you don’t see in pitch decks👉 The conviction required when there’s no institutional safety netAs discussed in the episode, launching a firm is less about theory and more about execution under uncertainty—a real-time test of everything we try to understand in emerging manager due diligence.

Dan Pogue, VP at Catalyst Partners who seeds lower-middle-market private equity managers. Andrea Lo, founder of Main Character Capital focused on seeding specialized VC firms. Scott Schweighauser, founder of Borealis Strategic Capital with hedge fund seeding experience. They compare seeding across hedge funds, VC, and private equity. They discuss identifying emerging talent, structuring alignment, and overcoming launch challenges.

In this episode of dakota Live!, we step into a space where venture capital meets operator realism.While we often sit with allocators and emerging manager gatekeepers, today we turn the lens toward the managers themselves — and examine how early-stage consumer investing mirrors the same discipline allocators demand in emerging manager due diligence.Robert Morier sits down with Sean Kelly and Christine Wang of Family Fund to unpack what underwriting consumer brands can teach us about underwriting people — and why early-stage due diligence in venture is less about trend-chasing and more about pattern recognition, character assessment, and disciplined execution.This conversation moves beyond surface-level “consumer is back” narratives. Instead, we explore:• Why Series A consumer investing may offer asymmetric risk/reward in a valuation-compressed environment• How data-rich consumer businesses reduce “taste risk” through measurable retention, velocity, and unit economics• The difference between community as a vanity metric and community as a moat• How emotional resonance paired with rational economics creates durable companies• What allocators often misunderstand about consumer venture — and why specialization may be the real edgeFor institutional investors and consultants evaluating emerging managers, this episode offers a parallel lens:Just as consumer VCs must separate fad from durable trend, allocators must separate storytelling from scalable process.If you allocate to venture, evaluate emerging managers, or think deeply about how consumer behavior drives GDP and exit pathways, this conversation offers a structured view of what early-stage investing looks like beneath the narrative layer.

In the latest episode of dakota live!, we step into a part of the market that rarely gets explained well — the mechanics of volatility trading.As equity markets move through higher dispersion, regime shifts, and increasingly systematic flows, some of the most interesting price discovery is happening in derivatives.Volatility isn’t just a hedge or a headline metric. It’s an asset shaped by positioning, liquidity, and structural supply-demand imbalances.We discuss how firms like Zero Delta, a hedge fund of funds, allocating to specialists trading single-name and index options — evaluate markets where dealer gamma positioning, liquidity fragmentation, and flow-driven distortions can create temporary pricing inefficiencies.This is a conversation about process.How experienced volatility traders:✓ Interpret skew and term structure✓ Think about convexity and asymmetric payoffs✓ Adjust exposure as opportunity sets expand or compress✓ Trade relative value rather than directional viewsThe broader takeaway for institutional allocators is structural. As passive flows grow and options volumes reach record levels, derivatives markets increasingly reflect stress and opportunity in real time.Volatility trading — when executed as disciplined relative value — can become a way to engage dislocations created by crowding and hedging demand, rather than simply reacting to them.If you allocate to hedge funds — or evaluate them — understanding how volatility traders actually think beneath the surface of the VIX is imperative.If you’re an individual market participant trading your own account, appreciating how professionals interpret skew, positioning, liquidity, and convexity can sharpen how you think about risk.This episode is about framework — a closer look at the mechanics that drive derivatives markets and the discipline required to navigate them.

Rip Mecherle, CIO for the University of Tennessee System managing a $1.8B endowment. Cathy Ulozas, Drexel CIO focused on portfolio resilience and real assets. Bridget Sproles, Cambridge Associates partner advising endowments on construction and governance. Ryan Farley, professor running student-managed investment programs. They discuss endowment allocation, private equity pacing, private credit risks, manager due diligence, and training students for institutional investing.

Retail and wealth management platforms inside large banks are increasing exposure to private markets—but not through hype, shortcuts, or “democratization” headlines.They’re doing it through institutional-grade manager research, governance, and due diligence.In this episode of Dakota Live, host Robert Morier sits down with Scott Lavelle, Managing Director and Head of Investment Advisor Research & Product Management at PNC Bank, to unpack how one of the largest U.S. bank platforms evaluates, selects, and monitors investment managers across public and private markets.Scott oversees the teams responsible for sourcing, vetting, and monitoring external managers—while also determining how private market strategies are structured, governed, and delivered to retail and wealth clients at scale.What this episode coversWhy retail bank platforms are expanding private market allocations—and why most clients are still under-allocated relative to policy targetsHow banks are introducing evergreen private market structures cautiously, selectively, and with fiduciary disciplineThe manager research process behind private equity, private credit, venture, and hedge fund strategies inside a regulated bank environmentWhy due diligence—not product demand—drives platform decisionsThe role of operational due diligence in private markets (and why it’s risk you never get paid to take)How banks think about fees, access, and manager skill when evaluating private strategiesWhere fund-of-funds still make sense (and where they no longer do)How institutional governance changes the pace—but improves the durability—of private market adoptionRather than relying on industry buzzwords, Scott explains—step by step—how PNC has selectively added private market strategies, expanded alternatives exposure, and evolved its platform only where investment merit, manager capability, and client outcomes align.This is a rare look inside how retail banks actually make private market decisions—from the perspective of the people accountable for getting them right.

Scott Schweighauser, Managing Partner at Borealis Strategic Capital Partners with decades in trading, fund-of-funds, and GP seeding, talks manager selection and seeding structures. He covers why now is a compelling time to back emerging managers. Conversations touch on manager research, alignment-focused seed terms, the emerging manager premium, and how rowing informs leadership, teamwork, and grit.

Chris Schelling, Managing Director at Aksia with two decades in alternatives and author of Better Than Alpha, discusses bringing institutional-grade manager research to the wealth channel. He covers private credit, hedge funds, and private equity evolution, liquidity and governance, middle-market opportunities, and how advisors should think about portfolio construction and access to alternatives.

Stephanie Szymanski, CIO at Lakeview Capital Management and seasoned family office allocator, discusses portfolio construction, manager selection, and balancing public and private markets. She covers why family offices act differently than institutions, how they vet and narrow managers, the roles of hedge funds and private equity, and practical hiring and team lessons. Short, candid, practitioner-level conversation.