The Fiftyfaces Podcast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rebecca Heun, Managing Director at Aksia LLC, blends her early ambition for Broadway with nearly two decades in operational due diligence. They discuss the importance of reading between the lines and understanding human behavior in fraud detection. Rebecca delves into the fraud triangle, emphasizing pressure, opportunity, and rationalization. She offers insights on the growing role of AI in document analysis but warns of its limitations. With captivating anecdotes from her career, she also highlights stress management and the essential nature of on-site diligence.