The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Mitesh Sheth is CEO of Redington, an investment consulting firm based in London, where he has spent almost 8 years. He started his career as an investment analyst and held various roles in asset management firms and in his own strategy and innovation consulting business. We talk about his childhood first and how he learned to bring his authentic self into the workplace. Something seemingly minor - like not drinking alcohol - can sometimes make socializing difficult - and this led to him finding different ways to connect and to bond with colleagues. Now in a leadership role, Mitesh brings a considerable amount of thought and reflection to bear, which includes a practice of logging and tracking decisions and returning to analyze what drove them. We discuss the role of "experiment and fail fast" as a tool to encourage innovation, flexibility and psychological safety in the workplace. We then move to integrating spirituality into one's life, and how this can impact leadership as well as how we motivate others. At Redington, the firm emphasizes celebrating “difference” and creating a culture of belonging. We talk about what this means in practice, and how it will be increasingly important in a post pandemic world.

Caroline Burton has a portfolio career which includes roles as an independent advisor to local authority pension plans and a NED role. She previously spent over 25 years at the Guardian Royal Exchange, where she was promoted to manager at the age of 28. She retired from that organization in 1999 and has since built a portfolio career. Our conversation starts in what seems like an entirely different era in the City - during the mid 1970s. Top hats were in vogue, gentlemen's dining clubs were the rage and diversity was not high on the agenda. Caroline encountered her fair share of sexism in her early career, but nonetheless made her way through management ranks, and shares some of her strategies for success. We reflect also on how the industry has changed, and where progress has been lagging. When she retired over 20 years ago she moved to a full portfolio career of committee and non executive director roles, and we discuss where these differ from executive roles.As an experienced committee member she has a a clear sense of where non executive roles differ from executive roles - in particular that the mantra should be "eyes on, hands off" and that observing and listening to the direction of travel and then opining on it can be a key value added of the non executive director. This podcast was supported by Speaking with Images, a company focused on motivational speaking, focused on increasing resilience, improving communication and building better workplace culture. https://www.jennysegal.co.uk/

Oli Shakir-Khalil is an investment director in EM Debt at Fidelity International, based in London. We met at an industry conference where he discussed his role as a mental health ambassador within his firm and the industry and his efforts to amplify the importance of mental health awareness. He is passionate about the need to reinforce listening within organizations and the debunk the myth that this area should be taboo. His initiatives both within his own firm and within the industry are innovative and powerful to spread inclusion and promote dialogue about this issue. Our conversation starts with Oli's university specialty of classics and how he happened upon a city career with this quite unconventional background. What it did endow him with, though, was sharp writing skills and a comfort and ease with public speaking and client situations, which were the essential cultural "add" to round out a team. We speak about his role as a mental health ambassador, why these roles are more essential than ever today, in light of the Covid-19 disruptions and enforced isolation and how simple adjustments like noting his status on his signature - indicating that he is "free to talk" and that colleagues who may be struggling can open up to him can be critical. Oli is also an active advocate for the LGBT community at work and in the City and we will feature him in our upcoming series celebrating Pride Month in June, in which we celebrate the careers of LGBT professionals.

Andrew Osayemi is a specialist diversity recruiter at Rare Recruitment and the creator of the Netflix TV show Meet the Abebanjos. He started his career as a city trader and then took the plunge into starting a TV production company, MTA productions – although, as he claims he did not “know anything about TV”. He is the author of the book “How my Disastrous Teenage Love Life Will Get You Your Dream Job”. Our fascinating discussion starts with his upbringing in South London, how he found himself a job in the City and the cultural adjustments that the trading floor entailed. As his career took off and took him to the US, he found himself faced with a challenging choice. His career then took a creative turn as he started to pitch his TV ideas and ultimately started a TV production company. We hear about the series of "Nos" that forced him to focus on "earning a Yes" and what happened when he did, finally, break through the competitive world of TV.The discussion would not have been complete without analyzing how his teenage love life could get me - or anyone - a dream job, and we look at how relationships and commitment to them can be the key to nurturing a career. We then talk about authenticity, gratitude, finding one's voice, speaking up and showing up at meetings and in careers. Andrew is now sharing his advice with the next generation and if you will follow him on LinkedIN you will see that he has an ambitious goal of speaking to 1 million young people this year to talk about his career, his choices and what is possible.

Heidi Ridley is Co-Founder and CEO at Radiant ESG, based in the Bay Area of California. She has had a long career in asset management, including roles as CEO of Rosenberg Equities, a division of AXA Investment Managers, global head of client service and head of North America institutional sales. She is a member of the Advisory Council at the Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership. Our conversation tracks Heidi's entry into investing and how she rose through the ranks to become a C-suite leader. We discuss what true leadership really means and how her early career grit and determination contributed to her own trajectory. Heidi is now also a founder, and her vision for Radiant ESG is a unique one. We examine what motivated her to launch her own firm and some of the challenges that they encountered due to the prevailing market backdrop but ultimately overcame.A key takeaway of this podcast that I won't forget is recasting the image of a bull in a china shop. Whereas this is typically a negative image, I have now re-imagined it as a determined, ambitious force within an organization that may, initially, resist being shaken up. My conclusion is that our industry needs a lot more of them. There is more information about Radiant ESG at: https://radiantesg.com/This podcast was supported by Speaking with Images, a company focused on motivational speaking, focused on increasing resilience, improving communication and building better workplace culture. https://www.jennysegal.co.uk/

Michiel Timmerman is founder and managing partner at Mbuyu Capital Partners, which is an Africa focused investment boutique focused on financial services and agriculture, as well as Equity for Africa and EFTA, both focused on equipment leasing in Tanzania. He previously held a series of CIO roles across various asset management businesses in the City of London, including Ignis Asset Managemnent, where we met. Our conversation covers Michiel's early scientific education and how that hypothesis based scientific method informs his approach to investing. We then discuss how he came upon the SME investment opportunity in Africa somewhat by accident. While he had prepared for failure - he had not prepared for success, and this brought its own complications. We look at the backdrop to investing in Africa, bust some myths associated with it, and describe some of the unique challenges (and opportunities) of investing in the region.

Marisa Hall is co-head of the Thinking Ahead Institute at Willis Towers Watson, where she has spent most of her career, starting initially as an investment consultant. She was named Woman of the Year in the 2020 Women in Finance Summit & Awards Series and was on the 2020 List of Financial News Rising Stars in Asset Management in Europe. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Diversity Project in its ethnicity workstream and is a Standing Committee Member of Investment 20/20. Our conversation covers Marisa's entry into the world of investment and the various nudges that she received that pushed her in different but, ultimately, highly productive and creative directions. We speak about the innovative areas that she is focused on at the Thinking Ahead Institute, as well as her thoughts on the evolution of the investment industry over the next 5 - 10 years. We then examine the question of diversity in detail - Marisa has a unique perspective due to her many mentoring and advocacy roles - and she speaks poignantly about the need to understand the differing mindsets that many of our colleagues bring into the industry and how intimidating the trappings of the workplace can be. There is more information about Investment 20/20 here:https://www.investment2020.org.uk/This podcast was supported by Speaking with Images, a company focused on motivational speaking, focused on increasing resilience, improving communication and building better workplace culture.

Jim Maloney is a director at the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association and a director of Beachpoint Capital Management. He was a trustee of the Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund for over 11 years, including 1.5 years as interim chief investment officer. He retired from the Chicago Police in 2017, after 35 years of service, which saw him rise to the rank of Lieutenant. Jim has been active as an advocate for public fund investors for over a decade and is an active participant in the institutional investor conference circuit – when it exists.Our conversation traces Jim's childhood in the Midwest and his ties with Ireland, including a period spent in the country while growing up, and then what led him to enter the Chicago police. We look at the highs and lows of a career of over 35 years, in which Jim took every available opportunity to advance and take on extra training and built strong collegial ties. We look at what first interested him in investment and how his representation on the Trustee Board of the Pension Fund tilted his life in another direction. Jim is a good friend of mine and was the reason I had the privilege to serve as CIO of the Chicago Policemen's Annuity and Benefit fund for over 3 years. It was a further privilege to interview him here.

Leon Brujis is a Partner a Palladium Equity Partners, a private equity firm, headquartered in NYC. The firm is focused on making investments in middle market companies with a special focus on partnering with founders and family-owned businesses, and a particular focus on the Latinx consumer. He has held a number of board roles, and is currently on the Board of New America Alliance, a not for profit organization committed to building on American Latino success to forge a Stronger America. Our conversation starts with Leon's background, his roots in Latin America and what drove him to come to the US. We then talk about his investment journey, the potential of the Latinx consumer and how the firm he is in today drives value, including the way it integrates ESG issues into the investment thesis. We then move to talk about the current levels of diversity in the investment industry, and how access to capital is the last frontier of the civil rights movement, and how diversity programs can contribute to addressing this deficit. It is staggering that women and minorities who comprise over 70% of the population manage less than 2% of the capital in the industry. The end of the podcast contains a moving segment in which Leon shares wisdom that was shared by his late father, Marcos Brujis, who passed away only a few months ago. These three core pieces of advice are: 1. A Bad arrangement is better than a good fight; 2. You are what you negotiate and 3. Don't take No for an answer. We discuss how Leon learned to negotiate, and how he believes that action = priorities.

For our second series of 2021, we have a particularly diverse group of 10 inspiring guests who bring different backgrounds and skillsets to the world of investment. We meet with a retired police officer who entered the investment world through representing the pension scheme, a city trader turned Netflix TV producer, an investor in African SMEs, a venture capital investor, a leader of a think tank, a private equity investor focused on the Latinx consumer, a hedge fund founder and a consulting firm CEO. We examine how access to capital is the last frontier of the civil rights movement, how supposed weaknesses can actually be a source of resilience and strength, how "earning your yes" instead of focusing on the "no' can be key in a business that is full of rejection and how mindful we have to be of how intimidating our industry can be. We explore how constraints in setting up a business can foster creativity and the right kind of pivots, and how sometimes it is worth being that bull in the China shop and how much grit and setbacks can be the arsenal we rely upon. Tune in on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Twitter (@fiftyfacespod).This series was produced by Fiftyfaces Productions Ltd.