Masters in Business

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz speaks with John Schlifske, who is chairman, president and chief executive officer at Northwestern Mutual. He rose through the ranks after having joined the company in 1987 as an investment specialist. Northwestern Mutual has more than $300 billion in total assets and $31 billion in revenues, and underwrites more than $2 trillion in life insurance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz speaks with Shirl Penney, who is the founder of Dynasty Financial Partners, a leading integrated platform services company for independent wealth-management advisory firms. Penney currently serves as Dynasty's president and CEO and is a member of its board of directors. The firm has over $60 billion in assets on its platform.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz speaks with Gary Chropuvka, who recently joined the quantitative asset management firm WorldQuant as president. He was previously the co-head of the quantitative investment strategies team at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Legendary venture-capital investor Bill Gurley discusses valuing companies with minimal revenue, critiquing traditional IPOs, exploring direct listings, reflecting on early investment in Uber, and navigating financial crises. He also shares insights on the impact of near-zero interest rates, future plans post-Benchmark, mentors, book recommendations, and the difficulty of perceiving time in the venture capitalism world.

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz speaks with Jeff Immelt, who is a venture partner at the global venture capital and private equity firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Prior to joining NEA in 2018, Jeff was the ninth chairman of GE and served as chief executive officer for 16 years. He has received 15 honorary degrees and numerous awards for business leadership, and chaired the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness under the Obama administration. His new book is “Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company,” a memoir of leadership in times of crisis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz speaks with the financial theorist and retired neurologist William J. Bernstein, who co-founded the investment management firm Efficient Frontier Advisors and has written several books on finance and economic history. His titles include “The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World Was Created,” “A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World,” and “Masters of the Word: How Media Shaped History.” He was also the 2017 winner of the James R. Vertin Award from CFA Institute. His latest book is “The Delusions of Crowds: Why People Go Mad in Groups.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jean Hynes, Wellington's incoming CEO, discusses her rise to the top, managing a massive asset portfolio, and investing in healthcare during Covid. They explore Wellington's history, partnerships, healthcare innovation, and private equity risks. The conversation touches on leadership evolution, female CEOs in asset management, mentorship impact, and the transformative potential of cryptocurrencies in global payments.

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz speaks with Doug Braunstein, founder and managing partner at Hudson Executive Capital, which has underwritten several successful SPAC offerings and manages $1.6 billion in assets. Braunstein previously held several roles at JPMorgan Chase — including working directly with Jamie Dimon as chief financial officer and member of the executive committee — and served as head of JPMorgan’s Americas investment banking and global M&A.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz speaks with Ben Inker, the head of asset allocation at GMO, which manages about $60 billion in assets. In his nearly three decades at GMO, Inker has served as an analyst for the quantitative equity and asset allocation teams, as a portfolio manager of several equity and asset allocation portfolios, as a co-head of international quantitative equities, and as CIO of quantitative developed equities. He is also a member of the GMO board of directors and a CFA charterholder. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz speaks with Kevin Landis, who is CEO and chief investment officer of Firsthand Capital Management. Landis founded Firsthand in 1994 and has since become one of the nation's best-known technology investors. He has been making venture capital investments in primary transactions since 1998, focusing on the technology and cleantech sectors. He has over two decades of experience in engineering, market research, product management and investing in the technology sector.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.