E244: Structural Alpha vs. Storytelling w/Alan McKnight

What separates elite CIOs from everyone else? In this solo-style deep-dive conversation, I sit down with Alan McKnight, Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Regions Asset Management, to unpack how one of the industry's most respected allocators makes decisions across public and private markets. Alan oversees investment strategy, risk management, and portfolio construction across the firm's full platform — and brings decades of experience from leadership roles at Truist, SunTrust, Equitable, and Morgan Stanley. We get into the realities of managing capital across different client types, how CIOs should think about illiquidity versus opportunity, where structural alpha truly comes from, and the process-driven framework Alan uses to separate skill from luck. If you're an allocator, founder, CIO, or LP, this episode lays out one of the cleanest mental models you'll hear on building durable long-term returns.