The HPScast

This week, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Geoffrey Berg, Chief Investment Officer of the South Carolina Retirement System Investment Commission, to discuss his strategic leadership of the system's approximately $50 billion investment portfolio and share insights into private credit as an early adopter of the asset class among peers. Then, we find out what's next for the Southern state’s retirement system. Read Geoffrey’s Best Idea, Unreasonable Hospitality, by Will Guidara, here—and listen to Colbert’s earlier conversation with Danny Meyer here. Learn more about Charleston, South Carolina, Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, here.

Host Colbert Cannon sits down with Madelaine O'Connell, a leader in HPS's private high-grade business to discuss the evolution of the private placement market and the nuances of private versus public high grade debt. She also talks about her transition from leading the private placements business at Goldman Sachs to joining HPS, and shares her vision for scaling the private high-grade market within HPS.Learn more about Madelaine and her work at HPS here.  Find a local SoulCycle class near you—Colbert’s Best Idea for this week—here.

This week, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Robert Kaplan, former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs, to discuss his career spanning finance and public service. Kaplan reflects on the evolution of Goldman Sachs, his transition from deal-making to management, and the valuable lessons he learned from both Wall Street and academia. He also shares his insights on the interplay between public and private markets, headwinds to fiscal policy, and his outlook on the Fed’s interest rates.Learn more about Robert Kaplan and his work at Goldman Sachs, here. Read All The Pretty Horses, a novel by Cormac McCarthy—Colbert’s Best Idea for this week—here.

This week, we are looking at trends in the US real estate market, where the delta between debt and equity returns is as small as it’s been in 15 years. Mike Van Konynenburg, President of Eastdil Secured, oversees large, real estate transactions including financings, capital raises, sales, and investment banking transactions for institutional real estate owners and lenders. He joins David Lehman, Head of Real Estate Strategies at HPS, as they discuss the property market, the impacts of current policy, and how data centers could fit into investors’ allocations.

On this week’s episode, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Shawn Ury, Executive Director and Head of Alternatives at USAA, a financial services company providing insurance and banking products to members of the military, veterans, and their families. Shawn’s team oversees 13 different asset portfolios and two charitable foundations. We discuss Shawn’s time serving as a medic in the Army, and later, as the Police Captain of San Antonio. He shares how this background of service led him to USAA, his current perspective on private credit as an asset class, and what’s on the horizon for USAA. Learn more about the Love and Logic program, Shawn’s Best Idea for this week, here. Visit Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, Armando's Boot Co., in Raymondville, TX, here.

Welcome to Season 12 of The HPScast. Join host Colbert Cannon for a conversation with Sara Eisen, co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” & “Money Movers”. She shares how preparation met opportunity on her path to national television—and how taking a chance on forex market coverage gave her a competitive edge in her early days as a financial reporter. She also shares insights into the future of CNBC, including its growing focus on coverage for retail investors.Tune into Sara’s latest reporting on CNBC here—and learn more about Room to Read, the financial literacy non-profit she serves on the board of, here. Find out where to catch the artist Lorde on tour—Colbert’s Best Idea for this week—here.

To wrap up Season 11 of the HPScast, host Colbert Cannon revisits some of his favorite moments. We heard from mavericks across a range of industries: from Hollywood, to brick-and-mortar retail, to bankruptcy and restructurings. We also featured deep dives into the private and public credit markets with esteemed colleagues in finance. The HPScast team thanks our guests and listeners for making this an unforgettable season. We’re taking a brief hiatus, but we’ll return in the new year for Season 12.

On this week’s episode, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Bradley Beman, Head of Fixed Income Asset Management at Nationwide, one of the nation's largest insurance and financial services companies. We discuss Bradley’s transition from the investing side to managing portfolios—and how private credit fits into Nationwide’s portfolio.Learn more about Bradley Beman and his work at Nationwide here. You can watch the classic sports movie Field of Dreams, Colbert’s Best Idea this week, here.

On this week’s episode, host Colbert Cannon sits down with Johnny Chow, Chief Investment Officer for Legal & General Institutional Retirement Division, one of the UK's largest insurance and asset management businesses. We discuss his decision to join L&G after an eight-year tenure at J.P. Morgan, working across a range of credit trading businesses. Johnny discusses how his passion for mathematics and assessing risk has shaped his career—and how he views private credit as part of that equation in the coming years. Learn more about Johnny and his work at L&G, here. Watch Colbert’s Best Idea for this week, the television series, Drops of God, here.

This week’s podcast focuses on current trends in the private and public credit markets. We discuss interest rates, credit spreads, M&A activity, and sectors that have our attention. Host Colbert Cannon sits down with two of HPS’s senior investment leaders: Vikas Keswani, a Managing Director and Head of North American Specialty Direct Lending, and Scott Crocombe, a Managing Director and Head of Research on the HPS Liquid Credit team.