Brian Douglas, CEO – Graham Capital (EP.61)

Brian Douglas is the CEO of Graham Capital, one of the longest running macro investors.Going from CFO to the CEO seat is not a common route in our business so I was excited to talk to Brian. Brian’s career path started public accounting and he has spent the last 20 years at Graham moving from the CFO role to becoming CEO in 2019.Brian discusses how Graham has built and sustained its culture over its 25-year history. We discuss Graham’s evolution from a hedge fund to its expansion of product into sub advised funds, UCITs strategies while adding discretionary trading capabilities. We then cover key elements of founder level succession planning and how to develop emerging leadership.Learn More Follow Capital Allocators at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tseides⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mailing list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Access transcript with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠⁠)

Running and scaling a global fund group has its challenges. So when I was asking who I should talk to, Lisa's name came to the forefront.Her lens on the industry from the sell side to the buy side is quite unique. Lisa's recognized not only for driving operational excellence and revenue growth, but also for her ability to guide teams through transformation. Whether it's optimizing operations, enhancing cross team synergy, or future-proofing with tech innovation, Lisa shares firsthand insights from leading at the front of a global investment firm.We discuss how to scale complex investment strategies through product innovation and how selecting great outsourcing partners can be a key lever to overcome common cross-border operating challenges.   Learn MoreFollow Capital Allocators at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tseides⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mailing list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Access transcript with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠)

Ryan Ripp is the co-president and COO at Flat Rock Global, an alternative credit manager specializing in the junior tranches of CLOs.If you read anything about the industry, the headlines are often about how alternatives are making their way to the wealth channel. The thing I always turn to is how is this going to work operationally. There are so many aspects to explore like access, education, investment process, legal, onboarding, distribution, and tax reporting. To dig into the details, I turn to Ryan for some answers.Ryan shares his insight on how Flat Rock sees interval funds as an innovative structure for retail alternatives. We discussed some of the operational mechanics for a daily NAV, ongoing liquidity management, and service provider coordination that is different than the traditional private fund practices.With retail alternatives experiencing rapid growth across the industry and many players entering the space, it's an area to pay attention to.Learn MoreFollow Capital Allocators at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tseides⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mailing list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Access transcript with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠)

Ryan Teal is a Partner and Head of Operational Due Diligence at Albourne, a global investment consulting firm.Ryan and I talk about the role of AI within the ODD lens.  Whether you’re an ODD practitioner or a manager trying to understand current trends you will want to take a listen.Ryan shares their approach on using AI as well as some recent survey data about adoption rates, common hurdles, and where the low hanging fruit is.We also discuss the growing trends and benefits of meeting transcription, report automation, and the power of data.One of the interesting things that we’re seeing is AI adoption is going to be a core competency for everyone in the industry - at all positions.Learn More  Follow Capital Allocators at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tseides⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mailing list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Access transcript with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠)

Ashley Sweren is the COO and CCO at Standard Crypto, a venture capital firm focused on crypto, Web3, blockchain, and DeFi.With institutional investing, we are all keenly focused on finding uncorrelated assets. But here’s the catch: when you go beyond the fundamentals, things get interesting with diligence, operations and finding best in class service providers. To learn more about running a crypto fund, I sat down with Ashley to get her perspective. There are nuances with building, running and investing in an institutional quality product.Whether you are in operations, compliance, ODD or just curious - be sure to take a listen.   Learn More Follow Capital Allocators at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tseides⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mailing list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Access transcript with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠)

David Brenner is the COO of TIFF Investment Management, an OCIO for nonprofit organizations. Stepping into the COO role of an established manager takes a unique set of skills so I turned to David for his insight. We discuss the common challenges of assessing culture, talent, and legacy; and the importance of timing of when to listen and when to take action. We then turn to David’s perspective on his four pillars framework as TIFF shifts from what he calls going from TIFF 1.0 to TIFF 2.0. We talk about the role of AI and automation and why data transformation plays a critical role in everything that they do. Learn MoreFollow Capital Allocators at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tseides⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mailing list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Access transcript with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)

Heather Kennedy Miner is the COO at Advent International, one of the largest private equity firms in the US.    I enjoyed sitting down with Heather to talk about her career path beginning with investment banking and then her 20 years at Goldman Sachs evolving into a variety of positions giving her a unique combination of technical and soft skills well suited for the COO role.   We discuss Advent’s 40-year evolution and why its doubling down on its commitment to being a pure play private equity firm when many others are diversifying asset classes.    Heather shares how the firm is thinking about strategy, growth, where they are with AI adoption and why developing top investors to also be great leaders is a priority to the organization. Learn More  Follow Capital Allocators at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tseides⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mailing list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Access transcript with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Kent Collier is the CEO of Octus, the leading voice in data and intelligence for the credit markets. It was exciting to sit down with Kent to hear about his role as an investor and how he saw an opportunity in the market to create something bigger with the way Wall Street accessed critical information. Kent shares his experience on how they expanded from a single product to developing a full product roadmap, the tradeoffs of organic versus inorganic growth and why he is particularly excited about their recent acquisition of Sky Road,  a market-leading order management system.We then discuss the importance of their rebranding, the current state of GenAI in the credit markets and why today’s CEO must also act as the Chief AI Officer. Learn MoreFollow Capital Allocators at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tseides⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mailing list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Access transcript with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Reena Jashnani-Slusarz is the chief operating officer and General Counsel at Juniper Hill, a multifamily office based in Menlo Park, California. I had fun sitting down with Reena to talk about her non-linear career arc to find herself in a GC and COO role.    This was a wide-ranging conversation touching upon some of the legal and operational complexities of investing in crypto from a VC perspective and how one gets up to speed on new asset classes like catastrophe reinsurance. This is all about the intersection of traditional operational frameworks on new and emerging asset classes.    We then discuss the current state of multi-family offices today and how investors want a higher touch experience and the implications for those in operations and beyond.  Learn More Follow Capital Allocators at ⁠⁠⁠⁠@tseides⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠mailing list⁠⁠⁠⁠ Access transcript with ⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Membership⁠⁠⁠⁠

Letti de Little is the Chief Compliance Officer for Grain Management, a private equity firm that invests in telecom, infrastructure, and wireless spectrum assets.   Today’s LP is focused on finding uncorrelated assets more than ever.  But doing so often requires an understanding of the operational nuances which are different from buying traditional, tradable securities.  I spent some time with Letti to unpack some of the common legal and operational elements for investing in this asset class.    We cover how wireless spectrum auctions work and how Grain manages the dual regulatory oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.  We also talk about what ODD practitioners should know about with this lesser-known strategy.    Learn More Follow Capital Allocators at ⁠⁠⁠@tseides⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠mailing list⁠⁠⁠ Access transcript with ⁠⁠⁠Premium Membership⁠⁠⁠