Rob Small and Anil Seetharam are Managing Directors and founding members of the Stockbridge team at Berkshire Partners, a $5B concentrated public equity manager that sits inside the $20B private equity firm. Unlike many public equity strategies at private equity firms, Stockbridge works closely and collaboratively with Berkshire’s private equity team on its investment research and has attracted an enviable client roster of some of the most respected allocators in the world. Our conversation covers Rob and Anil’s history at Berkshire and the steps they took to launch Stockbridge in 2007. We discuss their collaboration with Berkshire’s private equity team, investment criteria, deep dive research, decision-making process, portfolio management, board involvement, management of stock volatility, sell decisions, mistakes, and lessons learned over the last 17 years.

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Jennifer Prosek is the founder and CEO of Prosek Partners, a leading marketing and communications firm that for 30 years has helped the world’s top brands navigate what comes next. In asset management, Prosek’s clients oversee $60 trillion and comprise a who’s who in private and public markets. Jen is a popular past guest on this show from her first appearance five years ago and second when she shared her thoughts on navigating the pandemic.

Our conversation updates Jen’s thoughts on the emerging market of branding in the private markets, the importance of nailing the narrative, power of convening, maximizing value at conferences, and identifying talent. We discuss her thoughts on the trends driving capital flows and some great Jen-isms from her LinkedIn newsletter called Leading in Volatile Times.

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Jennifer Prosek is the founder and CEO of Prosek Partners, a leading international public relations and financial communications consultancy with offices in New York, London, Los Angeles and Connecticut. Prosek Partners ranks among the top 10 independent public relations firms in the U.S., and among the top financial communications consultancies.  The firm has been listed as an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company for nine years running.  Jen is also a two-time author. 

Our conversation covers the foibles of professional marketing in asset management, building a brand, measuring a successful branding effort, managing the story of weak performance, and describing the differences in hedge fund and private equity branding.  We then turn to some of Jen’s fascinating observations learned from her experience, including raising entrepreneurial children, working with millennials and Gen Z staffers, and implementing the principals of ‘Just Ask’, behave with humanity, and not thinking in black and white.

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Today’s show is the second in an ongoing mini-series discussing Training Grounds, organizations that have developed industry leaders. The first episode discussed Carnegie Corporation, where over a dozen years 8 of the 17 investment professionals that came through the doors became CIOs at Carnegie or other institutions.

Bain Capital is one of the world’s largest private alternative investment firms. The firm was founded 40 years ago with a half dozen team members managing a $37 million growth equity fund and has expanded to 1,750 people, 180 partners, and $200 billion in assets under management today. During that time, Bain Capital developed leaders across every category of alternative investing, many of whom started in the firm’s private equity business. My guest to discuss this training ground is John Connaughton the Co-Managing Partner & Global Head of Bain Capital Private Equity. Our conversation covers Bain Capital’s founding idea, recruiting and training, governance model, inflection points of growth, compensation, case for staying private, culture, developing leaders, and succession.

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Charles Duhigg is a celebrated writer for The New Yorker and author of bestseller "The Power of Habit." His latest book, "Supercommunicators," describes how to effectively communicate in conversation.

Our conversation covers Charles’ path to writing business stories and personal books and turn to his latest tour du force. We discuss the science behind connection, three types of conversations, methods to become a better communicator, and tools to navigate challenging conversations. Charles’ book and words feel like unlocking a secret language that can help anyone connect better with others, and he embodies the archetype of the supercommunicator he describes.

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Ben Hunt is the creator of Epsilon Theory and co-founder of Second Foundation Partners, where he writes and invests through the lens of narratives, or in his words “If a price moves, it is because a human told themselves a story.” Before turning to investing twenty years ago, Ben was a tenured political science professor and founder of two technology companies. He has been studying trends using what we now call big data ever since his first book about predicting international conflict in 1997. Our conversation covers Ben’s path to finance, the power of stories, tracking and measuring narratives in markets, and applying the lens of narrative to investing. Ben’s insights offer a careful consideration of what’s really going on in markets. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

I’ve been thinking about what it takes for allocators to lower the fee burden charged by managers on the path to increasing net returns.

Read Ted’s blog here.

Yann Robard is the founder of Dawson Partners, a leading global alternative asset manager overseeing $20 billion that provides innovative structured solutions to the private markets. Formed initially as Whitehorse Liquidity Partners and rebranded as Dawson, both names are inspired by Yann’s 1,000 km bicycle journey in the Canadian Arctic that led to his becoming a trailblazer in the market. Our conversation covers Yann's entrepreneurial career path, including fourteen years in the formative stages of Canadian Pension CPPIB. We discuss the success of the private equity industry, valuations, liquidity, the necessity of scale, and creating solutions that balance the needs of GPs and LPs. We turn to the process and culture at Dawson and the exciting future of the secondaries market.

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Please join us for our first Capital Allocators University for Investor Relations and Business Development Professionals. Learn more and sign up here.

Graham Weaver is the managing partner of Alpine Investors, a $17 billion people-driven private equity firm that invests in software and services businesses. Graham founded Alpine on the belief that exceptional people create exceptional businesses. Alpine’s PeopleFirst approach includes hiring, training, and placing an army of CEOs in its portfolio companies. The strategy has led Alpine to be recognized by Prequin as the most consistent top-performing private equity fund manager. Our conversation covers Graham’s early interest in self-help, his path to private equity, and launch of Alpine in 2001. We discuss his early mistakes, discovery of Alpine’s PeopleFirst approach, and the firm’s playbook focused on CEOs and M&A at portfolio companies. We close with Graham’s thoughts on teaching and enlightenment.

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Mo Haghbin is the Head of Multi-Asset Solutions at Invesco, where he develops and manages asset allocation strategies and portfolio solutions for $88 billion of client assets within the $1.7 trillion juggernaut. Our conversation covers Mo's journey to finance and his path to a leadership role at Invesco. We discuss Invesco’s solutions-based approach that canvasses every type of asset pool and structure and focuses first on top-down strategic asset allocation and tactical positioning, and only later on manager selection. We cover the research that drives asset allocation and factor decisions, importance of scaling customized solutions, and impact of technology in the process. All investing involves risk, including the risk of loss. This should not be considered a recommendation to purchase any investment product. This does not constitute a recommendation of any investment strategy for a particular investor. Investors should consult a financial professional before making any investment decisions if they are uncertain whether an investment is suitable for them. Please obtain and review all financial material carefully before investing. Asset allocation and diversification do not guarantee a profit or eliminate the risk of loss. This material is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on, for tax advice. The opinions expressed are those of the presenter(s), are based on current market conditions and are subject to change without notice. These opinions may differ from those of other Invesco investment professionals. All information as of April 29, 2024, in USD, unless stated otherwise. Invesco and FTSE Russell are not affiliated entities. Capital Allocators and Invesco are not in any way affiliated. The Invesco Solutions (IS) team is part of Invesco Advisers, Inc. (IAI), an investment adviser that provides investment advisory services and does not sell securities. Invesco Advisers, Inc. is an investment adviser; it provides investment advisory services to individual and institutional clients and does not sell securities. Invesco Advisers, Inc. is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Invesco Ltd. ©2024 Invesco All rights reserved. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership