Frank Talk

Welcome back to our ESG Interview Series. In this episode we hear from someone who is much more personally involved in making an impact. Erin Summe started Thandeka Travel – which is a philanthropic travel company that connects at risk communities with people who can provide resources.  Erin’s journey takes her from Wall Street to South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Liberia and many other destinations on the African continent. We discuss how we can all help raise awareness and much needed capital for people in need. 

Welcome to episode seven in our ongoing ESG Interview Series.  In this episode we speak with James Spidle of Breckinridge Capital Advisors about achieving ESG integration at both the firm and product levels.  We discuss the nuances of analyzing and scoring companies from an ESG perspective and how understanding potential ESG risks can add value to the investment process.

Welcome to the sixth installment in our ten-part ESG interview series.  In this episode, we speak with Trysha Daskam, who is the Director and Head of ESG Strategy at Silver Regulatory Associates.   Trysha is an expert in policy writing and implementing regulatory controls,  interpreting SEC regulations, and developing compliance policies and procedures for investment firms.  In this episode, we discuss legal, regulatory and compliance issues related to ESG Investing.

Welcome to the fifth installment in our ten-part ESG interview series.  In this episode, we speak with Jeroen Bos, who is Head of Specialized Equity and Responsible Investing and a member of the Management Team Investments at NN Investment Partners.   In this episode, we discuss the practical aspects of ESG integration as well as responsible and impact investing, with an emphasis on established ESG data sources and the growing importance of alternative data in analyzing companies.

We are joined by Carol Jeppesen who heads the U.S. market for the UN supported Principles for Responsible Investment (or PRI for short).   We will discuss some background on the PRI as well as some common misperceptions when it comes to ESG investing. PRI is recognized as the world’s leading proponent of responsible investment, supporting a global network of more than 3,000 signatories, representing over $100 trillion in AUM, with the incorporation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investment decision making and stewardship activities.

Welcome to the third installment in our ten-part ESG interview series.  In this episode, we speak with Cyrus Lotfipour, who is an executive director and Head of Models and R&D for MSCI ESG Research. MSCI ESG Ratings aim to measure a company’s resilience to long-term, financially relevant ESG risks.  They leverage artificial intelligence and alternative data to assess thousands of data points across 37 ESG Key Issues, focusing on the intersection between a company’s core business and the industry issues that can create significant risks and opportunities for the company.  Each company receives a rating that gives investors a means of evaluating that company relative to its industry peer group and to itself over time.

Welcome to the second in our ten-part ESG interview series.  In this episode, we speak with Krissy Pelletier, who is a Partner and Impact Investing specialist at consulting firm, NEPC. This is a wide reaching interview with a focus on defining ESG, learning how to work with clients to create an optimal Impact investment policy and how an investor can effectively analyse and  assess investment managers in this space.

We are launching a new interview series to discuss responsible investing from a variety of different perspectives - investment, legal, regulatory, consulting, quantitative, fundamental...and much more. The first interview is with Jeff Cohen of the Sustainability Accounting Standard Board - or SASB for short. His organization’s mission is to establish industry-specific disclosure standards across environmental, social, and governance topics that facilitate communication between companies and investors about financially material, decision-useful information. Jeff gives us some historical perspective and explains how investors can use their multifaceted Materiality Map to evaluate companies in a consistent manner within specific sectors and industries.

If you’re under the age of 35, you might not be aware of how big Esports has grown in recent years…..and the industry's growth does not seem to be slowing down any time soon. Video games nowadays are not solely recreational….with global competition and million dollar prizes.  William Collis has literally written the book on Esports and is here to talk with us today.

Remote video calls have fast become a part of our personal and professional lives.  Kids do Zoom calls as part of their school’s quarantine curriculum, adults grab a virtual coffee with friends or have a virtual happy hour in the evening….not to mention all the work-related video calls that we do on a regular basis.  And this has led to some pretty funny and sometimes embarrassing blunders - all caught on camera.  Well, hopefully we can offer some help.  In this episode, Julie Hansen will give us some simple but effective tips to optimize your “on-camera” experience. 

Recent college grads and young people generally have a hard enough time finding a job, but its gotten even more challenging with the world under quarantine.  Are companies hiring and what can you do to get in front of them?  How can you differentiate yourself at a time in your life when you don’t have many work-related accomplishments?  We are fortunate to have author and career coach Alexa Shoen on the podcast today.  Her upcoming book, Entry Level Boss, presents an easy to follow, nine step process to cut through the noise of job searching to help land that dream job.

Want to learn how to engage with your LinkedIn connections during Quarantine?  LinkedIn expert, Brynne Tillman, will teach us how to refocus our efforts during these difficult times and provides a number of great tips to get conversations started…...including a highly effective communication tool that very few LinkedIn users know about (I’ve already used it a dozen times since our chat).

Want to find out how professional investment managers find the best stock ideas in the world?  Well, then you’re in the right place. The Little Book of Investing Like the Pros is the final book in the famed “Little Book” series that is aimed at providing expert investment information but is written in an easy to read format designed for the lay-person.  In this interview, we discuss the five-step investment framework that can help any investor make more informed investment decisions.

If you’re thinking about getting into investment banking, Bill Keenan’s book is a must read.  “Discussion Materials” is a funny, sarcastic and intensely personal accounting of his time as an intern and rookie investment banker at Deutsche Bank.   From his memorable first day as an intern right through to his infamous resignation letter (which is available for all to see online), we learn what it’s like to work endless hours on intensely complicated projects and to live in fear of the blinking red light on your Blackberry.  Join us for a fun chat about his experiences.

Wondering how to make those scam phone calls stop. Perhaps someone has stolen your credit card number...or maybe you've been a victim of identity theft. Even if you haven't yet been the target of a crime, scam artists are always out there, waiting for the right moment to steal your information, your money, and your life. Join us for a chat with former con artist Frank Abignale (the guy played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie Catch Me if You Can) to learn how to stop scammers in their tracks.

In the past few weeks, we have done a number of Coronavirus-related podcasts. The reception has been very positive and we received quite a bit of feedback on what we should be focusing on next - and without question, the most requested topic was how to conduct a job search during a quarantine. And while there’s no perfect answer to that question, we will be speaking to several experts in this area over the next few weeks. Our first expert, Michael Weber, is a highly experienced recruiter in the financial services industry. Join us for a candid conversation about the current state of the market and get some tips on remote networking.

Billion Dollar Brand Club: How Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker, and Other Disruptors Are Remaking What We Buy Larry Ingrassia, a journalist who has held senior editing positions at the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and LA Times interviewed dozens of business founders, inventors, early investors and venture capitalists to bring these stories to life and does a great job of highlighting how technology can level the playing field in marketing, manufacturing and distribution.

In this episode, we speak to the Wall Street Journal’s Greg Zuckerman about his groundbreaking book – The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution. If you are not familiar with Simons (or even if you think you are), you’re in for a real treat.  Simons is a legendary mathematician, a cold-war code breaker, a philanthropist and possibly the greatest money maker in modern financial history. 

With COVID-19 continuing to spread worldwide, we are seeing a huge impact on people on a personal level and we are just starting to contemplate the potential future impact on global markets and economies.  Things are evolving on a daily basis but it's important to have these conversations.  We are really fortunate to have Ron Temple of Lazard Asset Management to break it all down for us.

With the spread of COVID-19, companies have had to alter the way they do business - some rotating staff while others sending all employees home to work remotely. Never before has the alphabet soup of BCP, DR, BIA and DST (to name a few) been more important.  We are fortunate to have Anthony Patti of Drawbridge Partners on the phone to help us break it all down.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread around the globe and continues to impact countries, cities, businesses and each of us individually.  The virus doesn’t care about nationality or social status so access to proper healthcare for all will be a critical element in how effectively we navigate this crisis.  In this episode we are fortunate to have Dr. Howard Forman of Yale’s School of Management to break things down so we can understand what’s happening and, more importantly, so we can all stay safe and healthy.

The global spread of the Coronavirus has introduced the concept of social distancing and shut down many businesses and offices worldwide. This has resulted in lots of people working from home - many of whom have never done so before.  PC Magazine's Jill Duffy discusses her "20 Tips for Working from Home".

In this episode we will talk to an accomplished expert in non-verbal communication.  Joe Navarro spent 25 years at the FBI working as both an agent and supervisor in the areas of counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism.  Since retiring from the FBI in 2003, he has written several groundbreaking books on body language, has become a much sought-after speaker and corporate consultant. 

We've heard a lot about public market opportunities in many of the "plant-touching" cannabis companies (growers and dispensaries). We're going to cover something much more interesting. In this episode, Tiby Erdely of Key Investment Partners will discuss early-stage venture investing in some of the ancillary businesses (like technology, biotech and business services). 

Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert Shiller's new book is called "Narrative Economics" and it presents a new way to think about how stories can shape and even drive economic events. It's such an incredibly common sense notion that we're shocked that it's taken this long for someone to present it in a serious way.  It was a fun and educational conversation and we hope you enjoy. 

U.S small cap stocks are a standard component within most institutional asset allocation plans...but small cap stocks outside the U.S. tend to get little attention. Jafar Rizvi of Harding Loevner joins us for this episode. He is an expert on global and International small cap investing.

It's been over a decade since the financial bubble burst in 2008 - sending global markets into a financial and economic version of cardiac arrest. Is the patient fully recovered…or are we due for a relapse? Andrew Metrick will help us to figure things out.  He is the Janet Yellen Professor of Finance and Management at the Yale School of Management and the Director of the Yale Program on Financial Stability.  

Find out the current state of the CFA brand globally and, more importantly, where things are going in the future. Our guest is newly minted CEO, Margaret Franklin.

Our guest is Peter Gillespie, CFA of Lazard Asset Management.  This episode focuses on how emerging markets are rapidly transforming themselves and even surpassing many developed markets in important areas of technological change.

Introduction to the "Frank Talk" podcast.  Timely interviews with leading investment and business professionals, entrepreneurs, and academics.  Each podcast episode will focus on a specific topic and will generally be 20 minutes or less. Don't forget to subscribe to the show.