The Latticework Podcast features wisdom and insights of selected participants in the Latticework summit, an invitation-only event hosted by MOI Global.
The Latticework Podcast, presented by MOI Global
William Green with Arnold Van Den Berg at Latticework New York 2019 by The Latticework Podcast, presented by MOI Global
The Early Years of Arnold Van Den Berg - Latticework 2019 by The Latticework Podcast, presented by MOI Global
Latticework New York 2018, September 6, 2018, The Yale Club of New York City
Latticework New York 2018, September 6, 2018, The Yale Club of New York City
Shareholder Value Creation According to Henry Singleton by The Latticework Podcast, presented by MOI Global
Latticework New York 2018, September 6, 2018, The Yale Club of New York City Ed Wachenheim is Vice Chairman of the Board of Central National-Gottesman Inc., and sits on the board of the Museum of Modern Art, where he is Chair of the Finance Committee and a member of the Executive and Investment Committees, and the New York Public Library, where he was former Chair of the Executive Committee and former Chair of the Investment Committee (of which he is still a member). Ed is Trustee Emeritus of both Skidmore College, where he served as Vice Chair, and Rye Country Day School, where he was also Board President. Previously, Ed was a Trustee of UJA-Federation, New York Foundation, and Arthur Ross Foundation. He was also on the Board of Directors of Interstate Brands and several other smaller publicly owned corporations. Ed joined the WNET board in 2016. He is a graduate of Williams College. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a first-year Baker Scholar.
Thomas A. Russo joined Gardner Russo & Gardner LLC as a partner in 1989. In 2014, he became the Managing Member of the firm. Gardner Russo & Gardner LLC is a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and is not associated with any bank, security dealer or other third party. Mr. Russo serves as Managing Member of Gardner Russo & Gardner LLC and of Semper Vic Partners GP, LP, which oversees two “global value”, long-only, equity investment partnerships, the first of which Mr. Russo founded in 1983. Mr. Russo oversees more than $12 billion distributed between Semper Vic partnerships and separate accounts managed in parallel fashion. Mr. Russo looks for companies with strong cash-flow characteristics that generate large amounts of “free” cash flow. These industries typically have included branded food and beverage, tobacco, and advertising-supported media. Mr. Russo's portfolio companies tend to produce high rates of return on their assets and have strong balance sheets. The challenge comes in finding these obviously desirable investments at compelling valuations. Mr. Russo commits capital to leading global consumer products companies whose brands enjoy growing market shares in parts of the world undergoing economic growth and enjoying increasing political stability. He prefers companies with sufficient cash flows from existing operations, combined with balance-sheet strength, to underwrite investments designed to activate emerging markets. Mr. Russo backs rare management teams willing to invest to secure robust future returns even when such investments burden current reported profits. Mr. Russo believes that managements of family-controlled companies have the “capacity to suffer” when investments intended to build long-term wealth are ill-received by short-term focused Wall Street analysts. Mr. Russo believes that such “capacity to suffer” leaves family-controlled companies often uniquely well positioned to bear short-term burdens on reported profits in pursuit of long-term gains in intrinsic value. Accordingly, he often invests in public companies where founding families still retain control and significant investment exposure, to reduce management agency costs and to align owner interests. Mr. Russo's goal is one of an absolute return rather than a relative return. He pursues a long-term investment objective of compounding assets between 10 and 20 percent per year without great turnover, thereby deferring capital gains tax on unrealized gains. Thomas Russo is a graduate of Dartmouth College (BA, 1977), and Stanford Business and Law Schools (MBA/JD, 1984). Memberships include Dean's Advisory Council for Stanford Law School, Dartmouth College's President's Leadership Council, and California Bar Association. Mr. Russo is a charter member of the Advisory Board for the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing at Columbia Business School. He serves on the boards of the Winston Churchill Foundation of the U.S., Facing History and Ourselves, and Storm King Art Center. In May 2017, he was awarded The Graham & Dodd, Murray, Greenwald Prize for Value Investing.
Under Elliot Noss, Tucows challenged how software was distributed in the 1990s and how domain names were offered and managed in the 2000s and is challenging how mobile phone service and fixed Internet are provided today. For nearly twenty years, Elliot has loved and championed the Internet as the greatest agent of positive change the world has ever seen. Through his role at Tucows, his involvement in ICANN and his personal efforts, he has lobbied, agitated and educated to promote this vision and protect an Open Internet around the world.
David has been a Partner at Venrock since 2008 and focuses on early stage consumer and enterprise internet companies. Before Venrock, he spent 12 years as an internet entrepreneur. David was the CEO of eMusic, the world's leading digital retailer of independent music, second only to iTunes in number of downloads sold. Prior to joining eMusic, David co-founded Myplay in 1999 in Redwood City, CA, which introduced the “digital music locker” and pioneered the locker category. In 2001, Myplay was sold to Bertelsmann's ecommerce Group. Before Myplay, he was Vice President at N2K Entertainment, which created the first digital music download service. He also was the co-creator of Apple's Music Group and worked at Apple for five years. David is a graduate and a former Overseer of University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science where he received a BSE in Computer Science Engineering. He serves on the Board of Part Of The Solution in The Bronx, loves tennis, and plays drums. In 2017, David was named one of the Top 100 Venture Capitalists by CB Insights.
Amit Wadhwaney is a Portfolio Manager and Co-Founding Partner at Moerus Capital Management LLC, and the founding manager of the Moerus Worldwide Value Fund. Mr. Wadhwaney has over 25 years of experience researching and analyzing investment opportunities in developed, emerging, and frontier markets worldwide, and has managed global investment portfolios since 1996. Prior to founding Moerus, Mr. Wadhwaney was a Portfolio Manager and Partner at Third Avenue Management LLC. Mr. Wadhwaney founded the international business at Third Avenue and was the founding manager of the Third Avenue Global Value Fund, LP, the Third Avenue Emerging Markets Fund, LP, and the Third Avenue International Value Fund, an open end mutual fund. Earlier in his career, Mr. Wadhwaney was first a securities analyst, and then Director of Research at M.J. Whitman LLC, a New York-based broker-dealer. Prior to joining M.J. Whitman, Mr. Wadhwaney was a paper and forest products analyst at Bunting Warburg, a Canadian brokerage firm. He began his career at Domtar, a Canadian forest products company. Mr. Wadhwaney holds an M.B.A. in Finance from The University of Chicago. He also holds a B.A. with honors and an M.A. in Economics from Concordia University; at Concordia, he was awarded the Sun Life Prize and the Concordia University Fellow in Economics, and he subsequently taught economics classes there. He also holds B.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Mathematics from the University of Minnesota. He speaks English, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Sindhi, and Spanish.
Robert Robotti is the President of Robotti & Company. Prior to forming Robotti & Company, Incorporated in 1983, Bob was a vice president and shareholder of Gabelli & Company, Inc. He worked in public accounting before coming to Wall Street and is currently an inactive CPA. Bob holds a BS from Bucknell University and an MBA in Accounting from Pace University. Some of Bob's areas of coverage include Special Situations, Energy Industry, Property-Casualty Insurance and Banking. Bob is the principal of the managing member or general partner of several investment vehicles. Bob currently serves on the Board of Directors of Panhandle Oil & Gas Company, a NYSE-listed diversified mineral company located in Oklahoma City; as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pulse Seismic Inc., a seismic data licensing business located in Calgary, Alberta; and on the Board of Directors of Build with BMC, a privately held company specializing in building materials and construction services throughout the United States. In addition, he serves on the Boards of many non-profit organizations where he generously donates his time and expertise. Previously, Bob was a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies, established to examine the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other aspects of the federal securities law.
Adam Schwartz is a Senior Managing Director of First Manhattan. He joined the firm in 2001 to work with Bob Gottesman, First Manhattan's CEO. Together, Adam and Bob manage assets for individuals, families, partnerships, and family and charitable trusts. Adam is a value-oriented, long-term investor who is focused on preserving, sustaining, and growing his clients' capital. Adam tends to invest in companies that are led by seasoned management teams that have a proven track record of generating attractive returns. He is also drawn to companies that are undervalued but operate in an industry with a high barrier to entry. Before making an investment, Adam thoroughly and meticulously evaluates each company's fundamental business, looking primarily, though not exclusively, at its cash flow, rates of return, profit margins, competition, and above all, potential for growth. In addition to his work as a Portfolio Manager, Adam played a lead role in establishing the FM First Hong Kong Funds—First Manhattan's China-focused investment vehicles. He travels to China regularly and works closely with his China-based Fund partners on company research, portfolio management, and due diligence.