Investment Management Operations Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert

Karl Sprules is the COO at Alliance Bernstein, a global asset manager with $725 billion in assets and over 4,700 employees. 
 
I really enjoyed speaking with Karl as he shows how you can be nimble at scale. We cover a lot of territory from his beginnings at Alliance Capital in the technology group, navigating the merger that created AB, and his evolution into the COO seat.  
 
Karl shares how AB has evolved over time and the rationale behind the bold decision to move their headquarters from Manhattan to Nashville creating a new investment management hub and recalibrating work life balance for many people. We then turned to how AB is expanding into Asia, India, and their current thoughts on AI.

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Mike Lukasek is a Managing Director and the COO for the University of Pennsylvania’s Office of Investments.
 
Mike has been the COO of Penn’s Endowment for over 14 years. Prior to that, he was a VP at Goldman Sachs for their private equity fund of funds business and a VP of Finance at Summit Partners.
 
Given his tenure at Penn, Mike brings perspective on the evolution of an endowment office. He talks about how Penn’s operations and technology has evolved overtime and shares his insights on what is coming down the road. We talk about how to assess what you have versus what you really need, common triggers for change, the future of fund admins and custody banks and the changing role of investment data. 
 
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Lawrence Miller is the CTO of Wilshire, an independent investment management firm that offers consulting services, analytical products, and manages funds for a global client base.

For many of us owning and understanding technology is critical for our business. However, many of us have come up through the ranks without hands-on training.  This is where Lawrence lends a hand.

We cover Lawrence’s start as a quant at JP Morgan, lessons learned launching a startup, and how his time as a technology consultant landed him the CTO role following a ransomware attack.

While these cyber-related issues are often discussed at a high level one rarely get into the weeds on actual events. We cover how to respond to a ransomware attack, the current state of disaster recovery and what makes a good penetration test. We then turn to onboarding a new service provider, better tech focused due diligence questions for allocators and why taking a python class can help you be a better operational leader or IR person.

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Ken Onorio is the Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer of Eagle Point Credit, a $9 billion credit-oriented investment firm.

At some level, this is an interview about the softer skills in our space. Having spent time in hedge funds and a tour in fund administration, Ken shares his unique perspective with some key takeaways.

Ken then discusses his career path and lessons learned while at JP Morgan, Amaranth Advisors and Sailfish Capital to create a firm and culture built for the long haul. We cover the operational complexities of running credit funds, what is takes to run a publicly listed fund on the NYSE, and how to take a partnership approach to hiring third-party service providers as an extension of your office.   

We discuss how to build culture, employee empowerment and how Eagle Point promotes from within and the impact of hiring for attitude, not aptitude.

All data included herein is as of February 29, 2024.

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Terry Thompson is the Chief Operating Officer of Berkshire Partners, Boston-based private equity firm started in the 1980s before adding public equity capabilities in 2007.   

Terry shares how his background across 8 different industries helped him land the role at Berkshire. We talk about how to quickly transition into a new industry, how to assess a career opportunity with limited information, and building rapport with long-tenured team members.

We cover Berkshire’s unique governance structure that focuses on stewardship, communication and transparency using a “team of teams” approach. We turn to his thoughts on industry trends with regulations, fundraising and what people doing right now with AI.     

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Jason Ment is the president and Co-COO of StepStone Group, a global private markets investment firm focused on providing customized investment solutions, advisory and data services on behalf of clients representing $659B.

I really enjoyed this wide-ranging discussion on what is just around the corner in private markets. We cover his career path from law school to his time at Citigroup, which eventually becomes part of StepStone during the great financial crisis. We then cover the growth of StepStone and how to keep your firm culture and transparency on point when scaling from 35 to 1,000 employees. We also discuss how private markets are coming to the high-net-worth channel, the impact of his role as a publicly traded company and the near-term opportunities with AI.

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