The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Aoifinn Devitt
  • 4.9 (19)
  • INVESTING
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

A series that showcases the diversity and richness of the investment world through showcasing inspiring investors and their stories. 

  1. Corey Then of Circle: StableCoins and how the Velocity of Money can Unlock Prosperity

    2D AGO

    Corey Then of Circle: StableCoins and how the Velocity of Money can Unlock Prosperity

    Corey Then is the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel - Global Policy at Circle, a global financial technology company. He previously held a series of legal roles, and spent a period in the White House as an economics and Department of Justice lead. He's also an adjunct professor at the Washington University School of Law. We got to know eachother while Corey was in-house counsel at Moneta in St Louis. Our conversation starts with Corey's entry into law and how his stint in the White House was formative in terms of his approach to problem solving and working with teams. We move then to what interested him first in crypto assets and what brought him to Circle. Corey explains what it is about Stablecoins that makes them so transformational. He suggests that they will  enable commerce to speed up and that this increase in money velocity, will bring more prosperity to more people around the world..In terms of the risks to this trajectory, Corey suggests that if there are not comparable laws around the world, that StableCoin won't meet its full potential. He suggests that if there are balkanized regulatory structures around the world, we could end up with stable coins stopping at borders, which would be a huge disservice to consumers around the world. This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm.

    32 min
  2. William McGrath of C-Suite Pension Strategies: Rethinking and Reframing Corporate Pension Funds

    FEB 11

    William McGrath of C-Suite Pension Strategies: Rethinking and Reframing Corporate Pension Funds

    William McGrath is CEO of C suite pension strategies. He has a financial and industrial sector background and was a longtime CEO of AGA range master. He has an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University for work to sustain the relevance of the Midlands industrial heritage. He returned to the financial sector after 25 years working in industry. In our discussion we trace William's own career path and the source of his interest in pensions and the financial sector more generally. Moving then to his current perspective on pension funds at  C Suite Pension Strategies, he discusses the importance of corporate pensions, emphasizing that they should be seen as a corporate wealth fund rather than a burden. He highlights that there is still £1.2 trillion in private sector investments in the UK, advocating for a "run on" strategy over "buyout."  William criticizes the lack of scrutiny in actuarial work and calls for better regulation and oversight of some of the workings of this sector. Overall he emphasizes the importance of a "members first" approach which puts member interests at the center of pension fund governance.    We move then to broader governance issues and we talk in some detail about his experience in leadership at Aga and getting back to his love of history and the industrial heartland refers us to “Aga, Allied and Ogilvy – The Management of Groups”, which contains remarkable Boardroom records of a group of allied iron founders seeking to integrate businesses between the 1930s and 1950s – https://homehearthistory.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/aga-allied-ogilvy-book.pdfThis podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm.

    36 min
  3. Thomas Knowles of Gratitude Railroad: on Impact and Abundance

    FEB 3

    Thomas Knowles of Gratitude Railroad: on Impact and Abundance

    Thomas Knowles is Managing Partner of Gratitude Railroad. Gratitude Railroad is a community driven impact investing firm championing innovative businesses that generate compelling financial returns and enduring impact.  He was previously an Operating Partner at the Builders Fund and prior to that held a series of other roles, having started out in venture at SVB Capital.   We speak about the evolution of the focus on The Gratitude Railroad since our last conversation with one of its Founders, Howard Fischer in July 2023. You can find Howard’s podcast here.   Thomas elaborates on the investment focus areas, including climate (energy transition, energy efficiency, waste to value) and social impact (education, healthcare, financial services).   We examine the impact that has been delivered to date, some of the obstacles and challenges that have delivered important lessons and the future of impact investing amid the current zeitgeist.  This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm.

    31 min
  4. Klaus Peterson of Apera: Unlocking the potential of the lower middle market in private credit

    JAN 27

    Klaus Peterson of Apera: Unlocking the potential of the lower middle market in private credit

    Klaus Peterson is a founding partner at Apera Asset Management, based in Munich. Apera is a lower mid-market private debt investor that provides financing solutions to European SMEs and asset management services to investors. Apera focuses on the DACH region, the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries, France and Benelux.Apera is part of Franklin Templeton a global investment management organization with $1.5 trillion assets under management. Our conversation starts with Klaus's journey into finance and his early start as a lawyer, before he finally discovered private credit via a route of private equity. We then turn to the focus on Apera's business, which is in the lower middle market and stress the difference between this size of issuer and the larger issuers which tend to occupy private credit headlines. We move through some case studies - the good, the bad and the ugly - and Klaus shares how he learned to focus on the detail, to kick the tires, and emphasizes the importance of understanding investments and questioning assumptions, sharing a lesson learned from a printing business investment.We discuss some of the challenges facing private credit as it continues to grow in size, and then focus in particular on the German market, examining the risk profile of most institutional investors and their expectations when it comes to their credit portfolioslOverall, this is a unique deep dive into a niche area of credit investing that is often overlooked in the sweeping generalizations made about the mainstream credit markets. This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm

    34 min
  5. Rich Nuzum of Franklin Templeton: Outsourced CIO relationships - playing the long game

    JAN 20

    Rich Nuzum of Franklin Templeton: Outsourced CIO relationships - playing the long game

    Rich Nuzum is head of OCIO at Franklin Templeton. He joined Franklin Templeton from Mercer where he spent more than three decades providing investment consulting advice to institutional investors. Nuzum holds an MBA in analytic finance and accounting from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in mathematical sciences and mathematical economic analysis from Rice University. Rich also did graduate work in international economics at Tokyo University.   Our conversation starts with Rich’s upbringing and growing up with his parents as school teachers. He describes how he came upon finance as a career, and the impact of the time spent in Tokyo studying economics, one of the most difficult academic paths he has ever navigated. We speak then about his various phases in investment consulting which saw some movements to head up different areas, some planned and some serendipitous.    We turn then to the concept of Outsourced CIO (OCIO) serviced and how this service offering has evolved in recent years – often to be less of a complete substitute for an investment team and more of an adjacent set of complementary skills at times. We discuss the global experience of OCIO adoption and where the future integration of this might lie.    This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm

    33 min
  6. Kirsty Gibson of Baillie Gifford: The complex (yet elegant) choreography of active equity management.

    JAN 14

    Kirsty Gibson of Baillie Gifford: The complex (yet elegant) choreography of active equity management.

    Kirsty Gibson is an investment manager at Baillie Gifford, where she has spent over 13 years.  She is currently focused in particular on investing in US equities with a growth orientation. Our conversation starts with Kirsty’s roots and her training in classical ballet. This was an unusual yet direct route to Baillie Gifford as she first came across the firm when she saw that they were sponsoring a ballet performance they had attended – evidence that sponsorship of similar events does in fact get noticed and yield returns!   We move then to her investment beliefs, her Masters in carbon management and what she derived from it and her approach to stock picking. We dive into the cultural aspects that make a firm a rewarding place to work, and about the mindset needed to thrive as an active equity manager today.    This podcast is kindly sponsored by Evanston Capital and Alvine Capital. For over 20 years Evanston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early-stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term, value-added returns in complex, innovative strategy areas. Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets with significant presence in London and Stockholm.

    32 min
  7. Bonus Special Episode - The Long and Short of It with Ian McKnight: 2026 Outlook and Musings

    JAN 6 · BONUS

    Bonus Special Episode - The Long and Short of It with Ian McKnight: 2026 Outlook and Musings

    This inaugural episode of The Long and Short of It with Ian McKnight kicks off with a reflection on a news-filled Christmas period where geopolitics started the year in explosive fashion and markets started to digest the aftermath.Today's episode features Aoifinn Devitt, Senior Investment Advisor at Moneta, as a guest and we discuss topics as diverse as the impact of geopolitics, UK growth, interest rates and the need for the triumph of hope over nihilism!We conduct a health check on US equity markets, looking at valuations and of course the Mag 7, tracing their fortunes along the course of the year, and check in on how stocks such as ‪@tesla‬  have forged their own path and how the "average may lie" when it comes to both earning expectations and returns

    42 min
  8. Everaldo Franca of PPS Portfolio Performance in Brazil: Keeping an eye on the Long Term Prize for Institutional Investors

    12/23/2025

    Everaldo Franca of PPS Portfolio Performance in Brazil: Keeping an eye on the Long Term Prize for Institutional Investors

    Everaldo Franca is CEO at PPS Portfolio Performance, a role he has held since 1996. He has deep experience with advising pensions and institutional investors in Brazil. Our conversation starts with his upbringing in Sao Paolo and the straitened circumstances wrought by the economy  that forced various job changes and a combination of academic and professional pursuits. We discuss what it means to build one's career in an economy under strain, with high inflation, unpredictability and volatility. We discuss then the process behind starting PPS Portfolio Perfomance and the proof of concept that led to traction for the business. We end with a detailed discussion of the challenges facing pension funds and other institutions in Brazil at a time when interest rates for domestic short term rates.  Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

    34 min
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About

A series that showcases the diversity and richness of the investment world through showcasing inspiring investors and their stories. 

Information

  • Creator
    Aoifinn Devitt
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    428
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Aoifinn Devitt
  • Show Website
    The Fiftyfaces Podcast