Les Bond of Attucks Asset Management - at the intersection of change and empowerment The Fiftyfaces Podcast

Les Bond is CEO at Attucks Asset Management, a firm he founded over 20 years ago.  Attucks is an MBE-certified registered investment advisor which builds portfolios of emerging investment managers- in particular female and minority owned firms. Our conversation traces Les's college days where a major in sub-Saharan African studies kickstarted his interest in economics and trade.  This saw a trip to Cuba and visits to Sugar Plantations where he saw the promise of but fraught nature of diplomacy and brokering deals. We then see how he got his start in the industry, and how his time in Atlanta, interacting with successive mayors of the city, taught him how politics could be instrumental in forcing change, targets and the role of public pots of assets. We turn then to the genesis of Attucks Asset Management and the role that it plays in not only promoting and amplifying emerging and minority owned managers but also in nurturing them through guidance and feedback. Series 3 is brought to you with the kind support of Federated Hermes, Inc., a leading global investment manager. Guided by their conviction that responsible investing is the best way to create wealth over the long term, their investment solutions span equity, fixed-income, alternative/private markets, multi-asset and liquidity strategies and a range of separately managed accounts, distributed through intermediaries worldwide.