Today’s guest is Alejandra Grindal. Alejandra serves as the Chief Economist for Ned Davis Research. Based in Florida and a graduate (undergraduate and Master’s) of Florida State University, we were pleased to host a true Floridian for this episode. We recently hosted Alejandra for our Annual Dinner for CFA Society Orlando and did such a great job, we wanted to have her on the podcast. She joined Ned Davis in 2006 and has been quoted in national media, including Barron’s, WSJ, CNBC, and TIME, and...
Jun 05, 2025•49 min•Ep. 95
In this episode, the discussion centered around the complexities and dynamics of family offices. Topics covered included the growing number of single-family offices, especially in North America, the typical asset size that justifies establishing a family office, and the transition to multifamily offices to manage costs and expand services. The conversation touched on investment management within family offices, the mystique and challenges of maintaining privacy, and the psychological factors, in...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 94
For our third episode of year six of the podcast, we welcome Herb Greenberg to the Investors First Podcast. Herb’s career is incredible, with time as a journalist at major news outlets ranging from the Chicago Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle, to the WSJ, and also time at The Street and CNBC. It should be noted that he was born and raised in Florida and attended the University of Miami. Herb’s energy and curiosity are up there with anyone we have interviewed in the history of this podcast. In...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 93
For our second episode of year six of the podcast, we welcome my friend John Bowman to the podcast. I can’t say enough positive things about what John is doing with the CAIA Association (as well as his predecessor Bill Kelly ), both of whom put investors first, which is what this podcast is all about. John stepped in as CEO at the beginning of 2025 and we thought it would be great to hear his vision for where alternative investing is headed over the next decade. John is a speaker, writer, commen...
Feb 06, 2025•56 min•Ep. 92
To kick off year six of the Investors First Podcast, today’s guest is Tom Lee. Tom is the Managing Partner and Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, with over 25 years of experience in equity research. Formerly J.P. Morgan's Chief Equity Strategist, he is a top-ranked strategist and you will frequently find him on CNBC. Lee holds a BS in Economics from the Wharton School and is a CFA charter holder. In this episode, we discuss where the S&P 500 will end up in 2025 and areas of the m...
Jan 02, 2025•49 min•Ep. 91
Today’s guest is Rob Arnott, Founder and Chairman of Research Affiliates, where he actively contributes to research, portfolio management, product innovation, business strategy, and client relations. He co-manages several funds, including the PIMCO All Asset and RAE™ funds. Throughout his career, Rob has challenged conventional financial wisdom and pioneered strategies such as tactical asset allocation, global tactical asset allocation, tax-advantaged equity management, and the Fundamental Index...
Dec 05, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 90
Today’s guest is Marlena Lee. Marlena is Dimensional Fund Advisor’s (DFA) Global Head of Investment Solutions, leading a team focused on investment thought leadership and client education. She is also a member of DFA’s Investment Research Committee. Founded in 1981, DFA is a global asset management firm with ~$800B in assets under management, known for successfully applying academic research to practical investing. Prior to her time at DFA, Marlena served as Co-Head of Research, directing the fi...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 89
Today’s guest is Marko Papic, Marko leads BCA Research's BCA Access and developed GeoMacro Research, the first discretionary macro-geopolitical investment strategy in finance. He connects clients with a broad expert network and custom research, having founded BCA’s Geopolitical Strategy service. His book, Geopolitical Alpha, presents a framework for predicting investment outcomes. Previously, Marko was a Partner and Chief Strategist at Clocktower Group, advising institutional investors. His work...
Oct 17, 2024•54 min•Ep. 88
Today’s guest is Jeremy Schwartz, CFA, Global Chief Investment Officer at WisdomTree. Before Jeremy started at WisdomTree in 2005, he was a head research assistant for Professor Jeremy Siegel and became his co-author on the sixth edition of the book Stocks for the Long Run. He received his B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and hosts the Wharton Business Radio program Behind the Markets on SiriusXM 132. Jeremy is a CFA charter holder and is a member of CF...
Sep 05, 2024•50 min•Ep. 87
In this episode, we have the pleasure of hosting Michael Mauboussin, Michael is a highly respected figure in finance, celebrated for his deep insights into decision-making, behavioral economics, and investing. Michael is currently the Head of Consilient Research at Counterpoint Global (part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management). He also serves as an adjunct professor of finance teaching Security Analysis at Columbia Business School (since 1993), teaching essentially the same class that Ben Gr...
Jul 11, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 86
Today we host Ali Hamed, a Co-Founder and Partner at CoVenture and a prominent figure in venture capital and alternative investments. With a background in finance and technology, Ali brings strategic insights to early-stage investing. Hamed's track record of success and commitment to fostering entrepreneurship make him a key player in shaping the startup ecosystem. (concise bio courtesy of ChatGPT). In today’s episode, we start with Ali’s origin story, starting with his time as a baseball player...
Jun 06, 2024•56 min•Ep. 85
Today we host Dr. Meir Statman, somebody who was extremely productive during the pandemic, which included completing his new book A Wealth of Well Being. For those familiar with his behavioral finance research, Meir needs no introduction. For the rest of you listening, Meir has devoted his entire career to behavioral finance and making better investment decisions. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to host Meir for an event before the pandemic, but this is the first time he has been on ou...
May 02, 2024•54 min•Ep. 84
Our guest today is Sion Evans, CFA , Senior Investment Manager at VenCap, one of the longest-established investment management and advisory firms active in the VC industry today. They’ve made over 500 commitments to venture capital funds in the US, Europe, China and India. In today’s episode, Sion gives a masterclass on what the data says about venture capital. We spend a lot of time on the importance of capturing the fund returners, why power laws drive venture returns, and what the global VC &...
Apr 11, 2024•55 min•Ep. 83
Our returning guest today is Vikram Mansharamani , a global trend-watcher who shows people how to anticipate the future, manage risk and spot opportunities. In today’s episode, Vikram updates us on what’s been a busy three years since he first came on the podcast. We discuss his senatorial campaign in New Hampshire, his unfortunate split at Harvard, and then get into his new book, The Making of a Generalist . He gives a brief overview of the book and then apply his generalist lens to talk about ...
Feb 01, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 82
Today we host Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management. For most of us in the investment community, Howard needs no introduction. He is somebody we have looked forward to hosting for quite some time and I couldn’t think of anybody better to kick off year five of the Investors First Podcast. We could go on and on about his track record, whether it be his time at the University of Pennsylvania or the University of Chicago, his firm’s investment performance, or his various professional achievemen...
Jan 04, 2024•49 min•Ep. 81
Our guest today is Adam Nash , the co-founder & CEO of Daffy.org , a modern platform and community for charitable giving that allows you to sign up for your donor-advised fund. Adam has served as an executive, angel investor, and advisor to some of the most successful technology companies to come out of Silicon Valley, including Dropbox, LinkedIn, eBay, and Apple. Adam also served as President & CEO of Wealthfront. In today’s episode, Adam explains why his time at Wealthfront gave him th...
Dec 07, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 80
Today we host Professor Aswath Damodaran, where we speak about how Aswath gained his love for teaching and how it led to him becoming an expert in valuation. The episode quickly veered into a sharp critique of the shortcomings of ESG investing. We also discuss market efficiency as it relates to active vs. passive investing, his story approach to individual companies, the future of education, career advice for finance professionals and more. Our hosts today are Steve Curley, CFA & guest host ...
Nov 02, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 79
Today we host Phil Hayes, The ESOP Guy, where we speak about how Phil went from banker to Managing Partner of a large regional accounting firm (as a non-CPA) to now becoming an expert in ESOP’s. In today’s episode, we speak about exit strategies in general, where ESOP’s fit, the mechanics of ESOP transactions and the tax advantages of this structure. We then bounce around and discuss everything all at once ranging from 1042 exchanges with qualified replacement property, to whether this is a good...
Oct 05, 2023•54 min•Ep. 78
Our guest today is Peter Atwater , President of Financial Insyghts and an adjunct professor at William & Mary and the University of Delaware. He studies the impact of changing confidence on consumer decision-making, using his research to advise investors, business leaders, and policymakers. In 2023, he released the book, The Confidence Map: Charting a Path from Chaos to Clarity . In today’s episode, Peter walks through some of the key topics in the world today, including the dominance of U.S...
Sep 14, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 76
Our guest today is Orlando’s own fantasy football expert, KC Joyner . KC used to work for ESPN and now runs his own website called The Football Scientist. We’ve had lots of amazing podcast guests since we started in March 2020, but since last year’s episode with KC was the second most downloaded episode of any episode we’ve had, we had to invite him back on. In today’s episode, KC explains how another past podcast guest Peter Zeihan’s geopolitical framework applies to fantasy football. We cover ...
Aug 24, 2023•59 min•Ep. 77
Our guest today is Cameron Dawson , Chief Investment Officer of NewEdge Wealth. Cameron is a Florida native, Rollins college graduate and former board member of the CFA Society of Orlando. In today’s episode, Cameron talks about her overall view of the markets. She touches on value, emerging markets, alternatives, and why she’s keeping a close eye on the Bank of Japan going forward. Our co-hosts today are Chris Cannon, CFA , and myself, Colby Donovan, CFA . Please enjoy the episode. Follow the C...
Aug 03, 2023•44 min•Ep. 75
Our guests today are David Lau and Wade Pfau. These two individuals have been collaborating for quite some time to solve retirement income puzzles for investors. David has been doing it with DPL, bridging the gap between low cost insurance and Fee Only wealth management firms. On the other hand, Wade has been approaching retirement solutions from the academic lens with rigorous research. In today’s episode, we discuss the potential blind spot in Fee-Only wealth management firms as it relates to ...
Jul 13, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 74
In today’s episode, we host Wes Gray, CEO of Alpha Architect. Founded in 2010, Alpha Architect is a research focused quant firm that put themselves on the map offering value and momentum factor exposures, but it doesn’t stop there. Wes and his group have evolved to offer advanced tax strategies in the form of ETF’s, separately managed accounts (SMA’s), and ETF white-labeled services. Wes has an incredible bio that starts with humble beginnings growing up on a ranch. He later becomes a Captain in...
Jun 01, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 73
Today we host Jan van Eck for the second time on the Investors First Podcast. Jan is the CEO of VanEck, a global asset manager with over $57 billion in assets under management, including ETF’s, mutual funds, SMA’s, UCITS and more. Since our first recording with Jan in April 2020, Jan took the initiative to create a financial history course at VanEck during the pandemic. Jan is a brilliant investment professional with a passion for financial history. Beyond VanEck’s work as a pioneer in the asset...
May 04, 2023•47 min
Our guest today are Rick Bookstaber and Govinda Quish , co-founders at Fabric Risk, which provides factor-based risk management applications for investment advisors, consultants and family offices. This is the second time we have hosted Rick on our podcast, with this time focused on the current state of banking and the risks of contagion, as well as other risks in public and private markets. We encourage you to listen to our prior episode with Rick to learn more about his background or visit fab...
Apr 06, 2023•52 min
Our guests today are Dan Rasmussen and Bob Elliott . This is the first time both Dan and Bob have shared a podcast stage and they did not disappoint. In today’s episode, we discuss Dan and Bob’s time at Bain Capital and Bridgewater and how that experience led to founding their respective firms. We then discuss the idea of return smoothing in venture capital, whether active management has an edge in this market environment, is alpha just beta waiting to be discovered, the flaws of private market ...
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr 12 min
Our guest today is Jeffrey Sherman, Deputy CIO of DoubleLine, which manages over $100 billion. Jeffrey oversees and administers DoubleLine’s Investment Management sub-committee coordinating and implementing policies and processes across the investment teams. He also serves as lead portfolio manager for multi-sector and derivative-based strategies. In today’s episode, Jeffrey shares how he views the investment landscape as we kick off a new year. He touches on inflation, interest rates, and wheth...
Jan 05, 2023•47 min
Our guest today is Mark Brewer , President and CEO of the Central Florida Foundation. Mark frequently advises private and corporate foundation grantmakers across the region and plays a public policy advisory role on strategy and advisory boards around the state of Florida. Our conversation on this Giving Tuesday focuses on the role philanthropy in society, best practices on how to be strategic about causes you choose to support, and the major areas of need in Central Florida today. Our co-hosts ...
Nov 29, 2022•45 min•Ep. 68
Our guests today are David Berns & Mike Taylor. David Berns is Chief Investment Officer & Co-Founder of Simplify Asset Management, which is focused on creating hedge fund and structured product strategies in a liquid, transparent, tax-efficient and low cost vehicle (ETF’s). David has a PhD in Physics from MIT in the field of Quantum Computation. Mike Taylor is Portfolio Manager for the health care strategy at Simplify, which is one of the most unique strategies in the investment manageme...
Nov 03, 2022•58 min
Dr. Snaith is the Director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting and a nationally recognized economist in the field of business and economic forecasting. An award-winning forecaster, researcher and professor, Snaith applies academic expertise to solve real-world problems. He has served as a consultant for local governments and multi-national corporations such as Compaq, Dell and IBM. Snaith holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Pennsylvania State University. Snaith ...
Oct 06, 2022•48 min•Ep. 66
