"We look for exceptional small and mid cap companies with the wherewithal to become exceptional large companies." This is at the core of the investment philosophy of today's guest, Columbia Business School alum Amy Zhang. Amy is Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager of the Alger Small Cap Focus, Alger Mid Cap Focus, Alger Mid Cap 40, and Alger Small Cap Growth Strategies. She joined Alger in 2015 and has 27 years of investment experience, including over a decade at Brown Capital Managem...
Jul 01, 2022•57 min•Season 7Ep. 4
How do you create a portfolio strategy that takes into account both safety and the pursuit of your aspirational goals? That's what today's guest, Ashvin Chhabra, set out to answer with the Wealth Allocation Framework. Ashvin is President and Chief Investment Officer of Euclidean Capital, a New York-based family office for James H. Simons & Marilyn H. Simons. The Simons Foundation is dedicated to advancing research in mathematics and the basic sciences and is currently one of America's larges...
Jun 17, 2022•57 min•Season 7Ep. 3
"The data is the data, and that's it." As a model user, it's easy to get hyperfocused on quantitative data but reality requires a broader approach. In the current market environment with uncertainty at every turn, it's an advantage to be able to blend quantitative and qualitative analysis with years of experience observing the interaction between the economy at large and financial markets. Today we're joined by Wall Street Legend, Abby Joseph Cohen, a student of the market who has seen lots of u...
Jun 03, 2022•51 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Welcome back to Season 7! From the move to Manhattanville to the new curriculum for the value investing program at The Heilbrunn Center, there have been many changes since we wrapped our last season at the end of 2021. Outside of that, a lot has happened in the markets. We've seen significant drawdowns in some growth stocks, conversations are centered around inflation and stagflation, and the geopolitical situation is bleak after the atrocious Russian invasion of Ukraine. For our upcoming episod...
May 20, 2022•48 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Time arbitrage is one of the biggest behavioral advantages an investor can have. Joining us today to talk about what it means to be an engaged, long-term shareholder is Munib Islam. Munib is someone who has experienced investing from many different angles, from a traditional long-short hedge fund to sitting on corporate boards and seeing the process of approving corporate performance from the inside. Munib Islam is the Founder and Managing Partner of LTS One Management, an investment partnership...
Dec 03, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 6Ep. 6
Activist investing is the new frontier for value investors, allowing them to be the agents of their own returns. Today we're continuing our examination of the activist style of investing by exploring the intersection of two important trends in the money management industry: activism and environmental, social, and governance investing. Impactive Capital's Lauren Taylor Wolfe joins us to share her perspective and Impactive's unique approach to creatively incorporating environmental, social and gov...
Nov 12, 2021•58 min•Season 6Ep. 5
In a world of plentiful capital and compressed yields, activism and being the agent of one's returns is a way forward. Transformational activism in particular is centered around a deep commitment and trusting relationship between the investor and the company. This multi-dimensional approach forgoes short-term solutions like financial engineering and instead focuses on working with great leaders to put together the right people, resources, and strategies for long-term results. Few firms exemplify...
Oct 29, 2021•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 4
Not satisfied with the lack of value most student-run investment clubs offered to students, Tom Russo designed a better way. Through the 5x5x5 Russo Student Investment Fund, he set out to prove the teaching value of a long-term fund rather than the conventional short-term activity that the existing systems favored. Each year, students submit their ideas for new investments with five ideas ultimately being selected and held in their entirety for five years. At the end of those five years, the inf...
Oct 15, 2021•57 min•Season 6Ep. 3
A year and a half into the pandemic, a lot has changed in the investment landscape. Individual investors have been empowered, economies reacted in unpredictable ways, and we still have no clear idea of what is to come. At the same time, when we take a retrospective look, we can find parallels between the trends, behaviors, and reactions of today and events in the past. Today we're joined by one of the great conversationalists in the community, Chris Davis, to share his perspective on investing i...
Oct 01, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Season 6Ep. 2
Since our first podcast in the spring of 2019, we've built a wonderful audience around the world, and now have a terrific collection of interviews with remarkable investors. I have loved the opportunity to host these interviews myself but from the very beginning, I felt that you would benefit from having another voice to challenge the guests and bring a different point of view to the podcast. That time has finally come. As we start this new season, I couldn't think of a better person to join me ...
Sep 17, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Listeners of this podcast will know that I believe one of the most dynamic areas of investing is that of activism. In the true spirit of value investing, there's a crop of activist investors who are now embracing their role in engaging management in various ways, whether to improve operational performance, address governance issues, or simply to encourage better capital allocation and distribution policies. Today we're exploring this topic further with Anne-Sophie d'Andlau. Anne-Sophie co-founde...
Apr 09, 2021•49 min•Season 5Ep. 7
One of our goals with this podcast is to get to know new markets, new situations, and new investors who bring dynamism to all markets. A great example of this is the new generation of activist investors in Europe. Students of mine have heard me say for some time that Europe has been ripe for activism. I believe that with structural changes in European capital markets, combined with the state of global markets, a new wave of activism is happening and will be quite transformative. My guests today,...
Mar 26, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Season 5Ep. 6
The value investing in legends class is one of the highlights of the Heilbrunn year. It's filled with special moments, including the annual visit from our guest today, Elizabeth Lilly. Beth embodies the principles and practices of value investing like very few people do. She makes investing look easy and her lecture always captures the pure essence of value investing. Elizabeth Lilly is Chief Investment Officer and Executive Vice President for The Pohlad Companies, LLC where she oversees the pub...
Mar 12, 2021•57 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Any sound investment strategy must include both a tactical and a structural component. The tactical side requires close attention to the firm's financials and prospects, while the structural side puts that analysis in the specific context of the industry as well as the economy at large. Our guest, Anna Nikolayevsky, is here today to share her approach and how her investment strategy has evolved. Anna Nikolayevsky is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Axel Capital Management, a fundament...
Feb 26, 2021•46 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Over the last few years, the opportunities for global value investing have improved significantly. Yields are incredibly low across the board, putting pressure on improving operational performance to generate returns. In such an environment, Europe is fertile ground for the value investor. With room for operational improvement in many sectors and a robust institutional environment, it's an ideal market to deploy your activist dollar. When I decided to bring this topic to the show, I couldn't thi...
Feb 12, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Many of the guests that I've had on this program are people I've known for years. We approached those conversations as an opportunity to explain together to the audience their methods, philosophies, and approach. Today's conversation with Samantha Greenberg is a bit different. Samantha is someone I've looked forward to meeting for some time now as she would come up constantly in conversations with other investors and I'm happy to get to know her alongside you. Samantha Greenberg is Portfolio Man...
Jan 29, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 2
There are several great investors out there who are effectively offering free lessons through their positions, letters, and interviews. What's surprising is that while many people listen to them, hardly anyone puts those lessons into practice. Today's guest, Mohnish Pabrai, is not one to miss such opportunities and he attributes much of his success to his hunger to learn, improve, and adjust. Mohnish is an author and the Founder and CEO of Pabrai Investment Fund, which he started in 1999 at the ...
Jan 15, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Modern value investing emphasizes investing in resilient franchises and letting the compounding do the work for you. Today's guest, Jan Hummel, is a fantastic expositor of this subject and a friend of the Center who has been part of many of our events over the years. In 2007, Jan launched the Paradigm Capital Value Fund with Bruce Greenwald, the founder of the Heilbrunn Center and Columbia Business School alumnus, Mario Gabelli. Paradigm's investment philosophy is built around a focus on mispric...
Dec 04, 2020•55 min•Season 4Ep. 6
The most successful investors combine a profound analytical understanding of financial markets and the economy at large with the ability to act on those ideas. My guest today has these two attributes in spades. Today's conversation is with Howard Marks, the Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, which is one of the largest credit investors in the world and certainly the largest investor in distressed securities. Howard started his career at Citicorp as an equity research analy...
Nov 20, 2020•53 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Today's conversation is with Henry Ellenbogen and Anouk Dey from Durable Capital Partners. Henry founded Durable in 2019 and serves as Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Before that, he was a Vice President of T. Rowe Price, T. Rowe Price Group Chief Investment Officer for U.S. Equity Growth, the lead Portfolio Manager for the U.S. Small-Cap Growth Equity Strategy, and the Portfolio Manager for the New Horizons Fund. Anouk is a Partner of Durable who joined the firm at its inception ...
Oct 16, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Today's conversation is with Rishi Renjen, the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of ROAM Global Management. Before founding ROAM Global, he was a Managing Director and Sector Head at Maverick Capital, a Partner at TPG-Axon Capital, and a Senior Analyst at Glenview Capital. Rishi earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics, with a concentration in Finance, from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Value Investing Program at Columbia...
Oct 02, 2020•56 min•Season 4Ep. 3
With the COVID-19 crisis dominating our spring semester, the focus of the podcast shifted slightly, and we had several conversations with distinguished investors talking about the impact of the crisis on financial markets. For this season, in addition to the essential lessons about investing and good asset management practices, we are going to explore broader investment experiences and different approaches. Today, I'm particularly delighted to share this conversation with the great value investo...
Sep 18, 2020•57 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Welcome back to a new season of the show! Our first conversation is going to be a little different as we'll be talking about this year's picks for the 5x5x5 Russo Student Investment Fund. Joining me today is Tom Russo, who designed and funded this first-ever student investment fund at Columbia Business School in 2014, and students James Shen and Freda Zhuo, whose portfolio picks have performed particularly well. The 5x5x5 fund is run by the students of the Value Investing course at Columbia Busi...
Sep 04, 2020•44 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Today's conversation is with Kim Shannon President and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Sionna Investment Managers. Kim founded Sionna Investment Managers in 2002 and has more than 35 years of industry experience, and previously served as the Chief Investment Officer and Senior Vice President at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Canada. Kim is also a board member with the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, the author of The Value Proposition: Sionna's Common Sense Path to Investment Success ,...
May 22, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Today's conversation is with Dan Davidowitz and Jeff Mueller of Polen Capital, which is a firm that is dedicated to researching and analyzing the highest-quality companies around the globe and investing for the long haul and with a business owner's mindset. Dan is the co-head of the Large Company Growth Team and the lead portfolio manager of the firm's flagship Focus Growth strategy. Jeff is co-portfolio manager of the Global Growth strategy and earned his MBA from Columbia Business School, wher...
Apr 17, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Today's conversation is with C.T. Fitzpatrick, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer at Vulcan Value Partners. C.T. founded Vulcan in 2007 and since then, all five strategies have peer rankings in the top 1% of value managers in their respective categories. Before starting Vulcan Value Partners, C.T. worked as a principal and portfolio manager at Southeastern Asset Management and over his 17-year tenure, his team achieved double-digit returns and was ranked in the top 5% of ...
Apr 03, 2020•46 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Today's conversation is with Michael Mauboussin, Head of Consilient Research at Counterpoint Global. Before joining Counterpoint Global, Michael was the Director of Research at BlueMountain Capital Management in New York and previously the Head of Global Financial Strategies at Credit Suisse and Chief Investment Strategist at Legg Mason Capital Management. Michael has also authored several books and has been an adjunct professor of finance at Columbia Business School since 1993, where he is on t...
Mar 23, 2020•53 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Today's conversation is with Francisco García Paramés, chairman and chief investment officer at Cobas Asset Management, which he founded in 2016. Before founding Cobas, Francisco was with Bestinver for over 25 years. During that time, he built a legendary record and posted an average annual return of 15%, outperforming the reference benchmark by more than 700 basis points. Francisco is based in my home country of Spain and his reputation has extended far beyond its border. As a self-taught follo...
Mar 20, 2020•54 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Today's conversation is with David Samra, managing director of Artisan Partners and founding partner of the Artisan Partners International Value Team. He is the lead portfolio manager of the Artisan International Value Fund, which he has managed since its inception in September 2002. Mr. Samra also was co-portfolio manager for the Global Value Fund from its inception in December 2007 through September 2018. Before joining Artisan Partners, David was a portfolio manager and a senior analyst in in...
Mar 06, 2020•55 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Today's conversation is with Professor Bruce Greenwald, guru to Wall Street's gurus. Bruce is the Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management Emeritus at Columbia Business School and is the former Academic Director of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Columbia University Presidential Teaching Award and his classes are consistently oversubscribed, with more than 650 students taking his courses every yea...
Dec 20, 2019•55 min•Season 2Ep. 6
