Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Lane MacDonald is the Chief Investment Officer of SCS Financial, a registered investment adviser and OCIO platform with approximately $46 billion in assets under management. Lane was a U.S. Olympic hockey player and Hobey Baker award winner as the best player in college hockey in the late '80s, but his aspirations of following in his father's footsteps and playing in the NHL were derailed shortly thereafter by injuries. In the decades since, he spent a dozen years in private equity and the last eighteen as an allocator at institutions ranging from the Harvard endowment to the family office for the owners of Fidelity, and now SCS.

Our conversation traces Lane's path from the rink to investing, and from dealmaker to allocator, examining what separates great investors from good ones. We discuss the importance of domain expertise, sector selection, alignment, and identification of a durable edge and structural alpha in increasingly efficient markets. We close with Lane's outlook on private markets and the lessons from hockey, endowments, and family offices that inform the team-oriented platform at SCS.
Learn more about our Strategic Investments: Old Well Labs.


All opinions expressed by Ted and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Capital Allocators or their firms. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of Capital Allocators or podcast guests may maintain positions and securities discussed on this podcast. All investments include various risks including loss of capital. This recording also contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the participants' current views with respect to certain current and future events. These forward-looking statements are, and will be, subject to many risks, which may cause future events to be materially different from these forward-looking statements, or anything implied therein. Forward-looking statements that reference past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will necessarily continue in the future. Any forward-looking statements in this transcript are based upon information available to the participants on the date of this recording and are not expected to be updated or revised even if experience or future changes.



Learn More
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership


Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠)

Nick is the CEO of The Rohatyn Group, a global emerging markets and real assets investment firm he founded in 2002 that manages $7 billion across public and private markets. Nick previously spent two decades leading JP Morgan's emerging markets business across multiple cycles and served on the bank's Executive Committee. He also served as the founding chair of the Emerging Market Traders Association and later as chair of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association.

Nick's worldview is also shaped by his international family history of doing well while doing good. His grandfather, Clarence Streit, was a longtime New York Times foreign correspondent, and his father, Felix Rohatyn, was one of the most influential financiers of his generation.

Our conversation traces Nick's path from his international upbringing to capital markets innovation at JP Morgan and the founding of TRG. We discuss his multi-asset class, horizontal investment approach to emerging markets, problems of emerging market benchmarks, necessity of diversification in surviving volatile cycles, importance of currency management, and value of creating scale through acquisitions. We close with Nick's views on the opportunity ahead and his ambition to build a leading global, multi-asset class emerging markets firm.

Learn More
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠)

Scott Kleinman is the Co-President of Apollo Asset Management. Scott joined Apollo in 1996 as its 13th employee and has spent nearly three decades helping build the firm into nearly a trillion-dollar alternative asset manager and retirement powerhouse.

Our conversation traces Apollo's evolution from a value-oriented private equity boutique to an integrated platform investing across the capital structure at scale. We discuss the firm's core philosophy of excess return per unit of risk, its post-GFC expansion into private credit and retirement services, and why origination—not capital—has become the key constraint on its growth.


We also explore Scott's transition from dealmaker to firm-wide leader, touching on culture, incentives, communication, and governance. We close with Scott's perspective on today's credit environment, the convergence of public and private markets, and the risks and opportunities shaping the next phase of alternative investing.
Learn more about our Strategic Investments: Thema.


Learn More
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Dr. Ashby Monk is the Executive and Research Director of the Stanford Research Initiative on Long-Term Investing. Over the last two decades, Ashby has worked closely with some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds and pension funds on governance, organizational design, technology, and investment strategy. He is also a co-founder of KDX Management, a venture capital firm focused on investech, a co-founder of several startups in the space, and a repeat past guest on the show. His first and most recent appearances are replayed in the feed.
 
Our conversation explores the increasingly popular Total Portfolio Approach, Ashby's perspective on the role of AI and data in the investment office of the future, including his work with Hoopit AI, a very cool relationship intelligence platform, and examples of innovation at Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and the New Mexico State Investment Council.

Learn more about our Strategic Investments: Ascension Data.

Learn More
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠)

Dr. Ashby Monk is the Executive & Research Director of the Stanford Research Initiative on Long-Term Investing. Ashby has studied and advised the largest asset owners in the world for more than twenty years with a particular interest in how to improve outcomes for their beneficiaries and the world. Ash also serves as the Head of Research at Addepar, a fintech company that helps investors make smarter decisions. He has twice appeared on the show – as the 29th guest back in 2017 and again two years ago – and those conversations are replayed in the feed.
 
Our conversation starts with a recent paper Ashby published called Investor Identity: The Ultimate Driver of Returns. We discuss the descriptors of identity and enabling factors that determine each investor's fingerprint. From there, we dive into technology as an enabler and how technological innovation can improve returns. We then turn to ESG investing and another of Ashby's recent papers, Submergence = Drawdown + Recovery, that discusses the importance of considering the combined drawdown and recovery period in making investment decisions.
 
For full show notes, visit the episode webpage here. 
 
Learn More 
Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn 
Subscribe to the mailing list
Access Transcript with Premium Membership 
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠)