It is hard to believe that we are back for our fourth year of the Fiftyfaces Podcast – and in Series 1 of 2023 we hear about unorthodox beginnings such as the twelve year old who arbitraged the price of chickens when growing up in Uganda, and ended up in a senior role in Bridgewater before starting his own firm. We hear about traditional ones too, about investment instincts honed at the family dinner table, or through seeing the world through an artist’s eyes. 

Eugene O’Callaghan is a business and investment advisor based in Dublin, where he advises a range of asset managers and sovereign wealth funds on strategic initiatives. He was formerly director of the Irish Strategic Investment Fund and prior to that Director of the National Pensions Reserve Fund of Ireland. He started his career as an accountant. 

Terry Mellish just recently retired from a head of international public policy diversity and inclusion role at Natixis Investment Managers, capping a career in the city that spanned over 50 years. He is continuing in an active role in the industry as an ambassador of The Diversity Project where he heads up the ability work stream, and is a frequent participant in industry networking events and diversity and inclusion themed initiatives.

We discuss a legendary career that has spanned many decades of change in the city and how his own social-mobility sparked an interest in furthering this and other workstreams with The Diversity Project.

Uwe Schillhorn is Program Director at Emerging Markets Investors Alliance.  He previously was CIO at Principal International Americas, where he managed the investment teams and developed the business in Latin America.  Prior to that he was previously a global bond portfolio manager at UBS, and his most recent role was as CIO of a Chicago based public fund. 

Stuart Heatley is Managing Director at Capita Pensions where he is a Business Transformation and Growth Leader.  He previously held a series of similar roles at AON and Scottish Life.  Based in Edinburgh, Stuart is passionate about creating access to the financial services industry for people of all backgrounds, and is a Mentor with MCR Pathways. 

Jessica Goedtel is a Financial Planner and Owner at Pavilion Financial Planning in Allentown Pennsylvania.  She works in particular for tech workers and sex workers and I came across her profile when she presented a robust challenge to a popular personal finance book highlighting its lack of female representation in its case studies.