Blair Smith is Senior Director of the Center for Financial Markets at the Milken Institute, where he leads the Center’s Access to Capital and strategic innovative financing initiatives to enhance economic and social impact. Prior to joining Milken he was an adjunct professor at the Columbia Business School.
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Results for "Empowerment"
Series 5 2022: Trailer – Celebrating Our Diversity
As we bring our third series and second full year of podcasting to a close we have assembled a library of over 170 diverse role models in this series. As the macro backdrop churns these dynamic personalities are our touchstones, our human constants, through the market noise.
In Series 5 of 2022 we hear from leaders from large institutions, a charity, a sovereign wealth fund, as well as a strategist at a global asset manager, a purveyor of inclusive capital, a partner at a consulting firm who successfully came back as a “returner”, a financial journalist and an ex navy aviator.
Series 3 2022 – Trailer – Critical Issues; Critical Thinking
Welcome back to the Fiftyfaces Podcast where we are delighted to bring you Series 3 of 2022, which features critical thinkers from all walks of life. We hear about the value added of active management, the robustness of sustainable investing terminology, the role of politics in promoting inclusion and economic empowerment and the opportunity in Africa.
Shalom Lloyd – From The Kingdom of Essan to Harrods: A Journey of Impact
Shalom Lloyd had a career of over 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry and then went on to found two businesses. She is the founder of Naturally Tribal skincare and the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of eMQT. She has been a keynote speaker on the topic of innovation and was a fellow of the Start-Up Leadership Program in London until 2020.
A serial entrepreneur, Shalom studied pharmacy in Russia from the age of 15 and there followed a passion for the pharma industry, which sparked her two start-ups – in beauty and the field of medical research. Each venture is focused also on creating impact and employment in the Kingdom of Esan. This podcast also features in our Diverse Founders series.
Austin Clements – Blending vision and execution to seed the next generation
Austin Clements is a partner at Slauson & Co., a Los Angeles based venture capital firm that provides pre-seed and seed funding to a range of founders. He’s a Kauffman fellow and has a strong interest in economic empowerment. He was previously Chair of Pledge LA, an alliance between LA’s venture capital community, the Annenberg Foundation, and the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti. He also holds a number of board roles.
We start by talking about his upbringing in LA, his time at Morehouse College and how his taste of business there left him determined to find a job in venture capital. We hear how his initial search came up dry, but how he persisted and fulfilled his goal eventually. We talk about the difficulty in threading the needle of supporting deserving founders and sifting through 100s of prospects to find the gem.
Darren Johnson – Forming Habits of Excellence and Change
Darren Johnson is Chief Operating Officer in Listed Equities and Executive Director at Impax Asset Management, where he is responsible for Global Operations, including Portfolio Services, Technology, Change/Project Management and Client Onboarding. He previously worked in a series of accounting and operations roles. Our conversation starts with his upbringing in South London and why he was born with a “silver spoon in his mouth”. We talk about the unlikely role model that emerged for him even at a very young age and how that character sowed the seeds for a career in the corporate world.
An inspiring discussion of how humble beginnings were the silver spoon needed to build a career and inspire change and impact.
Mark Steed – Out of the Box and Data-Driven – A Vision for Pension Funds of the Future
Mark Steed is Chief Investment Officer at Arizona PSPRS Trust, a US public defined benefit fund with over $13 bn AUM, where he has spent over 14 years. He previously worked as a banker and prior to that as a financial analyst, and has a Masters in Predictive Analytics. He describes himself as an “investment ideas” guy and an out of the box thinker at that.
An out of the box thinker and public fund CIO takes us out of the box to discuss his current investment ideas and what it takes to motivate a retain a team.
Yvonne Bajela – Inspiring and Innovating through Impact
Yvonne Bajela is an investor in early stage companies at Impact X Capital, which invests in start-ups across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She has worked across the globe in investment banking, corporate venture capital and in academia, and is a frequent speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and female empowerment. She was listed as a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30.
A discussion of this investor’s early interest in investing, risk-taking and how she learned the ropes of venture investing.