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. 

Heather Brilliant is the President and CEO at Diamond Hill Capital Management, a $30 billion asset manager headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. She previously was Chief Executive Officer Americas at First State Investments and prior to that was CEO at Morningstar, Australasia, and formerly Global Head of Equity and Credit research. She’s had a career long involvement with the CFA Institute globally, and was formerly Chairman of the Board, as well as a Director and Board Member for over seven years. 

In our summer Series 4 of the 2022 Fiftyfaces Podcast we invite you to see our industry through fresh eyes through hearing the stories of 10 extraordinary professionals.  We hear of the training and perspective obtained through playing tennis at a professional level, challenging ice-skating routines and practicing the ancient Japanese martial art of Kendo.  We hear about formative life experiences, such as mission-work in a violence-rocked Latin America as well as the challenges of becoming legally blind early in one’s career. 

Robin Powell is a journalist, investor advocate, financial educator and content consultant.  He is Head of Client Education at RockWealth, as well as Editor of The Evidence Based Investor, and executive director of Regis Media and Ember. He is a frequent commentator on investment management and behavioural finance,  often probing the purported value added by active managers and advocating for better transparency and investor education.

Jennifer Coffey is Chief Executive Officer at Bright Capital Advisors, a firm she founded a decade ago that focus on capital introductions and placement for a range of alternative asset managers.  She started her career in foreign exchange research at Lehman Brothers and worked in hedge funds for many years. 

In Series 2 of the 2022 podcast we discussing taking a stand – a stand against climate change, against bias, against  recruitment processes that aren’t generating the results and against stereotypical thinking. We hear from another 10 inspiring guests from around the world.  From the academic who realized he could make a better impact with his sustainable finance agenda in the world through publishing papers and writing books, to the fund manager with a passion for improving after school education to a head of asset management who is changing the recruitment process from the ground up.

Welcome back to The Fiftyfaces Podcast in 2022. In this first series we meet with ten more inspiring guests and draw out in particular themes relating to impact and the importance of education.  For some of our guests their commitment to educating the next generation – whether through personal sponsorship, Board Roles, teaching decision making or the founding of The Skills Workshop – there is universal belief in its importance.

Impact takes many forms, and includes investment in education, but for some of our guests it also includes solutions to alleviate homelessness, house vulnerable women and adults with learning differences, or address the problem of climate change. 

Luba Nikulina is Global Head of Research at Willis Towers Watson, based in London, where she oversees the quality of research and investment decisions, new investment solutions as well as technology and strategy in research. She is a Non-Executive director at the Investor Forum, which focus on positioning stewardship at the heart of investment decision making.

A fascinating discussion of Luba’s journey from Russia, and the intellectual curiosity that has encouraged her to push limits in research and orthogonal thinking.

Genia Diamond was most recently a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Merlyn Advisors, a special situations advisory and investment firm. She was previously a partner of Cantab Capital, where she headed up the business development area for over 8 years.

One of the most successful business builders I know traces her roots in linguistics and how building a business is so much about process and “building a machine.”