Institutional Investor Podcast Series
Included in this series:
James, Daniel and Fred are the hosts of the recently launched “Oh No You Didn’t!” podcast. James and Daniel are also members of the WTW London investment team, with client servicing and portfolio management responsibilities. All three are big music fans. Their previous show the “L Earning Podcast” is also available on streaming platforms.
We are joined by the three hosts of the “Oh No You Didn’t!” podcast to explore three “pub debate” topics for both the music industry and the investment industry: 1) Were things really better “back in the day”? 2) Is the gap between amateurs and professionals narrower than before? 3) Are there too many people involved in the industry?
Monique heads up Sustainability Solutions for the WTW investments business, bringing 2 decades of experience in implementing sustainability strategies for investors and organisations, amidst fast changing global mandatory/regulatory ESG requirements.
How do you solve a multi-layered problem like sustainability? With so many connected parts, addressing one aspect at a time can result in your earlier good work coming undone. Drawing strategic inspiration from the Rubik’s Cube, Monique talks about the use of organisational processes and how solutions can be socialised across the industry with systems-level thinking. Just as it is satisfying when all the coloured squares line up, she describes how investors and organisations can see satisfying and lasting progress despite fast-changing sustainability needs.
Marisa and Tim jointly lead the Thinking Ahead Institute (TAI), the not-for-profit research and innovation hub with representation from 60 investment organisations across the world.
Marisa and Tim introduce the Fundamental Attribution Framework developed by the TAI, which breaks down manager performance into elements that are based on skill (and hence repeatable) and those that are largely outside of the manager’s control. The underlying calculations are being released as open source code for free access by all industry participants.
Digital assets fall within the areas covered by our two guests in the research team: Justin who specialises in alternative credit and private credit strategies, and Simon who specialises in liquid diversifying strategies and hedge funds.
Going beyond the usual headlines around digital assets, we discuss the wide-ranging uses of crypto-currencies (wider access to banking facilities, international remittances) and crypto-tokens (ticketing, royalties, decentralised finance). What are the things to think about from an investment perspective?
Dany leads our Montreal investment business, and has also been involved in short track speed skating for over 25 years as a competitor, coach, referee and announcer. He has recently returned from his fourth stint at the Winter Olympic Games as an announcer.
Dany talks about his long involvement in competitive short track speed skating. How has this experience shaped him as a finance professional, and what parallels can be drawn - in terms of risk taking and dealing with uncertainty - between skating and investing?
Arun oversees the expansion of Qontigo's index product suite. A recognized innovator in indexing and analytics, Arun co-founded IndexIQ, one of the early entrants and innovative index-based ETF issuers. As Head of Equity Solutions, Sarah works with a wide range of clients helping them to improve how they think about investing in equities.
Sarah and Arun talk about index investing, and the emergence of smart beta strategies that blur the line between active and passive approaches. We also discuss a new index incorporating the Climate Transition Value-at-Risk (CTVaR) metric to increase exposure to the predicted “winners” in a transition to a greener economy.
Roger oversees investment content across our firm and is also co-founder of the Thinking Ahead Institute. Martin is a senior member of our Asset Research Team, translating capital markets views into portfolio actions.
We examine the tension between our heart (our personal and professional values) and our head (hard-nosed finance and economics) when it comes to making investment decisions, and how their interaction is driving the key investment themes for 2022 and beyond.
Eleanor, Abbie, Harry and Josh are all based in our Reigate office. They are amongst the “rising stars” of our investment practice, each with around 5 years of investing consulting experience, working with both advisory and fiduciary clients. They’re always up for a laugh and super brave for taking part in our quiz!
We end the year with a quiz on some obscure investment knowledge with our (relatively) young guests. Eleanor, Abbie, Harry and Josh join us for the four rounds: 1) So Much Cheaper In My Day, 2) Swipe Right, 3) Blank Space, 4) Higher Or Lower. Listeners can definitely play along – instinct and guesswork can get you a long way in this quiz!
Nicolette is a full-time Lead Investment Associate at Willis Towers Watson, focusing on researching equity opportunities for our institutional clients. She is also the founder of Stock Explore LLC. Will Rainey is the former Head of Investment Strategy in Asia at Willis Towers Watson, and now the founder of the financial education company, Blue Tree Savings. Both have written books aimed at teaching children about finance and investment.
To kick off Season 2, Nicolette and Will talk about the power of storytelling in explaining investment concepts within a professional setting. They also tell us about their children’s books - Nicolette’s Stock Explore and Will’s Grandpa’s Fortune Fables - and the wider work they are doing to educate children via Stock Explore LLC and Blue Tree Savings.
An excerpt from Nicolette DiMaggio’s book Stock Explore. Elle learns about her first stock with the help of Sam the magical owl. Later on her journey, Elle will go on to acquire five investment superpowers.
An excerpt from Will Rainey’s book Grandpa’s Fortune Fables. Gail tells her new friend Boris one of her Grandpa’s stories to help him understand that earning money is not solely about working hard.
Willis Towers Watson has produced these podcasts for general information purposes only and they should not be considered a substitute for specific professional advice. In particular, their contents are not intended by Willis Towers Watson to be construed as the provision of investment, legal, accounting, tax or other professional advice or recommendations of any kind, or to form the basis of any decision to do or to refrain from doing anything. As such, these podcasts should not be relied upon for investment or other financial decisions and no such decisions should be taken on the basis of their contents without seeking specific advice.
Any commentary on investment managers or financial instruments in these podcasts are not intended to imply, nor should they be interpreted as conveying, any form of guarantee or assurance by Willis Towers Watson of the future performance of those investment managers or financial instruments.
