Daniel Gladis, member of The Zurich Project and portfolio manager of Vltava Fund, explains why having the right type of investors is a necessity for long-term survival and success in investment management. Daniel is based in the Czech Republic and has built an impressive long-term investment track record.

Daniel Gladis on the Importance of Attracting the Right Clients

Samir Patel, portfolio manager of Askeladden Capital Management, discusses grit, growth, and trait adaptivity, or "why elephants should not take up competitive rock-climbing".  The dilemma is how to balance having a growth mindset (and the "grit" to push yourself) with the humility to focus on playing games you can win based on a recognition of your underlying and somewhat immutable character traits. One of the specific anecdotes used to illustrate the topic is Samir' non-normative circadian rhythm.

Samir is the founder and portfolio manager of Askeladden Capital, a concentrated, value-oriented long-only small-cap fund in Texas. Outside of investing, he enjoys listening to pop-punk, writing fiction, and exploring the great outdoors.

Samir Patel on Grit, Growth, and Trait Adaptivity

Zeke Ashton discusses lessons learned about the investment process following an in-depth internal review of mistakes made over the long term.

Zeke has managed the Centaur Total Return Fund (formerly called the Tilson Dividend Fund) since its inception in March 2005. Zeke is the founder and managing partner of Centaur Capital Partners. Founded in 2002, Centaur Capital Partners specializes in value-oriented investment strategies. Prior to launching Centaur Capital, Zeke served as an investment analyst and featured writer for The Motley Fool, an investment media company. From 1995–2000, Zeke worked in treasury and risk management consulting, where he worked as a consultant and project manager for various clients in Europe and North America. Zeke graduated from Austin College in Sherman, Texas in 1995 with degrees in Economics and German.

Zeke Ashton on Analyzing and Learning from Mistakes

Michael Lee, managing member of Hypotenuse Capital Management in North Hollywood, CA opines on the topic, “What my toddlers have taught me about investing”.

Mike founded Hypotenuse in March 2013. Previously, he was a partner at Royal Capital Management, a multi-billion dollar investment manager based in New York. Prior to Royal, Mike was a private equity associate at Parthenon in Boston and an investment banking analyst at Bear Stearns in New York.

Mike Lee: What My Toddlers Have Taught Me About Investing

Abdallah Toutoungi, private investor and Chairman of Cordoba Consulting Corporation, based in Accra, Ghana, discusses Dan Ariely’s principles of behavioral economics.

Abdallah is chief capital allocator of Cordoba Fund. Having lived on the bleeding edge of technology for many years, Warren and Charlie were a breath of fresh air and a reason to slow down and contemplate business and life. After leaving Microsoft, Abdallah set up a family-and-friends fund and has enjoyed the wisdom-seeking journey and the deep intellectual content that value investing brings to his life.

Abdallah Toutoungi on Dan Ariely’s Behavioral Economics

Arko Kadajane, Portfolio Manager of Ambient Sound Investments, based in Tallinn, Estonia, discusses the investment decision process of his family office.

Arko is responsible for listed equity investments, investing ASI’s stock portfolio based on value-investing principles. Investments are made into different sectors except for non-ethical industries. As Arko has been involved in stock markets since 1996 and has previously worked in the fields of private equity as well as listed equity, he has extensive expertise in qualitative and quantitative business factors. Arko enjoys cycling and the peace and quiet of cross-country skiing. He holds a bachelor’s degree in international business administration from the Estonian Business School.

Arko Kadajane on the Investment Process of a Family Office

Johan Bynelius of Fair Investments in Stockholm, Sweden shares perspectives on Warren Buffett’s quote, “I am a better investor because I am a businessman and a better businessman because I am an investor.”

Johan has been an entrepreneur since young age. He started his first “toll bridge” when he was four years old as gate opener for cars passing the cow meadow. In his young years and teenage years he entered into ventures ranging from animal breeding, party and travel arranger, wrecked cars speculator, all the way to running a toilet advertising company. In his professional life he was one of five owners of Accept, a Swedish Management Consulting company, worked as an intrepreneur inside Öhman Fondkommission and EFG Investment  Bank, running his own company with separate accounting inside the structure of the banks. In 2011 he founded Fair Investments, the only asset manager in Sweden with a strict performance-based fee model.

Johan Bynelius on His Favorite Warren Buffett Quotation

Alirio Sendrea Sabina, Equity Analyst at Invexcel Patrimonio in Madrid, Spain, talks about “200: A story of conviction, hard work, humility and kindness“.

Alirio is an equity analyst at Invexcel, an IFA firm specialized in institutional vehicles. He focuses on independent, bottom-up analysis of European small and mid-caps. Prior to joining Invexcel, he worked in various financial analysis, valuation, banking, restructuring, and audit roles in Spain and Venezuela. Alirio holds a BA in accounting from Universidad Central de Venezuela and is a CFA charterholder.

Alirio Sendrea on Conviction, Hard Work, and Humility

Massimo Fuggetta, chief investment officer of Bayes Investments, based in London, talks about how he chose the structure and platform for his fund launch in Europe.

Massimo started his career in 1988 with JP Morgan Investment Management in London, where he was an equity portfolio manager and then the head of global balanced portfolios. In 1999 he moved to Milan, where he was CIO and then CEO of Sanpaolo IMI Asset Management. In 2004 he founded Horatius, an asset management company which he ran until 2011. In 2012 he moved back to London, where in 2014 he founded Bayes Investments, which since May 2016 has been the investment advisor to the Made in Italy Fund, a Luxembourg mutual fund dedicated to Italian small caps. Massimo graduated in Economics at LUISS in Rome, has a D.Phil. and an M.Phil. in Economics from the University of Oxford and has taught Behavioural Finance at Bocconi University in Milan. He is a member of the CFA Institute and has served on the Editorial Board of the Financial Analysts Journal. In 2012 he started the popular Bayes blog, where he writes, among other things, about investing and probabilities.

Massimo Fuggetta on Setting Up a Fund in Europe

Steven Kiel, Chief Investment Officer of Arquitos Capital Management, based in Larchmont, NY, discusses his approach to investing in private companies through a controlled public company. Steve talks about his background and how he took control of a public company, Sitestar Corporation, creating a permanent capital vehicle.

Steven Kiel is the president of Arquitos Capital Management and serves as CEO of Sitestar Corporation. He is also a captain and Judge Advocate in the Army Reserves and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has led a nonprofit consulting firm and was a major gift officer at a nationally recognized public policy organization. Steven is a graduate of George Mason School of Law and Illinois State University and is a member of the bar in Illinois and Washington, DC. A Chicago native, he lives with his wife and two golden retrievers in Coronado, CA.

Steven Kiel on Taking Control of a Small Public Company

James Ferguson, Principal at Global Endowment Management in Charlotte, NC, discusses GEM's investment process.

James is a principal and head of public investments at Global Endowment Management. His primary responsibilities include research, selection, and ongoing monitoring of public equity and hedge fund managers, as well as selection and oversight of GEM’s internally-managed public security investments. James joined Global Endowment Management in 2012, following six years at Childress Klein Properties, a leading private real estate developer in the Southeast. He holds a BA in economics from Duke University and an MBA from Wake Forest University. He is a CFA charterholder.

James Ferguson on GEM's Approach to Selecting Managers

Fang Li, Managing Partner of Baleen Capital, based in New York City, talks about “starting with the customer": customer value, customer-centric investing, and finding great products.

Fang is founder and managing partner of Baleen Capital. Baleen invests in companies with outstanding products, unit economics, and growth potential. It has a flexible, long-term strategy, and invests across a variety of structures, including publicly listed stocks, private businesses, and venture capital. Baleen invests across multiple areas as an industry generalist, with a focus on great products. Before starting Baleen five years ago, Fang worked at a Tiger-seeded long-short fund, in late-stage private equity in New York and Hong Kong, in mergers and acquisitions, sales and trading, and at Bridgewater.

Fang Li on Investing With a Focus on Customer Value

Phil Ordway, Managing Principal of Anabatic Investment Partners, based in Oak Brook, IL, discusses the genesis of his investment firm.

Phil is principal and portfolio manager of Anabatic Fund, L.P. Previously, Phil was a partner at Chicago Fundamental Investment Partners (CFIP). At CFIP, which he joined in 2007, Phil was responsible for investments across the capital structure in various industries. Prior to joining Chicago Fundamental Investment Partners, Phil was an analyst in structured corporate finance with Citigroup Global Markets from 2002 to 2005, where he was part of a team responsible for identifying financing solutions for companies initially in the global power and utilities group and ultimately in the global autos and industrials group. Phil earned his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2007 and his B.S. in Education & Social Policy and Economics from Northwestern in 2002.

Phil Ordway on Setting Up His Investment Firm

Jim Roumell, President of Roumell Asset Management in Chevy Chase, Maryland, discusses what failure taught him — lessons learned from two decades of building an investment firm.

Mr. Roumell entered the securities industry in 1986. Before founding the firm in 1998, he was a Registered Principal at Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Mr. Roumell was selected to participate in, and won, two consecutive Wall Street Journal stock picking contests (in 2001 and 2002) before the contest was discontinued. Mr. Roumell has been featured in such publications as Barron's, Kiplinger's, Value Investor Insight, Financial Planning Magazine, and The Washington Post. Mr. Roumell is also listed and quoted in The Art of Value Investing: How the World's Best Investor's Beat the Market. He is a graduate of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He is married with two children (one living/working in Denver, CO and the other still at home) and lives in Chevy Chase, MD.

Jim Roumell on the Mistake of Trying to Go Big

Brian Stout, Assistant Professor at the Minerva Project, based in North Stonington, CT, talks about deliberate practice and 10,000 hours of deep work in value investing. He also touches on fascinating aspects of learning math and how mathematics applies to life.

Brian is joining Minerva Schools from the U.S. Naval Academy. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Mathematics from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center in 2013 and 2011, respectively. After finishing his Ph.D., he joined the U.S. Naval Academy as an Assistant Professor from 2013 to 2016. Professor Stout researches in arithmetic dynamics, a confluence of number theory and discrete dynamical systems, where he has had several publications in journals such as Journal of Number Theory and Acta Arithmetica. Professor Stout has taught a broad array of Mathematics and Statistics courses at CUNY and the U.S. Naval Academy. He has also supervised several undergraduate research projects in number theory and dynamics. Professor Stout views mathematics as a quantitative framework that assists in problem solving in wide contexts.

Brian Stout on Math, Deliberate Practice, and Value Investing

Mark Walker, global equity investment manager with Seven Pillars Capital, based in London, discusses the process of making better decisions.

Mark developed a passion for long-term value investing independently while working in equity research on the sell side. He left to find a working environment more conducive to sound investment practice, one in which competitive edge is behavioral, characterized by inaction, fostering independent thought, intellectual humility, and patience. Today he works for a small fund in London as a global equity research analyst. Mark also personally manages family capital in separate accounts.

Mark Walker on Making Better Decisions

Matthew Haynes, chief investment officer of 1949 Value Advisors, based in Mahwah, NJ talks about “Pedigree vs. ‘PhD’ (Poor, hungry and Driven)".

Matthew is the chief investment officer and portfolio manager at 1949 Value Advisors, a traditional value-driven global equity investment management company serving accredited investors including family offices and select institutions. Matthew purchased a first edition copy of The Intelligent Investor nearly 25 years ago for the grand price of $1 in an antique shop in New Hope, PA. It has served as his investing bible ever since. 1949 Value Advisors seeks to provide investment solutions for conservative long-term investors who share the firm’s core principles in the face of an increasingly short-term and emotion-driven capital market environment. Matthew and his team are bottom-up, fundamental research-driven value investors, seeking to outperform the MSCI World Index with less absolute risk through the careful selection of high conviction stock ideas from around the world.

Matthew Haynes on Pedigree vs PhD (Poor, hungry, and Driven)

Dustin Johnson, senior manager at Pala Investments, based in Zug, Switzerland, talks about his approach to value investing in sectors such as oil and gas as well as metals and mining.

Dustin rejoined Pala in 2016 as a manager focusing on equity investments within the liquid investment strategy. From 2012 to 2014, Dustin was an associate within the Pala investment team, where he participated in a number of transactions and investments. Specifically, he played a significant role in the advancement of Sierra Rutile (AIM: SRX), including the development of the Lanti Dry mining project and a variety of corporate strategy initiatives. Prior to rejoining Pala, Dustin was a Private Equity Manager at the Brazilian investment bank, BTG Pactual, where he monitored and managed the bank’s JV investment in Petrobras Oil & Gas B.V. Dustin also has over 4 years of investment banking experience with BMO Capital Markets, where he advised on various M&A transactions and capital raising processes both in the mining and energy sectors. Dustin holds an MBA from INSEAD, a B.Comm (with distinction) from the University of Saskatchewan and he is a CFA charterholder.

Dustin Johnson on Value Investing in the Resources Sector

Bogumil Baranowski on Outsmarting the Crowd

David Barr is the President and CEO of Pender. He is also the Portfolio Manager of several of Pender’s funds. The Pender Small Cap Opportunities Fund, which he manages, has won a Lipper Fund Award in 2015, 2016 and 2017 for Best Canadian Small/Mid Cap Equity Fund over both three and five year performance periods. The Lipper Awards recognize consistently strong performance relative to peers. The Fund has also received a Fundata FundGrade A+ Award in each of the last six years, with the Pender Value Fund winning in 2016 and 2017. The A+ ranking is based on an objective rating system that tracks risk-adjusted returns. David holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business. He earned his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2003 and is a past President of CFA Society Vancouver, having also served on its Board of Directors for four years. He remains an active member. David is a regular guest on BNN’s Business Day program and has been interviewed for his opinions on small cap companies, the technology sector and value investing by the Financial Post, The Globe & Mail and other media. In December 2012 David was recognised as one of British Columbia’s “Top Forty Under 40” business leaders by Business in Vancouver. David is an advocate of value investing as well as a true contrarian. He looks for value in unpopular places to find high quality businesses at a price that includes a “margin-of-safety”. Investing in a company trading below intrinsic value decreases the risk and increases the potential for generating significant long term performance.

David Barr on Value Investing and the Business of Investing

Adam Schwartz is a Senior Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at First Manhattan Co. He joined the firm in 2001 to work with Bob Gottesman, First Manhattan’s CEO. Together, Adam and Bob manage assets for individuals, families, partnerships, and family and charitable trusts. Adam also serves as Co-Portfolio Manager of FM First China Fund, a limited partnership he co-founded in 2009. He holds a BA from Brown University in Economics and International Relations and a MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Adam Schwartz on the Qualities Needed to Build a Lasting Investment Firm

Tim Yates has over 45 years of general and financial management experience. From 2007 until November of 2016 Tim was with Monster.com. During that time, he served as a member of the Board of Directors, CFO, and as CEO from 2014 to 2016. In November of 2016, Randstand Holdings, Inc. acquired Monster.com in a transaction designed to build on Monster's global brand and online recruiting technology. Previously, Tim was a member of the Board of Directors and Chief Financial Officer of Symbol Technologies. After implementing a successful turnaround of this manufacturer of Bar Code Scanners and Mobile Computers, Symbol was sold to Motorola in a $4 billion transaction. From 1971 to 1995, Tim was Bankers Trust Company in a variety of management positions. From 1990-1995, Tim was Chief Financial and Chief Administrative Officer. Tim currently serves on the Board and Chairs the Audit Committee of CommScope, Inc, a $6 billion global leader in wireless and fiber optic solutions. Tim has been an active private investor and mentor to early stage companies and currently serves on the Board Directors of Cyndx Holding Company - a secure cloud-based platform enabling financial institutions to obtain curated information about institutional investors. Tim was an early backer of OpenLink Financial - a private company which is the global leader in trading, risk management and financial software. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BA from Yale University.

Timothy Yates on Lessons Learned as a Public Company Director

Artem Fokin is the founder and portfolio manager of Caro-Kann Capital LLC, a hedge fund based in San Francisco. Prior to founding Caro-Kann, he was a principal at Outrider Management LLC. Before entering the investing industry, Artem was an attorney with Greenberg Traurig LLP in New York City. Artem earned an MBA from the Stanford GSB (Arjay Miller Scholar), a Master of Laws degree from NYU School of Law (Newman Scholar) and a bachelor of law from the Higher School of Economics (Presidential Scholar) in Russia. Artem is admitted to the practice of law in the State of New York and is a dual citizen of the United States and Russia. Caro-Kann Capital LLC is the general partner of an investment partnership based on the principles of value investing that focuses primarily on special situations and compounders. Caro-Kann Capital is named after a chess defense that emphasizes building safety and defensible position before contemplating an offensive strategy. The Founder’s substantial legal experience brings a greater ability to analyze complex corporate documentation accompanying extraordinary corporate events. The Fund’s core investment principles include: (1) concentration when properly compensated, (2) risk is not equivalent to volatility, (3) non-economic selling can lead to attractive opportunities; (4) capital allocation is often underappreciated by the market, and (5) incentives and insider ownership are paramount.

Artem Fokin on Platform Companies and His Path as an Investor

Roshan Padamadan serves as COO, Risk and Compliance at Sixteenth Street Capital, based in Singapore. Previously, he was fund manager of Luminance Global Fund, which has a global unconstrained investment strategy, looking at special situations and deep value. Prior to launching Luminance in 2013, Roshan spent more than seven years with the HSBC Group, including more than three years with HSBC Asset Management, as a Product Specialist. He worked for the highly commended Offshore Indian Equity team which ran US$5+ billion from Singapore, including a US$100+ million award-winning India hedge fund. Roshan has earned an MBA in Management from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He holds the CFA, FRM and CAIA charters and speaks over five languages.

Roshan Padamadan on Risk Controls and Building a Multi-Cultural Team

Christopher Tsai on His Philosophy of Investing and Life

Rishi Gosalia on Intelligent Investing in a Changing World

The mission of The Zurich Project is to accelerate investment managers on their path to business success in a principled, sustainable way. The goal is to help each participant build a great investment business, one that will deliver value to the manager and his or her clients over the long term. The Zurich Project workshop is an annual invitation-only forum for sharing best practices in the areas of investment management, operations, and marketing. It brings together a select group of managers and capital allocators.

Popular tracks by The Zurich Project - presented by MOI Global