Episodes
June 01, 2023
Wes Gray, Alpha Architect: Build Your Own ETF, Advanced Tax Strategies & a New T-Bill Alternative
In today’s episode, we host Wes Gray, CEO of Alpha Architect. Founded in 2010, Alpha Architect is a research focused quant firm that put themselves on the map offering value and momentum factor exposures, but it doesn’t stop there. Wes and his...
May 04, 2023
Jan van Eck, VanEck: Back to School, A Lesson in Financial History
Today we host Jan van Eck for the second time on the Investors First Podcast. Jan is the CEO of VanEck, a global asset manager with over $57 billion in assets under management, including ETF’s, mutual funds, SMA’s, UCITS and more. Since our first...
April 06, 2023
Rick Bookstaber & Govinda Quish, Fabric Risk - Current State of Banking & Risks of Contagion
Our guest today are Rick Bookstaber and Govinda Quish, co-founders at Fabric Risk, which provides factor-based risk management applications for investment advisors, consultants and family offices. This is the second time we have hosted Rick on our podcast, with this time focused on the current state of banking and the risks of contagion, as well as other risks in public and private markets.
February 02, 2023
Dan Rasmussen & Bob Elliott - Replicating Private Equity/Hedge Funds in Public Markets
Our guests today are Dan Rasmussen and Bob Elliott. This is the first time both Dan and Bob have shared a podcast stage and they did not disappoint.
January 05, 2023
Jeffrey Sherman, DoubleLine – 'Sherman Says' His Take on The Fed, Rates, & State of the Markets
Our guest today is Jeffrey Sherman, Deputy CIO of DoubleLine, which manages over $100 billion. Jeffrey oversees and administers DoubleLine’s Investment Management sub-committee coordinating and implementing policies and processes across the...
November 29, 2022
Mark Brewer, Central Florida Foundation: Strategic Philanthropy: Head, Heart & Wallet
Our guest today is , President and CEO of the Central Florida Foundation. Mark frequently advises private and corporate foundation grantmakers across the region and plays a public policy advisory role on strategy and advisory boards around the state...
November 03, 2022
David Berns & Mike Taylor, Simplify: Finance for a Cure
Our guests today are David Berns & Mike Taylor. David Berns is Chief Investment Officer & Co-Founder of Simplify Asset Management, which is focused on creating hedge fund and structured product strategies in a liquid, transparent,...
October 06, 2022
Dr. Sean Snaith, UCF: Florida Economic Update & Predicting Recessions
Dr. Snaith is the Director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting and a nationally recognized economist in the field of business and economic forecasting. An award-winning forecaster, researcher and professor, Snaith applies academic expertise to solve real-world problems. He has served as a consultant for local governments and multi-national corporations such as Compaq, Dell and IBM. Snaith holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Pennsylvania State University.
September 22, 2022
Zach Conway, Seeds Investor: ESG, Values Based Investing & Bespoke Portfolios
Our guest today is Zach Conway, Founder and CEO of Seeds Investor. Seeds Investor is a new wealth technology platform designed to empower advisors to better understand investors and deliver the personalized portfolios that align. In addition to...
September 08, 2022
Andrew Beer, Dynamic Beta Investments: Replicating Hedge funds in an ETF Wrapper
Our guest today is Andrew Beer, Managing Member and Co-Portfolio manager for Dynamic Beta Investments, an investment firm founded in 2012. Over the past decade, Andrew’s singular focus has been to identify strategies to match or outperform portfolios of of leading hedge funds...
August 18, 2022
KC Joyner, The Football Scientist: A Buffett/Munger Approach to Fantasy Football
Our guest today is KC Joyner, a fantasy football guru and pioneer of the football analytics revolution, featured on ESPN and The Athletic. He is Founder of the Football Scientist, a data analytics subscription service designed to help you win your...
July 14, 2022
Ranji Nagaswami, SVPGlobal: A Primer on Private Credit
Our guest today is Ranji Nagaswami, Managing Director, Chief Strategy/Commercial Officer at SVPGlobal. Headquartered in Greenwich, CT. SVP is a global investment firm focused on distressed debt and private equity opportunities. Founded in 2001, SVP...
June 02, 2022
Samir Vasavada, Vise: Automating Wealth Management
Our guest today is Samir Vasavada, co-founder & CEO of Vise. Samir came up with the idea for Vise when him and Runik Mehrotra (fellow co-founder) were teenagers. Samir is responsible for Operations, Business Development and managing a team of...
May 05, 2022
Eduardo Repetto: Building Better Portfolios, From Aeronautics To Avantis
Our guest today is Eduardo Repetto, Chief Investment Officer for Avantis Investors. Avantis was established to help clients achieve their investment goals through a persistent focus on providing well-diversified investment solutions that fit seamlessly into asset allocations and combine the potential for added value with the reliability of indexing.
April 21, 2022
Chris Arnade: Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America
Our guest today is Chris Arnade, author of the best seller Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America. A Florida native, Chris was one of the first quants on Wall Street and spent 20 years as a trader before becoming disenchanted in finance’s role in the 2008 Great Financial Crisis, leading him to walk through the South Bronx and all over areas of the country that he describes as “left behind.”
April 07, 2022
Rick Bookstaber, Fabric: A Framework for Risk Management from an Industry Pioneer
Our guest today is Rick Bookstaber, co-founder and Head of Risk for Fabric, which provides factor-based risk management applications for investment advisors. Rick resume is as impressive as you can come across. He’s held Chief Risk Officer roles at Morgan Stanley,
March 24, 2022
Roger Urwin, Willis Towers Watson - Sustainable Investing & Seeing Around Corners
Our guest today is Roger Urwin, Global Head of Investment Content with Willis Towers Watson. Roger joined Watson Wyatt in 1989 to start the firm’s investment consulting practice and, under his leadership, grew to a global team of over 600. Roger has been influential with the CFA
March 03, 2022
Matt Brown, CAIS: A Fintech Unicorn Democratizing Alternatives & Educating/Empowering Financial Advisors.
Our guest today is Matt Brown. Matt is the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of CAIS. Found in 2009, CAIS, a fintech leader, empowers over 4,000+ unique advisor firms/teams who oversee more than $2T+ in network assets. Founded by a financial advisor, CAIS...
February 03, 2022
Ben Savage, Clocktower Technology Ventures: The State of Fintech VC
Our guest today is Ben Savage. Ben manages Clocktower Technology Ventures and is responsible for all of Clocktower Group’s private market activities. Our conversation covers the state of venture capital today, where fintech sits within the...
January 13, 2022
Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal: Traders vs. Investors, “Conflict-Free” Advice & Investing Heroes
Our guest today is Jason Zweig. Jason has been a Columnist for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) since 2008, writing the Intelligent Investor Column. Jason is on a short list of people globally that advocate for individual investors on a weekly basis and is somebody that embodies the
December 16, 2021
Eric Sim, Institute of Life: How a Portfolio Career & Social Capital Led to 2.8+ Million Followers
Our guest today is Eric Sim. The header on his LinkedIn profile shows a banker, lecturer, speaker and writer, but he is actually much more. Eric is a proponent of the portfolio career, a topic for which he has become a thought leader and the...
December 02, 2021
Drew Dickson, Albert Bridge Capital: Behavioral Investing, Bias-Bias, & The Intersection of Sports & Investing
Our guest today is Drew Dickson, founder of Albert Bridge Capital and CIO of the Alpha Europe funds. Our conversation today focuses on Drew’s application of behavioral finance and fundamental analysis. We start with his time at the University of Chicago and...
November 04, 2021
Anthony Zhang, Vinovest: Fine Wine as an Alternative Investment
Our guest today is Anthony Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Vinovest, the first of its kind investment platform where individual investors of all kinds can own fine wine (investment grade). He dropped out of the University of Southern California at the age of 20 when he was...
October 07, 2021
Eric Clarke, Orion Advisor Technology: WealthTech & Future of Wealth Management Industry
Our guest today is Eric Clarke, Chief Executive Officer for Orion Advisor Solutions (Orion). Eric is shaping the future of advice delivery with the organization's brand entities (fintech and investment management solutions), which include Orion Advisor Tech, Orion...