Jamila Osman is a trainee investment manager in the graduate training program at Baillie Gifford. She graduated from Edinburgh University with a First in Chemical Engineering. Our conversation starts with her upbringing in Ghana and the pioneering training high school training program that prepared her for a demanding academic load in science that paved her way to Edinburgh University.

We describe how she developed an interest in finance and this then transitions into a discussion as to what her generation is looking for in an employer today. This includes paying more than mere lip service to employee wellbeing, being mindful of mental health, offering flexible work solutions and stretch opportunities. She describes a typically intense and varied work day at Baillie Gifford and the blend of deep research time with industry network events that is so essential in an apprenticeship.

This podcast is also being released as part of our Ghanaian voices series.

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Rebecca Heun is Managing Director of Aksia LLC where she heads their Operational Due Diligence function. She has spent 18 years at Aksia and prior to that held a series of other financial roles. We met during a recent trip to Omaha, and what followed was a fascinating fresh look at the process of operational due diligence as well as a deep dive into financial sector start up life.

Our conversation starts with Rebecca's aspirations to be on Broadway, and how some practical realities led to a detour into initially audit and other back office financial roles. A move to NYC followed and some assertive moves that led to Rebecca ultimately interviewing to be one of the early employees at Aksia, then a bare start up. She spearheaded the operational due diligence function there and later led their expansion into London. We dig in to the craft of operational due diligence and the importance of psychology, studying human behavior, the desire to present everything in a glowing and positive light and the importance of both reading between the lines and digging in to motivations and the reasons for certain disclosures. This gets to the essence of fraud, and we learn about the fraud triangle and the circumstances that often have to be in place for fraud to take place.

Moving then to the recent phase of her career, we hear about pivots, dialing up and dialing down intensity when necessary, as well as other entrepreneurial urges that she has occasionally listened to. Her latest passion is a focus on health, and the importance of modulating stress so as to focus on the body's balance and resilience.

This is a fascinating discussion about a less well understood aspect of the due diligence process.

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Jo Natauri is Founder and managing Partner of Invidia Capital Management, a healthcare focused private equity firm founded in 2024, with a focus on middle-market buyouts in North America. She was formerly Global Head of Healthcare Investing in the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs.

We start by discussing Jo's path to investment banking and how she chose the business side of healthcare over policy. We discuss her long period of apprenticeship and then leading investments while at Goldman Sachs and her decision to strike out in her own firm.

Jo explains the diversity within healthcare, from biotech to hospitals, and the permanent base of demand that makes it a good sector to invest in. She discusses her core beliefs, including avoiding investments that increase drug prices or target vulnerable populations, and discusses the opportunity set that excites her in the middle market arena.

When it comes to mentors Jo has had some legendary investors within her circle and cites the apprentice nature of the investment business as a key aspect to be remembered and observed across the seniority spectrum.

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Lindsey Bass is Head of Marketing and in charge of Fundraising at ImpactA Global, a position she has held since late 2023. She is a passionate advocate for more diversity in the investment industry as well as emerging managers. She has been active on the Asset Owner Diversity Charter as an Advisory Board Member, and in the Diversity Project – investment industry, where she has co-led the Mental Health Workstream as well as other responsibilities. She has also been an early and consistent supporter of Fiftyfaces – for which we are hugely grateful.

Our conversation starts with Lindsey's upbringing and her creative household, which saw her naturally gravitate towards storytelling in TV production, and then later expressing herself via the fashion industry before eventually settling in the world of finance.

Moving to her work at ImpactA Global as well as finance more broadly we start out by sketching the landscape in terms of asset classes, large and small participants as well as strategies that create impact and how it should be defined. With the particular subsector that ImpactA focuses on, Lindsey explains the firm's focus on infrastructure financing in lower and middle-income regions, aiming to deliver better economic outcomes and address inequalities. We define impact and discuss some of the unexpected benefits such as the multiplier effect that investing in communities can have.

Moving on to other industry contributions Lindsey highlights her involvement in the Asset Owner Diversity Charter, focusing on improving data and conversations between asset owners and managers, as well as her advocacy for emerging managers more generally.

Lindsey is a tireless advocate and enthusiastic and creative member of the London financial services industry. It was a pleasure to celebrate her numerous contributions in this forum.

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

George Graham is Director and Head of Fund at South Yorkshire Pensions Authority. He has spent a long career in public service, culminating in the last 8 years at SYPA, and prior to that he spent his career in various finance roles at Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Chorley, Lancashire and LPP. He is Governor and Vice Chair of Barnsley College as well as Independent Chair of the Local Pension Board at Lincolnshire County Council.

George will be retiring from his role as Head of Fund at SYPA at the end of the year, and this discussion was an opportunity to reflect on a career in which public service dominated, and against which a dramatically changing market backdrop cast a long - and positive - shadow. We track his early insights into the challenges of local government, and how his finance roles started to overlap with the investment function. This sight of the investment function led him to be an early mover in local government pooling - starting with the Lancashire and LPFA merger a decade ago - and he explains why the rationale is, for him, so clear cut as the demands of institutional investing have grown.

We speak too about his commitment to local investing as well as to a sustainability agenda, which, as in many of his endeavours has been bold and ahead of its time. Finally we reflect on learnings from a long and varied career, about the development of a leadership style, about learning to go against a natural tendency to be more introverted and deliberately reach out to team members to support them. We end with a discussion of legacy, which in George's case will be a long and impactful one.

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Pilar Gomez-Bravo is Co-Chief Investment Officer fixed income and portfolio manager at MFS Investment Management. She was previously a managing director at Neuberger Berman, and prior to that, spent a significant amount of her career at Lehman Brothers.

Our conversation starts with Pilar's childhood which saw her move around a lot with her family - this forced an adaptability and resilience that served her well when her career in finance took many unexpected turns. Market and segment volatility played a notable supporting role in Pilar's early career, most particularly with a massive setback when Lehman Brothers collapsed and again when she joined a start-up hedge fund for a short period of time.

MFS represented another change of direction, but ended up as a very fertile one, as she steadily progressed through the ranks there until ultimately co-leading the fixed income function in her current role. We discuss what makes an employer a positive influence, and how a nurturing work setting can bring out the best in teams.

Finally we reflect on what it is to have a full life, and the importance of staying diversified in life as well as in work.

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Ian McKnight is a long-time asset management CIO who currently holds a portfolio of roles, including as Chief Investment Officer of Tontine Trust, Senior Adviser of Cartwright, Hineni Capital and Giants Shoulders Capital as well as a series of other roles. He previously was Chief Investment Officer at Royal Mail for over 13 years.

Our conversation starts with Ian’s start as an actuary and how he found himself gravitating towards pensions – his affinity for working with people and problem solving made him a natural fit. We discuss some of his core investment beliefs including how to take calculated risks, and use examples of some of the innovative strategies he employed while CIO at Royal Mail. We discuss how government regulation (and attitude to risk) can hamstring investment opportunities and what can be done to avert this.

Ian explains Tontine Trust's potential to disrupt the annuity market by offering income for life with better returns. Ian also stressed the importance of networking, mentorship, and entrepreneurial spirit, advocating for a cultural shift in the UK to foster innovation and risk-taking.

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income.

Deanne Stewart is CEO at Aware Super, an Australian superannuation fund with over 200 billion AUD in assets under management and the third largest superannuation fund in the country. She has held this role for close to seven years, and was previously Chief Executive Officer at MetLife in Sydney, and prior to that, held a series of financial services roles.

Because Deanne is no stranger to podcasting (you can see a range of her other appearances below) we wanted to pick up where some of the other podcasts had picked up and we start by asking what it was about her varied roles - what she calls a "grab bag of experiences - in asset management, life insurance and management consulting that shaped her leadership style and approach at the helm of Aware Super. We reflect on what she seeks to channel as a leader, and Deanne highlights the importance of curiosity about her team, ideas, approaches, and about listening and plugging in to "learning mode".

Moving to discuss the priorities now at Aware Super, we discuss their strong ethos around essential workers, and how this translates into a twin focus on achieving the required return but also channeling the responsible ownership ethos that is important to their mission. We discuss recent acquisitions and the consolidation going on within the Australian superannuation fund environment and the need to find global investment opportunities as the funds under management grow.

You can find more podcasts featuring Deanne here:
Leadership Series with Helen McCabe https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deanne-stewart-on-the-pivotal-moment-that-shaped-her-career/id1469503665?i=1000703776587
Top CEO Series, The Mentor with Mark Bouris https://open.spotify.com/episode/0R0hHl3Q6wfdaBb4JI5WNd?si=K5CBUkSiRSGyfE8dMGQ2qA
Blenheim Partners https://blenheimpartners.com/episode-109-deanne-stewart/

Series 5 of 2025 is kindly sponsored by Diamond Hill. Diamond Hill invests on behalf of clients through a shared commitment to its valuation-driven investment principles, long-term perspective, capacity discipline and client alignment. An independent active asset manager with significant employee ownership, Diamond Hill’s investment strategies include differentiated US and non-US equity, alternative long-short equity and fixed income