Latest / Masters in Business / Jean Hynes, Wellington’s Incoming CEO (Podcast)

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Jean Hynes, Wellington’s Incoming CEO (Podcast) · Masters in Business

0:02
Speaker 1: This is Mesters in Business with Very Renaults on Bluebird Radio.
0:08
Speaker 1: This week on the podcast, I have an extra special guest.
0:11
Speaker 1: Her name is Gene Hines and she is the incoming
0:15
Speaker 1: CEO of Wellington Management, a nearly hundred year old firm
0:19
Speaker 1: which manages over a trillion dollars in assets. Gine is
0:24
Speaker 1: a fascinating investors. She's got a great history both as
0:29
Speaker 1: she started her early jobs at Wellington, eventually taking over
0:34
Speaker 1: the Vanguard Healthcare Fund, the largest healthcare fund in the country.
0:38
Speaker 1: As a managing partner at Wellington and soon to be CEO,
0:42
Speaker 1: she simply has a unique perspective as to what's going
0:47
Speaker 1: on in the world of asset management. That includes everything
0:51
Speaker 1: from governance issues, who's becoming CEOs, who's rising up through
0:55
Speaker 1: the ranks across the entire industry, what the impact active
1:00
Speaker 1: sustainability is going to be on the entire asset management.
1:04
Speaker 1: We talk about private equity, we talked about passive versus active,
1:08
Speaker 1: pretty much we covered everything there was to discuss about
1:12
Speaker 1: investing these days, and really there aren't many people who
1:17
Speaker 1: have as unique a perch to look out on the
1:20
Speaker 1: world of finance and and have an informed opinion. I
1:25
Speaker 1: thought This was a fascinating conversation and I think you
1:27
Speaker 1: will too. So, with no further ado, my interview of
1:31
Speaker 1: Wellington Managements Gene Hinn. This is Mesters in Business with
1:38
Speaker 1: very Results on Bluebird Radio. My extra special guest this
1:44
Speaker 1: week is Gene Hynes. She is the incoming CEO of
1:48
Speaker 1: Wellington Asset Management. The firm manages over a trillion dollars
1:53
Speaker 1: in client assets. She began as an administrative assistant at
1:58
Speaker 1: Wellington UH and currently also manages the fifty one billion
2:02
Speaker 1: dollar Vanguard Healthcare Fund, the country's largest health care fund.
2:08
Speaker 1: She takes over as CEO of this June. Gene Hines,
2:12
Speaker 1: Welcome to Bloomberg. Thank you very much, Barry. I'm happy
2:15
Speaker 1: to talk touesday. So I'm kind of intrigued by all
2:19
Speaker 1: sorts of parts of your career. You come out of
2:22
Speaker 1: a college with a degree in economics, but your first
2:25
Speaker 1: job is as an administrative assistant. Seems a little disconnected.
2:30
Speaker 1: Explained that early career choice. Well, Barry, if I go
2:34
Speaker 1: back and maybe just give you some context. You know,
2:37
Speaker 1: I'm from I'm a daughter of Irish immigrants, and so
2:41
Speaker 1: when I went to Wellesley College on a scholarship, I
2:43
Speaker 1: didn't really know anything about the stock market UM, and
2:47
Speaker 1: I remember being in the crash of seven. That was
2:50
Speaker 1: my first experience and in hearing about what the market is.
2:54
Speaker 1: I took a sociology class and was about work, and
2:57
Speaker 1: so you had to find an internship at a play
3:00
Speaker 1: of work anywhere around Boston, and I found an internship
3:03
Speaker 1: at a brokerage firm UM, and that introduced me to
3:06
Speaker 1: the market, which I loved UM, and I particularly like
3:10
Speaker 1: the research part of it. I wanted to find out
3:12
Speaker 1: what made stocks go up and down UM and so
3:15
Speaker 1: UM in the context of which was a mini recession.
3:19
Speaker 1: If you remember, there weren't many jobs. I went out
3:23
Speaker 1: trying to find that job where I could UM, learn
3:26
Speaker 1: about the markets and UM and do research UM. I
3:30
Speaker 1: was interviewing at two different jobs that they were similar
3:33
Speaker 1: jobs who one had a much better title UM and
3:36
Speaker 1: one the one at Wellington was an administrative assistant. And
3:38
Speaker 1: you have to imagine back in Wellington's UM was under
3:43
Speaker 1: three hundred employees were now so it was much as
3:46
Speaker 1: much smaller organization, very flat. UM. I didn't know I
3:50
Speaker 1: was going to come in and do UM maybe fifty
3:53
Speaker 1: percent of my job would be more typical research assistant work. UM.
3:57
Speaker 1: And I remember back to the head hunters or tell
4:00
Speaker 1: you mean that this is a special space. You're never
4:02
Speaker 1: going to regret going to Wellington's. There's gonna be lots
4:04
Speaker 1: of growth opportunities for you. UM. And that's why it's
4:07
Speaker 1: just a job. And I guess I you know, I
4:09
Speaker 1: really did. For the first couple of years, maybe fifty
4:13
Speaker 1: percent of the job was administrative. Fift was really getting
4:17
Speaker 1: to know the markets and learning how to model and UM.
4:20
Speaker 1: And then about eighteen months and I started working with
4:23
Speaker 1: Ed Owen. So let's talk a little bit about Ed Owens.
4:27
Speaker 1: He has been called the best investor you never heard of.
4:32
Speaker 1: He ran the Vanguard Healthcare funds for quite a long time.
4:37
Speaker 1: What did you learn from working with Ed? Had the
4:40
Speaker 1: privilege of working for Ed for twenty years of my career. UM.
4:43
Speaker 1: When I think back, and as I said, I started
4:47
Speaker 1: UM working with Ed in early and that was a
4:51
Speaker 1: period of UM intense UM. I p O activity in
4:55
Speaker 1: the bio in the biotechnology spector. He was the he
4:58
Speaker 1: was the analyst, the biotech analysts, he was the pharmaceutical landilists,
5:02
Speaker 1: and he also ran the Vanguard Healthcare fund and so
5:05
Speaker 1: I just got to go deep with him right from
5:07
Speaker 1: the very beginning. Uh, you know, when we started working together,
5:11
Speaker 1: if I had to take a step back and say,
5:13
Speaker 1: what are the three things that Ed taught me that
5:16
Speaker 1: will that sort of live with me now and how
5:19
Speaker 1: I both show up as an investor and show up
5:22
Speaker 1: as a leader. I think one just the concept of
5:25
Speaker 1: very deep research. You know, when we're thinking about how
5:29
Speaker 1: we're going to make money for our clients, it's you know,
5:32
Speaker 1: how will the fu what will the future hold, what
5:34
Speaker 1: will change that is going to UM really create value
5:38
Speaker 1: for the world, And I think Ed was early taking
5:41
Speaker 1: that perspective UM. I think the other one was also
5:44
Speaker 1: following all companies any market cap global. I think he
5:48
Speaker 1: was global before UM. Many many investors were global, and
5:53
Speaker 1: that really helped us build mosaics. So, for instance, if
5:56
Speaker 1: a company was building was working on a specific met
6:00
Speaker 1: anism of action for a drug and there was a
6:02
Speaker 1: small company in UM San Diego working on it, there
6:06
Speaker 1: might be a Japanese company also working on it, and
6:08
Speaker 1: that just helped us UM fleshed out what was happening
6:11
Speaker 1: and and really trying and really helped us figure out
6:14
Speaker 1: who might be the winners. And whether this was really
6:16
Speaker 1: going to be a drug, was just really going to
6:18
Speaker 1: change medicine, And so I think that sort of deep
6:21
Speaker 1: research um and instilled an. Secondly, it's just um, you
6:27
Speaker 1: know what value is, So it is a value investor.
6:30
Speaker 1: I consider myself a value investor, and that is very
6:33
Speaker 1: much linked to trying to see what the future is.
6:36
Speaker 1: So what is this company going to be worth it
6:38
Speaker 1: if this drug is successful or they or they gained
6:42
Speaker 1: this market share in this medical device. And it's not
6:45
Speaker 1: necessarily a low pie type of investing. It's really what
6:48
Speaker 1: what companies are worth. And and then just really tying
6:52
Speaker 1: back to what the stock is that so our job
6:54
Speaker 1: is not to predict the future of medicine. Our job
6:56
Speaker 1: is to buy stock um, not concepts. So we're or
7:00
Speaker 1: is that where is that value versus fundamental um? And
7:04
Speaker 1: there has to be room um in the value of
7:06
Speaker 1: the enterprise for us to make money for our clients.
7:09
Speaker 1: And this finally flexibility. Ed was a very long term,
7:15
Speaker 1: low turnover investor, but he was anything but complacent. Um.
7:20
Speaker 1: He was just very flexible to change his mind when
7:23
Speaker 1: something changed our long term thesis. I think I'm much
7:27
Speaker 1: better at that in the past decade. I think that's
7:29
Speaker 1: something you learn over time. I think it's a very
7:32
Speaker 1: important important in my leadership as well as we think
7:35
Speaker 1: about the firm. That sort of flexibility UM is very key.
7:39
Speaker 1: So I want to flesh out some of the results
7:42
Speaker 1: from that approach to investing in healthcare with some numbers.
7:46
Speaker 1: When Ed retired in twelve, the Vanguard Healthcare Fund that
7:52
Speaker 1: he was managing was the top performing fund over the
7:56
Speaker 1: previous twenty five years, over three thousand per scent for
8:00
Speaker 1: an annualized return of more than fourteen point eight percent,
8:04
Speaker 1: far ahead of its benchmark or the SMP five. So
8:10
Speaker 1: what sort of pressure was it like taking over a
8:14
Speaker 1: fund that had those sort of numbers. Well, I I
8:17
Speaker 1: worked with Ed, as I said, for twenty years on
8:21
Speaker 1: that fund, so I was int you know, very much,
8:24
Speaker 1: very closely tied to the research, as well as some
8:27
Speaker 1: of my colleagues on the team. So I guess when
8:29
Speaker 1: I took over the fund, I just felt very comfortable
8:31
Speaker 1: that we had built a team and we had learned
8:34
Speaker 1: from Ed, we had the privilege of learning from me
8:37
Speaker 1: for twenty years, that we would make him proud and
8:40
Speaker 1: and carry on um the you know, carry on the
8:43
Speaker 1: great results over over the long term that he has
8:46
Speaker 1: created UM. I would say a couple of things as well. UM.
8:50
Speaker 1: You know he as I said he for over twenty
8:53
Speaker 1: five years. He really brought that very science based long
8:57
Speaker 1: term best health care is a growth industry. I think
9:00
Speaker 1: it will continue to be a growth industry going forward.
9:02
Speaker 1: And so that is you know, really bringing that lens
9:05
Speaker 1: to UM to the fund UM. He was also very
9:09
Speaker 1: much a contrarian and and again this value investor, and
9:12
Speaker 1: you know, when you think back to big, big moves
9:16
Speaker 1: in the index, you know he made had made a
9:18
Speaker 1: big move in in um N and two thousands towards
9:22
Speaker 1: healthcare services and medical technology, which had been very much
9:26
Speaker 1: out of favor for many years UM. And that was
9:31
Speaker 1: of the index back in thousand. Now it's closer to
9:35
Speaker 1: So that shift to looking broader than just the pharmaceutical companies. Also,
9:40
Speaker 1: you know served us well during that period really interesting.
9:44
Speaker 1: And you became one of Wellington's three managing partners. What
9:50
Speaker 1: has that experience been like knowing that you're the key
9:57
Speaker 1: troika that's responsible for directing over a trillion dollars. So
10:02
Speaker 1: so one of Wellington's core edges is our private partnership structure,
10:07
Speaker 1: and that structure has been in place now for almost
10:10
Speaker 1: forty two years. It's it's UM gone global, it's it's
10:14
Speaker 1: scaled us to a trillion dollars UM. And I would say,
10:18
Speaker 1: you know, the the concepts of the private partnership structure
10:22
Speaker 1: have been in place now for forty years, forty plus years. UM.
10:26
Speaker 1: The three managing partners are responsible for the governance of
10:30
Speaker 1: the partnership. And I guess now after my seventh year
10:33
Speaker 1: of being a managing partner, I just really appreciate, you know,
10:37
Speaker 1: one the brilliance of our partnership structure, UM. The fact
10:41
Speaker 1: that UM, you know, the partners, those the partners and
10:44
Speaker 1: the employees need to trust us to do our homework
10:47
Speaker 1: and leave our biases, UM, you know, leave our biases behind. UM.
10:53
Speaker 1: So again, when I think about my last seven years,
10:55
Speaker 1: I've just learned so much about the business the manager.
10:58
Speaker 1: It's about what people the coming um partners and becoming
11:02
Speaker 1: managing directors. And it's about sharing the economics of the firm.
11:06
Speaker 1: And so again those two things being their fair UM.
11:10
Speaker 1: Knowing that businesses can make right decisions are things that
11:14
Speaker 1: have that have helped me be one of you know,
11:18
Speaker 1: helped me be one of those managing partners that are
11:20
Speaker 1: our partners trust. Quite interesting, So let's talk a little
11:24
Speaker 1: bit about Wellington's. I know they have a big birthday
11:29
Speaker 1: coming up soon to be a hundred years old. Having
11:32
Speaker 1: that sort of history, what does that mean to the firm?
11:36
Speaker 1: So our our hundred year anniversary is still a few
11:38
Speaker 1: years off. We trace our roots back to when Walter
11:43
Speaker 1: Morrigan founded the first balanced mutual fund, which is now
11:48
Speaker 1: the Wellington's Fund that is sponsored by Vanguard. Our modern
11:52
Speaker 1: history of the firm is almost forty two years old
11:55
Speaker 1: when we formed our private partnership and took the company
11:59
Speaker 1: from being all being private partnership back in nine and
12:04
Speaker 1: the firm currently is running over a trillion dollars in
12:07
Speaker 1: client assets. Tell us about some of your clients. I
12:11
Speaker 1: know that pensions and endowments and foundations as well as
12:15
Speaker 1: other global wealth managers are some of the clients of Wellington's.
12:20
Speaker 1: So what we do one thing um at Wellington and
12:23
Speaker 1: have to manage money for our clients. Um. We have
12:26
Speaker 1: a large subadvisory business in the US and around the world.
12:30
Speaker 1: We have a very large institutional business and that's from
12:33
Speaker 1: governments around the world to pension funds to endowments and foundations.
12:39
Speaker 1: We as you mentioned, we have a growing private wealth
12:42
Speaker 1: business for private banks. UM. Again, our singular focuses on
12:46
Speaker 1: providing investment content investment products, and I think that singular
12:50
Speaker 1: focus really helps us deliver investment excellence over time for
12:54
Speaker 1: our for our clients around the world. So one of
12:57
Speaker 1: your largest clients is Vanguard. That's a longstanding relationship. Obviously,
13:03
Speaker 1: Jack Bogel came out of Wellington to launch Vanguard. Tell
13:07
Speaker 1: us about the relationship between Wellington Management and the Vanguard Group.
13:13
Speaker 1: So Barry, as he said, as he said, Vanguard and
13:16
Speaker 1: Wellington had very similar routes back in when Walter and
13:21
Speaker 1: Morgan founded the company, and we went different paths in
13:24
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies, with Wellington focused on investment management and
13:28
Speaker 1: investment content and Vanguard focusing on the mutual fund distribution business. UM.
13:34
Speaker 1: I would say we have a very very strong partnership.
13:38
Speaker 1: There are our largest clients, UM, and I just have
13:41
Speaker 1: enormous respect for how well they've done as a business. UM.
13:44
Speaker 1: And so you know, our goal with Vanguard is to
13:47
Speaker 1: to really make sure that we're delivering investment excellence over
13:52
Speaker 1: over the long term. And I would say, one of
13:54
Speaker 1: the things that I really appreciate appreciate about Vanguard is
13:56
Speaker 1: they really have a very long term horizon and they
14:00
Speaker 1: are evaluating us on five years and ten years. And
14:03
Speaker 1: I think that that that sort of partnership sert us
14:06
Speaker 1: well over time. Interesting you mentioned earlier that Wellington is
14:11
Speaker 1: a partnership, not publicly traded. I have to imagine that
14:16
Speaker 1: over time there were offers to either go public or
14:20
Speaker 1: to be sold. Why stay private? What's the advantage of that?
14:25
Speaker 1: So one of the most important advantages of staying private
14:29
Speaker 1: is that we can be very long term, long term
14:32
Speaker 1: in our investment horizons, long term and how we evaluate
14:35
Speaker 1: our talent um and thatt I that really does align
14:40
Speaker 1: with the long term objectives of our clients. So what
14:42
Speaker 1: are our what are we trying to do? We were
14:44
Speaker 1: trying to deliver investment results, investment outcomes for our clients,
14:49
Speaker 1: and ultimately there and beneficiaries which which which could be
14:52
Speaker 1: retail individual investors um around the world, that could be pensioners, um.
14:57
Speaker 1: And and they have very very their time horizons are
15:01
Speaker 1: extremely long term. And so again I think our private
15:04
Speaker 1: partnerships serves us quite well, and it might be the
15:06
Speaker 1: optimal structure UM to run an investment UM asset management business.
15:11
Speaker 1: And I would say the other thing is that this
15:14
Speaker 1: is not a capital heavy business, so we know we
15:16
Speaker 1: don't rely on the financial markets or or banks for
15:20
Speaker 1: to run our business. And so again there was never
15:23
Speaker 1: any necessity. And then maybe one final thing is that
15:26
Speaker 1: we have grown organically because I started we were approximately
15:31
Speaker 1: sixty billion, and as you said, we're over a trillion
15:34
Speaker 1: dollars now. UM. That's all been through organic growth, adding
15:38
Speaker 1: talent um along the way to grow, to globalize or
15:42
Speaker 1: grow our fixed income business. And again we haven't needed.
15:46
Speaker 1: We now have at at our size, we have the
15:49
Speaker 1: global scale to invest in our business without relying on
15:53
Speaker 1: the market. So tell us a little bit about the
15:55
Speaker 1: firm's morning meeting. It's been described as a quote signature
15:59
Speaker 1: of tell us a little bit about that. So we
16:02
Speaker 1: start the morning meeting has been going on to ninety
16:05
Speaker 1: eight UM. It is something that has started in UM
16:09
Speaker 1: in our Boston office, but now also happens we have
16:12
Speaker 1: an Eurasian morning meeting that happens in our London Eurasia
16:16
Speaker 1: meeting that happens in our London and that connects to
16:18
Speaker 1: our Asia offices. It's really a place to get together
16:23
Speaker 1: and UM debate what's happening in the markets, whether that's
16:27
Speaker 1: UM individual stocks or individual credits, or individual or what's
16:31
Speaker 1: happening on a macro level. UM. It really does bring
16:35
Speaker 1: the firm together in terms of a focus on on
16:39
Speaker 1: on how you know the news of the day. Sometimes
16:42
Speaker 1: those meetings they're very topical and sometimes they are forward
16:46
Speaker 1: looking and we try to share unfinished ideas. I think
16:50
Speaker 1: most importantly, Verry, if I could leave you with one
16:53
Speaker 1: thing about our firm is that we have a very
16:57
Speaker 1: collaborative culture. And what that means is that there's no
17:02
Speaker 1: chief investment officer UM. Each individual portfolio manager we have
17:08
Speaker 1: about fifty plus boutiques UM can go back and practice
17:12
Speaker 1: their own philosophy and process. But we have this open,
17:15
Speaker 1: collaborative platform and Morning Meeting is is critical part of that.
17:19
Speaker 1: And what you want is debate and challenge on any topic.
17:24
Speaker 1: And I think over the I think the Morning Meeting
17:26
Speaker 1: has allowed that that forum where UM portfolio managers and
17:31
Speaker 1: analysts can can have debates and have different views and
17:34
Speaker 1: different perspectives UM. I think that has really helped our
17:38
Speaker 1: collaborative platform. And you mentioned attracting talent. What has it
17:44
Speaker 1: been like this year to attract or develop and retain
17:49
Speaker 1: talent given the challenges of the pandemic and having to
17:54
Speaker 1: work remotely, not necessarily being able to interview people face
17:59
Speaker 1: to face, what's it been like this best year? But
18:02
Speaker 1: we have a tracted so again, as you said, it's
18:05
Speaker 1: surprising how you know, we're almost a year into really
18:11
Speaker 1: having to work from home and and we've been able
18:15
Speaker 1: to run the firm virtually and that includes attracting talent
18:19
Speaker 1: from all over the globe. So we have onboarded well
18:22
Speaker 1: over a hundred people in and even more starting in
18:27
Speaker 1: twenty one, and so that's has seen seamless. But again,
18:31
Speaker 1: the most important thing is how do you integrate them?
18:33
Speaker 1: And how do you integrate them um into your teams.
18:36
Speaker 1: We've had two new team members on the health care team,
18:38
Speaker 1: so I know, first Ham, we're trying to integrate them
18:41
Speaker 1: into our processes and into our team culture. UM. And
18:45
Speaker 1: again I think it takes work. It takes it takes
18:48
Speaker 1: work to make sure that you're connecting and you're getting
18:50
Speaker 1: to know them and that you're spending a lot of
18:52
Speaker 1: time with them. UM. I think the apprenticeship model is
18:56
Speaker 1: one of the things that we will as we think
18:58
Speaker 1: about the future of work that will be very important
19:02
Speaker 1: to having in person, both the combination of both in
19:05
Speaker 1: person and potentially more flexibility in the future. But again,
19:10
Speaker 1: we've we've we've done, we've we've tried a lot of
19:13
Speaker 1: different things that make sure we are both integrating new
19:16
Speaker 1: talent as well as keeping teams together during this pandemic,
19:20
Speaker 1: and technology has really helped, and it's really a lot
19:24
Speaker 1: of every day making sure people are connecting either through
19:28
Speaker 1: our morning meeting as we talked about, or through more
19:31
Speaker 1: team meetings, or through one on one conversation. So you're
19:36
Speaker 1: founded in Philadelphia, headquartered in Boston. How has the pandemic
19:41
Speaker 1: changed how you recruit and retain people? Does it open
19:46
Speaker 1: up more opportunities? I do think what we've learned from
19:50
Speaker 1: the from working from home is that you know, one,
19:53
Speaker 1: the technology work, so we can work more virtually UM
19:59
Speaker 1: and and we can we can we can be more
20:02
Speaker 1: flexible in terms of UM how we use technology to interact.
20:07
Speaker 1: So I would suspect first of all, will there will
20:10
Speaker 1: be more flexibility in the workforce, and that does allow
20:14
Speaker 1: us to think about other locations where we can attract
20:17
Speaker 1: talent so other other parts of other parts of the
20:21
Speaker 1: US where we don't have UM, we don't have offices.
20:25
Speaker 1: That's something we're looking at. No decisions have been made,
20:28
Speaker 1: but that's something that I would suspect will look at
20:30
Speaker 1: over time UM as well as other parts of the
20:33
Speaker 1: world where we don't have offices, Like how how do
20:35
Speaker 1: we how do we take a fresh look. We have
20:38
Speaker 1: a group of our leaders now studying we have a
20:40
Speaker 1: business challenge, studying the future of work UM. I think
20:44
Speaker 1: in the next couple of months will will see what's there.
20:47
Speaker 1: And they've done such extensive work in terms of serving
20:50
Speaker 1: other companies and serving our employees, and I think they'll
20:53
Speaker 1: come recommendations about how will work in the future. And
20:56
Speaker 1: I assume we'll have more flexibility and that will allow
21:00
Speaker 1: us to think more broadly about where our employees are located.
21:03
Speaker 1: So what's going on Gene in the health care industry today?
21:07
Speaker 1: What insights do we have on the vaccine and innovation?
21:12
Speaker 1: This has really been a hell of a year for healthcare. Yes, Berry,
21:16
Speaker 1: I think when you think about health care, and I
21:19
Speaker 1: did mention earlier that healthcare is a growth industry and
21:23
Speaker 1: what I mean by that is that when you think
21:26
Speaker 1: about demand, what with the population aging as well as
21:30
Speaker 1: in many many and virgin markets such as China, more
21:33
Speaker 1: people entering the middle class. That just increases health care demand.
21:37
Speaker 1: So health care demand is increasing at a brisk rate,
21:41
Speaker 1: and then we have payers around the world try to
21:45
Speaker 1: figure out how to control that natural growth of health care.
21:49
Speaker 1: So that's what's on the demand side. I think on
21:51
Speaker 1: the on the supply side, we are in and I
21:54
Speaker 1: really like to say we are in a revolutionary period
21:57
Speaker 1: of biology. And so when you when you talk about
21:59
Speaker 1: the bio pharmacide by a pharmaceutical side of healthcare, Um,
22:04
Speaker 1: this is the most exciting period in my five plus
22:07
Speaker 1: years of following the industry. And I think in that technology.
22:13
Speaker 1: The power of that technology really came through when you
22:16
Speaker 1: think about how fast um, the vaccines and the and
22:20
Speaker 1: the antibodies, and you know how fast they were able
22:23
Speaker 1: to be developed during this pandemic. So last year m
22:27
Speaker 1: r NA was the new tech. It really showed its
22:30
Speaker 1: stuff in developing the COVID vaccine. What are some of
22:35
Speaker 1: the next great healthcare technologies? What when are the nanobots
22:39
Speaker 1: gonna eat the cholesterol that's built up in people's vascular systems?
22:45
Speaker 1: Or is it something else entirely Yeah, I think if
22:48
Speaker 1: we take a step back and think about the history
22:50
Speaker 1: of biopharmaceutical and you had small molecule drugs that those
22:56
Speaker 1: are small drugs like you know advil or aspirint and
23:00
Speaker 1: then in the nineties you have the discovery of that
23:03
Speaker 1: you could deliver proteins, and the late ninety nineties you
23:06
Speaker 1: have the discovery that you could um deliver monoclon landi bodies,
23:10
Speaker 1: which we went after much larger receptors UM in the body.
23:14
Speaker 1: That has opened up biology UM. So again, when you
23:17
Speaker 1: think about the past twenty years, it's it's been the
23:20
Speaker 1: growth in the industry and the and really being able
23:23
Speaker 1: to treat many different diseases has been about using these
23:26
Speaker 1: biologic um to treat diseases. I think we're in a
23:31
Speaker 1: we're in a completely new era now in when you
23:34
Speaker 1: think about the ability to target d NA and in
23:37
Speaker 1: a completely new way. So we think about those the
23:41
Speaker 1: history of all medicines, those three modalities, and now we
23:45
Speaker 1: have small interfering RNA as you mentioned, messenger RNA, gene
23:50
Speaker 1: therapy eventually cristoper. We have new modalities called bispecific antibizes
23:55
Speaker 1: which targets to targets at once, and even small molecules.
24:00
Speaker 1: Because you understand biology at at a completely new level,
24:04
Speaker 1: small molecules are are becoming more targeted with less side effects.
24:08
Speaker 1: And so when you look forward to the next twenty years, UM,
24:12
Speaker 1: as we unravel biology, we're just going to have many,
24:15
Speaker 1: many more modalities. UM, I'm not sure. I'm not sure
24:18
Speaker 1: if we're going to have nanobos, but I do think
24:21
Speaker 1: that these technology platforms will be used broadly across all
24:26
Speaker 1: diseases to treat diseases. And I think if we look
24:29
Speaker 1: back thirty years from now, we will have made a
24:32
Speaker 1: substantial in roads into disease and treating disease and UM
24:38
Speaker 1: and that's that's very exciting and encouraging, and we'll create
24:41
Speaker 1: a lot of value for the industry. What about oncology
24:44
Speaker 1: and cancer, We we've seen a lot of progress, but
24:47
Speaker 1: it turns out cancer is not one disease but hundreds
24:50
Speaker 1: of diseases. What are we looking at in that space
24:54
Speaker 1: and how important is genomics for pursuing a broader cure
24:58
Speaker 1: for cancer? So when you think back to ten years ago,
25:02
Speaker 1: cancer was treated with UM with chemotherapy, which are like
25:07
Speaker 1: poisons and chemotherapy really has resulted in you know, really
25:12
Speaker 1: controlling cancer or treat helping to treat cancer. But it's
25:16
Speaker 1: been the past ten years where you've you've used you've
25:20
Speaker 1: had the ability to use genomics and use genetic information
25:24
Speaker 1: to both understand how why cancers grow. And like you said,
25:28
Speaker 1: it's you know, breast cancer or lung cancer is not
25:31
Speaker 1: just just because it's in the lung doesn't mean it's
25:33
Speaker 1: being driven by the same kinds of mutations. And so
25:37
Speaker 1: just a better understanding of my patients UM what's driving
25:41
Speaker 1: their cancers has led to much better identification of targets
25:46
Speaker 1: and much better identication of drugs. And so when you
25:50
Speaker 1: think about cancer now you have you still have chemotherapy
25:53
Speaker 1: as a backbone. You have immuno oncology which helps the
25:57
Speaker 1: immune system UM overcome UMM overcome the cancers, and you
26:02
Speaker 1: have targeted therapies in terms of UM driver mutations, the
26:07
Speaker 1: ability to target those UM driving mutations. I think in
26:10
Speaker 1: the future some of the interesting areas are going to
26:13
Speaker 1: be UM antibody antibody drug conjugates, which is more precisely
26:17
Speaker 1: delivering chemo through an antibody. Though that though those platforms
26:22
Speaker 1: I think will expand going forward you have you know,
26:26
Speaker 1: they're the first of carts. I think those those could
26:30
Speaker 1: possibly be used much more broadly and other and other
26:34
Speaker 1: diseases as well. So I think we're on the We're
26:36
Speaker 1: on the brink of really making dramatic changes in ecology.
26:40
Speaker 1: And interestingly, when you look at the industry, when you
26:44
Speaker 1: look at the biotechnology industry, I think half the companies
26:47
Speaker 1: are oncology based and approximately half of a half of
26:51
Speaker 1: R and D spending in the industry is oncology. So
26:54
Speaker 1: when you think about the combination of really unmet medical
26:57
Speaker 1: need and um being very susceptible or driven by genetic mutation,
27:04
Speaker 1: that's the perfect marriage in terms of really making progress.
27:09
Speaker 1: M quite quite interesting. So what does this mean for
27:13
Speaker 1: longevity and future lifespans? Are we looking at someone being
27:18
Speaker 1: born today with the high probability of reaching a hundred
27:23
Speaker 1: I I always suspect that lifespans are going to be
27:27
Speaker 1: prolonged going forward. I think you're you're already seeing that.
27:31
Speaker 1: I think that just recently the death rate from cancer
27:34
Speaker 1: has a clined in the last five years. We just
27:37
Speaker 1: talked about the number of new technologies, So you're already
27:40
Speaker 1: seeing it in the data, So that would be one.
27:43
Speaker 1: I think that also the the ability to have gene
27:46
Speaker 1: therapy for these are hundred monogenic diseases that potentially could
27:52
Speaker 1: be susceptible to a technology like geen therapy. That if
27:56
Speaker 1: you give those two newborns, that could dramatically change um
28:00
Speaker 1: the lifespan and the quality of the lifespan of individuals
28:05
Speaker 1: with those genetic mutations. So that would be another area UM.
28:10
Speaker 1: And I think when you think about the large um
28:13
Speaker 1: large parts of the market that really drive mortality, you know,
28:17
Speaker 1: really really it's UM. It's cancer, and it's also cardiovascular disease.
28:23
Speaker 1: And I think we've made progress in terms of congestive
28:27
Speaker 1: part failure and in blood pressure, and so again, if
28:30
Speaker 1: we can crack those and you have more people at
28:33
Speaker 1: an earlier stage controlling all of those risk factors, that
28:36
Speaker 1: will also likely lead to longer lives in the future.
28:40
Speaker 1: Quite quite interesting. So let's talk a little bit about Wellington.
28:45
Speaker 1: I think of you guys as an investor in the
28:48
Speaker 1: public spaces, but you have a pretty robust business in
28:52
Speaker 1: alternative assets like private equity and venture capital. I think
28:56
Speaker 1: that's over thirty billion dollars. Now, tell us a little
28:59
Speaker 1: bit about what's attractive in that space, and so we
29:03
Speaker 1: have an over thirty billion dollars at alternatives, which are
29:06
Speaker 1: both UM long short funds as well as UM an
29:10
Speaker 1: emerging private equity business. If I think about the private
29:14
Speaker 1: equity business, UM, we and you mentioned that we were
29:17
Speaker 1: a public company. One of the things that we started,
29:21
Speaker 1: you know, right around two thousand and fourteen is fifteen
29:24
Speaker 1: is is launching a late stage crossover fund. So that
29:27
Speaker 1: was our first private funds. You know, came out of
29:30
Speaker 1: the observation that companies were staying private longer and there
29:34
Speaker 1: weren't as many I p O s and it was
29:37
Speaker 1: a very natural adjacency to our to our public investing UM.
29:42
Speaker 1: We've just launched the third of that platform UM and
29:45
Speaker 1: a few years ago we also launched the first of
29:47
Speaker 1: a biology based private funds UM. Again, I think the
29:52
Speaker 1: big observation when you step back is that there are
29:54
Speaker 1: more companies staying private longer, There are more companies that
29:57
Speaker 1: are private UM. When I when I think of biotechnology,
30:01
Speaker 1: there are more private companies relative to public companies now
30:04
Speaker 1: than any part in my career. UM. So it is
30:07
Speaker 1: a very right area for investing it and it really
30:11
Speaker 1: is very much aligned with how we invest in the
30:14
Speaker 1: public market. Um, it's very adjacent to our public market investing,
30:18
Speaker 1: and I think if you think about wellingting going forward,
30:21
Speaker 1: we'll have more platforms beyond those first two. It's an
30:25
Speaker 1: area that we're investing in as a firm. So some
30:29
Speaker 1: of the older alternatives that are out there, hedge funds
30:32
Speaker 1: seem to have gotten very crowded over the past twenty years,
30:36
Speaker 1: and and some people have argued the same is true
30:39
Speaker 1: for the venture capital side. A lot of money is
30:42
Speaker 1: chasing only a finite amount of deals. What does the
30:46
Speaker 1: risk look like in private equity? Is there the possibility
30:50
Speaker 1: that that becomes a crowded space. Also, I'll go back
30:55
Speaker 1: to what I've talked about in terms of a number
30:58
Speaker 1: of private companies. So again, when we think about our
31:02
Speaker 1: process and think about Wellington's very rooted process in terms
31:06
Speaker 1: of both valuation and assessing fundamentals, I think we think
31:11
Speaker 1: that there's plenty of opportunity right now for using our
31:15
Speaker 1: skills as public investors, using the skills we've generated, you know,
31:20
Speaker 1: skills we've told you know, skills we've honed over many,
31:23
Speaker 1: many years, to apply those to the private market. And
31:26
Speaker 1: I think the observation about maybe the productivity of the world,
31:30
Speaker 1: that there are just a number of private you know,
31:33
Speaker 1: a larger number of private companies than probably any time
31:36
Speaker 1: in history UM and and creating real value for the world,
31:40
Speaker 1: and that that's the opportunity really interesting. Let's talk a
31:44
Speaker 1: little bit about sustainable investing. Wellington is known for its
31:49
Speaker 1: sustainability and alternatives approaches. You guys have a partnership with
31:55
Speaker 1: Woodwell Climate Research Center. What are some of the physical
31:58
Speaker 1: effects of climate change on capital markets? How how has
32:03
Speaker 1: climate change affecting asset prices? So, UM, let me take
32:07
Speaker 1: a step back and talk about sustainability and then talk
32:09
Speaker 1: about our would Well Climate Research partnership and then how
32:14
Speaker 1: it impacts UM the market. UM. In terms of sustainability,
32:18
Speaker 1: it's it's I would say that it's broad. It's it's
32:21
Speaker 1: if you think about E, S and G, environment, social
32:24
Speaker 1: and governance. UM. I think governance has been UM, you know,
32:29
Speaker 1: an important part of our process for the past twenty
32:32
Speaker 1: five years. Governance has always been important important part of
32:34
Speaker 1: our process. That we now have more, we now define
32:36
Speaker 1: it more and we are interacting as a firm more
32:40
Speaker 1: with companies as well as boards. In terms of in
32:44
Speaker 1: terms of our oversight of governance of our of our holdings,
32:47
Speaker 1: and I think that will continue. Um. I think in
32:50
Speaker 1: the last number of years the environmental has really become
32:55
Speaker 1: quite important in terms of, you know, new regulations being
32:59
Speaker 1: put in place in in certain parts of the world.
33:02
Speaker 1: And again that we have this very exciting partnership with
33:06
Speaker 1: would Well Climate Research Center, and we're working with a
33:09
Speaker 1: few of our clients on this partnership and we're asking
33:12
Speaker 1: questions such as how does climate impact asset prices, and
33:17
Speaker 1: they just spend fascinating insights into how water shorter shortage
33:22
Speaker 1: for example, or heat map. So we're we're bringing that
33:26
Speaker 1: climate research down to very specific parts of geographies and
33:32
Speaker 1: then connecting them and trying to connect them then to well,
33:36
Speaker 1: this businesses in this geography and it's not going to
33:38
Speaker 1: have an impact potentially on municipal bonds for example, or
33:42
Speaker 1: even on the equities um in the in the in
33:45
Speaker 1: the media too long term. So that what we're trying
33:48
Speaker 1: to do is take those insights, make sure we're asking
33:50
Speaker 1: the right questions, take those insights and bring it down
33:54
Speaker 1: to very specific mapping of climate risks, and then trying
34:00
Speaker 1: to connect back to actual stocks and credits UM and
34:04
Speaker 1: so we are in the in the process of doing that.
34:07
Speaker 1: It's a very exciting partnership UM. And we're also doing
34:11
Speaker 1: with that data doing climate reviews of our portfolios. So
34:14
Speaker 1: again what our portfolios look like from a climate perspective.
34:18
Speaker 1: If I take a very big step back, I think
34:21
Speaker 1: the next the next stage will be social and you know, again,
34:25
Speaker 1: how how does social interact with the public markets UM,
34:29
Speaker 1: And I would suspect starry that we are going UM
34:32
Speaker 1: that sustain ability is UM is not a fad, A's
34:35
Speaker 1: here to stay and it is really going to impact
34:39
Speaker 1: how the markets evolved in terms of where assets go
34:43
Speaker 1: into what kind of funds. And so it's a very
34:46
Speaker 1: important area of investment for Wellington in terms of you know,
34:51
Speaker 1: both talent in terms of the talent that comes with E.
34:54
Speaker 1: S G background, as well as a technology investment for
34:59
Speaker 1: us in terms of how we can use our climate
35:02
Speaker 1: for example, or our governance insights into portfolio construction. UM.
35:06
Speaker 1: I think if we're early in the process, but eventually
35:09
Speaker 1: it will become part of the dialogue of all stocks
35:12
Speaker 1: UM in a number of years. So in June you
35:15
Speaker 1: take over for Brended Swords as Wellington's fifth CEO since
35:19
Speaker 1: the firm went private nine. You're the first woman to
35:24
Speaker 1: serve in that capacity. You're only one of two female
35:27
Speaker 1: CEOs amongst the largest asset managers. UH. What does this
35:33
Speaker 1: tell us about governance as an issue both in corporate
35:37
Speaker 1: America generally but in the finance sector specifically. So I'm
35:42
Speaker 1: going to answer that in two parts. One would be
35:44
Speaker 1: very Wellington specific and then maybe one about a comment
35:48
Speaker 1: about UM corporate, you know, the world of corporations and
35:52
Speaker 1: what the future might hold UM from from a Wellington perspective. UM,
35:57
Speaker 1: as you said, I'm going to be the fifth generation
36:00
Speaker 1: CEO of the of the private partnership eras in ninety nine.
36:04
Speaker 1: I think the most important thing to know is we
36:06
Speaker 1: really value stewardship. We really really value passing the baton
36:10
Speaker 1: to the next generation, leaving the partnership in a better place.
36:13
Speaker 1: Like my goal is that this partnership in this firm
36:17
Speaker 1: will be thriving fifty years from now. So that's very
36:21
Speaker 1: important in terms of that's a very well in specific
36:25
Speaker 1: stewardship of the firm. UM. If I shift and think
36:28
Speaker 1: about governance, you know, I you know, I just have
36:31
Speaker 1: an observation you know, I think it is a novelty
36:34
Speaker 1: now that as a female becoming a CEO, and it's
36:39
Speaker 1: very exciting to see a number of peers in the
36:41
Speaker 1: industry and in the other in other in other industries
36:44
Speaker 1: becoming CEOs And hopefully, hopefully it will be a novel
36:47
Speaker 1: it won't be such a novelty in ten years. And
36:50
Speaker 1: the observation I'm going to make and I and I
36:52
Speaker 1: and I, it's an observation based on seeing what's happening
36:55
Speaker 1: in the healthcare industry um and seeing broader data, is
36:59
Speaker 1: that I do think it's more women in all industries
37:03
Speaker 1: have more experience running parts of the business where we
37:06
Speaker 1: are going to see more females become CEOs and and
37:10
Speaker 1: hopefully I'm you know, hopefully ten years from now, there
37:13
Speaker 1: will be a lot more deserving women who have had
37:16
Speaker 1: the opportunity to run business is being prepared to be
37:20
Speaker 1: CEOs of corporations around the world. You know, when I
37:22
Speaker 1: think about myself being a managing partner that we talked
37:25
Speaker 1: about earlier, that really provided me that experience. That experience
37:29
Speaker 1: for me, it really brought in my perspective and I
37:32
Speaker 1: got to know the firm and got to know both
37:35
Speaker 1: the clients and the firm and the talent throughout the
37:37
Speaker 1: organization that has helped me prepare for for the next UM,
37:42
Speaker 1: for the for the upcoming succession from Brendan. That's quite interesting.
37:47
Speaker 1: So over the past UM, let's call a decade or so,
37:50
Speaker 1: certainly since the Great Financial Crisis, we've seen a lot
37:54
Speaker 1: of assets flow towards passive. You guys seem to have
37:59
Speaker 1: done pretty well l as an active manager. What are
38:02
Speaker 1: you doing to compete more effectively against passive? Is that
38:07
Speaker 1: going to be an ongoing shift or is this eventually
38:10
Speaker 1: going to reach some form of equilibrium. I strongly believe
38:14
Speaker 1: there's a very important place for active management UM. There's
38:18
Speaker 1: also a very important place for passive. And it's our
38:22
Speaker 1: job at Wellington being an active manager and that that
38:25
Speaker 1: is our strategy going forward to how do we how
38:28
Speaker 1: do we deliver UM, how do we help our clients
38:32
Speaker 1: UM achieve their investment outcomes? And when you think about
38:35
Speaker 1: our clients and again back to what are we trying
38:38
Speaker 1: to do for clients? We're trying to help them with
38:39
Speaker 1: their their future liabilities or you know, how how do
38:44
Speaker 1: they fund their pension funds for example, or how do
38:46
Speaker 1: people retire with more assets so they can live a
38:51
Speaker 1: fulfilling retirement. That's what we're trying to do, and we
38:55
Speaker 1: believe that we can deliver our investment excellence that the
38:59
Speaker 1: alpha part of the alpha party, the equation will become
39:02
Speaker 1: even more important going forward. So when you think about
39:05
Speaker 1: where interest rates are, you know, what is the outlook
39:08
Speaker 1: for bond returns going forward? When interest rates are um
39:13
Speaker 1: you know, close to work, close to zero uh. With
39:17
Speaker 1: the equity market, you know, having a strong run for
39:20
Speaker 1: the past twelve years, we think alpha will become an
39:23
Speaker 1: even more important part of the outcome for our clients.
39:27
Speaker 1: And so again maths are that's where our that's our
39:30
Speaker 1: number one focused investment excellence. We can deliver our clients.
39:34
Speaker 1: We will do well and help them solve their problems,
39:38
Speaker 1: hopefully gain more of their trust and gain for their
39:40
Speaker 1: business over time. That's interesting you mentioned interest rates. How
39:46
Speaker 1: much attention do you pay to the macro? Does is
39:50
Speaker 1: what the Federal Reserve is doing? Um impact how you
39:55
Speaker 1: adjust your portfolios. Do you think about the state of
39:58
Speaker 1: economy or is all that stuff background and you focus
40:03
Speaker 1: on finding companies at the right valuations. So I'll talk
40:06
Speaker 1: about Wellington and then I'll talk about Jean and how
40:09
Speaker 1: she incorporate, how I incorporate interest, race and what is
40:13
Speaker 1: happening at the at the macro level. So we have
40:16
Speaker 1: half of our business is fixed incomes, so what happens
40:20
Speaker 1: on the Federal reserve or the European government is critical
40:23
Speaker 1: to investing UM in fixed incomes. So it's a very
40:26
Speaker 1: important part of our dialogue at the firm. We have,
40:30
Speaker 1: you know, a very strong macro research effort at Wellington
40:33
Speaker 1: to help support um are both our equity as well
40:37
Speaker 1: as our fixed income and credit at fixing race investors
40:40
Speaker 1: as well as our credit investors UM with your investment.
40:43
Speaker 1: So for the firm, macro investing is very important UM.
40:49
Speaker 1: I would say for for myself as a health care investor,
40:52
Speaker 1: I probably would lean more that's fundamentals than we talked
40:56
Speaker 1: about health care what's happening. I would spend most of
40:59
Speaker 1: my time thinking about what's happening with mechanism of action
41:03
Speaker 1: or how cancer is going to be cured. That's that's
41:05
Speaker 1: the most important thing to get right. But I found
41:08
Speaker 1: it very important over my career to make sure that
41:12
Speaker 1: you're focused on the macro. And there are probably two
41:14
Speaker 1: macro things one would be, UM, what's happening in regulations
41:19
Speaker 1: around the world, regulatory bodies, what's happening in politics. That's
41:22
Speaker 1: a big important macro um effort for us in terms
41:27
Speaker 1: of understanding what could influence healthcare fundamental. And then its
41:31
Speaker 1: secondly would be what's happening with interest rates? Because biopharmaceutical
41:35
Speaker 1: stocks are long dated, you know, you're looking so far
41:38
Speaker 1: into the future in terms of how you think about
41:41
Speaker 1: earning streams, so you know, making sure that that's part
41:45
Speaker 1: of the process in terms of valuations and how much
41:48
Speaker 1: you want to pay for those long data assets, that
41:50
Speaker 1: it's part of the equation that is very necessary to
41:54
Speaker 1: think about when constructing portfolio. Is I have to ask
41:57
Speaker 1: you a little bit about some of the craziness we've
42:00
Speaker 1: seen in the market. Uh this past month we had
42:04
Speaker 1: game Stop going wild, but we've also seen a little
42:08
Speaker 1: bit of frothy activity in bitcoin in Tesla. UH. What
42:13
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on the question of is this just
42:17
Speaker 1: pockets of froth or are we looking at a more
42:20
Speaker 1: significant bubble? I guess the observation I would have is
42:23
Speaker 1: that we're twelve years into a bowl market um valuations
42:28
Speaker 1: are are higher than they have been and that's partly
42:31
Speaker 1: due to the low interest rate that we talked about
42:33
Speaker 1: the FED policy around the world. So again getting making
42:37
Speaker 1: sure we know the future direction of interest rates will
42:39
Speaker 1: be very important to valuation. I'm not the expert on
42:43
Speaker 1: Tesla or or other areas, but I do observe that
42:47
Speaker 1: some parts of my investment in Universe um that the
42:51
Speaker 1: relationship between growth and valuation is that extremes and in
42:54
Speaker 1: some parts of that not certainly, most parts of it
42:57
Speaker 1: are very attractive value ation. So I guess as a
43:01
Speaker 1: value investor, that's just a very interesting relationship to me
43:05
Speaker 1: that I'm watching very closely. So I think of the
43:09
Speaker 1: CEO role as a full time job. I would also
43:12
Speaker 1: imagine running a fifty one billion dollar healthcare portfolio as
43:17
Speaker 1: a full time job. You're going to continue managing the
43:20
Speaker 1: Vanguard health care funds. That seems like a lot to
43:24
Speaker 1: do at once. How are you going to juggle the two?
43:28
Speaker 1: A couple of things. Want Number one, we are naming
43:31
Speaker 1: We have named a president. My my managing partner, colleague,
43:34
Speaker 1: Steve Klar, will be president. So he will he will
43:38
Speaker 1: be a partner with me in terms of running parts
43:41
Speaker 1: of the organization. So that would be number one. UM
43:44
Speaker 1: number two, I'm really believe in empowering the empowering the
43:48
Speaker 1: leaders and so we have a management team both in
43:51
Speaker 1: terms of running the business as well as running running
43:53
Speaker 1: our regional offices. Very excited about our leadership team UM.
43:58
Speaker 1: And that's a group of twenty people. So that would
44:01
Speaker 1: be an observation number two. And then I would say
44:04
Speaker 1: in terms of US observation number three specifically for health care.
44:09
Speaker 1: You know, we have UM expanded the team over the
44:12
Speaker 1: last number of years. The team is has matured and
44:16
Speaker 1: they're both their research and risk taking skills. So again
44:20
Speaker 1: I'm going to be able to leverage that fifteen person
44:23
Speaker 1: plus team very significantly UM as I go forward UM.
44:28
Speaker 1: And then and then maybe the last UM, just the
44:30
Speaker 1: last thing to share with you, Barry, is that one
44:33
Speaker 1: of the things that I think this is very specific,
44:36
Speaker 1: but one of maybe my super strength is that I'm
44:39
Speaker 1: very organized and again making sure and I've spent a
44:44
Speaker 1: lot of time thinking through how I'm going to spend
44:46
Speaker 1: my time going forward and and and again, then it's
44:49
Speaker 1: up to me to execute that plan to make sure
44:51
Speaker 1: that I'm both ending UM significant time on UM managing
44:57
Speaker 1: healthcare assets for the Van Guard Care hole or as
45:00
Speaker 1: well as the firm and all the clients with the firm.
45:03
Speaker 1: So I feel very comfortable in the plan going forward
45:05
Speaker 1: and how I'm going to be spending my time UM,
45:08
Speaker 1: and then just hopefully there are benefits. The benefits of
45:10
Speaker 1: it will be that I'm going to be staying very
45:12
Speaker 1: close to our investors. I'm going to be you know,
45:16
Speaker 1: we're gonna be UM in the morning meeting together, We're
45:19
Speaker 1: gonna be in company meetings together, and so staying close
45:22
Speaker 1: to investors hopefully will help me think about how we're
45:26
Speaker 1: going to evolve as investors. How are we going to
45:28
Speaker 1: use more science, how are we going to use more
45:30
Speaker 1: technology to help us evolve. So again there're synergies to
45:36
Speaker 1: both the roles UM, and I think as we hopefully
45:39
Speaker 1: at the end of my term at Wellingtons CEO, that
45:42
Speaker 1: will that will look back and say that was a
45:44
Speaker 1: benefit that you know that that was the benefit both
45:47
Speaker 1: to the firm as well as to UM as well
45:50
Speaker 1: as to Vanguard shareholders. So let me throw a curve
45:53
Speaker 1: bawl at you. Gene becomes CEO, and then Gene notices
45:58
Speaker 1: UM the manager of the Vanguard Healthcare Funds is falling
46:03
Speaker 1: behind prior performance. How are you going to fire that manager? What?
46:07
Speaker 1: What are you gonna do? Swapping hats that way. So government,
46:11
Speaker 1: we talked about governance and our our producer responsibility at
46:15
Speaker 1: Wellington is another area that we take very seriously and
46:19
Speaker 1: so we have a plan in place. So first of all,
46:21
Speaker 1: it will be Vanguard's responsibility to to decide, you know,
46:26
Speaker 1: how well of a job I'm doing, So Vanguard will
46:29
Speaker 1: be the ultimate decision maker there. And then from myself
46:33
Speaker 1: we have again you're it's very important that we have
46:36
Speaker 1: do you share the oversight of me as an investor
46:38
Speaker 1: as well? And so we have a plan in place,
46:40
Speaker 1: UM to make sure that happens makes sense. I assume
46:44
Speaker 1: that there was some mechanism that you guys weren't just
46:47
Speaker 1: spit ball and not not with that much money. UM.
46:51
Speaker 1: So let's jump to our favorite questions that we ask
46:54
Speaker 1: all of our guests, UM, starting with what are you
46:57
Speaker 1: streaming these days? Tell us what's keep can you entertained
47:01
Speaker 1: either Netflix or or podcast? Or what are you doing
47:05
Speaker 1: for entertainment at all? So one of them, you know
47:08
Speaker 1: one of the things I you may or may not
47:11
Speaker 1: know that I have four daughters and so they're they're
47:14
Speaker 1: in their um early twenties and late teens, and and
47:17
Speaker 1: so I've been pretty busy over the last twenty two
47:21
Speaker 1: plus years. And so one of the things, one of
47:24
Speaker 1: the things I'm streaming now is these Theories that I
47:28
Speaker 1: never got to watch as I was working full time
47:30
Speaker 1: and raising a family, and so UM I watched West
47:34
Speaker 1: Wing was a big west Wing year for me. I
47:36
Speaker 1: never watched the Theories, so that would be one. And
47:39
Speaker 1: then UM, this British series Bridgerton, that was a big
47:42
Speaker 1: series with my daughters over the holidays. We you know,
47:46
Speaker 1: we binge watched that, um when they were all home. Yeah,
47:50
Speaker 1: that's that's funny. It's always interesting to see what people
47:52
Speaker 1: go back to. We never saw Madmen, and we ended
47:56
Speaker 1: up just watching that very interesting period piece, just like
48:00
Speaker 1: just like West Wing. Tell us about your early mentors
48:04
Speaker 1: who helped to shape your career, Well, we already talked
48:07
Speaker 1: about Ed. I would say, you know, Ed was just
48:10
Speaker 1: so vital um someone that I worked alongside with for
48:13
Speaker 1: twenty years and I and I again back to Ed
48:17
Speaker 1: being just giving me the space to grow, um, the
48:20
Speaker 1: space to learn mistakes. So he was very critical. There's
48:25
Speaker 1: another person, Phil pearlmother, who was one of the managing party,
48:28
Speaker 1: was a managing partner. He since retired. He's recently retired
48:30
Speaker 1: from Wellington's, but I would consider him a sponsor. He
48:33
Speaker 1: was always looking out for me. He was a midcast
48:35
Speaker 1: growth portfolio manager, so I guess I was helping him.
48:38
Speaker 1: But he was always making sure that my career was
48:42
Speaker 1: moving along. Let's talk about what you're reading these days.
48:46
Speaker 1: Tell us about some of your favorite books and what
48:49
Speaker 1: you're reading now. So I really like historical fiction, um,
48:53
Speaker 1: where you learn about a place or time through fiction.
48:57
Speaker 1: So I think my favorite book this year was Educated Needed. UM.
49:01
Speaker 1: I am on my bedstand right now. I have UM
49:04
Speaker 1: Barack Obama's book. So that's my next some my my
49:07
Speaker 1: next book to read UM in the coming run. Sounds good.
49:11
Speaker 1: What sort of advice would you give to a recent
49:14
Speaker 1: college graduate who was interested in a career in either
49:18
Speaker 1: stock research or asset management or working in finance. I
49:24
Speaker 1: would give two pieces of advice. One would be always
49:28
Speaker 1: all just always be learning. So when I when I
49:31
Speaker 1: observed talent at Wellington, I get very excited about the
49:35
Speaker 1: talent Wellington's, the ones with this growth mindset that are
49:38
Speaker 1: always learning, always UM, challenging the status quo of how
49:43
Speaker 1: we do things UM. The you know, it's just very
49:48
Speaker 1: exciting to see. So again, always have that curiosity growth
49:51
Speaker 1: mindset UM, always thinking about what what more could you
49:55
Speaker 1: be doing in your in your in your role. So
49:58
Speaker 1: that would be an important piece of advice. Then secondly,
50:01
Speaker 1: just at the asset management industry and you know, research
50:04
Speaker 1: UM in terms of researching stocks and it's just such
50:08
Speaker 1: a great business UM. So I would encourage I would
50:12
Speaker 1: encourage people graduating from college to think about the asset
50:16
Speaker 1: management industry. And and and again there's a significant broader
50:21
Speaker 1: purpose here in terms of serving individuals and beneficiaries all
50:26
Speaker 1: over the world to help them UM lead better, better
50:30
Speaker 1: lives long term. And so how do we attract talent
50:33
Speaker 1: to that mission? UM? Of how and again it's how
50:36
Speaker 1: are we you know, we're allocating capital to companies UM
50:40
Speaker 1: that are going to make UM the vaccines that save
50:44
Speaker 1: you know, that really get us back, that save the
50:46
Speaker 1: world and protect the world. I think that is the
50:48
Speaker 1: kind of mission that that I'd like to make sure
50:52
Speaker 1: that everyone knows. And and just how you know, how
50:55
Speaker 1: exciting it is to be UM to meet companies and
51:00
Speaker 1: to meet heads of R and D, and to meet
51:02
Speaker 1: CEOs and and and see how they're changing the changing
51:06
Speaker 1: the future of the world. That is just intellectually, I've
51:10
Speaker 1: never I've never when I wake up every UM, I
51:14
Speaker 1: never had this Sunday night that I don't want to
51:16
Speaker 1: go to work the next day. It's just such a
51:17
Speaker 1: great business to be in. Quite interesting and our final question,
51:22
Speaker 1: what do you know about the world of investing today
51:25
Speaker 1: that you wish you knew thirty years ago when you
51:27
Speaker 1: were first getting started. UM. I think when I when
51:31
Speaker 1: I think about the when I think about the world
51:32
Speaker 1: of investing, I think about it in three phases. And
51:36
Speaker 1: we talked about being a deep researcher, being an investor,
51:41
Speaker 1: and I and I take being an investor meaning to
51:44
Speaker 1: can you do recommended can you take all your research
51:47
Speaker 1: insights and make recommendations, and then finally being a risk
51:51
Speaker 1: taker and taking taking risk in portfolios. UM. I guess
51:56
Speaker 1: if I had to UM, if I had to know
51:59
Speaker 1: back thirty years, it probably would have been really perfecting
52:03
Speaker 1: each stage and getting maybe more training. I think that's
52:06
Speaker 1: one of the things we're going to we're really focused
52:09
Speaker 1: on at Wellington is making sure we're training during those
52:12
Speaker 1: pivot points. So that would be one thing. You know,
52:16
Speaker 1: these are these are skills you can be you can
52:19
Speaker 1: learn and skills that you can get better at with development.
52:22
Speaker 1: And so that's a very important initiative on my part
52:24
Speaker 1: in terms of how do we develop investors along that
52:27
Speaker 1: path um. And then I think, you know, personally, just
52:31
Speaker 1: being very flexible UM pivoting when you have new information.
52:35
Speaker 1: That's what I think really hard. It's hard to do
52:38
Speaker 1: after you, after you maybe you might have invested two
52:41
Speaker 1: or three years and into a stock and then something changes.
52:44
Speaker 1: That ability to be flexible at pivot I think is
52:47
Speaker 1: critical to investment success. And you know, the earlier you
52:51
Speaker 1: can learn that, the better. Terrific stuff. Thanks Jane for
52:54
Speaker 1: being so generous with your time. We have been speaking
52:58
Speaker 1: with Gene Hines. She manages the fifty billion dollars Van
53:01
Speaker 1: Guard Healthcare Fund and is the incoming CEO at Wellington Management,
53:08
Speaker 1: which runs over a trillion dollars in client assets. If
53:12
Speaker 1: you enjoy this conversation, well be sure and check out
53:15
Speaker 1: any of the previous three hundred and eighty seven prior
53:19
Speaker 1: to such conversations we've had over the past seven years.
53:22
Speaker 1: You can find them at iTunes, Spotify, wherever you feed
53:26
Speaker 1: your podcast fix. We love your comments, feedback in suggestions
53:31
Speaker 1: right to us at m IB podcast at Bloomberg dot net.
53:35
Speaker 1: Give us a review on Apple iTunes. You can sign
53:38
Speaker 1: up for my Daily Reads at rid Halts dot com.
53:41
Speaker 1: Check out my weekly column on Bloomberg dot com slash Opinion.
53:46
Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at rit Halts. I would be
53:49
Speaker 1: remiss if I did not thank the crack staff that
53:52
Speaker 1: helps us put together these conversations each and every week.
53:55
Speaker 1: Reggie Bazil is our audio engineer. Michael Boyle is my
54:00
Speaker 1: producer slash booker. A tink of Valbronn is our project manager.
54:05
Speaker 1: Michael Batnick is our head of research. I'm Barry Ritolts.
54:09
Speaker 1: You've been listening to Mascuw's in Business on Bloomberg Radio