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Why Private Assets Are Essential: Masters in Business with Stephanie Drescher · Masters in Business

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  Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is Masters in
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Business with Barry Ritholts on Bloomberg Radio.
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  Speaker 2: This week on the podcast, I have an extra special guest.
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  Speaker 2: Stephanie Dresher is Chief Client and Product development Officer at
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  Speaker 2: private investment giant Apollo. She's been there for over twenty years.
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  Speaker 2: She spent a decade before that doing alternatives at JP Morgan.
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  Speaker 2: What a fascinating person. Apollo runs eight hundred and forty
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  Speaker 2: billion dollars in client assets, and she has really not
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  Speaker 2: over overseen the wealth division, but also worked on a
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  Speaker 2: variety of geographies, new products. She's on everybody's Best off list,
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  Speaker 2: She's been on the Baron's Women and Financial List, sits
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  Speaker 2: inception every year. I thought this conversation was fascinating. If
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  Speaker 2: you're remotely interested in private equity, private debt, private credit,
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  Speaker 2: private infrastructure, you'll find this conversation absolutely fascinating. With no
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  Speaker 2: further ado Apollos, Stephanie Drescher, Stephanie Dresher, Welcome to Bloomberg.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, Mary, happy to be here, Happy to have you.
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  Speaker 2: So we're going to get into Apollo when your investment
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  Speaker 2: philosophy in a bit, but before we do. I just
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  Speaker 2: have to start with your background. Bachelors in Barnard at
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  Speaker 2: Columbia MBA from Columbia Business School. What was the original
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  Speaker 2: career plan?
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  Speaker 3: I did always have finance in my sites, so undergrad
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  Speaker 3: it was econ and psych. I joke that I use
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  Speaker 3: the psych in my day to day field way more
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  Speaker 3: than the econ RaSE days. But there was always a
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  Speaker 3: draw towards doing something in the financial kind of arena,
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  Speaker 3: interest in markets and the like. So very early internships
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  Speaker 3: led me down that path.
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  Speaker 2: And I read somewhere in your background that you were
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  Speaker 2: particularly inspired to go into finance by your grandmother. Tell
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  Speaker 2: us about that.
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  Speaker 3: That is true. So my father's mother live with us
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  Speaker 3: for a time, and I believe or not, she was
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  Speaker 3: born in the very very late eighteen hundreds, and while
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  Speaker 3: her brother went on to become a doctor, she kept
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  Speaker 3: out it an eighth grade education, and so the power
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  Speaker 3: of education was always a core value and a focus
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  Speaker 3: of hers and my family. And she used to read
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  Speaker 3: the Wall Street Journal cover to cover every day, super smart,
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  Speaker 3: loved tracking stocks, and so we started to track stocks together.
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  Speaker 3: And how old were you at this time? Oh, I
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  Speaker 3: don't know, maybe twelve, Okay, and in a very high
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  Speaker 3: time way. We would put it up on the refrigerator
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  Speaker 3: and kind of see the changes and the holdings that
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  Speaker 3: she had in her portfolio and sometimes overlapped with that
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  Speaker 3: of my parents. That was the early.
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  Speaker 2: Start, so you get an MBA from Columbia. JP Morgan
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  Speaker 2: was the first job right out of school.
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  Speaker 3: It was although there was a mentor right prior to
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  Speaker 3: the JP Morgan opportunity that, believe it or not, I
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  Speaker 3: started babysitting for this family and I didn't know what
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  Speaker 3: the mother did day to day until after a period
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  Speaker 3: of time of babysitting. She looked at me and she said,
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  Speaker 3: I think your babysitting days are over. And I said,
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  Speaker 3: I don't know what you're trying about. And she said,
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  Speaker 3: I run a women led healthcare consulting firm. Would you
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  Speaker 3: like an internship? And I practically fell off my chair
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  Speaker 3: and I said, I would love an internship.
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  Speaker 2: How old are you at this time?
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  Speaker 3: It was like late high school, maybe early college, early
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  Speaker 3: early and it was the most amazing kind of opportunity
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  Speaker 3: that someone could give me, right just seeing a professional
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  Speaker 3: organization do its thing and all the analysis and client
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  Speaker 3: relationship management that went into that so while I decided
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  Speaker 3: that healthcare wasn't my thing and consulting wasn't my thing,
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  Speaker 3: it was very an easy bridge to JP Morgan and
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  Speaker 3: the finance field.
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  Speaker 2: So when you started JP Morgan, what was the role,
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  Speaker 2: how did you what areas were you toiling in?
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  Speaker 3: So I started with a rotational opportunity, which was terrific.
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  Speaker 3: I had everything from fixed income research to private banking
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  Speaker 3: in Geneva.
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  Speaker 2: Did you go to Switzerland?
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  Speaker 3: I did? Yeah. For about six months, I realized that
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  Speaker 3: I needed to buy all of my groceries during the
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  Speaker 3: day because it was closed by the time I got
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  Speaker 3: out of work, and then I liked to travel on weekends. Importantly, though,
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  Speaker 3: and seriously, it was a terrific time in my life
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  Speaker 3: to be more aware of time zones and cultural nuances
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  Speaker 3: and really see kind of a client perspective outside of
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  Speaker 3: New York and the US.
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  Speaker 2: It's a big world.
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  Speaker 3: Totally, yet it also can feel so small once you
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  Speaker 3: start to travel and live elsewhere. So that was a
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  Speaker 3: terrific opportunity. And then ultimately out of that rotational program,
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  Speaker 3: ended up in alternatives within the private bank, and then
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  Speaker 3: we were off to the races.
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  Speaker 2: So alternatum's way back then, but before we leave Switzerland,
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  Speaker 2: I recall a vacation not too long ago to Lake
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  Speaker 2: Geneva and what's amazing, And we were in this hotel
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  Speaker 2: that used to be a castle, and like, you think
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  Speaker 2: you have some understanding of the Gilded Age and old
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  Speaker 2: money and then you see no, no, we mean five
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  Speaker 2: hundred years. Yeah, it's just such a different io, so
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  Speaker 2: different than here. Yeah, really really amazing. So you're in
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  Speaker 2: the Alts group at JP Morgan. You stay at JP
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  Speaker 2: Morgan for a decade, tell us a little bit about
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  Speaker 2: the work you did there.
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  Speaker 3: So it was very early days of speaking to families
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  Speaker 3: around the world, the ultra high network. Clients of JP
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  Speaker 3: Morgan thought the role of alternatives in their portfolio, and
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  Speaker 3: I remember distinctly speaking about the core and satellite within
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  Speaker 3: alternatives now kind of private markets as our nomenclature. But
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  Speaker 3: it gave me such a great perspective in terms of
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  Speaker 3: the educational kind of foundation that we needed to set
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  Speaker 3: first with those clients. And I see it now continuing
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  Speaker 3: to play out. But my time at JP Morgan, and
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  Speaker 3: it was a very fast ten ten years and an
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  Speaker 3: amazing kind of training ground, was kind of assessment of
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  Speaker 3: all the different private market strategies from private equity to
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  Speaker 3: hedge funds to credit, and the seat was a combination
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  Speaker 3: of the buyside, so kind of due diligence on the
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  Speaker 3: managers we were going to put on platform and then
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  Speaker 3: the cell side in terms of the educational component to
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  Speaker 3: the end banker and client. Super Fun traveled around the
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  Speaker 3: world speaking about how alts could factor in to return
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  Speaker 3: profiles and diversifications, smoother volatility, all at a time when
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  Speaker 3: private equity was not on the front page. Yeah, every day.
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  Speaker 3: It was very early.
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  Speaker 2: Let's contextualize a little bit. This is the mid to
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  Speaker 2: late nineties and early two thousands. The stock market was
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  Speaker 2: just screaming high or double digits, especially the last four
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  Speaker 2: years of the nineties. What was it like then? How
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  Speaker 2: receptive was the audience to you should consider the private markets?
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  Speaker 2: How how much smaller was the whole space back then?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was very early days and a very small fraction.
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  Speaker 3: I remember, you know, if we if we launched kind
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  Speaker 3: of one manager a quarter, it was a big deal.
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  Speaker 3: Now I feel like there are probably dozens kind of
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  Speaker 3: on the shelf available for for clients every every day,
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  Speaker 3: every quarter. The but the transformation was starting to take
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  Speaker 3: hold where there were especially the large families, recognizing the
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  Speaker 3: return potential that a manager in alternatives could provide in
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  Speaker 3: their portfolio, and they didn't want to rely. It was
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  Speaker 3: very early, but they saw that they didn't want to
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  Speaker 3: rely exclusively on public market exposure. So you know, when
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  Speaker 3: we look at actually the percentage is in kind of
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  Speaker 3: large family office clients today it matches or frankly exceeds
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  Speaker 3: that of an institution, but it's still they started at
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  Speaker 3: the ultra high net worth end so much earlier, kind
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  Speaker 3: of back in those days than most in wealth. So
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  Speaker 3: I think there were the likes of a JPMorgan client
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  Speaker 3: base and a select number of other private banks did
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  Speaker 3: start early in showcasing these opportunities, and the adoption as
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  Speaker 3: I traveled around the world was strong, but it was
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  Speaker 3: still kind of storytelling and a lot of niche opportunities.
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  Speaker 3: Where I feel like we fast forward to today, people
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  Speaker 3: recognize that private market solutions can play both the core
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  Speaker 3: and satellite in their portfolios. It relates to a compliment
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  Speaker 3: to the public market exposure.
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  Speaker 2: So you join Apollo in two thousand and four, I'm
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  Speaker 2: kind of curious a few years earlier we have the
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  Speaker 2: dot com implosion. A few years later, we have the
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  Speaker 2: Great Financial Crisis. I hate when people call these, you know,
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  Speaker 2: once a century events because it seemed to happen a
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  Speaker 2: lot more frequently than that. But how significant were those
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  Speaker 2: giant public events to telling the story of, hey, here's
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  Speaker 2: some private market investments that you don't have the same
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  Speaker 2: sort of volatility and regular you know explosions.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, you're you're right. They were such an incredibly
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  Speaker 3: important backdrop to why alternatives, why private markets? And in fact,
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  Speaker 3: when I was still in my seat at JP Morgan,
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  Speaker 3: but Apollo was offering then our private equity flagship fund five,
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  Speaker 3: the dot com boom was just at its tail and
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  Speaker 3: was starting to fracture. You saw the signs, and Apollo
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  Speaker 3: came onto the platform and was talking a value story,
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  Speaker 3: and for the first several weeks there wasn't as much
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  Speaker 3: take up, and then as the market started to change dramatically,
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  Speaker 3: there was this wake up call of whoa, you know what,
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  Speaker 3: let's look at value again, And that kind of was
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  Speaker 3: the tell end of the of the story for that fundraise.
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  Speaker 3: Back around the two thousand period, fast forward to the
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  Speaker 3: Great Financial Crisis, it was such an incredible time at
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  Speaker 3: that point, I was already in my apollo seat to
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  Speaker 3: see the investment committee dynamic, and you know, there were
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  Speaker 3: moments that, thankfully because we were so steeped on the
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  Speaker 3: credit side in addition to obviously our view of private equity,
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  Speaker 3: where we could back up the truck on certain credits
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  Speaker 3: with conviction. And I look back now with honestly such
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  Speaker 3: pride for the decisions that were made in that period
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  Speaker 3: of time, and frankly many subsequently during moments of dislocation
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  Speaker 3: where they make it look so easy on the investment side,
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  Speaker 3: but it actually takes so much work and rigor to
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  Speaker 3: be in position to make those big investment calls in
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  Speaker 3: those moments in time. But it served us incredibly well
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  Speaker 3: and continues to even Liberation Day. Right post when the
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  Speaker 3: market started to move materially, there wasn't that much time
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  Speaker 3: within forty eight hours were there was kind of a
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  Speaker 3: correction from the volatility that we saw on household issuers
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  Speaker 3: and names. But thankfully, based on our scale and knowledge
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  Speaker 3: of those capital structures, we were able to put about
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  Speaker 3: twenty five billion of dollars to work in just a
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  Speaker 3: few days, and we're one of the biggest market participants
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  Speaker 3: during that moment of dislocation.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you mentioned high conviction investments. I recall in
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  Speaker 2: the mid to late two thousands, people tossed around the
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  Speaker 2: phrase toxic assets, and my attitude was always, there's no
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  Speaker 2: such thing as toxic assets. There are only toxic prices.
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  Speaker 2: Everything discounted enough eventually becomes attractive.
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  Speaker 3: Look, we are one of our kind of taglines that
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  Speaker 3: you'll hear internally and externally is purchase price matters.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. What you pay for something is
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  Speaker 2: going to have a giant impact on what the subsequent returns.
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  Speaker 3: I'm going to be totally and you know that that does.
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  Speaker 3: It does require discipline, especially when multiples are going to
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  Speaker 3: kind of stratospheric levels. But you know it has that
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  Speaker 3: strategy has borne out in a very kind of productive
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  Speaker 3: and successful way for us maintaining that discipline. But as
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  Speaker 3: you're saying, like spotting those moments where investments are mispriced
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  Speaker 3: or not well understood, and being willing to deal with
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  Speaker 3: that complexity at the right place, at the right price
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  Speaker 3: in order to generate the outcome we want.
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  Speaker 2: Really really interesting coming up, we continue our conversation with
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  Speaker 2: Stephanie Dresher, Apollo's chief client and Product development officer, discussing
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  Speaker 2: her career at Apollo. I'm very ritults. You're listening to
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  Speaker 2: Master's in Business on Bloomberg Radio. I'm Barry Ridolts. You're
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  Speaker 2: listening to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio. My extra
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  Speaker 2: special guest this week is Stephanie Dresher. She is Apollo's
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  Speaker 2: Chief Client and Product Development Officer. Apollo runs about eight
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  Speaker 2: hundred and forty billion dollars in client assets, So I
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  Speaker 2: love this title, but I got to think people are wondering,
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  Speaker 2: what's a day in the life of Apollo's chief Client
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  Speaker 2: and Product development officer? Like it sounds like that's a
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  Speaker 2: really wide bit of land.
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  Speaker 3: It's it's a fun job. So I've been at Apollo
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  Speaker 3: now twenty one years, and when I first started, I
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  Speaker 3: built out the institutional side of the business globally, so
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  Speaker 3: sovereign well funds think the dB public pension plans, and
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  Speaker 3: that was very much our core client base with an
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  Speaker 3: episodic offering through a private bank or a wire from
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  Speaker 3: time to time. As that market evolved and matured into
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  Speaker 3: a very robust global business there, it was clear to
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  Speaker 3: Mark Rowan now CEO and I that at some point
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  Speaker 3: complementing that institutional business with a wealth strategy was in
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  Speaker 3: our future. We wanted to make sure, though, that we
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  Speaker 3: chose the right moment to really lean in to wealth
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  Speaker 3: because it does take a massive commitment, and I'm sure
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  Speaker 3: we'll talk more about it. So in my role, I
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  Speaker 3: am fortunate enough to build out our business as it
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  Speaker 3: relates to our client set of offerings, our product development,
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  Speaker 3: as well as our partnerships with our distributors, with our investors,
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  Speaker 3: and just making sure that as we continue to innovate,
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  Speaker 3: wet our clients where they are and often kind of
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  Speaker 3: co author the types of offerings that are most meaningful
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  Speaker 3: to them. So in any given day, I get to
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  Speaker 3: think about our set of products and what we're innovating.
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  Speaker 3: I get to speak with our clients and partners existing
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  Speaker 3: and prospects. I manage a large group of people and
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  Speaker 3: our talent, and I lean in with a very keen
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  Speaker 3: focus on culture, which means a lot to me.
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  Speaker 2: So that's really interesting. How would you describe Apollo's culture
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  Speaker 2: and what do you do to help shape that?
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  Speaker 3: So, look, since the day I join, there have been
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  Speaker 3: certain common themes to our culture which I think have
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  Speaker 3: always kind of propelled us forward as a firm now public,
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  Speaker 3: but very much feels like a partnership. And the first
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  Speaker 3: one is making sure that we continue to innovate, to
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  Speaker 3: feel very entrepreneurial, and to empower our people to kind
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  Speaker 3: of find those opportunities and pursue them in an appropriate way.
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  Speaker 3: We manage the firm as a meritocracy, so we want
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  Speaker 3: to give people responsibility and let them kind of really
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  Speaker 3: kind of have the greatest impact that they can for
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  Speaker 3: their own professional careers as well as for the firm.
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  Speaker 3: And we want to have a winning high performance culture,
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  Speaker 3: meaning you know, even with all the success that we've had,
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  Speaker 3: we want to maintain that, propel it forward and continue
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  Speaker 3: that high level of performance. And importantly, we do it together,
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  Speaker 3: so it's not about any one person. I often say
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  Speaker 3: to my team, you know, it's we, not me, And
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  Speaker 3: that's really powerful. So when we bring everything that Apollo
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  Speaker 3: has to offer, we call it kind of the one
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  Speaker 3: Apollo to any client situation or any goal. We can
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  Speaker 3: use that power of the firm to be successful and
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  Speaker 3: to allow us all to win.
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  Speaker 2: Really really interesting, you know. So the biggest complaint I
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  Speaker 2: heard from various corporate executives during the pandemic was how
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  Speaker 2: do we maintain the corporate culture We've spent so much
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  Speaker 2: time and energy trying to build over the years. Suddenly
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  Speaker 2: everybody's at home on a zoom call in their pajamas.
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  Speaker 2: How do you maintain corporate culture like that?
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  Speaker 3: It is it's so important, frankly, whether we're all in
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  Speaker 3: the office to maintain that culture or certainly the challenges
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  Speaker 3: during during the pandemic making sure certainly during that during
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  Speaker 3: kind of that COVID period of creating forums, even if
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  Speaker 3: it was remote, to maintain the connectivity was really important
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  Speaker 3: to have different I remember many different kind of lunchtime
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  Speaker 3: meetings that we would have on Zoom, or our family
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  Speaker 3: community group would have different webinars where it was the
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  Speaker 3: employee as parent and then their children frankly were involved
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  Speaker 3: as well. So I think it's kind of forced fostering
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  Speaker 3: that sense of community, even if it is in fact remote.
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  Speaker 3: And then thankfully once in office. I know, as I
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: was passing through the sixth floor here at Bloomberg, I
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: saw the very deliberate kind of floor plan that you
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: have and food and beverage kind of accessible to employees.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody has to go through six It causes all these
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: random meetings that you have. Oh, I haven't seen all
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  Speaker 2: the time. How's everything going? Because everybody shows up for
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  Speaker 2: coffee or.
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  Speaker 3: Treats totally and we have the same So ours is
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: on the eighth floor. But we call it the casual collision,
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  Speaker 3: and that's really important to our culture to kind of
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: show up certainly as soon as we could do do
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  Speaker 3: so from a practical perspective and allow for that collaboration,
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  Speaker 3: it's super important for people to share and get to
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  Speaker 3: the best answer possible together.
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  Speaker 2: So I want to talk about the wealth channel, but
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  Speaker 2: before I get there, I have to ask about something
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  Speaker 2: that Apollo does that not every large private markets firm does.
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  Speaker 2: You have talked about realigning the interest of the firm
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  Speaker 2: with clients, making sure that you're on the same side
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  Speaker 2: of trades and towards that end. Apollo is a regular
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  Speaker 2: co investor along with clients in certain projects.
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  Speaker 3: Tell us about that. Yeah, So from a kind of
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  Speaker 3: balance sheet perspective, we are often one of, if not
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  Speaker 3: the largest investor side by side with our third party
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  Speaker 3: clients and the investments and rategies that we manage. So
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  Speaker 3: through our retirement services business a theme as well as
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  Speaker 3: our third party business we invest side by side, and
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  Speaker 3: so the decisions we make on behalf of the balance
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  Speaker 3: sheet are aligned with the outcomes of the strategies in
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: which we invest their party capital. So we often say, well,
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  Speaker 3: we can't guarantee the outcome, we guarantee a shared outcome,
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  Speaker 3: and that means a lot to us in terms of
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  Speaker 3: our commitment and focus, but also to our clients because
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  Speaker 3: they know how important it is to us in multiple ways.
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  Speaker 2: I would imagine if anybody has hesitation on a investment,
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  Speaker 2: if you see the private equity firm co investing along
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  Speaker 2: with you, that has to be a big confidence driver.
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  Speaker 3: It is, and in certain instances, like when you look
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  Speaker 3: across the industry, a commitment from an asset manager might
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  Speaker 3: be at the two point five percent or three point
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  Speaker 3: five percent. It's it's an outlier if it's a five
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  Speaker 3: percent commitment.
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  Speaker 2: But not double digits exactly.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: Where in one strategy of ours, which has a diversified
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: portfolio of private markets, we are two thirds of that portfolio.
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: So when we say that it's it's meaningful to our
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: balance sheet, we mean it.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: How does that work in terms of direct stakes and
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: performance fees? Like if you're most of the invested assets.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: That has to have an impact on what the balance
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: sheet looks like. How do you guys align that?
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: So, look, we are performance first at the end of
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: the day. Our our relationships and the trust that we
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: build are over time through performance and through service. I mean,
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: we want to make sure that our partners feel our
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: support in just about every way. So for us, it's
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: never about a particular fee of one type or another. Ultimately,
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: we're not focused on an AUM goal. That is the
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: reward for good performance and as long as we are
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: making the best investment decisions and showing up frankly as
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: a best in class partner for our clients, that is
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: what drives our business forward.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: So let's talk a little bit about the wealth channel,
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: which is where you focus some of your time early
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: in your career at Apollo. Tell us how this has
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: changed over the past twenty years, and tell us a
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: little bit about what type of clients show up there.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so, you know, the wealth business I saw certainly
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: in my very early days of JP Morgan, but then
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: for my first kind of sixteen plus years at Apollo,
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: the private bank or wire was really more the exception
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: than the role. It was more of a episodic type
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: of relationship that all completely transformed into a strategic commitment
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: from all of us at Apollo starting about four or
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: five years ago. So when Mark Rowan took the Reins
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: as CEO, all the stars aligned to build a wealth
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: business to complement the institutional and that decision truly needed
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: to come from the top CEO on down because it
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: is strategic, it's not transactional. If you're going to do
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: it well, it needs to be a long term commitment
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: to the channel. And in my view, there are actually
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: only a small number of firms that can really show
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: up and do this well in partnership with all the
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: financial intermediaries involved with wealth. And the reason I say
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: that is when you look at what's required, it's a
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: pretty massive lift. You need to make sure that you
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: build out the right relationships and you need the team
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: globally in place to do that across channels and geographies.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: You need to make sure that the product mix is
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: extensive enough so that you're relevant as it pertains to
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: our investment capability, but you want to make sure that
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: you're showing up with the right structures for the right clients.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: Then there's the educational component there's a service, there's technology.
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: For example, we have spent actually a billion dollars one
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: billion dollars from our balance sheet in wealth tech investments
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: alone to make sure that we're partnering and investing in
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: firms that will help the industry. So I think there
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: are very few that can do that well and truly
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: meet the wall clients where with in order to meet
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: their portfolio needs.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: So within that channel, family offices, high net wealth, sovereign
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: funds are you're also selling through other intermediaries like broker's
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: firms or rias.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: Tell us a little bit about that, yes, So the
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: channels represented in wealth include the private banks and wires
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: as one channel, the independence which includes rias and independent
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: broker dealers. Family office is also kind of under our
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: wealth umbrella. That's the ultra high net worth space selectively.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: And then we have geographic focus, you know, outside of
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: of the US, across EMA, uh and and Asia. The
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: rest of North America is covered appropriately out of Canada
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: and lat Ham. So so each of those channels are
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: are represented. And while each has differences and we definitely
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: approach them with different resourcing and and commitments, the common
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: denominator of all of them is helping the intermediary, the
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: advisor or the banker or the CIO of the family
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: office either build for retirement in the case of their
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: underlying client, or build to a certain level of wealth.
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: And so whether it's you know, a wire like a
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: UBS or a Morgan Stanley and their set of advisors
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: or you name kind of an RIA, we want to
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: show up to that intermediary with offerings that are going
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: to work for their platform and their their base and
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: make sure that we can speak to semi liquid as
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: well as drawdown and really kind of listen closely to
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: what they're looking to provide their clients.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: So the challenge we always see on the RAA side
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: is on the privates, it seems everything is sort of
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: a one off and whereas on the public side, the
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: custodianship is standardized, the reporting is standardized, all the compliance
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: and due diligence is pretty you know, turnkey tell us
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: about a the challenges of all the private investments that
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: may not all be identical, and is there a solution
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: out there, a platform in development that might make this
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: more like a turnkey, more public security like than private.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: It's a journey, but I think it's already getting better,
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: and I do see a world where it becomes so
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: much easier, more efficient to access. And so if we
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: look at what we're already seeing, you know, when we
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: think about an interval fund structure where you can buy
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: many different underlying strategies, it's point and click through an advisor.
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: But it's point and click. There isn't kind of the
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: fullsome subscription process that we've seen. There's innovation which you
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: know we have worked on in partnership with Statesheet, for example,
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: where there are ETF structures of which private markets are
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: a part. And I think the technology is moving from
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: kind of more of an analog to digital in just
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: kind of the plumbing in the infrastructure that supports the
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: private markets overall ecosystem. So there's definitely a lot of
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: time and effort to try to simplify the processes, and
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: I think it's going to go hand in hand with
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: an evolution that's already starting where allocators are looking to
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: managers like ourselves to not only offer specific parts or
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: specific strategies, but to increasingly offer more holistic solutions. So
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: a bundle of private market solutions which could be multi
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: strategy going to eventually kind of multi strategy, multi manager
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: as well, which can then be housed not only in
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: the accounts, brokerage accounts or self directed that we see
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: so often today, but in a range of pools of
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: capital and models and a number of discretionary pools of
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: capital that are highly applicable for private markets.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: Really really interesting. Coming up, we continue our conversation with
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Stephanie Dresher, Apollos chief Client and Product development Officer, discussing
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: the state of private markets today. I'm very results you're
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: listening to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio. I'm Marry Redults.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: You're listening to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio. My
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: extra special guest to Stephanie Dresher. She is the chief
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Client and Product development Officer at private investment giant Apollo,
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: helping to oversee eight hundred and forty billion dollars in
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: client assets. So we're living in a moment where private
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: credit and private equity they used to be a small niche.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: That's no longer the case. Not only are they mainstream,
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: they're one of the fastest growing parts of the investment world.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Tell us a little bit about what's happening in that
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: space and what's driving that shift?
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's been a transformation in terms of
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: public and private holdings in a portfolio and what does
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: it mean to be safe or risky? Think Historically people
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: have thought that because something was liquid in the public markets,
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: it was inherently safe or frankly safer, and something less
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: liquid in the private markets. And as we look at
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty two and frankly many moments of dislocation in
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: the public markets, I think there's now a much clearer
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: recognition that the public markets can be both safe and risky,
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: as can the private markets. Because when we look at
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: the public markets, let's say the S and P five hundred,
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: for example, the performance and frankly moments of underperformance had
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: been so concentrated in terms of the attribution to roughly
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: seven stocks. Sometimes people will say ten stocks. But when
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: there's so much concentration or frankly, lack of diversification in
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: the public markets, it creates a moment where people start
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: to zoom out and say, frankly, what if the toolkit
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: for my equity piece of the portfolio should have a
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: combination of both public and private And frankly, what if
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: my fixed income segment of the portfolio should have both
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: public and private. Then the toolkit for advisors and for
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: families is much broader to create that excess return. And
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: what we've seen is the desire to incorporate the private markets,
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: not just as an add on to an otherwise traditional
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: sixty forty portfolio, but rather thinking of it as part
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: of their core holdings in equity and debt, and now
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: thinking simply of alternatives as an alternative to public stocks
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: and bonds.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: So sixty forty becomes fifty thirty twenty or sixty twenty
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: twenty or something along those lines.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, or it could even keep whatever percentages are split
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: between public, between equity and debt, but have both the
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: public and private options available within each of those percentages
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: to maximize the return, to maximize oversification, and to reduce
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: the volatility. It's a game changer. It's no longer nice
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: to have private markets in a portfolio. It's a need
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: to have in order to meet the long term financial
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: goals of the client.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: So one of the things I can't help but notice
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: over the course of my career, which began more or
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: less around the same time as yours in the mid nineties,
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: is that the total number of public equities has shrunk dramatically.
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: The Wilshire five thousand is about thirty four hundred stocks,
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: The S and P five hundred still five hundred and
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: two stocks. Because of a shares it's a little over
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: five hundred. But even the Russell two thousand and some
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: of the other broader indexes far fewer public names in there.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: How much the shrinking of the public float driving activity
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: onto the private side.
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: I think it's very real. You're right, it's about half
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: the number of public companies it was, you know, just
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: you know, even a couple of decades ago. At the
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: same time, when when you look at the number of
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: companies total number of companies globally, ninety percent are in
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: fact private. So if someone truly wants representative exposure in
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: their portfolio, it's really hard to rationalize eliminating ninety percent
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: of the total number of companies out there right and
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: focusing exclusively on public because it's liquid. Realistically, one needs
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: to look at what is the return profile goal for
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: the portfolio, what type of illiquidity can can someone accept,
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: and then a portfolio that allows for that excess return.
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: Institutions have realized that now over decades, and they've been
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: the beneficiaries of that excess return by accepting some amount
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: of illiquidity. With the advent of new structures in the
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: private market, certainly for wealth and increasingly even for institutions.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: You.
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: Can select offerings out there that provide more interim liquidity.
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: It's not your ATM, no one should think that it is,
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: but it provides a much broader suite of solutions across
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: a range of liquidity profiles, offering far more liquidity than
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: one would have received in a traditional private equity draw
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: down structure. In our view, as we develop portfolios with
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: our clients, depending on what they're looking for in terms
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: of underlying return and liquidity, we believe there's a role
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: for a mix of both more liquid private markets structures
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: as well as draw down depending on the strategy.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about liquidly and semi liquidly as well
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: as illoquidly. The academic perspective has always been, hey, when
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: you're moving into an ill liquid market, you get the
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: benefit of the illiquidity premium. It's a smaller market, it's
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: less efficient, there's opportunities to create alpha here, but the
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: trade off is your money is locked up for three years,
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: for five years, for seven years, whatever it is. When
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: first with the semi liquid products, are you giving up
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: some of that upside in exchange for semi liquidity.
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: Our view is that the structure and the design should
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: marry the underlying assets in the portfolio.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: So two year credit notes are going to be more
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: liquid than perpetual open ended exactly.
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: So we have you know, in our view, the strategies
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: within private markets are so wide ranging, which to your point,
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: in terms of portfolio construction, you know, our view is
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: that since a private market holding can span everything from
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: short term investment grade credit all the way through to
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: your traditional kind of private equity drawdown, that's a very
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: wide range. And when you think broadly about that type
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: of exposure, why shouldn't an allocation in in a portfolio
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: be maybe even fifty percent to private markets, just given
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: the breath and applicability of the underlying assets from the
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: short dated investment grade credit all the way through to
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: more traditional private private equity. To your point, there are
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: options where private markets can be a part of an
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: overall portfolio, like an ETF format where it is in
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: fact daily as part of a broader portfolio, or if
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: you go to kind of an investment create strategy. It
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: may be you know, monthly in nature, but you're you're right.
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: The trade off for stepping out a bit on the
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: liquidity curve, albeit you know, not too much. Further, is
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: a pickup in the access return really interesting?
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm not going to quote you exactly, but
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: I did read something you had said about private credit
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: is that you see a full on fundamental rethink taking
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: place in the space. Explain what you mean by fundamental rethink.
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: You know, the the idea of of private markets or
• 42:02
  Speaker 4: alternative of our alternatives being that very high risk portion
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: of a portfolio and therefore a small percentage of one's
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: allocation locked up for a long period of time.
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: That's just no longer the modern thinking of the use
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: of private markets in a portfolio. There's no reason right
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: now why an advisor and a banker can't think in
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: a far more flexible way that how they are meeting
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: the need to save for retirement or the ability to
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: build wealth with private market structures in mind. So it
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: kind of goes back to that idea of public markets
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: being safe and private markets being risky. That's no longer
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: kind of the thinking in the market. I think intermediaries
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: have really challenged that historical way of building portfolios and
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: they want the same benefits that the institutions have now
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: had for decades. The reality is that the size of
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: the wealth market in terms of assets held by families
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: by individuals is about the same size as that held
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: by institutions, each about one hundred and fifty trillion or so. Globally.
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: The institutions right now have an average allocation of over
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: twenty percent to private markets. The individual on average three percent.
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to say single digits, clearly, absolutely,
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: and all of the when we look at the projections
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: and a variety of wargame scenarios, this looks like this
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: is going to continue to grow over the next decade.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: The I know this is a speculative question and no
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: one really knows, but how large can the private markets
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: get relative to the public markets? Can they be the
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: same size eventually?
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: Look, our view is that origination is the great differentiator.
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: So we focus not as kind of a um as
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: a limiter, but rather origination and.
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: Maybe to find that because when I hear origination, I'm
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: thinking not all private investments are created the same.
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: Right, It's the ability to create proprietary investment opportunities is
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: in our view, a huge differentiator for a platform, and
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: we partner with financial intermedia years and that is additive
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: in terms of the flow of investment opportunities, but not exclusively.
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: In fact, over the last almost fifteen years now, we've
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: built out sixteen proprietary origination engines so that we can
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: create that investment alpha and house for the benefit of
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: our clients, and that proprietary origination fuels are underlying portfolios,
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: which ultimately, in our view, is critical to delivering on
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: the return.
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: So those sixteen different engines, I'm going to assume they're
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: each in a different type of space exactly, So real assets, infrastructure,
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: private credit, private debt, which isn't always the exact same thing.
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: Private equity has got to be many more. What other
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: spaces are you what other geographies are you looking at,
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: What other spaces you're looking at? What's the product makes
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: look like?
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So on the origination side, it is quite broad.
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: I think everything from fleet finance to.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: Fleet jets, ships above.
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: And even trucking. You know, there's a whole range in
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: terms of everything from aviation to kind of ground transport.
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: There's consumer finance, there's specialty finance, that's there's mortgages. So
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: it's it's quite broad in terms of the reach, but
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: it's it's ultimately originating the investment in what we call
• 46:46
  Speaker 3: kind of the industrial renaissance, and the need for that
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: private capital is real and additive to to what could
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: otherwise be found in the public markets.
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: Really really fascinating. But before I get to I only
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: have you for limited amount of time. Before I get
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: to my favorite questions, let me just ask you one
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: more question. What do you think investors who are looking
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: at the private markets aren't thinking about or talking about.
• 47:14
  Speaker 3: But should be.
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: What sort of topics, geographies, policy issues, what's out there
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: that is getting overlooked but perhaps shouldn't.
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: So what I'm seeing more and more is a global
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: trend of the democratization for private markets. And as I
• 47:37
  Speaker 3: look at what's happening, certainly in our own backyard in
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: terms of the executive orders around four oh one K,
• 47:45
  Speaker 3: and then I look to Europe and I see their
• 47:52
  Speaker 3: regulation around the l TIF two point zero, or I
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: look even to the UK and I see REGs in
• 48:00
  Speaker 3: the UK and France in terms of certain requirements and
• 48:05
  Speaker 3: percentages to private markets in their retirement plans. To me,
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: there's a global theme of the desire to allow more
• 48:16
  Speaker 3: access of private markets to the individual and through their advisors,
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: through the intermediaries, to truly be able to adequately plan
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: for retirement. And we see obviously the state of kind
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: of retirees here in the US, and there's a dire
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: need to give them through managed accounts, through target date
• 48:50
  Speaker 3: access to investments that will provide that additional access return.
• 48:55
  Speaker 3: And you know, as as we think about it, most
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: of those four oh one k's have time horizons of decades, right,
• 49:04
  Speaker 3: yet the solutions they have available to them are daily
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: liquid that mismatch does not need to exist. And you know,
• 49:14
  Speaker 3: with with the changes that we're we're seeing come out
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: of DC, you know, we're hopeful that the framework for
• 49:25
  Speaker 3: the benefit of those retirement plans will continue to be
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: one that shifts from the historical view of maximizing those
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: pools of capital to the lowest possible fee, to one
• 49:40
  Speaker 3: where they look to maximize outcome and truly maximize the
• 49:45
  Speaker 3: result for those participants.
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: Really really very fascinating. Let's jump to our final five
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: questions that I ask all of my guests, Starting with
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: tell us about your mentors who helped your career.
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: Well, I mentioned in a prior part of our series
• 50:07
  Speaker 3: someone that I used to babysit for who gave me
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: my first shot in a healthcare consulting firm, so she
• 50:13
  Speaker 3: will remain part of my kind of uh my personal
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: advisory board. While at JP Morgan Mary Erdos is kind
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: of rock star status in my book and an amazing
• 50:30
  Speaker 3: uh mentor throughout my career.
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 50:34
  Speaker 3: And then you know many at Apollo that I won't
• 50:38
  Speaker 3: name because I want to embarrass them, but that have
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: been incredible sponsors of my career with a lot of
• 50:44
  Speaker 3: opportunities just to continue to grow and develop as a professional.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about books. What are you reading? What are
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: some of your favorites so well?
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: In terms of what I'm reading right now, there's a
• 50:58
  Speaker 3: book called Such Good People, which I will give a disclaimer.
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: It's written by Amy Bloomfeldt, and she is a great
• 51:08
  Speaker 3: close friend from college, and it's a great read. And
• 51:12
  Speaker 3: so I'm at the end and I don't want it
• 51:14
  Speaker 3: to end. So that's that's a great one. I was
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: actually just away this weekend and I have to say
• 51:21
  Speaker 3: I was struck where I was in the Berkshires, and
• 51:23
  Speaker 3: I was struck by the fall foliage and beautiful coming in.
• 51:30
  Speaker 3: I live and work in New York City, so seeing
• 51:33
  Speaker 3: those surroundings and being back in nature, it did make
• 51:36
  Speaker 3: me think of Emerson and Thoreau, who I did love,
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: and it's been a while since I've I read their works,
• 51:43
  Speaker 3: but it inspired me to go back and dust that off.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about what's keeping you entertained these days? What
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: are you streaming or listening to other than you? Well,
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: this doesn't count us. Give us a different.
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: One, okay, Well, when that is top of mine and
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: who we actually just had participate live at a client
• 52:07
  Speaker 3: forum of ours is doctor David Sinclair of life Span,
• 52:13
  Speaker 3: and he is affiliated with Harvard, and his work fascinates
• 52:19
  Speaker 3: me in terms.
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: Of I.
• 52:25
  Speaker 3: Love that. That's a different one and I love that
• 52:29
  Speaker 3: professor as well in terms of the value of happiness
• 52:31
  Speaker 3: at different stages of our lives.
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 52:34
  Speaker 3: But this actually relates to longevity more in terms of
• 52:38
  Speaker 3: genetics and all the research and science and even drug
• 52:42
  Speaker 3: development that is going into the kind of health and
• 52:48
  Speaker 3: wellness from a longevity.
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: The health Span study is that what they yes.
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: Exactly and research that they're already doing in terms of
• 52:55
  Speaker 3: eyes that could have applicability to many other parts of
• 52:58
  Speaker 3: our bodies. So I just find it kind of a
• 53:01
  Speaker 3: fascinating field that I think will develop so much over time.
• 53:04
  Speaker 3: And of course, from our work perspective, as I think
• 53:07
  Speaker 3: frankly of the work of both of those Harvard professors
• 53:11
  Speaker 3: and doctors. Now, how does it tie into the high
• 53:15
  Speaker 3: performance culture and mindset that we have as a farm Like,
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: how do we take that thinking and try to think
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: about our own employees over time?
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: And our final two questions, what sort of advice would
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: you give to a recent college grad interest in the
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: career in investing privates alternative investings? What's your advice?
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: Well, first off, go for it, because I think it's
• 53:42
  Speaker 3: there's still so much growth ahead. And I would just
• 53:47
  Speaker 3: say stay curious because you know, as as we think
• 53:55
  Speaker 3: about kind of the innovation that's happening just about from
• 53:59
  Speaker 3: every of product innovation and channels, and frankly even applicability
• 54:05
  Speaker 3: of AI to what we do today, if you're tuned
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: in from a curiosity perspective coupled with kind of strong
• 54:16
  Speaker 3: work ethic, I think that's a winning recipe.
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: And our final question, what do you know about the
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: world of alternative and private market investing today? Would have
• 54:28
  Speaker 2: been useful thirty years ago or so when you were
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: first getting started.
• 54:33
  Speaker 3: Well, no fun if you have the answer key right.
• 54:35
  Speaker 3: But look, I would say the one thing that stays
• 54:43
  Speaker 3: the same is change, and to embrace that and to
• 54:50
  Speaker 3: be flexible, to recognize that there will be so much
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: evolution and change that continues in front of us from
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: an industry and certain as someone starting if someone's starting
• 55:04
  Speaker 3: out now, to kind of enjoy that ride and recognize
• 55:08
  Speaker 3: that there will be many chapters that unfold and the
• 55:13
  Speaker 3: best we can kind of try to see where that
• 55:15
  Speaker 3: puck is going, but certainly and embrace that there's so
• 55:22
  Speaker 3: much more innovation and opportunity to come.
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: Really really interesting. Thank you, Stephanie for being so generous
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: with your time.
• 55:32
  Speaker 3: We have been.
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: Speaking with Stephanie Dresher, Apollo's chief client and product development Officer.
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: If you enjoy this conversation, check out any of the
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: five hundred and eighty nine we've done over the previous
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: eleven and a half years. You can find those at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Bloomberg,
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: wherever you find your favorite podcast, and be sure and
• 55:54
  Speaker 2: check out my new book, How Not to Invest The ideas, numbers,
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: and behavior that destroys wealth and how to avoid them
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: wherever you get your books at. I would be remiss
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: if I didn't thank the Cracked team that helps put
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: these conversations together each week. Alexis Noriega is my video producer.
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: Sean Russo is my researcher. Anna Luke is my producer.
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: Sage Bauman is the head of podcasts at Bloomberg. I'm
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: Barry Rudoltz. You've been listening to Masters in Business on
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: Bloomberg Radio