Alts unfiltered: Capital allocators on allocating capital

Live conversations with alts industry leaders at AltsLA, the West Coast's premier alternative investment conference

A few weeks ago, Alt Goes Mainstream went to the capitol of capital for alts, AltsLA by CAIA, the largest alternative investments conference on the West Coast, to speak with industry leaders about how they are allocating capital.

Alt Goes Mainstream partnered with CAIA, the premier educational organization for the alts space, to have topical conversations on the world of alternative investments.

With the backdrop of an uncertain macro environment and changing investor preferences that have resulted in a 60/40 portfolio no longer, top allocators in the industry discussed how alts are becoming an increasingly important part of investors’ portfolios.

Over the next few days, we will bring you CAIA shorts: live interviews with the people who are making the decisions for many of the world’s largest investment institutions. Apologies in advance if there is background noise on the podcasts, but it’s because we recorded live and unfiltered from the AltsLA conference.

There were 10 great podcasts with such rich conversations from some of the world’s smartest investors, so we will release these episodes in 4 parts.

Today’s episodes are:

• James Keenan, BlackRock, CIO and Global Co-Head of Credit at BlackRock Alternative Investors (19:32): James and I discuss the evolution of private credit fitting into investors’ portfolios and the retailization of alts. You can listen to James on Spotify here, Apple Podcasts here, and Transistor here.

• Ariel Babcock, FCLTGlobal, Managing Director, Head of Research (21:58): Ariel and I talk about how to help investors adopt a long-term perspective and rewire capital markets to be more supportive of longer-term businesses and investments. You can listen to Ariel on Spotify here, Apple Podcasts here, and Transistor here.

• Dominic Garcia, CBRE, Chief Pension Investment Strategist (17:49): Dominic and I discuss how the lines between public and private assets have become blurred and how investors need to think about finding truly idiosyncratic alpha. You can listen to Dominic on Spotify here, Apple Podcasts here, and Transistor here.

Tomorrow’s episodes will be:

• Elizabeth Burton, CIO of Employees' Retirement System of State of Hawaii (11:47): Elizabeth and I discuss how a $23B pension fund CIO makes allocation decisions in a world where the 60/40 portfolio is breaking down.

• Evan Darr, Partner, Invesco Private Capital (30:27): Evan and I discuss how the fact that we are in the midst of a technological revolution has changed the GP and LP landscape for both technology and crypto.

• Ashby Monk, Addepar, Head of Research (14:12): Ashby and I talk about how he’s helping the world’s biggest investors make smarter investment decisions and create a positive impact at the same time.

Friday’s episodes will be:

• Matt Hougan, Bitwise Asset Management, CIO (25:26): Matt comes on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast one year after his first appearance to talk about how much things have changed in crypto, particularly around regulation and institutionalization. But one thing stayed the same - his favorite alternative investment (Ethereum).

• Jane Buchan, CEO, Martlet Asset Management (12:14): Jane and I go back to the beginning of the private equity and hedge fund industries to discuss the different market cycles and why diversification is critical.

• Alicia McElhaney, Institutional Investor, Senior Reporter (13:25): Alicia and I discuss what the institutional investor’s portfolio of the future will look like.

Saturday’s finale will be:

• Bill Kelly and John Bowman, CAIA, CEO and EVP (respectively) (32:50): Bill, John, and I discuss the portfolio of the future, why 60/40 is dead, and how institutional investors will adapt to the current market environment.