Listeners of this podcast will know that I believe one of the most dynamic areas of investing is that of activism. In the true spirit of value investing, there’s a crop of activist investors who are now embracing their role in engaging management in various ways, whether to improve operational performance, address governance issues, or simply to encourage better capital allocation and distribution policies.   Today we’re exploring this topic further with Anne-Sophie d’Andlau. Anne-Sophie...

One of our goals with this podcast is to get to know new markets, new situations, and new investors who bring dynamism to all markets. A great example of this is the new generation of activist investors in Europe. Students of mine have heard me say for some time that Europe has been ripe for activism. I believe that with structural changes in European capital markets, combined with the state of global markets, a new wave of activism is happening and will be quite transformative. My guests...

The value investing in legends class is one of the highlights of the Heilbrunn year. It’s filled with special moments, including the annual visit from our guest today, Elizabeth Lilly. Beth embodies the principles and practices of value investing like very few people do. She makes investing look easy and her lecture always captures the pure essence of value investing. Elizabeth Lilly is Chief Investment Officer and Executive Vice President for The Pohlad Companies, LLC where she oversees...

Any sound investment strategy must include both a tactical and a structural component. The tactical side requires close attention to the firm’s financials and prospects, while the structural side puts that analysis in the specific context of the industry as well as the economy at large. Our guest, Anna Nikolayevsky, is here today to share her approach and how her investment strategy has evolved.   Anna Nikolayevsky is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Axel Capital Management, a...

Over the last few years, the opportunities for global value investing have improved significantly. Yields are incredibly low across the board, putting pressure on improving operational performance to generate returns. In such an environment, Europe is fertile ground for the value investor. With room for operational improvement in many sectors and a robust institutional environment, it’s an ideal market to deploy your activist dollar. When I decided to bring this topic to the show, I couldn’t...

Many of the guests that I've had on this program are people I've known for years. We approached those conversations as an opportunity to explain together to the audience their methods, philosophies, and approach. Today’s conversation with Samantha Greenberg is a bit different. Samantha is someone I’ve looked forward to meeting for some time now as she would come up constantly in conversations with other investors and I’m happy to get to know her alongside you. Samantha Greenberg is Portfolio...

There are several great investors out there who are effectively offering free lessons through their positions, letters, and interviews. What’s surprising is that while many people listen to them, hardly anyone puts those lessons into practice. Today’s guest, Mohnish Pabrai, is not one to miss such opportunities and he attributes much of his success to his hunger to learn, improve, and adjust. Mohnish is an author and the Founder and CEO of Pabrai Investment Fund, which he started in 1999 at...

Modern value investing emphasizes investing in resilient franchises and letting the compounding do the work for you. Today’s guest, Jan Hummel, is a fantastic expositor of this subject and a friend of the Center who has been part of many of our events over the years. In 2007, Jan launched the Paradigm Capital Value Fund with Bruce Greenwald, the founder of the Heilbrunn Center and Columbia Business School alumnus, Mario Gabelli. Paradigm’s investment philosophy is built around a focus on...

The most successful investors combine a profound analytical understanding of financial markets and the economy at large with the ability to act on those ideas. My guest today has these two attributes in spades. Today’s conversation is with Howard Marks, the Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, which is one of the largest credit investors in the world and certainly the largest investor in distressed securities. Howard started his career at Citicorp as an equity research...

Today’s conversation is with Henry Ellenbogen and Anouk Dey from Durable Capital Partners. Henry founded Durable in 2019 and serves as Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Before that, he was a Vice President of T. Rowe Price, T. Rowe Price Group Chief Investment Officer for U.S. Equity Growth, the lead Portfolio Manager for the U.S. Small-Cap Growth Equity Strategy, and the Portfolio Manager for the New Horizons Fund. Anouk is a Partner of Durable who joined the firm at its...

Today’s conversation is with Rishi Renjen, the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of ROAM Global Management. Before founding ROAM Global, he was a Managing Director and Sector Head at Maverick Capital, a Partner at TPG-Axon Capital, and a Senior Analyst at Glenview Capital. Rishi earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics, with a concentration in Finance, from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Value Investing Program at...

With the COVID-19 crisis dominating our spring semester, the focus of the podcast shifted slightly, and we had several conversations with distinguished investors talking about the impact of the crisis on financial markets. For this season, in addition to the essential lessons about investing and good asset management practices, we are going to explore broader investment experiences and different approaches. Today, I'm particularly delighted to share this conversation with the great value...

Welcome back to a new season of the show! Our first conversation is going to be a little different as we’ll be talking about this year’s picks for the 5x5x5 Russo Student Investment Fund. Joining me today is Tom Russo, who designed and funded this first-ever student investment fund at Columbia Business School in 2014, and students James Shen and Freda Zhuo, whose portfolio picks have performed particularly well. The 5x5x5 fund is run by the students of the Value Investing course at Columbia...

Today’s conversation is with Kim Shannon President and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Sionna Investment Managers. Kim founded Sionna Investment Managers in 2002 and has more than 35 years of industry experience, and previously served as the Chief Investment Officer and Senior Vice President at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Canada. Kim is also a board member with the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, the author of The Value Proposition: Sionna's Common Sense Path to Investment...

Today’s conversation is with Dan Davidowitz and Jeff Mueller of Polen Capital, which is a firm that is dedicated to researching and analyzing the highest-quality companies around the globe and investing for the long haul and with a business owner’s mindset. Dan is the co-head of the Large Company Growth Team and the lead portfolio manager of the firm’s flagship Focus Growth strategy. Jeff is co-portfolio manager of the Global Growth strategy and earned his MBA from Columbia Business School,...

Today’s conversation is with C.T. Fitzpatrick, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer at Vulcan Value Partners. C.T. founded Vulcan in 2007 and since then, all five strategies have peer rankings in the top 1% of value managers in their respective categories. Before starting Vulcan Value Partners, C.T. worked as a principal and portfolio manager at Southeastern Asset Management and over his 17-year tenure, his team achieved double-digit returns and was ranked in the top 5%...

Today’s conversation is with Michael Mauboussin, Head of Consilient Research at Counterpoint Global. Before joining Counterpoint Global, Michael was the Director of Research at BlueMountain Capital Management in New York and previously the Head of Global Financial Strategies at Credit Suisse and Chief Investment Strategist at Legg Mason Capital Management. Michael has also authored several books and has been an adjunct professor of finance at Columbia Business School since 1993, where he is...

Today’s conversation is with Francisco García Paramés, chairman and chief investment officer at Cobas Asset Management, which he founded in 2016. Before founding Cobas, Francisco was with Bestinver for over 25 years. During that time, he built a legendary record and posted an average annual return of 15%, outperforming the reference benchmark by more than 700 basis points. Francisco is based in my home country of Spain and his reputation has extended far beyond its border. As a self-taught...

Today’s conversation is with David Samra, managing director of Artisan Partners and founding partner of the Artisan Partners International Value Team. He is the lead portfolio manager of the Artisan International Value Fund, which he has managed since its inception in September 2002. Mr. Samra also was co-portfolio manager for the Global Value Fund from its inception in December 2007 through September 2018. Before joining Artisan Partners, David was a portfolio manager and a senior analyst in...

Today’s conversation is with Professor Bruce Greenwald, guru to Wall Street’s gurus. Bruce is the Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management Emeritus at Columbia Business School and is the former Academic Director of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Columbia University Presidential Teaching Award and his classes are consistently oversubscribed, with more than 650 students taking his courses every...

Today’s conversation is with Matthew McLennan, head of the Global Value team and a portfolio manager of the Global Value, International Value, US Value and Gold strategies at First Eagle Investment Management. Matt is interested in the field of education, and he is a trustee of the Trinity School in New York City. He serves as co-chair of the Board of Dean’s Advisors of the Harvard School of Public Health and as a board member of the University of Queensland in the United States of America....

Today’s conversation is with Joel Greenblatt, Founder and Managing Partner of Gotham Asset Management. Since founding Gotham in 1985, Joel and his partner Robert Goldstein have developed the firm into a large asset management company, well beyond the traditional hedge fund model and offering mutual fund products for the retail investor. Throughout his career, Joel has been a very successful adjunct professor here at Columbia Business School and has also published several successful books. ...

of Omega Advisors. After getting his MBA from Columbia Business School, Leon joined Goldman Sachs as a Junior Analyst and ultimately built up Goldman Sachs' asset management division, GSAM. In 1991 Leon decided to follow his passion for money management and started his hedge fund, Omega Advisors, which became a family office in 2018. Leon is a member of The Giving Pledge and he takes great pleasure in giving back to those organizations and institutions that made a difference in his life.  ...

Today’s conversation is with Ross Glotzbach, the CEO and Head of Research at one of the great names in value investing, Southeastern Asset Management, the firm founded by Mason Hawkins over 40 years ago. Ross is also the co-portfolio manager on Longleaf Partners, Small-Cap and Global Funds, as well as the Longleaf Partners Global UCITS Fund. Before joining Southeastern in 2004, he was a Corporate Finance Analyst at Stevens, Inc. after graduating from Princeton University.  From a young age,...

Today’s conversation is with Jennifer Wallace, a wonderful expositor to the main ideas of value investing, but also a very deep thinker when it comes to the interaction of value investing and the market at large. Jenny is the co-founder of Summit Street Capital Management, where she is the portfolio manager of the US equity value fund. She's also a Columbian through and through as she holds a BA from Columbia College and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Jenny is a member of the advisory...