Join 100 Women in Finance Board Member, Rupal Bhansali for her podcast series

Capital allocators are hard to reach and seem like a black box to those on the outside. Rupal Bhansali, 100WF Board Member takes you inside their world in this flagship podcast series “Coffee Talk with Asset Allocators”. In this 45-minute podcast, she probes the ins and outs of their roles and remit, the twists and turns of their careers, and the tips and tricks they use to balance work and life. Get ready to be inspired and informed by the accomplishments and acumen of senior capital allocators. Tune in today!

Available Episodes

August 2022

Episode 1:

Esmeralda del Bosque, Interim Principal Head of Global Equities at LaCera

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We debut our flagship podcast series “Coffee Talk with Asset Allocators” with Esmeralda del Bosque, Interim Principal Head of Global Equities at LaCera, and a rare woman of color to oversee a 27-billion global equity portfolio, a large investment team and a bevy of external money managers. Over her 20-plus year career, she has navigated both fixed income and equities, and run the gamut of selecting managers to executing contracts. In 2020, she was nominated for the NextGen CIO award.  Besides her talent, Esme brings tenacity to her role. She is a single mom who deals with the challenges life has thrown her with humor and light-heartedness.  In this episode, we explore Esme personal and professional journey, her investment views, her passion for DEI and how she achieves work-life balance despite her demanding personal and professional responsibilities.

Sep 2022

Episode 2:

Caroline Powell, Senior Investment Analyst, NYSNA Pension Plan & Benefits Fund

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We continue our monthly podcast series “Coffee Talk with Asset Allocators” with Caroline Powell, Senior Investment Analyst at New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA). She graduated at the top of her class with a Bachelor’s of Finance at Siena College and landed a job as an investment analyst at NYSNA straight out of college.

Not only is she the first woman to join the investment team in her firm, in a short span of five years, she has been promoted to senior investment analyst where she is responsible for picking and overseeing a large roster of equity managers managing multi-billion dollars, and reports directly to the CIO.

In this episode, you will learn the tips and tricks that Caroline used to fast track her career in money management and the inside track of what works and doesn’t, if you are trying to win a mandate from NYSNA.

Oct 2022

Episode 3:

Susan Chen, Portfolio Manager of Global Public Equities at UTIMCO

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We continue our monthly podcast series “Coffee Talk with Asset Allocators” with Susan Chen, Global Head of Public Equities at UTIMCO, a 65 bln $ endowment.

In this episode, you will learn how a serendipitous internship in investing sparked her love for the profession and the career moves that led her to oversee a team of 10 and a multi-billion-dollar portfolio, at a prestigious endowment.

Susan has a dual degree in law and business and has worked in a variety of roles within the financial services industry and across asset classes. She believes her fondness for reading and desire to dig deep has helped her become a better investor.

Tune in to the episode to find out which books she has been reading, what she looks for in external managers, her investment philosophy, leadership style, and much more…

Nov 2022

Episode 4:

Kirk Sims, CFA, Senior Director – Head of Emerging Manager Program, Teacher Retirement System of Texas

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We continue our monthly podcast series “Coffee Talk with Asset Allocators” with Kirk Sims, Senior Director, and Head of Emerging Manager Program at Teacher’s Retirement System of Texas, where he oversees a 5.9 bln $ allocation to emerging managers, which is one of the largest programs of its kind.

In this 45-minute episode, you will learn how to position your capital raising efforts, various sources, and resources you can tap into as an emerging manager, what allocators want to hear in your pitch and details of a free, must-attend annual virtual conference where mega allocators show up.

Tune in to the episode to find out how you can be one of the 200+ emerging managers that TRS has allocated money to.

Dec 2022

Episode 5:

June Kim, Director of Global Equity at California State Teachers’ Retirement System.

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Welcome to another episode in our monthly podcast series Coffee Talk with Asset Allocators” where we hear from the trailblazing June Kim, Director of Global Equity for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System.

She is a rare Asian American success story, leading a $100 billion+ global equity portfolio at a mega pension plan. Her career has straddled both the sell-side and buy-side, the private sector, and the public sector.  In this 45-minute episode, you will learn about her circuitous but fulfilling career path and how she is moving the conversation on diversity “Beyond Talk”.  We also cover what it takes to win a mega mandate from CalSTRS, what impresses her team and what’s a red flag and how she manages her time as well as her portfolio by “allocating to what’s more important and impactful”.

Jan 2023

Episode 6:

Rob Rahbari, Senior Investment Officer and Assistant Treasurer at the University of Rochester.

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Welcome to another episode in our monthly podcast series, Coffee Talk with Asset Allocators, where we hear from Rob Rahbari, senior investment officer and assistant treasurer at the University of Rochester’s 3 bln $+ endowment. Learn how Rob parlayed his practice of law into a career in investing, his views on investment opportunities and where is a self-confessed perma-bull, his advice to managers – on what works and doesn’t – in meetings with allocators and how he is supporting DEI by launching IADEI (Institutional Allocators for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion).

Feb 2023

Episode 7:

Justine O’Connell, Head of Diversified Portfolios at AustralianSuper.

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This episode of our monthly podcast seriesCoffee Talk with Asset Allocators features Justine O’Connell, Head of Diversified Portfolios at Australian Super.

Learn how a serendipitous stopover in London on a round-the-world ticket led to a stupendous career in finance, starting with Goldman Sachs in London to the largest superannuation fund in Australia – Australian Super, with A$ 260 bln. in aum.  In this episode, we explore how Justine helped build an investment infrastructure and team from scratch to manage assets inhouse and the role of simplicity and need for iteration and reiteration to implement new processes and best practices.

Mar 2023

Episode 8:

Meena Lakshman, Director of the Investments team at the Helmsley Charitable Trust

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Welcome to another episode in our monthly flagship podcast series, Coffee Talk with Asset Allocators”, where we will hear from Meena Lakshman, Director of Investments at the Helmsley Charitable Trust.

In this episode you will get a sneak peek into this introvert’s journey from investment banking to investment management and from Mumbai to New York. Find out how she landed her current role and the mentors who shaped the arc of her career. Also learn how she makes decisions ranging from the macro to the micro and from managers to markets.

Apr 2023

Episode 9:

Trent Gregory, Investment Officer, West Virginia Investment Management Board

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Welcome to another episode in our monthly podcast series,  Coffee Talk with Asset Allocators”, where we hear from Trent Gregory, Investment Officer, West Virginia Investment Management Board where he helps to oversee the Global Public Equities portion of their $ 23 billion portfolio. Be inspired by his pivot from engineering to finance and how he made his way to what he describes as his “dream job”.  Learn how Trent honed his skills in manager selection and how he leverages technology to uncover interesting insights on performance and portfolio characteristics. Pay close attention to his views on what works and what matters – as manager due diligence is his forte.

May 2023

Episode 10:

Sinead Colton Grant, CIO & Head of Investments at BNY Mellon Investor Solutions.

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This episode of our monthly podcast series Coffee with Asset Allocators features Sinead Colton Grant, CIO & Head of Investments at BNY Mellon Investor Solutions.

Learn how her vacation led to her vocation and why she is fascinated by currency markets. In this episode, Sinead discusses her team’s asset allocation and due diligence process as well as what she looks for in managers – their elevator pitches, track records and commentaries. Also, what she is doing to support emerging managers and diversity as well as her belief in the transformative power of education and role models.

November 2023

Episode 11:

Katherine Joyce, CFA, Principal, Absolute Return Strategies, GCM Grosvenor

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Katherine Joyce is a principal overseeing absolute return strategies at GCM Grosvenor, a leading global alternative asset manager managing 76 billion dollars. In this episode, you will learn how Katherine successfully steered her career from consultant relations and data analytics to evaluating hedge fund managers at GCM Grosvenor. She also provides concrete suggestions on what managers can do better in their fundraising efforts as well as what it takes to differentiate and deliver in a due diligence meeting. She also discusses what impresses her most in manager meetings and how to improve the information exchange during an introductory meeting. The conversation concludes with some inspirational investing and career advice.

About our host

Ms. Rupal Bhansali

100WF Board Member
100WF’s 2019 North America Industry Leadership Award Honoree

Rupal is a first-generation immigrant and woman of color who came to America with no network or net-worth but managed to break through the glass ceiling on Wall Street to become a Chief Investment Officer of Global Equities.  She is a serial intrapreneur who built and grew, 3 multi-billion-dollar international equity businesses, first at Oppenheimer Capital, then at Mackay Shields and at Ariel Investments in New York.

She is among the rare 1.3% of women to solely manage a mutual fund in the US.   Over her 30-year career, the mutual funds she has managed have often received the coveted five-star rating from Morningstar, which reflects top decile performance.

She serves on the prestigious Barron’s Annual Roundtable which show-cases “10 of Wall Street’s smartest investors and has been featured on their “Top 100 Influential Women in US Finance” for three years in a row in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

She is also the author of a book “Non-Consensus Investing” – an investment philosophy that leverages the power and payoff of unconventional thinking and counterintuitive analysis to beat markets. She penned a special chapter packed with Non-Consensus Career Advice for Women.