Month: August 2026

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Improving Alpha: How Frank Mihail Runs One of America’s Top Sovereign Wealth Endowments

Improving Alpha: How Frank Mihail Runs One of America’s Top Sovereign Wealth Endowments

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When looking at the latest oil and gas headlines across the United States, many immediately think of Texas. North Dakota ranks #3 among the largest oil-producing states in the nation and is home to the $9BN North Dakota Trust Lands sovereign wealth endowment. This streamlined team generates revenue from oil royalties and taxes and is one of the healthiest institutions in the nation. So what’s their secret against a world with higher inflation, volatility, and more?

In this episode of the Improving Alpha podcast, we welcome Frank Mihail, CFA, Chief Investment Officer, North Dakota Trust and Lands. In this discussion, Frank discusses his early beginnings as an oil and gas engineer, which quickly evolved into selling Beverly Hills real estate, and eventually into building out a hedge fund book and a portable alpha program, which presented him with the opportunity to join North Dakota Trust Lands.

Additional takeaways from this episode:

  • What is different in running a sovereign wealth endowment versus some of the other guests that we’ve had recently (Kevin SigRist, North Carolina Investment Authority, or Andrew Junkin, Virginia Retirement System)?
  • How are Frank and his team advocating for better benchmarks in private infrastructure, and what is their diversification approach with the portfolio to improve alpha?
  • Where does he see asset class opportunities for adding capital and generating liquidity for the portfolio?
  • How does Frank and his team navigate board discussions and manager red flags against current allocation decision-making?
  • What does Frank think about the debate surrounding the usage of a Total Portfolio Approach in institutional investing?
  • And more.

Resources:

Connect with Frank Mihail:

Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg: 

About Our Guest:

Frank Mihail, CFA, is the Chief Investment Officer of North Dakota Trust Lands, where he oversees the investment strategy for one of the state’s sovereign wealth funds. He leads the management of a multi-billion-dollar endowment that supports public education through long-term investing across public and private markets. Before joining North Dakota Trust Lands, Frank held investment leadership roles at New Mexico PERA and previously worked in private wealth management after beginning his career as a mechanical engineer and real estate professional. He is a CFA charterholder and earned his MBA from UCLA, bringing a disciplined, long-term approach to institutional portfolio management, strategic asset allocation, and investment governance.

The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning.

The release date may not correspond to the recording date.

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Improving Alpha: Cheryl Einhorn on AI & the Erosion of Critical Thinking

Improving Alpha: Cheryl Einhorn on AI & the Erosion of Critical Thinking

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Are investors handing over too much power to artificial intelligence and thereby sacrificing critical decision-making skills in an effort to get easy answers? What happens to cognitive biases or thinking mistakes when we treat AI queries like a transaction rather than a conversation?

The Improving Alpha podcast welcomes Cheryl Einhorn, Founder and CEO of Decisive, Author, and Columbia University Professor, to discuss her perspectives around AI and how quickly critical thinking frameworks can erode in young leaders who get addicted to AI. Cheryl goes on to detail what you should be doing today to protect your decision-making skills for the future.

Key takeaways:

  • What exactly are cognitive biases and why do they significantly impact your clarity in making decisions and properly seeing the world?
  • What does Cheryl mean by using the term “AI sycophancy,” and how can institutional investors defend against it?
  • In a heightened time of AI where decision-making needs to be faster and data is coming from multiple angles, why does the discipline pause hold so much value?
  • As AI continues to become better at market predictions, how does the portfolio manager or investment team take away critical meanings from the AI output to guarantee they’re solving for the right challenge?
  • Humans can find it difficult to receive feedback. Given this perspective, could AI be leveraged to strength-test an idea without risking harm to human relationships and connections?
  • How can you protect your cognitive load while developing skills that leverage AI as a teacher?
  • and more.

Resources:

Connect with Cheryl Einhorn:

Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg: 

About Our Guest:

Cheryl Einhorn is the founder and CEO of Decisive, a decision sciences company that trains people and teams in complex problem-solving and decision-making skills using the AREA Method. AREA is an acronym for an evidence-based decision-making system that uniquely controls for and counters cognitive bias to expand knowledge while improving judgment. Cheryl developed AREA during her two decades as an award-winning investigative journalist writing for publications ranging from The New York Times to Foreign Policy Magazine, Barron’s, and Harvard Business Review.

Cheryl is a longtime educator, teaching at Columbia University and at Cornell University’s SC Johnson School of Business and Cornell Tech. She is the author of three books: Problem Solved, A Powerful System for Making Complex Decisions with Confidence and Conviction, about personal and professional decision-making, and Investing In Financial Research, A Decision-Making System for Better Results about financial and investment decisions. Her new book about Problem Solver Profiles and the psychology of decision-making, Problem Solver, Maximizing Your Strengths To Make Better Decisions, recently won book awards for best psychology book and creative nonfiction book of 2024. Cheryl is also a contributing editor to several books by Harvard Business Review.

The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning.

The release date may not correspond to the recording date.