Tag: Education

Improving Alpha: Sandro Salsano exploring synergies in investments, philanthropy and deep value strategies

Improving Alpha: Sandro Salsano exploring synergies in investments, philanthropy and deep value strategies

When it comes to geopolitical risk, company risk, or even balancing the costs of capital with the desire for quick profits, institutional investors are now taking a long-term approach to their future investments. How does this perspective impact the risk-reward dynamic for future returns, and are there sectors that may not be as flashy but offer better opportunities for generating alpha?

To answer these questions and more, Michael Oliver Weinberg, host of the Improving Alpha podcast invited Sandro Salsano, President of the Salsano Group, to get a sense of what he’s seeing in the world of emerging markets, private equity, philanthropy, and more.

Sandro discusses: 

  • the fascinating story behind his family office and Goldman Sachs interactions, and his insights into his innovative global strategies in the realm of private equity, emerging markets, and more.
  • his core sectors and investment horizon, and how they’re delivering alpha and positive cash flows in this market.
  • how he views partnerships with larger institutions to assist in putting capital to work for longer periods of time.
  • his view of the Latin American markets (including Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru) and how inflation plays a role in his strategic investments across the region.
  • balancing investments across philanthropic ideas and how these moves led him to a seat on the Board of Trustees at the University of San Diego. 
  • how he applies a measure of psychology to investing, and how being humble in life and investing has led to his overall success.
  • And more!

Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg: 

Connect with Sandro Salsano:

About Sandro Salsano:

Sandro Salsano has been at the forefront of successful initiatives in investments, philanthropy, and education for more than two decades. Forbes called him the Warren Buffett of Central America on its cover and one of the world’s most iconic visionary and financial titans. The World Economic Forum named him Young Global Leader for his exceptional vision, courage, and influence to drive positive change in the world. In 2014 he formalized his philanthropy by co-founding the Salsano Shahani Foundation to focus on education. He is a Chairman of Global Dignity, a Member of the Judging Academy for the World’s Best School Prize, a Partner of the Tent Partnership for Refugees, a Member of the Academy for Global Teacher Prize, a Steering Committee member of 1640 Society, and pledged his support to TerraCarta. Sandro is President of Salsano Group, a multi-billion dollar private conglomerate holding company investing in private equity, real estate, and technology globally and he is President of Salsano Family Office. Sandro serves as a Trustee for the University of San Diego California and is on the Investment Committee for the Endowment of the University. A graduate of Bocconi University Milan with full grades, he also studied at Harvard, Oxford, and Princeton University. He and his wife Johanna have been married since 2014 and have two children.

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.

Improving Alpha: A Zero Sum Behavioral Psychology Approach for Innovative Allocators

Improving Alpha: A Zero Sum Behavioral Psychology Approach for Innovative Allocators

In the world of finance, there are many discussions around the topics of economic challenges or inequality when it comes to how asset managers or asset owners navigate the market. The volume certainly increases on this theme around bonus time when performance incentives are being paid out despite market volatility and declining returns.

 In this episode, Michael Oliver Weinberg, co-founder, Improving Alpha Podcast Series, is joined by Shai Davidai, Assistant Professor, Management Division, Columbia Business School, to go under the hood of economic behavioral psychology at work across asset managers and owners.

Shai discusses: 

  • How economic inequality is different from economic mobility and why we tend to overestimate upward mobility. 
  • How philanthropy factors into the internal attributions that people assume about the person that is promoting their Giving Pledge.
  • How does the hypothesis of a zero-sum game factor into an asset manager or owner’s strategic plan?
  • How does the zero-sum game tie itself into organizations and retaining talent by offering either a zero-sum incentive program vs. a non-zero-sum program.
  • And more!

Connect with Shai Davidai:

About Our Guest:

Shai Davidai is Assistant Professor in the Management Division of Columbia Business School. His research examines people’s everyday judgments of themselves, other people, and society as a whole. He studies the psychological forces that shape, distort, and bias people’s perceptions of the world and their influence on people’s judgments, preferences, and choices. His topics of expertise include the psychology of judgment and decision making, economic inequality and social mobility, social comparisons, and zero-sum thinking.

His work has been published in top-tier journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Perspectives on Psychological Sciences, and the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making.

Shai received his PhD from Cornell University in 2015. Prior to joining Columbia Business School, Shai spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University and 3 years as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Research

Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg: 

To learn more about our host visit: https://www.vidrio.com/blog/improving-alpha-podcast-columbia-business-davidai

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.

Improving Alpha: Jeff Mindlin, ASU Enterprise Partners on Engineering a $1.3 billion Endowment for the Future

Improving Alpha: Jeff Mindlin, ASU Enterprise Partners on Engineering a $1.3 billion Endowment for the Future

As allocators continue to navigate these volatile investment waters, endowments find themselves wrestling with questions around sustainability, ESG investing, innovation, and how to pass along their strategies for success to the next generation.

In this inaugural episode, Michael Oliver Weinberg, co-founder, Improving Alpha Podcast Series, is joined by Jeff Mindlin, Chief Investment Officer of ASU Enterprise Partners to discuss how ASU Enterprise Partners encourages growth to the next generation of financial advisors. He shares his own journey and how tech and innovation is influencing his next steps when investing for the future. 

Jeff discusses:

  • His background and how he had a light-bulb moment with financial engineering and the building of quant models.
  • What is ASU Enterprise Partners and how was Michael able to grow from $650 in AUM to over $1.3 billion in the endowment today.
  • The sustainability efforts in the ASU Enterprise Partners endowment today, and what led to the ‘petri-dish’ of tests to figure out the right implementation for an ESG strategy that made sense.
  • How his team is tapping into the student body to build a student managed fund program that deals less with stock picking and more about modeling a real investment strategy, whether it’s through impact investing, ESG, real estate assets and more.
  • How he thinks about tech and innovation, whether it comes from categories in education, clean tech, space or even military.
  • And more!

Connect with Jeff Mindlin:

About Our Guest:

Jeff Mindlin is responsible for managing the ASU Foundation’s highly diversified investment assets to maximize long-term, risk adjusted returns. He provides critical support of the investment committee, and oversight of the outsourced chief investment officer while also helping drive synergies within the other ASU Enterprise Partner subsidiaries.

Mindlin oversees the Education Technology Accelerator program, acts as a trustee to the retirement plan and advises on the investment management of ASU’s operating funds.

Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:

To learn more about our host visit: https://www.vidrio.com/blog/improving-alpha-podcast-asu-enterprise-partners 

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.