Alt Goes Mainstream: The Latest on Alternative Investments, WealthTech, & Private Markets

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode unpacks the nuances of the middle market investing landscape with an industry expert who spearheads one of the leading middle market investment platforms.

We sat down in Bridgepoint’s London office with Partner and Chief Investment Officer Xavier Robert.

Xavier is a Partner of Bridgepoint and Chief Investment Officer, where he’s been a member of the firm for almost 28 years. He is a member of the Firm’s Group Management Committee and Investment Advisory Committee. He currently sits on the boards of MiQ...

Welcome to the 19th episode of the Alts Pulse, a collaboration between iCapital x Alt Goes Mainstream. 

In the latest episode of the Alts Pulse, we were live from iCapital Connect. AlphaCore Wealth Advisory CEO & Founder Dick Pfister and I had a nuanced discussion about the intersection of wealth management, technology, and private markets.

Dick is a pioneer of providing the wealth channel with access to private markets. He’s also a serial entrepreneur in both wealth management and private markets, bringing 25 years of experience across wealth advisory and financial services to bear as he bui...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode dives into the nuances of private markets with one of the industry’s leaders.

We sat down with HarbourVest CEO John Toomey, where he leads a firm that has over $160B in AUM and has over 43 years of experience across primary funds, secondary transactions, direct co-investments, and building customized programs for LPs.

John has been at HarbourVest for almost 30 years, joining the firm in 1997 as an Analyst in the Direct team. He spent 10 years as one of the leaders of the Secondary busi...

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Today’s conversation unpacks an emerging category within infrastructure investing that has a compelling set of market forces and mega trend tailwinds.

We sat down in Stonepeak’s New York office with Stonepeak Credit Partner and Senior Managing Director Ryan Roberge.

Ryan brings a diverse set of experiences to bear that helped him build an infrastructure credit business at Stonepeak. He previously covered the energy and infrastructure sectors for King Street, a New York-based hedge fund focused on distressed, special situations, and event driven credit inve...

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Today’s episode takes us to a hub of market structure, a powerhouse of trading, and a crossroads of public and private markets to discuss how private markets are in the midst of a market structure evolution.

We sat down at Bloomberg’s NYC headquarters with Bloomberg’s Head of Fixed Income & Private Markets Brad Foster to discuss how technology and data are driving a convergence between public and private markets, particularly as it relates to the credit space.

Brad is the Head of Fixed Income...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode unpacks how to build a private equity firm within one of the largest and most unique investment platforms in private markets.

We sat down in Brookfield Asset Management’s Brookfield Place office in downtown NY with David Nowak, the President of Brookfield’s Private Equity Group. 

David and I dove into a conversation about the private equity industry, Brookfield’s approach to private equity, and how the firm’s culture and DNA shapes how they work with portfolio companies and LPs.

David has...

It all comes back to the DNA.

The firms that know who they are will know who to be.

You can learn a lot about an investment firm by listening to what they say.

Alt Goes Mainstream’s AGM Originals Series - The DNA: Capturing Culture - is dedicated to capturing the DNA of a firm by listening to what they say.

The first season of The DNA stars EQT. In Stockholm, at EQT’s AIM this past summer, I sat down for conversations with nine EQT executives.

Each exec...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode dives into what it takes to start, build, and scale an alternative asset manager.

We sat down in Stable Asset Management’s London office with Erik Serrano Berntsen.

Erik is the CEO of Stable, where he defines and executes the firm’s investment strategy. Stable is one of the largest and most tenured GP stake builders globally. The firm manages around $5B in assets and has built over 40 firms since 2006.

Stable makes strategic seed and acceleration investments to launch and scale...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode dives into how data and market structure are shaping private markets.

We sat down in MSCI’s New York office with Luke Flemmer, the Head of Private Assets at MSCI to discuss how standardization and normalization of data can help bring efficiency, transparency, and liquidity to private markets.

Luke brings a unique perspective to private markets. He was previously Managing Director, Head of Digital Strategy for Alternative Investments at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and was Co-Founder and CEO of Lab49, a global solu...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

The Goldman Sachs Alternatives Summit “convened leaders across finance, geopolitics, technology, and culture” to discuss themes driving global markets.

2025’s Alternatives Summit was about “navigating a world in flux,” as the firm’s recap of its event noted. 

The event aimed to help investors cut through the noise and put together the pieces of the puzzle in a dynamic and increasingly complex world. 

Alt Goes Mainstream joined the event to have unscripted conversations with Goldman Sachs Alternatives leaders to cut through the noise by unpacking k...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

The Goldman Sachs Alternatives Summit “convened leaders across finance, geopolitics, technology, and culture” to discuss themes driving global markets.

2025’s Alternatives Summit was about “navigating a world in flux,” as the firm’s recap of its event noted. 

The event aimed to help investors cut through the noise and put together the pieces of the puzzle in a dynamic and increasingly complex world. 

Alt Goes Mainstream joined the event to have unscripted conversations with Goldman Sachs Alternatives leaders to cut through the noise by unpacking k...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

The Goldman Sachs Alternatives Summit “convened leaders across finance, geopolitics, technology, and culture” to discuss themes driving global markets.

2025’s Alternatives Summit was about “navigating a world in flux,” as the firm’s recap of its event noted. 

The event aimed to help investors cut through the noise and put together the pieces of the puzzle in a dynamic and increasingly complex world. 

Alt Goes Mainstream joined the event to have unscripted conversations with Goldman Sachs Alternatives leaders to cut through the noise by unpacking k...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

The Goldman Sachs Alternatives Summit “convened leaders across finance, geopolitics, technology, and culture” to discuss themes driving global markets.

2025’s Alternatives Summit was about “navigating a world in flux,” as the firm’s recap of its event noted. 

The event aimed to help investors cut through the noise and put together the pieces of the puzzle in a dynamic and increasingly complex world. 

Alt Goes Mainstream joined the event to have unscripted conversations with Goldman Sachs Alternatives leaders to cut through the noise by unpacking k...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

The Goldman Sachs Alternatives Summit “convened leaders across finance, geopolitics, technology, and culture” to discuss themes driving global markets.

2025’s Alternatives Summit was about “navigating a world in flux,” as the firm’s recap of its event noted. 

The event aimed to help investors cut through the noise and put together the pieces of the puzzle in a dynamic and increasingly complex world. 

Alt Goes Mainstream joined the event to have unscripted conversations with Goldman Sachs Alternatives leaders to cut through the noise by unpacking k...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

The Goldman Sachs Alternatives Summit “convened leaders across finance, geopolitics, technology, and culture” to discuss themes driving global markets.

The 2025 Alternatives Summit was about “navigating a world in flux,” as the firm’s recap of its event noted. 

The event aimed to help investors cut through the noise and put together the pieces of the puzzle in a dynamic and increasingly complex world. 

Alt Goes Mainstream joined the event to have unscripted conversations with Goldman Sachs Alternatives leaders to cut through the noise by unpacking...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode dives into the rapidly expanding world of secondaries with a senior leader at one of the pioneering firms in the secondaries space.

We sat down at Franklin Templeton’s New York office with Taylor Robinson, a Partner on the Secondary team at Lexington Partners, which has over $77B in total capitalization and is part of Franklin Templeton’s family of private markets funds and strategies.

Taylor, who joined the firm in 2008, is primarily focused on the origination, evaluation, and execution of secondary opport...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode features a pioneer who has been building the core infrastructure that is making private markets go mainstream.

We talk with Gary Tenkman, a 30-year veteran of the fund administration world who is the CEO of Ultimus Fund Solutions. Ultimus serves over 450 clients and 2,300 funds, representing $725B of assets under administration, all handled by a team of over 1,100 professionals. 

Ultimus, which is backed by private equity firm, GTCR and, more recently, Stone Point, is able to help investment managers navigate a growing array of...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode brings us to the apex of the wealth channel. We sat down in Goldman Sachs’ HQ at 200 West with Sara Naison-Tarajano, a Partner and Global Head of Private Wealth Management Capital Markets and Global Head of Goldman Sachs Apex Family Office Coverage.

Sara is also responsible for the One Goldman Sachs Family Office initiative in the Americas.

Sara has been at Goldman Sachs for over 26 years, where she’s worked in a number of roles across the firm, equipping her with a multi...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode brings infrastructure investing to life — literally.

We sat down in and walked through one of Stonepeak’s data center assets with Managing Director and CEO of SP+ INFRA, Cyrus Gentry.

Cyrus has played an integral role in Stonepeak’s rapid ascent as a firm and the growth of its wealth solutions business, Stonepeak+, joining early in the firm’s history and helping the firm grow to approximately $80B in AUM.

Cyrus brings a private equity perspective to infrastructure investing. Prior to Stonepe...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode takes us inside the world of wealth from the perspective of one of the industry’s largest alternative asset managers that has made the wealth channel core to its firm’s DNA from the beginning.

We sat down with Sean Connor, Senior Managing Director and the President & CEO of Global Private Wealth at Blue Owl Capital, a firm with almost $300B in AUM. Sean highlighted a number of key insights for navigating and working with the wealth channel as he shared lessons learned from buildi...

It all comes back to the DNA.

The firms that know who they are will know who to be.

You can learn a lot about an investment firm by listening to what they say.

Alt Goes Mainstream’s AGM Originals Series - The DNA: Capturing Culture - is dedicated to capturing the DNA of a firm by listening to what they say.

The first season of The DNA stars EQT. In Stockholm, at EQT’s AIM this past summer, I sat down for conversations with nine EQT executives.

Each exec...

Welcome to the 18th episode of the Alts Pulse, a collaboration between iCapital x Alt Goes Mainstream. 

In the latest episode of the Alts Pulse, a live conversation in studio with Lawrence Calcano, the Chairman & CEO of iCapital, Lawrence and I go global. We discussed his recent trip to Asia to peer into the nuances of the different wealth management markets around the globe.

As the leader of a platform with over $300B of assets that is responsible for the majority of individual and advisor-led investment flows into the alts space, Lawrence and iCapital have t...

It all comes back to the DNA.

The firms that know who they are will know who to be.

You can learn a lot about an investment firm by listening to what they say.

Alt Goes Mainstream’s AGM Originals Series - The DNA: Capturing Culture - is dedicated to capturing the DNA of a firm by listening to what they say.

The first season of The DNA stars EQT. In Stockholm, at EQT’s AIM this past summer, I sat down for conversations with nine EQT executives.

Each exec...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode dives into the nuances of enterprise software and how to build a scaled specialist alternative asset manager.

We sat down in Vista’s NYC office with David Breach, Vista’s President and Chief Operating Officer.

David sits on Vista’s Executive Committee, the firm’s governing and decision-making body for matters affecting its overall management and strategic direction as well as the firm’s Private Equity Management and Vista’s Private Equity Funds’ Investment Committees. David is also the Co-CEO of VistaOne, Vista’s evergree...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode was filmed at ING’s HQ in Amsterdam, right after ING held its Private Markets Day. The firm has been actively building out its private markets capabilities to serve its private wealth clients so it was a treat to interview two of the people responsible for running ING’s wealth management and private markets practice.

We sat down with Anneka Treon, ING’s Global Head of Private Banking, Wealth Management & Investments, and Johan Kloeze, Head of Private Banking & Wealth Management Netherlands, to discuss ING’s big ambi...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode was filmed live at an event during a Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions RIA Council meeting in New York.

Armen Panossian, the Co-CEO and Head of Performing Credit at Oaktree, and I sat down for a conversation in a Brookfield-owned building with a group of RIAs in the audience.

Armen, who joined Oaktree in 2007, has been an integral part of scaling Oaktree to over $209B in AUM. Oaktree, a storied firm, particularly in distressed credit, was recently fully acquired by Br...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode brings the perspective of an asset management veteran who has sat on both sides of the table.

We sat down in Franklin Templeton’s New York City office with George Stephan, COO of Global Wealth Management Alternatives at Franklin Templeton.

George joined Franklin to continue the buildout of the firm’s Alternatives capabilities, which boasts over $264B AUM in private markets strategies that include Lexington Partners, Benefit Street Partners, and Clarion Partners. George came from KKR, where he was Head of Strategy and Bu...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s interview is with a wealth management entrepreneur who created one of the most consequential wealth management technology companies that has helped to shape the industry into what it is today.

Bill Crager is the Co-Founder of Envestnet, which he and his co-founder, the late Jud Bergman, grew into a public company. Bill was the CEO of Envestnet during the company’s time as both a public company and following Bain Capital’s acquisition to take the company private for $4.5B.

Bill is now back a...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode welcomes a pioneer and visionary in enterprise software investing to Alt Goes Mainstream.

Robert F. Smith is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of $100B AUM Vista Equity Partners. He sits on the firm’s Investment Committees for Vista’s Flagship, Foundation, Endeavor, and Perennial Funds and serves as a member of Vista’s Executive committee. Vista’s portfolio spans 90 enterprise software, data, and technology-enabled companies that employ over 100,000 people worldwide.

He’s also heavily involved and committed to the firm’s wealth channel effort...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode dives into private credit and building an asset management business inside of a leading global bank.

We sat down in Nomura’s NYC office with Robert Stark, the CEO of Nomura Capital Management LLC (NCM) and Head of Investment Management in the Americas for the Nomura Group.

Robert brings deep experience in financial services to Nomura. He was previously the Founder & CEO of Alterum Capital Partners LLC, where he focused on building an investment management business at the intersection of private markets and...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode is with an experienced private markets and distribution executive who has been educating the wealth channel and distributing private markets investment solutions at some of the industry’s largest investment platforms.

We sat down in Prudential’s Newark studio with PGIM’s Global Head of Alternative Investments, Dominick Carlino. PGIM is the $1.4T global asset management business of Prudential Financial.

At PGIM, Dominick is responsible for driving the continued development and distribution of alternative investments tailored to the firm’s wealth channel investors...

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Today’s episode dives into digital infrastructure and how it powers the growth of artificial intelligence and other major trends in digitalization and electrification.

We sat down in Blue Owl’s NYC office with Matt A’Hearn, an asset management entrepreneur and executive at the firm.

Matt is a Senior Managing Direct at Blue Owl and Head of Digital Infrastructure. He’s responsible for leading the overall management of Digital Infrastructure, including strategy, investments, and portfolio management.

Prior to joining Blue Owl, Matt was the...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode is with an experienced asset allocator who has operated at the intersection of insurance and asset management throughout his career.

We sat down in Prudential’s Newark studio with  PGIM’s Head of Multi-Asset and Quantitative Solutions, Phil Waldeck. Phil is responsible for nearly $140B in AUM, where the business unit leverages PGIM’s deep public and private markets expertise for the purpose of developing customized portfolio solutions to meet insurer and other investors’ unique objectives. 

Phil previously served as Chief Transformation Officer at P...

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Today’s episode dives into the evolution of infrastructure investing with a leading scaled specialist firm in infrastructure.

We sat down in Stonepeak’s Hudson Yards office with a pioneer in infrastructure investing: Mike Dorrell.

Mike is the Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Stonepeak, building the foundations for the firm to achieve a rapid ascent to $76B from its founding in 2011.

Mike brings deep expertise to bear in the infrastructure asset class. He has over 20 years of experience investing in infrastructure, starting his care...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode provides a fascinating window into the world of private equity value creation and how AI can help transform both portfolio company and investment firm processes and operations to create value.

We sat down in New York with Hg Partner and Head of Value Creation Chris Kindt to dive into how he spearheaded the growth of the firm’s in-house value creation efforts and has built a high-performing team to meet the evolving needs of portfolio companies.

Chris brings 15 years of experience in arch...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode is with two executives who have helped to build one of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.

In Permira Part 2, Brian Ruder joins his Co-Managing Partner and Co-CEO Dipan Patel in Permira’s London office to discuss the firm’s evolution and how the business has grown to over €80B in AUM.

Both Brian and Dipan bring deep backgrounds in private equity investing to bear as they now lead the firm through its next phase of growth.

Brian joined Permira in...

We are back with the latest Going Public with Evercore’s Glenn Schorr.

On this episode of Going Public, we unpack the rollercoaster of the past few months in private markets for alternative asset managers. Private markets is much more than private equity — and this episode dives into nuances of specific strategies and what it means for alternative asset managers’ businesses.

We discussed:

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode is with one of the executives who has helped to build one of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.

We sat down in Permira’s London office with Co-CEO Dipan Patel to discuss the firm’s evolution and how the business has grown to over €80B in AUM.

Dipan brings a deep background in private equity investing to bear as he and his Co-CEO Brian Ruder now lead the firm through its next phase of growth.

Dipan joined Permira from Gores...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s podcast was a conversation that was recorded live at Morningstar’s Investment Conference in Chicago earlier this year.

Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor took time out of his packed schedule at the event to sit down with me for a thought-provoking conversation that dove into the nuances of many of the trends that are shaping private markets today.

Morningstar and Kunal have quite an interesting perch in the market. They occupy a critically important function in the market: helping investors understand the data, structures, and...

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode dives into the evolution of infrastructure investing with the leading scaled specialist firm in infrastructure.

We sat down in Stonepeak’s Hudson Yards office with the firm’s Co-President Luke Taylor to discuss the inner workings of the infrastructure investing world and unpack the story of how Stonepeak’s rapid ascent has seen the firm climb to $76.3B in AUM in 14 short years.

Luke brings a wealth of experience to the infrastructure investing world. He is Co-President of Stonepeak and a member of all o...