Michelle Seitz, former CEO of $1.2T AUA Russell Investments and Founder & CEO of MeydenVest Partners, on the continuing evolution of the asset management industry: A special podcast series with CAIA

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

Today on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast, we have the second podcast in a special three part series with some of the titans in the alts world.

We are partnering with CAIA, the leading global professional body in alternative investment credentialing programs, for a very special episode that dovetails with the release of their latest report on Renewed Professionalism and creating client centered outcomes for the Portfolio of the Future.

We are lucky enough to have Michelle Seitz, a stalwart and veteran of the asset management industry who is the Founder and CEO of MeydenVest Partners, LLC, a private investment firm, and was most recently the CEO of Russell Investments, one of the largest investment firms in the world with $300B in AUM and $1.2T in assets under advisement.

During Michelle’s five year tenure as Chair and CEO, she helped to modernize client offerings by adding leading edge capabilities around private markets and ESG investing and elevated diversity and inclusion programs.

Michelle’s illustrious career includes a number of accolades such as Barron’s Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance and American Banker’s Most Powerful Women in Finance.

Prior to joining Russell, Michelle spent 22 years at William Blair, where she was CEO of William Blair Investment Management and on William Blair’s corporate board of directors for 16 years. She took the helm as CEO at the ripe old age of 35, where she led William Blair’s institutional, mutual fund, and private wealth management businesses. She drove 5 fold growth at WBIM and transformed an $11B business into a $74B global asset management firm and a five-time winner of the “Best Places to Work in Money Management.”

Michelle and I had a fascinating conversation starting with how her career started with the crash of 1987 and what it meant for how she viewed the asset management world and how to focus on the client’s outcomes, the importance of portfolio construction, how and why alts may not be a fit for every investor depending on the risk, portfolio construction, fee questions, and the importance of understanding risk.

Thanks Michelle for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom. It was a pleasure to have you on the show.