Constance Freedman is Founder and Managing Partner at Moderne Ventures as well as Moderne Passport – an early-stage investment fund and industry immersion program which is focused on investing in technology companies in and around the multi-trillion dollar industries of real estate, finance, insurance, hospitality and home services. It has just closed its (over-subscribed) second fund at over $200 m. She sits on numerous boards and has received several awards including Crain’s Business 40 under 40 and Chicago Top Tech 50 (on three occasions).

A fascinating discussion of PropTech and how creating a networking and mentorship ecosystem has been the secret to a successful venture capital fund.

Pippa Gawley invests in what she describes as deep science hard tech innovations to accelerate the zero-carbon transition. She is the founder and director of Zero Carbon Capital, a fund she founded in April 2019, and holds various non-executive director and mentor roles. She has extensive experience in tech, and, latterly, in climate-tech in particular.

An angel investor opens the kimono as to some of the huge potential of climate tech and how starting her own venture capital fund has come with its own adventures.

Johara Farhadieh is Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer of The Illinois State Board of Investment (ISBI), in which she oversees a $20 bn defined benefit fund and a $5 bn dollar defined contribution plan with over 150,000 beneficiaries. She has been at ISBI for over 13 years, and prior to that was a financial analyst. She was named an All-Star Chief Investment Officer by Trusted Insight and ISBI was ranked number one in private equity returns among public pension funds in 2020 by the American Investment Council.

A story about resilience and a refusal to accept “no” for an answer when it comes to building diversity in an institutional portfolio.

Anji (Anjuman) Kaur Kang-Stewart is Global Head of Marketing at Man Group, based in their London office. She previously held a series of senior marketing and business development roles throughout the investment industry and is a Member of the Board of Trustees of Nova New Opportunities and the steering committee of Talk About Black.

An extremely moving account of a challenging coming of age and the opportunities and breakthroughs that came with it.

Jennifer Ockwell is a Partner at Triple Point Investment Management, based in London, and previously held a series of senior institutional business development roles at large asset management firms. She is an ambassador for the Diversity Project with a specific focus on the neurodiversity work stream and is a passionate advocate for neurodivergent individuals and their improved integration into the workforce. She was named “Investment Woman of the Year” and has been recognized for the impact that she has created in the workplace.

An exploration of the importance of better acceptance of neurodiversity in the workplace, which comes from a personal place for this guest.

Toyin Alalade’s last role was as a Senior Strategy Manager with Royal London. She previously worked in a range of financial and marketing roles at Standard Life and Moody Monday. She recently left Scotland and returned to her home country of Nigeria, and it was a moving Linked In post that she wrote that led me to her.

A story of what drove a return home to Nigeria after over a decade in the UK, most recently Scotland. A bonus episode that also appears on our Nigerian Voices series.

Stephan Breban is Head of Research at Renewity, the Founder of Giants Shoulders Capital and a consultant to a number of different firms. He is known as one of London’s original (and legendary) private equity investors and advisors and has witnessed some of the good, the bad and the ugly of that the sector presents. We had the pleasure of working together, side by side in our own entrepreneurial ventures, for over a decade.

A vast discussion that touches on the African investment opportunity as well as the challenges of private equity today and how to address the diversity problem.

Annabel Gillard is an International Advisory Council Member at the Institute of Business Ethics. She previously had a long career in asset management where she ran institutional business development businesses for large asset managers and held various board and committee roles in the CFA UK organization. She is currently pursuing a post-graduate degree in the twin disciplines of Philosophy and AI.

A wide-ranging discussion that touches on ethics, artificial intelligence and institutional business development.

Esther Peiner is Co-Head of the Infrastructure Group Europe in Partners Group, based In Zug. She previously spent close to 11 years at Macquarie Group, where she was a managing director focused initially on the TMT sector and then infrastructure and real assets.

A deeply personal discussion of the challenges and opportunity of blending work and family in the world of finance, the fascinating world of infrastructure investment and the benefits of a diverse workplace.