Roxanne Martino is Managing Partner at OceanM19 family office in Chicago, and has had a long career in asset management. She founded Aurora Investment Management in 1988, a firm which provided hedge fund portfolio solutions to institutional investors for over 28 years. She is Co-Chairperson of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Council, Chairperson of the Boards of the Ann & Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Chair of its Executive and Governance Committees and holds a number of investment committee and board roles in educational institutions and charities. She is a published author and a frequent commentator on investment matters in the media and on the conference circuit.

A legend on the Chicago investment management scene tells her story, how she bucked convention to establish an asset manager with a mostly female executive team and her new focus on Boards and Charities.

Rahul Moodgal has been described as a “Master Fundraiser” and currently works in a business development for various asset managers, including hedge funds as well as having a rich portfolio career which includes various charities and a role as an angel investor. He describes himself as a Contrarian and a Humanitarian.

Our conversation discusses how to build a business in asset management, the central importance of relationships, resilience and learning to cope with rejection. He mentions the dangers of ESL – ego, speed and leverage, and lessons he has learned from a quarter century of building businesses in asset management.