Exploring New Approaches for Attracting Investors, Hiring and Retaining Talent

Joe Latini, Chief Commercial Officer at MUFG Investor Services, smiled as he described how the panel discussion at the NY Alts & Private Markets Forum on June 5 would flip a common question about operating in the rapidly changing global alternatives marketplace.

“Everybody always asks, ‘What keeps you up at night?’” Joe said to the audience. “Well, here is a group of people who can talk about how we can sleep better at night, because they’ve all gone through massive growth in their organizations.”

Revamping operating models and products to accommodate new investors, as well as exploring ways to attract and retain top talent were key themes of the panel that Joe moderated—”Balancing Act: Buyside Firms Share Strategies for Managing Risk, Retaining Talent, and Driving Growth”—with panelists Marc Creatore, Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer of Highbridge Capital Management; Eli Griffis, Managing Director, HBK Capital Management; and Jim Keogh, Managing Director & Head of Operations for Global Credit at the Carlyle Group.

Joe opened with questions about client activity, new product demand, and investments in new technology solutions to handle volumes of data.

“We’ve seen a lot of demand from insurance clients, and that’s meant structuring things differently, thinking about different ways to put traditional products into structured vehicles,” Jim said. “That comes with a lot of operational complexity.”

Noting that “there’s a bit of a structural evolution going on here,” Marc agreed, adding that investors now are looking for a different return profile than in the past. As funds partner with new high-net-worth investors from the retail side, those investors are increasingly focused on performance and examining fund track records with unprecedented scrutiny. “It comes back to the data architecture that you set up within the firm, and having the ability to access [data] so that when you get ad-hoc requests [from clients or prospects], it’s not a fire drill.”

Investing in proprietary solutions remains critical because tools from niche third-party providers can “get you 70% or 80% there but not all the way there yet,” Eli said. While artificial intelligence “may lead to needing fewer people to do certain things, you are always going to need that [human] judgement overlay,” he added.

AI is “not going to replace people,” Jim agreed. “It’s still going to be a very people-driven business. What it is going to do is free up people’s time to do other things.”

Attracting and retaining top talent while building a strong culture is critical to organizations, Joe said, asking “how are you giving people opportunities to grow your organization in the way that you want to grow your organization?”

The work begins by providing employees tools and resources to perform at a high level, as well as a curated individual development plan for every employee, Eli said. And always look for special growth opportunities for employees. “That might be pulling an analyst into an investor meeting,” Eli said, “or bringing a trader into a risk meeting where they can present in front of the risk committee.”

Enterprise-wide collaboration across departments and explaining how employees’ work contributes to a firm’s success helps to build a sense of ownership. Celebrating a successful deal is important, Marc said, but it’s very helpful to go deeper and explore “What were all the different facets of the firm that were involved in pulling this off?”

Mentoring, building skill sets and demonstrating a career path for junior employees are critical factors in building culture. “Move people into the right, next seat for them,” Jim said. “Don’t hire above people. If you think there’s someone that is just on the cusp of being able to do that job, push them, coach them, get them to the place where they can [do the job.] It’s worth the bet on that person.”

As firms hire for the future, they are shifting recruiting approaches to attract candidates.

“We’ve stopped using a lot of external recruiters because we found a lot of success within our Carlyle networks,” Jim said. “Some of that is as simple as going out on your LinkedIn and just sharing a job and saying, ‘Hey, tell your friends’…The other thing we’re thinking about is onshore high value locations and where we put the next office.”

Generational shifts in the approach to work are driving firms to reconsider expectations for new hires. “I remain highly impressed with the candidates that are coming out of school now or have a couple years of work underneath them,” Eli said. “Maybe they’re not working a hundred hours a week, but they’re exceptionally bright, they’re exceptionally passionate. Just given all of the technological innovation of the 20 last years, I think they have a different mindset and creative way to think about a lot of problems.”

Marc agreed that entry-level employees “are coming in at a much higher level,” which helps firms build a solid bench to replace employees who leave. The breadth of candidates led his firm to reconsider qualifications for a position. “We’re looking for people that are really bright, really hardworking, that possess an intellectual curiosity,” he said. “You don’t need a person with a specific background. Going out and getting that person that’s just interested in what you do and sees beyond the role, they’re the ones that we’ve seen have succeeded time and time again.”

Ultimately, the investing in people will drive an organization’s success and culture. “If you don’t invest in your people, you’re absolutely missing the point,” Joe said. “You’ve got to actually walk the walk. You can’t just talk the talk.”