Perspectives on Alternative Investments, ESG & DEI

EMS:

Hi Tameca. Thank you so much for being with me today.

TR:

Thank you for having me, Elana.

EMS:

Absolutely. To kick off the conversation, tell us a little about the firm and how you got to where you are today.

TR:

Well, I am with Old National and Old National is just Old National, was founded in 1834. The name, 1834 is the division of Old National and honors, the legacy of the parent company 1834 focused on high touch holistic asset and wealth management services for individuals and institutions. And what can I say about myself? I'm not old. I've been in the industry for 25 years. I have a Bachelor's of Science in Finance and an MBA. I started in the industry as a broker working for TD Waterhouse, which is now Charles Schwab. I obtained my Series 7 and 66. From there, I also worked at Northern Trust for 22 years,18 of those 22 years were in portfolio management. In the last four years that I was there, I was a regional director of goals-driven wealth management. Today I am a senior managing director of client portfolio management. Along the way, I've had great mentors and sponsors, Elana, that helped me navigate my financial career, which has helped me get where I am today.

EMS:

I loved hearing your journey, Tameca. So, to shift gears, given your focus on alternative investments, I would love to hear your overall outlook for the space.

TR:

Well, the role of alternative in an investor’s portfolio is very important today. Alternatives enhance the portfolio using performance and diversification of a wide range of strategies. So, with that, we don't have a concise space in which we invest because the performance dispersion is so wide. We believe that focusing more on manager selection is extremely important when it comes to portfolios.

EMS:

And more specifically, Tameca, where do you see the greatest opportunities in alternatives and why?

TR:

Well, we believe private markets will continue to grow. We've seen direct lending and private market liquidity have both increased substantially. We believe private credit would be a good space to play, given that more and more businesses are focusing more on financing outside of the traditional banking ecosystem.

EMS:

And Tameca on the other hand, what are some of the greatest challenges when it comes to investing in alternatives and why?

TR:

Well, from a pure investment standpoint, the level of uncertainty in the market makes it really hard to make tactical allocation decisions. So, while you can acknowledge that fixed income is doing very well, I mean fixed income is actually paying income, and we haven't seen that in more than a decade. The resilience of the economy also has the outlook for equity. It's very enticing. So, in this environment, it's really hard to set that bar for tactical asset allocation. So, we tend to gravitate more to a strategic asset allocation for our clients just looking at it on a long-term basis.

EMS:

Tameca, to shift gears a little bit with ESG and DEI, top of mind for the industry, I wanted to hear how your firm is addressing these very important topics.

TR:

Oh, absolutely. I have to read these metrics word for word because I’ve got some metrics. This is very impressive to me because I've been in the industry for 25 years and Old National is actually walking the walk. Some of these companies just talk about diversity in ESG, but Old National is actually walking the walk. So, I'm going to quote these statistics words. So, ESG and DEI starts at the top. So, I'm starting from the top and working my way down as a firm, we have diverse corporate board, 44% women and people of color. 45% of our executive leaders are people of color and women, 68% of Old National bank members are women. And we also scored 100% on the disability equity index for best places to work. So, when it comes to diversity, starting at the top, we're doing great. Our investment platform, ESG and DEI is really important to our company, and I am a big advocate of it as well just making sure that I have championed ESG, so we continue to accelerate over years to come.

EMS:

And Tameca, as a follow-up question. Being a woman in the industry and all your accomplishments, you're a huge inspiration. I would love to hear your thoughts and what you're doing to inspire future generations of women in our business.

TR:

Well, you know what? It's tough when you're the only woman in the room, but statistically, it's not surprising. Men still outnumber women in the financial industry. It's important that we start to recruit diverse talent at a young age. And it's equally important that as we climb the ladder within our careers, that we advocate for diverse talent and provide mentorship for that talent. So what we've done, is we have started in the local high schools, especially in the underrepresented communities, and started busing those students to our Old National Bank Corporation, and they sit with us like two to three times a week and just learn what we do, what our day-to-day is like. And that's starting at the high school level. We've also done some internships, mentoring, and working with interns from different universities across the footprint.

EMS:

Tameca, I really enjoyed hearing your journey, and I wanted to thank you so much for sharing your perspective with our listeners.

TR:

Thank you so much, Elana, and thank you for having me. This was awesome.

EMS:

And thank you for listening to the EisnerAmper podcast series. Visit eisneramper.com for more information on this and a host of other topics. And join us for our next EisnerAmper podcast when we get down to business.