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

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s podcast takes us to the heart of New York City to talk with James Li, the President and Partner of Davidson Kempner, a firm that was an early participant in the merger arbitrage, distressed debt, and opportunistic credit industries.
Davidson Kempner’s heritage lies in cutting through complexity to find value.
Founded in 1983, Davidson Kempner’s origins began in merger arbitrage, distressed debt, and opportunistic credit. The firm, which now has around 1,800 clients, began accepting outside capital in 1987 and has since built out its investment platform to include convertible arbitrage, long / short equities, asset-based lending, and real estate strategies.
Davidson Kempner has since grown to almost $40B in AUM across public and private markets strategies.
The firm has a penchant for navigating complex situations across public and private markets to opportunistically uncover value, noting that “no situation is too complex for [them].” 
James unpacked how the firm’s family office DNA has evolved across three generations of leadership into a scaled investment platform across public and private markets to inform the firm’s relative value investing perspective.
James and I had a fascinating conversation on a number of pressing topics at the intersection of public and private markets. We covered:
How do public market feedback loops inform private market investments?
How post-GFC growth in private equity has created “indigestion” in the system.
What the current state of private equity means for capital solutions opportunities.
Why distressed and opportunistic credit can be countercyclical.
What it means to be a relative value investor and how Davidson Kempner navigates different sectors, markets, geographies, and asset classes.
What deglobalization means for investing in private markets.
Why are allocators shifting toward absolute return strategies?
How Davidson Kempner’s family office DNA has informed how they approach working with the wealth channel.
Bio
James Li is the President and a Partner at Davidson Kempner. Mr. Li also co-manages the Client Partnerships & Business Development department and oversees the Firm’s Capital Markets, Strategy and Treasury Teams. He joined the Firm in 2018 and is based in the New York office.
Before joining Davidson Kempner, Mr. Li was a Managing Director in the Client Relationship Management and Strategy Group at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Li received a B.S. from Columbia University.
Thanks, James, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion about public and private markets and your approach to investing in complex situations.
Show Notes
00:00 Live From Davidson Kempner’s Office in NYC
01:36 A Message from Ultimus Fund Solutions
02:37 Introduction to James Li
03:36 Career Roots At Goldman
05:16 Discovering Davidson Kempner
06:13 Three Generations Of Leadership
06:42 Family Office DNA
08:23 Investing In Complexity
10:44 Where Complexity Pays
12:20 Liquid Versus Private Feedback
13:37 Macro Shifts And Deglobalization
16:01 Finding Edge In Less Crowded Markets
17:28 Private Capital Indigestion
18:47 Capital Solutions Playbook
20:48 Building Operating Capabilities
25:59 Allocator Shift In Credit
31:26 Hedge Funds Return
32:12 Post GFC Lessons
32:48 Fees Volatility Gating
33:13 Evergreen Vehicle Design
34:04 Liquidity Over Leverage
34:15 Leverage Risk Explained
35:14 Semi Liquid Marking Issues
35:36 Flows Back To Hedge Funds
36:26 Wealth Channel Education
37:14 Merger Arb Basics
38:34 Global Credit Toolkit
39:18 Portfolio Velocity Risk
40:58 Investment-Led Ownership
43:43 Scale Competition Edge
44:28 Restructuring Repayment Focus
45:43 Building Wealth Business
54:07 Firm Vision And DNA

A Word from Our Sponsor, Ultimus
This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.
That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.
Learn more at ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We were live from iCapital Connect’s conference in Phoenix, where we sat down with some of the industry’s leaders across asset management and wealth management.
We spoke with Ava Mallin, Managing Director, US Private Wealth Solutions at Ardian.
Ava brings a distinctive approach to how she works with the wealth channel. She emphasized that asset managers should treat capital as a client’s legacy rather than “just dollars.” 
Speaking of legacy, Ardian is a firm with a rich legacy. The firm was born in 1996, when AXA’s Chairman, Claude Bébéar, chairman of AXA, asked Dominique Senequier to create a private equity arm for the insurer. And so AXA Private Equity was born. The firm’s first fund launched with a $100M French Buyout fund and two external clients.
Today, Ardian stands tall as a giant in private markets, spanning asset classes and managing over $200B AUM.
As a firm that provides investment solutions and customized strategies, Ardian thinks deeply about the breadth and depth of its relationships with LPs. Ava brings this perspective to bear in the wealth channel, which was evident in our conversation.
Ava shared how she brings a uniquely human perspective to fundraising and partnering with the wealth channel. She believes managing money is managing emotion, which is critical for GPs to understand how wealth advisors manage their relationships with clients.
We had a fascinating conversation, covering: 
The importance of understanding the human and emotional side that it takes to build enduring partnerships with LPs.
Why US LPs have a growing interest in diversification and want exposure to Europe.
Why secondaries is a partnership business with LPs and GPs.
The importance of educating the wealth channel on private markets.
Why Ardian prefers the term “evergreen” over “semi-liquid.” 
Why GPs should work with the wealth channel only if they have true commitment to the channel and top-down support from senior leadership.
Bio
Ava Mallin joined Ardian in 2022. She is responsible for Private Wealth relationships in the US. Prior to joining Ardian, she spent seven years at Carlyle in their Private Wealth group. She is based in New York.
Thanks, Ava, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion for how you approach working with the wealth channel and your focus on EQ as part of building relationships with advisors that enable them to treat their clients' capital as legacy.
Show Notes
00:00 Live From iCapital Connect
00:23 A Message From Ultimus Fund Solutions
01:21 Meet Ardian’s Ava Mallin
01:48 Money And Emotion
03:11 Ardian Culture And Fit
03:45 Secondaries Partnership Model
04:45 Building US Wealth Business
05:59 Evergreen Liquidity Mindset
07:26 Educating Advisors And Clients
09:02 Brand And Leadership Support
10:13 Authenticity In Sales
11:28 Listening And Curiosity
12:29 Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should
13:31 Getting Firmwide Buy In
14:11 Wealth Channel Challenges
14:47 Closing Thoughts

A Word from Our Sponsor, Ultimus
This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.
That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.
Learn more at ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We were live from AGM’s RIA Field Trip at Franklin Templeton’s New York office in Madison Square Park with Franklin Templeton’s Head of Private Markets - Americas Wealth Management Dave Donahoo to discuss the nuances of serving the wealth channel.
Dave brings the perspective of someone who has seen the wealth channel handle multiple market cycles and an understanding of both traditional and alternative asset management, while always keeping the outcome for the end investor in mind.
Dave started his career in the depths of the 2008 financial crisis at T. Rowe Price, where he worked with individual investors. He rose up the ranks of T. Rowe Price and then joined Blackstone as a Principal in the firm’s Private Wealth Solutions business before moving to Franklin Templeton as Head of Private Markets - Americas Wealth Management.
Unpacking nuances in private markets, Dave discussed why he believes a “family of specialists” with a “narrow scope” is critical for a private markets investment platform and how a traditional asset manager can approach building brand in private markets. We had a fascinating discussion, covering:
How Dave’s background starting his career working with individual investors has informed how he approaches creating solutions for the wealth channel.
Why LPs want to do more with fewer partners and what this means for GPs.
Specialists vs. generalists.
Why RIAs have “cold call fatigue.”
What RIAs want from a product perspective and why differentiation, trust, and proactive client service are top of the list.
How asset managers can approach brand-building.
The product innovation roadmap and what the path to 401(k) and DC products might look like.
Thanks, Dave, for sharing a fascinating window into the wealth channel and for your passion, expertise, and dedication to providing private markets solutions to the wealth channel.
Show Notes
00:04 Live from Franklin Templeton RIA Field Trip
00:07 Meet Dave Donahoo
02:31 Lehman Day One Story
03:15 Thrown Into the Phone Queues
03:37 Teacher Call and Investor Fear
04:53 Start With the End Client
05:26 From T Rowe to Blackstone
05:53 Blackstone Wealth Playbook
07:18 Why Franklin Was the Fit
08:09 Traditional Manager Advantages
09:09 Platform Synergies in Wealth
10:16 Challenges of Going Private
10:36 Brand Transformation Story
11:44 Internal Alignment and Change
12:16 What the Brand Should Signal
12:50 Specialist Managers Philosophy
13:44 Building Perpetuals the Right Way
14:13 Defining the Right Structure
15:44 Evergreen Structure Depends
16:09 Secondaries Structure Choice
18:10 Infrastructure Partnership Model
20:02 Preserving Investment Cultures
21:50 Data and AI Cross Collaboration
24:17 Macro Insights Across Platforms
25:47 Product Innovation Roadmap
27:06 Private Markets in 401k Plans
27:53 What Model Portfolios Mean
29:06 What RIAs Want Most
30:21 Client Service and Honesty

A Word from Our Sponsor, Ultimus
This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.
That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.
Learn more at ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s podcast takes us to the heart of London, where we sat down with Maggie Fanari, the CEO of J Rothschild Capital Management Limited, manager of RIT Capital Partners plc. 
RIT blends a rich heritage with a modern approach to both asset allocation and private markets. 
Lord Jacob Rothschild founded Rothschild Investment Trust in 1971. RIT listed on the London Stock Exchange with total assets of £280M. Today, the firm stands tall as one of the UK’s largest investment trusts with over £4.7B of total assets.
The firm’s permanent capital and family office heritage have enabled the firm to think long-term, according to Maggie. “Permanent capital is a privilege,” she said.
Maggie has brought an institutional allocator’s background to RIT. She joined as CEO of RIT from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in 2024, where she was Senior Managing Director, Global Group Head of High Conviction Equities at OTPP, which has a global mandate to invest in public and private companies.
Maggie and I had a fascinating discussion about how the firm invests across public and private markets, balancing both top-down portfolio construction and bottom-up asset selection. We covered:
How RIT has aimed to compound wealth over time.
Why top-down portfolio construction and bottom-up asset allocation are equally important.
How can investors capture as much growth, limit market volatility, and compound growth over a long period of time?
How RIT finds unique and different managers in private markets, which includes some of the top investors in the world.
What market structure changes mean for investing across public and private markets?
How to invest when the world order has changed.
Taking a family office mindset and applying that investment mindset for investors in RIT.
Why permanent capital is a privilege.
How to be early to a theme rather than chase the trend.
Why RIT decided to invest in SpaceX, Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks, and Epic Systems.
Where do investors bucket RIT into their asset allocation?
What is a manager’s edge and how can they apply that edge with consistency?
Why depth of network matters for private markets managers.
Why RIT invested in firms like Thrive, Greenoaks, and Ribbit.
Bio
Maggie Fanari is the CEO of J. Rothschild Capital Management Limited (JRCM) , investment manager for RIT Capital Partners plc. She is Chair of JRCM’s Investment Committee.
Maggie was previously Senior Managing Director, Global Group Head of High Conviction Equities at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which has a global mandate to invest in public and private companies.
At Ontario Teachers’, she served as a member of many of the pension plan’s investment committees. She was involved in the execution of investments across a variety of asset classes (private and public), including supporting the development and execution of the venture and growth business.
Before joining Ontario Teachers’, Maggie worked at KPMG and Scotia Capital. Maggie is a chartered accountant and a CFA charter holder. She also holds a BBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University and ICD.D certification from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Maggie served as a non-executive director on the Board of RIT Capital Partners plc from April 2019 to February 2024.
Thanks, Maggie, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion across public and private markets and your thoughtful perspectives from your experiences as an institutional investor.
This podcast was recorded on 15 June 2026, and therefore all RIT data is provided as at 31/05/2026.
Show Notes
00:42 Meet Maggie Fanari
03:44 Teachers’ Pension Roots
04:51 Top Down Meets Bottom Up
05:50 Allocating In New Paradigm
06:15 Diversification Returns
07:02 Volatility Creates Opportunity
07:22 What Makes RIT Unique
08:08 Compounding With Downside
09:41 Brand Opens Doors
10:05 Backing Emerging Managers
11:57 Co-Invest Importance
12:36 Returns And Realizations
13:22 Great Co-Investor Playbook
15:02 Building AI Theme Exposure
16:06 Sourcing Deals Like SpaceX
16:37 Public Private Value Split
20:09 Public Themes And Sovereignty
20:58 Moats And Terminal Value
24:06 Permanent Capital Edge
25:07 Oversubscribed Fund Access
26:46 Underwriting And Discipline
27:17 Why AI Needs Capital
27:49 Anthropic Growth Math
28:15 Databricks Scale Comparison
28:41 Can Funds Get Bigger
30:22 FOMO And Chasing
30:47 Portfolio Allocation Guardrails
31:47 Permanent Capital Advantage
32:13 Right Sized Private Exposure
32:51 Liquidity And Realizations
33:28 Owning Winners At Scale
34:11 Private To Public Hold
34:41 Re Underwriting Post IPO
35:38 Retail Investor Impact
36:20 Public Market Liquidity Needs
37:57 Why Investment Trusts Work
38:56 Discounts As Margin Safety
40:08 How Shareholders Allocate
41:03 Sentiment Shifts In Cycles
42:02 What Makes Great Managers
43:14 Manager Edge Examples
45:02 AI And Finding Leaders
46:56 Consolidation And Differentiation
47:51 Being A Great LP Partner
48:50 Macro Lens As Edge
49:42 Private Signals Inform Public
50:48 Culture One Team One NAV
51:28 Risk And Scenario Analysis
52:59 Multipolar World Investing
54:14 Geopolitics In Diligence
55:10 Permanent Capital Best Of Both

A Word from Our Sponsor, Ultimus
This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.
That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.
Learn more at ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We sat down with Mike Trihy, Head of Portfolio Management for the Venture Growth Evergreen strategy at Wellington Management.
We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.
With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.
Wellington Management has a rich heritage as an independently owned asset manager. The firm, which has taken a research-driven approach and long-term thinking to active management in public markets and, increasingly, in private markets, is nearing its 100-year anniversary. Wellington has grown to over $1.3T in AUM and is the largest sub-advisor in the world.
Mike joined from Bow River Capital to run Wellington’s Venture Growth Evergreen strategy, which will focus on direct growth and venture investments, secondaries, and select fund investments. Mike brings deep expertise in the evergreen fund management space, co-founding and scaling Bow River’s evergreen private markets platform and working as a portfolio manager at evergreen pioneer Partners Group.
Mike and I had a fascinating discussion about the current state of evergreen funds and the venture and growth investing market. We covered:
The evolution of evergreen private markets funds.
The convergence of public and private investing.
Lessons learned from building and managing evergreen funds at Partners Group and Bow River.
The importance of portfolio construction, liquidity planning, and evergreen fund operations.
Which firms are well-positioned to run and manage evergreen funds?
Partnerships in asset management.
How the market may shake out and why structure must match the asset, the client, and the liquidity terms. 
LP composition, evergreens vs. drawdowns across wealth and institutions, and the role of partnerships. 
What the potential wave of mega IPOs could mean for DPI, exits, and private market fundraising.
Bio
As lead portfolio manager for the Venture Growth Evergreen (“VGE”) strategy, Mike is responsible for overall portfolio construction and allocation of capital across direct growth and venture investments, secondaries, and select fund investments. He also oversees risk management, liquidity management, and cash flow forecasting for the evergreen fund.
Prior to joining Wellington Management in 2025 Mike was a portfolio manager at Bow River Capital, where he co-founded and scaled their evergreen private markets platform while overseeing the fund’s investment activity across multiple private markets asset classes. Prior to Bow River, he was a portfolio manager at Partners Group where he was responsible for portfolio construction and asset allocation for evergreen products and custom separate account mandates. He started his investment career at wealth-focused listed private equity firm Red Rocks Capital.
Mike graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in finance, and he is a CFA and CAIA charterholder.
Thanks, Mike, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and perspectives on private markets and evergreen funds.
Show Notes
00:00 Live from SuperReturn Berlin
00:12 Meet Mike Trihy
02:06 Defining the Perfect Evergreen
02:27 Evergreen vs Drawdown DNA
02:42 Deal Flow Isn’t Everything
03:01 Portfolio Construction Focus
03:20 Cashflow Planning Mindset
03:33 Operations and Valuations
03:47 Sales and Flow Forecasting
04:03 Regulation and Complexity
04:11 Fiduciary Growth Discipline
04:46 Do Firms Have the Toolkit
05:20 Scale vs Boutique Nuances
05:42 When Bottom Up Fails
06:18 The Deal Flow Constraint
06:44 Should There Be More
07:00 Shakeout and Quality Wins
08:07 No One Best Wrapper
08:28 Matching Assets and Clients
09:43 LP Mix and Herding Risk
11:34 Evergreens Future in Wealth
13:21 Public Markets DNA Advantage
14:56 Partnerships and Mega IPOs
17:07 Private Markets Stay Private
18:52 DPI and Exit Wave Impact
20:17 Public vs Private Valuations
22:21 What Happens Faster Slower
24:08 Closing