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

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s episode dives into the nuances of private markets with one of the industry’s leaders.
We sat down with HarbourVest CEO John Toomey, where he leads a firm that has over $160B in AUM and has over 43 years of experience across primary funds, secondary transactions, direct co-investments, and building customized programs for LPs.
John has been at HarbourVest for almost 30 years, joining the firm in 1997 as an Analyst in the Direct team. He spent 10 years as one of the leaders of the Secondary business before serving on Global Investment Committees for nearly a decade. He also served as the original CFO for the HarbourVest Global Private Equity vehicle, which went public in 2007 on Euronext Amsterdam.
John is also a member of the Firm’s Conflicts Committee, Sustainable Investing Council, and DEI Council. He received a BA (cum laude) in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
John and I had a fascinating and thought-provoking conversation about the evolution of private markets as an industry. We covered:
The biggest differences between private markets in the 1990s and private markets today.
How private markets has evolved over the past 30 years.
What LPs are looking for today in their manager relationships.
Do LPs want more choice or less?
Why LPs, both institutions and wealth investors, might outsource private markets capabilities.
How the institutionalization of private wealth platforms is shaping how alternative asset managers partner with the wealth channel.
Where scale matters for alternative asset managers.
Where allocators should be “narrow and limited” with their GP relationships and where allocators should be diversified.
What is required for managers that launch and manage evergreen vehicles.
The why and the how behind launching a private wealth solutions business.
Thanks John for coming on the show to share your wisdom, expertise, and passion for private markets.
Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Alt Goes Mainstream
01:16 Sponsor Message Ultimus
02:11 Meet John Toomey
04:44 HarbourVest Then vs Now
05:32 LP Demands Transparency
07:21 Why Outsource Private Markets
09:02 Programmatic Portfolio Building
10:35 Earning Trust at Scale
12:17 Building Blocks for Clients
14:50 GP Needs and Access Points
16:49 Co-Investment Value Proposition
23:16 Big vs Niche Managers
27:04 Evergreen Funds and Wealth
30:55 Wealth Platform Consolidation
31:35 Who Can Build Evergreens
33:03 Evergreen Portfolio Ingredients
35:12 How Wealth Wants Access
36:27 Centralized CIO Model Shift
37:26 Manager Selection Matters
38:59 Diversification Versus Alpha
40:39 Funding Private Allocations
43:07 Secondaries As Onramp
44:47 Institutional Program Evolution
48:57 Institutions Using Evergreens
50:54 Liquidity And LP Mix
53:05 What Creates Manager Edge
56:05 Data Insights And Echoes
58:12 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 [email protected].
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
Disclosures

HarbourVest Partners, LLC is a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. This material is solely for informational purposes and should not be viewed as a current or past recommendation or an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy securities or adopt any investment strategy.  The opinions expressed herein represent the current, good faith views of the author(s) at the time of publication, are not definitive investment advice, and should not be relied upon as such. This material has been developed internally and/or obtained from sources believed to be reliable; however, HarbourVest does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of such information. There is no assurance that any events or projections will occur, and outcomes may be significantly different than the opinions shown here.  This information, including any projections concerning financial market performance, is based on current market conditions, which will fluctuate and may be superseded by subsequent market events or for other reasons. The information contained herein must be kept strictly confidential and may not be reproduced or redistributed in any format without the express written approval of HarbourVest.
 
Nothing herein should be construed as a solicitation, offer, recommendation, representation of suitability, legal advice, tax advice, or endorsement of any security or investment and should not be relied upon by you in evaluating the merits of investing in HarbourVest funds or in any other investment decision. 

Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s conversation unpacks an emerging category within infrastructure investing that has a compelling set of market forces and mega trend tailwinds.
We sat down in Stonepeak’s New York office with Stonepeak Credit Partner and Senior Managing Director Ryan Roberge.
Ryan brings a diverse set of experiences to bear that helped him build an infrastructure credit business at Stonepeak. He previously covered the energy and infrastructure sectors for King Street, a New York-based hedge fund focused on distressed, special situations, and event driven credit investing. Prior to King Street, Ryan worked in the Energy group at TPG Capital, a large global alternative asset manager. Ryan started his career in Credit Suisse’s Energy Investment Banking Group. He received a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Louisiana State University.
Ryan and I had a fascinating conversation on why infrastructure credit’s time is now. We covered:
How Ryan’s background across energy investment banking, energy private equity, and distressed and special situations energy and infrastructure investing all help when investing in infrastructure credit.
Why infrastructure credit is a specialized, capital-intensive strategy.
How to underwrite data center risk.
Contrarian AI insights.
The biggest risks in infrastructure credit investing.
How and why infrastructure credit is different from other areas of private credit and direct lending.
How a specialist investment platform can help inform where to invest in infrastructure credit.
Thanks Ryan for coming on the podcast to share your expertise, wisdom, and passion for infrastructure and credit.
Show Notes
00:00 Hard Asset Diversification
00:25 Welcome to Alt Goes Mainstream
01:01 Message from our Sponsor, Ultimus
02:07 Meet Ryan Roberge
04:16 Ryan Career Origins
04:52 From Banking to TPG
05:25 King Street Credit Training
06:07 Equity To Credit Shift
07:04 Downside First Mindset
07:48 What Is Infrastructure Credit
08:08 Three Core Sectors
08:25 Asset Level Underwriting
09:02 Capital Intensive Returns
09:51 Thinking Like An Owner
10:44 Funding Gap And AI Tailwinds
11:01 Why Direct Lending Misses It
12:29 Construction And Collateral Value
13:15 Capital Markets Spectrum
15:56 Private Credit Vs Infra Credit
18:55 Where It Fits In Portfolios
24:36 Data Centers Tech Risk
31:04 Cycle Risk Reality Check
31:32 Long Duration Mindset
32:13 Loan Horizon Framework
32:40 Asset First Underwriting
32:53 Maintenance Capex Truth
33:59 Stress Testing Recovery
34:13 Capital Flood Into Infra
35:14 Theme Chasing Warning
36:02 Why Skip Renewables
36:20 Bigger Deals Cheaper Money
36:51 ABF And Insurance Capital
37:17 Non-IG Hard Asset Logic
38:11 Scale Keeps IG Away
38:25 Key Underwriting Risks
38:34 Loan To Value Reality
39:01 Fiber To Home Case Study
40:09 Growth Platform Underwrite
41:01 Hiring For Credit Mindset
42:23 Downside Recovery Culture
43:10 Contrarian AI Insight
44:07 Circular Demand Red Flags
46:39 Data Center Risk Filters
49:20 Investor Demand And Closing

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 [email protected].
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 episode takes us to a hub of market structure, a powerhouse of trading, and a crossroads of public and private markets to discuss how private markets are in the midst of a market structure evolution.
We sat down at Bloomberg’s NYC headquarters with Bloomberg’s Head of Fixed Income & Private Markets Brad Foster to discuss how technology and data are driving a convergence between public and private markets, particularly as it relates to the credit space.
Brad is the Head of Fixed Income & Private Markets at Bloomberg, where he’s focused on delivering the data, analytics, and tools clients need to power public and private market investment strategies and workflows. Brad joined Bloomberg in June 2017 to lead its Enterprise Data Content business as well as its Fixed Income Evaluated Pricing (BVAL) offering. He was appointed Head of Fixed Income, including Securitized Products, in early 2023 and Head of Fixed Income & Private Markets in early 2024. Prior to joining Bloomberg, Brad spent almost 20 years on the sell-side in multiple locations, including London, Tokyo, and New York, for Deutsche Bank as a Managing Director in Global Markets across Global Finance, Fixed Income & Currencies, Structured Finance, Special Situations, Structured Lending and Front Office Risk Management, including CVA and Counterparty Risk, where he managed a team that built a Cross-Product Risk and Portfolio Margining Platform. Prior to Deutsche Bank, he was at Credit Suisse in the Market Risk Management Group.
Brad and I had a fascinating conversation about public and private credit and how data and technology are shaping these markets. We covered:
How Bloomberg’s history shaping other market structures are informing how private markets market structure is evolving.
How public and private credit are converging.
Definitions and perspectives on liquidity vs illiquidity, what’s risky and what’s not risky.
What private markets needs from a market infrastructure perspective to scale.
Why borrowers are choosing private credit and the investment grade private credit option.
How Bloomberg is approaching private credit and private markets market structure.
Bloomberg’s build vs. buy vs. partner strategy with private markets tech.
Thanks Brad for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion at the intersection of credit, market structure, and financial technology.
Show Notes
00:00 Scaling Private Markets
01:12 Welcome to the Alt Goes Mainstream Podcast
02:13 Brad Foster’s Background
04:31 From Trading to Bloomberg
05:27 Client Empathy Product Mindset
06:25 Fixed Income as Blueprint
07:11 Bloomberg Shaping Market Structure
08:19 Electronification Turning Points
09:10 Efficiency and Regulation Drivers
09:45 Blurring Public and Private Credit
10:34 Three Legs of Credit
11:43 Why Borrowers Go Private
13:09 Missing Data and Workflow
13:57 Security Master Foundations
16:12 Transparency and Retail Pressure
22:07 Private Deal Data Uploads
22:29 Same Analytics for Private
22:50 Sold Not Bought Debate
23:43 When Private Gets Liquid
24:38 Desktop Real Estate Idea
26:21 Reimagining Terminal with AI
27:21 Chat as Market Connector
28:19 Build Buy Partner Strategy
28:51 Bloomberg Private Track Record
30:09 Daphne Investment Rationale
30:58 Fixing GP LP Workflow
32:01 Most Valuable Data Masters
33:45 Taxonomy as Missing Piece
34:49 Standardizing Valuation Methods
35:29 Extending Evaluated Pricing
37:27 Liquidity Versus Illiquidity
40:18 Portfolio Risk for Asset Owners
44:16 Foundations to Scale Privates
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s episode unpacks how to build a private equity firm within one of the largest and most unique investment platforms in private markets.
We sat down in Brookfield Asset Management’s Brookfield Place office in downtown NY with David Nowak, the President of Brookfield’s Private Equity Group. 
David and I dove into a conversation about the private equity industry, Brookfield’s approach to private equity, and how the firm’s culture and DNA shapes how they work with portfolio companies and LPs.
David has overall responsibility for the Private Equity Group’s North American business. He also serves as Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield Private Equity Fund. He joined Brookfield in 2011. He holds a MBA degree from Duke University, where he graduated as a Fuqua Scholar, and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Western Ontario.
David and I had a fascinating conversation about private equity and the Brookfield platform. We covered:
How Brookfield’s owner-operator alignment informs how they approach private equity investing and their partnerships with portfolio companies.
How the industry has gone from “roll your dice private equity to roll up your sleeves private equity.”
Why and how the firm has a “blue collar work ethic.”
The firm’s flat structure and a culture of collective effort, humility, and “earning your seat.”
Why Brookfield’s private equity business focuses on complex carve outs.
Why it’s important for investors to “think like an operator.”
How the firm approaches value creation and the importance of understanding value creation levers even before making an investment.
How Brookfield’s broader platform provides the private equity business with insights and subject matter expertise.
The story behind Brookfield’s Westinghouse investment.
What it means to look for “unloved businesses.”
Why private equity is an apprenticeship business and how AI might impact the next generation of private equity leaders.
Thanks David for sharing your expertise, wisdom, and passion for private equity and company and culture-building.
Show Notes
00:00 Cold Open
00:51 A Message from our Sponsor, Ultimus
01:48 Welcome to Alt Goes Mainstream and David Nowak
03:30 Brookfield Culture is We Not I
04:48 Leadership Succession and Humility
06:22 Earn Your Seat Mindset
06:30 Owner Operator Alignment
08:23 Maax Bath Case Study
09:34 Roll Up Your Sleeves Private Equity
11:31 Operators on the Team
12:06 Secondments Train Investors
12:53 Underwriting with Reality Checks
13:58 Platform Advantage and Insights
16:46 How Collaboration Actually Works
18:56 Long Term Patient Capital
21:07 Value Creation Playbook
24:38 Contrarian Deals and Valuation Nuance
27:41 Underwriting Operating Change
27:55 Fixable vs Hard Problems
29:16 Winning Management Buy In
30:00 Early Wins and Focus
30:25 Humility on the Ground
31:06 Listening in Founder Talks
32:09 Stretching Young Leaders
33:23 Flat Structure Decision Table
34:24 Scaling Without Losing Culture
35:06 Open Space and Mobility
35:50 Cross Office Deal Teams
37:20 Fund Size and Return Pressure
38:23 Shift to Quality Businesses
39:25 Good Business or Cheap
40:13 Risk First Capital Protection
41:50 Graphite Electrode Auction Win
43:45 Diligence - Then Move Fast
48:14 Curiosity Apprenticeship and AI

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 [email protected].
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

It all comes back to the DNA.
The firms that know who they are will know who to be.
You can learn a lot about an investment firm by listening to what they say.
Alt Goes Mainstream’s AGM Originals Series - The DNA: Capturing Culture - is dedicated to capturing the DNA of a firm by listening to what they say.
The first season of The DNA stars EQT. In Stockholm, at EQT’s AIM this past summer, I sat down for conversations with nine EQT executives.
Each executive came from different parts of the firm — and different parts of the world.
Each had fascinating backgrounds and stories about how they ended up in private markets and worked to build EQT.
But there was a single throughline threaded throughout all of the discussions: the consistency and frequency that each executive talked about the firm’s mission, vision, culture, and values.
That’s why it all comes back to the DNA.
Episode 3 features EQT's Lennart Blecher.
Lennart Blecher joined EQT Partners in April 2007 and is the Chairperson of EQT Real Assets.
Lennart holds a Master of Law degree from the University of Lund, Sweden and has studied at the University of Dallas, Texas - Academy of US & International Law.
Prior to joining EQT Partners, Lennart was from 2004 to 2007 Managing Director and Senior Banker in the investment bank of Unicredit/HypoVereinsbank in Munich. From 2002 to 2004, Lennart was Managing Director at GE Commercial Finance in London.
Between 1987 until 2002, he held various position in the ABB Group, in Zurich such as General Counsel for the ABB Financial Services Group, President and Business Area Manager for ABB Structured Finance and ABB Equity Ventures.
Lennart has held various non executive positions in European banks and reinsurance companies. Lennart is a member of the EQT Executive Committee and is a Chairperson of the Infrastructure Partners Investment Committee.
Please enjoy this conversation with one of the industry's leaders in Lennart Blecher.
You can stream all the episodes on AGM’s YouTube channel at AltGoesMainstreamAGM.
Show Notes
00:00 Why the DNA Matters
01:04 Meet EQT and Lennart Blecher
01:40 From Law to Industry
05:40 Building EQT Infrastructure
09:44 Infrastructure Megatrends
11:01 Old vs New Infrastructure
12:45 Digital Energy Convergence
14:56 Active Ownership Playbook
16:26 Scale and Credibility
17:43 Wallenberg Values Culture
20:05 Educating Investors
21:29 Who Owns Assets Long Term
22:47 Platform People Limits
23:44 Doing Good Good Business
24:34 Underwriting People Culture
25:18 Closing Thoughts