Q&A: Head of Pension & Endowments @ Fixed Income AM - BB S&T & FI AM w/ some restructuring & MBA sprinkled in.

also interested on how you transitioned from S&T to AM

Ty for your patience re: slow response. Let me answer your Questions one by one.

• What fixed income groups have been affected the most by the virus? -From speaking to my friends at other AMs & banks, we have found that in general AMs have been friendlier than banks in terms of letting traders/rsch people/PMs WFH. -The market, with the exception of obvious candidates (eg. Hertz) have really been about watching the Fed.

• How were you able to transition from S&T to AM? Seems like a difficult route -While the path is not as well defined as for IB to PE, it's pretty common -Usually once you have some experience under your belt, HH will reach out to you. -The issue is when you want to switch products or roles in that HH really only want to put you in the same /similar job at a different firm. (Eg. You trade FXO for a BB, they will get you an FXO trading job at a HF/AM

• What desks do you think will be most resistant to automation in the future? MBS, HY -My best friend & roommate from MBA is a MBS PM in Newport Beach, and from what she describes, yeah, it's still a call someone up process for that because so many things need to be negotiated -I WhatsApped her to ask what part of her trading is automated and she said "Zero. FI trading is so manual, and mortgages are the worst. I literally pick up a ducking phone to trade. Negotiate a price. Takes forever" -Obv distressed is not going to get automated since a lot of it is about negotiation -From my experience, also things like Bank Loan, b/c they are not really securities...and settle like T+19 (NOT a typo)

• What news sources do you like the most? Any specific to FI? Any book recommendations? -For me it's not so much what source of news to read (eg. There isn't going to be some magical news outlet that gets you way better analysis), but having a group of people you can talk to and discuss implications of the news -eg. What do we think happens with Fed announcing they are buying bonds on the secondary market

• What is the idea generation and due diligence process like for you? Did it change a lot when you made the move to pensions/endowments?

-PEFs (Pensions/Endowments/Foundations) are more about asset allocation, so a lot more of it is what type of exposure to get them and often it involves using derivatives to get around some constraints -So a lot more about is now thinking about a client problem and how to solve it. eg.) Rates are negative out to 30 years, what does that do to clients who have long dated liability and how can I help them

• What type of modeling do you use most? Is there anyway to practice this before my internship? -When I was doing restructuring or HY CR, there was the standard modeling that you do to get to FCF etc -Now, I am stalking strict fixed income. I have no idea how people model single name equities -Now it's much more ad hoc (eg. looking at say, relationship of gold vs real rates) -As you get older, there will just naturally be a less technical part of your job. For example, I am not writing the code to model the vol of a proposed strategy, but I am helping the associate on my team think it through, make sure assumptions and outputs are reasonable, and stress testiing the model etc.

• For an intern, what type of projects/assignments could I expect this summer? -In the end, they don't expect you to know everything. -Just be smart and hard working. Google something before you ask a question, but don't be afraid to ask questions. -You can not know something, that's fine, but you cannot make careless mistakes.

• How often is coding used in your role? Python? -Python is super helpful. We are in the process of migrating a bunch of our models from VBA to Python, so I have had to learn it myself. Can't check someone's work or help someone resolve a problem if you have no idea how to do something yourself

• Lastly, overall best advice for someone looking to start a career in investing? -So one thing that it took me a little time to realize is that "investing" is a really broad world -The person who has the ability and patience to sit and read through some giant loan document for a distressed credit is not hte same person who is modeling some complex vol/correlation cross currency interest rate derivative trade. -So behonest about your ability and interests. eg. In rates for example, it's PRETTY QUANTY now., so if you want to survive in that world, better be good at coding and math.

Hi, ty for your patience re slow response, please see answer below:

• Can you go through your thought process of getting your MBA? Why did you think that was the best route vs trying to get a role directly vs taking a step down into the industry you wanted? -MBA is basically a) A reasonably exclusive networking club b) A head hunter c) A dating service -Thinking of it in options terms, it's both a put and a call, let me explain. -For me, I went to undergrad in Canada, which is reasonably well known, but in the end it's not an MBA business schools">M7. (Eg. I call it the, "Does my aunt in Asia who can't speak English know about the school" litmus test. -So as I got older, I began to feel the limits of my network and school recognition -Eg. You know how much better it is if you could find your school in the drop down menu when you apply for a job? -It's a put option b/c it decreases the friction of someone taking a chance on you when you try to take on a job that might not be directly related -Like say you went to HBS, someone hires you and it didn't work out, she isn't going to really get in trouble for making a bad hire. She hired someone that seemed smart/hard working from HBS, it's a defensible decision. -Now picture that same situation, except instead you went to University of Central Arkansas (That's where Pippen went btw, sorry, Jordan doc still on my mind). If you didn't work out, people at the firm will tell her "yeah, this is why we don't fucking recruit at Univ. of Central Arkansas)

• Do you think that the program was worth the cost + forgone income? -So the opportunity cost increases as you get older, of course -And the biggest deterrent isn't actually foregone income etc, it's that a lot of the jobs that come through regular MBA recruiting -For example, I was an assoc at a BB in 2010, I am not going to go through some MBA recruiting so I could go be an assoc at a bank again -Basically, the network/name recognition has less value if you already have like a Princeton undergrad -Also, I really would be careful about where you go, b/c even if you go to a decent school like HASS or UCLA, the recruiting is still not that great. (eg. Finance jobs are more like BB assoc instead of buy side)

• During your MBA program, what did you think you could have done better to help you land your dream job & firm? -The people who did best were not the smartest, but the most focused -People who went going in knowing exactly what they wanted to do ended up being the most prepared and did best

• Why did you go back to FI AM? -100% honest. Lifestyle. -Picture a 2 x 2 matrix, with importance on Y axis and urgency on the X -If your job is not important and not urgent, you will lose your job soon -If your job is urgent but not important, you will always have a job, but never get paid (picture like some risk/ops guy on the trade floor) -If your job is urgent and important, it sounds good in theory, and you get paid, but it ruins your life. -In restructuring, your client is hemorrhaging $ and calling your team at 11pm on a Sat b/c it's a company founded by his grandpa and it's not going down the toilet. Basically, a lot of your schedule is out of your control -Ideally, you want to do something that's important, but not urgent -Extreme example: Imagine if you ran Google's autonomous car unit. You will get PAID, but it's not like you have some deadline to have a self driving car by Monday. -PEF clients are like that. They cut really big checks and they make big decisions, but nothing is ever urgent. (eg. Harvard endowment will always be there, no rush)

Feel free to PM me and we can chat in more detail over the phone.