Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and
Speaker 1: Tim Stenovic on Bloomberg Radio. So we had a Bloomberg
Speaker 1: story last week. You talked about how the six and
Speaker 1: a half trillion dollar US et F industry boomed last year,
Speaker 1: but the fanfare revealed a major flaw in the space,
Speaker 1: the lack of women helping the funds enter emerge. It's
Speaker 1: a Toronto based independent fund manager with an affiliate in Buffalo,
Speaker 1: New York. This firm striving to improve those figures with
Speaker 1: one of the first all women exchange traded fund investment
Speaker 1: teams in the United States. We've got two members of
Speaker 1: the Emerged team with us right now. We welcome Lisa Langley,
Speaker 1: CEO and founder of Emerged Capital Management, and Kate Faddis,
Speaker 1: senior portfolio manager at Fernwood Investment Management. It's an Emerge
Speaker 1: empower subadvisor. Both joined us on the phone. Lisa's and
Speaker 1: Buffalo and Kate is in Boston. Lisa, I want to
Speaker 1: start with you, um, just just bring us an idea
Speaker 1: of how this all came together. Good afternoon, Tim and Carol,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for having us on. We have
Speaker 1: been working on empower and trying to raise the profile
Speaker 1: of women portfolio managers for several years. We needed to
Speaker 1: do it in an impactful way to send a big
Speaker 1: message to the industry. So on September eighth and ninth,
Speaker 1: with four talented subadvisors and five et s, we launched
Speaker 1: five in the US and five in Canada over the
Speaker 1: span of two days. Uh and it was very exciting,
Speaker 1: And that's really what we want to do, send a
Speaker 1: message that this is possible, that women deserve the attention.
Speaker 1: And these are all senior talented managers. So so Li said,
Speaker 1: think I well, and I think I knew the answer,
Speaker 1: but I'm going to ask anyway, because maybe I don't.
Speaker 1: Is this, as you said, you want to send a message.
Speaker 1: Is it also important though, getting assets in and getting
Speaker 1: some traction here and then performance as a result a
Speaker 1: dent Carol, We have to show that we can earn
Speaker 1: our plates at the table. We're not asking for charity
Speaker 1: because we're happen to be women portfolio managers. We just
Speaker 1: want to have a shot. We just want to earn
Speaker 1: our place. The biggest issue in the industry is that
Speaker 1: there's a lack of disclosure. You know, all the evidence
Speaker 1: and the numbers that tell you, okay, only eleven percent
Speaker 1: or women portfolio managers, or two percent of strategies or
Speaker 1: five percent of assets. It all comes from self reported
Speaker 1: numbers and institutional databases. It's crazy. Yeah, transparency we you know,
Speaker 1: we talked about this just generally in terms of E.
Speaker 1: S G and understanding what that means. But you're right,
Speaker 1: the transparency within all of this is highly lacking. Ky,
Speaker 1: come on in. Uh, This story by Peyton Forte of
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News definitely caught our attention. Come on in. Though
Speaker 1: you're a subadvisor to Empower, tell us about you know,
Speaker 1: your interest and you're wanting to be involved in this. Well,
Speaker 1: I love I love the investment business, I love managing money,
Speaker 1: and for me, this is an amazing opportunity. And Lisa
Speaker 1: I felt very fortunate to be included, and I said,
Speaker 1: why not, let's do it. What has been the reception
Speaker 1: so far as you're as you're out there, Kate, I
Speaker 1: think it's been overwhelmingly positive. People, uh, you know will
Speaker 1: snarkily say I don't care about male female, I just
Speaker 1: care about performance. We know that's not really true. So
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit of tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit about that, because Carol and I run into this
Speaker 1: all the time when we talk about how how companies do,
Speaker 1: and hey, we're just getting started when it comes to
Speaker 1: earning season right now, and we see stocks get punished
Speaker 1: if they miss on the top line or on the
Speaker 1: bottom lines. So we know that people really care about performance,
Speaker 1: but what what data do you have to show that
Speaker 1: they care? They care also about the other fundamentals, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think people are saying they don't care
Speaker 1: about the other fundamental but I think they actually do.
Speaker 1: So they'll you'll hear comments like, oh, well, this is
Speaker 1: just about identity politics, and then I say, identity politics
Speaker 1: has been happening for a hundred years. You have you
Speaker 1: had a woman in the wife house, not because or
Speaker 1: you or anything else, not because not no one was qualified.
Speaker 1: So these things are important, and when you call it
Speaker 1: out and put a highlight on it, you're not asking
Speaker 1: for a handout. You're just saying there's maybe a different
Speaker 1: reason that women haven't gotten these positions. It's not because
Speaker 1: we're not qualified. No, Lisa, listen, you're preaching to the choir.
Speaker 1: Totally agree, and you know, Lisa, we want to bring
Speaker 1: you back into this. I mean Tim and I and
Speaker 1: many here at Bloomberg have spent years talking about the
Speaker 1: Mackenzie studies, the other studies about the importance of diversity
Speaker 1: UH in boardrooms or just generally at companies and how
Speaker 1: that improves financial performance. And so I just kind of
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't get it. It's out there. Why
Speaker 1: aren't we seeing more diversity, more women involved, But it's
Speaker 1: more diversity in general when it comes to running investment teams.
Speaker 1: So you know, lay it out for us UM in
Speaker 1: terms in terms of why I understand you wanted to
Speaker 1: send a message, but why it's taken so long for
Speaker 1: more of this to happen Because they're not No one's
Speaker 1: being called out on not reporting on diversity because there
Speaker 1: isn't any regulatory or legally compulsory requirement to disclose who's
Speaker 1: running money under the hood. We have like the name
Speaker 1: of a team we have, you know, to what you
Speaker 1: were just saying to him. You know, we can track
Speaker 1: performance six ways the Sunday. We know all the widgets
Speaker 1: under the hood inside of a fund, but we really
Speaker 1: don't get after who that team is. And it's not required.
Speaker 1: It's only self reported into institutional databases. According to investment.
Speaker 1: Only nine of firms are reporting that information, and they're
Speaker 1: the smallest firms that represent less than eight percent of
Speaker 1: the assets of the thirty seven trillion that are reported
Speaker 1: on the investment. At least, it's a tough time to
Speaker 1: to sort of have a new fund, to be launching funds.
Speaker 1: How are you looking at the environment right now? I
Speaker 1: think the environ you have to come out in the ashes.
Speaker 1: You know, I've launched new things before, you know, when
Speaker 1: the towers you know, fell nine eleven, And I believe
Speaker 1: that I want to get attention in two to really
Speaker 1: have a value proposition. And it's so competitive, as you know,
Speaker 1: you were talking, you know, Carol about the growth of
Speaker 1: the industry. It's fast paced. There's a lot going on
Speaker 1: here right a global compound annual growth rate of on
Speaker 1: e t s. So we said, okay, we're gonna come
Speaker 1: out with all women managers, all experienced senior managers over
Speaker 1: twenty years of experience, all actively managed doing fundamental bottom up,
Speaker 1: all concentrated portfolios, and a heavy duty sustainability overlay that's
Speaker 1: run by the emerged team. We did a lot of
Speaker 1: groundwork and research and institutions and Burger dealers told us
Speaker 1: that's what they wanted, So we're really just trying to
Speaker 1: round the wagons and collect on all these promises that
Speaker 1: they'd be there to support us. Hey, basic question, and
Speaker 1: just got about a minute left here, Um and Kate,
Speaker 1: let me just bring you back just quickly. I mean,
Speaker 1: what kind of money are we seeing coming into the
Speaker 1: e T S. I know it's early on, but what
Speaker 1: kind of flows are coming in? That's really a question
Speaker 1: for Lise though. Okay, forgive me Lisa, come on back. No, no,
Speaker 1: I mean we're early into it. We launched in September,
Speaker 1: very rough market, as you know, from men to the
Speaker 1: end of the year, we're probably, you know, to be
Speaker 1: quite honest, blows are in the three million range, though
Speaker 1: certainly not Uh you know, we haven't hit our goal.
Speaker 1: But I believe that all the conversations that we have
Speaker 1: and all the institutions that said they would support us,
Speaker 1: I believe they most definitely will. Uh. It's too important.
Speaker 1: All of these managers have long track records, so you know,
Speaker 1: they earned their place at the table, and we'd love
Speaker 1: to tell more at Emerge the m dot com or
Speaker 1: sending an email support and Emerge the M Doctor. All right, well,
Speaker 1: good to check in with you. I will say, all
Speaker 1: but one are outperforming the smp F under since they launched.
Speaker 1: All right, well, good to hear that. Lisa Langley, chief
Speaker 1: executive officer and founder of Emerged Capital Management, and Kate
Speaker 1: faddis Uh, senior portfolio manager at Fernwom Investment Management