YouSaid · the spoken record

Bryon Lake

lines on the record: 81
first: 2025-06-05
most recent: 2025-06-05
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“It's really on the nose of what we're trying to do, which is we feel very good about the investment capabilities we have, but we know we need to transform our business to serve clients five years from now. And if we aren't intentional about how we're doing that, we may miss that. And because I was able to live that as ETFs did that at Invesco, as ETFs did that at JP Morgan, I can now apply that across the entire franchise at Goldman Sachs, which I'm having a blast. Now, it's still build. There's a lot of work that we have to do that goes into that, but that's what I wake up every day thinking about.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And so we really are focused to make sure that we are positioned to serve our clients five years from now. And to do that, we need to transform our business. The industry is transforming and Goldman needs to transform along with that. And so there comes my title. Now, you know, I like to joke, like the nickname Optimus Prime hasn't kicked in the way that I really, really thought it might have at this point. I didn't get that gift sent to me by some of my friends in the way that I'd wanted.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's a big number that's not lost on us. We're top five on active public. We're top five on private investing. So we've got this combination of public and private capabilities. We've got some of these technology underpinnings And the conversation is really you and I both know, I think a lot of people would agree with us, our industry is going to look very different five years from now than it does today. That's the innovator's dilemma that we, it never stops. There's always this reinvention. There's always a new technology that comes along that is driving this”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And our industry is, I always say this, the best industry in the world. We literally get to wake up every day helping investors meet their financial goals, whether they're paying for healthcare, whether they're trying to retire with dignity. Like that's something that really motivates me about our industry and I get really excited about. When we think about how the industry is evolving, there is innovation happening in so many places beyond just ETFs. I could wax lyrical ETFs for a very long time, but now technology has unlocked SMAs, direct indexing, models. We're hearing a lot of influential people talk about privates and how those go into portfolios now. So private equity, private credit, alternatives like real estate, infrastructure. And when you take a step back, I had the great opportunity to kind of learn this cross-section of the entire asset management industry through my”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, that's fair. We've kind of unpacked my journey, you know, and I've been fortunate a bunch of those turns. I've tried to point some of those turns out through the conversation. And when you log those, you kind of understand that how the world is constantly changing and you need to constantly kind of stay out in front of that.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They're not mutually exclusive. They're not mutually exclusive. And you had a lot of the passive providers that were going to do their thing. And it was becoming quite obvious that that was a commoditized product and a bit of a race to the bottom as far as fees. And that's great for investors. But if you have differentiated investment capabilities that you can deliver through the ETF technology, that starts to really bring you to an interesting space.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Had international experience very early on, so I understood the XUS stuff. I had grown up in the US and knew that marketplace. And so it was really a combination of those two things. The really important thing that was happening was investors were now starting to acknowledge and understand the difference between ETF wrapper and active. And those really started to be the interesting conversations where”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I feel that human nature is true across both. They're still using our industry's language. There's still fear and greed that drive almost everything that happens. The culture and the approach is different. So, you know, I used to tell people if the objective was to climb that mountain, in Europe you said, we're going to climb that mountain. Why do we want to climb that mountain, that mountain? Looks high. What would be the purpose of climbing the mountain? What's in the, what's in it for me to climb the mountain? In the US, you'd say, let's climb that mountain. People are like, let's go. And they're halfway up the mountain. Then they crash and they roll back down. And then halfway up the mountain, they crash, they roll back down. Both reach the top of the mountain at about the same time. The approach of how you get to the top of the mountain with, you know, European culture versus US culture is always a little bit of an interesting one. Of course, dramatic generalization there, but there is a little bit to kind of that thoughtfulness that kind of comes through it in that. So we moved back to the US. We've got family back in the US. And it just made sense for us at that time. We'd had our fourth child in the UK. So we're moving back. And I was fortunate that, you know, I'd”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, we loved our time in London. And if I really want to get New Yorkers riled up, I'll say that New York is a great city. London is a world-class city. The quality of life is high. You've got parks. The weekends are a little bit slower than the intensity. Now, New York's the Alpha City. I'll give it that. But you do have this kind of contrast between the two.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Fast growed power shares and then Investco Power Shares. And even though I had never made a change, those were three distinct cultures, three distinct different cycles of the business, if you will. And we were starting to get to this point. And some of the things that I've explained now in hindsight are very intuitive at the point, they were just starting to dawn on me. Wait a second. If you could go into an established asset manager deliver the disruption, but combine that with great investment capabilities, combine that with great distribution capabilities, combine that with a great brand, you can really change the landscape and build something incredible. And I like building, you know, I said some of the mentors that we talked about earlier, they were builders. And so I made the difficult decision to, you know, go to JP Morgan at that point in time.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, you know, and it was one of those interesting things where there had been about a 13-year run there where I was at startup power shares.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And so we love the benefits of the MP3 player, but now what we stream on our phone, right? It gives us convenience. It gives us control. It gives us variety. We now have every single song that's ever been invented is in our pocket, plus podcasts like this, plus audiobooks, plus all of these other things. So the convenience for the consumer, it's the better technology. And then what we're having is this interesting debate. So, okay, so go back. Think about an active portfolio manager saying, wait a second, these indexes are eating my lunch. What's going on with this thing? These ETFs and everything was synonymous. The media was singing synonymous index pass.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To name just one of the many, many, many benefits. But you mentioned the MP3 player earlier, and this is the analogy that I always love to use. MP3 is the evolution from the CD, from the tape player, from the A-Track, from the vinyl record, right? What you put on all of those is the music.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Neil Woodford being one of them. And there was this pull away from ETF because you remember, ETF at the time meant passive. And the passive active debate was raging on. And people didn't quite realize yet that the ETF is a technology, what you put inside of it is the investment engine, right?”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We moved over with a three-year-old, an 18-month-old, and like a six-month-old And so the house hunt was all looking for a flat in London that had a entryway level with the sidewalk so that we could push the stroller in. Right in. And in London, you've been there. Like there's a lot of steps. And so everything that we were, but that was kind of how we were thinking about it. But it was an amazing opportunity to go over there and understand the business landscape. Now, at the time, Invesco had two of the most successful mutual fund managers”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I had been given the fortunate opportunity to talk to incumbent asset managers and how they then are digesting ETFs in their portfolios and how that's going to change the industry and what's happening there. I had done that then globally so you understand the overall ecosystem, what's the value proposition to investors to buy these, how are they using them in portfolios? And then Investco says, hey, would you be interested in moving the family to London and running our international business, everything kind of ex-US? I jumped at the opportunity. I couldn't have been more excited. I didn't know when we talked about my degree earlier, international finance. I didn't know I was going to move. But we were very open to it and credits to my wife for being willing to help raise the family. What was it like?”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That was an amazing thing. I had been doing this global business development. And so combine a couple of things that we've talked about here. So I had had tens of thousands of conversations around ETFs.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's exactly right. One of the quotes that we throw around a lot at that point is if you didn't like change, you were going to like irrelevance even less, right? And if you think about that, that was what was going to happen. This innovation and this whole story is about innovation and continuing to look for new ideas. And as you think about how product gets developed, as you think about how distribution happens, these are all things that inform all of those things. But yeah, that was an amazing time. That then evolved into, hey, we've got investors from Asia, from Europe, from South America that are buying our ETFs listed on the New York Stock Exchange because, by the way, it's a security. And so all these firms that had trading lines open in New York were happy to buy an ETF off the exchange in that way. Hey, Brian, would you mind getting on a plane and going and talking to some of these people and figure out what's going on in these areas?”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah. Which is how so many of the new technologies come about, right? But what's in so Invesco acquires it, various students on their part. But what was amazing for me is I had this unique opportunity. I was the first person that they put on the plane from Wheaton, Illinois down to Houston, Texas or Atlanta, which is where Invesco head office is. And I was the one training them on ETFs. And so we were having this interesting conversation. The light bulb went off for me. I was like, holy smokes. I could see both perspectives. These were incredibly successful asset management, financial service individuals that were trying to digest and understand, which now in hindsight looks so obvious. But at the time, to your point, looked like, I don't know if this thing's really going to happen. And so that was a really formative time for me.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Very disruptive, but as you know in the innovator's dilemma, the legacy incumbent technology really tries to protect what they're doing while the up and comer is trying to disrupt what's happening. And so Invesco acquires the PowerShares business. They're going to expand their offerings from traditional mutual funds to now include exchange-traded funds.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And so think about what's happening now. So, you have a large asset manager in Invesco, which was Growth Shop of the 90s, hundreds of billions of dollar asset manager acquiring this, at the time I think PowerShares was $6 billion ETF fast grow, new technology, changing the game on what we're doing.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This is a really interesting time for me. And so, you know, I know you like to ask your guests what books they like to read. I'm going to share a book early on. I got multiple books for you today, Barry, but the book that I like to read is there's a book called Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen Christensen, right?”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Half of that spy. And it's an amazing kind of story. The idea behind PowerShares was they were going to be the non-market cap weighted ETF provider. So what we now call smart beta, what we now call thematic, what we now call, you know, some of these other things that, you know, different exposures that nobody was really thinking about. I had a very fortunate siting. The industry was going from, you know, like I say, the whole industry was about $100 billion. To your point, SPY was kind of 50. I'd probably had 10,000 conversations about ETFs within the first three years of my career between the phone and then covering a territory and working with financial advisors, which was such an edge. As you know, you learned so much just having these conversations repetitively over and over again, right? And so that was kind of how I got to Chicago.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's 05. Yep. And so, like I said, the ETF industry is $100 billion. Now, as you know, it's $15 trillion. And half of that spot.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Happened to be a Taylor grad as well. And another one of my mentors is in the room, Ben Fulton, who also has been a very successful entrepreneur and was early on it at PowerShares. And I distinctly remember I was interviewing and I was telling Bruce, oh, I think ETFs could really change the investment landscape. And this is really interesting. I was just parroting this article. And at the time, the article started with startup power shares next to the petting zoo in Wheaton, Illinois. So it doesn't exactly scream high finance, right? And so I'm interviewing with Bruce, oh, why do you want to be here? Oh, I'm really excited about this. And Ben interrupts. He says, who's the girl? And I said, well, her name's Casey, and I really like her. And so now Casey and I are married, four kids later. We got a dog as well. But that was how I got to PowerShares. And so this was so fun.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You can see it all. You can see as far as the eye can see of rows of corn. But they had a great finance program. And like I say, the culture at that university, which I'm still very connected with, raised some really interesting people. And so I graduate from there. I go back home to Plymouth, Michigan, just outside Detroit, and I'm living there, kind of the post-college thing. This is when I'm working at fifth third. But there was a girl that I had met at Taylor University who lived in Chicago. And so I really wanted to find my way over to Chicago. So I find my way over to Chicago. And I get introduced to a gentleman by the name of Bruce Bond. And you probably know Bruce, but for people listening, Bruce founded PowerShares originally, which was a startup ETF business. He now runs Innovator, which is another ETF business. And this was, you know, over 20 years ago, the entire ETF industry was less than $100 billion. And I was interviewing with Bruce.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I went to Taylor University as we talked about. That's in the middle of Indiana. It's called Upland, Indiana. It's the highest point above sea level between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. It's 10 feet above sea level. This is corn. This is cornfield.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Two tomies next to each other, right? Like two major suitcases that go into, that's $400,000, something like that because this is from a restaurant. You got small bills and all this sort of stuff. And as interesting as that was, I was like, this is not the forever thing. And then at the end of the day, you're helping the tellers balance out their drawers and all this sort of stuff. And I was like, this is not the finance that I was really picturing. And so that didn't last forever. But that was exactly where it started at a fifth third branch in Livonia, Michigan, not far from where I grew up.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was in a branch. So now there's some history there. My dad worked at Comerica Bank in Detroit, Comerica Park, the Tigers Field is named after Comerca. It's one of the largest banks in the country. And some of the formidable years. I remember spending time, the quality time I would spend with my dad, we'd be going to sporting events, right? And sometimes he'd bring somebody from work and I'd just sit in the back of the car and listen to them talk shop. And, you know, those things were just kind of, even if I didn't understand what they were talking about, the cadence and the perspective, the professional kind of interactions that they were having just kind of always, always fascinated me. So my dad was at Comerica Bank. I got a job at Fifth Third Bank. It's literally a branch manager. And what I distinctly remember from that time is you'd get there at about 7.30 in the morning and you'd pull all the deposits that came from the previous nights. And there was a bunch of restaurants in the area. And I would hand count 300, 400, $500,000 worth.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think to be international business a tailor, you just had to take a language, which of course I took eight years of Spanish and I can speak maybe 15 words, but that's how we kind of ended up with that one.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, no, you know, I think I had read a Warren Buffett book early on, so I loved investing. I liked watching stocks. And I'd read the Wall Street Journal that was always around in the home. And so I was able to really look into that. But I didn't realize that the entire asset management industry existed in the way that it did. I think it's one of those that because the asset management industry often is working with financial advisors or other institutions, it's not as consumer of a business. Whereas financial advisors obviously work with individuals. And so I didn't know the asset management industry existed in the way that it did. So I didn't know that. But growing up, my parents were intentional about exposing us to traveling internationally. We were fortunate enough to do some trips throughout Europe. And it just always been amazed by the different cultures and the different things that go into that. And so as we'll get into, I'm sure that did end up playing out in my career.”
2025-06-05 · Masters in Business · Transforming ETFs with Bryon Lake of Goldman Sachs Asset Management · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source