YouSaid · the spoken record

Sharon French

lines on the record: 105
first: 2019-06-07
most recent: 2019-06-07
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I wish I understood risk a little bit more. You know, I sort of thought trees grew to the sky back then, and I think I was a little bit idealistic at that time. So I've been sobered and I've been burnt. I mean, I've been through three market corrections that are pretty significant, 87, 2000, 2001, and 2008, as well as market timing scandals and all the things you mentioned. So, you know, I'm much more practical now, much more pragmatic, and I wish I knew that back then. I think a lot of the younger generation, especially millennials, are super idealistic. But having been through what I've been through throughout my career, you know, I wish I learned more earlier on about, you know, managing risk better.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My favorite Yeah, so look, it's interesting. Millennials, you and I grew up with the mutual fund in the 80s. Millennials are growing up with ETFs, right? And they're growing up with digital advice. So one of the things I like about that is it's a lot of the burden of that falls on their shoulders in terms of how they learn to think about portfolio construction. So I think data and I mean, look, we're sitting at Bloomberg. This is the epicenter of data and intelligence. I am big into how the financial world meets the technology world. So I certainly, my passion and my love deep down is asset management, but I love the intersection of finance and technology. advise them in that direction.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What do I do for fun? Listen to music. Look, I'm very sporty, as you say. So I used to run, but now I have a new hip, so I can't do that anymore. But I do yoga, I do stand-up paddle boarding, I ski, You know, snorkel, I paraglide, I do anything, I don't say no to anything. I don't scuba dive. I've got to get over my fear of scuba diving. But I'm very sporty, so you know I'll be on a softball team or I'll always say yes if anybody wants my son just jumped out of a plane. I don't know if I'm going to do that.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What was I thinking? Our number one priorities, ourselves, our health, and our family. That was the stupidest thing I ever did. I put my life at risk and my unborn child's life at risk. Wow, like stupid. That's pretty bad”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Red, that's right. So stupid me, I went. Thankfully, the story ends well. We did win the business and I didn't quinta labor, but I went into labor prematurely two weeks after I got back. And my daughter was fine. She was six pounds. My husband and little boy were still there, although he didn't talk to me for the following month. But the lesson learned, and Barry, I said that I mentor people and women. And many of the things I said to them is, look, avoid the mistakes I made.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Bad idea. I remember at the time my husband and my son was two saying, you know, if you go, you don't get it. We will not be here when you get back. Do you understand that when you fly to New York or London or New York, you're flying over land? So if you go into labor, you have to land the plane and you can land the plane.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I needed to, and if you understand the Japanese culture, they are very much into relationships, right? Not that we are in the US, but even more so, much deeper. So when you start with them, you have to end with them, or you might as well not compete. And so I was the one who had to fly to Tokyo to do this finalist presentation. And I was eight months pregnant. Out to here. Right. Right. So PS forged the doctor's note.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Those three individual banks came together to form Benzuho. While they were forming, they were looking for online investment advisory services. We were as one of many things on this platform they were building. We were a finalist. There was two of us. At that time, I was pregnant with my daughter Very pregnant. Well, started out not so pregnant, but over the course of eight months I ended very pregnant. That tends to be the”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Gosh, okay, so it's sort of business and personal at the same time. So, during that period of time where I was in San Francisco, where I was working for Empower, and we were growing fast. Again, Harvard Business case study loved it. We ended up selling the business to Morningstar ultimately in 2001. But I was running global sales. I was on the management team, fifth member of the management team. And we had built our business domestically. And I was starting to establish our business globally. So I set up a, I was going back and forth from San Francisco to Tokyo and San Francisco to London, put up joint ventures in London to grow that and build a subsidiary bricks and mortar in, sorry, in Asia. We did join ventures in London. We put up a Ciciderig. We were a finalist for, so Mizuho really came together in 2001. It was IBJ, Industrial Bank of Japan, Daichi Konga, DKB, and Fujibank.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, that's good for you. I mean, certainly I read other things other than just biographies, but I think that's the thought I'd like to leave you with.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He did so many other things at Home Depart. Absolutely. I mean, he put capital together on Wall Street. That's what he did. He was scrappy. He was fearless. He was amazing. So anyway, so I just read Michelle Obama's book, which I thought was great becoming. Also read that one in three days. Catherine Heppburn, certainly Michael Bloomberg”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so I really love to learn about people. So I love reading biographies. And so the one I just read was I love capitalism by Ken Langone.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Them. Yes, 1962. So the only startup I did in my career was Empower. That's when I left. My wealth management, brokerage experience in New York and moved to San Francisco right after AOL went public in 1996. You remember that? That really started the whole internet blaze. And so that startup experience was really, really strong. And we partnered with Harry Markowitz. Our competition was financial engines, who partnered with Bill Sharp. I mean, more recently, that was probably my second decade, my third decade was more Fama in French at a University of Chicago. And a lot of their factor work. I really do believe in the persistence of factors as a more precise way to get at the key drivers of return.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, I still have a lot more to accomplish, but it's all about inspiring the next generation, which I started a unit called University Outreach within Women in ETFs, which is actually going to universities at the undergraduate level and mentoring in them and raising their awareness around asset management and ETF specifically. Because a lot of women who are going into business have nowhere to go from there. And business is hard for women. Financial services is still pretty difficult. It's getting better. But I really want to inspire the next generation of the undergraduate level and then mentor younger females who are incredibly smart and promising within this industry.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Women in my career, which I continue to do and I really believe in, because at this stage of my career, Barry, to me, it's all about paying it forward”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And she'll fix it. Yeah. Well, and it's fixing and growing or doing the diagnostic in order to remove the obstacle for growth. I mean, I hope that at some point people see me as somebody who drives profitable growth. But that was Bob. And that is who gave me those early sort of runways and taught me how to go at the heart of the issue and keep running harder, keep running stronger. I mean, I certainly he wasn't. A lot of people are afraid of him. So I wouldn't say that he was the mentor in my life who taught me how to socialize issues and had to get the right key stakeholders involved and get their buy-in. That came later. I had a female mentor at Alliance Bernstein. I had a male mentor also at Alliance Bernstein, who I think helped me along in that regard as well. So I'm a big believer in mentors. I'm a big believer in sponsorship. And I have mentored a ton of mostly women.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because he was so tough, I didn't need coddling. I needed to understand how to be better and do better. And he gave me all kinds of runway. And so my reputation today is sort of somebody who can, you know,”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, yes. So Bob Shulman, Robert Shulman. So Hugh is an executive at EF Hutton Shearson-Lehman Brothers. I think he left before the Smith Barney acquisition to become president and CEO of Tremont Advisors. But he was a very, very shrewd, tough boss. He had, I had moved into a number of different positions throughout my decade at that organization and really, really tough, ran a number of different business units, new product development. He actually was one of the early executives who ran the Smith Barney consulting group, which was ultimately sold off to, I think, Bank of New York Mellon. And he was tough as nails. And so we still meet for coffee and lunch today. He's retired. But he was instrumental to me because...”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They were born in 1900. My grandparents were born in 1905, 06, around there. So, anyway, so that's an important fact that, quite frankly, I didn't even know until recently.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's fascinating. So we had an unbelievable family conversation over Thanksgiving and made my mother, unfortunately my dad has passed, but we made my mother take the test and she surprisingly is 50% Ashkenazi Jew, which means one of her parents has to be 100%. Right. That's right. So, you know. And she doesn't.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So But because of my hip and I carry a car and my wallet that shows the hip I have a striker hip and my doctor's name and everything, I have no choice. But actually just thinking about it, and this could set up a whole other series of questions, an important fact about me that nobody knows that I just found out. And it's a little bit of a family controversy, family of origin, my five brothers and sisters or six of us, is I did 23andMe.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, some things people don't know. I don't know how important it is. I have a titanium hip, so a lot of people call me the bionic woman.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I add one of those for sure. Yeah, it was funny. The word important. I mean, the most important thing in my life for sure is that I'm a mom But I think most people know that. I would guess. Yes, I think most people know that. What else is important?”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I actually have no idea. I mean, I wasn't here. I joined in 2013. But again, Sikh Solace, and knowing that 2008 forward since F-scen's been running your money, it's been done in a prudent way. So it was tough.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, you know, look, so to your point, Barry, all 200 employees, approximate 200 employees, were completely innocent. Thankfully, the industry recognized that and gave everybody a free option and everybody has gone on to be into really great jobs at other firms. But I think what happened is the trust was just eroded from the clients. So clients were starting to pull money. And it was too difficult to save. And so what we did is we hired a banker to do an asset purchase agreement. And so sell the remaining assets off. And we just, it was too difficult. So, you know, look, what I learned through that process was, I mean, it was excruciating certainly. Sure. But, you know, managing through crisis and trying to, you know, keep everybody on the boat until such time that you've got to get everybody safely off the boat. And just being really open and honest with clients. I mean, clients would take me out to dinner and say, what really happened? And I had to say that.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right. So he should have done deeper due diligence or whatever the theory is. So unfortunately, I still believe to this day that what we were doing and the way in which we were doing it, which was the alpha sector products, was a prudent way to run a portfolio. Clients certainly agreed with that as we grew very quickly. However, once they slapped the fine on and they got rid of our CEO and sort of banned them from the industry, one of the board members came off of the board to be the interim CEO. We really needed to kind of wind the firm down. Too much damage done.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And what was represented as that was the crux of the matter. Wow. So, you know, there was disagreement. Yeah. So there was a disagreement. Certainly the CEO of F squared continued to fight that it was misrepresented. But the SCC, with the SEC did. I mean, they get trade blotters and they get everything they need to do to subpoena people and get to the heart of the matter. Even if it is representative,”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The time period in question was 2008 back to 2001. In 2008, the CEO of F-bought bought a signal from a firm and was told that the signal run against live client money. Therefore, it was a live signal. 2008 forward, that was now in the domain of f squared, and they ran that money, that signal against live client money and live client portfolios. It was GIPS compliant. It was audited by a big accounting firm. So the SEC had no issue with the track record from 2008 forward. That was valid.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We grew to almost $30 billion, but the SEC came in in the summer of, I hope I get this right, summer of 2013 to do a routine audit and had discovered that the track record we were marketing, this is really important. The track record we were marketing was went back to 2001.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What was happening elsewhere? Yeah. So that was a big segment of the market, as you recall. ETF Strategist segment, which is defined by model portfolios where at least 50% or more has to be within ETFs. It grew to over $100 billion. Actually, F-Square was a big client of iShares. So that's how I knew them. They probably gave iShares, directed $6 to $8 billion a year. That number might be slightly off. But anyway, so they had outsourced everything and they wanted to build their own discretionary business internally. So I was hired as the president of F-Squared Capital, and I had to build our trading system, hire a head trader, put in place a portfolio management system with client service group, assemble a client service group, sales to talk to Wells Fargo's separate account platform business. So built that moving parts. Lots of moving parts. Really fun.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, there's well, and then the players that got in the market after them have a belief set, many of them, that we actually can evolve our fundamental active franchise. We can do enhanced index, we can do”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. So part of it is that they certainly won over the early adopters of ETF specifically. And they grew their passive business for the first decade”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, look, you know, those three firms got started way before everybody else, as you know, SPY is over 25 years old. Right. So, I mean, there is an advantage by first mover.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. And again, part of it is because they knew they needed to build back trust with clients. I mean, again, back to RFPs. You know, in the very beginning of the RFP, it asked about their risk management process, whether it's the firm overall from a centralized perspective or the portfolio management specifically, you've got to articulate your risk management process. And we have that in running our rules-based strategies. We have that in there as well, right? And index providers have that as well. So it's an important part of the story. Again, we are stewards of capital and we are fiduciaries and we need to take that role seriously.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right That's a non issue. We would never, I don't want to say play that game, but that wasn't our space. And I agree with you. It's tough. I don't think investors understand it. I don't think they understand the impact of the leverage they're taking on.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sure, no one, I think that's a great question. And I think it has to, and we talk about this a lot at Oppenheimer Funds, and I think, thankfully we've struck the balance because the portfolio management teams on the fundamental active side are, you know, there's a little bit of a push-pull there, right? So our chief investment officer, Krishna Mamani, he works very, very closely with our chief risk officer on behalf of making sure that we don't do just that, that we give the prudent degree of freedom. Now, how do you define prudent degree of freedom?”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That necessarily existed 15 years ago. It did. It didn't. And I agree with that, right? I mean, the general counsel reports the CEO. Why shouldn't the chief risk officer? We are stewards of our clients' capitals. We are fiduciaries. We need to take that particular function seriously. And so, you know, whether it's the different governance structures for running an ETF business or a fundamental active business, I think whether it was regulatory pushed or forced upon or firms just taking this more seriously and it becoming a key role of the CEO, I think that certainly those institutions are starting to earn back trust 10 years later.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think the regulatory environment in terms of the requirements that they have. So they forced some of it. And I think CEOs, I mean, now on the executive committees of organizations, whether it's a bank or asset managers, the chief risk officer reports to the CEO.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, yeah, no, I think 10 years later, I think it is bouncing back. And I think part of it is government-led because of everything they've put in place in terms of safeguards.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because they were looking for that. You know, they talk about the sustainability of earnings with growth companies and they talk about the recovery of earnings with value companies. And so, you know, fundamental active managers, I think at the time were just riding the wave to see if they can pick up some assets at the cheap. And that was a very, very tough ride for a lot of investors. So I think part of it was trust. I think a lot of it was risk mitigation.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That had to impact. That's exactly right. And so I think it just shocked people. People woke up. I think previous death they dabbled in ETFs post 2008 and 2009 when we finally recovered. I think they made it a prominent part of their portfolio construction. And part of it, I think, was a risk mitigation, at least from what they understood to be more of a risk mitigation. Because of, you know, look at the time I was at Alliance Bernstein, Bernstein, that part of Alliance Bernstein's deep value. And the Bernstein managers specifically and Lou Sanders is an investor himself, the CEO at the time, they rode financial services down all the way to the bottom.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Explain why, absolutely. You know, part of it is they sort of didn't want to deal with it anymore. Let me just give it to an index. Let me give my money to an index. They didn't trust the institutions that were running their money in a lot of cases. Especially.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, no, it certainly was. There's millions of stories that have come out of that one. It's really shaped. It's shaped, you know. A whole generation? Absolutely.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Detachment. It was like Interesting. No, I was fascinated. But, you know, I thankfully was at a place where I could learn more about it. And that was really my first ouch when you.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I did. I didn't have any personal exposure. I had no money. So, you know, it didn't affect me. Those are the best crashes. Exactly. Now, the next one. I was in, by the way, I was in Gray.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Thank you. I don't know why that stuck in my head, but I was there. So, you know, these things are important. And so it was a great learning experience for me. I was still learning about the market, right? And so Chase Manhattan Bank had some exposure. So they obviously took a hit, but recovered. I think Don Boudreau was the CEO or president at the time. But so, you know, there was a lot to learn in terms of how the market factors into sort of the capital markets and what a driver they are and why that happened and how to avoid it and how to put stops in place by the New York Stock Exchange. And so I was young and wet behind the ears, as they say. And so I was just a great learning experience for me.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Exactly. Exactly. That's why I brought it up. It's sort of interesting to look back and it's a blip in today's world. But look, so I wasn't really tied to the market at that time. Remember as a Chase Manhattan Bank and I was doing all these cost studies, I still was domestic at this time. I wasn't yet in Europe. By the way, you were correct.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right into I started it, I think at the end of May or June, but yeah, it was that fall. You certainly look, I mean, it was a great learning experience for me, right? I mean, am I right? Was it 500 points? It was, you know, percentage-wise it was big. 23.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I know the name for sure. They've a band to Desky Trucks. Oh, okay. You would not know the difference. I think she's got more soul. Bonnie Raid has a ton of soul, but if you can believe it, Susan Todeski even has more soul than Bonnie Raid. So I need to make my female plug before we move on.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So there's a way to ease into jazz That's a tough. It is That's fair. Frank Zappa. Yeah. It's like, wait. That's fair. Or Jethro Toll. Yeah.”
2019-06-07 · Masters in Business · Sharon French Discusses Smart Beta ETFs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source