Steven Galbraith – In the Boardroom (Capital Allocators, EP.48)

One common refrain across my conversations has been the importance and subtleties of effective governance in making optimal investment decisions. Alongside Steven Galbraith's incredible career as an analyst, strategist, portfolio manager, and entrepreneur in the asset management business, he has served on as many Boards as anyone I know. I imagine many of you have heard Steve's story, but if not, you may want to have a listen to the very first episode of Capital Allocators before diving in here. Our conversation today starts with an update on Steve's personal investment in the Narragansett Beer Company and moves into a practical discussion inside the Board rooms of each of his current seats that range across a university, a large family office, a public company, a government agency, and two early stage fintech companies. We touch on time allocation, governance structure, Board composition, adding value, the politics of Boards, and the motivation of Board members. We also get an update on Steve's family office, that he's managing alongside his wife Lucy, a seasoned distressed debt investor, and we close with our brief, contrary outlook on the baseball season. Steve's perspective and insights on the real world of Boards is second to none, and this conversation is as full of gems as our first one. Learn More Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast Show Notes 2:45 – Update on Narragansett Brewery 2:53 – How Passion Investors Helped Revive Narragansett Beer 4:28 – Narragansett in the White House 5:19 – With all of the boards that he serves on, how does he manage his time 7:34 – How much time do these boards assume Steven is investing in them 9:32 – Highest functioning board 11:46 – Maintaining stability between the board and investment team 16:29 – What Warren Buffet had to say about the Tufts endowment 17:45 – What are the board dynamics in a family office 22:22 – Overview of for-profit boards 26:12 – Is the familial relationships of board members another way an investment committee could construct a board 26:56– Could a university or foundation create a board like this with close familial ties amongst members 28:46 – Optimal board structure of a foundation 29:57 – Steve's time in government serving on a board 32:52 – Board of startups and early stage companies 35:02 – A look at Steve's family office 37:20 – What do the analytics of financial companies look like 5-10 years from now 38:35 – Looking at the quality of analytics he currently gets from his outsourced team compared to larger firms he has worked with 39:37 – What is Steve seeing in the markets 40:42 – What is the most interesting idea that's come across Steve's plate in the past year 44:32 – Politics of boards and what drives them 48:36 – Closing Questions