Latest Interviews
Showing 706–720 of 1,205 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute1h 1m
Common Sense From Uncommon Investors
Michael Milken, Mark Attanasio, John Danhakl, Emanuel J. Friedman, George G. Hicks, Mitchell Julis
On May 1, 2018, moderator Michael Milken led a panel of five prominent investors, including Mitch Jewett of Canyon Partners and John Donahue of KKR, to discuss generating alpha through specialized expertise in distressed assets and private equity. The participants detailed their strategies for navigating complex restructurings like Caesars Entertainment and analyzing market inefficiencies caused by regulatory constraints and ETF dominance. This exchange highlighted how these firms leverage global reach and capital flexibility to achieve outsized returns while the panelists debated the timing of a banking sector recovery and the enduring value of alternative lending structures.
- Milken Institute1h 4m
How to Be a Man in 2018
Richard Sandler, Michael Ian Black, Joanne Lipman, Kevin O'Leary, Alex Rodriguez
Moderated by Richard Sandler, a panel of business leaders and activists including Kevin O'Leary, Joanne Lipman, Michael Ian Black, and Alex Rodriguez argued that gender inequality is a detrimental business practice that harms productivity and financial returns. The discussion integrated diverse perspectives on systemic bias, with O'Leary citing performance data showing female-led companies outperform male-led counterparts, while panelists emphasized the need for men to embrace vulnerability and allyship to drive cultural change. Concluding that economic incentives and shared responsibility are the most effective drivers of progress, the group warned that avoiding cross-gender mentorship due to fear undermines organizational success and social equity.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Avoiding War With North Korea
Nicholas Kristof, Jean Lee, Yasuhide Nakayama, John Park, Bill Richardson
Moderated by Nicholas Kristof at the Milken Conference, experts Jean Lee, Yasuhide Nakayama, John Park, and Governor Bill Richardson analyzed the shifting geopolitical landscape of the Korean Peninsula following the Panmunjom Declaration. While Park and Richardson acknowledged tangible momentum such as the dismantling of the Punggye-ri test facility, Lee and Richardson warned that full denuclearization by 2021 remains unlikely due to Kim Jong-un's strategic use of nuclear capabilities for regime survival and internal legitimacy. The panel ultimately characterized the current diplomatic efforts as a fragile "action-for-action" process where South Korea and Japan face risks of marginalization, with prospects for a permanent freeze on nuclear programs rather than immediate total disarmament.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Strategy and Leadership in an Age of Disruption
Adam Lashinsky, Jorge Paulo Lemann, Jim McCaughan, Tim Sloan, Julie Sweet, Seth Caller, Jatrice Martel-Gator, Major Ken Tarr, Seema Shah
Leaders from Accenture, Wells Fargo, and 3G Capital discussed how accelerating disruption forces major corporations to shift from control-based leadership to innovation-focused cultures, with artificial intelligence becoming a ubiquitous utility rather than a niche experiment. Panelists detailed specific strategies for this transition, including Wells Fargo's restructuring into unified customer-centric models, Accenture's rapid sprints that delivered complex solutions in weeks, and 3G Capital's internal units dedicated to self-disruption. To sustain these advancements, the group emphasized that ethical AI adoption and proactive workforce reskilling are critical, noting that successful organizations are reinvesting automation savings into talent development while addressing diversity gaps to prevent systemic flaws.
- Milken Institute58 min
Big Tech and Antitrust: Rethinking Competition Policy for the Digital Era
David Faber, Tyler Cowen, Makan Delrahim, Sally Hubbard, Luigi Zingales
Justice Department official Makan Delrahim, panelists Luigi Zingales, Sally Hubbard, and Tyler Cowen debated the implications of the AT&T/Time Warner and T-Mobile/Sprint mergers while critiquing Big Tech's "platform privilege" and data monopolies. Critics argued that digital services function as monopolies through advertising control and product replication, challenging Delrahim's assertion that these firms have primarily benefited consumers through innovation and low prices. The discussion concluded by exploring regulatory remedies ranging from data portability and interoperability to potential common carrier status should antitrust enforcement fail to restore competition.
- Milken Institute53 min
Urban Farming, Agritech, and Food Security in the Middle East
Mishaal Al Gergawi, Matt Barnard, Karan A. Chanana, Charlie McNairy, Marc Oshima
Industry leaders and investors convened to analyze the convergence of vertical farming, precision agriculture, and geopolitical partnerships as essential responses to a global agricultural capacity gap that currently meets only 20% of fresh produce demand. Experts demonstrated how high-tech indoor manufacturing achieves cost parity with field crops while extending shelf life, whereas traditional horizontal models utilize data-driven efficiency to maximize grain yields and secure long-term offtake contracts. The consensus establishes a dual-path strategy where controlled-environment agriculture specializes in nutrient-dense perishables and conventional farming secures global caloric supply, collectively aiming to eliminate waste and improve food security in both urban and rural sectors.
- Milken Institute55 min
Trends Shaping Global Credit Markets
Tracy Alloway, Sir Michael Hintze, Paul Horvath, Steven Shapiro, David Warren, Michael Hintze
Senior secured floating-rate managers and credit strategists navigated a market characterized by a mid-to-late cycle risk profile and diverging equity-bond valuations by pivoting away from generic high-yield exposure toward distressed special situations and hard assets. Despite warnings that rising rates and thin subordination could stress lower-rated issuers, panelists identified attractive dislocations in emerging markets and complex restructurings while utilizing options to hedge systemic risk cheaply. These strategic shifts reflect a calculated approach to capitalizing on liquidity mismatches and negative convexity in an environment where quantitative tightening is increasing default probabilities.
- Milken Institute56 min
The Inclusive Digital Revolution: Making A.I. and Next-Gen Tech Work for Everyone
Cyrus Hodes, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Court Coursey, Daniel Goldin, David Kenny
A diverse panel of experts including David Kenny, Dan Goldin, and Gina Boyce outlines a global roadmap where AI drives exponential growth in sectors ranging from food security in MENA to healthcare diagnostics in Africa. The discussion highlights strategic shifts toward distributed learning models and zero-threshold technologies to solve critical issues like water scarcity, education access, and infrastructure gaps without relying on traditional hardware. By advocating for international data standards and ethical governance frameworks, the group positions Africa and emerging markets as the primary engines for the next wave of technological and economic development.
- Milken Institute38 min
Smart Cities and the Future of Urban Infrastructure
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Lukasz Gadowski, Karl Magnus Olsson, Hamed Zaghw, Lukas, Magnus, Hamid, Fahad Al-Sharikh
A high-level panel led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid and industry leaders like Volocopter founder Alex Zosimov redefined smart cities as ecosystems prioritizing citizen happiness through integrated big data, transportation-as-a-service, and electric urban air mobility. The discussion highlighted Dubai's rapid execution of these concepts, contrasting its centralized regulatory efficiency with the bureaucratic hurdles faced in European cities, while detailing successful localized mobility initiatives like Kareem in the Gulf. Participants concluded that scaling such infrastructure requires visionary government leadership to establish safety standards and open data frameworks alongside updated engineering education to support innovations like platooning.
- Milken Institute54 min
Motivating Venture Capital in the Era of MENA Technology and Innovation
Saud Al Nowais, Ron Cao, Fadi Ghandour, Sumant Mandal, Abdulrahman Tarabzouni, Srdin Nwes
VC leaders from March Capital, Wamda Capital, Sky9 Capital, and STV analyzed the MENA region's transition from copycat businesses to deep tech innovation, highlighting a critical need for government-subsidized patient capital and cross-border mobility to address a funding deficit that requires a twenty-fold increase. The panel identified a unique inflection point where high local digital demand meets emerging supply, urging sovereign wealth funds to partner with established general partners while corporate venture arms leverage telecom assets to solve value leakage in e-commerce and gaming. By focusing on core infrastructure like fintech and logistics before attempting frontier technologies, the ecosystem aims to create regional unicorns and digital defaults within the next three to five years.
- Milken Institute58 min
FDI in MENA: The Role of Capital Markets and Financial Infrastructure
John Burbank, Sarah Al Suhaimi, Miguel Azevedo, Rayan Fayez, Rishi Kapoor, Frank Kane
Driven by Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, the market is accelerating global integration through rapid deregulation, the shift to T+2 settlement, and mandatory IFRS adoption to attract foreign capital. With Qualified Foreign Investor registrations doubling to over 120 and MSCI inclusion anticipated to trigger $25 billion in passive inflows, foreign ownership is projected to rise from 1% to double-digit levels within a few years. While challenges remain in judicial reform pace, industry leaders like InvestCorp and the Saudi government expect liquidity to quadruple and corporate governance standards to converge with global benchmarks as the region moves toward a potential unified GCC exchange.
- Milken Institute35 min
Creating a 21st Century Workforce: Entrepreneurship, Apprenticeship and Lifelong Learning
Michael Moe, Christine Gulbranson, Badr Jafar, Maysa Jalbout, Abbas Kazmi, Jonathan Sokoloff, Mike Moe, John Sokoloff
A panel of experts and regional leaders convened to address the critical mismatch between the MENA region's young, rapidly growing demographic and its persistently high youth unemployment rates exacerbated by global automation trends. Speakers highlighted strategic pivots toward continuous learning, e-commerce expansion, and women's workforce inclusion, while citing specific initiatives like the Abdallah Al-Ghorair Foundation's support for underserved youth and the University of California System's venture capital pipeline as models for economic transformation. The discussion concluded that overcoming cultural stigmas around failure and integrating corporate governance frameworks are essential to fostering a resilient startup ecosystem capable of generating the net new jobs required for future prosperity.
- Milken Institute57 min
Belt and Road Initiative: China's 21st Century Plan for Eurasia
Curtis S. Chin, Mishaal Al Gergawi, Karim Al-Wadi, James McCormack, V. Shankar, Tariq Shaikh, JC Bork
Launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, the One Belt, One Road initiative mobilizes a multi-trillion-dollar financial ecosystem including the AIIB and Silk Road Fund to modernize global trade corridors and address China's domestic overcapacity. The strategy counters Western geopolitical withdrawal by establishing extensive land and maritime infrastructure while securing energy routes through diplomatic and military expansions, such as the base in Djibouti. Although facing opposition from nations like India and Japan and concerns regarding debt sustainability, the project is projected to redefine 21st-century geopolitics by creating a multipolar Eurasian network reliant on China's centralized 50-year planning horizon.
- Milken Institute53 min
African Century: Engaging the Continent's Great Opportunities
Staci Warden, Clare Akamanzi, Joaquim Alberto Chissano, His Excellency Salaheddine Mezouar, Josh Sandler, Salaheddine Mezouar, Veronica Nyamwaya, Miguel, Mark Desario, E, Iyad Malask
African leaders are transitioning from isolated national development to continental integration through the Addis Ababa Summit, which established critical protocols for a free trade area, free movement of people, and unified aviation. This strategy leverages strong regional economic communities and private sector initiatives like the Africa 50 fund to address a $40 billion annual infrastructure deficit and reduce logistics costs that currently inflate product prices by up to 75%. With the continent identified as a top global reformer and possessing a unique demographic advantage, these coordinated efforts aim to mobilize capital markets and skilled labor to unlock massive intra-regional trade potential.
- Milken Institute57 min
Advancing Health Technology and Innovation
Jonathan Simons, Chris Austin, Annalisa Jenkins, Richard Merkin, Kim Nguyen, David Spetzler
Leading innovators and policymakers are convening to redefine healthcare delivery through a convergence of genomic editing, artificial intelligence, and cross-disciplinary collaboration rather than incremental improvements. Key figures emphasize leveraging technologies like CRISPR and deep learning to bridge the massive translation gap between molecular discovery and patient treatment, with the goal of curing rare genetic disorders and democratizing precision oncology. The discussion outlines a strategic framework for the UAE to leapfrog legacy systems by deploying high-impact solutions such as organ-on-a-chip models and AI-driven diagnostics to transform untreatable conditions into manageable outcomes within the coming decade.