Latest Interviews
Showing 1261–1275 of 2,089 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute1h 4m
Addressing Global Challenges with Investment Dollars
Jessica Matthews, Reyaz Ahmad, Thomas Hyland, Hardeep Walia
Moderated by Jessica Matthews of Cambridge Associates, a panel featuring leaders from Motif, Espada Investment Advisors, and IFC Asset Management discussed the feasibility and strategies of market-rate mission-related investing across retail, emerging market infrastructure, and climate sectors. The discussion highlighted recent performance data confirming that impact funds in private equity and real assets can achieve competitive financial returns while addressing specific social goals, driven by strong generational demand and significant institutional allocations like the Ford Foundation's $1 billion initiative. Despite identifying persistent challenges such as deal flow quality and data fragmentation, the experts concluded that hybrid structures and permanent capital vehicles are successfully bridging the gap between philanthropic intent and commercial viability for the remaining 95% of endowment capital.
- Milken Institute54 min
When Ordinary Becomes Extraordinary: Olympic and Paralympic Heroes
Gene Sykes, Janet Evans, Allyson Felix, Apolo Ohno, Sarah Reinertsen
Four elite athletes and LA 2024 Bid Committee CEO Gene Sykes explored the psychological resilience, evolving training methodologies, and unique pressures that define Olympic competition. The panelists detailed how modern data-driven recovery techniques and mental conditioning allow mature athletes to overcome doubt and extend their careers, while contrasting these approaches with the raw ambition that fueled their youth. Sykes further outlined Los Angeles's strategy for the 2024 Games, emphasizing a low-cost, transit-centric infrastructure model that leverages existing facilities to create a compact, legacy-rich event.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
Start-up Nations: Creating Laboratories for Developing Economies
Glenn Yago, Clare Akamanzi, Jeremy Bentley, Richard Blum, Eli Groner, Angela Homsi, Karen Ross
A structural inversion where emerging markets now surpass the "Old World" in GDP share has created a critical need to deploy trillions in idle global capital toward addressing climate adaptation and Sustainable Development Goals. Panelists identified that despite available financing, the primary barrier is a lack of scalable "applied innovation" and viable business models to serve deep rural areas, prompting a strategic pivot toward government-led frameworks in Rwanda, Israel, and California. These nations are successfully leveraging public-private partnerships, financial innovation centers, and educational initiatives to transform niche technologies into bankable projects that bridge the gap between capital availability and last-mile implementation.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
The Evolution of Hedge Fund Management
Julie Lauer Wurster, Mark Baumgartner, Scott Ferguson, Samantha Greenberg, Richard Schimel
Following a wave of hedge fund closures driven by surging infrastructure costs, the industry is undergoing rapid consolidation that forces emerging managers to either secure massive seed capital or join established platforms like Citadel to survive. This environment has created a buyer's market for talent, enabling larger firms to recruit top analysts with structured career paths and sophisticated technology, while successful startups increasingly rely on institutional-grade operations to deliver top-quartile performance. As a result, the sector is trending toward a model where the top managers command an expanding share of total assets, compelling smaller funds to adapt through hybrid approaches or risk obsolescence.
- Milken Institute1h 5m
Space Travel: From Mars to the Stars
Michael Milken, Buzz Aldrin, Daniel Goldin, Mae Jemison, Yuri Milner
Panelists including Buzz Aldrin, Dan Goldin, and May Yi outline a strategic roadmap for human expansion from the Moon to the stars, featuring Aldrin's 2039 Mars colonization plan and Breakthrough Starshot's billion-dollar interstellar probe initiative. The discussion emphasizes a collaborative framework where private sector funding drives high-risk exploration while governments support infrastructure, aiming to solve technical hurdles like relativistic sail integrity and biological survival for deep space travel. Ultimately, the experts argue that pursuing audacious goals like interstellar flight is essential to galvanize global innovation, ensuring the long-term survival of the human species by expanding beyond Earth's carrying capacity.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
A Conversation with Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso
Taro Aso, John Micklethwait, Kyle Theodore, Mark Allen, Alfredo
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso detailed a comprehensive strategy to shift the nation from a deflationary recession to robust growth by prioritizing wise spending, corporate governance reforms, and the mobilization of dormant household savings. He outlined specific fiscal incentives for SMEs and R&D while addressing critical demographic challenges through labor participation, automation, and targeted visa programs rather than mass immigration. In the geopolitical arena, Aso emphasized the urgent threat posed by North Korea and affirmed Japan's continued commitment to the TPP framework while coordinating with the US to secure multilateral trade benefits.
- Milken Institute1h 4m
What's Happened to the American Dream?
Shaun Robinson, Jim Clifton, Robert H. Dugger, Shirin Laor-Raz Salemnia, Yascha Mounk, Will Packer
This analysis examines the shift from the American Dream as a pursuit of universal material improvement to a zero-sum struggle for positional goods, driven by flat living standards since 1985 and the exclusion of 60% of young adults from the labor market. Key structural barriers including felony records, educational misalignment, and automation threats have reduced intergenerational social mobility to 7.5% and created governance risks by alienating millions of citizens. Proposed solutions focus on early childhood investment, expanding awareness of high-growth tech sectors, and reforming higher education to identify and nurture resilience in high-potential students regardless of background.
- Milken Institute1h 4m
Where in the World Are the Best Infrastructure Deals?
Harry Goldgut, Sharmila Chatterjee Kassam, Joe Hockey, Stu Porter, Thomas Wu
Institutional investors are increasingly targeting $7 trillion in Asian infrastructure gaps and 12–15% returns in frontier markets by prioritizing greenfield assets and co-investment structures over traditional core holdings. To unlock this capital, experts advocate for asset recycling models that link public asset sales to visible new construction, supported by development banks to underwrite political risk and legal frameworks tailored to local conditions. Strategic focus is shifting toward energy storage, technological upgrades for AI, and specific opportunities in Brazil, Colombia, and India where customized financing and equipment adaptation mitigate developmental barriers.
- Milken Institute57 min
Addressing the Urban Housing Crisis
Gail Goldberg, Laura Archuleta, Christopher Hawthorne, Hessam Nadji, William Witte, Shawn Robinson, Dick Zyman, Josh Stevens
A comprehensive analysis of the global and Californian housing crisis highlights a critical shortage of 8.3 million U.S. units exacerbated by fragmented land-use policies, excessive approval timelines, and volatile funding mechanisms that have stalled job growth in tech hubs. While recent voter initiatives in Los Angeles and various counties demonstrate strong public support for housing bonds and transit-oriented development, systemic barriers such as prevailing wage mandates and the dominance of single-family home ownership continue to drive costs and restrict supply. Strategic solutions now focus on accelerating modular construction, reforming zoning to prioritize permanent affordability in master-planned communities, and shifting cultural paradigms toward rental tenancy to address the 9-to-11 trillion dollar investment gap required to close the housing divide.
- Milken Institute1h 5m
MIc'd Up: Conversation with Robert Ballard, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Conversation with Katie Couric
Robert Ballard, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Katie Couric, Brian Sullivan, Buzz Aldrin
Oceanographer Robert Ballard contrasts the underfunded state of deep-sea exploration with NASA's space budget, highlighting discoveries of life origins at hydrothermal vents and the urgent need for sustainable aquaculture to address fishing depletion. Meanwhile, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reflects on his 50-year mentorship with John Wooden, detailing how their cross-racial friendship navigated civil rights challenges and shaped his conversion to Islam. Together, these perspectives underscore the importance of expanding human knowledge in both the unmapped depths of the ocean and the diverse landscapes of society.
- Milken Institute28 min
MIc'd Up | Part 1: A Conversation with Norman Lear and Ava DuVernay
Norman Lear, Ava DuVernay, Alex Witt
Hosted by Alex Witt, legendary television producer Norman Lear and filmmaker Ava DuVernay discussed the role of entertainment as a catalyst for radical justice and the enduring reality of systemic oppression. Lear detailed his strategy for centering Black life through sitcoms like *The Jeffersons* and his recent Latin American adaptation of *One Day at a Time*, while DuVernay explained her vision for Array as a long-term institution challenging Hollywood's distribution barriers with her upcoming film *A Wrinkle in Time*. The speakers concluded that true progress requires moving beyond symbolic milestones, such as the Obama presidency, to actively dismantle intersecting privileges and hold society accountable for equal opportunity.
- Milken Institute1h 3m
Credit Market Outlook
Michael Milken, Mark Attanasio, George Hicks, Sir Michael Hintze, Joseph Naggar, Jim Zelter
Leading credit managers from Apollo, Crescent Capital Group, and GoldenTree warned that the global credit cycle is maturing and prone to a correction in 2018 due to excessive private equity leverage and a market overexposed to passive investment vehicles. To navigate an environment characterized by covenant-lite structures and rising interest rates, these panelists advocate for active management strategies focused on strict underwriting, floating-rate instruments, and distressed opportunities in Europe and emerging markets. By prioritizing complex origination and deep fundamental analysis over index-driven approaches, active managers aim to identify value in mispriced assets while mitigating the risks of an imminent market downturn.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
MENA Region: New Tactics to Transform Economies and Accelerate Growth
Rana Foroohar, Yousef Al Otaiba, His Highness Prince Fahad Al Saud, Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani, Mohammad Barraj, Prince Fahad Al Saud
Regional leaders and experts convened to outline a comprehensive strategy for economic diversification, highlighting the UAE's shift to a non-oil GDP and Qatar's 2030 vision while addressing a $260 billion financing gap for small and medium-sized enterprises. The panel emphasized leveraging technology and social media to drive female entrepreneurship and correct global narratives, alongside security reforms that prioritize addressing root causes of extremism over pure military intervention. Concluding with a call for intensified US-Europe-Arab collaboration, speakers urged the international community to support youth mobility, academic exchange, and internal regional partnerships to foster sustainable growth and "create hope."
- Milken Institute18 min
An Inspiring Presentation by Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim outlines a strategic pivot toward ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity by leveraging the institution's credit rating to mobilize dormant global capital for developing markets. His approach emphasizes transforming traditional lending into risk-enhancement models that attract private investment, citing successful pilots in Jordan, Zambia, and Rwanda that achieved commercial viability and significant cost reductions. Kim argues that fostering equality of opportunity through human capital investment and technological integration is essential to address critical challenges like automation-driven job displacement and childhood stunting, which he identifies as primary drivers of global instability.
- Milken Institute11 min
Lunch Program | Nasdaq Closing Bell Ceremony
Adina Friedman, Mike Cloughton
Marking the 20th anniversary of the Milken Institute Global Conference, Nasdaq President Adina Friedman and Institute Chairman Michael Milken convened over 4,000 global leaders in Los Angeles to advance themes of building meaningful lives and converting ideas into action. The ceremony highlighted the critical role of capital access in driving innovation across healthcare, technology, and job creation, while honoring Milken's influence on medicine and the Nasdaq's history of transforming startups into iconic enterprises like Apple and Tesla. This collaboration underscored the necessity of funding for entrepreneurial growth as experts from finance, government, and medicine gathered to craft solutions for a more productive world.