In this episode, host Robert Morier sits down with Kyle Marmelstein, Investment Director at Crewcial Partners, live from Newport, Rhode Island.

With over 15 years in institutional consulting and manager research, Kyle shares insights into building lasting partnerships, managing risk through market cycles, and why empathy and listening are essential tools in the allocator’s toolkit.

From the lessons of 2008 to today’s private equity dislocations, Kyle offers a grounded view of what it means to invest with conviction, humility, and purpose.

Crewcial Partners is an independent investment advisory firm based in New York, serving endowments, foundations, and mission-driven institutions across the U.S. With over 40 years of experience, the firm designs customized portfolios that align mission with performance, grounded in rigorous research, transparent communication, and long-term partnership.

Key Insights for Allocators

• Hybrid OCIO models — Kyle explains how Crewcial Partners bridges advisory and execution, offering clients flexibility while maintaining investment discipline.
• Private equity secondaries — Learn how current market dislocations are creating opportunity for smaller endowments and foundations to enter private markets more efficiently.
• People and process alignment — Discover why trust, transparency, and culture drive Crewcial’s due diligence and client partnerships more than any model or metric.

Key Takeaways for Asset Managers

• Preparation and empathy win the meeting — Kyle emphasizes the importance of knowing allocators’ pain points and coming prepared to connect, not just to sell.
• Tell your story honestly — Authentic storytelling, humility, and transparency—especially about mistakes—build trust faster than performance charts ever will.
• Understand the human side of due diligence — Hear how allocators like Kyle “build the mosaic” over time, testing conviction and consistency through multiple meetings.

Listen now to hear how one allocator’s journey from the 2008 crisis to today’s dynamic markets reveals enduring truths about partnership, patience, and purpose in investing.

Recorded from the beautiful Castle Hill Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, this special episode of the Dakota Live! Podcast captures the energy and insights of the Havener Capital Partners StorySales Accelerator Capstone Event.

In this conversation, host Robert Morier sits down with Evan Butler, Investment Analyst at CW Advisors, to explore the art and science of manager research and due diligence from the perspective of both the Chief Investment Officer and the analyst. Evan shares how CW Advisors identifies and underwrites top-tier managers across asset classes, balancing institutional rigor with a boutique approach to client service.

Evan shares his journey from studying marketing at Bryant University to becoming a key member of CW’s alternative investment research team—illustrating how data analytics, storytelling, and relationship-building converge in the modern investment landscape.

From sourcing niche managers and structuring bespoke client portfolios to managing the delicate balance between performance and partnership, Evan offers an authentic look into the relationship between idea generation, investment committee collaboration, and client education.

Recorded amid the ocean air of Newport, this conversation dives deep into:

• The evolving relationship between CIOs and analysts in modern wealth management
• The discipline behind manager sourcing and due diligence
• How CW Advisors balances accessibility with institutional-quality investments
• The mentorship and decision-making process that defines successful investment teams

This episode reminds us that great investing—like great conversation—is built on curiosity, collaboration, and trust.

What’s changed—and what still matters—in the OCIO model? In this episode of the Dakota Live! Podcast, host Robert Morier sits down with Adam Lerner, Senior Director of Investments at Prime Buchholz, to unpack how a research-driven OCIO and consulting platform evaluates managers, constructs portfolios, and serves nonprofit clients across endowments, foundations, healthcare systems, and more.

Founded in 1988, Prime Buchholz is one of the industry’s leading independent investment consulting firms, advising on over $80 billion in assets for a diverse range of clients, including colleges and universities, foundations, endowments, hospitals, pension plans, and other long-term investors.

We dig into sourcing, underwriting, and ongoing due diligence; active vs. passive in public equities; portfolio concentration; operational red flags; and how client service and technology shape today’s OCIO experience.

In this conversation:
- The OCIO landscape and Prime Buchholz’s client mix (education, foundations, healthcare) and footprint from Portsmouth (NH), Boston, and Atlanta.
- Research philosophy: why qualitative conviction drives the “A-list,” and how holdings-based questioning tests process discipline.
- Common diligence pitfalls: process drift, team turnover (culture tells), and capacity creep—especially in less-liquid segments.
- Balancing quant screens with judgment (including niche screens like risk-aware 130/30) and aligning manager roles inside the total portfolio.
- Technology’s role: the Prime Plus portal for scenarioing managers, tracking characteristics, and improving meeting-to-meeting clarity with committees.
- Endowment model realities: liquidity, governance, and mission-aligned investing—what’s evolving and what endures.

Whether you’re considering an OCIO platform, running due diligence, or managing client relationships, this conversation is a reminder that consistency, transparency, and conviction remain the hallmarks of enduring investment leadership.

In this episode of the Dakota Live! Podcast, host Robert Morier welcomes Sean Poe, Director of Investment Manager Research at Key Private Bank, for an insightful conversation about investment philosophy, rethinking career paths, and the art of selecting managers across public and private markets.

With a dynamic background that spans equity research, private investing, and operating roles at firms like Wayfair and Lowe’s, Sean brings a unique perspective to portfolio construction and manager evaluation. Listen in to explore how Sean’s unconventional path has shaped his views on risk, alignment, and long-term partnerships—and how he's applying those lessons at Key Private Bank, where he oversees manager research and multi-strategy portfolios within a $60 billion platform.

Listeners will gain insight into:
• Key’s seven P’s framework for manager research—from people to partnership
• How "Poe’s Alpha" measures real-world investment friction
• Building trust and alignment in manager relationships
• Why operational experience makes for sharper allocators
• The evolving role of fund structures, from SMAs to evergreen private equity
• Lessons in networking, career pivots, and transparent storytelling

Whether you’re an asset manager seeking to stand out or an allocator curious about evaluating skill vs. luck in today’s markets, this episode offers practical wisdom and fresh perspective from a seasoned decision-maker who's been on both sides of the table.

In this episode of Dakota Live!, host Robert Morier sits down with Nick Gentile, Interim President and Chief Investment Officer of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors, to explore how a mission-driven $29 billion organization navigates today’s complex fixed income and alternative markets.

Nick Gentile, a seasoned fixed income specialist, offers an inside look at how his team approaches asset allocation, manager selection, and liquidity management while staying true to the Knights’ Catholic investing principles. From private credit and securitized products to real estate debt and duration positioning, Nick shares how the firm balances stewardship with innovation in a volatile rate environment.

Listeners will gain valuable insights into:

• How a values-based investment philosophy informs portfolio construction.
  
  
• The evolving role of private credit and real assets in institutional portfolios.
  
  
• What CIOs look for in external managers during the due diligence process.
  
  
• How insurers and asset allocators are adapting fixed income strategies post–rate cycle.
  
  
• Lessons in leadership, communication, and risk discipline from a CIO who rose through the ranks.
  
  

Whether you’re an allocator, asset manager, or student of investment strategy, this episode offers a masterclass in CIO decision-making, fixed income portfolio design, and faith-driven investing.
Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube to understand how one of America’s most enduring institutions is redefining stewardship for the modern markets.

• The Role of Character: Why courage, patience, and integrity in leadership remain irreplaceable, especially as artificial intelligence takes over technical tasks.
• The Pitfalls of Pattern Recognition: How overreliance on short-term performance and surface-level communication can mask deeper organizational weaknesses, and how allocators can uncover them during due diligence.
• The Value of Information: Why decision quality should be judged in the context of information available at the time (not just outcomes) and how allocators can fairly assess managers’ choices through this lens.
• Trust in Fundraising and Asset Allocation: Moving beyond interaction-based trust toward vision-based trust—and why boutique managers who clearly articulate a differentiated future are more likely to stand out with investment committees.
• Cognitive Diversity & Early Warning Signs: How giving analysts a voice, fostering psychological safety, and embracing cognitive diversity can prevent blind spots and strengthen investment teams.

On this special episode of the Dakota Live! Podcast, we take a slightly different path from our usual allocator conversations. Thanks to a connection made by one of our Drexel University summer interns, we sit down with Adele C. Oliva, Founding Partner at 1315 Capital, a Philadelphia-based healthcare growth equity firm managing over $1 billion in assets.

Adele shares her journey from Baxter and Apex Partners to co-founding 1315 Capital, and how she built a firm dedicated to scaling commercial-stage healthcare products, services, and wellness companies. With her perspective as both a nationally recognized healthcare investor and a mentor to emerging leaders in private equity, Adele offers lessons on building culture, evaluating teams, and navigating growth equity in healthcare.

While our conversation may not follow our traditional allocator focus, it holds valuable insights for both asset managers and allocators. Adele’s views on commercial-stage investing, the importance of capital efficiency, and the evolving role of private equity in healthcare provide practical takeaways for anyone working across the investment ecosystem.

From Philadelphia’s unique life sciences advantage to the importance of mentorship, presence, and pattern recognition, this episode is a reminder that great investing begins with people, culture, and curiosity.

Tune in to hear how Adele and her team at 1315 Capital continue to shape the future of healthcare investing, and how a student’s initiative helped make this conversation possible.

In this episode of Dakota Live!, we sit down with Chris Ceasare, institutional investing veteran, teacher, and mentor—focused on turning theory into practice and helping students and managers communicate what truly matters.

From UPS’s pension desk to co-founding Rocaton and navigating the OCIO wave, Chris Cesare has seen how real decisions get made, and how great managers actually communicate.

Now a University of Connecticut adjunct professor, Chris shares practical lessons on integrity, “managing by commitment,” simplifying complex strategies, and why the analyst of the future will spend less time reporting and more time thinking.

With guest host Kiera Liesinger (UConn ’26), we dig into mentorship, boutiques vs. scale, and leaving the pitch book in the bag.

In this episode

✅ Plan-sponsor lessons from UPS: decision processes, culture, and humility
✅ Building Rocaton, the OCIO shift, and life inside GSAM post-acquisition
✅ Communicating without the crutch of a deck: clarity over complexity
✅ Boutique edge vs. big-firm scale—and fitting managers to clients
✅ The new analyst: less reporting, more analysis (and what that demands)
✅ Teaching investing at UConn: turning theory into practice
✅ AI as co-pilot (not autopilot) in the classroom and office
✅ Mentorship: how to ask, how to help, how to grow

Chris has sat on every side of the table—plan sponsor, consultant, OCIO, and now educator—and he turns that vantage point into usable rules: manage by commitment, simplify the pitch, fit managers to clients, and train analysts to analyze.

You’ll get stories you can apply in your next IC, client meeting, or class, plus a sober take on boutiques vs. scale and AI’s real role in the craft. If you sell, allocate, or teach in this business, this episode will pay for itself.