Hello, I'm Ted Sides, and this is Capital Allocators.

This show is an open exploration of the people and process behind capital allocation.

Through conversations with leaders in the money game, we learn how these holders of the keys to the kingdom allocate their time and their capital.

You can keep up to date by visiting Capital Allocatorspodcast.com.

My guests on today's show are Alex Shahidi and Damian Berserier, the co-CIOs of Evoke Wealth and Eris Consulting,

a $19 billion registered investment advisor they co-founded in 2014.

Alex came at the business from a long-tenure advising portfolios at Merrill Lynch,

and Damien joined after nine years at Bridgewater.

Our conversation covers their respective backgrounds, shared investment philosophy,

and strategy of searching for uncorrelated returns across public markets, alpha strategies, and

private markets. We discuss a risk parity approach to public markets, incorporating human behavior when

calibrating risk, the sweet spot in hedge funds, uncorrelated private equity return streams,

and their investment process.

Please enjoy my conversation with Alex Shahidi and Damian Bissarrier.

Alex, Damien, thanks so much for joining me.

Pleasure.

Thanks for having us.

Alex, why don't we start with your background and how you came to forming the business?

Well, it goes back to the late 90s at the peak of the internet bubble. I came out of law

school and went straight into the investment business, no intention to practice law. And I didn't

realize we were at the top of the market. It's always tough starting your career with the market

falling 50% in the first three years. But that teaches you certain aspects of the importance of protecting capital.

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