95. William Cheng, Hospitalist and Singer
The 92 Report
William Cheng has been working in the Silicon Valley area since 2000. He graduated from Harvard as a bio concentrator and later attended UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. He completed residency training in internal medicine at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, a county hospital affiliated with Stanford Hospital System. He then joined the Palo Alto Medical Foundation as a hospitalist, focusing on acutely ill patients. Working as a Hospitalist William's understanding of the world has changed over the two decades as a hospitalist. He now understands the importance of non-hard science...
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94. Jeanne Simpson, Actor/Dancer/Choreographer/Director/Teacher
The 92 Report
Jeanne Simpson moved to New York after graduating. She started doing day jobs in New York City to make ends meet while attending free dance classes, which allowed her to continue her training without having to pay for grad school. She eventually joined the American Isadora Dance Company, a modern company. Beginning a Career in the Performing Arts Jeanne began her acting career at HB Studios, where she was given a scholarship and studied under Austin Pendleton, a talented teacher who taught the advanced Acting Program at HB. She worked with other amazing actors and learned to choreograph scenes...
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93. Joshua Brandon Holden, Math Professor and Author of The Mathematics of Secrets
The 92 Report
Joshua Brandon Holden, the author of The Mathematics of Secrets, Cryptography from Caesar Ciphers to Digital Encryption, graduated with a degree in pure math and went on to teach at the University of Massachusetts and Duke. He discovered that he was spending most of his time on teaching, so he sought jobs where they would reward teaching. He then worked at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, where he did both teaching and research. Common Misconceptions about Cryptography Joshua discusses common misconceptions about cryptography and its connection to the internet. He explains that...
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92. Mark Jacobstein, Accidental Entrepreneur
The 92 Report
Mark Jacobstein resides in Stanford, California with his wife, two children, and his mother in law. Mark's career has primarily focused on entrepreneurial technology, primarily in health tech, biotech, molecular diagnostics, and digital health arenas. After Cambridge, he worked with Scott Murphy, a close friend and business partner. He moved to California in 2003 to start a technology company and has been there ever since. He lives on the Stanford campus, which allows his children to grow up on a college campus. Founding a Fantasy Sports Business Mark shares his journey from writing...
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91. Andreas Stavropoulos, Entering the Third Act
The 92 Report
Andreas Stavropoulos, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur, came to the United States from Greece at 18 and has been in the United States ever since. His big moves include marrying his high school sweetheart, arranging their lives around graduate school, medical school, business school, and moving to California. He is now 55-years-old and is excited about the third act of his life, where he can choose where to spend his time more than he used to. A Career as a Venture Capitalist Andreas started his career as a venture capitalist in 1999 and has been doing so for over two and a half years. He...
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90. Shannon Frison, Marine and Judge
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Shannon Frison joined the United States Marine Corps during her time in law school. She spent her second year at officer candidate school and became commissioned as an officer. After law school, she returned to Massachusetts, worked for a year at the TAs office, took the bar, and went on active duty with the Marine Corps. After serving at Marine Corps Air Station, New River, North Carolina, she worked for a litigation firm called Dwyer and Clora before opening a law firm. In 2009, she applied for the bench in Massachusetts and was appointed to the Boston Municipal Court. She then...
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89. Anastasia Fernands, Patent Litigator
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Anastasia Fernands has been practicing law since graduating from NYU. She started practicing in Boston at Hutchins, Wheeler and Dittmar, which was the oldest continuously running firm in Boston at the time. Anastasia has since moved to New York and now practices at Quinn Emanuel. Anastasia’s career primarily focuses on intellectual property litigation, particularly patent litigation since the mid to late 90s. At that time there were two schools of thought on patent litigation: technical people who understood technology and those who were litigators by trade. There was a...
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88. Brett Janis, Principal at Strong Bridge Advisers
The 92 Report
After Brett Janis left Harvard, he worked as a journalist in Southeast Asia and later attended Georgetown University's Masters of Science and Foreign Service program, which introduced him to the International Affairs world. After a stint in Egypt, Brett joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1995, where he focused on economic issues related to the Southeast Asia crisis, including issues related to banks and financial markets. He left the CIA just before 9/11, which was a critical moment in his life. He went back to Asia and started a business which dealt with finances for family...
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87. Richard Primus, Constitutional Law Professor
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Richard Primus initially had no idea what he wanted to do professionally after graduation, but eventually realized that he wanted to be a professor with interests in both law and political theory. He took HW Perry's constitutional interpretation class and decided to pursue graduate school and political theory before going to law school. Richard decided to study political theory at Oxford with the idea of becoming a law professor. He found his studies there focused on the abstract nature of political theory at the time, which required abstract questions about justice, liberty, and...
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86. Chris Ball, Research Scientist in the ElectroScience Laboratory
The 92 Report
Show Notes: After graduation, Chris Ball spent his summer working in Cambridge before returning to Columbus, Ohio, where he began graduate school in physics at The Ohio State University. He worked with Professor Frank DeLuca, a world-renowned researcher in microwave spectroscopy. Chris’ research focused on the microwave absorption of sulfur dioxide and its relationship to NASA's Microwave Limb Sounder instrument. Studying Interstellar Bands During his time at OSU, Chris collaborated with Professor Patrick Thaddeus from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who was looking to hire...
info_outlineAfter Brett Janis left Harvard, he worked as a journalist in Southeast Asia and later attended Georgetown University's Masters of Science and Foreign Service program, which introduced him to the International Affairs world. After a stint in Egypt, Brett joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1995, where he focused on economic issues related to the Southeast Asia crisis, including issues related to banks and financial markets. He left the CIA just before 9/11, which was a critical moment in his life. He went back to Asia and started a business which dealt with finances for family offices.
Brett returned to the US in 2005 and went to Columbia Business School, where he managed money for a family office with an international focus. Since then, he has been doing finance and consulting, working for PWC, McKinsey and the Treasury Department under Obama's second term. Brett joined the Financial Stability Council as a senior analyst during a time of financial system regulation. He also reconnected with Tim Geithner, who was one of his first principals at the CIA. Brett currently runs a private Wealth Management Practice called Strong Bridge Advisors, LLC, based in San Francisco.
Working at the CIA
Brett talks about his interactions with Tim Geithner and Larry Summers, two influential figures in the Treasury. Geithner was part of the committee at Treasury, which focused on social stability and risks that had not yet been faced and not just economics. The remit at that time was to understand the impact of a banking sector crisis on smaller Asian economies. Brett had his most critical briefing with Larry Summers in 1998, where he brought valuable insights from his deep knowledge of Southeast Asia and Thailand. He believes that the role of an advisor is to bring insightful information, listen to other views, and he states that a lot of the quality policy decisions are made through authentic dialogue and respect for different perspectives. Brett goes on to explain why he was comfortable with the processes and structure of the role at that time.
Working at McKinsey vs. CIA
As a former associate partner, Brett compares the approach of the CIA to McKinsey, both with a reputation for intense cultures and intellectual horsepower. While the CIA dealt with serious issues, such as life-threatening issues, national security and social stability issues, Brett believes that both prioritize risk-awareness. He mentions that people at the CIA have more seniority and dedication to the issues they are passionate about because their sense of public duty to the government is higher than for employees at McKinsey. In conclusion, Brett's experiences with the CIA and McKinsey highlight the importance of maintaining strong relationships and being creative in risk-taking and decision-making.
Setting Up an Investment Advisory Practice
Brett discusses his decision to set up an investment advisory practice after becoming a CFA. He began managing money and private capacity for family office clients at Columbia Business School, working with people who were friends and retired from different government agencies and services. He completed a value investing program at Columbia and brought this skillset to his company. Brett felt that larger institutions often didn't provide the same attention to clients as they needed, and industry pressures were often not in clients’ best interests. His company, Strawbridge, cuts through this clutter and focuses on the investment process, serving the best interest of his clients. The practice provides skills in tech investment, good value investing, and understanding macroeconomics.
A View on Relationships
Relationships play a significant role in Brett’s career. Many former friends and associates have become clients. He enjoys building relationships with people who have helped him or who he respects and has maintained relationships through personal changes, geographic changes, and stress situations.
Brett believes that relationships are more important than what people are doing in their lives, and that it doesn't have to be business relationships. Trust is essential for managing assets and staying in touch with clients. He also enjoys staying in touch with people who share similar experiences.
The Impact of the Ukrainian War
Brett discusses the impact of the war on his family and his Ukrainian wife. The war has been a massive refugee issue; many families have been torn apart, they have faced issues in bomb shelters, suffered daily harassment, and medical care has been impaired leading to deaths that could have been avoidable. He is a huge supporter of Ukraine and hopes that people in the US will take action to continue their support.
Influential Harvard Courses and Professors
Brett shares his experiences at Harvard, His major is in English literature and he also pursued a visual arts course, where he took oil painting and continues to do, he also took Mandarin Chinese which helped him pick up Thai, some Cantonese, and even a little Russian. continued to write and explore various writing techniques. Brett also mentions learning Thai while living in Southeast Asia, where he was trained by the CIA to be like an Uber Thai speaker.
Timestamps:
05:15 CIA experience, problem-solving approaches, and McKinsey
12:06 Investment philosophy and business practice
16:03 Relationships, career, and personal life
22:17 Ukraine, language learning, and personal experiences at Harvard
Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettjanis/
Company Website: StrongBridgeAdvisors.com