🎥 Bank of America's Mark Sutterlin - why being a good investor in private markets is table stakes

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today’s conversation provides a fascinating window into the world of how one of the industry’s largest wealth managers approaches private markets.We sat down with the man who holds the keys to the kingdom.Mark Sutterlin is the Head of Alternative Investments within the Investment Solutions Group at Bank of America. He leads the firm’s strategy and platform development across hedge funds, private credit, private equity, physical precious metals, and real estate, delivering a broad spectrum of institutional-grade investment solutions to advisors and their clients.Mark brings the advisor’s perspective to bear as he builds the alternative investments menu for Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank and helps educate advisors and clients on how and where to thoughtfully and appropriately include private markets in portfolios.Mark and I had a fascinating discussion. We covered:How GPs can work with private banks.What one of the largest private wealth allocators looks for in GPs.How Merrill approaches different product structures to deliver solutions across the wealth client spectrum.What constitutes a manager’s edge.I loved this conversation with Mark, who takes such a thoughtful approach and brings a true passion to helping clients and advisors build and protect wealth.Thanks, Mark, for sharing your expertise, wisdom, and passion on private markets and private wealth.Thanks for reading Alt Goes Mainstream! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work - writing and podcasting about the convergence of private markets and private wealth since December 2020.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.Learn more: ultimusfundsolutions.com or email [email protected] thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.Show Notes00:00 Investor Edge Beyond Returns00:32 Sponsor Message from Ultimus01:29 Meet Mark Sutterlin03:27 From Advisor to Alts Lead03:34 Lessons From 200804:12 Trust And Advisor Duty04:27 Serving HNW And UHNW04:51 Evergreen To Drawdown Spectrum05:19 Building The Alts Shelf05:52 Platform Design Principles06:35 Diligence As Core Identity07:04 Nuance In Private Credit07:40 Long Term Themes Overlay08:17 Core Satellite Portfolio Mix09:57 Evergreens Take The Lead10:23 Evergreen Growing Pains10:50 Education And Expectations11:49 Who Can Run Evergreens12:40 Allocation Policy And Scale13:07 Post-Sale Servicing Matters13:40 Manager Service Playbook14:57 Vetting Manager Fit17:11 DNA Of A Firm18:24 Speaking Advisor Language19:27 Customization Versus Scale20:23 UHNW Specialist Support21:28 Tools For Custom Proposals22:40 Feedback Loop Builds Menu23:15 Differentiation In UHNW23:52 What Merrill Expects From GPs24:15 Capacity Co-Invest And Access25:04 Next Frontier Experiential Change26:23 Planning Tools For Alts26:41 DLT And Private Markets27:02 Fixing Fragmented Workflows27:21 Streamlining To Drive Adoption27:42 Biggest Blocker Education Gap28:13 Advisor Intimidation And Misperceptions28:37 Shared Responsibility To Educate28:58 Misconception Complexity Fear29:39 Controls And Simple Narrative30:09 Alts Invitationals Bootcamp31:09 Why The Lightbulb Moment Happens31:33 Advisors Stretched Thin32:11 What Why How Spectrum34:12 Implementation Still The Gap34:32 Scaling The Alts Platform35:37 Open Architecture Product Depth35:54 Lifecycle Infrastructure And Controls36:34 Where To Invest Next37:28 Growth Mix Existing Vs New38:40 Advisors Yet To Adopt39:41 Client Sentiment And Experience41:26 Patience And Long Term Comfort42:04 Next Gen Investors And Time Horizon44:11 Manager Edge And Storytelling46:07 Menu Construction And Gatekeepers48:24 Platform Differentiation And Exclusivity50:43 Liquidity Headlines And Real Risks52:24 Excited About AI And Themes54:58 Closing Reflections And Wrap UpEditing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.Join over 16,400 Substack subscribers & followers who are thought leaders and executives from top private markets firms and wealth management like Blackstone, Apollo, Ares, KKR, EQT, Carlyle, Blue Owl, CVC, TPG, Brookfield, Vista, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, BlackRock, Fidelity, iCapital, Franklin Templeton, Nuveen, Hg, Permira, Stonepeak, Hamilton Lane, StepStone, Partners Group, General Atlantic, Hightower, Focus Financial, Corient, Cerity Partners, and more. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit altgoesmainstream.substack.com