🎥 Brookfield Asset Management's David Nowak - "earn your seat" private equity

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. Today’s episode unpacks how to build a private equity firm within one of the largest and most unique investment platforms in private markets. We sat down in Brookfield Asset Management’s Brookfield Place office in downtown NY with David Nowak, the President of Brookfield’s Private Equity Group. David and I dove into a conversation about the private equity industry, Brookfield’s approach to private equity, and how the firm’s culture and DNA shapes how they work with portfolio companies and LPs. David has overall responsibility for the Private Equity Group’s North American business. He also serves as Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield Private Equity Fund. He joined Brookfield in 2011. He holds a MBA degree from Duke University, where he graduated as a Fuqua Scholar, and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Western Ontario. David and I had a fascinating discussion about private equity and the Brookfield platform. We covered: * How Brookfield’s owner-operator alignment informs how they approach private equity investing and their partnerships with portfolio companies. * How the industry has gone from “roll your dice private equity to roll up your sleeves private equity.” * Why and how the firm has a “blue collar work ethic.” * The firm’s flat structure and a culture of collective effort, humility, and “earning your seat.” * Why Brookfield’s private equity business focuses on complex carve outs. * Why it’s important for investors to “think like an operator.” * How the firm approaches value creation and the importance of understanding value creation levers even before making an investment. * How Brookfield’s broader platform provides the private equity business with insights and subject matter expertise. * The story behind Brookfield’s Westinghouse investment. * What it means to look for “unloved businesses.” * Why private equity is an apprenticeship business and how AI might impact the next generation of private equity leaders. Thanks David for sharing your expertise, wisdom, and passion for private equity and company and culture-building. 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 Solutions This 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]. We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream. Show Notes 00:00 Cold Open 00:51 A Message from our Sponsor, Ultimus 01:48 Welcome to David Nowak 03:33 Brookfield Culture - We Not I 04:46 Succession Humility and Earn Your Seat 06:23 Owner Operator Alignment 08:27 Maax Bath Turnaround Story 09:42 Roll Up Your Sleeves Private Equity 11:42 Operators on the Team 12:20 Secondments Train Investors 13:07 Platform Edge and Insights 14:58 Westinghouse Nuclear Thesis 15:58 Collaboration Across Platform 18:12 Long-Term Playbook Mindset 20:28 Value Creation - Three-Part Framework 24:07 Contrarian Not Thematic 25:57 Valuation Nuance - Graphite Example 27:38 Fixable vs Hard Problems 28:51 Winning Management Buy-In 30:03 Humility in Diligence 31:50 Stretching Young Leaders 34:12 Scaling Culture Globally 37:14 Fund Size and Returns 39:22 Quality vs Cheap Framework 41:50 Graphtech Value Creation 43:48 Upfront Work and Speed 46:05 Defining High Quality 47:27 Treating People Right 48:33 Curiosity in Private Equity 50:39 AI and Apprenticeship 52:08 Blue Collar Lessons 54:27 Closing Thoughts Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant. Join over 15,300 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, Hightower, Focus Financial, 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