🎥 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.

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