After 60 plus episodes and almost two years of covering the operational side of the investment management industry, the time has arrived. It's time to sign off.

Thanks for listening. Thanks for being part of the Operational Leaders podcast. And thanks for helping make this the best podcast covering the ins and outs of running an investment management business.

In the past, I was fortunate enough to work with an awesome set of people who were guided by the highest ethical principle of putting investors first. Now I have the opportunity to do it again. How lucky is that.

In this final brief episode, I talk about how grateful I am to have meet so many outstanding people from the investment management business, how we've been able to tackle some of the thorniest issues in industry and how much I appreciate the support you gave me.

Best of luck to you, and let's keep in touch.

This past season and in prior seasons, guests have graciously lent their industry expertise. Many have also mentioned some very important charitable causes. In this episode, we conclude Season Three by welcoming Sumudu Waas, the Acting Executive Director at Help for Children (HFC). HFC is a global foundation supporting the prevention and treatment of child abuse.

Sumudu joins this episode to talk about the mission of Help for Children and the foundation's deep roots within the alternative investment community. She highlights some of the key issues surrounding child abuse. Sumudu also discusses the origins of HFC, how the foundation is organized and distributes grants, and her personal motivation for joining the foundation.

To learn more about the foundation and to consider a contribution, please visit the Help for Children website.

Thanks also to all of our Season Three guests and our sponsor, DiligenceVault, creators of the first two-sided digital ecosystem for asset managers and allocators.

Sylvain Forté is passionate about artificial intelligence. In 2014, he took that passion and co-founded SESΛMm, a company that applies natural language processing – a subfield of artificial intelligence – to extract billions of articles and messages from the web and turn them into relevant insights for investors.

In this episode, Sylvain explains the rise of artificial intelligence and big data and their use in the investment field. He discusses the various use cases for AI and his company's natural language processing, from insights on public and private companies to ESG assessments. He also discusses the extent of his company's data sets and how different types of clients make use of the information his company provides.

In addition, Sylvain talks about how he started his business, some of the advantages of his company's location in Paris and its expansion abroad, and the burgeoning FinTech community in France.

To learn more about Sylvain and his company, please visit the SESΛMm website.

Thanks also to our sponsor, DiligenceVault, creators of the first two-sided digital ecosystem for asset managers and allocators.