Russ Rodrigues is an investment professional at GRI Capital, a family office based in Toronto. His areas of responsibility include real estate, private equity, hedge funds, and public-market securities.

Before joining GRI Capital in January 2011, Russ worked in the private investments department at CPP Investment Board where he focused on secondary market transactions. Prior to that he was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in their private equity practice advising clients on investment strategy and acquisitions. He previously served as a commissioned officer in the Canadian Navy.

Russ holds a BA from the Royal Military College of Canada, and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario where he was an Ivey Scholar and gold medalist.

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Business from Royal Military College, MBA from the University of Western Ontario.

Current role: Investment professional at GRI Capital, a single family office investing globally across all major asset classes.

CFA Charterholder since: 2011

Spare time: Open-water scuba diver, semi-skilled soccer player, fair-weather cyclist, abysmal golfer.

What was your background before enrolling in the CFA program?

Russ Rodrigues: I’d describe my pre-CFA background as “unconventional.”

I enrolled in the CFA program in 2002, while I was serving as an officer in the Canadian Navy. I had completed a bachelor’s degree in business from Royal Military College on the Regular Officer Training Plan, and was nearing the end of my 5-year obligatory service commitment, so I was considering what I might want to do after leaving the Navy.

I had never worked a day in the financial services industry, but I had greatly enjoyed managing my own investments, and had seen reasonable success both during the boom of the late 90’s and, more importantly, during the bust of the early 2000’s. Accordingly, when I weighed my prospective career choices, investment management ranked at the top of my list.

The CFA program seemed like a sensible choice for two reasons: First, if I chose to pursue investment management as career, the CFA charter would certainly be beneficial as a highly-respected industry designation. Second, even if I ultimately followed an unrelated career path, the knowledge I would acquire from the CFA program would undoubtedly help me in managing my own investments.

How will having a CFA designation help you progress in your career?

RR: The CFA program has already been immensely helpful in the early stages of my career.

Being a CFA candidate would have made my MBA application more competitive, and may have helped me get accepted into business school with an entrance scholarship (though it’s impossible to know for certain). What I can be sure of is that having already completed the CFA Level 1 and Level 2 exams prior to starting my MBA gave me a significant head-start in my classes, particularly in the subjects of accounting, statistics, and finance. Good grades in these early courses proved helpful when recruiting season rolled around.

Subsequently, in my initial job search, I discovered that corporate recruiters view CFA exam success favourably, as a differentiator among potential hires, signalling both the ability to learn and understand complex subject matter, and the dedication and self-discipline to complete a demanding self-study program without supervision.

Looking ahead, now that I’ve received my charter (nine long years after enrolling), I anticipate that being actively involved in the Toronto Society will serve to broaden my industry network and help me continue in my professional development.

What did you find hardest about getting the designation / what did you enjoy the most?

RR: Without a doubt, the most challenging thing about getting the CFA charter was preparing for and writing the Level 2 exam. It was the longest and hardest I’ve ever studied for anything in my entire life. And perhaps predictably, the most enjoyable moment was getting my Level 2 results and seeing that I had passed.

Name an investor who inspires you and explain why.

RR: While there are many inspiring investors out there, one worth mentioning is Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management. Like others, he focuses on identifying fundamental value and controlling risks, but in my opinion, what makes his investment philosophy stand out is his heavy emphasis on “knowing how much you don’t know.”

Years before the phrase “black swan” became popular, Marks’ letters to his clients discussed the limitations of what is actually knowable in an investment context and highlighted investors’ natural inclination to be overconfident in our own forecasting abilities. He also cautioned against the self-serving tendency to attribute our successes to skill and our failures to random chance thereby deluding ourselves into believing that “we knew it all along”.

After reading Marks’ book and letters, and then critically re-examining some of my own past decisions, I had to acknowledge that I didn’t know nearly as much as I liked to think I did, and was likely taking on far more risk than I appreciated at the time.

What do you think you can bring to the field of investment analysis and portfolio management?

RR: Practically speaking, I’d like to think that having come from an unconventional background, I might bring a different and fresh perspective to investment analysis, which would hopefully result in better decision-making that runs counter to the herd.

On a more philosophical level, owing to nearly a decade of service in the Canadian Forces, in particular my training at Royal Military College, I carry with me and make every effort to measure up to the set of moral principles that is neatly summarized in RMC’s motto: “Truth, Duty, Valour”. I believe it’s no coincidence that these values are highly complementary to the CFA Institute’s Code of Ethics, as I consider this ethos to be equally as pertinent to portfolio management as it is to military leadership.

What do you hope to achieve professionally in your career?

RR: My career objectives speak more about a journey than a destination. They are:

• To be able to keep doing what I love doing (i.e., investing),
• To work in a role that is meaningful and challenging,
• To work for and with honourable people whom I respect and admire,
• To never stop learning, and
• To apply what I learn to legitimately add value for my clients and employer.

CHARTERHOLDER PROFILE is a regular feature of The Analyst. Do you have suggestions for members that we should profile? Email us with the member’s name and a few sentences about who he/she is and why this person would make an interesting choice for a profile. TheAnalyst@torontocfa.ca