Here are some key quotes from my latest podcast with Melissa Kelley-Hilton, Founder & CEO of Hilton Global Associates, along with COO Randy Shain, talking about investigative due diligence:

“[F]or purposes of this conversation in the alternative space, the clients that we find benefit from us the most are pension funds and endowments, funds to funds, consultants and foundations.” ~ MKH

“I would say it was probably around 2008 and shortly after Bernie Madoff was arrested, that I was tasked with locating assets and business interests in what people were calling the “missing money,” trying to find the missing money.” ~ MKH

“I’ve actually been asked to do this again a number of times. And I just was not interested until I started speaking with Melissa and there was something about her very instantly. I only knew her from afar as a very difficult competitor and an annoying competitor, mostly because she was winning at times. You could probably already hear it. She’s brilliant. She’s energetic.” ~ RS

“There’s a lot of talk about managers and leaders acting one way and making everyone adjust to you. And I have always believed, long before I’d ever heard of any books written about this, that it’s the opposite – that you need to really adjust to your team and to your clients.” ~ RS

“[F]rom everything I’ve heard for 30 years, a red flag doesn’t mean I’m not doing a deal . . . . It really means I’ll sit back now and I’ve got to talk about this internally and usually directly to the manager and find out what’s going on, what happened, and see if we can get comfortable.” ~ RS

“I think it just really goes back to character. And if you see one [parking violation, for example], that’s fine. But if you see 10 and a total disregard for parking rules, then it might give the client a different perspective as far as like who this person is.” ~ MKH

“So for managers, I think a bigger issue has become too many investors are doing the same type of investigation, which that’s going to happen. But to a manager. It’s not that they necessarily . . . are off put by the ask but most of them are more off put by the frequency of the ask.” ~ RS

“Not only do I think that global reach is necessary, but it’s also just been a priority. And so I would say currently the work that’s being done on an international front, you still have a lot of interest in conducting background investigations on fund managers in the Cayman Islands, in Hong Kong, in Singapore, also in Malta, from an alternatives perspective.” ~ MKH

“What would I advise [managers]? If you don’t want someone to know something about you, then don’t do it.” ~ RS