Our guest today is at that intersection of public and private partnerships here in Ontario, Canada. Brenda Hogan is the CIO of Venture Ontario, a $205M joint initiative between the Government of Ontario and leading institutional investors to invest primarily in Ontario-based and focused venture capital and growth equity funds that support innovative and high-growth companies.
About Brenda Hogan
Brenda M. Hogan is the Chief Investment Officer at the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation (OCGC) and has over 15 years of experience in strategy and execution in venture capital at the co-investment, fund of funds, and fund level investing.
Brenda has held senior roles in corporate development, finance, and strategic investing with Bell Canada, EY, the Business Development Bank of Canada, and a software start-up. Brenda sits on the Board of the Canadian Venture Capital Association and Chairs the Membership Committee; served as Co-Chair of Canadian Women in Private Equity (CWPE); serves with the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) as a member of the Content Committee; and served three terms on the Board of Women in Capital Markets, serving as Chair of the Governance Committee. She also served on the Board of Governors at Dalhousie University and Chaired the Finance, Audit, Investment, and Risk Committee. Brenda holds an MBA in finance.
A word from our sponsor:
At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves.
The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees.
Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days.
The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in 24 countries including Canada, US and many other countries around the world.
Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally.
Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more.
In this episode we discuss:
03:00 Brenda’s journey to becoming an LP
04:59 What it was like navigating corporate culture at one of the oldest companies in North America
06:29 What Venture Ontario is and how it works
08:02 How Venture Ontario Sources it’s deals
11:39 Working with emerging managers with limited track record
12:30 What makes a good fund manager
15:16 Red flags from managers to LPs
18:20 Positive signals managers can send to prospective LPs
20:49 How Brenda focuses on becoming a better LP and adding value
23:54 Investing in 2022
26:04 The Canadian Investing scene
27:57 Risks and rewards she is underwriting for in 2022
32:23 Investment categories Brenda is excited about
33:54 Strategies to mitigate risk in new commitments
36:04 Best career advice she’s recieved
Fast Favorites
🎙- Favorite Podcast: How I Built This
📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: TED Talks
📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Samsung Galaxy Fold
📈- Favorite New Trend: Work function appropriate
📚- Favorite Book: Shoe Dog
🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Do stuff you like with people you like
Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!
How Institutional LPs are Investing Today with CIO of Venture Ontario - Brenda Hogan