Dakota Live! Podcast

Why Tax Is Moving Upstream in Institutional Investing | Dave Sekula, CEO of GTM

Tax used to sit downstream from the investment process. Today, it’s moving upstream. In this episode of Dakota Live!, Robert Morier sits down with Dave Sekula, CEO of GTM (Global Tax Management), to discuss how tax strategy, technology, operational complexity, and institutional investing are becoming increasingly intertwined. The conversation comes at a timely moment, following the SEC’s recent proposal to potentially shift public companies from quarterly to semiannual reporting. While the headline sounds regulatory, the implications reach much further into how asset managers, allocators, OCIOs, RIAs, and corporate finance teams think about transparency, planning, investor communication, and long-term decision making. Dave shares insights from leading one of the country’s largest independent corporate tax providers, including: • Why tax is no longer just a compliance function • How institutional investors are thinking differently about tax efficiency and portfolio construction • The operational complexity behind global and multi-manager portfolios • The growing role of AI and automation in corporate tax workflows • Why firms are increasingly focused on tax-loss harvesting strategies and after-tax outcomes The episode also explores leadership, servant leadership, scaling a national firm, and how technology continues to reshape one of the most human-capital-intensive industries in finance. “Performance is one thing. What you keep, that’s the real scorecard.”

Inside LPL’s Alternatives Platform: Manager Research, Due Diligence & What’s Next

On this episode of the Dakota Live Podcast, we sit down with Andrew Deck, Vice President and Head of Alternative Investments at LPL Financial [https://www.lpl.com?utm_source=chatgpt.com], alongside his colleague Matt Doyle, Head of Investment Due Diligence, for an inside look at how one of the largest advisor platforms in the country is thinking about alternatives, manager research, sourcing, and portfolio construction today. LPL Financial is one of the largest independent wealth management and advisor platforms in the country, supporting more than 32,000 financial professionals and serving approximately 8 million Americans across advisory, brokerage, and institutional channels. What makes LPL particularly interesting in today’s environment is the firm’s growing role at the intersection of institutional-quality manager research, alternative investments, advisor technology, and large-scale wealth management distribution. We explored: • How LPL is translating institutional-quality private markets into the wealth channel • The evolution of manager research and due diligence inside large advisor platforms • Why education and implementation matter just as much as access • The future of evergreen structures, interval funds, and public/private solutions • What asset managers need to understand before approaching large platforms • How Andrew and Matt think about sourcing, differentiation, underwriting, and conviction • What’s next for alternatives as wealth management and institutional investing continue to converge One of our favorite parts of the conversation was hearing Andrew and Matt together at the desk. You get both the strategic platform perspective and the day-to-day underwriting process from the people actually building it. For anyone working in manager research, fundraising, OCIO, private markets, wealth management, or institutional sales, this is a fascinating look behind the curtain at where the industry is headed.

Inside Foundation Investing and the OCIO Model | On the Road at Georgia State University

In this special on-the-road edition of the Dakota Live Podcast, host Robert Morier brings the show to Atlanta for a live recording at Georgia State University in front of students from GSU's Student Managed Investment Fund and Drexel University. Joining Robert on the podcast: * Holly Sailers — Interim CFO and Comptroller, Georgia State University Foundation * Markus Krygier — Co-Chief Investment Officer, Strategic Investment Group * Degas Wright — CIO of Decatur Capital Management & Executive in Residence at Georgia State University Together, they unpack what it takes to steward institutional capital — from the day-to-day reality of running a university foundation, to the rise of the OCIO model, to the art and science of manager due diligence. Along the way, the panel digs into: * What a foundation really does, and how donor intent shapes decisions * Why trust, transparency, and great questions are the foundation of any OCIO relationship * The three pillars of manager due diligence: science, art, and operations * How to think about liquidity, inflation, and uncertainty in today's market * Why complexity is often used to "cover weak thinking" — and how to communicate clearly instead The episode closes with a powerful Q&A from GSU and Drexel students on probabilistic thinking, position sizing, real investment edge, and what separates discretionary from non-discretionary models. A huge thank you to Georgia State University, the GSU Foundation, and the students who showed up, listened, and asked great questions.

Habits, Not Assets: What Piada Teaches Investors About Capital Discipline and Scaling Right

Before something becomes an asset, a platform, or a strategy, it has to become a habit. And it's exactly why this conversation matters for allocators, investors, and operators alike. On this episode of Dakota Live, Robert Morier sits down with Chris Doody, founder of Piada Italian Street Food, and Lance Juhas, the company's CEO, to go inside one of the most disciplined growth stories in American fast casual. For the investment salesperson: This episode gives you a rare, tangible example of what real unit economics, capital discipline, and scalable growth actually look like inside an operating business — the kind of concrete, story-driven language that cuts through in a client meeting and makes abstract investment concepts suddenly stick. For the allocator: Piada is a live case study in what separates brands that compound from brands that collapse under their own growth — and the conversation around capital partnership, time horizon, and margin versus guest experience maps directly onto questions you're already asking every manager that sits across the table from you. The numbers tell the story: a first store that cost $600,000 to build and did $2.7 million in its first year. 62 corporate-owned locations across multiple states. 29 consecutive quarters of positive same-store comps. Average unit volumes of $2.5 million. And a planned growth ramp of 15 new stores this year, scaling to 30 annually. But the real conversation is about what the numbers don't show — the decisions behind them. Chris and Lance break down how they think about site selection, unit economics, people discipline, capital deployment, and the one mistake they've watched destroy otherwise great restaurant brands: growing for the sake of growth. For allocators and investors, this is a live underwriting exercise on a real business with real feedback loops. No quarterly narrative smoothing. No managing to guidance. Just lunch and dinner, every day, in markets that tell you immediately whether you got it right. What we cover: • How Piada went from napkin concept to 62 locations — and why they stayed in concentric circles instead of chasing coasts • Unit economics: what makes a great Piada location and how they evaluate new sites • The crab cakes story: what happens when a public company starts managing to margin instead of managing to the guest • Capital discipline vs. growth pressure — and how Chris things about unchecked expansion  • AI, loyalty programs, and how a million-subscriber app was built entirely in-house From a test kitchen in Columbus to a national inflection point — this is the blueprint.

Operators as Investors: Scaling Healthcare Platforms

In a market where allocators are increasingly focused on healthcare innovation, growth equity discipline, and the role of operators in driving outcomes, this episode sits directly at the intersection. This conversation with Sal DeTrane of Empactful Capital extends a theme we’ve been hearing consistently from CIOs, OCIOs, and allocators across the Dakota Live platform: the next wave of value creation in private markets is being driven by execution, not just access. Sal brings that lens into focus. With a background that spans venture, investment banking, and hands-on operating leadership, he represents an important cohort of operators-turned-investors, those who don’t just underwrite businesses but help build them. We explore how that perspective is being applied inside one of the most complex and opportunity-rich sectors in the market today: healthcare technology. > What We Cover: > * Why allocators are leaning into healthcare tech now > From value-based care to behavioral health integration, we unpack the structural tailwinds driving sustained interest and capital flows into the space. > * Growth equity through an operator’s lens > How Empactful approaches the critical $5–$20M revenue inflection point (where many companies stall) and what it actually takes to scale. > * Platforms vs. point solutions > Why scalable healthcare businesses must move beyond single-use cases and into integrated, defensible platforms. > * The reality of scaling healthcare companies > Long sales cycles, complex stakeholders, and reimbursement dynamics—and how disciplined execution bridges the gap. > * Operators as investors > What changes when the investor has been the CFO, COO, or CEO—and why that matters to both founders and LPs. > * Alignment with allocator priorities > Liquidity timelines, DPI focus, and disciplined capital deployment—directly addressing the concerns we continue to hear across the allocator community > > Why This Episode Matters: > > For listeners, this is a chance to better understand the increasingly blurred line between venture and growth equity—and what it actually looks like in practice when you combine venture upside with growth equity discipline. > > For operators and founders, it’s a clear articulation of what sophisticated capital expects today: > milestone-driven execution, commercial traction, and the ability to scale with precision. > > And for anyone following the broader private markets conversation, this episode builds on a theme we’ve been hearing repeatedly:it’s not just where capital is going—but how it behaves once it gets there, and who is responsible for turning it into outcomes