Alt Goes Mainstream: The Latest on Alternative Investments, WealthTech, & Private MarketsNomura Asset Management International’s Shawn Lytle - pizza, patterns in asset management, and private markets
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
What happens when you bring Tokyo-Neapolitan style pizza to New York?
You get one of the hottest new reservations in a city full of top restaurants and pizza spots.
Are there similarities between pizza and asset management?
Different styles of pizza appeal to different people. Same in asset management. But there is one constant: the way the pizza is made matters.
At Pizza Studio Tamaki, the Tokyo-Neapolitan pizza is made with acclaimed pizzaiolo’s Subasa Tamaki’s dough flown in directly from Japan. Every detail matters. Every flavor is unique. And it all blends together into a unique pizza experience.
That’s something Nomura Asset Management International is aiming to do in the U.S. with both public and private markets.
We recently sat down at Pizza Studio Tamaki for a live podcast with Nomura Asset Management International CEO Shawn Lytle, with the wealth channel in the audience, to discuss pizza, patterns in asset management, and private markets.
Shawn’s deep experience working for a number of the industry’s largest asset managers and understanding of what the wealth channel needs across public and private markets set the table for a great discussion on the evolution of asset management, how culture impacts how firms work with the wealth channel, and how to bring an international brand into the U.S. market.
We ate the pizza while we podcasted, and we even did a pizza rating. Spoiler alert, PST was really good. So was the podcast.
Bio
Shawn is Chief Executive Officer of Nomura Asset Management International, where he is responsible for overseeing the business, investment teams, and strategies for clients. He joined Nomura Asset Management as part of Nomura’s acquisition of Macquarie Asset Management’s US and European public investments business in 2025. He also serves as the President of Nomura Funds (formerly, Macquarie Funds) and oversees registered vehicle governance in the US and Europe. Shawn is a member of the Nomura Asset Management International Executive Committee.
He has more than 30 years of asset management experience. Before joining Macquarie in 2015, he held several management and equity investment roles at UBS Asset Management and various roles at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Shawn is a member of the Investment Company Institute (ICI) Executive Committee. He is also a board member of OppNet and Philadelphia Financial Scholars, in addition to being the former Chairman of the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP).
He earned a Bachelor of Science in marketing from The McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
Thanks, Shawn, for sharing your expertise, wisdom, and passion about asset management and private markets.
Show Notes
00:00 Tokyo Pizza Meets NYC
01:07 Ultimus Fund Solutions Sponsor Message
02:05 Meet Shawn Lytle
02:18 Why Japanese Pizza Studio Tamaki
05:09 Four Firms Four Cultures
06:10 Craftsmanship And Consistency
06:52 Bringing Nomura To US
07:21 What Great Managers Share
09:00 Choosing The Right Partner
10:29 Curated Menus Fewer Managers
12:50 Beta Is Free Alpha Matters
13:48 Nomura Platform Advantages
15:39 Winning In Japan ETFs
17:11 Sports Marketing Lessons
22:29 Private Markets Next Wave
27:59 Pizza Rating And Wrap Up
A Word from Our Sponsor, Ultimus
This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.
That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.
Learn more at ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.
