Meet the manager: Mike Seidenberg

If you weren’t a fund manager, what job would you do?

I love cooking and worked in restaurants during high school and college. I find feeding people to be cathartic and it brings me a lot of joy so I suspect I would work in the restaurant industry in some capacity or maybe have started a coffee brand, another one of my passions. I love the operational aspect of business and would have also been very happy working at some of the companies where we have invested.

What was the proudest moment of your career?

There are many. I always love meeting with companies’ management teams, which is a privilege not a right, and I am fortunate to have good relationships with executive management. I vividly remember meeting with the management of Netflix when streaming was new and nascent (to the shipping of DVDs if anyone remembers!) and their excitement about the opportunity was palpable. Being asked to run the Allianz Technology Trust in July 2022 is right up there considering my predecessor’s tenure and is something I am very proud of and never take for granted.

What was the most difficult moment of your career and why?

I had a year where our young daughter, who is fine today, was very sick and I found it incredibly difficult to do the job given the amount of effort and focus it requires. I was very thankful for the team I work with and how they stepped up, but not something I am looking to repeat.

What advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?

Go do it all, be involved, never stop learning. I am naturally intellectually curious which is a big plus in investment management but would encourage my 20-year-old-self to let your curiosity drive other decisions – like go audit a computer science course even it is not your major, or take that history course you think is interesting. Become a great listener, you will be amazed how much it helps you both professionally and personally. Travel even if you can’t afford it, the world is an amazing place. I loved travelling and met so many great people from different countries. Spend time with people who make you feel good and eliminate time spent with those who don’t. Our most precious resource is our time and how we spend it.

Away from the workplace, how do you spend your time?

I love spending time with my family and luckily everyone is adventuresome, so we spend time tracking down items for cooking, visiting off the beaten path places to eat, art galleries, and my wife and I love walking and exercising. Exercise and cooking are staples for most weekends along with trips to farmers’ markets to buy things. I love sports and I am guilty of getting up early to watch the Premier League on Saturday and Sunday. We are ticket holders for the Golden State Warriors and attend a lot of NBA games which I love doing with my family. 

Tell us about the last book you read or the last podcast you listened to?

I tend to read both a non-fiction and fiction book (thank you Kindle App) at the same time. I really enjoyed reading Hunting the Nazi Bomb by Damien Lewis which was a fascinating book about the British special forces destroying the Nazi heavy water facility in Vemork, Norway. It was yet another reminder of the “greatest generation” and the lengths women and men went to in order to win WW2, truly amazing.

On the fiction side, my wife’s friend is an author, Greer Hendricks, and I loved The Wife Between Us, which has a lot of similarities to Girl On A Train; lots of turns and keeps you not only on the edge of your seat but guessing to the very end. I love podcasts and listen to them almost daily when I walk to get a coffee. In no particular order, I like Up First, Acquired, Radiolab, Snap Judgement, and This American Life. The last concert I saw was Bruce Springsteen with my son (my daughter was out of town) and it was so moving for me. It meant so much to have him see an artist who has been such a big part of my musical life over the decades, and he totally got it.

Where was the last place you went on holiday and why?

My family and I went to Southeast Asia earlier this summer and visited Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. It has been on my list for decades and was amazing. I have seen the pyramids in Egypt and Petra in Jordan, and Angkor for me was better. It’s hard to imagine the scale until you’ve seen it. Not to mention the Cambodian people are lovely and so welcoming. I highly recommend it.

In your personal life, what would you like to achieve in the next 12 months?

I would like to continue focusing on living a balanced and healthy life and this includes mental health. I started doing mindfulness in 2019 and it has really been additive to my life. I love to ski so hoping for lots of great skiing over the next 12 months. Lastly, spending time with my family given we are not under the same roof as much with our son off at college.