Legg Mason

Yeah, no, so I took over, I think, February 11th.

Five days later, we announced the acquisition of Legg Mason, which we'd been working on for about a year.

And you're exactly right, 'cause the board was a little bit nervous about changing the CEO role at the time.

And then about three weeks later, you had the pandemic.

And we had built a culture within the firm where people were at least used to video, somebody participating in a meeting via video.

So I think we were fortunate with that because suddenly a lot of companies had to learn how to do that.

And then the second thing was, of course, the market tanked, and got a lot of questions around, are you disappointed that you acquired Legg Mason when the markets tanked? And our view was always this was the right strategic fit.

By the way, asset managers rarely trade when the market's down because they're such good cash flowing businesses that people know that there's gonna be a, a value once the market returns.

So I was going to these pharma companies table to table doing my pitch, handing them my resume.

And I get across to this company, Legg Mason.

This was a sales conference.

So it was not just pharma, but anything sales related.

And so I kind of walk by this table.

I remember it was Legg Mason.

And Legg Mason back then was also like a brokerage company, like like Charles Schwab.

And I remember the hiring manager kind of stopped me and he said, I've been kind of watching you, which was a little creepy.

which significantly lagged behind the broader stock market and the S&P 500 index.

Now, in those days, there was still Bill Miller of Legg Mason.

He performed well enough through the dot-com crash of 2000, well, until 2008, when his fund bet hard on the housing market and was eviscerated.

Another of these celebrity fund managers from the era was Peter Lynch and the Magellan Fund, which he managed from 1977 to 1990.

Benji has had a fascinating career journey.

Before joining CBRE in 2019, she held senior marketing leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase, Legg Mason, and Alliance Bernstein, industries that are built on trust, competency, and relationships.

Benji joined CBRE just months before the pandemic reshaped the way we think about offices, cities, flexibility, and human connection at work.

So this episode is about much more than commercial real estate.

Prior to that, he oversaw development of the FCC's network National Broadband Plan.

And prior to his work on the National Broadband Plan, he worked as an equity analyst at Legg Mason and Stiefel Nicholas.

And Mr. Levin is also the co-author of several books, as well as numerous articles on telecom policy.

And from 93 to 97, he served as the chief of staff to FCC Chair Reed Hunt, and previously practiced law in North Carolina, where he represented new communications ventures, as well as local governments.