The Ramp Up

A podcast by Octaura

What does it take to ramp up a market? How do you migrate an idea into a thriving business? The Ramp Up podcast tells the inspiring stories of thought leaders, founders and experts in financial services and technology. 

 

Zeroing in on the leveraged loan and structured credit markets, your host Brian Bejile brings a unique perspective to the conversation, backed by the extensive experience gained while running trading desks at Citi and leading fast-growing fintech Octaura as CEO.

 

Come for inspiration. Stay to learn how you can ramp up your next big thing.

Peter Gleysteen Episode - Hubspot Blog Post

Peter Gleysteen

On reimagining the markets

Peter Gleysteen, Founder, CEO & CIO at AGL Credit Management joins your host Brian Bejile, CEO of Octaura on The Ramp Up. Peter is a legend in the structured credit industry, successfully navigating every economic cycle and market crisis since his career began in 1975. Pulling from his unique upbringing, Peter has honed the ability to shed a different perspective throughout his career – leading him to launch innovations that laid the foundations of how today’s loan market operates. With experience starting not one, but two buyside shops, Peter is an incredible wealth of knowledge.

 

About Peter

Peter Gleysteen is the Founder, CEO, and CIO of AGL Credit Management which he established with the support of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. AGL creates and manages corporate credit investments including CLOs and private credit with managed assets of $16 billion.

 

Gleysteen has over four decades of credit and management experience and successfully navigated every economic cycle and market crisis since his career began in 1975. Gleysteen’s prior two employers were JPMorgan Chase & Co. and CIFC Asset Management.

 

At JPMorgan Chase, and antecedent entities Chemical Bank and Chase Manhattan, Gleysteen was the lead banker on many of the largest LBO, M&A, and Restructuring financings in the 1980s and 1990s. He ran global loan syndications as Group Head of Global Syndicated Finance, was responsible for the global corporate loan portfolio as Group Head of Global Capital Management, and then served as the Chief Credit Officer.

 

Gleysteen was integral to the evolution of the bank loan asset class from inception, including making the first “B-Loan” in 1989 and conceiving and instituting the “Market Flex” pricing convention in 1997.

 

Gleysteen founded CIFC Asset Management in 2005 and managed it as CEO from inception to 2014 when it was sold. He served as Vice-Chairman and special advisor until 2016.

 

Gleysteen formed AGL Credit Management in 2018 and launched it in 2019. In 2024, AGL announced an exclusive private credit collaboration with Barclays Bank PLC.

 

Gleysteen has a BA in History from Trinity College, a MBA, Executive Program, from the University of Chicago, and attended St. Petersburg University, when Russia was the USSR. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member of Mystic Seaport Museum.


HalseyPoint Episode - Hubspot Blog Post

Episode 5: Lynn Hopton & Yvonne Stevens on seizing the moment

This month, co-founders and managing partners of HalseyPoint Lynn Hopton and Yvonne Stevens join Brian Bejile on The Ramp Up. Lynn and Yvonne are veterans of the CLO market. They've been securitizing assets since the market's early days in the '90s. After decades of working together at SunAmerica and then at American Express, they seized the moment and started their own shop, HalseyPoint in 2018. To get HalseyPoint off the ground, they built on their resilience, the relationships they curated, and a lengthy track record of success. The launch of HalseyPoint was fully embraced and celebrated by the street. And now, the business is thriving. 

 

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Brett Jefferson Episode - Hubspot Blog Post-1

Episode 4: Brett Jefferson on refusing to fail

This month, Brett Jefferson, Founder and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Hildene Capital Management, joins your host Brian Bejile, CEO of Octaura, on The Ramp Up. Brett has charted an impressive career by looking at things differently. From the early days of navigating his education and passion for lacrosse at Syracuse University to landing on Wall Street and teaching himself the world of structured credit, Brett's refusal to fail and his focus on innovation has led Hildene to become a multi -award winning asset manager, and there's a lot more on the horizon for the firm.

 

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Andy Gordon Episode - Blog Post

Episode 3: Andy Gordon on being intellectually curious

Andy Gordon, co-founder, former CEO, and current Executive Chair of the Board of Managers at Octagon Credit joins Brian Bejile on The Ramp Up. Andy has had an illustrious career on Wall Street. From being one of the first analysts on the leveraged buyout desk at Manufacturers Hanover Trust to successfully spinning out Octagon – he did all of this while finding opportunity through two recessions and building a business that champions diversity and inclusion.  

 

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Tom Majewski Episode - Hubspot Blog Post

Episode 2: Thomas Majewski on doing things differently

Thomas Majewski, Founder and Managing Partner at Eagle Point Credit joins your host Brian Bejile, CEO of Octaura on The Ramp Up. Tom has been at the center of some of the most impactful innovations in the CLO market. On this episode, we cover a wide spectrum – including how Tom executed one of the earliest known CLO equity trades and what led him to start one of the first CLO equity funds.

 

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Scott McKay - The Ramp Up

Episode 1: Scott McKay on being "the guy"

What do you say when someone asks you if you want to “be the guy?” On this month’s episode of The Ramp Up, Scott McKay, Head of Blue Owl Liquid Credit, fills us in on what he said next and shares why long-lasting relationships and perseverance were key to his career thus far. 

 

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