Nic Badings
Vlad is an Investment Manager in Pemba’s Transact team, focusing on the Financial Services sector. His experience includes strategy consulting and investment banking most recently at Brookfield Asset Management in London and previously Strategy & Co (formerly Booz & Co) in Sydney.
Vlad holds a Bachelor of Commerce (with Distinction) and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours Class 1) from the University of New South Wales. He also holds an MBA from the London Business School.
If you could have dinner with any three people in the world (past or present), who would they be and why?
- Barack Obama: It would be great to pick his brain on his experiences and opinions – not so much for his specific positions but more the way he articulates his understanding of the world around him.
- My brother: As a professional tennis player, he tours the world most of the year, so I only get to see him for a few weeks a year. I also always love hearing about the mental aspects of professional sport.
- Keanu Reeves: Just seems like a fun, nice and interesting guy.
If you could pick up a new skill in an instant, what would it be and why?
The ability to live 100% (or like 95%) in the moment at all times would be great for experiencing each moment to the fullest and achieving a state of flow.
If you could only travel back to the same holiday destination for the rest of your life, where would you pick and why?
It’s hard to look past Southern France – great cuisine, weather and a relaxed vibe. When I went on university exchange to Paris, I stayed with a university friend at his family home in Aix-en-Provence and have fond memories of the time.
What is a learning, either personally or professionally, that you took away from the Covid-19 Pandemic?
I think it’s a great illustration of how adaptable we are as individuals and as a society. If you were told in 2019 that a virus was going to spread globally and the world would go into lockdown, you would think it would be an end-of-the-world scenario. However, we managed to work around the situation, albeit after a period of initial shock and obviously an unfortunate number of deaths. Extrapolating from this, it gives me confidence that as human beings we can bounce back and adapt to most situations, even extreme, unimaginable ones.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
A senior colleague of mine once told me advice to the effect of “just don’t crack in the big moments”. In private equity, as with many other jobs, there are plenty of highs and lows. Identifying when you are at a critical juncture and managing your focus and energy through these periods is an important part of navigating a successful career.
Book recommendation: ‘A Promised Land’ by Barack Obama. Regardless of your political orientation, he provides some really interesting perspectives. It also doubles as a crash course in recent political history.
