
Episode 352: Jennifer Marques of Oaktree - Asset Backed Finance and the Power of the Team
The Fiftyfaces PodcastShow Notes
Jennifer Marques is Head of Strategy and Structuring for Structured Credit and Asset-Backed Finance at Oaktree, based in Los Angeles. She started her career as a corporate lawyer, first in private practice and then within Oaktree. She discussed her career journey from law to finance, emphasizing the importance of resilience.
She highlights Oaktree's focus on asset-backed finance, which involves lending to lenders, and its strategic partnership with Brookfield. She discusses in particular the recent SAAS-pocalyse and why it has affected certain areas more than others. Marques noted the evolving role of banks in asset-backed finance and the opportunities for private alternative lenders like Oaktree.
Turning to personal reflections She also shared her personal resilience after losing her home in the 2025 LA wildfires, underscoring the importance of community support. Marquez advised taking risks, providing solutions, and remaining calm in crises.
This podcast is kindly sponsored by Benefit Street Partners and PIMCO. Founded in 2008, Benefit Street Partners – BSP – is Franklin Templeton’s specialised private credit manager with $92 billion in assets under management.
The firm provides a wide range of private credit strategies across the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific, including direct lending, special situations, commercial real estate debt, infrastructure debt, asset backed finance, structured credit and liquid credit.
PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Company LLC) is a premier global investment management firm founded in 1971, specializing in active fixed-income with over $2 trillion in assets under management. Headquartered in Newport Beach, California, it offers diversified investment solutions across public and private markets, serving institutional and individual investors worldwide.
More from The Fiftyfaces Podcast
Vadim Grigoryan describes himself as a craft marketer that has grown from a rocket scientist. He focuses on growing brands as “cultural agents” and in building meaning through art, culture and tech in an entertaining way. He focuses in marketing on High Quality, High Aesthetics and High Status. We were both at INSEAD together, and we recently reconnected when he invited me to a book launch for his book, Art Thinking. In the book stresses the value of non-aesthetic inspiration from artists like Marcel Duchamp and the necessity of friction and discomfort for innovation. Gregorian believes that cultural capital is a faster social elevator than financial capital.
Christian Abuide is a macro portfolio manager and asset allocation consultant. At the time of recording he was based in Geneva but he has recently moved to Abu Dhabi where he is continuing to advise on multi-asset allocation and wealth tech solutions.
Anastasia Amoroso is a Managing Director and Chief Investment Strategist at Partners Group. In this role, she provides macroeconomic, private markets, and portfolio management insights to investors. She joined Partners Group from iCapital, where she served as Chief Investment Strategist for the prior four years.
Joey Mason is a Venture Partner in Life Sciences at Claret Capital Partners where he has been since September 2024. He has over 30 years’ experience in the sector, and has significant experience in most segments of the Life Sciences industry – medtech, pharma/ biotech, diagnostics, health IT and techbio. He has served on the boards of 20 private and public companies in Ireland, Europe and the USA.
In this bonus podcast we bring you a short conversation with long-term guest and supporter of Fiftyfaces - Jenny Segal, who has just published her sixth book On Motivation - The Blueprint for Success, which is being launched today - October 6, 2026. I