Episode summary
Episode 373: Ali Houshmand of EQT - The Emergence of the Chief Question Officer
The Fiftyfaces Podcast
· · Guests: Ali Houshmand
Summary
Ali Houshmand argues that the most durable edge in investing is not having the right answers, but asking better questions. He describes his time at Texas Permanent School Fund as a role where he was effectively the “chief question officer,” using hundreds of meetings a year to sharpen judgment, challenge managers, and push for more transparency and empathy across the table as AI makes answers more widely available.
He also traces how his career shaped his view of real estate. Early work in Bahrain and Dubai taught him how to operate in less institutionalized markets, where “chaos was the opportunity,” while Texas Permanent showed him how to build a more sophisticated portfolio. There, he helped grow real estate exposure from about 6% to 11%, leaning into industrial, operator-led platforms, and more flexible separate-account structures.
At EQT, he now leads non-traded REIT efforts and says the current opportunity is to build a clean-balance-sheet vehicle with a differentiated operating model rather than a legacy product. He sees industrial, manufacturing-linked supply chains, and selective alternative real estate as the strongest themes, while warning that private wealth investors need education to understand why real estate equity can still matter alongside private credit.
Key takeaways
- Houshmand says his core advantage at Texas Permanent was being the “chief question officer,” not pretending to have all the answers.
- He says the fund grew real estate from 6% to 11% by overweighting industrial, backing operator-led managers, and using more discretionary structures.
- He argues EQT’s edge is its operating platform, including in-house leasing and property management across 24 U.S. offices.
- He says private wealth investors have been harder to convince than institutions because real estate must compete with the appeal of private credit yields.
- He believes AI will enhance analysis, but thoughtful questioning, judgment, and transparent relationships will remain human advantages.
Notable quotes
“I would say I was the chief question officer. I got paid to ask very intelligent people questions all day long”
“the ability to ask thoughtful questions. the ability to use judgment and then the ability to form meaningful and transparent relationships with people”
“chaos was the opportunity”
“when I joined the exposure was almost 100% what I would call the big diversified allocators years”
“I think the the correction we've had has been very helpful for groups like me to establish positions at good pricing”
How the episode opens
If you had to ask me what was my job at Texas Permanent and I used to make this joke all the time. It was a very dumb dad joke, but I I would say I was the chief question officer. I got paid to ask very intelligent people questions all day long and I took 200 meetings a year or so sort of at peak and those questions helped me form or accelerate sort of my ability to judge the answer uh coming back at me.
And I think that's going to be increasingly important going forward as everyone starts to get access to AI because everyone can you know get clawed and open AI and etc. they can build their own agents etc etc and that's both sides of the table Ethan that not just the GPS that may be better resourced or not just the the private pools of capital but eventually these public pools of capital are are going to figure out how to use this stuff too. And so, you know, the point of that piece there was to say, I think at the end of the day, there's going to need to be a fair amount more of transparency and empathy across the table, recognizing the fact that everyone's about to get a lot smarter.
And so, if you thought you were in the answer business before, well, I have news for you because AI is a lot better than at answers than than most of us are. What AI probably won't replace or at least in the near term, is the ability to ask thoughtful questions. the ability to use judgment and then the ability to form meaningful and transparent relationships with people.
I'm Ethan Devit and welcome to the 50 Faces podcast.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- non-traded reit formation
- lp-centric investing
- property development negotiations
- ai vs human judgment
- real estate allocation strategy
Companies and tickers mentioned
- EQT
- EQT
- EQRT
Watch the episode
Watch “Episode 373: Ali Houshmand of EQT - The Emergence of the Chief Question Officer” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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