The Austin IVYFON conference (Ivy League Family Offices Network) of March 11-12 during SXSW was terribly insightful, featuring many amazing cutting-edge investors, thinkers, and entreprenuers. As we were in Austin, obviously tech was a big topic—all things tech in all investment spaces, whether VC, PE or otherwise. Real estate and land were also topics.
My panelists included a mix of energy-themed presentations. We really got in the weeds at the end of the panel, with an exchange about AI’s energy requirements. Below is a note from a mathematics viewpoint as to why AI requires so much energy.
I developed a version of my talk, to say what needed to be said regarding the action in energy and my natural capital work. Topics included industry consolidation, global gas, resource efficiency, liquidity, Texas economy and my approach in the nexus of energy and resources, a/k/a natural capital. Timestamps are included to offer quick access based on interest.
But most importantly, I note that this is Women's History month. In the video is an honorable mention of a notable women’s story. At the dinner, I learned of another amazing woman of history (recounted below), her son saying of her accomplishments, ‘she was the smartest woman [he knew] in the world’. I told him my daughter was the smartest young woman in the world that I know… I’m in awe of them and countless others, including the women-run publisher D magazine—and not to forget the scores of men who support us.
At IVYFON, I listened to a number of terrific presenters, including smart women from around the country, including a young woman from Poland with a giving app. One idea struck me that I heard: that due diligence, and any lack thereof, can result in lost capital. The work I do lends itself to this area, especially in a day and age of massive reams of information from all kinds of sources for all kinds of purposes.
All conference videos from the days of March 11-12 will be available in a few weeks at Ivyfon’s channel.
remarkable women:
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Three-peat: D CEO Named Country’s Best Regional Business Magazine
“Beautiful photography and a refined design round out magazine that’s packed with vital know-how and know-who,” noted the judges.
[Post by Executive Editor]
Christine Perez, July 18, 2023
Publisher: Gillea Allison
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Herself, full of energy of global significance and vision.
See her profile in November 2023, DCEO
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Coming soon…
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Bradley and her coauthor in Sierra Leone conducting high-impact research about women and entrepreneurship.
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The women of Turkey Track were a key part of the critical decisions and ownership from the period after the Depression through to 1969. Catherine Coble, the mother of J.A. Whittenberg III, was credited with forming Coble Cattle Corp. which continued to acquire and aggregate nearby ranch lands. In recent decades, women have constituted a significant part of the ranch’s management, which includes the present-day representation of three women and two men.
Rare and unmatched, this jewel of the Panhandle, was shaped by the historical events of America’s West and the High Plains of the Texas Panhandle. Irony would have it, the pioneers of what would become the Turkey Track Ranch had their early beginnings in protecting herds of cattle at the legendary Waggoner Ranch in the late 19th century. The storied histories of Turkey Track, the Waggoner, and the 6666 Ranch all converge. And the very people that pioneered the Turkey Track strikingly crisscrossed the timelines of most of the iconic Texas ranches.
Across three centuries, the Coble-Whittenberg family stewarded a ranching dynasty. The reverence of the land has both protected and improved its gifts of geology and biodiversity. What was ever taken from the land for some form of subsistence was given back ten-fold.
The property now encompasses approximately 80,000 acres from the Canadian River to The Caprock in the North. The Caprock is a massive escarpment, a ridge running through the Panhandle south for 400 miles. The land was one of the main cattle trails and wagon roads on route from the Southern Plains north to Dodge City. This geological feature played a role for the Native Americans that dwelled on the lands in the past. It was a place of the ranch’s boundaries [and] also an oasis of marvel...
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Excerpts from a NYT interview with Jane Goodall…
On our relationship with nature:
“When I think of our attitude to animals in Genesis, where man is told that he has “dominion” over the birds and the fish and the animals and so on — the actual word, I’m told, is not dominion, it’s stewardship.”
On our relationship with each other compared to animal behavior:
My definition is that only humans can be evil. Chimpanzees can be brutal, violent, aggressive. Their behavior can be seen as cruel. But my definition of evil, it’s when you can plan attacks on those who aren’t there and then carry them out in cold blood.
Why nature is important…
I’ve also had amazing times alone in nature when for a moment you forget you’re human. Your humanness goes away, and you’re part of that natural world. It’s the most amazing and wonderful and beautiful feeling.
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At the IVYFON SXSW dinner, I learned of another amazing woman of history—as her son recounted her accomplishments, saying ‘she was the smartest woman [he knew] in the world’. His family developed statuesque landmark buildings in NYC, Boston and Alexandria, VA. An exhibition of her textile collection captures some of the wonder…
More Data-Driven Video Presentation
History in the making
History in the making
Smart young woman explaining the math under the hood of AI
Some Cool Women Doing State-of-the-Art Tech Research and other frontier work
IVYfon Past: San Fran, Jan 2023; Austin SXSW, Mar 2023; NYC Dec 2023
More on women’s background mentioned in video …
Link to full story, as below.
W.T. Waggoner notes smartest little business woman in Texas, 1929
Owing to the hardships and perseverance, with some mad gunslinger skills of Jimmie Roberts, the second generation of Maude and Tom Coble began amassing the lands of the Turkey Track in earnest around 1916. W.T. Waggoner himself called Maude Coble “the smartest little business woman in Texas” in a 1929 letter, because of her skillful management and vision.
“A SELECT SUMMARY …
Recognition of Legacy at Turkey Track Ranch
The women of Turkey Track were a key part of the critical decisions and ownership from the period after the Depression through to 1969. Catherine Coble, the mother of J.A. Whittenberg III, was credited with forming Coble Cattle Corp. which continued to acquire and aggregate nearby ranch lands. In recent decades, women have constituted a significant part of the ranch’s management, which includes the present-day representation of three women and two men.
Rare and unmatched, this jewel of the Panhandle, was shaped by the historical events of America’s West and the High Plains of the Texas Panhandle. Irony would have it, the pioneers of what would become the Turkey Track Ranch had their early beginnings in protecting herds of cattle at the legendary Waggoner Ranch in the late 19th century. The storied histories of Turkey Track, the Waggoner, and the 6666 Ranch all converge. And the very people that pioneered the Turkey Track strikingly crisscrossed the timelines of most of the iconic Texas ranches.
Across three centuries, the Coble-Whittenberg family stewarded a ranching dynasty. The reverence of the land has both protected and improved its gifts of geology and biodiversity. What was ever taken from the land for some form of subsistence was given back ten-fold.
The property now encompasses approximately 80,000 acres from the Canadian River to The Caprock in the North. The Caprock is a massive escarpment, a ridge running through the Panhandle south for 400 miles. The land was one of the main cattle trails and wagon roads on route from the Southern Plains north to Dodge City. This geological feature played a role for the Native Americans that dwelled on the lands in the past. It was a place of the ranch’s boundaries [and] also an oasis of marvel... ”