About Stephen Mandel
Stephen Mandel, founder of Lone Pine Capital, discussed investing and philanthropy during a December 2020 virtual event. He described the low interest rate environment as creating "a lot of economic distortion" that benefits those with capital to deployhol. Mandel also said that "the level of innovation and progress coming from new technology" is unprecedented, while noting that some asset valuations have reached levels he "would have never expected." He remarked that "the bubble usually ends when the Federal Reserve takes the punch bowl away" and that "many businesses that are unloved are unloved for a reason."
In 2019, Mandel ran as leader of the Alberta Party in the provincial election, finishing third in his riding of Edmonton-McClung. After the election, he congratulated premier-elect Jason Kenney and said the party should be "very proud" of increasing its vote share from just over 2% to over 10%. During the campaign, Mandel stated that the Alberta Party's vision involved investing in education "from pre-kindergarten throughout our lives" and expanding post-secondary opportunities. Earlier, as Edmonton's mayor, Mandel announced in 2013 he would not seek a fourth term, citing three remaining priorities: a women's council program, housing for younger generations, and support for youth aging out of provincial care. He said he would "work hard until the last day" and described his council as "visionaries" who cared "deeply about changing the face of the city."
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Stephen Mandel's recent appearances.
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Transcript (17 segments)
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Interviewer0:11
Announcement that you will not seek a fourth term as mayor. I'm not going to say I called it, but we had a suspicion when you joined us here in the kitchen just a short time ago and let us know what you thought about Carrie Diaz's bid for mayor. We said, you know what, he's freewheeling, he's shooting from the hip. This is not a guy preparing to enter the ring and try to secure office for another term.
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Stephen Mandel0:31
Well, I would have probably said that anyway, but it doesn't make any difference. The decision's been made, and I look forward to whatever I'm going to be doing, and I wish all those who are going to run for mayor good luck.
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Interviewer0:42
No surprise to see you make your announcement yesterday in front of a room full of supporters at the Art Gallery of Alberta, which of course you were instrumental in bringing to the city. When you look back on 12 years on council, nine years as mayor, that's got to be up there as one of the things you're proud of.
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Stephen Mandel0:56
Yeah, I... success story. You talked about finding a location for the iHuman youth organization yesterday, and addressing the audience, you talked about many of the things that you're proud of in your time here.
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Interviewer1:23
I want to ask you about some unfinished business, or what people might perceive to be unfinished business. A friend of mine, his mind is blown that you don't want to be mayor when the new arena actually opens. Can you provide us some insight into that? Do you care?
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Interviewer1:36
Okay. What about your 10-year plan to eradicate homelessness? We've seen great progress there. Edmonton's being lauded for it. Don't you want to be there at the end of the 10 years?
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Stephen Mandel1:42
No. I mean, these things are in place, and to stay in office to turn the key... my mind is not a justification. You need to have a vision. You want to... during my tenure as mayor, but whoever the next mayor is, they're going to get whatever maybe the credit for it. I don't know, I don't really care.
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Interviewer2:18
There's a lot of people buzzing about the impact that you might be able to have at the legislature. Would you ever consider a move into provincial politics?
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Stephen Mandel2:25
Right now, I'm still the mayor of Edmonton, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do down the road, so we'll see what happens.
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Interviewer2:33
I'm going to take that as a yes, and I would love to see it. All right, yes, he says maybe, not in all likelihood probably not, but it's a yes.
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Stephen Mandel2:41
Mayor Don Iveson, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, Mayor Kim Krushell, Mayor Karen Leibovici. What do you think? They're all great people, and they have to make a decision what they want to do. I'm not going to endorse anybody because that's not right, but all that even yesterday were saying, listen, it's the mayor's day, we're not going to declare any sort of intention.
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Interviewer3:14
Has that been the story of your council?
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Stephen Mandel3:16
I think it's teamwork. It's been a great group of people. The most important job the mayor has is to understand that those guys down the other hall are far more important than the mayor is. I've been very lucky to have a council of visionaries, a council of great people, a council of those who care deeply about changing the face of the city, and they're the ones that deserve the credit. Tremendous group of people.
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Interviewer3:40
Unfortunately, we've got to go. Edmontonians will head to the polls October 21st. You're expecting your last day on the job to be approximately October 28th or in and around there. You've still got some time to make things happen. Is there something that's still some sort of itch you gotta scratch still?
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Stephen Mandel3:54
Yeah, there's three projects that are very important to me. For housing for... not homeless, but for younger generation who have gone awry and they need to find a location, but a program to build a future. We have something in Edmonton that's very, very special: Women Building Futures, which is a spectacular program, probably one of a kind, and it's brilliant. I'd like to try to adapt that to a young person's program. And then we also have an issue with those who are in provincial care, and when they turn 18, they're kind of put out in the street. We need to find a program for them. So that's working on those. And then we call the back of house, which is all of our non-government organizations, and how do we help them be more efficient with the human resources and financing and accounting and those kinds of things.
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Interviewer5:10
Without saying before you say goodbye, but congratulations on what happened. Great to see you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Stephen Mandel announcing that he will move on, find a new challenge after nine years as our city's mayor, 12 years on council. It's 8:46. We'll be back stepping into Evan's first vegan food truck, sailing on that, and more still to come.
