NEXUS 2026
Sponsorship Opportunities
NEXUS will return Spring 2026 in Orlando
Did our photographers catch you at NEXUS 2025?
Check out the gallery and see all the photos from NEXUS. Be sure to tag PEI and use #NEXUS2025 on social media.
NEXUS was an electrifying convergence of private equity’s most powerful leaders and influential capital allocators.
Attendees connected with the investors and managers defining the future of private equity and debating the forces that impact how you invest.
Register your interest to be in the room where relationships are forged, investments are made, and deals get done.
A keynote speaking faculty like no other
NEXUS keynotes influence global investment and allocation trends. They represented the largest institutions in private markets and inspire action throughout our industry.
William J Kelly, CAIA
"Amongst the very best events I have attended ... A must in 2025!"
Connect
Build relationships with the most influential investors and managers in private markets
Fuel future success
Establish key alliances and gain crucial intelligence that stimulates rapid growth
Attendees met allocation decision-makers from private equity’s most influential LPs
Joachim Bader, CFGI
"I made many incredibly valuable connections with fellow attendees that are highly relevant for me and my company."
Specialist forums that defined the future of private equity
Investors
Unlock new avenues for growth and opportunities to increase private market returns.
Managers
Build new, and foster old, investor relationships and understand where capital will flow in 2025.
Solution Providers
Discover fresh business opportunities firsthand amidst a vibrant networking environment.
An unrivaled speaker lineup
Registration questions
Anna Dorokhin
anna.d@pei.group
Sponsorship
inquiries
Jimmy Kurtovic
jimmy.k@pei.group
Speaking opportunities
Ben Moss
ben.m@pei.group
The NEXUS agenda was built to maximize networking time
Agenda
Day 1 - Monday 10th
Welcome
07:30 - 08:40
Welcome Breakfast and Registration
07:45 - 08:40
The Next Frontier for Women in Private Markets
Join PE Hub Editor-in-Chief Mary Kathleen Flynn and PEWIN Executive Director Emily Mendell for a candid, off-the-record and interactive discussion around the current environment for women professionals in the private markets including how firms and institutions are approaching recent challenges to DEI initiatives and what the key imperatives are for maintaining a positive path forward.
Chatham House Rule will apply.
Limited Partners Leaders Council | Exclusively for institutional investors
08:40 - 08:45
Welcome from the forum Chair
John Bowman
John Bowman, Chief Executive Officer, CAIA Association
1 Speaker
08:45 - 09:30
Constructing and culling the portfolio 2026
Raelan Lambert,
Jon-Michael Consalvo,
Bei Saville, CFA, CAIA,
Lamar Taylor
• How are LPs thinking about capital allocation in 2026?
• Strategies for diversifying the private markets portfolio
• Exploring opportunities and how to take advantage of gaps in the market
Moderator:
Raelan Lambert, Senior Partner and Global Alternatives Leader, Mercer
Leaders:
Jon-Michael Consalvo, Chief Investment Officer, Carnegie Corporation of New York
Bei Saville, Chief Investment Officer, Advance Treasury and Fingerboard Family Office
Lamar Taylor, Chief Investment Officer, Florida State Board of Administration
Bei Saville, CFA, CAIA
Chief Investment Officer, Advance Treasury and Fingerboard Family Office
Read bio
4 Speakers
09:30 - 10:15
The negotiation table - playing by LP rules
Steven Richman,
Peter Keehn,
Ya Tung,
Steve Poliner,
Lori Hall-Kimm
• Providing capital while standing out as a long-term partner to negotiate better terms
• What are the best practices to discuss terms with fund managers?
Moderator:
Steven Richman, Partner, Seyfarth
Leaders:
Peter Keehn, Senior Managing Director, Private & Alternative Assets, Allstate Investments
Ya Tung, Chief Investment Officer, The Jefferies Family Office
Steve Poliner, Senior Investment Counsel, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Lori Hall-Kimm, Senior Managing Director & Head of Global Private Equity, HOOPP
Steve Poliner
Senior Investment Counsel, Teacher Retirement System of Texas (Texas Teachers)
Read bio
Lori Hall-Kimm
Senior Managing Director & Head of Global Private Equity, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)
Read bio
5 Speakers
10:15 - 10:45
Networking and coffee break
10:45 - 11:30
Executive Strategy Assessment: Excelling at Performance
Christopher Witkowsky,
Samantha Davidson,
Mike Fang
- How to build top quartile portfolios with an emphasis on navigating the sea of emerging managers
- Assess emerging managers and the next great small buyout manager
Moderator:
Chris Witkowsky, Private Equity Editor, PEI Group
Panelists:
Samantha Davidson, President & Head of Global Investing, Cambridge Associates
Mike Fang, Senior Portfolio Manager, Maryland State Retirement and Pension System
3 Speakers
Emerging Managers Forum | Qualified Emerging Managers* only for the morning sessions
08:30 - 08:40
Welcome from the forum Chair
Kelly DePonte
Kelly DePonte, Managing Director, Kelly DePonte Advisory LLC
1 Speaker
08:40 - 09:10
Pitch to handshake - maximizing your differentiator
Graham Bippart,
Luke Myers,
Adam Buzanis
Moderator:
Graham Bippart, Senior Editor, Buyouts and Private Funds CFO
Leaders:
Luke Myers, Managing Partner, Truelink Capital
Adam Buzanis, Senior Director, Private Equity, CAAT Pension Plan
3 Speakers
09:10 - 09:40
Case Study: Winning LP Trust
Kelly DePonte,
Hollie Haynes,
Cris Conner
Learn how to lay the foundation for managing expectations and creating a valued partnership from Fund I to Fund IV.
Moderator:
Kelly DePonte, Managing Director, Kelly DePonte Advisory LLC
Leaders:
Hollie Moore Haynes, Founder and Managing Partner, Luminate Capital
Cris Conner, Portfolio Manager, Briar Hall LLC
3 Speakers
09:40 - 10:10
Networking and coffee break
10:10 - 10:55
Value creation for portfolio company growth and profitability
Craig Wiley,
Vince Cuticello,
Alok Singh,
Jene Elzie,
Lydie Hudson
• Using operational expertise to generate superior returns beyond financing
• How fund managers differentiate themselves in the ways in which they deliver their expertise?
• Strategic initiatives and management improvements that ultimately lead to higher return on investment
Moderator:
Craig Wiley, CEO, Transcend
Leaders:
Vince Cuticello, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, Invidia
Alok Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer, and Co-Founder, Bridge Growth Partners
Jené Elzie, Chief Marketing Officer, Dunes Point Capital
Lydie Hudson, Co-founder and President, Citation Capital
Vince Cuticello
Chief Administrative Officer (“CAO”), General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer, Invidia
Read bio
Alok Singh
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, Bridge Growth Partners
Read bio
5 Speakers
10:55 - 11:30
How to Build a Firm for Long Term Success
Jeff Gendel,
John Bailey,
Leigh Sansone
Moderator:
Jeff Gendel, Principal, Gen II Fund Services
Leaders:
John Bailey, Managing Partner, Knox Lane
Leigh Sansone, Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Paceline Equity Partner
3 Speakers
Private Wealth Forum | Open to all
08:30 - 08:40
Welcome from the forum Chair
Dan Allocca
Dan Allocca, Partner and Head of the Digital, Paid and Analytics, Prosek
1 Speaker
08:40 - 09:10
Keynote interview
Madeleine Farman,
Joan Solotar
• Why private equity, why now?
• Private Capital’s transformative role in bolstering the real economy
Interviewer:
Madeleine Farman, Editor, Private Equity International and Secondaries Investor
Leader:
Joan Solotar, Global Head of Private Wealth Solutions, Blackstone
2 Speakers
09:10 - 09:40
The impact of private equity on the RIA and independent wealth channel
Scott Hanson
Leader:
Scott Hanson, Co-Founder and Vice Chair, Allworth Financial
1 Speaker
09:40 - 10:15
Networking and coffee break
10:15 - 11:00
The $80trn opportunity
Ron Miller,
Peter Aliprantis,
Ava Mallin,
Paul Jodice,
Christina Adamson
• How are GPs approaching the wealth channel and addressing the problem of liquidity?
• What are the most promising investment opportunities for RIAs and UHNWIs
Moderator:
Ron Miller, Head of Asset Manager Partnerships, CAIS
Leaders:
Peter Aliprantis, Partner and Head of Private Wealth Management, Americas, EQT
Ava Mallin, Managing Director, Private Wealth, Ardian
Paul Jodice, Co-Head of Global Investment Manager Analysis, Morgan Stanley
Christina Adamson, Partner and Co-Head, Ares Wealth Management Solutions
Paul Jodice
Managing Director/ Co-Head of Global Investment Manager Analysis (GIMA) Team, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Read bio
Christina Adamson
Partner, Co-Head of U.S. Wealth Management Solutions, Ares Wealth Management Solutions
Read bio
5 Speakers
11:00 - 11:30
Redefining private wealth management
Lawrence Aragon,
Samantha Cooper
• Assessing how best to accelerate alternative distributions
• How to tailor private equity specific products to liquidity requirements
Moderator:
Lawrence Aragon, Editor of Venture Capital Journal and West Coast Bureau Chief, PEI Group
Samantha Cooper, Managing Director, Head of Distribution, Rockefeller Global Family Office
2 Speakers
11:30 - 12:10
Outlook on the debt market
Robin Blumenthal,
Kristin Reynolds,
Alona Gornick,
Timothy Calkins,
Ted Yarbrough
• Understanding the nuances private credit investing, liquidity expectations,
redemption risks, etc.
• Assessing private credit funds that are smartly structured for transparency
• How can retail clients gain further exposure to the burgeoning private credit market?
Moderator:
Robin Blumenthal, Americas Editor, Private Debt Investor
Panelists:
Kristin Reynolds, Partner, Practice Group Director, NEPC
Alona Gornick, Managing Director, Senior Investment Strategist, Churchill Asset Management
Timothy D. Calkins, Co-Chief Investment Officer, Nottingham Advisors, Inc.
Ted Yarbrough, President and Chief Investment Officer, Yieldstreet
5 Speakers
Lunch
11:30 - 12:55
The Future of Private Equity Lunch
Meet the next generation of private equity leaders, recognized by PEI, as LPs connect with the Emerging Managers that match sector and strategy preferences for their portfolio needs.
12:10 - 13:05
Private Wealth Forum Lunch
Time for RIA’s to engage with the partners who can offer private wealth investors a strategy that aligns with needs, risk profile and return expectations.
Emerging Managers Forum | Institutional LPs + Qualified Emerging Managers only
12:55 - 13:25
The competitive advantage - building a diversified emerging manager program
Dana Johns,
Sherrese Clarke Soares
Leaders:
Dana Johns, Head of Private Equity, The New Jersey Department of the Treasury’s Division of Investment
Sherrese Clarke Soares, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, HarbourView Equity Partners
Dana Johns
Head of Private Equity, New Jersey Department of the Treasury, Division of Investment
Read bio
2 Speakers
13:25 - 14:15
The long-term game: countering tough fundraising for LP trust
Rowena Carreon,
Elizabeth Weymouth,
Rishi Chandna,
Brooke Coburn,
Bibhash Mukhopadhyay
• Differentiating your fund to make you stand out
• Building compelling thesis and strong alignment with your potential LPs
Moderator:
Rowena Carreon, Head of Investment Advisory Solutions, Addepar
Panelists:
Elizabeth Weymouth, Founder and Managing Partner, Grafine Partners
Rishi Chandna, Managing Partner, Lone View Capital
Brooke Coburn, Co-Founder and Partner, Capitol Meridian Partners
Bibhash Mukhopadhyay, PhD, Managing Partner, Sound Bioventures
5 Speakers
14:15 - 15:00
Reviewing the business convergence case – partnering on fund structures and co-investments
Christopher Witkowsky,
Caroline Dallas,
Jonathan Lesser,
Mike Fang,
Anna Dayn,
Michelle Jacobi
• Figuring out a private equity product’s place within an LP’s broader portfolio construction efforts
• Fund selection challenges and strategies to overcome them
Moderator:
Chris Witkowsky, Private Equity Editor, PEI Group
Panelists:
Caroline Dallas, Director, Investment Research, GEM
Mike Fang, Senior Portfolio Manager, Maryland State Retirement and Pension System
Anna Dayn, Managing Director and US head, New End
Michelle Jacobi, Managing Director, Gatewood Capital Partners
6 Speakers
Private Wealth Forum | Open to all
13:05 - 13:45
Outperforming for risk adjusted returns in the alternatives market
Bill O'Conor,
Jack Ablin,
Kevin Moran
Moderator:
Bill O’Conor, Managing Director, Americas, PEI Group
Leaders:
Jack Ablin, Chief Investment Officer, Cresset Capital
Kevin Moran, President & Chief Operating Officer, AlTi Tiedemann Global
3 Speakers
13:45 - 14:30
A strong framework for incorporating private equity into a HNWI’s portfolio
Dan Allocca,
Robert Picard,
Cameron Dawson,
Michael Zeuner,
Aleksandra Holmlund
• Main opportunities and challenges associated with introducing private equity as an investable opportunity for clients
• Addressing illiquidity against a changing macroeconomic backdrop
• What is the outlook for private equity, in the context of democratization, for the next 12 months?
Moderator:
Dan Allocca, Partner and Head of the Digital, Paid and Analytics, Prosek
Leaders:
Robert Picard, Managing Director, Head of Alternative Investments, Hightower Advisors
Cameron Dawson, Chief Investment Officer, NewEdge Wealth
Michael Zeuner, Managing Partner, WE Family Office
Aleksandra Holmlund, CEO, Qarlbo Biodiversity
5 Speakers
14:30 - 15:00
Strategy deep dive – Beating the J Curve: the opportunity in secondaries
Tom Sittema
• Is the wealth channel ready for secondaries
• How can GPs best prepare for increasing compliance requirements?
Thomas Sittema, Executive Chairman, StepStone
1 Speaker
NEXUS Grand Opening | The Da Vinci Lawn
15:15 - 15:30
PEI Center Stage: Opening Remarks from PEI’s Editors
Richard Melville
Richard Melville, Editorial Director, US, PEI Group
1 Speaker
15:30 - 15:35
Chairman’s Opening Remarks
Trey Muldrow
Trey Muldrow, Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
1 Speaker
15:35 - 16:20
Mega forces that can reshape the world
Mary Kathleen (MK) Flynn,
Brian Bernasek,
Joe Osnoss,
David Sambur
• The role of private capital in the world economy
• How is the new administration impacting sustainability in private markets
• The current state of private market investing in the US and how to take advantage of the current market environment
Moderator:
MK Flynn, Editor-in-Chief, PE HUB
Leaders:
Brian A. Bernasek, Partner and Co-Head of Americas Corporate Private Equity, Carlyle
Joe Osnoss, Managing Partner, Silver Lake
David Sambur, Partner and Co-Head of Equity, Apollo Global Management
4 Speakers
16:20 - 16:50
Keynote Fireside Chat
Adam Le,
Stephen M. Ross
16:50 - 17:20
Outlook on Capital Raising
Madeleine Farman,
Suzanne Donohoe
Moderator:
Madeleine Farman, Editor, Private Equity International and Secondaries Investor
Leader:
Suzanne Donohoe, Chief Commercial Officer and Global Head of EQT-Ext (CXO), EQT
2 Speakers
17:20 - 18:00
Keynote Fireside Chat
Richard Melville,
Ryan Patel
Moderator:
Richard Melville, Editorial Director, US, PEI Group
Ryan Patel, Global Executive, Board Member and Advisory Board Chair, PEI Private Equity Network
Ryan Patel
Global Executive, Board Member and Advisory Board Chair, PEI Private Equity Network
Read bio
2 Speakers
18:00 - 19:30
Networking Reception on the Da Vinci Lawn
A place to arrange your meetings via the networking platform and meet the networking team that can help you build your schedule as you plan your activities for the days ahead.
Enjoy the open bar and food stations throughout the evening.
19:30 - 21:30
Networking Bar (open to all)
19:30 - 21:30
LP Dinner (invitation only)
PEI NEXUS
LP Dinner
With support from
Knife & Spoon, Ritz-Carlton
19:30 - 21:30
GP Leaders Dinner (invitation only)
PEI NEXUS
With support from
Highball & Harvest, Ritz-Carlton
Agenda
Day 2 - Tuesday 11th
Registration and breakfast
08:00 - 08:50
Open Registration and breakfast
Plenary
08:50 - 09:05
Chairperson’s opening remarks
Bill O'Conor
William O’Conor, Managing Director, Americas, PEI Group
1 Speaker
09:05 - 09:35
Keynote Fireside Chat
Toby Mitchenall,
Kenneth Caplan
09:35 - 10:05
Turning great innovators into great businesses
Mary Kathleen (MK) Flynn,
Orlando Bravo
10:05 - 10:55
GP Leaders Panel: Executive insights into the future trends of private equity
Hugh MacArthur,
Jon Sokoloff,
Collin Roche,
Vladimir Colas
• Private market outlook of top GP executives
• How are fund managers adjusting approaches to evaluating new investment ideas?
• Evaluating the new US economy and which strategies are best suited for the current political
environment
Moderator:
Hugh MacArthur, Senior Partner and Chairman of the Global Private Equity Practice, Bain & Company
Panelists:
Jonathan Sokoloff, Managing Partner, Leonard Green & Partners
Collin Roche, Co-Chief Executive Officer, GTCR
Vladimir Colas, Executive Vice-President and Co-Head of Secondaries & Primaries, Ardian
4 Speakers
10:55 - 11:25
Networking break and refreshments
11:25 - 11:55
Evolution of alts and “tectonic shifts” shaping private markets
Philip Borel,
Jon Winkelried
11:55 - 12:25
Secondaries - The roadmap to $1 trillion
Adam Le,
Yann Robard
• Zooming in on the great valuation conundrum in the secondaries market
• Deep dive on what needs to happen for higher turnover of second-hand private markets
assets
Moderator:
Adam Le, Senior Editor, PEI and Secondaries Investor
Leader:
Yann Robard, Managing Partner, Dawson Partners
2 Speakers
12:25 - 12:50
Keynote Fireside: Investing for Global Growth
Christopher Witkowsky,
Bill Ford
12:50 - 13:50
Networking Lunch
13:50 - 14:15
Keynote Fireside Chat
Mary Kathleen (MK) Flynn,
Tricia Glynn
14:15 - 14:55
LP Leaders Panel
Mark Nafash,
Allen Waldrop,
Robert Mellema,
Jeff Markusson
• Determining the role of private equity in an LP’s diversification strategy
• Exploring opportunities to generate strong portfolio returns
• Best practices for developing resiliency, mitigating risk, and bridging returns
Moderator:
Mark Nafash, Senior Manager, Enterprise Alts, SS&C Intralinks
Panelists:
Allen Waldrop, Deputy Chief Investment Officer- Private Markets, Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation
Robert Mellema, Managing Director, CPP Investment
Jeff Markusson, Senior Managing Director, Private Equity, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
Jeff Markusson
Senior Managing Director, Financial Services, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
Read bio
4 Speakers
14:55 - 15:20
The impact of secondaries on the future of private markets
Adam Le,
Jeremy Coller
• What does the current state of secondaries mean for private markets?
• The role of the modern LP- managing conflicts
• A keen look at specialization within secondaries – strategies, regions, sectors, etc.
Moderator:
Adam Le, Senior Editor, EMEA, PEI and Secondaries Investor
Jeremy Coller, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner, Coller Capital
2 Speakers
15:20 - 15:45
Exploring the role of private capital in the real economy
Christopher Witkowsky,
Isabelle Scemama,
Terry Charalambous
Moderator:
Chris Witkowsky, Private Equity Editor, PEI Group
Isabelle Scemama, Global Head, AXA IM Alts
Terry Charalambous, Head of Private Equity, AustralianSuper
3 Speakers
15:45 - 16:10
Networking break and refreshments
Mega-themes in Private Equity
16:10 - 16:20
Welcome remarks from conference chair
Lawrence Aragon
Chaired by:
Lawrence Aragon, Editor of Venture Capital Journal and West Coast Bureau Chief,
PEI Group
1 Speaker
16:20 - 17:05
Key trends shaping the future of private debt and flexible capital solutions
Robin Blumenthal,
David Miller,
Stephen Quinn,
Meggie Daoust,
Adam Vigna
• Overview of the private debt landscape and how LPs and GPs need to evolve in today’s economy
• Exploring the most promising flexible capital solution options in the market
• What role will NAV loans play as a mechanism for liquidity?
Moderator:
Robin Blumenthal, Americas Editor, Private Debt Investor
David Miller, Head of Global Private Credit & Equity, Morgan Stanley
Stephen Quinn, Senior Managing Director, Investments, 17Capital
Meggie Daoust, Senior Director, Capital Solutions, CDPQ
Adam Vigna, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Sagard
5 Speakers
17:05 - 17:55
At the forefront of co-investments
Robert Blaustein,
Chris Eckerman,
Gregory Schmitt,
John Clark,
Harj Shoan
• How should GPs innovate in the co-investment space to secure capital?
• Assessing the trend of shifting towards smaller deals to ensure diversification
• Factors affecting decision-making on co-investing with fund managers
Moderator:
Robert Blaustein, Partner, Investment Funds Practice Group, Kirkland & Ellis
Chris Eckerman, Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Co-Investments, State of Wisconsin Investment Board
Gregory Schmitt, Head of Private Equity & Co-Investments, MEAG MUNICH ERGO
John Clark, President, Performance Equity Management
Harj Shoan, Senior Managing Director, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
Chris Eckerman
Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Co-Investments, State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)
Read bio
Harj Shoan
Senior Managing Director, Private Capital, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP)
Read bio
5 Speakers
17:55 - 18:30
Fireside chat: Private markets ecosystem – consolidation, disruption and confronting the new normal
Adam Le,
Ian Charles
Secondaries Innovation
16:10 - 16:15
Welcome from conference chair
Madeleine Farman
Chaired by:
Madeleine Farman, Editor, Secondaries Investor, PEI Group
1 Speaker
16:15 - 17:05
Setting the pace for GP-led secondaries
Holcombe Green,
Mark Boyagi,
Rob Campbell,
Christophe Browne,
Jon Madorsky,
Mark Wetzel
• How have GP-led continuation funds performed so far? Where will capital come from to grow this market?
• A keen look at new entrants carving out new ways to remain competitive
• Exploring opportunities in the middle market for GP-led deals
Moderator:
Holcombe Green III, Managing Director & Global Head of Private Capital Advisory, Lazard
Panelists:
Mark Boyagi, Partner, Investment Funds Group, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Rob Campbell, Head of North America, ICG Strategic Equity
Christophe Browne, Partner, Lexington Partners
Jon Madorsky, Managing Partner and Secondaries Co-Portfolio Manager, RCP Advisors
Mark Wetzel, Managing Director, Strategic Equity, Blue Owl
6 Speakers
17:05 - 17:45
Deal dynamics from an LP perspective
Andrew Gershon,
Zach Jackson,
Steve Poliner,
Anton Orlich,
Jeremy Weisberg
• How can LPs differentiate themselves among a sea of syndicate investors looking for deals?
• How strategic LPs can achieve best pricing for portfolios
• What should investors keep in mind when bringing a portfolio to market?
Moderator:
Andrew Gershon, Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton
Panelists:
Zach Jackson, Partner, Queensland Investment Corporation
Steve Poliner, Senior Investment Counsel, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Anton Orlich, Managing Investment Director, Private Equity, CalPERS
Jeremy Weisberg, Managing Director, Secondaries, CPP Investments
Steve Poliner
Senior Investment Counsel, Teacher Retirement System of Texas (Texas Teachers)
Read bio
5 Speakers
17:45 - 18:25
The New Frontier – Growth and innovation in the GP-led market
Madeleine Farman,
Wilfred Small,
Martha Heitmann,
David Fox
• How will the continuation vehicle market adapt and grow in 2025? Can GP-led secondaries continue to grow and innovate?
• Will traditional exit activity accelerate with lower interest rates and a more business-friendly administration?
• Looking at the inter relationship of coinvestments and CV strategies going forward
Moderator:
Madeleine Farman, Editor, Private Equity International and Secondaries Investor
Panelists:
Wilfred Small, Senior Managing Director, Ardian
Martha Heitmann, Partner, LGT Capital Partners
David Fox, Partner, Leonard Green & Partners
4 Speakers
18:25 - 18:25
Proceed to plenary hall for closing keynote
High Growth Sectors
16:10 - 16:15
Welcome from conference chair
Mary Kathleen (MK) Flynn
Chaired by:
MK Flynn, Editor and Chief, PE HUB
1 Speaker
16:15 - 17:00
The dealmaking sweet spot – Life in the middle market
Mary Kathleen (MK) Flynn,
Xavier Robert,
Beatrice Mitchell,
Stewart Kohl,
Kelly Ford
• Assessing opportunities in the middle and lower middle markets
• Deep dive into where to find the most compelling returns
• Exploring flexibility in exit plans, sale drivers, and sectors ripe for dealmaking
Moderator:
MK Flynn, Editor-in-Chief, PE HUB
Panelists:
Xavier Robert, Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Bridgepoint
Beatrice Mitchell, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Sperry, Mitchell and Company
Stewart Kohl, Co-Chief Executive Officer, The Riverside Company
Kelly Ford, Chief Operating Officer & General Partner, Edison Partners
5 Speakers
17:00 - 17:45
Deep dive into private equity’s role in the energy transition
Toby Mitchenall,
Meghan Sharp,
Neil McMahon,
Petya Nikolova,
Jan Stahlberg
• How asset owners can position their portfolios to capture opportunities in energy transition
• Strategies that drive real change in the face of uncertainty, risk, political and regulatory changes
Moderator:
Toby Mitchenall, Senior Editor, New Private Markets
Panelists:
Meghan Sharp, Global Head and Chief Investment Officer, Decarbonization Partners
Dr. Neil McMahon, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Kimmeridge Energy Management Co. LLC
Petya Nikolova, Deputy CIO and Head of Infrastructure, New York City Bureau of Asset Management
Jan Stahlberg, Founder & Managing Partner, Trill Impact
Petya Nikolova
Deputy CIO and Head of Infrastructure Investments, New York City Comptroller's Office
Read bio
5 Speakers
17:45 - 18:25
Supercharging AI as a high value driver in the portfolio
Lawrence Aragon,
Mark Hoeing,
Senofer Mendoza
• Exploring the current climate for tech deals
• The role private equity plays in building the most advanced tech portfolio
• Identifying the structural growth drivers in promising technologies such as cybersecurity and GenAI
Moderator:
Lawrence Aragon, Editor of Venture Capital Journal and West Coast Bureau Chief, PEI Group
Panelists:
Mark Hoeing, President and Chief Executive Officer, CF Private Equity
Senofer Mendoza, Founder, General Partner, Mendoza Ventures
3 Speakers
18:25 - 18:25
Proceed to plenary hall for closing keynote
Plenary
18:30 - 18:55
Building a flexible investment model for an unpredictable world
Chip Kaye,
Anton Orlich,
Marcie Frost
- What does TPA mean for CalPERS PE?
- Performance turnaround at CalPERS – marked improvement in peer benchmarking
- A discussion around portfolio management and partner selection
Moderator:
Chip Kaye, Chairman, Warburg Pincus
Anton Orlich, Managing Investment Director, Private Equity, CalPERS
Marcie Frost, Chief Executive Officer, CalPERS
3 Speakers
18:55 - 19:55
Networking bar opens
19:30 - 20:30
Secondaries Dinner (invitation only)
With support from
Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes
Agenda
Day 3 - Wednesday 12th
Welcome
07:50 - 08:40
LP-only breakfast hosted by ILPA
Jennifer Choi
Roundtable discussion focusing on the latest trends facing global LPs. Share your experiences and hear from the community.
Jennifer Choi, Chief Executive Officer, Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA)
1 Speaker
07:50 - 08:40
GP breakfast briefing
Gerald Parloiu
Join us to discover how peers are leveraging AI in their research, diligence, portfolio reporting and more, and learn from industry experts what generative AI can do for your team
Gerald Parloiu, PE Practice Director, Sana AI
Hosted by
1 Speaker
07:45 - 07:45
Registration and networking breakfast
Plenary
08:40 - 08:45
Chairperson’s opening remarks
Chris Witkowsky, Private Equity Editor, PEI Group
08:45 - 09:00
LP Perspectives: data points from the past two days of NEXUS
Ryan Patel
Ryan Patel, Global Executive, Board Member and Advisory Board Chair, PEI Private Equity Network
Ryan Patel
Global Executive, Board Member and Advisory Board Chair, PEI Private Equity Network
Read bio
1 Speaker
09:00 - 09:30
The vanguard of value creation - engaging employees as owners
Pete Stavros,
Daniel Goldstein
Powerful changemakers provide their perspectives on how to successfully implement employee ownership into your portfolio strategy for increased fund performance.
Pete Stavros, Co-head of Global Private Equity, KKR
Daniel Goldstein, Chief Executive Officer, Go ESOP LLC
2 Speakers
09:30 - 09:35
Streams start
Investor Strategies
09:35 - 10:00
Fireside Chat
Graham Bippart,
Oscar Fahlgren
Moderator:
Graham Bippart, Senior Editor, PEI Group
Oscar Fahlgren, Chief Investment Officer and Head of Brazil, Mubadala Capital
2 Speakers
10:00 - 10:50
The five-year outlook of the most significant themes impacting allocations
Dan Gunner,
Jennifer Choi,
Philip Hunter O'Brien,
Eneasz Kądziela
Presentation – LP Perspectives on:
• Return expectations and allocation decisions
• Exits, liquidity and continuation funds
• More transparency and better reporting
Presenter: Dan Gunner, Director, Research and Analytics, PEI Group
Moderator:
Jennifer Choi, Chief Executive Officer, Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA)
Philip Hunter O’Brien, Managing Director, Head of Private Equity, Texas Municipal Retirement System
Eneasz Kądziela, Deputy Chief Investment Officer & Head of Private Equity, NYC Comptroller’s Office – Bureau of Asset Management
Eneasz Kądziela
Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of Private Equity, Office of the New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management
Read bio
4 Speakers
10:50 - 11:30
Global Leaders panel: Delivering true alpha across the globe
John Bowman,
Stefan Fallgren,
Anna Barath,
Claire Ngo
• Can institutions still expand far beyond their borders, or should the era of globalization be
reconsidered?
• Assessing geopolitics and what this means for portfolio reassessments and investment
strategies
• Looking at opportunities across European and Asian markets
Moderator:
John Bowman, Chief Executive Officer, CAIA Association
Stefan Fallgren, Head of Private Equity and Infrastructure, Skandia Mutual Life Insurance Company
Anna Barath, Head of Fund Investments, Bite Investments
Claire Ngo, Managing Director, Temasek
Stefan Fallgren
Head of Private Equity and Infrastructure, Skandia Mutual Life Insurance Company
Read bio
4 Speakers
11:30 - 12:00
The climate crisis - The new outlook for mobilizing investor capital
Toby Mitchenall,
Susan McGeachie
Moderator:
Toby Mitchenall, Senior Editor, New Private Markets
Leader:
Susan McGeachie, CEO, Global Climate Finance Accelerator
Susan McGeachie
CEO / Adjunct Professor (Climate Finance), Global Climate Finance Accelerator / University of Toronto
Read bio
2 Speakers
Private Credit Stream
09:35 - 10:00
Addressing the private credit opportunity through vehicle structure
Kelly DePonte,
Henry Wang,
Stephen Escudier
- What are the benefits of the traditional private debt closed-end fund structure and what differences do BDCs and Interval Funds bring to the table?
- Distinct differences in opportunities between European and American markets
Moderator:
Kelly DePonte, Managing Director, Kelly DePonte Advisory LLC
Henry Wang, Partner, Credit, BC Partners
Stephen Escudier, Partner, Head of Credit Opportunities, Bridgepoint
3 Speakers
10:00 - 10:30
The opacity challenge - A 2025 regulatory approach
Robin Blumenthal,
Milwood Hobbs Jr.
• Assess stemming risk in the new administration
• Deep dive on concerns on illiquidity, rising defaults, deal competition, potential spill overs to banks and insurers
• Exploring special opportunities in private debt (e.g., distressed) for LPs
Moderator:
Robin Blumenthal, Americas Editor, Private Debt Investor
Milwood Hobbs Jr., Managing Director and Head of Sourcing & Origination, Oaktree Capital Management
Milwood Hobbs Jr.
Managing Director and Head of North American Sourcing & Origination, Oaktree Capital Management
Read bio
2 Speakers
10:30 - 11:15
The future of private debt and its convergence with the public market
Chandini Jain,
Edward Talmor-Gera,
Rich Davis,
Curtis Lueker,
Adriana Clancy
• Identifying the effects of banks seeking out new partnerships in private markets, and fund managers attempting to access public markets through new investment vehicles
• How will interest rates affect mid-market firms and pricing of new loans?
• What effect might the threat of high tariffs have on credit?
Moderator:
Chandini Jain, Chief Executive Officer, Auquan
Leaders:
Edward Talmor-Gera, Founding Managing Partner & Chief Executive Officer, NewVest
Rich Davis, Partner and Co-Founder, Hark Capital
Curtis Lueker, Managing Director and Head of Direct Lending, Marathon Asset Management
Adriana Clancy, Partner, Corbin Capital
5 Speakers
11:15 - 12:00
The future of fund finance
Graham Bippart,
Dadong Yan,
Sammy Asoli,
Richard Wheelahan
• An in-depth review of lender pools, the terms and new uses (e.g. sub lines, NAV)
• Where are we in the cycle and what is the “base case” for the economy/interest rates in the year ahead?
• Exploring flexible strategies that can address pressures at portfolio companies when assessing the effect of increased interest rates
Moderator:
Graham Bippart, Senior Editor, Buyouts and Private Funds CFO
Leaders:
Dadong Yan, Head of Portfolio Finance, Barings
Sammy Asoli,Managing Director & General Manager, Global Head of Fund Finance Solutions, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Richard Wheelahan, Managing Director & Co-Founder, Fund Finance Partners
Sammy Asoli
Managing Director, Global Head of Fund Finance Solutions, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Read bio
4 Speakers
12:00 - 13:00
Content Concludes – grab-and-go lunch and proceed to networking activities
Networking activities
13:00 - 15:00
Culinary Master Class: Primo Pizza
13:00 - 15:00
Partnerships & Pickleball Match
13:00 - 17:00
Golf: The Annual NEXUS Cup
Connect in the right place, at the right time, with the right people
Among the energized crowd of private equity’s most powerful leaders, you will embark on a personalized journey at NEXUS to maximize your time and effort. Just tell us who you want to meet and we’ll take care of the rest!
The extensive networking program will help you cultivate relationships that drive results for your business and extend far beyond the 3 days in Orlando.
“The greatest benefit for me is the networking and the opportunities that you can get involved in. It’s all about the people that you meet here.”
Winston Hubbard, ZSP Capital Group
Let us connect you
The NEXUS networking team will connect you to who you want to meet. Tell us who, when and where and we’ll do the matchmaking!
Monday, March 10
Institutional Limited Partners Council
9-11:30am
Exclusively for institutional LPs, meet with peers to discuss strategy, develop best practice negotiation and more – all in safe space away from prying eyes!
Emerging Managers Forum
9am-3:15pm
Connecting LPs to rising funds, the Forum is exclusive to emerging managers in the morning on day 1. It’s the best place to hear from experts on how to fine-tune investor relations while enhancing your story.
Private Wealth Forum
9am-3:15pm
Dissect the $80 trillion private wealth opportunity for private equity from every angle.
The Future of Private Equity Lunch
11:30am-1pm
Sit down for lunch with leading institutional investors, top performing emerging managers, award winners from Private Equity International’s publications and influential VIPs in private markets to discuss what’s to come in Private Equity.
NEXUS Grand Opening
3:15-7pm
The signature NEXUS networking event is back! Powerful private equity figures take the stage in a relaxed networking atmosphere. An experience like no other.
LP dinner
By invitation only, join an exclusive dinner for Private Equity’s elite. Swap strategies and build your network in this casual setting.
Networking Reception
To conclude day 1 of the forum, we welcome you to have a drink on us!
Tuesday, March 11
Editorial & Meeting Zones
Connect with fellow attendees and interact with PEI’s editors and industry leaders behind the scenes.
Networking Reception
Have another drink on us at the end of day 2 during our networking reception.
Wednesday, March 12
Culinary Experience
Skip the conference lunch and wrap up your time at NEXUS with a meal with a world-class chef.
Golf: The Annual NEXUS Cup
Now in its 2nd year, the Annual NEXUS Cup is the place to show your skills on the greens.
Partnerships & Pickleball Match
Get on the court and end your time at NEXUS on a high note with a few matches of pickleball.
Our esteemed speaker lineup
NEXUS built its speaker roster from the brightest minds in private equity.
For any agenda inquiries please contact the program director, Ben Moss at ben.m@pei.group.
Christina Adamson
Partner, Co-Head of U.S. Wealth Management Solutions, Ares Wealth Management Solutions
Sammy Asoli
Managing Director, Global Head of Fund Finance Solutions, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Vince Cuticello
Chief Administrative Officer (“CAO”), General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer, Invidia
Chris Eckerman
Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Co-Investments, State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)
Lori Hall-Kimm
Senior Managing Director & Head of Global Private Equity, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)
Milwood Hobbs Jr.
Managing Director and Head of North American Sourcing & Origination, Oaktree Capital Management
Paul Jodice
Managing Director/ Co-Head of Global Investment Manager Analysis (GIMA) Team, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Eneasz Kądziela
Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of Private Equity, Office of the New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management
Matthew Liposky
Chief Investment Operating Officer, Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (MassPRIM)
Susan McGeachie
CEO / Adjunct Professor (Climate Finance), Global Climate Finance Accelerator / University of Toronto
Petya Nikolova
Deputy CIO and Head of Infrastructure Investments, New York City Comptroller's Office
Get a taste of the NEXUS difference
Orlando Bravo & MK Flynn keynote discussion
Orlando Bravo, co-founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, joined PEI Group’s MK Flynn on the NEXUS 2024 main stage.
Orlando revealed that Thoma Bravo had one of its best years for realizations in 2023, handing more than $13 billion back to investors. He noted that the firm’s largest exits were to strategic buyers. You can watch their session on demand by clicking the image on the right.
David Mussafer with Madeleine Farman
Advent International’s chairman and managing partner, David Mussafer, sat down with PEI Group’s Madeleine Farman for a wide-ranging chat on the final day of NEXUS 2024.
They cover Advent’s approach to deal-making over the last 12-18 months, the firm’s dialogue with LPs in the current environment and Mussafer’s wider predictions for investments and exits in 2024.
Jon Gray & Richard Melville PEI Group’s Editorial Director
Jon Gray graced the NEXUS 2024 stage in Orlando to share how Blackstone stays on top of the fast moving industry.
Watch the entire interview on-demand for a thrilling glimpse into the mind of a true private equity trailblazer.
With thanks to our sponsors
Discover fresh business opportunities
Elevate your firm’s stature as a symbol of expertise and influence in the industry at NEXUS.
Connecting the entire private equity industry under one roof, NEXUS is the most effective and efficient way to meet investors and fund managers to drive your future success.
With a second-to-none speaking faculty and an agenda built for networking, there is no better place to elevate your thought-leadership and brand visibility among key decision-makers in private equity.
Register your interest
Sponsor
Stand out from the crowd at NEXUS
A limited number of solution providers have the opportunity to bolster their brand presence to captivate industry leaders through sponsorship.
Learn more
“Very wide ranging topics and a good number of very informed viewpoints. Good chance to widen one’s circle.”
Michael Aronstein, Antiquity
Networking
Networking is at the heart of NEXUS. Our unique matching technology will suggest the best investors for you to schedule meetings based off your profile. Our on-site networking team will also be available to make introductions.
Our esteemed speaker lineup from 2024
Elizabeth Burton
Managing Director and Senior Client Investment Strategist, Client Solutions Group, Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Marion N. Chebet, MBA
Senior Portfolio Manager, Director of Impact Investing, Johnson Financial Group
Chris Eckerman
Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Co-Investments, State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)
Dr. Indermit Gill
Senior Vice President of Development Economics and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group
Lori Hall-Kimm
Senior Managing Director & Head of Global Private Equity, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)
Milwood Hobbs Jr.
Managing Director and Head of North American Sourcing & Origination, Oaktree Capital Management
Eneasz Kądziela
Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of Private Equity, Office of the New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management
Matthew Liposky
Chief Investment Operating Officer, Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (MassPRIM)
Tadasu Matsuo
Managing Director, Head of Global Alternative Investments, Japan Science & Technology Agency (JST)
Adebisi Oje
Sales Director Data, Advanced Analytics & Artificial Intelligence US Financial Services, Microsoft
Anne Philpott
Managing Director, Junior Capital & Private Equity Solutions, Churchill Asset Management
Paul Sanabria
Senior Managing Director & Global Co-Head of Secondaries, Manulife Investment Management
Andrew Siwo
Director of Sustainable Investments and Climate Solutions, New York State Common Retirement Fund
Robert "Vince" Smith
Deputy State Investment Officer and Chief Investment Officer, New Mexico State Investment Council
Elite networking. World-class content. Fuel future success.
Where private equity meets.
Access to
NEXUS
Register your interest to join private equity’s most powerful leaders and influential capital allocators.
Complimentary investor passes
A limited number of complimentary passes will be available for institutional investors and family offices.
Complimentary RIA passes
A limited number of complimentary passes will be available for Registered Investment Advisors.
Elevate your firm at PE's most influential event
Why partner as a sponsor?
NEXUS brings together leading managers in private equity for engaging conversations that will raise your profile and elevate awareness of your unique offering.
Seize the spotlight to share your vision, build powerful connections and strengthen relationships with investors through formal and informal networking.
Discover NEXUS sponsorship offerings
Golf: The NEXUS Cup
Showcase your brand with a memorable day on the course, providing a relaxed setting to connect with influential investors and top fund managers.
Pickleball Match
Let your competitive spirits fly. Ensure your brand stands out in a relaxed and competitive atmosphere – perfect for sparking conversations.
Culinary Masterclass
Where sophistication meets hands-on experience. Close connection with top-tier attendees in a uniquely engaging, intimate environment.
How to get in touch
For more information, contact Jimmy Kurtovic at jimmy.k@pei.group or +1 646 356 4504.
Grand Opening Session
Take the stage as the Grand Opening Session sponsor, gaining premium visibility with the entire NEXUS audience. Set the tone for the event, aligning your brand with innovation and influence.
Future of Private Equity Lunch
Put your firm at the heart of the industry’s future. Network with emerging managers, rising stars, and LPs focused on the next generation of private equity.
Agenda Sessions
Align your brand with expertise and thought leadership. Connect your name with timely industry insights, positioning your brand as an integral part of NEXUS’ knowledge-sharing.
NEXUS-wide Branding
Amplify your brand across NEXUS with wide-reaching sponsorship visibility. This package provides multiple touchpoints to keep your brand top of mind throughout the event.
Networking Bar
Position your brand as the catalyst of high-energy networking. Be at the center of dynamic exchanges, fostering connections that drive influence and opportunity.
Build connections - private & semi-private meeting spaces
Secondaries Investor Dinner
This prestigious dinner is an ideal platform for your brand to engage decision-makers in a focused, impactful setting.
Meeting Rooms
A dedicated place for pivotal conversations while keeping your brand front and center in NEXUS’ most essential discussions.
Investor Dinners
This unique opportunity offers a sophisticated backdrop for building valuable relationships – making your brand synonymous with influential networking.
Investors and RIAs attending
PensionDanmark
Sanctuary Wealth Partners
Splash Consulting
Springlake Partners
State of Wisconsin Investment Board
Texas Municipal Retirement System
The Jefferies Family Office
The Johnson Company
The WE Family Office
Advance
AIMCo
Alaska Permanent Fund
AllState Investments
Allworth Financial
Arizona PSPRS
Atrato Advisors
AXA
Beverly Capital
British Columbia Investment (BCI
BTG Capital Family Office
CAAT Pension Plan
Cambridge Associates
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Capitol Meridian Partners
Carnegie Corporation Of New York
Cornerstone Group
Eastern Illinois University Investment Committee
Florida State Board of Administration
GEM
HighTower
LGT Capital Partners Ltd
Maryland State Retirement and Pension System
Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board
MEAG
Mercer
Montgomery County Employees' Retirement System
MSF Capital Advisors
Mubadala
NewEdge Wealth
New Jersey Division of Investment
New Mexico State Investment Council
New York City Retirement System, Office of the Comptroller
Northland Wealth Management
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
Peninsula House
PensionDanmark
Sanctuary Wealth Partners
Splash Consulting
Springlake Partners
State of Wisconsin Investment Board
Texas Municipal Retirement System
The Jefferies Family Office
The Johnson Company
The WE Family Office
Advance
AIMCo
Alaska Permanent Fund
AllState Investments
Allworth Financial
Arizona PSPRS
Atrato Advisors
AXA
Beverly Capital
British Columbia Investment (BCI
BTG Capital Family Office
CAAT Pension Plan
Cambridge Associates
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Capitol Meridian Partners
Carnegie Corporation Of New York
Cornerstone Group
Eastern Illinois University Investment Committee
Florida State Board of Administration
GEM
HighTower
LGT Capital Partners Ltd
Maryland State Retirement and Pension System
Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board
MEAG
Mercer
Montgomery County Employees' Retirement System
MSF Capital Advisors
Mubadala
NewEdge Wealth
New Jersey Division of Investment
New Mexico State Investment Council
New York City Retirement System, Office of the Comptroller
Northland Wealth Management
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
Peninsula House
PensionDanmark
Sanctuary Wealth Partners
Splash Consulting
Springlake Partners
State of Wisconsin Investment Board
Texas Municipal Retirement System
The Jefferies Family Office
The Johnson Company
The WE Family Office
Thanks for your interest in NEXUS 2026
Thank you for your interest in NEXUS 2026. Your requested resource will be emailed to you shortly.
Explore our event website for more information. We hope to see you at the Summit in Spring 2026 in Orlando.
Jack Ablin
Chief Investment Officer and Founding Partner, Cresset Capital
As Chief Investment Officer, Jack Ablin is the leader of Cresset’s investment strategy and provides investment policy and philosophy guidelines to the firm’s advisor teams and clients. He has been named RIA Intel’s "CIO of the Year" for 2022.* Jack joined the organization in 2018 and has three decades of experience in money management.
Jack was formerly the Chief Investment Officer with BMO Harris Bank. He is the author of Reading Minds and Markets: Minimizing Risk and Maximizing Returns in a Volatile Global Marketplace, published in July 2009 by F.T. Press; The Wall Street Journal best-seller list, 2009. Jack is a frequent contributor to CNBC, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s. He served as a Professor of Finance at Boston University, Graduate School of Management and spent five years as a Money and Markets correspondent for the NBC affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida. Jack was named in CityWealth Magazine’s Leaders List in 2006, 2010-2023 He was also a finalist in the 2020 Family Wealth Report Awards in the category of “Outstanding Contribution to Wealth Management Thought Leadership”.
Jack earned an A.B. degree from Vassar College in New York, where he graduated with honors in Mathematics and Computer Science. A member of the Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society, Jack received an M.B.A. with honors, and graduated cum laude from Boston University in Massachusetts. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of the CFA Society of Chicago.
Christina Adamson
Partner, Co-Head of U.S. Wealth Management Solutions, Ares Wealth Management Solutions
Bio coming soon...
Peter Aliprantis
Partner and Head of Private Wealth Management, Americas, EQT
Peter Aliprantis joined EQT in 2024 as a Partner and Head of Private Wealth Americas, based in New York City.
Prior to joining EQT, he spent 12 years at TPG Angelo Gordon as a Managing Director, focusing on new business development and intermediary distribution.
With over 25 years of experience in private wealth, he has worked across private banks, wirehouses, family offices, and digital platforms.
Dan Allocca
Partner, Head of Digital, Paid, and Analytics, Prosek Partners
Daniel Allocca is a Partner and Head of the Digital, Paid and Analytics practice. He works closely with CMOs and senior leaders to develop and deliver strategies that drive revenue, build brand and protect reputation. Dan consults clients on paid media, corporate and executive digital strategy, and analytics. He is also a sought-after advisor to c-suites and boards and is a regular contributor to industry publications and panels.
Prior to joining Prosek as a Managing Director, Dan was a Senior Managing Director at TIAA & Nuveen where he had global responsibility for brand, advertising, and marketing analytics – he was also a member of the firm’s Executive Leadership Group and led a team of 120. Dan has also held positions at PIMCO, Royal Bank of Scotland and Morgan Stanley, and is an industry expert across asset management, wealth management, banking and alternative investments.
Dan earned an MBA with a focus in Financial Engineering from NYU Stern, and two degrees in Finance and Audio Engineering from Western Connecticut State University and Berklee College of Music, respectively.
Lawrence Aragon
West Coast Bureau Chief & Editor of Venture Capital Journal, PEI Group
Lawrence Aragon is an award-winning business journalist who writes about venture capital and private equity. As West Coast Bureau Chief, he is one of PEI Group’s senior editorial decision-makers and works closely with the Editorial Director US, the Group Editorial Director, the Head of Content Strategy and the Company’s cohort of title editors in the US and the UK. Aragon is the editor of Venture Capital Journal and contributes to other PEI titles, including Private Equity International and Buyouts. Previously, he served as Digital Editor for Reuters Deals Group and was an editor and writer for Red Herring, PC Week, VAR Business and the San Jose Business Journal. Aragon makes his home in San Francisco.
Sammy Asoli
Managing Director, Global Head of Fund Finance Solutions, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Sammy Asoli joined SMBC in August of 2020 as Global Head of Fund Finance Solutions. Prior to SMBC, Sammy served as the Global Co-Head of Sponsor Finance and Deputy Head of FIG, North America at Lloyds Banking Group. Before his time at Lloyds, Sammy held positions at J.P. Morgan, The Blackstone Group, and Goldman Sachs & Co, working across fund structuring, capital raising, private equity valuations, and corporate strategy. Sammy earned his Bachelor of Science from Manhattan College where he studied economics and later went on to Columbia University to obtain a Master of Public Administration (MPA) in International Economic Policy & Management. Sammy currently serves as a Board Member of the Fund Finance Association, a leading non-profit industry association covering the fund finance market.
Souleymane Ba
Partner, Co-Head of Climate Strategy, LeapFrog Investments
Souleymane Ba is a partner at LeapFrog Investments and Co-Head of the firm’s Climate Investment Strategy.
Souleymane has extensive experience investing in emerging and developed markets for nearly 20 years. He has experience investing across a range of investment stages and industries including industrials, financial services, telecom infrastructure and agribusiness.
Prior to joining LeapFrog, Souleymane was a Partner at Just Climate, an investment business established by Generation Investment Management, focused on decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors. At Just Climate, he co-led the Industrial Decarbonisation investment team and was a member of the Executive Committee and Investment Committee.
Prior to Just Climate, Souleymane spent a decade at Helios Investment Partners, a leading investment firm that invests exclusively in Africa. As a partner of the firm Souleymane spearheaded investments in diverse sectors such as food security and financial inclusion contributing to positive socio-economic outcomes while generating attractive returns for investors.
Souleymane started his career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley in New York, before transitioning to principal investing notably at Warburg Pincus, a New York based private equity firm and the US buyout fund of the Carlyle Group, a global investment firm.
Souleymane has a BA in Economics from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a Senegalese and British national and speaks French and Wolof.
John Bailey
Managing Partner, Knox Lane
John has spent his career as an investor, advisor and operator, and has a passion for helping to build market-leading businesses. John is the Managing Partner of Knox Lane, a leading private equity investment firm with approximately $3 billion of assets under management. The firm seeks to leverage its integrated investor/operator engagement model to drive transformational growth and build market-leading companies in partnership with founders and management teams.
Prior to founding Knox Lane, John served as both President and CFO of e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE:ELF), where he helped to accelerate growth and scale organizational capabilities prior to and through its IPO. John was formerly with TPG, serving as Partner and sector lead for TPG Growth, the platform’s middle-market buyout arm. Earlier in his career, he was in the investment banking division of Credit Suisse First Boston in New York. John received his BBA with Distinction in Finance/Accounting from The University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Ross School of Business).
Anna Barath
Head of Fund Investments, Bite Investments
Anna is the Chief Investment Officer of Bite, based in Bite’s London office. She joined Bite in 2021 from KIC, the $190bn sovereign wealth fund of South Korea, where she was a Senior Investment Manager allocating to private equity and credit across funds and co-investments. Prior to KIC, she worked in the Private Markets team of the £80bn Universities Superannuation Scheme. At Bite, Anna leads the asset allocation, sourcing, deal selection and due diligence activities of Bite Asset Management. A British and Hungarian national, Anna holds an MA in Finance from IE Business School and a BA in International Business Economics from Corvinus University of Budapest. She is a CFA charter holder.
Bite Investments
Bite Investments is a global financial technology company that provides software-as-a-service (SaaS) to alternative asset managers and enhances connectivity to investors. Bite’s investor solutions software, Bite Stream, improves and expands access to the private markets through a customisable, end-to-end software solution providing a fully digital, intuitive and efficient investor experience for product launch, investor subscription, onboarding, and post investment events. Bite’s digital marketplace allows investors and advisors to invest in top-tier alternative investment funds in a streamlined process. We combine our proprietary technology with select investment opportunities to provide unique value propositions to a range of clients.
Bite is led by an international team with extensive experience in alternative investments, financial services, and technology. The company has offices and customers in North America, Europe, and Asia. The majority owner VCP Advisors Limited is regulated by FINRA / SEC (US), the Financial Conduct Authority (UK), SFC (Hong Kong), and CIMA (Cayman).
Brian Bernasek
Partner and Co-Head of Americas Corporate Private Equity, Carlyle
Brian A. Bernasek is a Partner and Co-Head of Americas Corporate Private Equity at Carlyle. Carlyle’s Americas Corporate Private Equity business has $67 billion in assets under management with diversified investments spanning industries, geographies, and strategies. He is also a member of Carlyle's Leadership Committee and serves on several firm investment committees.
Mr. Bernasek previously served as Co-Head of US Buyout and Growth as well as Head of the Global Industrial team at Carlyle. He joined Carlyle in 2000 and previously held positions in New York with Investcorp International, a private equity firm, and Morgan Stanley & Co., in its Investment Banking Division.
Mr. Bernasek has served as a director on the board of several Carlyle investments, including Allison Transmission, Atotech, HD Supply, The Hertz Corporation, Novolex and Signode Industrial Group. He currently serves as a director on the Board of Nouryon and ManTech International. He is also a past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Washington Jesuit Academy.
Mr. Bernasek is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Graham Bippart
Senior Editor, Capital Markets and Compliance, PEI Group
Graham Bippart is Senior Editor of PEI Group publications Buyouts and Private Funds CFO, and coordinates capital markets and regulation coverage across the group. He has been a financial journalist for 15 years, covering a wide range of sectors including securitization, bank capital, global regulation, sovereign restructurings, over-the-counter derivatives and more. Before PEI Group, he wrote for Euromoney magazine and affiliate titles in New York and London.
Robert Blaustein
Partner, Investment Funds Practice Group, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Robert Blaustein is a partner in the Investment Funds Practice Group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and recognized as a global leader in the field of investment fund advisory work, with a particular emphasis on private equity. Robert focuses his practice on advising investment firms and private equity sponsors on all aspects of their business including the formation, marketing and management of investment products, the launching of new business lines, GP stakes transactions, GP-led secondaries, and other strategic investments and transactions, as well as operational, legal and regulatory issues. He has counseled sponsors on funds raising nearly $100 billion in capital and worked with both sponsors and limited partners on platform expansions, new product launches, spinout transactions, anchor investor negotiations, the purchase and sale of minority interests in management companies, and co-investment transactions. Robert also routinely works with sponsors on key Firm level issues including succession planning, carry plan structuring and corporate governance matters. Client engagements have included fund formations ranging from $100 million to in excess of $15 billion, and have included PE, hedge, real estate and credit funds.
John Bowman
Chief Executive Officer, CAIA Association
John was appointed CEO for the CAIA Association in January 2025. He has devoted over 25 years to the asset management industry to recover the narrative of the value that the investment profession brings to society. He is a staunch public advocate for market integrity, long-termism, investor outcomes, diversity, human dignity and educational standards, as necessary ingredients to building a sustainable and healthy profession. John previously served as Managing Director for the Americas for CFA Institute, a region comprised of 40+ countries from Canada, the U.S., Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Before that, John was a portfolio manager for non-US equity strategies at both Boston Company and SSgA for several years. John is a prolific, speaker, writer and commentator, frequently keynoting industry conferences and appearing in investment and business publications such as the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Pension and Investments, Financial Advisor, The Independent, Wealthmanagement.com and CNBC. Bowman earned a BS in Business Administration from Mary Washington College and is a CFA charterholder.
Mark Boyagi
Partner, Investment Funds Group, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Mark Boyagi is a partner in the Investment Funds Group at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and is a leader in the Firm’s Liquidity Solutions team. Mark's practice focuses on advising sponsors and lead investors in connection with complex business transactions in the private funds secondary market, including continuation fund transactions, portfolio sales, structured secondaries, stapled secondaries, fund recapitalizations, strip-sales, tender offers and other liquidity solutions. He also frequently advises sponsors of, and institutional investors in, open-ended and closed-ended private investment funds, co-investment programs, strategic partnerships and separately managed accounts, covering all major alternative investment strategies. Mark also has extensive experience advising sponsors on the development and implementation of capital efficient structures for insurance company investors. He was most recently recognized in 2022 & 2023 by The Legal 500 U.S. for Private Equity Funds (Including Venture Capital).
Mark has represented, among others, Alpine Investors, Atlantic Street, Blackstone, Centerbridge Partners, HarbourVest Partners, Harvest Partners, JMI Management, JP Morgan Asset Management, KKR, L Catterton, Landmark Equity Advisors, Macquarie Asset Management, Onex Partners, Sentinel Capital Partners, TPG, Trilantic Capital Partners, Vance Street, Warburg Pincus and Wind Point Partners.
Orlando Bravo
Founder & Managing Partner, Thoma Bravo
Orlando Bravo is a Founder and Managing Partner of Thoma Bravo. He led Thoma Bravo’s early entry into software buyouts and built the firm into one of the largest software-focused investors in the world. Today, Orlando directs the firm’s strategy and investment decisions in accordance with its principles of partnership, innovation and performance.
Orlando has overseen over 490 software and technology acquisitions conducted by the firm, representing approximately $265 billion in enterprise value.1 Forbes named him “Wall Street’s best dealmaker” in 2019, and he was dubbed “Private equity’s king of SaaS” by the Financial Times in 2021.
Orlando was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Brown University in 1992, and earned a JD from Stanford Law School and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1998.
He is the Founder and Chairman of the Bravo Family Foundation, which aims to provide young adults in Puerto Rico with access to opportunity. In 2019, Mr. Bravo committed $100 million to the Foundation’s Rising Entrepreneurs Program (REP) with the goal of fostering entrepreneurship on the island. In addition, he has been personally involved in responding to the hurricanes that have devastated communities across Puerto Rico, providing an additional $20 million in funding for humanitarian and relief efforts following Hurricanes Maria (2017) and Fiona (2022).
The Orlando Bravo Center for Economics Research at Brown University supports innovative research, training and collaborative projects for faculty and students in the Department of Economics. At Stanford Law School, Orlando created the Bravo Family Public Interest Post-Graduate Fellowship Fund to support students seeking full-time employment in public interest.
Orlando’s philanthropic interests also include causes in healthcare. He endowed faculty scholar and fellow positions at Stanford University’s Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research and supports a wide range of medical research. He is a member of the Board of Trustees at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
You can follow him on X and LinkedIn.
Christophe Browne
Partner, Lexington Partners
Christophe Browne is a Partner on the Secondary team primarily focused on the origination, evaluation, and execution of continuation vehicle transactions.
Christophe joined Lexington in 2024 from ICG, where was a founding member of the strategic equity business serving as Managing Director and Head of North America. Prior to that, he was a founding partner at NewGlobe Capital Partners. Christophe graduated from Georgetown University with a BS in International Economics and from Columbia Business School with an MBA.
Adam Buzanis
Senior Director, Private Equity, CAAT Pension Plan
Adam is Senior Director, Private Equity at CAAT Pension Plan and leads all aspects of the Plan’s global private equity portfolio, with a focus on origination, execution and portfolio management. He brings over 18 years of investment management experience with a specialization in private equity and private credit. Adam serves on several corporate boards and the advisory committees for partnerships within CAAT’s private equity portfolio. Adam is a CFA charterholder and earned a Master of Finance degree from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.
Timothy Calkins
Co-Chief Investment Officer, Nottingham Advisors
Tim serves as a leader of the Nottingham Investment Policy Committee. He brings over 20 years of fixed income investment experience to the team. Tim is responsible for corporate and municipal bond credit research & trading, as well as the development of Nottingham’s economic outlook and interest rate expectations. He has experience building customized bond portfolios for a wide assortment of client needs. He has particular experience in the pension space, developing custom LDI portfolios. Tim also leads Nottingham’s Alternative Investment research and positioning. He was recently honored on ETF.com’s “Top 100 Financial Advisors” list, and the Investment News “Top Financial Professionals in the US” list.
Rob Campbell
Head of North America, ICG Strategic Equity (ICGSE)
Rob joined ICG in 2016 and is Head of North America for ICG Strategic Equity (ICGSE), based in New York. Rob is part of the senior leadership group executing ICGSE’s investment strategy and sits on its Investment Committee. Prior to ICG, Rob was an investment professional in the Private Equity Buyouts team at American Capital, Ltd., where he focused on control PE deal execution and portfolio management, including serving as a director on the boards of multiple American Capital portfolio companies. He began his career at J.P. Morgan, where he focused on M&A transactions in the diversified industrial sector. Rob graduated from Duke University with a BA in Economics.
Kenneth Caplan
Global Co-Chief Investment Officer, Blackstone
Kenneth A. Caplan is the Global Co-Chief Investment Officer of Blackstone. As Co-CIO, he works in conjunction with business unit CIOs and Group Heads to provide additional firm-level investment oversight, primarily across Real Estate and Credit & Insurance (BXCI).
Mr. Caplan previously served as Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate. Blackstone is the largest owner of commercial real estate and an industry leader in opportunistic, core plus and debt investing across North America, Europe and Asia.
Prior to becoming Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate, Mr. Caplan served as Global Chief Investment Officer of Blackstone Real Estate and Head of Real Estate Europe. Since joining the firm in 1997, Mr. Caplan has been involved in over $100 billion of real estate acquisitions and initiatives in the United States, Europe and Asia. These include major acquisitions such as Equity Office Properties, Hilton Hotels, Logicor and GE Real Estate.
Before joining Blackstone, he was at Lazard Freres & Co. in the real estate investment banking group. Mr. Caplan received an AB in Economics from Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was a John Harvard Scholar. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Prep for Prep.
Rowena Carreon
Head of Investment Advisory Solutions, Addepar
Rowena Carreon is the Head of Investment Advisory Solutions at Addepar. She heads both the advisory and research teams, who develop advanced analytics and provide advice to clients leveraging Addepar’s unique data and insights.
Prior to joining Addepar, Rowena held executive roles across global financial services in asset management, corporate finance and investment banking.
Rowena was a Managing Director at BlackRock for over a decade, where she led strategic initiatives focused on the development and launch of investment products, client solutions and servicing and business growth. Rowena led teams in Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions, was the Head of Strategy and Development for Global Credit, led pillars in the firm’s global product development group and started her BlackRock
career as the Chief Operating Officer for Asia Pacific Fixed Income.
Prior to joining BlackRock in Hong Kong, Rowena was the Treasurer of Asia ex-Japan at Nomura. Rowena also was the Treasurer of Lehman Brothers Asia, and prior to that role, she was an investment banker based in New York focused on the origination of securitizations and structured finance transactions. Rowena began her career at Fitch Ratings and earned a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University.
Rowena is a CFA Research and Policy Center Advisory Council Member. She was a 2023 Chief Investment Officer Knowledge Broker and is a member of the CIO Advisory Board Member. Rowena is an Executive Committee Member and Trustee of the Board for Big Brothers Big Sister of NYC.
Rishi Chandna
Founder and Managing Partner, Lone View Capital
Rishi Chandna is the Founder and Managing Partner of Lone View Capital, a growth-oriented private equity firm investing across the technology ecosystem. Lone View’s integrated team of seasoned investors and operators leverages their deep domain expertise to partner with exceptional management teams to build, transform, and grow market-leading technology businesses. Rishi currently serves on the board of directors for TREND Health, Smarlinx, and CargoSprint.
Prior to founding Lone View Capital, Rishi spent 20 years at Golden Gate Capital, where he was a member of the firm’s Management Committee, led the firm’s Software & Services Vertical, and oversaw the firm’s technology sector investments with an emphasis on enterprise software, technology-enabled services, business services, and information services. During his time at Golden Gate Capital, he served on the boards of directors for Infor Global Solutions, BMC Software, 2020 Technologies, Vector Solutions, LiveVox, Ensemble Health Partners, Neustar, Ex Libris, and Securly.
Earlier in his career, Rishi worked as a consultant at Bain & Company. Rishi received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Berkley.
Terry Charalambous
Head of Private Equity, AustralianSuper
Terry Charalambous is Head of Private Equity at AustralianSuper and is based in New York. Terry is responsible for AustralianSuper’s Private Equity activities globally, including fund investments, co-investments and co-underwrite investments. He is also a member of the International Equities & Private Equity Senior Team.
Prior to joining AustralianSuper in 2006, he held senior positions at Russell Investment Group and Towers Perrin.
Terry is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and has a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Honours in Finance) from the University of Melbourne.
Ian Charles
Managing Partner, Arctos Partners
Ian H. Charles is a Managing Partner at Arctos Partners. In addition to his investment responsibilities in the Sports and Keystone strategies, Mr. Charles directs investment strategy, firm governance and investor relations for Arctos Partners.
Prior to co-founding Arctos Partners, Mr. Charles served as a member of the private equity and infrastructure investment committees and was a Partner at Landmark Partners, a leader in the global private equity, real estate and infrastructure secondary markets. At Landmark, Mr. Charles helped design and execute the firm’s private equity strategy; helped build the firm’s quantitative research group; sourced and structured large, innovative liquidity transactions across the firm’s investment verticals; developed and presented the firm’s views on the macro environment and alternative asset classes at a wide range of industry conferences; and helped create the firm’s innovative preferred equity investment strategy. During his time at Landmark Partners, Mr. Charles was part of a team that sourced and oversaw transactions representing more than $10 billion in transaction value.
Prior to joining Landmark Partners, Mr. Charles was a co-founder of Cogent Partners, the first secondary market sell-side advisor. Cogent Partners, which was acquired by Greenhill & Co., is widely recognized for transforming the private equity secondary market by providing institutional-grade advisory services to sellers and providing a consistent source of deal flow for existing, new and non-traditional secondary buyers. At Cogent, Mr. Charles was responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the firm, sourcing and leading large secondary advisory mandates and creating the firm’s investment strategy and portfolio research business. Prior to co-founding Cogent Partners, he was part of an investment team executing secondary, primary, direct and co-investments that is now part of the Neuberger Berman alternative investments platform.
Mr. Charles graduated with honors from Texas Christian University, where he received a BBA in Finance and a BBA in Accounting. He received his MBA from the Wharton School of Business and is a CFA® charterholder.
Jennifer Choi
Chief Executive Officer, Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA)
Jen is CEO of the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), a global membership organization dedicated to advancing the interests of Limited Partners through advocacy, education, research and industry engagement.
Prior to becoming CEO, Jen served eight years as ILPA’s Managing Director of Industry Affairs. During that time, she launched ILPA’s global advocacy platform to ensure that the LP perspective was being fully considered in global regulation and policymaking. With a focus on robust LP-GP dialogue around emerging issues, Jen led the creation and adoption of best practices such as the ILPA Reporting Template, the ILPA Principles and ILPA’s guidance on subscription lines of credit and GP-led secondaries. In 2020, Jen founded the Diversity in Action initiative, a community of practice that has grown to more than 300 LP and GP signatories with the shared goal of taking concrete action to advance DEI in the private markets.
Before joining ILPA, Jen served as Vice President of Industry and External Affairs for the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), now known as the Global Private Capital Association (GPCA), where she led the association’s research programs and industry engagement activities. Previously, Jennifer was a consultant with Boston-based Stax Inc., providing due diligence and advisory services for leading private equity and venture capital firms.
Jennifer holds a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a B.A. summa cum laude in Economics and Political Science from Augustana College.
Adriana Clancy
Partner, Research & Portfolio Management, Corbin Capital Partners
Adriana is a Partner on the Investment Team at Corbin Capital Partners, a New York-based woman-led independent alternative asset management firm that specializes in multi-strategy hedge fund and opportunistic credit investing. Adriana focuses on research and portfolio management. She is the portfolio manager of several multi-strategy custom portfolios and the firm’s sustainability-focused fund and is responsible for sourcing and monitoring investments, mainly in equities and secondarily, in credit. She researches investments across all geographies with an emphasis on Europe and Asia-focused and domiciled managers. She is a member of Corbin’s Multi-Strategy Investment Committee, the Credit Investment Committee, and the Sustainability Committee. Prior to joining Corbin in May 2004, Adriana was with Goldman, Sachs & Co. as an Equities Trader focused on TMT stocks. Adriana also worked at JPMorgan & Co., first as an Analyst in the firm’s Internal Consulting Group, and then as an Equity Research Associate covering Latin American food and beverages. Adriana received her M.B.A. in Finance from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. in Spanish from Dartmouth College. She lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.
John Clark
President, Performance Equity Management
Mr. Clark is President of Performance Equity and a member of its Investment Committee. Prior to joining Performance Equity, Mr. Clark was a Portfolio Manager in the General Motors Investment Management (GMIMCo) Private Equity Group. Prior to joining GMIMCo in 1998, Mr. Clark managed private equity and debt investments for MetLife for almost ten years. As a Director of MetLife’s private equity group, he managed certain direct and majority-owned equity investments, as well as domestic fund sponsor relationships. Prior to this, he was a Senior Accountant at KPMG Peat Marwick. Mr. Clark is a member of the CFA Institute, and received his undergraduate degree and his MBA from Brigham Young University.
Sherrese Clarke Soares
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, HarbourView Equity
Sherrese Clarke Soares is a two-time Founder & CEO having spent over 20 years in corporate finance, capital markets, investment banking, and private equity. In 2021, Sherrese founded Harbourview Equity Partners with a vision to create a next generation private equity firm focused on the entertainment and media space to help shape, impact, and influence culture. Sherrese leads a team of 30+ business and entertainment professionals and oversees a diverse portfolio of premium content across the entertainment and media sectors. Prior to starting HarbourView, Sherrese Clarke Soares founded Tempo Music where she served as CEO and Board Director. At Tempo, Sherrese formed a strategic partnership with Warner Music Group, brought on Providence Equity Partners to back the venture, and delivered an above average IRR for the investment class.
Previously, Sherrese was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, having spent close to 15 years in several roles at the firm and most recently leading the Entertainment, Media, & Sports Structured Solutions Platform, devising a cross asset strategy focused on capital solutions for intellectual property. During her 10-year tenure, she managed the origination and execution of $85B+ in loan commitments for the firm and served as Deputy Chair of the Capital Commitment Committee. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Sherrese was one of the three founding senior leaders to develop the Entertainment Practice at CIT Group, overseeing a $1B portfolio across entertainment companies.
Sherrese received a B.S. in Finance from Georgetown University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. She is a former board member of Evoqua Holdings (NYSE: AQUA) and Planned Parenthood Federation of America where she serves as Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee. She is also a board trustee at Carnegie Hall. She is a recipient of the Billboard 2023 Trailblazer Award, and was featured in Billboard 2023 Women in Music, Inc. Magazine’s 2023 Female Founders Most Dynamic Women Entrepreneurs, Buyouts Class of 2022 Women in PE, and in the Variety Women’s Impact Report 2022.
Brooke Coburn
Founding Partner, Capitol Meridian Partners
Brooke Coburn is a partner and co-founder of Capitol Meridian Partners, a middle market private equity firm based in Washington, DC that invests in Aerospace, Defense & Government Technology companies.
Brooke previously spent 25 year with The Carlyle Group in PE investing roles in Carlyle’s flagship U.S. buyout and middle market & growth teams and, more recently, in a senior management role as Deputy CIO and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Prior to these responsibilities, he was a founding member of Carlyle’s Technology, Media & Telecom (TMT) practice and Carlyle’s U.S. Middle Market & Growth Private Equity Group, where he served as a Fund Head for more than a decade. Brooke has more than 25 years of experience investing in middle market companies with deep expertise in technology, government services, and technology-enabled business services.
Mr. Coburn played a leadership role with a number of Carlyle’s investments including Gemcom Software, ECI Software, Coalfire Systems, Wyyerd Broadband, Worldstrides, Bredbandsbolaget, Prime Communications, Sonitrol, WCI Cable, Genesis Cable, Core Location, NetMotion Wireless, Catapult Learning, Neptune Communications, Pacific Telecom Cable, and a number of foundational data center assets that were combined to form Coresite (NYSE: COR).
Brooke serves on the investment committee of the Washington National Cathedral and also serves on the boards of Altumint, Wyyerd and TDF Ventures. He is a recovering ice hockey coach (USAH Level 4) and endurance sport athlete (Clydesdale division). He received an AB with honors from Princeton University and was a 2021 Harvard ALI fellow.
Vladimir Colas
Executive Vice-President and Co-Head of Secondaries & Primaries, Ardian
Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee and Operations Committee, Co-Head of Secondaries & Primaries, Co-Head of Ardian US and Member of the ASF Management Committee, Vladimir Colas also oversees Co-Investment, North America Fund, Compliance & Risk, Global Business Continuity Plan and Legal Structuring (Primaries and Secondaries, Private Credit, ACS) activities.
Vladimir Colas joined Ardian in 2003 and moved to New York in 2006. He began his career at a French startup active in the entertainment sector.
Vladimir Colas is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Lycée Français of New York.
Ardian is a world-leading private investment house, managing or advising $176bn of assets on behalf of more than 1,720 clients globally. Our broad expertise, spanning Private Equity, Real Assets and Credit, enables us to offer a wide range of investment opportunities and respond flexibly to our clients’ differing needs. Through Ardian Customized Solutions we create bespoke portfolios that allow institutional clients to specify the precise mix of assets they require and to gain access to funds managed by leading third-party sponsors. Private Wealth Solutions offers dedicated services and access solutions for private banks, family offices and private institutional investors worldwide. Ardian’s main shareholding group is its employees and we place great emphasis on developing its people and fostering a collaborative culture based on collective intelligence. Our 1,050+ employees, spread across 19 offices in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Middle East are strongly committed to the principles of Responsible Investment and are determined to make finance a force for good in society. Our goal is to deliver excellent investment performance combined with high ethical standards and social responsibility.
At Ardian we invest all of ourselves in building companies that last.
Jeremy Coller
Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner, Coller Capital
Jeremy Coller is Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner of Coller Capital, the world’s largest independent firm dedicated to private equity secondaries, which he founded in 1990.
Widely regarded as the “godfather of secondaries”, Jeremy is credited with pioneering and developing the market with a number of innovative firsts for the industry, transforming secondaries into the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. In 2023, he was voted the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) of the secondary market by Secondary Link and he regularly appears on lists of leading industry figures by Financial News, Private Equity News and Private Equity International.
He holds an MA in Philosophy from Sussex University and a BSc (Hons) in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester, UMIST. He began his career at ICI Pension Plan and Fidelity International Investment Management in London.
Jeremy is also a philanthropist, endowing the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University, where he serves as Deputy Chairman of the Board of Governors. As part of his Foundation, in 2015, he founded Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR) – the world’s fastest-growing investor network, representing more than $70 trillion of assets under management, focused on ESG risks and opportunities in the global food system.
Jeremy is also a philanthropist, endowing the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University, where he serves as Deputy Chairman of the Board of Governors. As part of his Foundation, in 2015, he founded Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR) – the world’s fastest-growing investor network, representing more than $70 trillion of assets under management, focused on ESG risks and opportunities in the global food system.
Cris Conner
Portfolio Manager, Briar Hall
Cris Conner is a Portfolio Manager at Briar Hall, a single-family office in Chicago. Briar Hall is focused on US lower middle market buyout, growth equity and venture capital. Prior to joining Briar Hall, Cris spent 5 years at RCP Advisors. He served in several roles at RCP eventually advising institutional investors on lower middle market private equity.
Cris earned a BBA in accounting from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a CFA Charterholder.
Jon-Michael Consalvo
Chief Investment Officer, Carnegie Corporation of New York
Jon-Michael Consalvo joined the Corporation in September 2009 as an investment analyst, going on to hold several increasingly prominent roles within the Investments team, most recently as managing director. His primary responsibility has been the management of the Corporation’s private equity portfolio, but at various times he has also been integral to the team’s operational, risk management, and asset allocation functions. Helping to lead the Investments team through CIO transitions in 2020 and 2023, he was named chief investment officer in February 2024.
Consalvo received a BS from New York University’s Stern School of Business with a concentration in economics and finance and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
A CFA charterholder, Consalvo volunteers as a member of the investment committee of the American Council of Learned Societies
Samantha Cooper
Managing Director, Head of Distribution, Rockefeller Global Family Office
Samantha Cooper is a Managing Director and Head of Distribution at Rockefeller Capital Management. Samantha is responsible for the distribution of both Alternative and Traditional products across the Rockefeller Global Family Office platform.
Before joining Rockefeller Capital Management, Samantha was at Morgan Stanley where she spent 21 years building and expanding their Alternatives Platform in a number of senior roles across Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Most recently Samantha served as Head of the Alternatives Distribution Management business where she was responsible for leading the capital raising activities globally for the Private Equity and Private Credit platform. Prior to that, Samantha was Head of Wealth Management Distribution for the Merchant Banking and Real Estate platform, which included building out and scaling the Firm’s alternatives strategies across Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Prior to that, Samantha focused on capital raising and investor relations for Morgan Stanley Private Equity in the US and Asia.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2002, Samantha was with the Equity Research Group at UBS Warburg. Samantha is based in New York and holds a B.S. from Clemson University.
Vince Cuticello
Chief Administrative Officer (“CAO”), General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer, Invidia
Vince Cuticello is the Chief Administrative Officer (“CAO”), General Counsel (“GC”), and Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) at Invidia. Mr. Cuticello joined the firm in April 2024.
Prior to joining Invidia, he was Partner, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for PAAMCO Prisma, LLC, beginning in 2017. He also served as a member of the PAAMCO Prisma Executive Committee and was a member of the Investment Committee for the Multi-Manager Investing Program. From 2013 to 2017, Mr. Cuticello served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for KKR Prisma, a wholly owned subsidiary of KKR & Co. Inc., and the predecessor firm to PAAMCO Prisma, LLC. Prior to that, Mr. Cuticello was the Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Edgestream Partners, L.P., an investment advisory firm employing quantitative strategies. Previously, he was Chief Legal Officer for the Neuberger Berman Group, LLC/Lehman Brothers, Inc. Investment Management Division’s hedge fund businesses. Earlier in his career, Mr. Cuticello was Senior Counsel in the Private Funds Group of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Prior to entering law school, Mr. Cuticello began his professional career as a C.P.A. working at a large financial institution and a “Big 4” accounting firm.
He holds a BBA degree in Accounting from Fairfield University, cum laude, and a JD from Northeastern University School of Law.
Caroline Dallas
Director, Investment Research, GEM
Caroline Dallas is a Director in the Investment Research Group at GEM. In this role, Caroline focuses on sourcing new opportunities, directing due diligence and research, and monitoring existing investments. Prior to joining GEM in 2018, she was the Assistant Vice President of Institutional Equity Sales with FBR Capital Markets, and Assistant Vice President in BB&T Corporation’s Private Wealth Management Group. Caroline received a B.A. in English from Davidson College.
Meggie Daoust
Senior Director, Capital Solutions, CDPQ
Meggie Daoust is a Senior Director on the Capital Solutions team. In this role, she is responsible for originating, structuring, executing and monitoring quasi-equity and opportunistic credit transactions, across various industries. She sits on the Equity Markets investment committee.
Ms. Daoust has occupied various roles of increasing responsibility at CDPQ. From 2015 to 2020, she held different positions in the Research team and specialized in the consumer sector, with a focus on global consumer discretionary companies. She also collaborated with teams across CDPQ’s asset classes seeking strategic exposure to the sector. Before joining CDPQ in 2013, she worked for some of the largest pension plan managers in Canada, including CPPIB and OMERS.
Ms. Daoust holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Concordia University, a Bachelor’s in Finance and Economics from HEC Montréal and is a CFA charterholder. She also holds a Sustainable Investment Professional certification from Concordia University. She sits on the Board of Directors of Sagen MI Canada.
Samantha Davidson
President and Head of Global Investing, Cambridge Associates
Samantha Davidson is the President and Head of Global Investing at Cambridge Associates. She is also a Partner at the firm.
Samantha has more than 20 years in the asset and wealth management industry. She is responsible for running the firm’s investment business and overseeing its global investment platform to ensure that clients’ returns and partnership expectations are fully met.
Samantha is also a member of the firm’s Board of Managers. Outside of work, she is a WIN Partner for Women In Need, an organization which runs shelters and supportive housing units for women and their children in New York City.
Prior to joining Cambridge Associates, she was an executive leader at Mercer, overseeing the Investment Advisory and Investment Solutions team focused on delivering investment outcomes and service to clients. Prior to her work at Mercer, Samantha spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs, where she was an investment leader across several businesses within the wealth and asset management divisions. Each of her roles focused on designing and providing customized portfolios across traditional and alternative asset classes on behalf of pension, endowment and foundation, and private wealth clients, globally.
Samantha received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BS from Duke University. She is a CFA® charterholder.
Rich Davis
Partner, Hark Capital
Rich Davis is a Co-Founder & Partner at Hark Capital. He is responsible for investment origination, execution, and monitoring. He is also a member of Hark's Investment Committees. Prior to joining Hark, Rich was a Vice President at GarMark Partners, where he focused on investing a $330 million fund in private debt and equity investments. Previously, he was a Consultant at Wind Point Partners and a Senior Analyst at RBC Capital Markets. Rich received a B.S. from the University of Illinois and a M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Cameron Dawson
CFA, Chief Investment Officer, NewEdge Wealth
As Chief Investment Officer, Cameron spearheads the development of NewEdge Wealth’s investment themes, strategies, and market views while collaborating with the firm’s advisors and clients.
Before joining NewEdge Wealth, Cameron served as Chief Market Strategist at Fieldpoint Private Securities and as a Senior Equity Analyst at Bank of America. With a robust background in macroeconomics, she has honed her skills in crafting forward-thinking investment themes and asset allocation strategies. She is renowned for her insightful and distinctive financial commentary and frequently appears on Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business and other media outlets. Cameron is a Chartered Financial Analyst®(CFA®) and a former board member of the CFA Society® of Orlando.
Cameron has been recognized with numerous industry awards, including Institutional Investor RIA Intel CIO of the Year for 2024.
A Florida native, Cameron earned her bachelor’s degree from Rollins College, where she graduated as Valedictorian, and her MBA from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College.
Anna Dayn
Managing Director, New End
Anna Dayn is a Managing Director and US head of New End, where she partners and invests in high-growth companies, sponsors and investment platforms in private markets. New End, launched in 2018 and undergirded by a multi-family-office, anchors asset managers and facilitates future access to institutional capital. Anna has over 20 years' experience in funding, designing, and implementing private equity investment programs. Before New End, Anna established the North American platform of XTP, a cost analysis platform serving institutional investors. Anna previously served as the head of Private Equity at Cardano, a UK pension consultant, where she built a private equity program spanning $2bn of invested capital. Prior to that, Anna worked at Capital Dynamics in Switzerland and Rothschild in New York.
Anna has served on the limited partner advisory boards of several private equity funds across North America and Europe, is a published author, media commentator, and a frequently featured speaker at investment industry conferences. She sits on the Executive Board of WAVE, the Women’s Association for Venture and Equity, and serves on the New York Steering Committee for PEWIN, the Private Equity Women’s Investor Network.
Anna received an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA in Economics from the College of Arts and Sciences, both at the University of Pennsylvania.
Kelly DePonte
Managing Director, Kelly DePonte Advisory
Kelly is the Managing Director at Kelly DePonte Advisory LLC, a boutique private markets advisor and consultant. He has 31 years of experience in private alternative fund investing and fundraising. Kelly was previously the head of research at Probitas Partners, a global alternative investment placement agent, and is still a Senior Advisor there. Before that he was the Chief Operating Officer at Pacific Corporate Group, a consultant and fund-of-funds manager, focused on private equity partnership investing globally. Prior to PCG, Kelly held various positions at First Interstate Bancorp, including management of a $170 million private equity and venture capital portfolio as well as a separate SBIC. He has an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a BA from Stanford University. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board at the Investment Management Due Diligence Association (About IMDDA - IMDDA, an Advisor with Hanover Square Capital (UK) Ltd (Hanover Square Capital (hansq.com), and the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Bennington Museum in Vermont.
Suzanne Donohoe
Chief Commercial Officer and Global Head of EQT-Ext (CXO), EQT
Suzanne joined EQT in 2023 as Chief Commercial Officer and Global Head of EQT External Platform (CXO). In addition to Capital Raising & Client Relations, the External Platform “EQT-Ext” includes the firm’s Sustainable Transformation, Business Development, and Communications functions.
Before joining EQT, Suzanne was a Partner at KKR & Co from 2009-2022. In that capacity, she founded and led the Global Client & Partner Group for over eleven years. She then served as the firm’s Global Head of Strategic Growth and also as a Board Member of Global Atlantic Financial Group. Suzanne’s experience prior to KKR included an extensive career at Goldman Sachs where she served from 1992-2009. During this period, she worked in both the Investment Banking and Investment Management Divisions and worked in both New York and in London. She became a Partner in 2000.
Further, Suzanne has been involved in various philanthropic projects, including serving as Board Member for the Nature Conservancy - New York State Chapter and also serving on the Board of Fertile Hope. She also serves her alma mater, Georgetown University on its investment committee and previously served as a Board Member and a Vice Chair of the University's Board of Directors for several years.
Suzanne has a B.A. in Government magna cum laude from Georgetown University. M.B.A. from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.
Suzanne is a member of the EQT Executive Committee, Chairperson of the EQT Nexus Investment Committee and board member of EQT Partners Inc.
Chris Eckerman
Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Co-Investments, State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)
Chris Eckerman is a Senior Portfolio Manager and head of Private Equity Co-Investments at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB). Chris leads a team which has sourced and executed over $2.5 billion in co-investments across private equity and private credit in the U.S. and Europe. SWIB manages roughly $140 billion in assets, including the Wisconsin Retirement System, which is the eighth largest U.S. public pension fund. Chris joined SWIB in 2013 and has 20 years of private equity experience. Prior to joining SWIB, Chris spent ten years with Covera Ventures (fka Hunt Ventures) where he was responsible for the origination and execution of venture capital and growth equity investments. Chris holds a B.B.A in Finance and M.B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin.
Jene Elzie
Chief Marketing Officer, Dunes Point Capital
Jené Elzie joined Dunes Point Capital in 2023.
Prior to joining Dunes Point Capital, Ms. Elzie spent her career building and leading commercial organizations globally. She was the Chief Growth Officer for Athletes First Partners. Prior to Athletes First Partners, Ms. Elzie held leadership positions at the National Basketball Association, as the head of international marketing, as well as Comcast/NBCUniversal as the head of international commercial development.
Ms. Elzie received her B.A. in Economics and M.A. in Organizational Behavior from Stanford University.
Stephen Escudier
Partner, Head of Credit Opportunities, Bridgepoint
Stephen is a Partner within Bridgepoint Credit and joined the Firm in 2020 from EQT Credit which was acquired by Bridgepoint in 2020.
Prior to joining EQT in 2010, he worked at Apollo Management, a private equity investment firm focusing on leveraged buyouts and the purchase of distressed securities. Before this, he was involved in structuring and negotiating financing for leveraged buyouts and corporates in the Morgan Stanley Leveraged and Acquisition Finance team in London.
Stephen holds a first class honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.
Oscar Fahlgren
Chief Investment Officer & Global Head of Private Equity, Mubadala Capital
Oscar Fahlgren is the Chief Investment Officer and Global Head of Private Equity for Mubadala Capital, the alternative asset management subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company. He joined Mubadala in 2010 and has held various senior roles, making significant contributions to the organization’s growth and success.
In his current position, Mr. Fahlgren leads Mubadala Capital’s global private equity investment strategy, overseeing a diversified portfolio and managing teams across multiple regions. He plays an integral role in shaping the firm’s strategic direction, evaluating investment opportunities, and ensuring alignment between the private equity operations and broader corporate objectives.
Before joining Mubadala, Mr. Fahlgren worked as an Associate Director at Terra Firma Capital Partners in London. His career began at Vinge, a leading Swedish law firm, and he also gained valuable experience in Leveraged Finance at Societe Generale in London.
Mr. Fahlgren holds a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from Uppsala University, Sweden.
Stefan Fallgren
Head of Private Equity and Infrastructure, Skandia Mutual Life Insurance Company
Stefan Fällgren is Head of the Private Equity and Infrastructure group at Skandia Mutual Life Insurance Company. The group manages approximately USD 11bn of fund and co-investment assets with a primary focus on established managers in North America and Europe. Prior to joining Skandia in 2017, Stefan worked in life science venture, including operationally in portfolio companies in Sweden and California. Prior experiences include also investment banking and later stage investing in United Kingdom.
Mike Fang
Senior Portfolio Manager, MSRPS
Mr. Fang is a Senior Portfolio Manager and co-head the Theme Investment Team in Maryland State Retirement & Pension System. Mr. Fang has more than 15 years of portfolio management experience in the investment industry. Prior to joining MSRPS in 2019, Mike Fang is a Senior Fund Manager in MissionSquare Retirement. He is responsible for developing and managing strategic asset allocations, tactical asset allocations and allocators across equity, fixed income and alternative asset classes.
Prior to joining MissionSquare Retirement in 2013, Mr. Fang worked as an Investment Strategist at T. Rowe Price. Mr. Fang’s experience includes strategic/tactical asset allocation, illiquid alternative portfolio product design, portfolio optimization, derivative pricing and risk modeling.
Mike holds a MBA from the Yale School of Management. He also received his MS in Financial Mathematics from University of Chicago, MS in Computer Science from University of Illinois at Chicago and MS in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue University.
Madeleine Farman
Senior Reporter, Secondaries Investor
Madeleine Farman is a senior reporter for PEI Group’s Private Equity International and Secondaries Investor titles, based in London. Prior to joining PEI, she had covered private equity, private capital and advisers associated with the industry for other newsrooms and publications since 2016. Originally from New Zealand, Madeleine began her career in radio in Auckland.
Mary Kathleen (MK) Flynn
Editor-in-Chief, PE Hub & PE Hub Europe
Mary Kathleen (MK) Flynn serves as the Editor-in-Chief of PE Hub, which covers private equity deals and dealmakers in North America and Europe. In addition to the pehub.com website, PE Hub produces the popular Wire daily newsletters, which have a circulation of 65,000 readers. MK joined PEI Group in 2021 and leads an editorial team of reporters based in New York and London. She has covered private equity for more than 20 years. Previously, MK served as Editor-in-Chief of Mergers & Acquisitions and held editorial positions at The Deal, CNN, MSNBC, U.S. News & World Report and PC Magazine. She graduated from Vassar College with a major in English.
Bill Ford
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, General Atlantic
Bill Ford is the Chairman and CEO of General Atlantic, a leading global growth investor. General Atlantic pioneered the growth equity asset class and has invested over $67 billion in more than 540 growth companies since its inception in 1980. Today, the firm operates in 20 countries and has approximately $100 billion in AUM across its Growth Equity, Credit, Climate, and Sustainable Infrastructure strategies.
Ford joined General Atlantic in 1991 and became CEO in 2007. He was appointed Chairman of the firm in 2021.
Ford currently serves on the boards of BlackRock, ByteDance, and Sierra Space. He is also involved with several educational and not-for-profit organizations including The Rockefeller University, where he serves as Chairman of the board of trustees; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; the Council on Foreign Relations; Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management; the Simons Foundation; and the National Committee on US-China Relations.
He received his BA from Amherst College and his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Kelly Ford
General Partner & COO, Edison Partners
Kelly is a tech industry executive turned growth equity investor with a specialty in accelerating growth and building enterprise value for software companies from startup to $100M plus in revenue. At Edison Partners, she invests in vertical SaaS and fintech companies, leads the firm’s operations, and is the pioneer of the Edison Edge value creation platform. Over the last eleven years with the firm, Kelly has been involved with more than 60 investments and served as board director for over a dozen of them.
Prior to joining Edison, Kelly spent 20 years in high-growth emerging and established B2B and B2B2C technology companies, including IBM (NYSE: IBM) and LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN). Kelly has been recognized as a Top Woman in Growth Investing and Top Woman in Tech by GrowthCap and Kayo, respectively. She's also been featured in Buyouts, Forbes, Crunchbase, Venture Capital Journal, and on Nasdaq TradeTalks and Cheddar, and is a frequent speaker at national investor and tech industry events.
David Fox
Partner, Leonard Green & Partners, LP
David joined LGP as a Partner in 2024. Prior to LGP, David was most recently a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone Strategic Partners, which he originally joined in 2007 through its predecessor business, CSFB Strategic Partners. David graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science degree with Distinction in Management and an M.B.A. in Finance, Beta Gamma Sigma.
Marcie Frost
Chief Executive Officer, CalPERS
Marcie Frost joined CalPERS as chief executive officer (CEO) in October 2016. She is the ninth CEO and second woman to head America's largest public pension fund.
CalPERS administers a defined benefit retirement system for more than 2 million California public sector workers and their families and is the nation's second-largest purchaser of health care benefits, covering more than 1.5 million lives.
As CEO, Marcie oversees a global investment portfolio of $464 billion1, an experienced team of 2,800 professionals, and three lines of business for the fund: pensions, health benefits, and investments.
CalPERS delivers on its fiduciary duty to California’s public employees, by maximizing long-term investment returns, identifying global opportunities, leveraging the fund's strength to drive sustainable markets and minimizing the risk in its portfolio.
Under Marcie’s leadership, CalPERS developed an integrated review of assets and liabilities, known as its Asset Liability Management process, to inform asset allocation decisions and set investment return assumptions to achieve a sound and sustainable fund. The fund also integrated climate change risks into its investment decision making process across all asset classes and launched a $100 billion sustainable investment strategy designed to reduce the carbon emissions intensity of CalPERS’ investments by 50% by the end of 2030.
CalPERS is a founding member of Climate Action 100+, an initiative with 700 signatories and $68 trillion in assets under management, working cooperatively to ensure the world's largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action to address climate change.
Marcie also expanded CalPERS stakeholder outreach to ensure all parties are informed and have a voice in decisions and the future of the system. She developed its first Diversity, Equity & Inclusion framework focused on an inclusive culture, talent management, health equity, supplier diversity and partnerships with diverse investment firms and introduced initiatives to improve access to equitable and affordable health care.
Marcie has also been appointed as a Guardian for the Council for Inclusive Capitalism at the Vatican and serves on the United Nations Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance. In addition, she currently serves on several Board of Directors, including at: Ceres, which comprises sustainability leaders with diverse backgrounds in sustainable investing, business, research, policy, law and advocacy; the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute, where global pension and investment leaders discuss issues facing long-term institutional investors in Asia and the Pacific Rim; and the Toigo Foundation, which supports the development of diverse investment leaders.
Prior to joining CalPERS, Marcie spent 30 years as a public servant in Washington state, including 16 years in the pension industry, most recently as executive director of Washington state’s Department of Retirement Systems. She also served on the Washington State Investment Board as an ex-officio voting member for four years and served as its chair until she joined CalPERS, and as chair of the Pension Funding Council, responsible for setting economic assumptions and pension contribution rates for Washington state's pension plans.
Jeff Gendel
Principal, Business Development, Gen II Fund Services
With Gen II since 2014, Jeff is responsible for driving the firm’s business development and client relations activities. Jeff has over twenty years of experience in the private equity industry, including deep relationships within the private equity operational infrastructure community. Jeff has led the effort to craft Gen II’s market facing strategy for the emerging manager community and has worked in support of more than 50 emerging manager groups during his career.
Prior to Gen II, Jeff was head of business development for PEI Media, a global information company covering the private markets. In this role, Jeff established the New York business as PEI's first U.S. team member, and he was responsible for PEI's Western Hemisphere business development across the private equity, real estate, and infrastructure markets. Jeff's contributions also extended to the direct creation and commercial execution of several key PEI products, including the annual Private Equity CFO and COO Forum, the PEI Operating Partners Forum, and the PEI 300 – the industry's definitive size ranking of private equity firms.
Jeff began his career at Pershing & Company, in roles that included equity trading operations, client service, marketing, and business development.
Andrew Gershon
Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton
Andrew J. Gershon is a corporate partner based in the New York office and a member of the firm’s Investment Management Group and Private Fund Transactions Group. His practice primarily focuses on the representation of clients in connection with secondary transactions, including traditional acquisitions and dispositions of fund interests, leveraged and syndicated acquisitions, secondary direct transactions, fund recapitalizations and restructurings, tender offers and co-investment opportunities.
Mr. Gershon joined Debevoise in 2021. Prior to joining Debevoise, he worked as a corporate associate in the private funds group of an international law firm. He received his J.D. from New York University Law School in 2013, where he was an article editor of the Annual Survey of American Law. He received his B.A. magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in 2008.
Tricia Glynn
Managing Partner, Advent International
Tricia Glynn is a Managing Partner at Advent International in the Consumer sector, having joined the Firm in 2016. Prior to Advent, Ms. Glynn spent 15 years investing across both Bain Capital Private Equity and the Private Equity Group of Goldman, Sachs & Co. She has closed transactions across the consumer, retail, healthcare, business services, technology, real estate and media sectors both domestically and internationally.
Daniel Goldstein
Chief Executive Officer, Go ESOP LLC
Daniel Goldstein is a seasoned executive leader and experienced Board member with 30 years of managing and advising employee-owned and family-owned companies, family offices, foundations, and trusts on complex issues, including business strategy, acquisitions, direct investments, structuring, portfolio design, real estate, building teams, culture, family dynamics, and purpose driven philanthropy--spanning several continents, many jurisdictions, and multiple languages.
At the end of 2023, Daniel retired as CEO and President of Folience, a 100% ESOP-owned holding company, co-founded by Daniel in January 2017. The Folience portfolio includes The Gazette and other Iowa newspapers; Life Line Emergency Vehicles, an ambulance manufacturer in Sumner, Iowa; and, Cimarron Trailers, a horse and livestock trailer manufacturer with production facilities in Chickasha, Oklahoma and Manhattan, Kansas.
He now serves as independent board director for several US manufacturing companies serving in the roles of Board Chair, Audit Committee Chair, and Compensation Committee Chair. Daniel also serves on the Board of the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO).
He earned his B.A. from Colgate University and an MBA and an MS in Science and Technology Studies from RPI.
Alona Gornick
Managing Director, Senior Investment Strategist, Churchill Asset Management
Alona Gornick serves as a Managing Director, Senior Investment Strategist, and Co-Head of the Chicago Office for Churchill Asset Management. In her role, Alona provides meaningful investment insights across the private capital spectrum to the investment community, with a particular emphasis on the Private Wealth and Retail channel. She works closely with Nuveen’s global distribution team to deepen relationships with and educate Churchill’s investors and partners.
Alona also serves as Co-Head of Churchill’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council, where she collaborates on initiatives that prioritize inclusion and authenticity. Alona joined Churchill in 2017 as an Originator, developing relationships with leading private equity sponsors to source and structure high-quality deal flow for the platform.
Prior to joining Churchill, Alona spent 14 years in various investment, capital markets and investor relations roles at leading organizations, including Nuveen (Churchill’s parent company), Golden Gate Capital, and Oaktree Capital Management. She began her career in investment banking in the Gaming & Leisure Group at Banc of America Securities.
Alona earned her B.A. in Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Holcombe Green
Managing Director & Global Head of Private Capital Advisory, Lazard
Holcombe Green is the global head of the Private Capital Advisory business at Lazard. Private Capital Advisory includes Lazard’s businesses in the fundraising, secondary and private placement markets across the private debt, private equity, real assets and real estate markets. The Private Capital Advisory business is a leading advisor to financial sponsors and institutional investors in these markets and operates from seven offices in the US, Europe and Asia. Holcombe has been involved in hundreds of capital raising assignments for private investment firms, aggregating over $250 billion of capital for these clients.
Prior to joining Lazard in 2004, Holcombe was an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in New York, where he advised corporate clients in the technology, industrial and consumer industries on a variety of strategic and financing transactions. Holcombe was also previously Director of Corporate Development for IBM Corporation, responsible for business development initiatives related to IBM Global Services, the largest division of IBM. He began his career as a member of the Washington, D.C. staff of United States Senator Sam Nunn.
Holcombe holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Dickinson College and an M.P.P.M from the Yale School of Management. He graduated from The Taft School and Clifton College (in Bristol, UK). Holcombe is a trustee of Dickinson College. He is the co-chair of the advisory board of the Yale International Center for Finance, the financial research institute of the Yale School of Management. He was a long-time trustee of The Taft School, a prior trustee of the British American Educational Foundation, the development chair for St. James’ Church in New York, among other philanthropic endeavors in New York.
Lori Hall-Kimm
Senior Managing Director & Head of Global Private Equity, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)
Lori is currently the Senior Managing Director and Head of Global Private Equity at Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP). Since joining HOOPP in 2022, Lori leads the Private Equity team and is responsible for the strategic, operational and global investment activities for private capital across multiple strategies, including buyouts, secondaries, venture/growth and private credit.
Prior to joining HOOPP, Lori spent six years with CPP Investments, most recently as Managing Director, Direct Private Equity, where she led the Consumer sector team. Previously, she spent nearly eleven years in the Private Capital team at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, helping establish their London office and leading their European fund and co-investments. Lori also previously worked in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs.
Lori holds a BBA (Honours) from the Schulich School of Business at York University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Scott Hanson
Co-Founder & Vice Chair, Allworth Financial
Scott T Hanson is Co-Founder and Vice Chair of Allworth Financial, a leading independent wealth management firm. Under Scott’s direction, through a combination of both organic expansion and dozens of acquisitions, Allworth Financial has grown to more than $25 billion in assets under administration.
A nationally recognized financial expert, he’s been named to Barron’s list of the Top 100 Independent Wealth Advisors in America numerous times and in 2021, he was recognized by InvestmentNews as one of the 10 “Icons and Innovators” of the financial services industry nationwide. For nearly 30 years, Scott has co-hosted Money Matters, a call-in, financial topic radio program and podcast, making it one of the longest-running shows of its kind in America.
A frequent guest columnist for several national financial publications, Scott is the author of Personal Decision Points: 7 Steps to Your Ideal Retirement Transition (2016 & 2021), Money Matters: Essential Tips & Tools for Building Financial Peace of Mind (2006), and the co-author of Investment Advisor Marketing: A Pathway to Growing Your Firm and Building Your Brand (2013).
In 2004, Scott and Pat McClain founded Liberty Reverse Mortgage, which was later acquired by Fortune 500 Company Genworth Financial and is now one of the largest reverse mortgage companies in the country.
A running and cycling enthusiast, Scott has completed the Western States 100-mile endurance run, the Iron Man triathlon, and numerous century-plus mountain bike races.
Scott T Hanson resides in El Dorado Hills, California, with his wife Valerie and their four children.
Hollie Haynes
Founder and Managing Partner, Luminate Capital Partners
Hollie Haynes is the Founder and Managing Partner of Luminate Capital Partners and is based in San Francisco, CA. Prior to founding Luminate, Hollie focused on software private equity investing at Silver Lake. Earlier in her career she worked in private equity at Hellman & Friedman and in investment banking at Morgan Stanley & Co. She graduated from Harvard University with an A.B. in Economics and received an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Martha Heitmann
Partner, LGT Capital Partners
Martha Heitmann joined LGT Capital Partners in 2007 as a member of the European secondaries team at the firm’s headquarters in Switzerland, where she was responsible for sourcing, due diligence, execution and monitoring of European secondary transactions. In 2022, Martha opened LGT Capital Partners’ San Francisco office and is Partner and Head of West Coast. Martha’s mandate in San Francisco is to 1) deepen relationships with existing West Coast managers to drive further secondary transactions; 2) continue to expand the GP relationships in the venture capital and growth space; 3) drive brand recognition and awareness of LGT Capital Partners in the US, particularly on the West Coast. Having worked in the secondary space for 17 years, she has witnessed the transformation of private equity secondaries from a nascent derivative of primary private equity investments to an asset class in its own right, with secondaries representing one of the fastest growing areas within private equity. She has led transactions in both LP portfolios and GP-led
transactions in the US and Europe across six fund vintages for LGT Capital Partners. The secondaries team at LGT Capital Partners is uniquely diverse, with 5/10 of the Partners and Principals being women, which is a considerable achievement considering Martha was the first woman hired into the private equity investment team at LGT Capital Partners.
This is one of the reasons why Martha is the Chairperson of the DEI Committee, where she advocates the business imperative for DEI within LGT Capital Partners. She works closely with HR to improve talent acquisition, retention and promotion of diverse candidates so that more teams at LGT Capital Partners can achieve the diversity of the secondaries team, especially at the senior level.
Milwood Hobbs Jr.
Managing Director and Head of North American Sourcing & Origination, Oaktree Capital Management
Mr. Hobbs sources and originates private debt opportunities across Oaktree’s credit strategies. Prior to joining Oaktree in 2013, he was an executive director at Natixis Securities focused on building the high yield sales and trading franchise. Prior thereto, he spent five years at Goldman Sachs as a vice president in leveraged finance origination and sales. Before joining Goldman Sachs in 2007, Mr. Hobbs was a director in Leveraged Finance at Deutsche Bank Securities, which he joined in 2000. Additional experience includes regional account management focused on fleet financing at GE Capital Corporation and controller for Leveraged Finance at Bank of America. Mr. Hobbs received his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. degree in accounting from Rutgers University.
Mark Hoeing
President & CEO, CF Private Equity/Commonfund
Mark Hoeing is President and CEO of CF Private Equity, Head of the firm’s Buyout and Growth Equity investment practice, a member of the Investment Committee and Senior Executive Group of CF Private Equity and a member of the Operating Committee of Commonfund Group. As President and CEO, Mark’s responsibilities include the strategic direction of the firm and oversight of investment solutions in buyouts, growth equity, venture capital, and real assets and sustainability. As Head of Buyouts and Growth Equity investments, his responsibilities include managing due diligence, investment selection, portfolio construction, monitoring, and fundraising for the firm’s buyout and growth equity strategies that include primaries, secondaries and co-investments. Prior to joining CF Private Equity, his experience includes positions at Deutsche Bank, evaluating third-party managers in the private capital funds division, as well as direct private capital investing with DB Capital Partners, Deutsche Bank’s merchant banking subsidiary. Part of Mark’s work at Deutsche included the bank’s coverage of the Asia-Pacific basin. Mark began his career as a credit analyst and commercial lending officer with Citizens Financial Group. He is presently a member of the advisory boards of several private equity limited partnerships. Mark has a B.S. in Health Policy and Management and an M.B.A. from Providence College.
Aleksandra Holmlund
CEO, Qarlbo Biodiversity
Aleksandra Holmlund is the CEO of Qarlbo Biodiversity, and a forester with more than 20 years of hands-on experience in operational forestry and timberland investments across Sweden, Europe and the Americas.
As CEO of Qarlbo Biodiversity, Aleksandra leads investments in nature-positive land management strategies that integrate science, technology and innovative financial tools to optimize production capacity and biodiversity conservation. The company focuses on implementing nature-positive forest management strategies and biodiversity credit projects in production forests, which cover roughly 30% of the world’s land area and play a crucial role in the global economy. Through incorporation of a proprietary monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) tool developed in partnership with Treemetrics, Qarlbo Biodiversity offers investors, corporations and landowners flexible, scalable frameworks for generating long-term returns alongside environmental resilience. Aleksandra has engaged in biodiversity credit research and methodology development at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), and global biodiversity credit market development as a Task Force Member with the UN-affiliated Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA). The methodology derived from Aleksandra’s proprietary research was used to facilitate Europe’s first-ever voluntary biodiversity credit transaction in 2023, and has since been adopted as the basis for the Global Biocredit Standard launched at COP16.
Prior to Qarlbo Biodiversity, Aleksandra held Chair positions with the Swedish Association of Foresters and Arboreal BV (now impact forestry manager Generation Forest Invest). Earlier roles include COO of Nordics, UK and Western Europe for timberland investment and management firm GreenGold, leading supply chain review and timber market analysis for IKEA Group, and advising on natural resource and production landscape management as a consultant across Europe.
Aleksandra is a Fellow at the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. She holds an MSc in Forestry and Biology and Forest Resources Production and Management from SLU, and an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics.
Lydie Hudson
Co-founder and President, Citation Capital
Lydie B. Hudson is the Co-founder and President of Citation and member of the firm's Investment Committee. Lydie manages all aspects of the day-to-day of Citation. Prior to launching Citation, Lydie was on the Executive Board of Credit Suisse through 2021 where she held a number of leadership roles, ultimately including oversight of over ~$240bn in fiduciary product solutions for the firm's individual, institutional and corporate clients.
Lydie serves as an Aspen Finance Fellow, a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and for the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. She also sits on the board of the Hudson Webber Foundation, a foundation founded by her family to support the economic and civic vitality of the City of Detroit, and Room to Read, a global not for profit focused on literacy and gender equality that has benefited the lives of over 39 million children in over 23 countries. Lydie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School where she was awarded the leadership award.
Zach Jackson
Partner, Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC)
Zach Jackson is a Partner and Member of the Investment Committee at QIC Global Private Equity where he focuses on growth, buyout and sustainable investment strategies. Previously, Zach was a Principal at P4G Capital Management where he was responsible for sourcing, due diligence negotiations, deal structuring and portfolio company management. Zach also held positions as an investment professional at Context Capital Management and Allianz Global Investors. Zach earned an MBA from Rady School of Management at University California San Diego, and a Bachelor of Science from San Diego State University. He is also a CFA Charterholder.
Michelle Jacobi
Managing Director, Gatewood Capital Partners
Michelle Jacobi is a managing director responsible for Gatewood's fundraising and marketing initiatives, as well as assisting in business development and transaction origination. Prior to joining Gatewood, Michelle was with Cebile Capital, a global placement agent and secondaries advisory firm, where she led North American distribution and fundraising efforts. Prior to this, she worked at VCP Advisors, a boutique placement agent. Before joining VCP, Michelle worked in leveraged finance at Jefferies in New York and Mizuho Bank in London. Michelle graduated from the London School of Economics with an LLB in Law and with a MSc in Comparative Political Science.
Chandini Jain
CEO and Co-Founder, Auquan
Chandini Jain is the co-founder and CEO of Auquan, the market leader in AI agents for deep work in financial services transforming deal sourcing, due diligence, monitoring, sustainability, and compliance workflows. Driven by a mission to liberate financial professionals from mundane data tasks and bring meaning back to their work, she founded Auquan after spending 10 years in global finance as a trader at Optiver and Deutsche Bank. She is a recognized expert and speaker in the field of using AI for investment and ESG risk management. Jain holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering/computational science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.Tech from IIT Kanpur.
Paul Jodice
Managing Director/ Co-Head of Global Investment Manager Analysis (GIMA) Team, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Paul Jodice is Co-Head of the Global Investment Manager Analysis (GIMA) team, which provides manager analysis and due diligence on alternative and traditional investment strategies. As co-head, Paul primarily
leads the evaluation and manager selection for alternative strategies. Previously, he was an investment officer and head of the Private Equity research team within the GIMA group. Paul joined Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in 2017. He began his professional career with Cambridge Associates (Boston/Singapore) in 1999. He joined Merrill Lynch in 2006, the Abu Dhabi Investment Company - Invest AD (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) in 2007 and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2015. Paul graduated from Babson College with a BS in Investments and Economics. He received his MBA from the Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College.
Dana Johns
Head of Private Equity, New Jersey Department of the Treasury, Division of Investment
Ms. Johns joined the New Jersey Department of the Treasury, Division of Investment in 2023 as the Head of Private Equity. Prior to New Jersey she was a member of the Private Equity team at the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System and is an experienced private markets investor and leader in the U.S. public pension and broader institutional investor community.
Ms. Johns has over 20 years of experience investing and managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios of institutional alternative investment assets. She has deep expertise in private equity and a highly developed personal network with established top performing private equity fund managers and next generation managers. Ms. Johns has a demonstrated long-term track record for selecting and managing strong performing private equity fund portfolios. She is committed to supporting discourse and initiatives focused on the thoughtful advancement of private markets investing and creating pathways to inclusion for underrepresented talent in private equity.
Industry recognition includes Institutional Investor’s Global List of Top 50 Women in Investment Management, Trusted Insight’s list of Top Public Pension Investors Directors, and PEWIN's Member of the Year highlighting Ms. Johns’ work in transforming the private equity industry with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Ms. Johns is Board Chair of the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN), and a member of the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council, Academy for Institutional Investors Editorial Committee, AIF Women’s Leadership Steering Committee and the SEO Alternative Investments Limited Partner Advisory Council.
Ms. Johns has both a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Indiana University Bloomington and a B.S. in Computer Info Systems from Stevenson University. She graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a Master's in Finance while working full time as an Associate at Camden Private Capital, a private equity fund of funds.
Eneasz Kądziela
Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of Private Equity, Office of the New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management
Eneasz Kądziela serves as Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of Private Equity for the Office of the New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management. He served as an Investment Officer in the Private Equity Group in March 2015; two years later he was promoted to Senior Investment Officer. In this role, he assisted in making private equity investment recommendations and advising on the private equity portfolio. In 2021, he was appointed as Head of Private Equity to oversee the private equity portfolio for the five New York City retirement systems.
Prior to BAM, Mr. Kądziela was the Director of Research and Fund Relations at the Small Business Investor Alliance (SBIA), a trade association of lower middle market private equity funds and institutional investors.
Prior to joining SBIA, he was a sell-side Equity Research Associate at Cross Research Group, a boutique research firm focused on the technology sector.
Mr. Kądziela received a BA in Economics from Rutgers University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation.
Chip Kaye
Chairman, Warburg Pincus
Chip Kaye is Chairman of Warburg Pincus and a member of the firm’s Executive Management Group. Chip started his career at Warburg Pincus in 1986 and served as Chief Executive Officer for over two decades. Chip led Warburg Pincus’ entry into Asia in 1994, building one of the first global private equity firms to enter the region. He has continued the firm’s long-standing reputation as a growth investor, establishing Warburg Pincus as a strong partner for management teams at all stages of development across industries and geographies. Chip is Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He is also on the Board of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a member of the Private Equity Taskforce of the Sustainable Markets Initiative. He is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin.
Peter Keehn
Senior Managing Director, Private and Alternative Assets, Allstate Investments
Peter is responsible for leading Allstate Investments’ performance-based investment group, which makes fund and direct investments in private equity, real estate, infrastructure, opportunistic and agriculture/timber and has two private lending businesses: commercial mortgages and private credit.
Previously a direct private equity investor, Peter joined Allstate in 2003 with a mandate to develop and expand our alternative assets business. From 2007 to 2010, he established and managed Allstate’s U.K.-based investment affiliate and later became Allstate Investments’ managing director of private equity. In that role, he was responsible for private equity portfolio strategy and leadership of our Chicago-, London- and Hong Kong-based private equity and infrastructure teams.
Peter began his career in institutional real estate investment at LaSalle Partners (now JLL) and subsequently worked in private corporate investment at Northwestern Mutual Life. He has served on many fund advisory boards and been a director of numerous private companies and nonprofit organizations.
Peter has an MBA from Northwestern University, an AB from Brown University and is a chartered financial analyst.
Kevin Killeavy
Chief Investment Officer, Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans (MCERP)
Kevin Killeavy is the Chief Investment Officer at Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans (MCERP), a retirement system responsible for overseeing roughly $8.5 billion in defined benefit and defined contribution assets. His responsibilities include asset allocation, investment execution, risk budgeting, manager selection, and portfolio management across public and private market asset classes. He also oversees the plan design and structure for the plan’s defined contribution offerings. Prior to joining MCERP in 2015, Kevin held an investment research position with a large multi-family office. Kevin earned a BS in Finance from Georgetown University and also holds the CFA and CAIA charters.
Yup Kim
Chief Investment Officer Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS)
Yup S. Kim serves as CIO for TMRS and chairs its investment committee. Previously, he served as the head of investments for private equity at CalPERS, California’s $490 billion pension fund, where he helped lead the private equity program across all functions, including strategy, team management, and investment activities across primary, secondary, and co-investment opportunities globally.
Previously, he served as the senior portfolio manager at the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, an $80 billion sovereign wealth fund, where he helped lead its private investment activities. The private equity and special opportunities portfolio generated 25% net of fee returns over a decade. He has also held positions at DB Private Equity, where he served on the Investment Committee, Performance Equity, and Silver Point Capital, and he began his career at Citigroup in New York.
Yup received his B.A. in economics from Yale University, speaks six languages and chairs the Milken Institute Rising Allocator forum. He serves as a board member of the Korea Finance Society, a term member for the Council of Foreign Relations, a global investment ambassador for the Seoul Metropolitan Government and a visiting lecturer at Harvard Business School, The Wharton School, Yale University and many other academic institutions.
Stewart Kohl
Co-CEO, The Riverside Company
Stewart A. Kohl is Co-Chief Executive Officer of The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm founded to invest in premier companies at the smaller end of the middle market. Since 1988, Riverside has invested in more than 1,000 companies globally. The firm’s investors include leading pension funds, endowments, funds-of-funds, insurance companies, banks and private wealth investors. The firm employs more than 350 people in offices across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
Mr. Kohl joined Riverside in 1993 to partner with Co-CEO Béla Szigethy. Prior to that, he was a vice president of Citicorp Venture Capital, Ltd., the private equity arm of Citibank.
In addition to his work with Riverside, Mr. Kohl serves as an Honorary Trustee of Oberlin College and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Cleveland Foundation, the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland as well as being a member of the Board of Directors of the Cleveland Clinic, where he Co-Chaired its $2.6 billion Power of Every One Capital Centennial Campaign, which was completed in 2021. He was inducted into the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges Hall of Excellence in 2009. He previously served as Co-Chair of the Building for Hope Capital Campaign of the Center for Families and Children.
Mr. Kohl received the Maltz Heritage Award in 2023, recognizing his commitment to diversity and acceptance. He also earned the George S. Dively Entrepreneurship Award in 2018 and he and Riverside were recognized for the 2018 Malden Mills Corporate Kindness Award. He was inducted into the Northeast Ohio Business Hall of Fame in 2014. After spending 16 years as a “Heavy Hitter” participant in the Pan-Mass Challenge bicycle fundraiser, Mr. Kohl founded VeloSano, a similar event that has raised more than $51 million to fund cancer research since 2014.
Mr. Kohl holds a BA from Oberlin College.
Raelan Lambert
Global Alternatives Leader, Mercer
Raelan Lambert leads Mercer's global alternatives business, encompassing more than 250 investment professionals across 29 offices worldwide, $30B in AUM and $182B in AUA as of June 2022. She is accountable for strategy, financial performance, operations and client management. She has led the integration of nine predecessor firms into a global alternatives leader across the research, advice and solutions continuum. She has been in the financial services industry since 1998 and previously held roles at Goldman Sachs, American Express and Google (f.k.a. DoubleClick).
In 2019, CIO Magazine selected Raelan as a Knowledge Broker New Guard, one of the most influential investment consultants. In 2021, she led Mercer's launch of the Leap Continuum, focused on advancing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in private markets.
She serves on multiple Mercer leadership committees. She received a BA in French Language and Literature from the University of Virginia with honors.
Adam Le
Senior Editor, EMEA, PEI
Adam Le is Senior Editor, EMEA, for PEI Group's private equity publications, overseeing the flow of global news and analysis for Private Equity International. Based in London, Adam works closely with private equity-focused colleagues across PEI's offices in New York, London and Hong Kong. Prior to PEI, his roles included reporting on finance and technology for Bloomberg Japan.
Matthew Liposky
Chief Investment Operating Officer, Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (MassPRIM)
Matthew Liposky joined PRIM in 2013 and serves as PRIM’s Chief Investment Operating Officer. Mr. Liposky is responsible for managing the PRIT Fund’s financial activities, including: investment performance reporting; investment accounting; operational due diligence; and investment manager onboarding and implementation. Prior to his position as CIOO, Mr. Liposky served as Director of Investment Operations at PRIM. He has more than 15 years of experience in investment operations and worked at Liberty Mutual Investment Group and Bank of New York Mellon before joining PRIM. Mr. Liposky earned a B.S. in Finance from Quinnipiac University. In addition to his role at PRIM, Mr. Liposky is a member on the GIPS Asset Owner Subcommittee.
Curtis Lueker
Managing Director, Head of Direct Lending, Marathon Asset Management
Curtis Lueker is a Managing Director leading Marathon’s Direct Lending Business and a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Lueker was previously the Chief Lending Officer & Head of Commercial Markets for Modern Bank. Prior to Modern Bank, he originated, executed and managed senior secured loans, mezzanine investments, equity co-investments and private equity fund commitments as the Head of Leveraged Finance Portfolio Management and President & Chief Operating Officer of RBS Equity Corporation. Prior to RBS, Mr. Lueker was a Vice President in the Merchant Banking Group at Indosuez Capital and a founding member of Bank of America's Financial Sponsor Portfolio Management team.
Hugh MacArthur
Senior Partner and Chairman, Global Private Equity Practice, Bain & Company
Hugh MacArthur is a senior partner and chairman of Bain’s Global Private Equity Practice. He helped found the practice over 30 years ago, and works with private equity funds and alternative asset managers of all descriptions, including LPs. Hugh has advised funds in every geography, and has worked on hundreds of assignments across deals, firm strategy, operations and organization. Hugh is also the host of Bain & Company’s Dry Powder: The Private Equity Podcast, in which he interviews leading experts on the trends and opportunities that will redefine the private equity industry. Hugh is the creator of Bain’s annual Private Equity Report. He is the author of the book “Lessons from Private Equity Any Company Can Use,” and he currently writes a LinkedIn blog on private markets topics called Private Thoughts from my Desk.
Jon Madorsky
Managing Partner and Secondaries Co-Portfolio Manager, RCP Advisors
Jon is a Managing Partner of RCP. He is the portfolio manager for the Firm’s secondary investment activities and maintains broader activities throughout the investment function. He is a member of the Investment Committee and active as an Advisory Board member of various underlying funds. He has been involved in the private equity industry for nearly 20 years. He has been with the Firm since the formation of RCP Fund II.
Prior to joining RCP, Jon worked for two middle market buyout funds. He also worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Strategic Business Unit. He is a Member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and on the Board of Directors at Ransom Everglades School, where he is an Alumnus.
Jon received a BA in History from Emory University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Ava Mallin
Managing Director, Private Wealth, Ardian
Ava Mallin joined Ardian in 2022. She is responsible for Private Wealth relationships in the US. Prior to joining Ardian, she spent seven years at Carlyle in their Private Wealth group. She is based in New York.
Education: University of Wisconsin-Madison – B.A. English
Ardian is a world-leading private investment house, managing or advising $176bn of assets on behalf of more than 1,720 clients globally. Our broad expertise, spanning Private Equity, Real Assets and Credit, enables us to offer a wide range of investment opportunities and respond flexibly to our clients’ differing needs. Through Ardian Customized Solutions we create bespoke portfolios that allow institutional clients to specify the precise mix of assets they require and to gain access to funds managed by leading third-party sponsors. Private Wealth Solutions offers dedicated services and access solutions for private banks, family offices and private institutional investors worldwide. Ardian’s main shareholding group is its employees and we place great emphasis on developing its people and fostering a collaborative culture based on collective intelligence. Our 1,050+ employees, spread across 19 offices in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Middle East are strongly committed to the principles of Responsible Investment and are determined to make finance a force for good in society. Our goal is to deliver excellent investment performance combined with high ethical standards and social responsibility.
At Ardian we invest all of ourselves in building companies that last.
Jeff Markusson
Senior Managing Director, Financial Services, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
Jeff Markusson joined Ontario Teachers' in 2006 and has participated in a number of investments across the industrial, business services, and financial services sectors. He currently leads Ontario Teachers' financial services group within the Private Capital department and serves on the boards of Allworth Financial, APCO, Broadstreet Partners, Fairstone Financial, Lendmark Financial Services and Seacube.
Jeff was previously an investment banker at CIBC World Markets, working in both the mergers and acquisitions group and the company's Vancouver office.
Jeff received a BA (Economics) from Simon Fraser University and an MBA from the University of Toronto, where he graduated as the Gold Medalist. He also holds an ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Susan McGeachie
CEO / Adjunct Professor (Climate Finance), Global Climate Finance Accelerator / University of Toronto
Susan McGeachie is CEO of the Global Climate Finance Accelerator, which convenes partnerships across business, finance, government and academia on strategies, policies, procedures, and tools to finance the deployment of technically viable climate solutions. With over 20 years of experience in sustainable finance, Susan has held leadership positions in banking, management consulting, and engineering firms, as the Head of the BMO Climate Institute, Global Director of Climate Change and Sustainability at Hatch, and the Central Market Leader for EY's Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice. Prior to consulting, Susan was a Director with Innovest Strategic Value Advisors (since acquired by MSCI) where she supported the firm’s asset owner clients on the integration of environmental, social, and governance factors into stock valuation and selection decisions. Susan started her sustainability career with WWF Canada in 2000 supporting the integration of biodiversity conservation in resource development.
Susan is an Executive-in-Residence and a member of the ESG Designation program faculty at the Rotman School of Management, and adjunct professor at the University of Toronto teaching a graduate course in environmental finance and sustainable investing. She is also a member of the Climate Governance Experts panel and a former board member of the Canadian Responsible Investment Association. Susan was named to the Canadian delegation of COP 26 and 27 and was awarded one of twenty-six Canadian Climate Champions by the Canada Climate Law Initiative and the British High Commission ahead of COP 26. In 2014 she was named to the Clean50 and Clean 16 lists of practitioners, which recognize leadership in advancing the clean economy. Also in 2014 Susan received the University of Toronto Arbor Award in recognition of her work on the University of Toronto’s Environmental Finance Advisory Committee from 2006 to 2018.
Neil McMahon
Managing Partner, Kimmeridge
Neil McMahon serves as Managing Partner at Kimmeridge and is responsible for developing Kimmeridge’s screening capabilities. Prior to this role, Dr. McMahon was a Senior Equity Research Analyst for the Global Integrated Oils at Sanford C. Bernstein, where he was ranked first three times in the Institutional Investor Research Survey. Dr. McMahon covered 18 of the largest integrated oils and refiners. He joined Sanford C. Bernstein in 2002.
Before joining Sanford C. Bernstein, Dr. McMahon was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey, based in both Houston and London, where he had been since 1999. At McKinsey he mainly advised petroleum and electric power and natural gas clients and undertook proprietary research within McKinsey’s industry practices. Prior to McKinsey, Dr. McMahon worked in the oil industry as a geoscientist with British Petroleum (BP) and British Gas (BG) before moving into consulting with Arthur D. Little where he became a manager in its Global Energy Practice.
Dr. McMahon is an advisor and Board observer to Common Energy, a community solar subscription platform and project manager. Dr. McMahon received an honors degree from The University of Edinburgh in Geology and Geophysics where he later undertook further research to complete a BP-sponsored Ph.D. in 1995. Dr. McMahon has published a number of technical and management-oriented papers in leading oil and gas industry journals.
Robert Mellema
Managing Director, CPP Investments
Rob Mellema is a Managing Director in the Office of the CIO at CPP Investments where he leads the Private Equity and Real Assets team that oversees the Fund’s allocation to Private Equity, Real Estate, Infrastructure and Sustainable Energies.
Rob joined CPP Investments in 2008 in Direct Private Equity before becoming a founding member of the Fund’s Energy group where he led the energy infrastructure team. Rob has led multiple landmark investments at CPPIB including the Fund’s first control investment, one of its earliest platform investments, and its first investment in Carbon Capture, Use and Sequestration. In 2021, Rob joined the Office of the CIO to advance the Fund’s work on Real Assets, investment process and governance, and more recently Private Equity. Previously, Rob held positions with UBS and the Boston Consulting Group.
Rob holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he was a Palmer Scholar. Rob has been a member of various investment committees and portfolio company boards and is currently a director at Wolf Midstream and at Power2X.
Richard Melville
Editorial Director, US, PEI Group
Rich is an editorial leader with more than 25 years of experience in financial journalism. In his role at PEI Group, he leads the editorial teams for a group that includes Private Equity International, Buyouts, PE Hub, Venture Capital Journal, Private Funds CFO and Regulatory Compliance Watch. Previously he was Editorial Director for Banking & Capital Markets at Arizent, where he oversaw editorial at American Banker, The Bond Buyer and Mergers & Acquisitions, among other titles. Earlier, he was a reporter and editor at Reuters in New York, eventually leading the service’s Wall Street desk. Prior to journalism, Rich worked in the Valuation Group at Deloitte. He lives in Montclair, N.J., with his wife, daughters and pandemic-adopted puppy.
Senofer Mendoza
Founder, General Partner, Mendoza Ventures
Senofer Mendoza: A Force for Diversity and Innovation in Venture Capital Senofer Mendoza is not just a name in the venture capital (VC) world; she's a trailblazer actively reshaping the landscape with her commitment to diversity, innovation, and fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs. As the Founder and General Partner of Mendoza Ventures, established in 2016, Senofer focuses on investing in dual use companies in AI and Cybersecurity, but her impact extends far beyond the realm of dollars and deals. Since its founding seven years ago, Mendoza Ventures has raised two funds and had four successful exits. The firm is currently
raising its third fund, a $100M fintech fund anchored by Bank of America, focused on early growth funding rounds. In 2022, Axios Magazine listed Senofer as one of the five most influential people in Boston and the LA Times honored Senofer as a visionary and one of California’s most prominent game-changers and thought leaders in the business world today.
David Miller
Global Head of Private Credit & Equity, Morgan Stanley
David Miller is the Head of Global Private Credit & Equity at Morgan Stanley and a member of the Morgan Stanley Investment Management operating committee. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2016 and has over 24 years of investing experience.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Miller was the Chief Executive Officer of Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp., a publicly traded real estate investment trust he co-founded in 2011 to capitalize on the significant dislocation in the residential housing market. Prior to Silver Bay, Mr. Miller was a Managing Director at Pine River Capital Management and Two Harbors Investment Corp. where he focused on investment strategy and new business development.
During the global financial crisis (2008 - 2011), Mr. Miller served in various roles at the U.S. Department of Treasury, including as the Chief Investment Officer of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) where he created complex crisis response investment programs and managed the $700 billion portfolio. Prior to Treasury, Mr. Miller held various investment roles, including as a portfolio manager at HBK Investments and in the Special Situations Group at Goldman Sachs & Co., where he focused on opportunistic investments in public and private debt and equity.
Mr. Miller received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. magna cum laude in Economics from Dartmouth College where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Ron Miller
Head of Asset Manager Partnerships, CAIS
Ron Miller is a proven leader in the alternative investments industry, specializing in scaling private wealth platforms, optimizing capital formation, and driving strategic partnerships between asset managers and intermediaries.
As Head of Asset Manager Partnerships at CAIS, the leading alternative investment platform for the independent wealth channel, Ron is responsible for deepening engagement with top alternative asset managers, enhancing product innovation, and aligning distribution strategies to drive growth and efficiency.
Prior to CAIS, Ron spent a decade at Morgan Stanley, where he held multiple leadership roles. As Director of Relationship Management, he oversaw 600 partnerships representing $5 trillion in assets, working closely with the world’s leading asset managers. Previously, as COO of Morgan Stanley’s New England region, he played a key role in launching a new Private Wealth business, leading strategic initiatives for a division of 1,000 Financial Advisors across 50 offices with $1.2 billion in annual revenue. From 2015 to 2020, he Co-Headed Democratized Alternatives and Traditional Investments, spearheading product innovation and sales initiatives.
Ron began his career at The Wharton School where he led the financial services consulting vertical. Ron also spent time in fixed income trading, product management, and practice management at Janney Montgomery Scott.
A recognized industry leader, Ron holds an M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Temple University. He serves on the Board of Eastside House Settlement and is an Ambassador for the Robin Hood Foundation.
Based in Scituate, MA, with his wife Kristi, children Fin and Isabel, and bernedoodle Bodhi; Ron is an avid Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, traveler, and ocean enthusiast.
Beatrice Mitchell
Co-Founder & Managing Director, Sperry, Mitchell & Company, Inc.
Beatrice is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Sperry, Mitchell & Company, an investment banking boutique which specializes in arranging the sale or merger of private mid-market companies. She also co-owns Percival Scientific, a leading Iowa-based designer and manufacturer of biological incubators and plant growth chambers. She is on the Board of Managers at Haverford College, on the Board of ICD – The Institute for Career Development, and Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of Off-the-Record, a foreign policy forum.
Beatrice has been a regular lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, the Stern School of Business at New York University and the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. She has been widely quoted in the financial and business press, including PE Hub, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, Business Week, Crain’s, USA Today, CNN and National Public Radio. Beatrice has been a featured speaker at numerous industry conferences and forums, including Bloomberg Breakaway Summit, ACG New York’s Annual Women’s Leadership Summit, and Kayo Women’s Private Equity Summit. She has consistently been recognized as one of The Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A by Mergers & Acquisitions Magazine.
Beatrice is the co-author of The Complete Guide to Selling Your Business, which is in its third edition and is also published in Chinese.
Kevin Moran
President & Chief Operating Officer, AlTi Tiedemann Global
Prior to becoming President, Kevin was AlTi’s Chief Operating Officer. He was also Chief Operating Officer at Tiedemann Advisors where he worked for close to 15 years before the merger that created AlTi. Prior to that, he held positions at FRM Americas LLC, most recently as Chief Compliance Officer and Associate General Counsel.
He began his career at Katten Muchin Rosenman, representing and advising clients in the formation and distribution of domestic and offshore hedge funds, master-feeder funds and fund of funds.
Bibhash Mukhopadhyay
PhD, Managing Partner, Sound Bioventures
Bibhash is a venture capital fund manager, investor, company builder and board member with around decade and half of experience in biotech.
Prior to co-founding Sound Bioventures, he worked as an investor with the biotech practice of a large, diversified venture fund (NEA). Prior to that he has operating experience in business development, portfolio management and corporate strategy functions at both AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. He has led multiple investments (including current Board Director roles at Arthex and Aboleris), been involved in private financings and IPOs (Including Cydan, PhaseBio, Surface Oncology, Ardelyx, Trevi, Polyneuron, Qpex Bio, Nightstar, Vesper, Achaogen) and multiple major in-licensing, divestiture and acquisitions and cross-border (Europe / US) deals and has had advisory roles in several life science incubators (August Care, Bio Innovation Institute and Toronto Innovation Accelerator Partnership). His education spans 3 continents culminating with a PhD in the biology of retinal degeneration from Baylor College of Medicine.
Trey Muldrow
Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Trey Muldrow is a partner in Weil’s Private Equity practice and is based in New York. Trey has extensive experience in advising global private equity sponsors, pension and sovereign wealth funds and private and public companies in structuring, negotiating and executing market-leading acquisitions, divestitures, structured equity investments, joint venture and carve-out transactions. Trey also frequently advises on complex asset manager merger and acquisitions and GP-led continuation fund transactions. Prior to joining Weil, Trey was the partner in charge of the New York office of another international law firm and a member of its global Corporate Steering Committee.
Trey is recognized as a “Highly Regarded” lawyer for Private Equity in the U.S. by IFLR1000 and has been recommended for M&A by Legal 500 US. Trey was identified by Crain’s New York Business in its inaugural class of “Notable Diverse Leaders in Law”. He was previously named Private Practice Leader of the Year” by the Metropolitan Black Bar Association.
Trey actively lectures on various topics relating to private equity matters, including for organizations and publications such as Practicing Law Institute, Buyouts, Private Equity International and Secondaries Investor.
Luke Myers
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Truelink Capital
Luke Myers is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Truelink Capital. Luke is a member of the investment committee and has oversight responsibility for all aspects of the firm’s activities. Prior to founding Truelink, Luke spent nearly a decade at Platinum Equity investing in the Tech-Enabled and Business Services sector. Prior to joining Platinum Equity, Luke was an investment banker at UBS and Goldman Sachs. Luke holds an HBA and MBA from Ivey Business School at Western University.
Mark Nafash
Senior Manager, SS&C Intralinks
Mark Nafash is a Senior Sales Manager at SS&C Intralinks, where he spearheads sales and strategy for the firms largest Alternative Investment clients across North America. With over a decade of experience in alternative investments and financial services, Mark is a results-driven sales leader with a proven track record of success in managing high-performance teams, driving revenue growth, and developing strategic relationships with key industry stakeholders.
Before joining SS&C Intralinks, Mark held a sales role at W.P. Carey, a renowned real estate investment trust (REIT) known for pioneering the sale-leaseback model. He also holds an MBA in Accounting and Finance from NYU Stern School of Business, a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Boston College, and the CAIA designation.
Claire Ngo
Managing Director, Private Equity Fund Investments, Temsasek
Claire Ngo has over 30 years of global experience in finance focused on private equity, capital markets and institutional investing. At Temasek, a US$280 billion Singapore-based global investment firm, Claire worked closely with the CEO to expand and institutionalize the firm’s U.S. presence in NY, SF and Washington D.C. and has a strong track record in hiring, driving growth and leading cross-border teams. Claire served as Managing Director of the Firm’s Private Equity Funds Investment group, managing the teams in NY, London, and Singapore, as well as overseeing their private equity funds and co-invests globally. As Advisory Director, she currently guides strategic initiatives and drives senior level engagement with private equity, sovereign wealth funds, and institutional asset owners.
Her tenure as Managing Director at Goldman Sachs saw her being a founding member of the Singapore Equities business, serving on the Goldmans Sachs (Singapore) Board of Directors, and running the Pan Asian Equities business in North America, managing a large P&L and leading major IPOs and block trades. Earlier, Claire founded a strategic advisory firm supporting multinational corporates expansion into Southeast Asia. She started her career in Media investment banking and Capital Markets groups at Merrill Lynch. She has worked in NY, SF, HK and Singapore.
Claire serves on the University of Virginia College of Arts & Sciences Foundation Board, the Private Capital Research Institute Asset Owner Advisory Board, and has held board and advisory roles across institutional investor forums, private equity advisory committees, and nonprofit organizations. She brings expertise in investment strategy, governance, risk management, growth strategies, and leadership development. A Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, Claire holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Petya Nikolova
Deputy CIO and Head of Infrastructure Investments, New York City Comptroller's Office
Petya Nikolova is the Deputy CIO and Head of Infrastructure Investments for New York City Comptroller’s Office. In this role, she contributes to shaping the investment strategy and portfolio construction for the $260 billion New York City Retirement Systems (NYCRS). Ms. Nikolova continues to lead the infrastructure asset class. She is a member of the OCIO and the Investment Committee.
Before joining the Comptroller’s office, Ms. Nikolova was a Director in the Infrastructure Americas team at WestLB, where she originated and structured infrastructure deals across a variety of sectors. Prior to that, Ms. Nikolova held various capital markets roles at Bank of Ireland and MBIA.
Ms. Nikolova holds an MPA from Syracuse University and an MA/BA in Economics from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Philip Hunter O'Brien
Head of PE, Managing Director, TMRS
Philip Hunter O’Brien serves as Managing Director, Head of Private Equity for TMRS and as a member of its investment committee. Previously, he led technology and consumer direct private equity investments for Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (“CDPQ”) and was based out of NYC. At CDPQ, Mr. O’Brien led sourcing, diligence, and oversight of multiple portfolio companies, including as Lead Independent Director and Compensation Committee Chair on Boards of Directors, as well as managed a direct private equity investment team.
Prior to CDPQ, he led the North American direct Private Equity investment practice for the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (“ADIC”). Before ADIC, Mr. O’Brien was an investor at LLCP and The Carlyle Group’s U.S. Buyout Fund, after beginning his career as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank.
Mr. O’Brien holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he was awarded the Sonkin Prize in Value Investing, and an AB in Economics (magna cum laude) from Princeton University. He is an Associate Member of the Economic Club of New York (“ECNY”) and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Anton Orlich
Managing Investment Director, Private Equity, CalPERS
Anton Orlich was named managing investment director for the CalPERS Private Equity group in November 2022.
His responsibilities include overseeing the Total Fund’s global private equity asset class’s strategies, programs, and policies. Additionally, Anton sits on CalPERS’ Total Fund Management Committee and the Investment Underwriting Committee, which determines the strategies and allocations of the Total Fund’s assets.
Prior to joining CalPERS, Anton was the head of alternative investments at Kaiser Permanente. He also served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy, and held roles as the head of private equity at the Pivotal Group, as a portfolio manager in CalPERS’ Private Equity Program from 2013 to 2016, as the head of equities for the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, and as a consultant at McKinsey & Co.
Anton holds a bachelor's degree in economics, summa cum laude, from Columbia University and holds a doctorate in political science from Yale University. He is also a Kauffman Fellow and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Charterholder.
Joe Osnoss
Managing Partner and Managing Director, Silver Lake
Joe Osnoss joined Silver Lake in 2002 and is a Managing Partner. From 2010 to 2014, he was based in London, where he co-led the Firm’s activities in EMEA. Prior to joining Silver Lake, Joe worked in investment banking at Goldman, Sachs & Co. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of First Advantage and Relativity and is a director of Carta, Cegid, Clubessential Holdings, EverCommerce, Global Blue, Global Payments, LightBox, and Zuora. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cast & Crew and was a director of Cornerstone OnDemand, Instinet, Interactive Data, Mercury Payment Systems, Sabre, and Virtu Financial. Joe graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College with an A.B. in Applied Mathematics and a citation in French Language. He has remained involved in academics, including as a Visiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics; a participant in The Polsky Center Private Equity Council at the University of Chicago; and an advisory board member at Stanford University’s Research Initiative on Long-Term Investing. He previously served as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Cabinet at Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Gerald Parloiu
PE Practice Director, Sana AI
Gerald leads Sana AI’s Investment Practice. Sana was founded in 2016 and raised over $130 million in venture funding from NEA, Menlo Ventures, Workday Ventures and EQT, and has a presence in NYC, London and Stockholm. Sana is building AI Agents for investment professionals.
Prior to joining Sana Gerald led GFC’s early stage venture arm based in London, UK, where he invested extensively in ML/AI companies. He has also worked in Bain & Company’s Private Equity Division and at Morgan Stanley IBD. Gerald has a dual degree in Finance and International Studies from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ryan Patel
Global Executive, Board Member and Advisory Board Chair, PEI Private Equity Network
Ryan Patel is a globally recognized futurist and leading voice on global business, political economy, and corporate governance. With a knack for scaling businesses, he's served both startups and publicly traded firms. He's a sought-after TV news contributor, Board Director, and Senior Fellow at the Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University. Ryan hosts the Webby-nominated show "The Moment with Ryan Patel," shot at the iconic HP Garage, the birthplace of Silicon Valley.
Patel is a firm believer in giving back to the community and paying it forward. In areas ranging from innovation to social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, and technology, he serves on several advisory boards, including Mastercard, The Drucker School of Management, The Wall Street Journal Leadership Communities, and HEC Paris. In addition to being a former member of the American Red Cross LA Board of Directors. His passion for combining social good and business has led him to discuss relevant and real-world situations that are accessible to both students and professionals alike. He is also a trainer at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center. In 2015, he was awarded “Executive of the Year” by the Los Angeles Business Journal and received Special United States Congressional Recognition for outstanding services to the community. In 2017, Inc. listed him as one of nine executives and innovators who serve as an inspiration for how all businesses can make a difference. He also received the 2018 “Connect” Award for Business Leader of the Year and is the 2020 recipient of the prestigious NAAAP 100 award. He also received the United States Senate Certificate of Commendation which recognized his exemplary business leadership and contributions. Also, listed as one of the “Creators to Follow” by Linkedin Editor in Chief and is recognized as a “Top Voice” on LinkedIn.
Ryan is a multigenerational communicator who is able to break down complex global business issues in a digestible way. He is a contributor at CNN, BBC, Fox Business, CNBC, The Hill, Yahoo Finance, CGTN and has been featured in the New York Times, adidas, Forbes, Entrepreneur, WWD, Nasdaq, Inc, TD Ameritrade and more. He is an advisory board member of the Mastercard Innovation Collective, HEC Diversity Committee, and a part of “The Collective” at the Washington Post Creative Group. He accompanies his literary talents with both domestic and international keynote appearances and leading campaigns with corporations and universities such as Mastercard, HP, Adobe, World Economic Forum Davos, The Economist, Salesforce, Nasdaq, World Government Summit, Edison International, IBM, LEGO, Money 20/20 Economic Times, Reuters, FIS, London School of Economics, Wharton School of Business, and more.
He received his Bachelor’s from the University of California, Berkeley, and received his MBA from the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. He most recently received his Corporate Governance and Board of Directors Certification from the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management Executive Program. For more information, go to www.RyanPatelGlobal.com/about and follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram @RyanPatelGlobal.
Robert Picard
Head of Alternative Investments, Hightower Advisors
Robert Picard joined Hightower in June 2022 as a Managing Director, Head of Alternative Investments
Mr. Picard has 34 years' experience on both the buy and sell side, having built multi-billion-dollar alternative investment programs at First Republic Private Wealth Management, The Carlyle Group/Rock Creek, Optima Fund Management, RBC Capital Markets and InfraHedge/State Street. In his most recent role as First Republic's managing director and head of alternative investments, he consolidated two alternative investment businesses into one platform and generated meaningful growth in both wealth management team participation and fund offerings across all asset classes. Prior to that, he spent more than a decade as founder and CEO of The Rumson Ridge Group, a consultancy focused on building alternative investment platforms. He is a graduate of the College de Geneve, and attended the University of Geneva Law School. Mr. Picard has spent much of his career performing due diligence on manager strategies, visiting over 1,000 firms globally in the last 25 years.
Steve Poliner
Senior Investment Counsel, Teacher Retirement System of Texas (Texas Teachers)
Steve joined the Teacher Retirement System of Texas in October 2014 as Assistant General Counsel – Investments and currently serves as Senior Investment Counsel, with a practice that encompasses a broad span of investment transactions in both private and public market opportunities, across asset classes, strategies, geographies and structures, including strategic partnerships, bespoke funds of one, co-investments and commingled funds as well as direct investments, M&A transactions, revenue sharing arrangements and secondary transactions. Before joining Texas Teachers, Steve was in-house counsel for investment transactions at a publicly-traded Fortune 500 property casualty insurance holding company headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut and, prior to that, he was an associate in the Corporate & Financial Services practice at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in New York, where he assisted with the representation of private equity sponsors and hedge funds in M&A and investment transactions. He received his J.D., cum laude, from NYU School of Law, where he was a Mitchell Jacobson Law & Business Scholar and a Robert McKay Scholar, and his B.Sc. in Economics and B.A. in History from Duke University. Steve is admitted to practice in New York and Texas.
Stephen Quinn
Senior Managing Director, 17Capital
Stephen is co-head of 17Capital’s credit offering. He joined the firm in 2019 from Lloyds Banking Group, where he was the Global Head of Financial Sponsors with responsibility for one of the largest fund finance businesses globally. Stephen has worked with private equity managers for almost 20 years and has recently co-authored 17Capital’s report on NAV Lending and the emerging opportunity for private debt investors.
Jeffrey Reals
Co-Founder & Managing Director, Performance Equity Management
Jeffrey Reals is a Managing Director of Performance Equity and a member of its Investment Committee. Prior to joining Performance Equity, Mr. Reals was a Portfolio Manager in the General Motors Investment Management (GMIMCo) Private Equity Group. Prior to joining GMIMCo in 1998, Mr. Reals worked at Advent International in London, Hong Kong and Boston, where he sourced, analyzed, valued and executed investment opportunities. Prior to Advent, Mr. Reals worked as a consultant at Liberty Mutual Insurance focusing primarily on international business development strategies. He is a dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom. Mr. Reals received his undergraduate degree from Colgate University.
Kristin Reynolds
Partner, Practice Group Director, NEPC
Kristin joined NEPC in 2003, with investment experience dating back to 1999. While at NEPC, Kristin has served in the role of Consulting Analyst, Consultant, Practice Team Leader and Practice Group Director. In her current role, Kristin is a member of NEPC’s Management Group and works closely with the leadership of the Endowments & Foundations and Private Wealth teams to drive initiatives around strategic planning, talent management, marketing, and other team initiatives. Kristin also works closely with Not-for-Profit clients to develop and execute investment strategies.
Prior to joining NEPC, Kristin worked at Citigroup, where she helped clients cultivate and manage financial strategies. Prior to her investment career, Kristin worked as a loan service officer at a community cooperative bank where she was responsible for serving the bank’s loan portfolio.
Kristin earned an M.B.A. from Simmons Graduate School of Management, and a B.A. in Finance and Economics from Simmons University (formerly Simmons College). Kristin is a CFA charter holder and a member of both the Boston Security Analysts Society and the CFA Institute. Kristin became a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designee in 2008.
Kristin grew up in the Boston-area and is committed to empowering young people and improving her community. She currently serves on the Board of The Jeremiah Program, a national program with a mission to disrupt the cycle of poverty for single mothers and their children. She is an active mentor for Girls Who Invest and has been a citizen-teacher for Citizen Schools, Boston.
Steven Richman
Partner, Seyfarth Shaw
Steven Richman is a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP and serves as investment counsel to institutional investors such as large public pension funds, private pension funds (large and small), endowments and foundations, and family offices. In that role, Steven represents clients in connection with their investments in private equity (both traditional private equity and real estate focused opportunities), hedge funds, direct equity, separate accounts, club deals, fund of funds, and other pooled investments. The investments cover all sectors and include both domestic and off-shore transactions.
Yann Robard
Managing Partner, Dawson Partners
Yann Robard is Managing Partner of Dawson. Established in 2015, Dawson (formerly Whitehorse Liquidity Partners) is a leading global alternative asset manager focused on providing innovative structured solutions to the private markets. Dawson takes a differentiated approach to selecting, curating, structuring, and managing bespoke portfolios to serve the demands of a growing market and seeks to provide its investors unique product offerings.
Since its inception, Dawson has raised over $18 billion, deployed over $22 billion and has over 175 employees across offices in Toronto and London UK.
Prior to Dawson, Yann spent a cumulative 13 years at CPP Investment Board (“CPPIB”). Yann joined CPPIB in 2001 at the inception of its private equity investment program. He was Managing Director, Head of Secondaries and Co-Investments in 2015 when he left CPPIB to establish Dawson.
Yann has more than 23 years of industry experience. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dalhousie University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”) Charterholder.
Xavier Robert
Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Bridgepoint
Xavier is a Partner of Bridgepoint and Chief Investment Officer. He is a member of the Firm’s Group Management Committee and Investment Advisory Committee. He currently sits on the boards of MiQ, Kyriba and Qualitest.
Prior to joining Bridgepoint, he worked at Total and Ernst & Young. Xavier is a graduate of Ecole des Mines (Engineering).
Collin Roche
Co-Chief Executive Officer, GTCR
Collin joined GTCR in 1996 and is currently a Co-CEO and Managing Director of the firm. Previously, Collin was an Associate at EVEREN Securities in Chicago and an Analyst with Goldman, Sachs & Company in New York. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in political economy from Williams College.
Collin was previously the head of the Financial Services & Technology group at GTCR. Currently, he is a Director of Allspring Global Investments, AssetMark, CAPTRUST, Foundation Source, R&T, Ultimus Fund Solutions and Worldpay. Collin was previously a Director of GTCR investments including Aligned Asset Managers/The Townsend Group, Callcredit Information Group, Cambridge Protection, Convergex, Dash Financial LLC, Fundtech, HSM Electronic Services, National Processing Company, Optimal Blue, Premium Credit Limited, PrivateBancorp, Protection 1, RevSpring, Skylight Financial, Syniverse, Transaction Network Services, TransFirst and VeriFone.
Outside of work, Collin stays involved in the community with various charitable institutions and is a board member of Freedom House, a Washington-based nonprofit. In addition, Collin is active in supporting the educational missions of Harvard Business School and Williams College.
Stephen M. Ross
Founder and Chairman, Related Companies
Stephen M. Ross is the CEO and Chairman of Related Ross, Founder and Chairman of Related Companies, Owner of the Miami Dolphins and devoted philanthropist. Related Ross is focused on driving transformation growth in South Florida – concentrating on the high-growth areas of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County. Mr. Ross formed Related Companies in 1972 and today the company has over $60 billion in real estate assets owned or under development, including mixed-use, residential, retail and office properties in premier high-barrier-to-entry markets. The company is also one of the largest owners and preservationists of affordable housing in the country. Related was recently named one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World by Fast Company Magazine. In 2024, Mr. Ross founded and became Chief Executive of Related Ross, already the largest commercial-property owner in downtown West Palm Beach focused on continued development and inclusive economic growth across South Florida. Mr. Ross is an investor in Equinox® Fitness Clubs, Equinox Hotels and SoulCycle.
Mr. Ross is the owner of the Miami Dolphins, an NFL franchise that has become one of the most fan-friendly in sports under his leadership. He is Chairman and owner of the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix. He was instrumental in bringing the Miami Open Tennis Tournament to Hard Rock Stadium.
Mr. Ross is also Chairman and Co-Founder of RSE Ventures, a multi-national technology, sports and entertainment venture firm. RSE has invested in and incubated a number of diverse businesses and has also created and launched the International Champions Cup, a global pre-season soccer tournament.
Mr. Ross has always sought opportunities to give back in meaningful ways. His philanthropic efforts have broadly focused on the areas of education, the arts, racial equality, healthcare and the creation of more sustainable cities throughout the world. Mr. Ross proudly serves on the Executive Committee as a trustee of Lincoln Center, as a trustee of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and as a director on the boards of Cornell Tech, the Jackie Robinson Foundation and the New York Stem Cell Foundation. Mr. Ross is a leader and former board member of the World Resources Institute (WRI) where he established the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, an innovative initiative to integrate urban planning, sustainable transport, energy and climate change, water resources, and governance. Furthermore, he has used his platform to harness the unifying power of sport to advance race relations across the country through the establishment of the nonprofit Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE). The organization’s efforts have been so impactful that RISE was recognized in 2017 by ESPN’s Humanitarian Awards with the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award. He is the largest single donor to the University of Michigan supporting the Ross School of Business, critical athletic facilities, scholarships, career development programs and faculty recruitment and establishing the Detroit Center for Innovation. In 2013, Mr. Ross pledged to give more than half of his estate to philanthropic causes and charitable organizations through the Giving Pledge, a long-term global initiative created by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates that aims to inspire deeper engagement in philanthropy and increase charitable giving globally.
Over the years, Mr. Ross has received numerous honors for his business, civic, and philanthropic activities. Most recently, he was inducted into the National Football Foundation Leadership Hall of Fame, and received the Jackie Robinson Foundation ROBIE Lifetime Achievement Award. He also received the National Building Museum Honor Award, and received the National Housing Conference’s Housing Person of the Year award as well as REBNY’s Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award and the Jack D. Weiler Award from UJA. Crain’s New York named Mr. Ross one of the 100 Most Influential Leaders in Business and he was recognized by NYC & Company with their Leadership in Tourism Award.
Mr. Ross graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, from Wayne State University Law School with a Juris Doctor degree and from New York University School of Law with a Master of Laws in Taxation. In 2004, the University of Michigan renamed its business school the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and in 2011 the University of Michigan awarded Mr. Ross an honorary degree, Doctor of Laws.
David Sambur
Partner, Co-Head of Equities, Apollo Global Management
David Sambur is Partner and Co-Head of Equity at Apollo, where he co-leads the firm’s private equity franchise and oversees the firm’s impact and real estate equity strategies. He is also a member of the Firm’s Leadership Team. Throughout his career, David has led numerous investments across technology, media, gaming, hospitality and travel and currently serves on the board of directors for Hilton Grand Vacations, Invited, Lottomatica, Shutterfly, the Venetian Resort and Yahoo, among others. Prior to joining Apollo in 2004, David was a member of the Leveraged Finance Group of Salomon Smith Barney Inc.
David serves on the Board of Trustees for the Dalton School and the Jewish Museum of New York, as well as the Arbor Brothers Inc. Board. He is a graduate of Emory University and currently serves on the Emory College Dean’s Advisory Council.
Leigh Sansone
Chief Investment Officer & Founding Partner, Paceline Equity Partners
Leigh Sansone is the Chief Investment Officer and Founding Partner of Paceline Equity Partners, a women-owned private equity firm which is based in Dallas and focused on special situations across three main verticals in corporate credit, private equity, and real assets. The founding partners have now worked together for over sixteen years, and including their experience together at a prior firm, have deployed over $20B across several different cycles.
Leigh also currently serves on the Advisory Board of Paceline portfolio companies RELAM, Inc., Quick Fitting, LLC, AHF Products, LLC, B&S Site Development, LLC and Annabelle Acquisition Co., LLC. Prior to forming Paceline, Leigh spent 20 years at Lone Star Funds beginning her career there in Fund I and leaving at Fund X in 2018 – along with five of her other founding partners to start Paceline.
Leigh was involved in the formation and is still involved in the continued strategy of Gradus, an organization focused on investing in non-profit organizations in North Texas and New York City that provide children and their families with the tools needed to live lives of meaning. In 2023, Leigh was named to Pensions & Investments list of “Influential Women in Institutional Investing”, which celebrates women who are having an outsized impact on the investment market as well as driving positive change across the industry. Leigh graduated with honors from Texas A&M University with a BBA in Finance and is a CFA charterholder.
Bei Saville, CFA, CAIA
Chief Investment Officer, Advance Treasury and Fingerboard Family Office
Bei is the Chief Investment Officer of Advance Treasury and Fingerboard Family Office, where she is responsible for the investment of the single-family office, the family foundation as well as the Advance corporate liquid assets. Headquartered in New York City, Advance is a private, family-owned enterprise for the past 100 years, with businesses spanning across media, entertainment, communications, technology and education globally. Advance’s portfolio of exceptional companies includes Condé Nast, Advance Local, Stage Entertainment, The IRONMAN Group, American City Business Journals, Leaders Group, Turnitin, and POP. Advance is also among the largest shareholders in Charter Communications, Warner Bros. Discovery and Reddit. Bei has established a reputation as a long-term investor with a significant background in portfolio management, alternative investments and strategic planning. Prior to Advance, Bei was the CIO for Endowments and Foundations at Northern Trust, where she was the Chairwoman for the Endowments and Foundations Investment Committee and a voting member of the Investment Oversight Committee of the OCIO program of $130B+. Previously, she was the Director of Alternatives at Helmsley Charitable Trust. Before that, she held senior investment and management positions at Pfizer, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan. Bei is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria Foundation and the Knowles Foundation. She is a member of the Advisory Council for Alternative Investments at the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity.
Isabelle Scemama
Global Head, Alts, AXA IM Alts
Isabelle Scemama is Global Head of AXA IM Alts. Isabelle oversees AXA IM’s €185bn+ alternative business unit, AXA IM Alts, which employs over 800 people located in 17 offices, serving the needs of more than 600 clients globally.
AXA IM Alts is a global leader in alternatives asset management, putting ESG at the heart of its investment approach, with an established position in real estate (#1 real estate investment manager in Europe, #9 worldwide), infrastructure (#3 global infrastructure debt capital raiser), private debt (#1 CRE debt capital raiser globally, #4 global private debt capital raiser) alternative credit and private equity.
In her role, she leads the definition and execution of AXA IM Alts global strategy as well as in the supervision of its day-to-day management. Isabelle also sits on AXA IM – Real Estate and Infrastructure Investment Committees and chairs the AXA IM Alts Management Board.
Isabelle joined AXA IM - Real Assets in 2001 to develop the third-party business. Notably, she launched the CRE and infrastructure debt lending platforms in 2005 and 2013 respectively, now firmly established as global leaders, before taking responsibility of the full fund management activity of AXA IM- Real Assets. She was later appointed CEO of AXA IM – Real Assets in 2017, a role to which was added the responsibility of the overall alternatives’ asset management activity of AXA IM, as Global Head of AXA IM Alts in 2020.
Isabelle has more than 32 years of experience in the alternatives asset management industry, out of which 21 years within AXA IM. Before joining AXA IM, Isabelle held various positions in corporate and real estate financing at Paribas.
Isabelle graduated from IEP Paris (Sciences Po) with a degree in Political Science in 1989.
Gregory Schmitt
Head of Private Equity & Co-Investments, MEAG Munich ERGO
Greg serves as the Head of Private Equity & Co-Investments at MEAG, which he joined in 2015. In his role, Greg oversees MEAG’s global Private Equity and Infrastructure Primary Fund and Co-Investments programs, leading a team of six professionals. He is responsible for the overall strategy, selection, and due diligence. Before joining MEAG, Greg was an Investment Manager at Societe Generale in Paris, where he managed life insurance proceeds across multiple asset classes. He is a CAIA charterholder and holds degrees in Business and Finance from institutions in the UK, Germany, and France.
Meghan Sharp
Global Head and Chief Investment Officer, Decarbonization Partners
Meghan Sharp is Global Head and Chief Investment Officer of Decarbonization Partners, a BlackRock and Temasek JV that invests in the next generation of innovative decarbonization solutions and businesses to accelerate global efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Decarb Partners invests in climate technology companies in the late-VC / early-growth equity stage. In this role, she chairs the investment committee, oversees a global team of 30+ professionals and leads the overall vision and investment strategy for the business and its funds.
Prior to Decarb Partners, Dr. Sharp served as Global Head of BP Ventures, leading BP's global corporate venture capital activities. During her leadership, the team made investments across the decarbonization sector including advanced mobility, bio and low carbon products, power and storage, and carbon management. Dr. Sharp has significant experience in venture capital and operating experience, which includes her time serving as COO of Beyond Limits, a pioneering artificial intelligence company with applications for the energy transition.
Meghan holds a PhD in microbial genetics from the University of California, San Francisco, an MBA from Columbia University, and post-doctoral experience from the University of Chicago and the Carnegie Institute, Stanford.
Harj Shoan
Senior Managing Director, Private Capital, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP)
Harj Shoan is a Senior Managing Director at Ontario Teachers’. Based in Toronto, he leads activities globally in both Funds and Sustainable Energy Transition within our Private Capital team. Harj joined Ontario Teachers’ in 2014 and has over two decades of experience in international private equity, investment banking, and corporate finance. He is also a member of the Equities Underwriting Committee.
Since joining the organization, Harj has led a number of transactions, including Arterra Wines, Shearer’s Snacks, Traeger Grills, Munchkin, BRG (Bell/Riddell/Giro), Bass Pro/Cabela’s, Unifoods, and Alqueria. Harj currently sits on the boards of Arterra Wines and Traeger Grills.
Prior to his current roles, Harj has held numerous leadership positions within Private Capital, including responsibility for the global Portfolio Management practice, as well as being a lead member of the Consumer & Retail direct investing team.
Previously, Harj worked for Imperial Capital, Morgan Stanley Private Equity (U.K.), Shoppers Drug Mart, and BMO Nesbitt Burns.
Harj holds an MBA from the University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University. He is also a CFA charterholder
Alok Singh
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, Bridge Growth Partners
Alok Singh is the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer, and Co-Founder of Bridge Growth Partners. He is currently a Director of Solace and Syniti, and is the former Chairman of Finalsite, and a former Director of Accedian and Salient CRGT.
Prior to founding BGP, Mr. Singh was a Managing Director from 2002 to 2013 at New Mountain Capital. During this period, he served as Chairman of JDA Software, and RedPrairie; Lead Director of AmWINS, Camber, Deltek, Ikaria, Stroz Friedberg; and Director of Avantor, EverBank, and Validus.
Prior to joining New Mountain Capital, Mr. Singh held various senior positions at Bankers Trust (including being a member of the Partnership Group), Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, and Barclays Capital.
Mr. Singh is a member of the Dean’s Council of Weill Cornell Medical College, a member of New York University’s Stern School of Business Board of Overseers, and a member of the Economic Club of New York. He received his B.A. in Economics and History and his M.B.A. in Finance and International Business from New York University.
Tom Sittema
Executive Chairman, StepStone
Mr. Sittema is a Partner at StepStone and a co-founder of StepStone Private Wealth. In his position as Executive Chairman he leads the executive leadership team on strategic initiatives and oversees the investment activities for StepStone’s Private Wealth team which seeks to convert the private markets advantages enjoyed by large institutional investors into opportunities for individual investors.
Prior to joining StepStone, Mr. Sittema served as the CEO of CNL Financial Group, a $10 billion asset manager providing access for individual investors to the private markets. Mr. Sittema held a variety of leadership roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch/Bank of America over a 27-year career, including the U.S. Head of Real Estate Investment Trusts and Lodging Investment Banking.
Mr. Sittema received his BA from Dordt University and his MBA from Indiana University Kelley School of Business. He is the co-founder and board chair of LIFT Orlando, an organization established to break the cycle of generational concentrated poverty in Central Florida. Mr. Sittema serves on numerous Boards and is Past Chair of The Economic Development Commission of Central Florida, United Way of Central Florida, Florida Citrus Sports and has received several economic development and civic awards, including Central Florida Social Entrepreneur of the Year.
Wilfred Small
Senior Managing Director and Member of the ASF Management Committee, Ardian
Wilfred Small is a Senior Managing Director and member of the Ardian Secondary Fund (“ASF”) Management Committee. He is primarily engaged in the origination and evaluation of investments in North America, where he plays a leading role in developing Ardian’s Secondaries & Primaries business. He also oversees the San Francisco office, where he is responsible for leading the team dedicated to following the firm’s western North American LP and GP relationships. Mr. Small joined Ardian in 2011 in New York and established the San Francisco office alongside Mr. Mark Benedetti and Mr. Vladimir Colas in 2015. In 2021, he relocated from San Francisco to London to work with clients internationally and on new product development. As of September 2023, he is based in New York.
Education: Princeton University
Jon Sokoloff
Managing Partner, Leonard Green & Partners, L.P.
Mr. Sokoloff is a Managing Partner of Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. ("LGP"). LGP is a leading private equity investment firm based in Los Angeles with more than $75 billion of assets under management. The firm partners with experienced management teams, and often with founders, to invest in market-leading companies.
Mr. Sokoloff joined LGP in 1990. Prior to LGP, he was a Managing Director in corporate finance at Drexel and a Principal of Hambrecht & Quist Capital Management LLC. He began his career with Woodman, Kirkpatrick & Gilbreath and Merrill Lynch & Co. Mr. Sokoloff presently serves on the Board of Directors of Jetro Cash & Carry, Mariner Wealth Advisors, and Union Square Hospitality Group. His previous board positions include Advantage Solutions, Authentic Brands Group, BJ's Wholesale Club, The Container Store, Shake Shack, Signet Jewelers, and Whole Foods Market, as well as other companies. Mr. Sokoloff serves as a trustee of Williams College and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He is also a board member of the Melanoma Research Alliance. Mr. Sokoloff earned a B.A. in Political Economy and History from Williams College.
Joan Solotar
Global Head of Private Wealth Solutions, Blackstone
Joan Solotar is the Global Head of Private Wealth Solutions. She serves on the firm’s Management Committee. Blackstone’s Private Wealth Solutions’ mission is to bring institutional quality products across a broad spectrum of alternative asset classes to high net worth clients and their advisors. Ms. Solotar also serves on the board of directors of First Eagle Investment Management.
Before joining Blackstone in 2007, Ms. Solotar was Head of Equity Research at Bank of America Securities and a highly ranked Institutional Investor All Star financial services analyst at Credit Suisse and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.
Ms. Solotar is a member of the Board of Trustees of East Harlem Tutorial Program and East Harlem Scholars Academies. She wrote a Harvard Business Review article entitled, “Truths for our Daughters,” and co-authored, “Truths from My Daughter.”
Ms. Solotar received a BS in Management Information Systems from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA in Finance from New York University.
Jan Stahlberg
Founder ＆ Managing Partner, Trill Impact
Jan is the founder and Managing Partner of Trill Impact and has more than 25 years of experience in private equity. He started his professional career at Ovako Steel for 10 years and then transitioned to private equity in 1995, when he was a part of the initial team at EQT Partners. At EQT, he served in several senior positions such as Deputy CEO and Vice Chairman before leaving in 2018.
Currently, he is a board member of Trelleborg, Bactiguard and ITB Med and he also chairs the Swedish Chess Academy.
Jan holds a M.Sc. in Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics.
Trill Impact is an established Impact House with around EUR 1.3 billion in assets under management across its investment strategies; Private Equity, Ventures and Microfinance, with a team of experienced professionals based in Europe and North America.
Trill Impact aims to be a force for positive change through impact private investments, delivering Real Returns and Lasting Impact for the benefit of investors, businesses and society at large – encouraging others to follow.
Pete Stavros
Partner, Co-Head of Global Private Equity, KKR
Pete Stavros (New York) joined KKR in 2005 and is Co-Head of Global Private Equity, which constitutes over $176 billion of assets covering investment strategies across traditional large and mid-cap private equity, core private equity and growth equity. This includes oversight across Europe, Asia and the Americas and covers traditional large and mid-cap private equity, impact, core and growth equity. Prior to this role, Mr. Stavros served as Co-Head of the firm's Americas Private Equity platform. He is a member of several investment and management committees at KKR and has also served as Co-Chair of the firm’s global Inclusion and Diversity Council. As an investor, he has helped lead a number of successful investments across sectors and sizes, including HCA Healthcare, Nielsen, Gardner Denver / Ingersoll Rand, Capsugel, Capital Safety, Hyperion, Flow Control Group, Charter Next Generation, Minnesota Rubber and Plastics, Geostabilization International, Crosby Group and CHI Overhead Doors.
Prior to becoming Co-Head of Americas Private Equity, Mr. Stavros led the Industrials industry team, where he pioneered an innovative employee engagement and ownership model. This approach has been successfully implemented at a number of companies and has positively impacted tens of thousands of employees.
Mr. Stavros is the Founder and Chairman of Ownership Works, a non-profit focused on broadening corporate ownership and enhancing the financial resiliency of the workforce. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Stavros was an investor with GTCR Golder Rauner, where he was an investor in the healthcare sector. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry, magna cum laude, from Duke University and an M.B.A. with high distinction, Baker Scholar, from Harvard Business School.
Mark Steed
Chief Investment Officer, Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS)
Mark Steed is the Chief Investment Officer for PSPRS, Arizona’s pension plan for first responders. Over the last 15 years Mark has managed Private Equity, Venture Capital, Absolute Return, Opportunistic Credit, Public Equity, Global Trading Strategies and Real Estate portfolios. His creative approach and notable performance across disparate asset classes won him recognition as a “Rising Star” by Money Management Magazine and, later, “Asset Allocator of the Year” by Institutional Investor. Mark also served a four-year stint as a forecaster for the distinguished Good Judgment Project, led by Dr. Phil Tetlock at UPenn, and published the first guest-post on the popular decision science blog Farnam Street. Prior to Arizona PSPRS, Mark worked in Banking at JPMorgan Chase.
Mark graduated with a Masters of Science degree in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University. He also has an MBA from Thunderbird’s School of Global Management (Jost Henkel Scholar) and received his BA (with honors from Sigma Iota Rho) in Latin American Studies and Business Management from Brigham Young University.
Edward Talmor-Gera
Founding Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer, NewVest
Edward Talmor-Gera is the Chief Executive Officer of NewVest. He founded NewVest with a vision to transform private markets investing by creating solutions that make investing more efficient, accessible, and cost-effective for all investors.
NewVest is an innovative institutional platform of passively constructed index funds that has been designed to effectively allow investors to “buy the private markets” on an asset class-by-asset class basis (for a given vintage period) in an efficient, diversified and scalable manner and thereby support their ability to optimize portfolio construction.
Edward has more than 20 years of financial services experience, including more than a decade in senior commercial and academic roles within the Private Markets industry. Edward holds an Executive MBA from the London Business School.
NewVest is an innovative institutional platform of passively constructed index funds that has been designed to effectively allow investors to “buy the private markets” on an asset class-by-asset class basis (for a given vintage period) in an efficient, diversified and scalable manner and thereby support their ability to optimize portfolio construction.
Lamar Taylor
Chief Investment Officer, State Board of Administration of Florida
Lamar Taylor is the Chief Investment Officer of the State Board of Administration of Florida (SBA), a state constitutionally-created $230+ billion investment management organization providing investment and trust services to certain Florida governmental entities. Since joining the board in 2002, he has served in key roles throughout the organization, including Deputy General Counsel, Deputy Executive Director, Chief Operating and Financial Officer, and currently as Interim Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer. Lamar is an attorney and CPA with private and public sector experience.
Ya Tung
Chief Investment Officer, The Jefferies Family Office
Ya Tung is the Chief Investment Officer for The Jefferies Family Office, which is responsible for managing capital on behalf of Jefferies senior employee-partners. Prior to joining Jefferies, Ms. Tung was a Managing Director at GCM Grosvenor, an asset management firm with over $70bn in AUM. While at GCM Grosvenor, she shared leadership responsibilities for overseeing the private equity business and team, including shaping investment strategy and portfolio construction.
Prior to GCM Grosvenor, Ms. Tung was at Goldman Sachs, most recently as a member of the investment team and the Strategy lead for U.S. middle market in XIG (External Investing Group) of GSAM (Goldman Sachs Asset Management).
Prior to Goldman Sachs, Ms. Tung served in corporate functions that focused on cost control, operating efficiencies, and production. Ms. Tung is a member of PEWIN, a network of senior women focused on advancing women in PE. Ms. Tung earned her B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University and MBA from Columbia Business School.
Adam Vigna
Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Sagard
Adam Vigna has served as Co-Founder, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Sagard since 2016. As the firm’s Chief Investment Officer, Adam is actively involved in all investment decisions made across the platform and is responsible for Sagard’s overall investment activities, including investment strategy, governance and portfolio construction. Adam also serves as Chief Investment Officer of Sagard Credit Partners. Adam is a member of the Management Committee and is a Director of Peak Achievement Athletics. He is based in Toronto, Canada.
Prior to Sagard, Adam spent nearly a decade at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (“CPPIB”), where he was Managing Director and Global Head of CPPIB’s Principal Credit Investments Group (“PCI”), with approximately CA$20B of AUM. While at CPPIB, Adam was one of the founding members of CPPIB’s Principal Credit Investment Group and led CPPIB’s acquisition of Antares Capital in 2015. Prior to CPPIB, Adam was Vice-President at Goldman Sachs in the Special Situations Group (“SSG”) in New York, U.S.A., and Toronto, Canada. In 2006, he moved to Toronto from New York to become one of the three founding members of the Canadian Special Situations Group (“CSSG”). Before joining SSG, Adam worked in the Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Division in New York, where he was part of their Financial Institutions Group (“FIG”).
Adam holds a B.Comm. (Honours) degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He served on the boards of Antares Holdings (Chair), Antares Capital, Teine Energy, Laricina Energy and Long Point Energy.
Allen Waldrop
Deputy CIO - Private Markets, Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation
Allen Waldrop is the Deputy CIO - Private Markets for APFC. Allen has extensive experience sourcing, screening and executing private markets investments as well as building and managing alternative investment portfolios on behalf of public and corporate pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, endowments and foundations. He has led and managed teams across a range of businesses.
Allen started his career with KPMG before joining LP Capital Advisors in 2005. He has been a partner and senior executive at several industry-leading alternative assets firms.
Prior to joining APFC, Allen was Managing Director at Grafine Partners and had also been an advisor to APFC for several years before joining the Corporation in October 2022.
Mr. Waldrop holds a BS in Accounting from San Diego State University, is a CFA charterholder and a CPA (inactive). He serves on the Board of the Sacramento Children’s Home and is a member of the El Dorado County Search and Rescue team.
Henry Wang
Partner & Co-founder, BC Partners Credit
Henry joined BC Partners 2017 as a co-founder of BC Partners Credit. He is a Partner in the Credit team based in New York.
Previously, Henry was a Partner at Stonerise Capital Partners. Prior to this, he worked in the Special Situations Group and Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs and has held roles at Vulcan Capital (Paul Allen’s investment firm, co-founder of Microsoft) and Thomas Weisel Partners.
Jeremy Weisberg
Managing Director, Secondaries, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Jeremy Weisberg is a Managing Director in the Funds & Secondaries division within Private Equity at CPP Investments. Jeremy heads the New York investment team and oversees the US secondaries effort with responsibility for leading secondary investments globally, establishing investment strategy, overseeing pipeline and sourcing initiatives, and managing key partner relationships. Prior to joining CPP Investments in 2021, Jeremy was a senior member of GIC’s private equity secondaries team where he helped establish a dedicated secondaries strategy and completed numerous investments across all aspects of the secondaries market. Prior to that, he was a private equity investment professional focused on secondaries at Pantheon and Permal Capital Management. Jeremy holds a BSBA from the University of Richmond and is a CFA charterholder.
Mark Wetzel
Managing Director, Blue Owl Capital
Mark Wetzel is a Managing Director at Blue Owl and a member of the Strategic Equity investing team. In his role, Mark leads the investment process, execution, and portfolio management of the Strategic Equity team’s investments.
Prior to joining Blue Owl, Mark was a Managing Director at Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he was a multi-industry investor within the private equity businesses of the Merchant Banking and Asset Management Divisions. Mark began his career at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Banking Division.
Mark earned a BS in Management from Boston College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.
Blue Owl
Blue Owl (NYSE: OWL) is a leading asset manager that is redefining alternatives.
With over $251 billion in assets under management, we focus on providing businesses with private capital solutions to drive long-term growth and can offer institutional investors, individual investors, and insurance companies differentiated alternative investment opportunities that aim to deliver strong performance, risk-adjusted returns, and capital preservation.
Together with over 1,100 experienced professionals globally as of January 31,2025, Blue Owl brings the vision and discipline to create the exceptional.
Elizabeth Weymouth
Founder and Managing Partner, Grafine Partners
Elizabeth Weymouth is the Founder and Managing Partner of Grafine Partners. Grafine is a boutique alternative asset management firm that partners with veteran industry management teams and patient, creative and sophisticated capital to collectively build profitable and scalable businesses across selected industry verticals.
Prior to starting Grafine Partners, Elizabeth spent 10 years as a Partner at Riverstone Holdings, where she helped to institutionalize the firm, sat on the boards of portfolio companies, and secured $27 billion of capital from global sources.
Before joining Riverstone, Elizabeth was a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan Private Bank and Head of Investments for the U.S. Northeast region, the largest investment business within the Private Bank. In this role, she was responsible for over $80 billion in client assets and 70 investment professionals focused exclusively on making strategic and tactical investments across all financial markets.
Elizabeth earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia and her M.B.A. from the Darden Graduate School of Business, where she served on the Board of Trustees for 15 years and was the first female Chairperson of the board from 2016 through 2019. Elizabeth currently serves on the Board of Directors for UVIMCO and Chilton Trust and is a member of the Board of Trustees at Deerfield Academy. She is also a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Elizabeth has been recognized as one of ten “Women of Influence” within Private Equity by Private Equity International.
Richard Wheelahan
Managing Director, Fund Finance Partners
For over 15 years, Richard has been advising fund sponsors and lenders in both an advisory and principal capacity. Previously, Richard was the General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Director of a $3 billion asset manager, responsible for executing capital markets initiatives on behalf of the firm’s investment vehicles. He oversaw fund formation activity, development of comingled funds, SMA concepts, a NASDAQ-listed BDC and joint ventures, as well as financings, including subscription facilities, corporate and SPV revolvers, total return swaps, hybrid and NAV credit facilities, GP/asset manager lines of credit and securitizations of credit assets.
Richard began his career as an attorney with two large law firms, representing Fortune 500 companies, privately held entities and alternative asset managers with M&A, capital markets activities, leveraged finance and securitization transactions. Richard’s breadth of asset management experience provides valuable, innovative expertise to fund sponsors navigating fundraising, investor relations, compliance, financing and portfolio management.
Craig Wiley
CEO and Founder, Transcend
Craig Wiley is the CEO of Transcend, a performance consulting firm that delivers integration, strategy, execution, and executive team performance services.
Craig has over 20 years of leading CEOs and companies through strategic transformation. Transcend currently has 20+ billion under current strategic advisory, a company NPS of 90+, and delivered billions in value creation for loyal clients and companies.
Additionally, Craig has won several best-of-the-best awards from the Young President’s Organization for his executive work at the International, Chapter, and Forum levels. His passion for competition, executive performance, and business are cornerstones of Transcend’s services, products, and company culture.
Jon Winkelried
Partner and Chief Executive Officer, TPG
Jon Winkelried is a Partner and the Chief Executive Officer of TPG (NASDAQ: TPG), a leading, global investment firm that manages $246 billion in assets across a diverse set of strategies including private equity, credit, and real estate. Prior to joining TPG in 2015, Jon was with Goldman Sachs for more than 27 years and served as President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of the firm. Jon serves on numerous corporate boards and also serves on the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago and received his M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Christopher Witkowsky
Editor, Buyouts & PE Hub
Chris Witkowsky runs Buyouts, the leading publication for North American private equity. He is a recognized expert in all things private equity, especially around issues involving fundraising, fund structures, firm governance and management, secondaries, succession issues and changes and trends in the industry. He writes, edits and guides the daily news selection for Buyouts' daily news website and monthly magazine. Outside of work, Chris is a father and husband, a voracious reader and writer, spends time at the gym and practices amateur radio. He's always interested in hearing your story so don't hesitate to get in touch!
Dadong Yan
Head of Barings Portfolio Finance, Barings
Dadong is Head of Barings Portfolio Finance and chair of the Portfolio Finance Investment Committee. He is responsible for leading a global team that originates, underwrites, and manages investment grade portfolio finance investments. Dadong was previously Head of Alternative Investment Solutions at MassMutual where he built strategic partnerships with alternative asset managers globally and originated bilateral private portfolio finance opportunities. Prior to joining MassMutual, Dadong was an investment professional with experience investing across the capital structure in both public and private asset classes at Blackstone, Altai Capital, and Coatue Management. Previously, he was an investment banking professional at J.P. Morgan in the Financial Institutions Group. Dadong graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business and LSA Honors College with a triple major in business, biophysics, and honors German, where he was a Martin Haller Award recipient.
Ted Yarbrough
President and Chief Investment Officer, Yieldstreet
Ted Yarbrough is President and Chief Investment Officer at Yieldstreet, the leading private market investing platform. Ted joined Yieldstreet in 2023 after nearly three decades at Citigroup and its predecessor companies, holding a variety of leadership roles across the firm’s banking, markets, and lending businesses. During his tenure, he served as Global Co-Head of Institutional Credit Management, Chief Investment Officer of Global Spread Products and Global Head of Structured Finance. At Yieldstreet, Ted leads investment strategy across real estate, private equity, private credit, structured products, legal finance, art finance, managed funds, and more. He is tasked with driving investment growth, expanding Yieldstreet’s origination network, and developing innovative private market products of the future. Ted graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.
Michael Zeuner
Managing Partner, WE Family Office
Michael Zeuner has been serving wealthy families for more than two decades. As one of three managing partners of WE Family Offices, he oversees the firm’s US business strategy. Michael is a nationally recognized leader in the family office industry and has dedicated his professional career to empowering financially successful families to manage their wealth.
Michael is a co-founder and a board member of the Ultra High Net Worth Institute, a nonprofit think tank and learning exchange. In addition, Michael is a co-founder and a board member of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard and serves as an independent director at Wren Investment Office, a UK-based multi-family office and a member firm of the global alliance formed by WE, Wren and MdF.
Prior to his role at WE Family Offices he served as senior executive partner of GenSpring Family Offices. In this capacity, he had responsibility for the leadership and management of GenSpring’s network of 10 family offices in the United States, that firm’s key advisory practices, and its delivery of a high-quality client experience. In addition, he was a member of the firm’s Operating Committee. Before joining GenSpring, Michael was managing director and global head of Wealth Solutions at JP Morgan Private Bank. As a member of the executive team, he had responsibility for strategic planning, branding, marketing and specialized advisory services (family governance, philanthropy and fine art wealth management) for the worldwide private bank.
A management consultant by training, Michael led projects in the financial services area for both Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and Booz, Allen & Hamilton. He joined Chase Manhattan in 1995 as vice president at the investment bank and moved to the private bank in 1997 to head up strategy and marketing worldwide. JP Morgan and Chase merged in January 2002.
Michael graduated from Brandeis University, (B.A.) and earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Hannah Zhang
Americas Correspondent, Americas Correspondent
As the Americas Correspondent for Private Equity International and Secondaries Investor, Hannah covers private equity and the secondaries market across North America. She has profiled some of the world’s largest private equity investors and regularly broken secondaries news since joining PEI Group in 2023. Hannah has reporting experience from Institutional Investor, CNN, Reuters and other international publications. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from New York University and has been a CFA Charterholder since 2024
Jonathan Gray
President and Chief Operating Officer, Blackstone
Jonathan (“Jon”) Gray is President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone, and is a member of Blackstone’s Board of Directors. He sits on its Management Committee and most of its investment committees. Mr. Gray previously served as the firm’s Global Head of Real Estate, which he helped to build into the largest real estate platform in the world. He joined Blackstone in 1992.
Mr. Gray currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Hilton Worldwide. He also serves on the board of Corebridge and Harlem Village Academies. Mr. Gray and his wife, Mindy, established the Basser Center for BRCA at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine focused on the prevention and treatment of BRCA related cancers. They also established NYC Kids RISE in partnership with the City of New York to accelerate college savings for low income children.
Mr. Gray received a BS in Economics from the Wharton School, as well as a BA in English from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.
Scott Nuttall
Co-Chief Executive Officer, KKR
Scott Nuttall (New York) joined KKR in 1996 and is its Co-Chief Executive Officer. Prior to his current position, he served as Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer from 2017 to 2021, and he has been a member of the board of directors since July 2017. Mr. Nuttall has had numerous leadership roles at KKR. He was the architect of the firm’s major strategic development initiatives, including leading KKR's public listing, developing the firm’s balance sheet strategy, overseeing the development of KKR’s public markets businesses in the credit and hedge fund space as well as the creation of the firm’s capital markets, capital raising and insurance businesses. Mr. Nuttall serves on KKR’s Balance Sheet Committee and the firm’s Global Inclusion and Diversity Council. He has served on the boards of various non-profit institutions with a particular focus on education, most recently as Co-Chairman of Teach for America - New York.
David M. Rubenstein
Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, The Carlyle Group
David M. Rubenstein is Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest and most successful private investment firms. Established in 1987, Carlyle now manages $385 billion from 29 offices around the world.
Mr. Rubenstein is Chairman of the Boards of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Gallery of Art, the Economic Club of Washington, and the University of Chicago; a Trustee of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Institute for Advanced Study, the National Constitution Center, the Brookings Institution, and the World Economic Forum; and a Director of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Mr. Rubenstein is a member of the American Philosophical Society, Business Council, Harvard Global Advisory Council (Chairman), Madison Council of the Library of Congress (Chairman), Board of Dean’s Advisors of the Business School at Harvard, Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University (former Chairman), and Board of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community.
Mr. Rubenstein has served as Chairman of the Boards of Duke University and the Smithsonian Institution, Co-Chairman of the Board of the Brookings Institution, and as a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation.
Mr. Rubenstein is an original signer of The Giving Pledge, a significant donor to all of the above-mentioned non-profit organizations, and a recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, and the MoMA’s David Rockefeller Award, among other philanthropic awards.
Mr. Rubenstein is a leader in the area of Patriotic Philanthropy, having made transformative gifts for the restoration or repair of the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Monticello, Montpelier, Mount Vernon, Arlington House, Iwo Jima Memorial, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the National Zoo, the Library of Congress, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Mr. Rubenstein has also provided to the U.S. government long-term loans of his rare copies of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, the first map of the U.S. (Abel Buell map), and the first book printed in the U.S. (Bay Psalm Book).
Mr. Rubenstein is the host of The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations on Bloomberg TV and PBS, Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein on Bloomberg TV, and Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories with David Rubenstein on PBS; and the author of The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians, a book published by Simon & Schuster in October 2019, How to Lead: Wisdom from the World's Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers, a book published by Simon & Schuster in September 2020, The American Experiment: Dialogues on a Dream, a book published by Simon & Schuster in September 2021, and How to Invest: Masters on the Craft, a book published by Simon & Schuster in September 2022.
Mr. Rubenstein, a native of Baltimore, is a 1970 magna cum laude graduate of Duke University, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Rubenstein graduated in 1973 from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review.
From 1973-1975, Mr. Rubenstein practiced law in New York with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. From 1975-1976, he served as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. From 1977-1981, during the Carter Administration, Mr. Rubenstein was Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. After his White House service and before co-founding Carlyle, Mr. Rubenstein practiced law in Washington with Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman).
Howard Marks
Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, Oaktree Capital Management
Since the formation of Oaktree in 1995, Mr. Marks has been responsible for ensuring the firm’s adherence to its core investment philosophy; communicating closely with clients concerning products and strategies; and contributing his experience to big-picture decisions relating to investments and corporate direction.
From 1985 until 1995, Mr. Marks led the groups at The TCW Group, Inc. that were responsible for investments in distressed debt, high yield bonds, and convertible securities. He was also Chief Investment Officer for Domestic Fixed Income at TCW.
Previously, Mr. Marks was with Citicorp Investment Management for 16 years, where from 1978 to 1985 he was Vice President and senior portfolio manager in charge of convertible and high yield securities. Between 1969 and 1978, he was an equity research analyst and, subsequently, Citicorp's Director of Research. Mr. Marks holds a B.S.Ec. degree cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a major in finance and an M.B.A. in accounting and marketing from the Booth School of Business of the University of
Chicago, where he received the George Hay Brown Prize.
He is a CFA® charterholder. Mr. Marks is an Emeritus Trustee and member of the Investment Committee at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is a member of the Investment Committee of the Royal Drawing School and is Professor of Practice at King’s Business School (both in London). He serves on the Shanghai International Financial Advisory Council and the Advisory Board of Duke Kunshan University. He is an Emeritus Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, where from 2000 to 2010 he chaired the Investment Board.
David Mussafer
Managing Partner and Chairman, Advent International, L.P.
David Mussafer is Chairman and Managing Partner of Advent International, one of the world’s leading global private equity firms. With more than $92 billion in assets under management, Advent invests in companies across a variety of industries in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia via 15 offices around the world. Advent’s noteworthy global investments have included WorldPay (2010), TransUnion (2012), lululemon (2014), Culligan Water (2016), Walmart Brazil (now “Grupo Big” 2018), GE Distributed Power (renamed “Innio” 2018), Sanofi European generics business (“Zentiva” 2018), Cobham Aerospace (2020), Thyssenkrupp Elevators (2020), Nielsen IQ (2021), Encora (2021), and McAfee (2022).
With over 30 years of investment experience at Advent, Mussafer has led more than 35 investments across a range of industries, including financial services, healthcare, and consumer sectors, and currently serves on the Boards of lululemon (Lead Director), Olaplex, and Thrasio.
Mussafer served on the Board of City Year Boston from 2004 to 2012 and was the Founding Chair of the City Year Boston Investment Breakfast. He supports the City Year AmeriCorps team service at the Boston Green Academy, among a range of other philanthropic organizations.
Mussafer received his BS in Management from Tulane University and earned his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as Chair-elect of the Board of Trustees at Tulane University and is a Member of The Business Roundtable. Mussafer lives in Boston, and he and his wife Marion have four grown children.
Christopher Ailman
Chief Investment Officer, California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS)
Christopher Ailman has been the chief investment officer of CalSTRS since October 2000. He leads an investment staff of more than 200 and oversees a portfolio valued at over $300 billion. He has more than 39 years of institutional investment experience.
Ailman has served on several corporate and advisory boards in the United States and the United Kingdom. He represents institutional investors on the MSCI Index Editorial Advisory Board, the CFA DEI Steering Committee, and the Toigo Foundation. He is the chair of the 300 Club and co-chair of the Milken Global Capital Markets Committee. In 2016, he was part of the first cohort to achieve a Fundamentals of Sustainable Accounting credential.
Recognized as one of the top CIOs globally, he has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Institute for Fiduciary Education’s CIO of the Year in 2000, the Richard Stoddard Award for service in the investment of public pensions in 2003, the Distinguished Service Award for Advancement of Latinos in Business from the New American Alliance in 2006, and Institutional Investor magazine’s Large Public Fund Manager of the Year Award in 2011. In 2017, he received Institutional Investor magazine’s first Lifetime Achievement Award and was named the top CIO in the world by Chief Investment Officer magazine in 2018.
Ailman has a Bachelor of Arts in business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his certified financial planner designation from the University of Southern California. He is married with three daughters and is a committed Promise Keeper.
Britt Harris
Founder, On Eagles Wings
Managed over $500 billion across eight of the worlds largest fund
Two lifetime achievement awards
Has ranked in the top three in both pensions and endowment management
Counciled our President, along with the governments of Japan, China, France, Germany and the UK
Britt is also a professor at both Texas A&M and the University where he teaches a renowned course titled “Titans” which is approaching 1000 alumni, 27 states, u countries, 40 companies with a private value exceeding $5 billion. His students have served as the Chief of Staff for many private equity firms, a central bank governor and an actual governor. They have also participated actively in the San Jacinto project, a chathouse gathering of 100 elite American scientists, policy makers, activists and finance. Shockingly, his alumni have created 37 inside marriages. The goal of Titans is to creature great leaders for the future. Britt calls this them Narrow Path Leaders whose leadership brings families, communities, companies and our country to life.
Britt has the most amazing sidekick savant guiding him, Mrs Sharon Toalson and a flock of highly talented young professionals working with him.
Britt has more than 45 years of experience’. His new company is “On Eagles Wings”.
Todd Abbrecht
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Thomas H. Lee Partners
Todd is Co-Chief Executive Officer and co-chair of the firm’s Management Committee. Since joining the firm in 1992, he has been involved in executing investments across the full breadth of THL’s verticals, with an expertise in Healthcare. Todd is also a Director of CSafe Global and Professional Physical Therapy. Prior Board positions include Aramark Corporation, Curo Health ServicesT, Dunkin’ Brands, Inc., Fogo de Chão, Healthcare Staffing Services, Intermedix Corporation, Juvare, Michael Foods, Inc., National Waterworks, Inc., PCI Pharma Services, Warner Chilcott plc. and Syneos Health (formerly inVentiv Health, Inc.). Todd also sits on the board of THL’s Charitable Foundation.
Before joining the THL team, Todd worked at Credit Suisse First Boston in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department. In his spare time, he enjoys giving back through volunteering on the Board of Directors for the Joslin Diabetes Center and the Board of Trustees for Wellesley College.
Scott Anderson
Chief Investment Officer, North Dakota Retirement and Investment Office (RIO)
Scott M. Anderson is the chief investment officer at the North Dakota Retirement and Investment Office (RIO). The state agency administers an investment program overseen by the State Investment Board that has assets under management of approximately $20 billion.
Anderson has more than 20 years of investment management experience. Prior to coming to RIO, he was the managing director of asset and risk allocation at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board and a managing director at American Family Insurance. His experience also includes a role as a senior manager with Deloitte’s global consulting practice.
A Wisconsin native, Anderson received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Master of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He has completed Wharton’s Advanced Finance Program, holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is the past president of the CFA Society of Madison, WI.
Zach Barasz
Partner, G2 Venture Partners
Zach Barasz has thirteen years of investing experience and focuses on the intersection of technology and sustainability in transportation, manufacturing, supply chains, and the consumer economy. Zach sits on the board of Locus Robotics, MakerSights and Sheertex, and also led our investment in Motive. Prior to G2, Zach was a Partner at BMW i Ventures, where he led investments in sustainable technology companies impacting the mobility and manufacturing sectors, including Xometry (NASDAQ: XMTR), CelLink, Proterra (NASDAQ: PTRA), Lime, and Bright Machines.
This is not Zach’s first time working with the G2 Venture Partners team: he previously spent three years at Kleiner Perkins’ Green Growth Fund. Prior to that, he was an Associate at Altamont Capital Partners, a Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and worked in strategy at the Wildlife Conservation Society, a leading international environmental conservation organization.
Zach holds a B.S. degree in Economics and a B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. from Stanford.
Anna Barath
Head of Fund Investments, Bite Investments
Anna is the Head of Fund Investments of Bite, based in Bite’s London office. She joined Bite in 2021 from KIC, the $170bn sovereign wealth fund of South Korea, where she was a Senior Investment Manager allocating to private equity and credit across funds and co-investments. Prior to KIC, she worked in the Private Markets team of the £90bn Universities Superannuation Scheme. Her experience in private markets spans a decade, during which she worked on combined capital commitments of $4.5bn, with 50+ fund and co-investment deals completed in private equity, credit, infrastructure and real estate. At Bite, Anna leads the fund sourcing, selection and diligence activities of Bite. A British and Hungarian national, Anna holds an MA in Finance from IE Business School and a BA in International Business Economics from Corvinus University of Budapest. She is a CFA charter holder.
Bite Investments
Bite Investments is a global financial technology company that provides software-as-a-service (SaaS) to alternative asset managers and enhances connectivity to investors. Bite’s investor solutions software, Bite Stream, improves and expands access to the private markets through a customisable, end-to-end software solution providing a fully digital, intuitive and efficient investor experience for product launch, investor subscription, onboarding, and post investment events. Bite’s digital marketplace allows investors and advisors to invest in top-tier alternative investment funds in a streamlined process. We combine our proprietary technology with select investment opportunities to provide unique value propositions to a range of clients.
Bite is led by an international team with extensive experience in alternative investments, financial services, and technology. The company has offices and customers in North America, Europe, and Asia. The majority owner VCP Advisors Limited is regulated by FINRA / SEC (US), the Financial Conduct Authority (UK), SFC (Hong Kong), and CIMA (Cayman).
Joost Bergsma
CEO and Managing Partner, Glennmont Partners from Nuveen
Joost is a founding partner and CEO of Glennmont Partners. He is a member of the Investment Committee and the Asset Management Committee.
Joost is involved in originating new deals and also in the negotiations of some of the funds’ key investment and exit transactions. He is a board member of a number of portfolio companies, including the Gode Wind Offshore Wind Investment in Fund III. Joost is responsible for overseeing and implementing Glennmont’s strategy development alongside the other partners and works closely with Glennmont’s clients.
He has more than 16 years’ experience in energy and power utilities transactions across the value chain, in Europe and emerging markets. Prior to joining Glennmont, Joost held a series of senior positions in asset management and investment banking at BNP Paribas, ABN AMRO and SG Warburg & Co.
Joost read Law at Leiden University and has an MBA from INSEAD.
Mike Bologna
Chief Investment Officer at NovaQuest Capital Management
Mike Bologna, Chief Investment Officer at NovaQuest Capital Management, has over 20 years of experience in the biomedical industry across pharmaceuticals and health care investing. He is a member of the investment committees of the NovaQuest Pharma Opportunities Funds and NovaQuest Animal Health Fund I. As CIO of NovaQuest, he is responsible for the day-to-day investment activities of the firm including oversight of the investment team, Due Diligence and Alliance Management.
He joined the NovaQuest business unit at IQVIA (formerly Quintiles) in 2007 and served as a transaction and due diligence leader. Mr. Bologna had material involvement in the structuring, negotiation, and management of a wide variety of product-based and company investments, prior to the formation of NovaQuest Capital Management in 2010.
Prior to joining NovaQuest, Mr. Bologna served in a variety of roles with EMD Pharmaceuticals (U.S. subsidiary of Merck KGaA) and Eli Lilly and Company. He worked in corporate development, market research, and commercial new product planning.
Mr. Bologna earned a BS in Nursing from University of Michigan and MBA from Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Mark Buchanan
Managing Director, Head of ESOP, Investment Bank Group
Mark Buchanan is a Managing Director in the Investment Banking group. He leads the ESOP Investment Banking effort for the firm, serving the unique objectives of family, founder, and employee-owned companies. Mark brings extensive experience in M&A, capital raising, ownership transition, recapitalizations, and ESOP transactions in numerous industries with an emphasis on professional services and industrial end markets. Mr. Buchanan recently completed a notable transaction, serving as Exclusive Financial Advisor to BDO USA on its ESOP Formation and Capital Raise.
Mr. Buchanan joined Stout from Macquarie Capital, where he served as Managing Director and head of the firm’s Family, Founder, and ESOP practice in North America, leading a team to deliver multiple successful transactions during tenure. Prior to Macquarie, Mr. Buchanan was a Managing Director at BMO Financial Group, where he served as head of the National Corporate Advisory platform at BMO Harris.
Notable prior ESOP transactions include successive engagements with West Monroe, culminating in their recapitalization with MSD Partners, TranSystems on their recapitalization with Sentinel Partners, as well as KeHE Distributors on their recapitalization with Towerbrook.
Tori Buffery
Senior Director, Secondaries, Nicola Wealth
Tori is a Partner at Morningside Capital and leads the Firm’s single asset secondary strategy. Prior to joining Morningside in January 2016, Tori worked in the Funds, Secondaries and Co-Investments team at CPPIB in Toronto and London. While at CPPIB, she gained extensive experience in private equity, investing $5.3 billion in the asset class including $1 billion in principal secondaries. Her experience spans North America, Europe and Asia in the mid, large and mega markets. Tori also served as a member of the Institutional Limited Partners Association’s Education Committee. In 2023, she was named as a Woman of Influence in Private Markets by Private Equity International. Tori serves on the Board of Urban Squash Toronto, a not-for-profit supporting at-risk youths, and the Finance Committee of the North York Harvest Food Bank. Prior to joining CPPIB, Tori worked at BMO Capital Markets in Investment and Corporate Banking. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Business and Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Robert Burd
Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Maryland State Retirement and Pension System
Elizabeth Burton
Managing Director and Senior Client Investment Strategist, Client Solutions Group, Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Elizabeth Burton is a managing director and senior client investment strategist in Client Solutions Group (CSG) at Goldman Sachs in New York. In this new leadership position, Elizabeth advises Goldman’s institutional clients on their investment strategy and portfolio objectives, working alongside our global client advisors and product strategists across public and private markets. She was most recently the Chief Investment Officer of the Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Hawaii (“HIERS”), where she oversaw $22 billion in pension fund assets.
In the last five years, Ms. Burton has been named top ten most Influential Advisors 2023 and Top-40-Under-40 by Chief Investment Officer Magazine, received the Industry Innovation Award for <$20B plan by Chief Investment Officer Magazine, was listed in the Power 100 for three consecutive years, and was added to the list of top 1% of institutional investors by The Trusted Insight. Ms. Burton is also on the Board of Directors of the Chartered Alternative Investment Association (CAIA).
Regina Carls
Managing Director, ESOP Advisory Group Head, J.P. Morgan
Regina Carls is Managing Director of the ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) Advisory Group. She is dedicated to helping bankers and their privately held clients evaluate the benefits of selling stock to an ESOP and therefore creating liquidity for the owners in the transaction. Regina was responsible for the initial development of the ESOP Advisory Group. She quickly became a liaison with all areas of the firm assisting in the analysis and structuring of complex ESOP financings.
Regina has been with J.P. Morgan for 30 years. Prior to spearheading the ESOP Advisory Group, she was a division manager within Middle Market Banking. She has gained broad experience during her career within the firm.
Regina received a Bachelor of Business degree in Finance from the University of Iowa and holds a Master of Business Administration from DePaul University. She is licensed by FINRA with a Series 24, Series 63 and Series 79.
Regina is a recognized expert and frequent speaker in the ESOP Community. In 2014, Regina was appointed to the Advisory Committee of ESCA (Employee-Owned S Corporations of America). She is a member of the ESOP Association headquartered in Washington, D.C and serves on their Banking and Finance Committee. Additionally, Regina is an active member of the National Center for Employee Ownership and Ohio Employee Ownership Center.
Marion N. Chebet, MBA
Senior Portfolio Manager, Director of Impact Investing, Johnson Financial Group
Marion N. Chebet is a Senior Portfolio Manager for Johnson Financial Group. In her role, Marion is intimately involved in the formulation, execution and oversight of the firm’s investment philosophy and strategies. She oversees the construction and implementation of client portfolios, sources new investment opportunities, reports on client portfolio performance and manages the investments team. Marion also leads the Impact Investment platform at JFG, providing a financial return while making a positive impact socially and environmentally.
Prior to joining JFG, she worked as an Investment Analyst at Callais Capital Management, a private equity family office based in Thibodaux, LA. Her primary duties involved due diligence on potential transactions and financial modeling including sensitivity analysis. Marion also has experience as a Portfolio Management Administrator (PMA) and Performance Analyst when she worked for South Texas Money Management, LTD based in San Antonio, TX. Prior to working at South Texas Money, she was a trader with King Investment Advisors.
Marion graduated from Nicholls State University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Business Administration. During her graduate program, she was awarded the 2013 MBA Excellence Award. Marion is also a level 2 Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) candidate.
Marion serves as a board member for the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation and For The Good Foundation. She is also on the Investment Committee of The Denver Foundation and Network For Good.
Wole Coaxum
Chief Executive Officer, MoCaFi
In 2014, as Ferguson, Missouri, erupted in protests following the shooting death of an unarmed Blackteenager,
Wole Coaxum, an Oxford-educated African American financial executive, sat in his office ata Fortune 100 company and considered ways to close the economic gap. Two years later, he launched Mobility Capital Finance, Inc., or MoCaFi, as a digital banking platformthat would target the more than 50 million unbanked and underbanked people living in the country.
By 2020, the platform had enrolled more than 25,000 users, raised millions in seed rounds, and partnered with major multinational companies in addition to several cities and municipalities. That same year, as MoCaFi unveiled an upgraded platform, Wole was featured in the New York Times business section as "Trying to Correct Banking's Racial Imbalance." Most recently, MoCaFi was listed on the Forbes Fintech 50, Most Innovative Fintech Companies of 2021.
Forbes also featured Wole in a story, "Ex-JPMorgan Chase Exec Has a Plan to Narrow Racial Wealth Gap in Every Major U.S. City," which highlighted MoCaFi's innovative financial-services-as infrastructure platform for municipalities and organizations.
Before starting MoCaFi in 2016, Wole served as Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase, where he held aseries of leadership positions in Business Banking, Card Services, and Treasury & Securities Services.Before joining JPMorgan in 2007, Wole was a senior executive of Willis Towers Watson. He served asChief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer of Willis North America and Chief Executive Officerof Willis Canada. He started his career at Citigroup, working in investment banking, asset management,insurance, and corporate functions. Wole has been recognized for his consistent track record ofdeveloping and implementing a broad array of high-impact and strategic initiatives which achievemeasurable results.
Wole currently serves as a Trustee of Phillips Exeter Academy and a board member of the RooseveltInstitute.
Wole has a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Finance from New YorkUniversity, a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in History from Williams College, and studied Politics,Philosophy, and Economics at Exeter College, Oxford University.
Wole lives in Westchester County, N.Y., with his wife Kim and their two daughters Quinn and Avery.
Kendra Corbett
Partner, Cloverlay
Kendra is a Partner on the Investment Team. Prior to joining Cloverlay, Kendra spent 15 years at Veritable, L.P. (“Veritable”), a Registered Investment Advisor that manages over $14 billion on behalf of more than 200 ultra-high net worth families. While at Veritable, Kendra was a senior member of Research Department, where she ultimately served as the head of illiquid alternative investments. Kendra sourced and evaluated opportunistic investments in a variety of alternative asset classes including hedge funds, private real estate, private debt, private equity, structured products, NPLs, and other private real asset opportunities.
Education
B.A., Biological Basis of Behavior, magna cum laude honors, University of Pennsylvania
CFA Charterholder
Matthew Coyne
Managing Director, Portfolio Advisory, Aksia
Matthew is a Managing Director on the Portfolio Advisory team and has over 19 years of experience dedicated to private markets. He is responsible for alternative investment programs in the Americas and focuses on portfolio construction and manager selection, providing customized investment recommendations and regular portfolio updates across alternative investment programs.
Prior to Aksia’s acquisition of TorreyCove Capital Partners, Matthew was a Vice President, joining the firm in 2015. Prior to that, Matthew was a Senior Associate at Pathway Capital Management, where he conducted qualitative and quantitative reviews of private equity investments, in addition to managing several client relationships. Matthew started his career as an Investment Analyst at Fleet Fund Investors/Bank of America Capital where he monitored, analyzed and reported on a portfolio of private equity investments.
Matthew graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a BS in Finance and an MBA.
Sue Crotty
Senior Vice President & Chief Investment Officer, Segal Marco Advisors
Sue is a Senior Vice President and the Chief Investment Officer of Segal Marco Advisors where she oversees all investment activities and manages the firm’s Research Group. Based in New York, she is part of the Segal Marco Management Committee and a former member of the Segal Board of Directors. Sue has over 40 years’ experience in the investment business with extensive experience providing advice on asset allocation, manager selection and investment performance to a broad range of clients.
Prior to joining Segal Marco Advisors, Sue was a consultant at Callan Associates and Hamilton and Co., working with multiemployer, foundation, corporate and other pension plans in the management of their funds. Sue was formerly head of client management at a hedge fund of fund and worked for the Pension Plan of General Motors and GTE Investments.
Sue received her BS from Boston College and her MBA in Finance from the University of Connecticut. She is a former Trustee of the State of New Jersey Division Pension Plan, the Investment Committee of Church of Christ the King and Homeless Solutions in Morristown, NJ.
Sue was recognized by the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association as a 2021 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Leader.
Nigel Dawn
Senior Managing Director, Head of Capital Advisory Group, Evercore
Nigel Dawn is a Senior Managing Director and head of Evercore’s Private Capital Advisory group.
With a team based in the United States, Europe and Singapore, Mr. Dawn is responsible for originating, developing and managing secondary market transactions (LP sales, continuation vehicles and structured secondary solutions, such as LP and GP securitizations) for owners and managers of private financial assets seeking accelerated liquidity. Mr. Dawn has represented public pensions, university endowments, financial institutions, public quoted investment vehicles and other owners of private financial assets. Mr. Dawn was recognized in 2023 by Private Equity International magazine as one of the 21 Changemakers who have helped shape the private equity business over the past 21 years.
Prior to joining Evercore, Mr. Dawn was the global co-head of the private funds group at UBS Investment Bank, where he was responsible for founding and leading the secondary market advisory business globally, and before that, for the bank’s investments in private equity funds. Earlier in his career, he worked in international commercial banking with Standard Chartered Bank and as a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton in New York.
Mr. Dawn graduated with honours from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne with a B.A. in politics and East Asian studies, and earned his MBA from the Columbia Business School.
Anna Dayn
Managing Director, New End
Anna Dayn is a Managing Director and US head of New End, a family-office-anchored strategic advisory and capital formation firm in private markets. At New End, Anna partners and invests in high-growth companies, sponsors and investment platforms to provide business development and access to institutional capital.
Anna has over 20 years' experience in funding, designing and implementing private equity investment programs. Before New End, Anna established the North American platform of XTP, a leading cost analysis platform serving institutional investors. Anna previously served as the head of Private Equity at Cardano, a UK pension consultancy, where she oversaw a private equity program spanning $2bn of invested capital. Prior to that, Anna worked at Capital Dynamics and NM Rothschild.
Anna has served on the limited partner advisory boards of several private equity funds across North America and Europe, is a published author, media commentator, and a frequently featured speaker at investment industry conferences. She sits on the Executive Board of WAVE, the Women’s Association for Venture and Equity, and serves on the New York Steering Committee for PEWIN, the Private Equity Women’s Investor Network.
Anna received an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA in Economics from the College of Arts and Sciences, both at the University of Pennsylvania.
New End is a global institution that underwrites and invests principal capital in the opportunities originated by the team. Core activities extend to private equity, private debt, and real assets. New End partners and invests alongside asset managers, providing valuable support on strategic initiatives, including new step-out offerings and capital raising. New End has helped launch numerous first-time teams and supports emerging and established managers with capital formation and business development.
New End is headquartered in London with offices in New York, Montreal, Zurich, Paris, and Milan.
Mary D'Onofrio
Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners
Mary is a partner at Bessemer, where she primarily focuses on cloud software investments. She serves as a board member or observer for Teleport, Netlify, Imply Data, LaunchDarkly, GetInsured, and Contractbook.
Mary is a co-author of Bessemer’s Scaling to $100 Million report, annual State of the Cloud Reports and the 10 Laws of Cloud, and she is a key architect of the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index, which serves as the benchmark for public cloud companies. She also developed Bessemer’s Cash Conversion Score and authors the annual Cloud 100 Benchmarks Reports. Mary was previously named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List in Venture Capital and is a protagonist in a Harvard Business School case on Bessemer's Century Fund.
Prior to Bessemer, Mary worked in Equity Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley and held roles at Apple and at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Mary graduated with honors with an A.B. in Politics from Princeton University and holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management, where she now sits on the Board of the International Center for Finance. In her free time, Mary enjoys cheering for the 49ers, listening to country music, and spending time with her husband and daughter.
David Enriquez
Partner, Clipway
David is a Partner and member of the founding team of Clipway.
Prior to Clipway, David was a Managing Director at Rothschild Five Arrows. As Head of U.S. Origination, he sourced private equity deal flow across secondaries, primaries and co-investments.
Before joining Rothschild, he was Head of Private Equity for the Bureau of Asset Management in the Office of the New York City Comptroller. In this role, he managed a $23 billion private equity portfolio for the five New York City retirement systems (Teachers, Employees, Fire, Police and Board of Education) and successfully established a private equity co-investment program.
Previously, he was an investment banker at Rothschild & Co, Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns where he worked on financing and strategic advisory transactions. David began his career as an M&A lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell.
David holds an A.B. from Brown University, magna cum laude; an M.P.A. from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs; and, a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
David Fann
Vice Chairman, Senior Managing Director, Apogem Capital
David Fann is a Senior Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Apogem Capital, a subsidiary of New York Life. He has held senior leadership roles in organizations that have invested over $50 billion in private equity, private credit, real assets, and real estate for institutional clients.
Kate Faust
Partner, Rockwood Equity Partners
Kate Faust is a Partner of Rockwood Equity Partners, a leading private equity firm specializing in the lower middle market, with offices in Cleveland, Denver, and New York. With a successful track record spanning over 25 years, Rockwood excels in investing in privately-owned businesses and corporate carve-outs. Kate leads the firm’s business development and deal origination efforts, while also overseeing relationships with its Rockwood River Guide® network. Previously, Kate has split her career in both investing and operating roles, serving as Chief Financial Officer of SIFCO Industries and Corporate Strategic Planning of Argo-Tech Corporation (now part of Eaton Corporation), as well as Greenstar Capital and Morningside Ventures. Kate was named one of Opus Connect’s 2023 Top 25 Women in M&A, Merger & Acquisition’s 2020 Most Influential Women in Mid–Market M&A and chaired the Capital Roundtable conference on Best Practices for Sourcing Private Equity Investment Opportunities.
Marcus Felder
Principal, Portfolio Operations, Blackstone
Marcus Felder is a Principal in Portfolio Operations and a member of the Portfolio Talent and Organizational Performance team. He focuses on several strategic hiring programs across Blackstone’s portfolio companies, including Veterans Hiring, Refugee Hiring and Blackstone Career Pathways™ which aims to broaden the high-quality talent networks from which Blackstone companies recruit, develop and advance talent to help them build more representative workforces and inclusive cultures. He also works with participating companies on broader recruitment, inclusion and advancement efforts.
Prior to joining Blackstone in 2020, Marcus worked at the Posse Foundation as a program director in the Posse New York office and as the director of the Posse Veterans Program where he managed relationships with the leadership of top-tier US colleges and universities, military installations, non-profit organizations, and industry-leading companies. He also worked at the City University of New York as a program coordinator in the University Office of K-16 Initiatives and as a founding staff member of the Stella and Charles Guttman Community College where he developed and managed college access, transition and success programs for NYC high school students and CUNY community college students.
Marcus received an SB from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MPA from Syracuse University, and an MSEd from Baruch College.
Pierre-Ettienne Franc
Chief Executive Officer, Hy24
Pierre-Etienne Franc is considered as one of the leading architects of the hydrogen economy. He served as Chair of Hydrogen Europe (2011- 2016) and then co-founded and coordinated the World Hydrogen Council as Secretary (2017-2020). Within Air Liquide - where he spent +25 years of his career – Pierre-Etienne occupied several global business, strategy, and operational management positions. He notably spent 10 years leading the advanced technology companies, venture capital and Hydrogen energy activities for the Group. In 2021, he co-founded the FiveT Hydrogen investment platform and created with Ardian a 50/50 regulated Asset Manager, Hy24. Hy24 currently manages the world’s largest clean hydrogen infrastructure fund, which is today up and running with 2 billion euros of allocations and has already made 7 investments. The fund ambitions to invest on the whole clean hydrogen value chain, deploying large scale projects in the most dynamic geographies in Europe, Asia, and America. Pierre Etienne is the CEO of Hy24. Since the beginning of his career, Franc has built a development approach driven by a belief in the power of alliances, joint ventures, and co-development. It has helped to open new businesses (co-generation), new territories (Russia, China, Brazil in the steel markets), new markets (hydrogen energy, IT), and new technologies (electrolysis, hydrogen tanks, fuel cells in forklifts). In 1994, he wrote his first book, with Christopher Hogg focusing on the importance of customer management, which was published by Dunod. During the COP21 held in Paris in 2015, Franc published a book that detailed his vision for the hydrogen economy, with a preface by Pascal Lamy. His 2017 “Entreprise et bien commun” is a reflection on the role of business in improving society, with a preface by Gaël Giraud. Franc graduated in 1993 from France’s HEC business school, where he was awarded the HEC Foundation Prize and the second prize of the Ernst & Young Foundation for his final thesis on industrial joint ventures.
Grady Frank
Partner and Head of Private Credit Origination, Goldentree
Grady has 24 years of experience in leveraged finance and working with private equity sponsors. Grady joined GoldenTree in 2022 as a Partner and Head of Private Credit Origination. Before joining GoldenTree, Grady spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs as a Managing Director on the Leveraged Finance Capital Markets desk and a senior member of the Sponsor Coverage team within the Investment Banking Division.
Grady received his B.S. in Business Administration from Washington and Lee University.
Stephanie Geveda
Founder and Managing Partner, Coalesce Partners
Stephanie is the Founding and Managing Partner of Coalesce Capital. She has over 22 years of investment experience, the vast majority of which were focused on investing and building pioneering services companies that use technology to empower human capital. Prior to forming Coalesce, she spent over 12 years at Warburg Pincus, most recently as Head of the Business Services Group, leading a team of 22 professionals dedicated to investing in human capital and technology-enabled Business Services companies behind a strategy that she developed and refined over the past decade.
Throughout her 20+ year career in private equity, Stephanie has been involved in more than $30 billion of private equity transactions and has garnered extensive experience in structured investments, including take-privates, corporate carve-outs and growth equity financings. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus in 2010, she worked as an investment professional at Silver Lake Partners, Fox Paine & Company and CCMP (formerly, J.P. Morgan Partners). She began her career working in Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division, where she advised companies on mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring transactions.
Stephanie attended the University of Notre Dame, where she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in finance and economics. She received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, graduating as a George F. Baker Scholar, the school's highest academic designation.
Dr. Indermit Gill
Senior Vice President of Development Economics and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group
Before starting this position on September 1, 2022, Gill served as the World Bank’s Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, where he helped shape the Bank’s response to the extraordinary series of shocks that have hit developing economies since 2020. Between 2016 and 2021, he was a professor of public policy at Duke University and non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development program.
Gill led the World Bank’s influential 2009 World Development Report on economic geography. His work includes introducing the concept of the “middle-income trap” to describe how countries stagnate after reaching a certain level of income. He has published extensively on key policy issues facing developing countries—among other things, sovereign debt vulnerabilities, green growth and natural-resource wealth, labor markets, and poverty and inequality.
Gill has also taught at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.
Dean Giovanniello
Senior Principal, Financial Institutions Consulting Services, IQVIA
Over 30-years of US and global experience in supporting strategic decisions in large, medium and small start-up pharmaceutical / biotech, medical device, software and healthcare service industries. Currently lead a team that provides diligence efforts for the purpose of the acquisition and sales of assets across Private Equity, Venture Firms , Financial institutions and Emerging & BioPharma clients. Deliver corporate strategy recommendations for senior executives to support investment decisions. Lead delivery of global portfolio valuations and prioritization for in-licensing / partnering opportunities and IPOs. BS/Registered Pharmacist Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and MBA from Lubin School of Business, Pace University.
Neal A. Graziano
Managing Director of Private Investments, W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF)
Neal Graziano is the managing director of private investments for the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation (WKKF) in Battle Creek, Michigan. In this role, he supports the foundation’s
efforts to promote thriving children, working families and equitable communities.
Graziano works with the foundation’s vice president & chief investment officer and
investments team – including consultants, trustees, advisors, and counsel – on investment
strategy and portfolio and investment management. He invests the diversified portfolios of
the Foundation and Trust to maintain its purchasing power in support of the WKKF’s
mission over the long term, leading the private investments portfolio.
Prior to joining Kellogg Foundation in 2007, Graziano spent three years at Mastrapasqua
Asset Management in Nashville, TN, where he most recently served as the associate portfolio
manager for a hedge fund and an equity strategy. Prior to this, he served as an investment
analyst at William Blair & Company. During his tenure at William Blair, Graziano was the
portfolio specialist for institutional clients and led multiple research projects for the domestic
equity teams.
Graziano holds a B.A. from Michigan State University and an M.B.A. from the University of
Chicago Booth School of Business. He has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst and
Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Society
of West Michigan. He serves on advisory boards for several private capital fund strategies
and Institutional Limited Partner Association (ILPA) Diversity in Action.
In addition to his work at the Kellogg Foundation, Graziano serves as a board member for
the Woodward Hines Education Foundation, Kalamazoo Peoples Food Co-op, Battle Creek
Unlimited economic development, and the Kalamazoo Farmer’s Market. He is married to
Sarah Curtis Graziano, resides in Kalamazoo, and has three daughters. In 2017, Graziano was
named on Trusted Insight's Top 30 LPs Investing Real Assets.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private
foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the
largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children
should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create
conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and
life.
The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United
States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority
places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant
barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New
Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information,
visit www.wkkf.org.
Lydia Guett
Head of Growth, Systemiq Capital
As an experienced professional with a background in climate innovation, Lydia serves as the Head of Growth for Systemiq Capital. Systemiq Capital is a climate tech VC based in London, investing in series seed to B startups in food & materials, transport, climate intelligence, and climate restoration across Europe and North America. Portfolio companies include ZeroAvia, Jupiter Intelligence, Basecamp Research, and Nature Metrics.Previously to Systemiq Capital, Lydia served as a Sustainable and Impact Investing Specialist at Cambridge Associates, leading due diligence on investment funds with a sustainable and impact focus. She collaborated with Endowments, Foundations, Families, and Pension Schemes to align their portfolios with sustainable megatrends, particularly climate change resilience. Lydia co-founded CA Women, a global initiative, championing diversity across the firm and the investment industry. Lydia's early career involved various roles across Central America, Europe, and Asia.
Dan Gunner
Director of Research and Analytics, PEI Group
Dan Gunner is Director of Research and Analytics at PEI. Based in London, Mr Gunner leads a global team of researchers and analysts who are responsible for profiling alternative asset investors and fund managers and tracking market developments. The team also produces in-depth research papers focussing on the LP-GP relationship and sentiment across all alternative asset classes, including private equity.
PEI is active in the international asset classes of private equity, real estate, infrastructure and private debt, with offices in London, New York and Hong Kong. Its market-leading publications include Private Equity International, Private Funds Management, PERE, Infrastructure Investor and Private Debt Investor. Wholly owned by management and staff, the company also organises conferences and publishes industry-related books and databases.
Prior to joining PEI in 2010, Mr Gunner was Operations Director at Emap, the London-based publisher. He was responsible for an information and insight service focussing on the workings of the British government and parliament. Mr Gunner holds a Bachelor of Social Science in Politics from the University of Bristol.
Lori Hall-Kimm
Senior Managing Director & Head of Global Private Equity, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)
Lori joined HOOPP in 2022 as the Senior Managing Director & Head of Global Private Equity. In her role, Lori leads the Private Equity (PE) team and is responsible for the strategic, operational and investment activities for HOOPP Capital Partners, including private equity, private credit, secondaries and venture/growth equity. She also oversees its global portfolio, which ranges across a variety of industries and PE strategies across the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Prior to joining HOOPP, Lori spent six years with CPP Investments, most recently as Managing Director, Direct Private Equity, where she led the team responsible for the Consumer sector. Previously, she spent nearly 11 years in the Private Capital team at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, helping establish their London office and leading their European fund and co-investments. Lori also previously worked in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs.
Lori serves on the board of HOOPP portfolio companies, Champion Petfoods and Chobani, and has held previous board seats across numerous companies including Merlin Entertainments, Nord Anglia Education and Alexander Forbes Pty. Lori holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BBA (Honours) from the Schulich School of Business at York University.
Tjarko Hektor
Partner, New 2ND Capital
Mr. Hektor is a founding partner of New 2ND Capital, based in New York. New 2ND Capital invests in middle market companies in North America, through GP-led secondaries transactions, including continuation funds and fund restructurings. Established in 2016, New 2ND Capital is currently investing its third fund.
Prior to New 2ND Capital, Mr. Hektor spent eighteen years at AlpInvest Partners (and its predecessors) where he founded and led the firm’s secondary program. Throughout his tenure at AlpInvest Partners, Mr. Hektor has served as Member of the Operating Committee, Board Observer and Chairman of the Global Investment Committee where he oversaw investments made by the primary funds, secondary and co-investment teams. Mr. Hektor has a Dutch Law Degree and an MSc in Business Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Amol Helekar
General Partner, TCV
Amol joined TCV in 2009 and focuses on investments in software, fintech and tech-enabled services. He is currently involved with investments in Avetta, Built, Clio, Evisort, OneSource Virtual, Payoneer (NASDAQ: PAYO), Toast, and Trulioo. He was also actively involved with AxiomSL and Razorpay. Prior to TCV, Amol spent several years with McKinsey & Company, where he advised clients on strategy engagements in the energy, financial services, and technology industries.
Education:
Amol received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University.
Pamela Hendrickson
Vice Chairman, The Riverside Company
Pam joined Riverside in 2006 as COO and she serves as Vice Chairman. In this capacity, she monitors and manages policy, political and legislative risk for Riverside and its portfolio companies. She also supervises several of Riverside’s funds and sits on the Riverside Investment Council. Riverside is a global multi-strategy private equity firm that partners with small companies to provide both financial and intellectual capital designed to help them grow. Prior to joining Riverside, she served for 22 years at JP Morgan Chase with senior roles in both the Real Estate Division and the Private Bank.
She is Chairman of the Board of the American Investment Council, a member of AON’s M&A advisory board, a member of the board of Accordion Technologies a member of the board of Applied Biological Laboratories and is a Trustee of the National Humanities Center, where she chairs the audit committee.
Pam earned an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA in Public Policy and History from Duke University.
The Riverside Company is a leading global private investor with 35 years of investing solely in the smaller end of the middle market (“SEMM”). As of June 30, 2023, the firm has approximately $13.6 billion in assets under management across three dedicated core investment strategies of private equity, flexible capital and private credit with dedicated teams in 16 regional offices around the globe.
Since inception, Riverside has made over 980 platform and add-on investments across business services, software and IT, specialty manufacturing and distribution, healthcare, consumer brands and services, education and training, and franchising.
Riverside brings substantial global resources to its portfolio companies, including over 120 investment professionals, 73 operating professionals, a 23-person global origination team, and other proprietary alpha tools. Riverside believes these resources provide a competitive advantage in identifying and evaluating opportunities and in growing small companies into larger market leaders.
David Herbers
Managing Director, Secondaries Group, Ares Management
Mr. Herbers is a Managing Director in the Ares Secondaries Group, where he focuses on private equity secondaries. Prior to joining Ares in 2021, he was a Director in the Private Equity Group at Landmark Partners, where he focused on transaction origination, underwriting, and negotiation of private equity investments. Previously, Mr. Herbers was a Vice President at Pomona Capital, where he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and executing secondary investments. In addition, he was a Vice President in Corporate Finance at KKR & Co. Mr. Herbers holds a B.S. from Santa Clara University in Finance and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School in Finance and Real Estate.
Bryan High
Head of Capital Solutions, Barings
Bryan is the Head of Capital Solutions at Barings and a Co-Portfolio Manager for Capital Solutions funds. He also serves as the Co-Portfolio Manager of Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE: BBDC), Chief Executive Officer of Barings Capital Investment Corporation, and Chief Executive Officer of Barings Private Credit Corporation. He joined the firm in 2007, and has extensive experience in public and private credit, distressed debt / special situations and private equity. Prior to joining Barings, Bryan was an investment banker at a boutique M&A firm where he advised on middle market transactions. He also worked at Bank of America Securities LLC in the restructuring advisory group. Bryan currently serves on the investment committees for Capital Solutions, U.S. High Yield and Global Private Structured Finance. He is an acting Vice President for Barings BDC Inc., overseeing Cross Platform investments. Bryan is a member of the Board of Directors for Eclipse Business Capital LLC and Coastal Marina Holdings, LLC. He graduated with distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Business Administration.
Kim Hourihan
Chief Investment Officer, CBRE Investment Management
Kim Hourihan is Chief Investment Officer for CBRE Investment Management. In this role, Kim is responsible for investment strategy, performance and risk. She chairs the Global Investment Committee and has oversight of all the regional and strategy-specific investment committees.
Kim previously served as CIO for CBRE Real Estate Investments, responsible for the overall investment strategy for REI, including investing CBRE capital into CBRE Investment Management investment programs and Trammell Crow Company development deals. She also previously served as CIO – Americas Direct Real Estate Strategies for CBRE Investment Management and Portfolio Manager for one of the firm’s comingled funds. She also served as a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager for two international sovereign wealth fund clients, with total assets under management of more than $4 billion representing 11.7 million square feet. In this position, Kim was responsible for client relations, portfolio management, asset management, acquisitions and dispositions.
Kim is passionate about strategic thinking, continuous learning and creative problem-solving for her clients. She enjoys the tangibility of real estate, the challenge of launching new entities and the opportunity to support and coach senior talent.
Prior to joining CBRE Investment Management in 2007, Kim had roles as Senior Vice President at Starwood Capital Group, Partner and Regional Director at TA Associates Realty, and Senior Vice President at Georgetown Holding in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, directing multiple acquisitions ranging from a bank in Geneva to a magazine in Hong Kong. Kim began her career in 1990 at U.S. Trust Company where she was responsible for real estate construction lending.
Kim earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston College and Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard University.
Michelle Jacobi
Managing Director, Gatewood Capital
Michelle is a Managing Director and is responsible for leading Gatewood’s fundraising and marketing initiatives, as well as assisting in business development and transaction origination. Michelle has deep fundraising experience, with a particular focus on raising capital on behalf of specialized and emerging alternative investment managers. Prior to joining Gatewood, Michelle was a Vice President at Cebile Capital, a global placement agent and secondaries advisory firm, where she led North American fundraising efforts for lower mid-market and emerging managers. Prior to Cebile Capital, she worked at VCP Advisors, a boutique placement agent where she was instrumental in building and strengthening the firm’s North American distribution network, as well as managing and closing fundraises across multiple specialist private equity strategies. Before joining VCP, Michelle worked in leveraged finance at Jefferies in New York and Mizuho Bank in London, where she conducted credit analysis and underwrote financing commitments for leveraged buyout transactions across Europe and North America. Michelle graduated from the London School of Economics with a LLB in Laws and a MSc in Comparative Political Science.
Gatewood Capital Partners is an innovative private equity firm with a dedicated fund that seeks to make seed and sponsorship-level investments in highly qualified investment managers pursuing a wide range of private equity and other alternative investments strategies.
Dana S. Johns
Head of Private Equity, New Jersey Department of the Treasury, Division of Investment
Ms. Johns joined the New Jersey Department of the Treasury, Division of Investment in 2023 as the Head of Private Equity. Prior to New Jersey she was a member of the Private Equity team at the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System and is an experienced private markets investor and leader in the U.S. public pension and broader institutional investor community.
Ms. Johns has over 20 years of experience investing and managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios of institutional alternative investment assets. She has deep expertise in private equity and a highly developed personal network with established top performing private equity fund managers and next generation managers. Ms. Johns has a demonstrated long-term track record for selecting and managing strong performing private equity fund portfolios. She is committed to supporting discourse and initiatives focused on the thoughtful advancement of private markets investing and creating pathways to inclusion for underrepresented talent in private equity.
Industry recognition includes Institutional Investor’s Global List of Top 50 Women in Investment Management, Trusted Insight’s list of Top Public Pension Investors Directors, and PEWIN's Member of the Year highlighting Ms. Johns’ work in transforming the private equity industry with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Ms. Johns is Board Chair of the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN), and a member of the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council, Academy for Institutional Investors Editorial Committee, AIF Women’s Leadership Steering Committee and the SEO Alternative Investments Limited Partner Advisory Council.
Ms. Johns has both a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Indiana University Bloomington and a B.S. in Computer Info Systems from Stevenson University. She graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a Master's in Finance while working full time as an Associate at Camden Private Capital, a private equity fund of funds.
Dr. Lucas Joppa
Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Managing Director, Haveli Investments
Lucas Joppa joined Haveli Investments, a technology focused private equity firm, in 2022 with the mission to help build a company that has sustainability at the center of everything that it does – from net zero operations to investments in sustainability software solutions. Prior to Haveli, Joppa was Microsoft’s first Chief Environmental Officer where he presided over planetary-scale responsibilities – including Microsoft’s pledge in 2020 that by 2030 they would be carbon negative and by 2050 would have removed from the atmosphere all the carbon dioxide Microsoft had emitted since its inception in 1975. Joppa was also one of the chief architects in Microsoft’s $1 billion Climate Innovation Fund, which invests in technologies that help control the global climate, and of Microsoft’s Planetary Computer, a new computing platform for better monitoring, modelling, and managing Earth’s natural systems.
Joppa has also held roles of chief environmental scientist and computational ecologist at Microsoft and has been recognised as one of the world’s most highly cited researchers. Joppa holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from Duke University and has been recognise by Fortune’s “40 Under 40” list.
Patrick Jordan
Managing Partner and Chief Operating Officer, NovaQuest
Patrick Jordan, Managing Partner and Chief Operating Officer at NovaQuest Capital Management has over 25 years of leadership in the healthcare industry across life sciences, data and analytics, payers and providers and specialty financing. Mr. Jordan currently serves as the interim Chief Executive Officer of Mycovia Pharmaceuticals, a NovaQuest portfolio company, and led the company to develop the first FDA-approved medication for an unmet medical need in women’s health.
An original member of the NovaQuest unit at its inception at Quintiles, Mr. Jordan originated, structured, and managed biopharma investments in the United States and on assignment to the United Kingdom. Over a 20-year career at Quintiles (now IQVIA), he led the company’s global accounts, oversaw over $1bn in annual client engagements, and instituted a managed partnership strategy that was recognized in Harvard Business Review. He was instrumental in the launch and leadership of a new business vertical servicing healthcare provider systems with health information analytics and technology services. In 2016, he led the transformation of clinical development with data analytics and global delivery processes, which was core to the $18bn merger of Quintiles and IMS Health. Rejoining NovaQuest in 2017, he leads the firm’s operations and is a member of the investment committee of the General Partner of NovaQuest Pharma Opportunities Fund V.
Mr. Jordan earned a BA from Duke University; an MA from the University of Durham, United Kingdom; and an MBA with a concentration in Health Sector Management from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Geeta M. Kapadia, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Geeta Kapadia is the Chief Investment Officer of Fordham University, where she manages the endowment of $1 billion in assets and oversees all aspects of the portfolio management process. Prior to joining Fordham in August 2022, she was the Associate Treasurer of Investments at Yale New Haven Health System, where she led the team responsible for managing over $5 billion in system assets. Prior to joining Yale New Haven in 2009, she was a senior consultant at Mercer in London and in Edinburgh, and she served as the head of marketing at Capital Metrics in Pune, India. She earned her BA from the University of Chicago and her MS in financial markets from Illinois Institute of Technology. She is a CFA charterholder and serves as board president of Chester County Family Academy.
Tom Kapsimalis
Managing Director, Secondaries, CPP Investments
Tom oversees our Toronto based secondaries effort and is responsible for leading and managing private equity secondaries investments in North America and Europe. During his tenure with CPP Investments, Tom spent 2 years in our London office executing on secondaries transactions and helping establish a hedge fund co-investment program.
Prior to joining CPP Investments in 2012, Tom worked in Leveraged Finance with TD Securities, based in New York.
Tom holds a BBA (Hons) from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Bill Kelly
Founder, Educational Alpha LLC
William (Bill) J. Kelly, CAIA is the Founder and Managing Member of Educational Alpha, LLC where he writes, podcasts, and speaks on a variety of investment related topics, focused on investor education, transparency, and democratized access to differentiated risk premia. Previously he was CEO of CAIA Association since taking this leadership role in 2014 until his retirement in 2024. Prior to that, Bill was the CEO of Boston Partners, and CFO and COO of The Boston Company Asset Management, a predecessor institutional asset manager. In addition to his current role, Bill is also the Chairman and lead independent director for the Boston Partners Trust Company and serves as an independent director for the Artisan Partners Funds, where he is also Chair of Audit Committee and a designated Audit Committee Financial Expert. He is also currently an Advisory Board Member of the Certified Investment Fund Director Institute within the IOB (Dublin) which strives to bring the highest levels of professionalism and governance to independent fund directors around the world. Bill began his career as an accountant with PwC where he earned his CPA (inactive).
Agha Khan
Managing Director & Managing Director and Co-Head of Private Equity, Stone Point Capital
Agha Khan is a Managing Director and Co-Head of Private Equity at Stone Point Capital. Agha helps to lead Stone Point’s global investments in asset management and real estate finance & services. Agha joined Stone Point in 2002 and has more than 20 years of experience in the private equity and investment banking industries. Previously, Agha was an Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group at Salomon Smith Barney. Agha holds a B.A. from Cornell University.
Doug Kimmelman
Senior Partner/Founder, Energy Capital Partners
Doug Kimmelman founded Energy Capital Partners in April 2005 and serves as its Senior Partner. He is a member of ECP's Management Committee and Investment Committee and serves on the boards of Calpine Corporation, US Development Group, LLC and USD Partners, LP. He previously served on the board of Sunnova Energy Corp, Custom Truck One Source (formerly, NESCO), and PLH Group. Prior to realization he served on the board of CE2 Carbon Capital and Summit Midstream Partners.
Prior to founding ECP, Mr. Kimmelman spent 22 years with Goldman Sachs, starting in 1983 in the firm’s Pipeline and Utilities Department within the Investment Banking Division. He was named a General Partner of the firm in 1996 and remained exclusively focused on the energy and utility sectors in the Investment Banking Division until 2002 when he transferred to the firm’s J. Aron commodity group to help form a new business for the firm in becoming an intermediary in electricity trading markets. Mr. Kimmelman also played a leadership role at Goldman Sachs in building a principal investing business in power generation and related energy assets. Mr. Kimmelman received a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Philanthropically, Mr. Kimmelman alongside his four children, is developing two of the largest non-profit community academic and athletic centers in the country in Los Angeles and Miami in honor of his late wife. He is partnering on the project with Tiger Woods's charitable foundation and the United States Tennis Association. Mr. Kimmelman also chairs the board of Blair Academy, a boarding school in New Jersey.
Andi Klein
Managing Partner and Head of Smaller Mid-Cap, Triton Partners
Andi leads the Triton Smaller Mid-Cap funds and sits on the TSM Investment Advisory Committee as well as on the firm’s Executive Committee. Prior to joining Triton he was as an executive at Procter & Gamble, where he worked across all business lines, leading reorganisations / restructurings, strategic planning and portfolio management.
Andi holds a degree from the University of Mannheim and also studied at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences.
Hans Kobler
Founder and Managing Partner, Energy Impact Partners
Hans Kobler is the Founder and Managing Partner of Energy Impact Partners (EIP), a $4 billion global investment firm custom-built to invest in the energy transition. EIP brings together forward-thinking utilities, industrials and innovators to advance the energy transition. He is responsible for directing EIP’s overarching investment strategy and leading a global team that invests in multiple asset classes in the U.S. and Europe.
Mr. Kobler is a 25-year veteran of energy and climate technology investing, and a pioneer of corporate venture capital. He started his career as a management consultant at Bain & Company before leading the energy technology group at GE Equity, General Electric’s venture capital arm. Mr. Kobler went on to found and serve as CEO of Digital Power Capital, a venture capital fund focused on advanced power technologies. His entrepreneurial spirit then led him to build and lead ICx Technologies, a leading sensor technology company targeting security, transportation and energy, which he took public on Nasdaq in 2007. He launched EIP in 2015 on the premise of advancing climate innovation through collaboration.
Mr. Kobler holds a Master of Aerospace Engineering from the Technical University of Munich with distinction, an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and attended INSEAD’s MBA (SS) program. He lives in New York with his wife and three daughters.
Eric Lang
Senior Managing Director, Private Market, Teachers Retirement System of Texas
Eric Lang is the Senior Managing Director of Private Markets. He is responsible for formulating and directing the investment strategy and portfolio construction for 35% of the Trust (15 percent allocation to Real Estate, 14 percent to Private Equity, and 6 percent to Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure). He is a member of the TRS IMD Executive and Management Committees. He is also a member of the overall TRS Investment Committee, as well as a member of the Private Equity Investment, Real Estate Investment, and ENRI Investment Committees. Before his current position, Eric was a Managing Director of Real Estate at TRS. Previously, he was Managing Director of Kennedy Wilson. He also was an asset manager with American General Corporation.
Eric is a past board director of Home Partners of America. He is a past Chairman and former board member of the Pension Real Estate Association (“PREA”). He is a current member of the PREA Foundation Board of Directors. He was Chairman of the 2009 PREA Fall Conference. Eric was the inaugural Chairman of the PREA|IPD U.S. Property Fund Index Advisory Board. He is also a University of Texas Real Estate Executive Council member. Eric received his BBA from the University of Texas in Austin and his MBA from the University of Houston.
Adam Le
Senior Editor, EMEA, PEI
Adam Le is the Senior Editor, EMEA, for PEI Media's private equity publications, overseeing the flow of global news and analysis for Private Equity International and Secondaries Investor. Based in London, Adam works closely with private equity-focused colleagues across PEI's offices in New York, London and Hong Kong. Prior to PEI, his roles included reporting on finance and technology for Bloomberg Japan.
Veronica Li
Head of North America, Primavera Capital Group
Veronica Li is Head of North America for Primavera Capital Group, a global, diversified investment firm managing approximately $20bn AUM across venture capital, private equity, and credit strategies. Veronica invests in education, healthcare, climate and transformative technologies. She played a critical role in establishing the firm’s North America franchise and was also a founding member of Primavera’s first venture capital fund. Prior to joining Primavera, Veronica was co-founder and CEO of a STEM-based edtech company. She continues to bring operational expertise to her investee companies and is an active board member of a number of Primavera portfolio companies. Veronica received her B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University on a full scholarship.
Eric Liu
Partner, Head of North American Private Equity, and Co-Head of Global Healthcare, EQT
Eric Liu is a Partner, Head of North American Private Equity, and Co-Head of Global Healthcare at EQT. He joined EQT in 2014 to establish and build out the firm’s private equity business in the U.S. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Parexel and Waystar. He was previously on the Board of Directors of Aldevron, Certara, and Press Ganey. Prior to joining EQT, Eric was a Principal at Warburg Pincus where he was responsible for private equity investments in the healthcare industry. Previously, he worked in private equity at The Blackstone Group and in venture capital at Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
He is Member of the EQT Foundation, the philanthropic arm of EQT, and an Advisory Council Member at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Eric has a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University, where he graduated phi beta kappa, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Tadasu Matsuo
Managing Director, Head of Global Alternative Investments, Japan Science & Technology Agency (JST)
Tadasu Matsuo leads JST’s alternative investment and has built built up the program from scratch since January, 2022.
Before joining JST, he led HarbourVest Partners Japan as a managing director and co-head from April, 2020. As the head of alternative investment, he also led, built up and oversaw Japan Post Insurance’s alternative investment, ranging from private equity and infrastructure funds to real estate and hedge funds since September 2016. Before joining JP Insurance, he headed Daido Life’s alternative investment.
In serving as Senior Managing Director, he also engaged in private equity fund investment and headed a business development of Alternative Investment Capital (AIC), a leading private equity FoFs manager and gatekeeper in Japan. From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Matsuo served as an M&A advisor to various insurers' transactions at PwC Financial Advisory Services Japan and then earlier in his career, worked for Nippon Life Insurance Company for 13 years, where he managed overseas sovereign credit loans and investments. Mr. Matsuo received his MBA from Duke University and BA in Economics from The University of Tokyo, also receiving his CPA.
Craig McGlashan
Editor, PE Hub Europe
Craig McGlashan is the Editor of PE Hub Europe. Based in London, he oversees the output of PE Hub Europe and covers private equity deals and trends and writes profile pieces on dealmakers. He joined PEI Group in 2022 to launch PE Hub Europe. Before that, he held several positions at GlobalCapital, including as SSA Editor, writing about the public sector debt markets.
Carmela Mendoza
Senior Reporter, PEI
Carmela Mendoza is a senior reporter for Private Equity International based in London. She first joined PEI in Hong Kong in 2015 and covered Asia. A graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, she previously worked for a digital agency in Singapore focused on government websites and publications covering business, trade and industry, transport, and social development.
Sona Menon
Partner and Head of the North American Pension Practice, Cambridge Associates
Sona Menon is Partner and Head of the North American Pension Practice at Cambridge Associates. Based in Boston, she also serves as an Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) for a diverse group of pension clients. Sona has been with Cambridge Associates since 2001 and brings 25 years of investment industry experience to her clients.
Sona oversees over $20BN of assets for a variety of institutional investors that include public, union, and non-profit plan sponsors; health care institutions; and other endowed institutions. As an OCIO, Sona serves in both fully discretionary and non-discretionary capacities, overseeing plans’ investment portfolios. Sona has authored and contributed to several research papers on key investment topics impacting the North American pension industry, regularly speaks at industry conferences, and serves on Cambridge Associates’ Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council.
Sona began her tenure at Cambridge Associates building endowment portfolios. Prior to her senior roles in the North American Pension Practice, Sona spent over two years working in Cambridge Associates’ London office, where she served institutional investors located in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and the Middle East. Prior to joining Cambridge Associates, she worked at JP Morgan in the sovereign risk research department, as well as on the emerging markets sales and foreign exchange trading desks.
Sona received her Bachelors degree from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2001.
Max Miller
Managing Director, Growth Equity, CPP Investments
Max leads investments in venture and growth stage funds and companies for CPP Investments’ Growth Equity team. Max joined CPP in 2014 and was one of the founding members of the Venture Capital program, which now includes a portfolio of several top-tier funds and companies. Max is based in San Francisco, having relocated from Toronto as one of the initial employees to establish the office in 2019.
Prior to joining CPP Investments in 2014, Max was a consultant at A.T. Kearney, a management consulting firm, and an Analyst at Birch Hill Equity Partners, a Canadian mid-market private equity firm. Max holds a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) from the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business.
Kyongdo Min
Senior Portfolio Manager, Maryland State Retirement and Pension System
Mr. Min joined the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System in 2019 with primary responsibilities in covering private equity asset class, and leading its direct co-investment efforts. Prior to joining the System, Mr. Min was an Area Vice President – Director of Alternative Asset Research at the investment consulting arm of Arthur J. Gallagher & Company. His previous roles also include managing defined benefit pension assets at a U.S.-based manufacturing company and co-leading private market investment programs for an Asia-based family office. Mr. Min started his career at a Big 4 public accounting firm.
Mr. Min holds a B.S.B. in Accounting from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder and a Certified Public Accountant (U.S.).
Toby Mitchenall
Senior Editor, ESG ＆ Sustainability, New Private Markets, PEI Group
Toby Mitchenall has been covering private markets for 15 years; his current focus is on ESG, sustainability and impact investing.
Toby joined PEI Group in London in 2008 to report on capital flows in European private equity for Private Equity International. After a four-year break from journalism, during which Toby advised private equity market participants on their marketing and PR strategies, he returned to PEI to oversee the group’s private equity content, then comprising Private Equity International, Private Funds CFO and Secondaries Investor.
In his current role of Senior Editor, ESG ＆ Sustainability, Toby is responsible for New Private Markets, an information product that covers the spectrum of sustainable investment – from ESG to impact investment – within private markets. His areas of interest include the integration of impact investing into mainstream private markets; mechanisms for aligning sustainability with financial incentives; and the role that private capital will play in combating the climate crisis.
Jim Momtazee
Managing Partner, Patient Square Capital
Jim Momtazee is the Managing Partner of Patient Square Capital, a dedicated health care investment firm. Patient Square Capital in early 2023 closed its inaurgural fund which is both the largest ever first-time private equity fund and the largest ever raised by a dedicated health-care-focused private equity, growth equity or venture capital firm. Mr. Momtazee has 28 years of investment and acquisition experience, the vast majority of which was focused on the health care sector. Prior to Patient Square, he spent over twenty-one years at KKR, initially joining in 1996. He helped establish the firm’s health care industry group in 2001 and subsequently was Head of the Americas Heath Care Team for over ten years. In that role, he managed a team of over twenty dedicated health care professionals. He was a member of the Americas Private Equity Investment Committee beginning in 2013 and was Chairman of both the Health Care Strategic Growth and Health Care Royalty & Income Investment Committees.
Among the major health care investments made during Mr. Momtazee’s tenure at KKR were Jazz Pharmaceuticals (2004); HCA (2006), a $33 billion transaction which at the time was the largest cash buyout in history; PRA Health Sciences (2013); and BridgeBio Pharma (2016).
Mr. Momtazee currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Alladapt Immunotherapeutics, Apollo Therapeutics, BridgeBio Pharma, Elevage Medical Technologies, Enavate Sciences, Kriya Therapeutics, the Medical Device Manufacturers Association, Roivant Sciences and Syneos Health. He previously served on the Boards of Directors of fifteen different health care companies.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Momtazee was one of three executives who moved to London to launch KKR’s European investing operations and also spent several months helping launch Accel-KKR, a software and technology-enabled services investment firm. Prior to KKR, Mr. Momtazee worked at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and was involved in a broad range of merchant banking, M&A, debt, equity and restructuring transactions.
Mr. Momtazee received a B.A. with distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, from Stanford University and an M.B.A., Arjay Miller Scholar, from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Reuben Munger
Managing Partner, Vision Ridge Partners
Reuben Munger founded Vision Ridge Partners in 2008 in order to bring decades of value investing experience to bear on what he saw as the financial opportunities presented by sustainable solutions. A former Partner at The Baupost Group, LLC, a leading investment firm with over $25 billion in assets, Reuben has also been a consultant to Texas Pacific Group and an Investment Banker with James D. Wolfensohn, Inc. His passion and expertise in electrified mobility, renewable electricity generation, the built environment and other assets make him a leader in sustainable investing. Reuben is a board member of Securing America’s Future Energy, a Commissioner at the Coalition for Reimagined Mobility, and a member of the League of Conservation Voters board of directors and serves on the boards of numerous private companies. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Washington and Lee University with a B.A. in Politics and Economics and a B.S. in Business Administration.
Vision Ridge Partners is a preeminent investor in sustainable real assets that seeks to deliver superior financial returns while driving positive environmental impact. Founded by Reuben Munger and joined by partners Justin Goerke and George Polk, Vision Ridge manages approximately $2.5 billion, as of December 31, 2021, across its three funds and associated co-investments. Vision Ridge has offices in Colorado and New York. For more information visit https://vision-ridge.com.
Claire Ngo
Managing Director, Private Equity Fund Investments, Temasek
Claire Ngo, Managing Director, Temasek, has been responsible for the deployment of the firm’s private equity fund investments as well as their syndicated co-investment opportunities focused in the Tech, Life Sciences, and Consumer sectors in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Prior to joining Temasek in 2016, Claire was the founder and CEO of an advisory firm focused on building multinational companies reach in Asia through strategic platform building and partnerships, inputs on key hiring, and knowledge of potential expansion challenges. Leveraging relationships, Claire successfully launched innovative partnerships between traditional industry players and the disrupter economy, beginning in Singapore and expanding to the Asia Pacific region. Prior to that, Claire spent 13 years with Goldman Sachs, where she served in a number of leadership positions including MD, Head of Pan Asian Equities in New York and serving on the Board of Goldman Sachs (Singapore). Claire began her career in the Investment Banking Division, Media and Telecom, as well as Equity Capital Markets at Merrill Lynch, New York.
Claire has over 30 years of experience leading and managing teams in in the U.S., Brazil and Asia navigating cross border teams and foreign investment regimes. From her time at both GS and Temasek, Claire has built a strong network of global asset owners spanning private equity large buyout managers, middle market managers, pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds and institutional asset managers.
Claire has served on a number of boards including the University of Virginia College Foundation Board, Executive Committee for United Nations Women (Singapore), Harvard Business School Alumni Board, Singapore Executive Committee for BoardAgender, Board member for the California Academy of Sciences, and Goldman Sachs Singapore. Committee experience includes Finance & Audit, Compensation and HR, and Nominating and Membership.
She is a frequent panel speaker and is a member of the Private Equity Women Investor Network, Institutional Investors Roundtable of leading global asset owners, Fiduciary Investors Roundtable for Collaboration & Partnerships, and World Economic Forum participant on “The Future of Value Creation in Private Equity”. Claire is a 2012 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Claire holds a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia. She is a classical pianist and enjoys hiking, travel, and performing in Off off Broadway.
Bill O'Conor
Managing Director, Americas, PEI Group
Responsible for shaping US commercial vision, executing, and controlling all of PEI's US focused activities to enable best possible growth rates for the group's relevant products and services. PEI Group's activities in the US comprise a portfolio of subscription-based information brands including PE Hub, Buyouts, Private Funds CFO, Venture Capital Journal and Regulatory Compliance Watch. PEI Group's wider global portfolio including PERE, Infrastructure Investor, Private Equity International, Secondaries Investor, Private Debt Investor. The portfolio includes brand-aligned professional membership services, meetings, events and conferences. Prior to joining PEI, O'Conor held the position of Managing Director for Informa Plc's Wealth Management industry vertical and previously was Managing Director of Penton Media, Dow Jones, and Thomson Reuters.
Adebisi Oje
Sales Director Data, Advanced Analytics & Artificial Intelligence US Financial Services, Microsoft
Adebisi Oje leads the Data & AI Capital Markets solutions team for the Microsoft’s US Financial Services organization. Her team is responsible for leading Capital Markets organizations through digital transformation by helping them modernize with innovative data platforms, artificial intelligence, machine learning, analytics, and best-of-breed cloud practices. She is an avid believer in the role that Data & AI plays in creating a profitable future for all companies. Everyday she translates that belief into strategy to help customers achieve their goals.
She also works as the CEO and founder at Africode, a non-profit organization she founded that provides mentorship to up and coming Africans in Tech. She sits on the board of her Alma mater, the State University of New York at Potsdam, managing the Foundation total assets. She loves running, traveling, cycling and exploring nature.
Lorine Pendleton
Founder & Managing Partner, 125 Ventures
Lorine Pendleton is an accomplished VC investor and professional with a diverse background spanning the legal, technology, media and entertainment industries. She has an impressive track record in the field of entrepreneurship and investments.
With a passion for supporting underrepresented founders, Lorine has dedicated her career to making a significant impact on the venture capital landscape.
A decade ago, Lorine became aware of the stark underrepresentation of black founders in venture capital funding. Determined to bring about change, she embarked on a journey that would shape her investment career. She discovered the Pipeline Angels training program, which proved to be the turning point making her inaugural early-stage investment, igniting her path in the investment world.
For several years, Lorine focused on angel investments in women and diverse-led companies, aiming to create a more significant impact. Recognizing the potential to create more change by writing larger checks, she partnered with Portfolia in late 2019 to create and launch the Rising America Fund I (RA I) investing. Portfolia, an innovative platform of investment funds for women, targets undervalued and misunderstood opportunities in high-growth sectors within the venture capital landscape. It’s made investments in over 140 companies across 15 venture funds.
Lorine’s RA I Fund made 17 investments across various sectors including sports, media, entertainment, fintech, edtech, health, and consumer products. RA I emerged as the top-performing fund within Portfolia as well as a top-performing fund for all funds vintage 2020, inspiring Lorine and Portfolia to establish the Rising America Fund II in 2021, furthering their commitment to investing in this space. To date, Lorine has made investments in over 35 companies through direct investments as an angel investor and with her two Portfolia funds, including notable ventures like Oura Ring, Madison Reed, Canela Media, Maven, MoCaFi, Kanarys, Goalsetter, Curastory, ShearShare, and Schola.
Prior to her foray into the investment realm, Lorine worked at three startups, two of which achieved successful exits. She contributed her expertise to Community Connect, the publisher of BlackPlanet, AsianAvenue, and MiGente, as well as SelectMinds, which was later acquired by Oracle. She is a former entertainment attorney at Londell McMillan PC, Lorine represented esteemed artists such as Prince, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, the estate of the Notorious B.I.G., and Ruff Ryder Records. Additionally, she worked in the legal department at the William Morris Agency.
Observing the rise of AI, shifts in fan and consumer content consumption habits, and the emergence of content creators and influencer marketing, Lorine envisions immense potential for technology to revolutionize the media and entertainment landscape. In pursuit of this vision, she has recently founded 125 Ventures, a new venture fund that focuses on investing in emerging technologies and platforms on the cusp of transformation in sports, media and entertainment. These technologies enable entirely new forms of expression while responding to changing content consumption patterns, delivery platforms, and ownership rights.
Lorine's remarkable achievements have garnered her numerous accolades and recognition within her field. She was honored as one of the 2021 Top 25 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A by Mergers & Acquisitions, featured by Worth as one of the "16 Financial Powerhouses," recognized by Marie Claire as one of the "Most 50 Connected Women in America - Star Dealmaker," and acknowledged by Medium as one of the "200 Women of Color to Follow on Twitter." Black Enterprise also highlighted Lorine as one of the "20 Angel Investors You Should Know." Additionally, she served as a pitch judge on the BET Network/Centric TV's Queen Boss TV series in 2017.
Additionally, she has held prominent positions, including serving as a Board Member of the Angel Capital Association. She also contributed her expertise as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Brown University's prestigious Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship and as a valued member of the President's Advisory Council for Entrepreneurship at Brown. Currently, she serves as a Special Committee Member of the University of Buffalo Foundation Endowment Investment Committee and as a Member of the Investment Committee for the New York State's Venture Fund.
Her educational background is equally impressive, having graduated from Brown University with a BA in Economics. She further pursued her academic journey at New York Law School, where she earned her JD.
Ben Perl
Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Secondary Private Equity, Neuberger Berman
Ben Perl is a Managing Director of Neuberger Berman and Global Co-Head of NB Secondary Private Equity. He is a member of the Secondary, Real Estate Secondary and Strategic Capital Investment Committees. Ben joined the firm in 2001 and Neuberger Berman Private Equity in 2007. Prior to that, he worked as an associate at Lehman Brothers Venture Partners (now Tenaya Capital), where he was responsible for executing and evaluating mid-through late-stage equity investments across a wide range of industries. He also worked in Lehman Brothers’ Investment Banking Division in New York and San Francisco as part of both the Consumer Retail and Equity Capital Markets groups. Ben holds an MBA, with High Distinction (Baker Scholar), from Harvard Business School and a BA, Phi Beta Kappa, from Wesleyan University.
Neuberger Berman
Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategies—including equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge funds—on behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. With offices in 24 countries, Neuberger Berman’s diverse team has 2,300 professionals. For six consecutive years, the company has been named first or second in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management survey (among those with 1,000 employees or more). The firm was awarded an A+ in every category in the latest 2020 Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) report for our approach to ESG integration across asset classes. The firm manages $357 billion in client assets as of June 30, 2020. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.
Daniel Perry
Resource Partner Sales Excellence, Court Square Capital Partners
Dan Perry joined Court Square in 2024 as Resource Partner Sales Excellence. He has over 34 years of experience in Sales, Sales Leadership and Sales & Marketing Consulting working with private equity, pubic, small-middle and enterprise markets. He works collaboratively to assist companies in dramatically scaling their productivity, providing capacity to their go-to market teams and helps accelerate revenue growth.
Prior to Court Square, Dan founded and managed the Sales Excellence Team for Parthenon Capital and Riverside's Micro-Cap Fund. Those Sales Excellence team accelerated revenue growth for over 130 middle-market portfolio companies in healthcare, financial, manufacturing, industrial and business services. Previously, Dan Companies on all aspects Sales and Marketing. He also was a Principal Consultant for Sales Benchmark Index (SBI). Prior to SBI, Dan held Sales and Sales Leadership roles at Three Day Blinds, Lavi Industries, Aramark and Cintas.
Dan is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University where he received a B.A. in Economics.
Venus Phillips
Managing Director, The Kresge Foundation
Venus Phillips is a managing director at The Kresge Foundation where she is responsible for evaluating investment opportunities and investment managers across all asset classes and geographies for the foundation’s endowment. Venus joined Kresge in 2019 as an investment director focused on private markets including private equity, real estate and natural resources. She has been integral to the team’s recruiting activities and has led to successful partnerships with Girls Who Invest and the John W. Rogers, Jr. Internship Program in Finance.
Previously Venus served as head of public markets at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (now Stellantis), where she led investment strategy for the company’s pension funds and employee savings plans. She also worked as an international equity and foreign exchange manager for the global automaker. She has also held positions with Morningstar Inc., the University of Chicago Investment Office, NextGen Capital Partners and JP Morgan Private Bank.
Phillips holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance at Howard University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
A native of Ann Arbor, Phillips serves on the investment committee of the Skillman Foundation, a private foundation that partners with people to transform education systems, nurturing the brilliance and power of Detroit youth. She also serves on the finance and investment committee of the Hudson-Webber Foundation, a private foundation created to support community initiatives across the city of Detroit. In 2021 she was awarded several professional accolades including Chief Investment Officer NextGens, Institutional Investor Allocator Voices: Women in Investment Management, and Crain’s Detroit Business 40 Under 40.
Anne Philpott
Managing Director, Junior Capital & Private Equity Solutions, Churchill Asset Management
Anne is a Managing Director on the Private Equity and Junior Capital team at Churchill Asset Management, where she is actively involved in sourcing and executing investments in junior capital and equity co-investments, as well as investments in private equity funds. She is also a member of the Private Equity and Junior Capital team’s Investment Committee, overseeing six private equity and junior capital mandates, including LP commitments, equity co-investments, structured capital, secondaries and junior capital loans. Additionally, Anne serves as Co-Head of Churchill’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council, where she collaborates on initiatives that prioritize inclusion and authenticity.
Previously, Anne was a Senior Director on the Private Equity and Junior Capital team at Nuveen. Ms. Philpott joined TIAA in 2005 and began her career as an Associate in the Private Placements group. As part of the Private Placements team she acted as a lead originator and portfolio manager for a variety of domestic and international high grade corporate debt investments.
Anne holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a CFA charter holder and member of the CFA Institute.
Daniel Pietrzak
Member, KKR
Daniel Pietrzak (New York) joined KKR in 2016 and is a Member of KKR. Mr. Pietrzak is a portfolio manager for KKR's private credit funds and portfolios and a member of the Global Private Credit Investment Committee, Europe Direct Lending Investment Committee and KKR Credit Portfolio Management Committee. Mr. Pietrzak is Chief Investment Officer of the KKR / FS Investments joint venture and of the business development companies managed by the joint venture, including FS KKR Capital Corp., which trades on the NYSE. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Pietrzak was a managing director and the co-head of Deutsche Bank’s structured finance business across the Americas and Europe. Previously, Mr. Pietrzak held various roles in the credit businesses of Societe Generale and CIBC World Markets. Mr. Pietrzak started his career at Price Waterhouse in New York and is a CPA. Mr. Pietrzak holds an M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Accounting from Lehigh University.
Ken Pontarelli
Global Head of Sustainable Investing, Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Ken is global head of Sustainable Investing within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which is responsible for the firm's private equity impact investing efforts. He is co-chair of the Sustainability Council and a member of the Steering Group of the firm's Sustainable Finance Group.
Ken first joined the firm in 1992 as an analyst in the Energy & Power Group in the Investment Banking Division. After two years, Ken transferred to the Debt Capital Markets Group in the Fixed Income Division. He left the firm to attend business school in 1995, returned to the Energy & Power Group in 1997 and transferred to Principal Investment Area in 1999. Ken was named managing director in 2004 and partner in 2006. He left the firm in 2017 and founded Mission Driven Capital Partners, a sustainability focused private equity effort. Ken rejoined the firm as a partner in 2020. Ken serves as a director on the Impact Nano LLC board.
Ken earned a BA from Syracuse University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Prasanna Ramaswamy
Managing Director, Head of Technology & Data, CPP Investments
Prasanna leads our digital transformation efforts to advance data and technology capabilities to enable business growth, operational excellence and innovation. He is responsible for architecture, application engineering, infrastructure and cloud enablement, data integration, workplace technologies and IT operations.
Prior to joining CPP Investments in 2019, Prasanna was Managing Director, Global Head of Application Development and Architecture at S&P Global Ratings. Before that, he held technology leadership roles with GE Capital and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
He holds a BE in Engineering from Barkatullah University in Bhopal, India.
Tarrus Richardson
Founder and CEO, IMB Partners
Mr. Richardson is the Founder and CEO of IMB which was started in 2010. He has 25 years of private equity experience, has invested over $500 million of capital and completed over 20 platform buyouts and add-on acquisitions.
Prior to IMB, Tarrus co-founded ICV Partners, a $440 million minority-owned private equity firm from 1998-2010 and worked at JLL Partners, a private equity firm with over $2 billion of AUM, and Citibank (formerly Salomon Brothers).
Tarrus is the founder of the Council of Urban Professionals (CUP), a top leadership development and networking organization based in New York and Los Angeles and a founding board chair of All Star Code, a leading non-profit focused on helping boys of color code.
Mr. Richardson received a BS in Accounting from Purdue University (where he has served as the Purdue Black Alumni President and as Student Body President) and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Robert Toigo Fellow.
Steve Richman
Partner, Seyfarth
In the investment arena, Steven serves as investment counsel to institutional investors such as large public pension funds, private pension funds (large and small), endowments and foundations, and family offices. In that role, Steven represents clients in connection with their investments in private equity (both traditional private equity and real estate focused opportunities), hedge funds, direct equity, separate accounts, club deals, fund of funds, and other pooled investments. The investments cover all sectors and include both domestic and off-shore transactions.
As a business counselor, Steven advises clients through the business life cycle, from choice of entity, through capital raise and growth phases (including various commercial transactions) and finally the implementation of an exit strategy. Through that process Steven assists clients with preparing for, designing, negotiating, and executing tax optimized business strategies and transactions. For some clients, he serves as de facto outside general counsel, providing guidance on day-to-day issues as well as on extraordinary corporate transactions. With a strong tax background, Steven regularly works with clients to navigate the intersection of business practicality and the intricacies of corporate and partnership taxation.
Jasmine Robinson
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Monarch Collective
Jasmine is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Monarch Collective, a $150M fund exclusively focused on investing in women's sports. Prior to Monarch, Jasmine was a Partner at Causeway, a growth stage sports fund. Prior to Causeway, Jasmine held investing and strategy roles at the San Francisco 49ers, Bain & Company, and The Raine Group. Jasmine received her BA from Harvard University, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar
Zorian Rotenberg
Operating Partner, Charlesbank Capital Partners
Zorian works at the Tech Fund at Charlesbank Capital Partners, focusing on deal diligence to identify opportunities for unlocking growth and on value creation for middle-market portfolio companies. He has a dual background in finance/investing and senior executive experience, having grown several global tech companies to successful exits. He started his career in Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch in New York, focusing on M&A and financing transactions within the Financial Institutions Group (FIG). He also worked on the Investment Team, investing in private software investments and later held C-level executive roles, leading global commercial teams. Combining his finance and investing background with executive experience, Zorian brings a unique and diverse perspective to assessing investment opportunities while understanding firsthand what it takes to execute and scale a business. He has shared his insights as a speaker at private equity conferences, including those hosted by PEI and ACG. Zorian majored in Finance, specializing in Investment Management, with minors in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from Lehigh University. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Steve Russo
Executive Director, Indiana Public Retirement System
Steve Russo leads Indiana largest public retirement system with approximately $42B in assets, serving 517,000 members and more than 1,300 public employers.
In May 2010, Russo was named Executive Director of what became the Indiana Public Retirement System, a combination of the Indiana Public Employees’ Retirement Fund (PERF) and the Indiana State Teachers’ Retirement Fund (TRF). He had been Executive Director of TRF since February 2008.
A graduate of Purdue University, Russo held numerous leadership positions during a 19-year tenure at technology company Thomson in Indiana and South America. Prior to joining TRF, Russo was Thomson's general manager of operations for North and South America, having responsibility for 2,000 employees and a half-billion dollar operating budget.
Russo also worked for seven years in various engineering and finance positions for the U.S. Department of Defense at the Naval Avionics Center in Indianapolis.
Paul Sanabria
Senior Managing Director & Global Co-Head of Secondaries, Manulife Investment Management
Paul Sanabria is a Senior Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Secondaries at Manulife Investment Management where he exclusively focuses on the GP-Led sector of the secondary market. Mr. Sanabria has spent over two decades as a principal investor and advisor exclusively focused on the secondary market. He also spent nine years as a management consultant focused on the financial services sector. Prior to Manulife, he was Co-Head of Houlihan Lokey’s Illiquid Financial Assets practice, a unit he co-founded and built into the leading advisory group focused on customized transactions for holders of illiquid securities. Previously, Mr. Sanabria was Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns Asset Management where he founded and co-led the private equity fund and secondary investing unit. Mr. Sanabria received a B.S. from California State University at Sacramento and an MBA from Harvard University.
Drew Scielzo
Operating Partner, ACON Investments
Drew Scielzo leads the Operating Group at ACON Investments, which he joined 9 years ago. He is responsible for overseeing ACON’s portfolio in Europe, North America, and South America. In addition, he works directly with a multitude of portfolio companies providing advice on a range of operational issues. Prior to joining ACON, he was an Operating Partner with Monomoy Capital where he was responsible for developing and implementing comprehensive profit improvement programs for portfolio companies. Prior to Monomoy, Mr. Scielzo was a Principal at Allied Capital and the Director of Portfolio Management and Analysis at the Riverside Company. Mr. Scielzo began his career at McKinsey and Company. Mr. Scielzo received a B.S. in Economics, summa cum laude, in Finance and Accounting from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University.
ACON Investments, headquartered in Washington, DC, is an international private equity firm investing in North America, Latin America and Europe. Founded in 1996, ACON has raised more than $6.2 billion of capital to date and has professionals in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Mexico City, São Paulo, Bogotá and Madrid.
Rudina Seseri
Founder and Managing Partner, Glasswing Ventures
Rudina Seseri is Founder and Managing Partner of Glasswing Ventures, leading the firm’s investments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled enterprise software as a service (SaaS), cloud, Information Technology (IT) software, and vertical markets. Rudina has led investments and/or served on the Board of Directors of Reprise, Verusen, ChaosSearch, Basetwo, Inrupt, FeatureByte, Plannuh (acquired by Planful), Zylotech (acquired by Terminus), Celtra (acquired by STG), CrowdTwist (acquired by Oracle), and Navigant Consulting (acquired by Veritas), among others.
Rudina has 19 years of investing and operational experience in high-growth companies in AI and Frontier Technology, IT software, cloud, and enterprise SaaS. Before venture capital, Rudina was a Senior Manager in the Corporate Development Group at Microsoft Corporation where she led a number of successful transactions and investments.
Rudina was appointed as an Executive Fellow within the faculty and staff at Harvard Business School (HBS). Her appointment followed four consecutive years of being chosen by the Dean of HBS to serve as the Entrepreneur-In-Residence for the Business School. Furthermore, Rudina was honored as a member of the inaugural group of Rock Venture Capital Partners at HBS and was appointed to the Board of Directors of the New England Venture Capital Association. Rudina serves on the board of directors of M&T Bank and MSC Industrial Supply and on the Governor of Massachusetts’ Artificial Intelligence Strategic Task Force.
Rudina has received the 2024 Pinnacle Award for Achievement in Entrepreneurship from the Boston Chamber of Commerce, has been distinguished as a 2024 top woman early-stage investor on Business Insider’s Seed 40 list, and as a 2024 Tech Power Player 50 by the Boston Globe. She has earned recognition on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs List and as a Boston Business Journal Power 50: Newsmaker. Additionally, Business Insider named Rudina a Top VC investing in AI and Machine Learning as well as one of the most Important VCs in Boston. Venture Capital Journal named Rudina a 2023 Women of Influence, Startup Boston named her its 2022 Investor of the Year, and Boston Business Journal included her as a 40-under-40 honoree for her professional accomplishments and community involvement.
She graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Economics and International Relations and holds an MBA from HBS. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Epsilon honor societies.
Glasswing Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to investing in the next generation of AI and frontier technology startups that enable the rise of the intelligent enterprise. For more information about the firm please visit: www.glasswing.vc
Chris Semple
Partner, US Credit, Crestline
Mr. Semple joined Crestline in 2011 and is responsible for Crestline’s Opportunistic and Private Credit Strategies. He is a member of the Management Committee, the ESG Committee and various investment committees. Prior to joining Crestline, Mr. Semple was Vice President in the Special Situations Group for Goldman Sachs where he was responsible for originating, underwriting, executing and managing middle market debt and equity investment opportunities. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. Semple worked as a credit analyst within the Special Opportunities Group for TQA Investors. Mr. Semple has a BA in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin. He currently or has previously served on the Board of Directors of Urgent Team Holdings, Inc., Carepayment Technologies, Inc., Leading Pharma, LLC, Clinipace, Inc. and is a member of YPO.
Crestline
Crestline Investors, founded in 1997, is a trusted partner for alternative investment solutions, providing creative capital solutions that generate consistent risk-adjusted returns over multiple market and economic cycles. Crestline brings institutional expertise to its specialty sectors and business Iines that it applies to creating solutions and identifying opportunities throughout the capital structure, including credit and opportunistic investments that offer flexible capital solutions to middle market companies, asset backed investing and financing solutions for private equity, real estate and infrastructure funds and other private asset vehicles. Crestline Summit employs a multi-strategy, multi-portfolio manager, equity-oriented market neutral approach to producing absolute returns. Crestline provides beta and hedging solutions for institutional clients. CL Life and Annuity Insurance Company, Crestline’s life and annuity insurance subsidiary, is a provider of fixed annuity products. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Crestline maintains affiliate offices in Dallas, New York, London, Toronto and Tokyo.
Andrew Siwo
Director of Sustainable Investments and Climate Solutions, New York State Common Retirement Fund
Andrew Siwo is the Director of Sustainable Investments and Climate Solutions at the New York State Common Retirement Fund. He is charged with providing leadership and oversight of sustainable investment efforts across the Fund’s $260 billion portfolio. Previously, Siwo was an Investment Director and Head of Mission-Related Investments at Crewcial Partners, an investment consultancy to over 150 leading foundations and endowments.
Prior to joining Crewcial Partners, Siwo was a manager at the Global Impact Investing Networking (GIIN). In his capacity there, he was responsible for the operation, sourcing, and development of ImpactBase, the largest platform of impact investment funds globally, which he grew by north of $10 billion and approved more than 100 prospective impact funds targeting a financial return as well as social/environmental benefits. He also educated and fostered institutional investors seeking exposure to sustainable investments.
Prior to joining the GIIN, Siwo spent five years in the investment banking division at JP Morgan—most recently in the Global Special Opportunities Group, a $3 billion proprietary portfolio of principal investments in private equity, debt, mezzanine, infrastructure, and real estate. He also held roles on the Rates Desk executing fixed income financing transactions as well as the Securitized Products Group valuing collateralized mortgage obligations.
Before JP Morgan, Siwo was a member of the Corporate Finance and Real Estate Strategy Group at Victoria's Secret where he oversaw capital budgeting. He began his career at E*Trade Financial managing a team of investment representatives serving active traders and high net-worth investors. His investment articles have been printed in various industry publications.
Siwo completed an MPA in Finance and Fiscal Policy at Cornell University and holds a BA in Accounting from Morehouse College. He has held FINRA Series 7, 63, and 24 licenses. He teaches an ESG course at The Wagner Graduate of Public Service at NYU where he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Service. Siwo also serves on the Board of New York Professional Advisors to Community Entrepreneurs (NYPACE).
The New York State Common Retirement Fund is one of the largest public pension funds in the United States. The Fund holds and invests the assets of the New York State and Local Retirement System on behalf of more than one million state and local government employees and retirees and their beneficiaries. It has consistently been ranked as one of the best managed and best funded plans in the nation.
Robert "Vince" Smith
Deputy State Investment Officer and Chief Investment Officer, New Mexico State Investment Council
Robert "Vince" Smith, CFA is among the country's most experienced and long-serving public fund investment officers. With more than three decades of investment experience across four state-level public funds in Montana, Texas, Kansas and New Mexico, Mr. Smith has provided investment leadership and fund management to both pension and sovereign wealth investment programs. In the latter two states, he served as chief investment officer, presently serving as CIO for the New Mexico State Investment Council. Mr. Smith and his investment teams implement a top-down investment process, driven by macroeconomic analysis, long term strategy, and strategic asset allocation.
Jan Ståhlberg
Founder & Managing Partner, Trill Impact
Jan Ståhlberg founded Trill Impact in 2019 with the ambition to be a force for positive change through impact private investments, in large and small scale. The firm’s mission is to create‘ Real Returns and Lasting Impact’ for the benefit of investors, businesses and society at large. Jan Ståhlberg has a long-standing career in private markets investment and has been holding senior investing – and leadership positions in Europe,US and Asia since1985. For ~25 years ,he was an Institutional Partner at EQT Partners, today a global investment organization.
John Stott
Partner, Arctos Partners
John B. Stott is a Partner at Arctos Partners. In addition to his investment responsibilities, Mr. Stott directs investment strategy, sourcing, executing and managing investments for Keystone.
Prior to joining Arctos Partners, Mr. Stott served as a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company, where he provided insights and perspectives for private equity firms in the areas of strategy, organization and growth at the firm-level.
Prior to joining McKinsey & Company, Mr. Stott was a Partner at Landmark Partners, a leader in the global private equity, real estate and infrastructure secondary markets, where he worked closely with Mr. Charles for over ten years. At Landmark, Mr. Stott helped execute the firm’s private equity strategy in North America and was responsible for sourcing, structuring and evaluating passive minority stake transactions across a spectrum of alternative asset strategies, including buyout, venture, and special situations funds. Mr. Stott helped develop innovative solutions and transaction structures that addressed managers’ specific goals, and during his time at Landmark Partners, was part of a team that sourced and executed transactions representing more than $5 billion in transaction value generating substantial co-investment for investors. Mr. Stott re-joined Landmark Partners after completing his MBA having originally joined Landmark Partners as an Associate dedicated to the firm’s direct investing efforts.
Prior to joining Landmark Partners, Mr. Stott started his career as an Investment Banking Analyst with Boenning & Scattergood Inc., now Janney Montgomery Scott. Mr. Stott provided strategic sell-side advisory to clients and executed multiple transactions representing nearly $1 billion in value.
Mr. Stott graduated from Cabrini University, where he received a BS in Finance. He received his MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
Andy Thomson
Senior Editor, Private Debt Investor
Andy has been with PEI Group since 2003, working on a number of titles including as Editor of Private Equity International and Senior Editor of Infrastructure Investor. Since H2 2015, he took over responsibility for Real Estate Capital and, in the first half of 2016, became Editor of Private Debt Investor. He is a regular writer for the magazines and websites and has also often contributed to our events as a panel moderator. Prior to joining PEI, Andy had senior roles at venture capital portal Venturedome.com and at Thomson Financial. Andy was voted State Street’s Alternatives Journalist of the Year in 2022.
Anna Totdahl
Investment Officer - ESG & Sustainability, Oregon State Treasury
Anna Totdahl is the Investment Officer focused on identifying potential ESG-related risks embedded in the portfolio - working collaboratively with industry organizations, data providers, and asset managers.
Anna joined the Oregon State Treasury in 2018 having spent over a decade managing investment portfolios supporting insurance and retirement products. As an Investment Vice President, she was responsible for portfolio management decisions for multi-billion dollar, highly diversified investment portfolios. While at Prudential, Anna implemented an investment analyst training program and participated in a Separate Account Committee providing oversight to investment manager selection and performance evaluation. She was instrumental in creating an ESG working group - looking at the existing investment portfolio through an ESG lens, alongside the company’s $800 million Impact Investment portfolio. She’s also held finance roles at US Bancorp, Goldman Sachs and Exelon Corporation.
Anna is a CAIA charterholder, holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and earned an MBA with concentrations in Analytic Finance and Economics from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.
Tim Tracy
Private Equity Leader, Americas, Ernst＆ Young
Tim Tracy serves as the EY Americas Private Equity Leader, leading PE professionals in 31 countries in the Americas Areas as they provide strategic deal guidance, customer and growth insights, diligence, cyber and other value creation services at the fund, transaction and portfolio levels. Tim also serves as a global client service partner and has advised some of the largest EY PE clients. His more than 30 years of experience includes IPOs, buy- and sell-side transactions, value creation, take privates and corporate governance across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Tim is based in metro New York. He is a certified public accountant. He is a member of the AICPA and the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants. Tim is a founding member of Ownership Works and committed to building diversity across the industry through mentorship.
Sophia Tsai
Managing Director, Trinity Church Wall Street
Sophia Tsai is Managing Director at Trinity Church Wall Street, a ~$7 billion endowment. Sophia covers asset allocation, fund investments and co-investments across all alternative and traditional asset classes globally.
Prior to joining Trinity Wall Street in 2017, Sophia was Managing Director and Co-Head of Hedge Funds at State Street Global Advisors. She co-led the hedge fund program and was also responsible for private equity direct investments, co-investments and fund investments for GE Pension. Sophia joined State Street in 2016 through its acquisition of GE Asset Management. At GE, Sophia was based in the US more recently for eleven years, and also held several roles in Asia during 1995 to 2005 at three GE Capital divisions including GE Equity, GE Capital Asia Pacific’s M&A Group and GE Capital Finance.
Sophia chairs the Investment Committee of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. She holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and the University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong, and a BBA in Accounting from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Sophia is a CFA charterholder.
Andy Unanue
Founder and Managing Partner, AUA Private Equity Partners
Andy Unanue is the founder and Managing Partner of AUA Private Equity Partners, an operationally-focused, lower-middle market investment firm with expertise in supporting and growing family-owned and demographic-driven businesses. Andy is a member of AUA Private Equity’s Investment Committee, and under his leadership, AUA has deployed over $475 million of capital to date.
AUA’s business model is driven by Andy’s own family background – he’s a member of the Unanue family, which owns and runs Goya Foods, the largest producer of Spanish- and Latin-American foods in the United States. Andy’s grandfather, Prudencio, founded the company in 1936, and Andy’s father, Joe, was a legendary CEO of the company himself. Andy was a leader of Goya for many years, ultimately serving as its Chief Operating Officer before founding AUA.
Andy currently serves on several corporate boards including: Goya, Raymundos Food Group and Westminster Pet. Additionally, he serves on several not-for-profit boards including his family’s charitable foundation, The C&J Unanue Foundation. Andy is a member of the University of Miami’s Dean’s Advisory Committee, the New America Alliance and is on the Columbia University Medical Center’s Board of Advisors.
Sebastiaan van den Berg
Partner, Co-Head GP Equity Solutions, Astorg
Sebastiaan joined Astorg in 2023 and is a member of the Investment Team.
Sebastiaan joins Astorg from Arch Capital Group where he was CIO, Alternatives and primarily responsible for building a global private markets investment portfolio. He previously worked in Hong Kong where he held different roles, notably CIO at Sun Hung Kai & Co, and Managing Director and Head of the Hong Kong office at Harbourvest Partners.
Sebastiaan started his career at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Banking Division, based both in London and Hong Kong.
He holds a Master of Science Degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Doctorandus Degree in International Financial Economics from the University of Amsterdam.
Chris Voss
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of The Black Swan Group & Former Lead FBI Negotiator
Chris is a former Lead FBI Negotiator and dynamic speaker who debunks the biggest myths of negotiation. Chris engages all groups with captivating stories, insights, useful tips for business and everyday life, and interactive audience participation. Chris has lectured on negotiation at business schools across the country and has been seen on ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and Forbes.
Carl Williams
Partner and Co-Founder, Sandbrook Capital
Carl is a partner and co-founder of Sandbrook Capital, a private investment firm that builds businesses crucial to transforming the world’s energy infrastructure. He chairs Sandbrook’s Investment Committee and is a member of the Executive, Performance & Growth, Valuation and Climate Impact & ESG Committees.
Prior to co-founding Sandbrook in 2021, he was a partner and co-head of Global Power & Renewables at Riverstone, an energy-focused private equity firm. Carl was previously a member of the Global Natural Resources team at Goldman Sachs, where he advised clients on strategic and capital markets transactions across the energy, power and renewables sectors. Before joining Goldman, he held positions in engineering, operations and strategic sourcing at Lyondell Chemical Company.
Carl holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and a BA in Economics from Rice University, as well as an MBA from Columbia Business School. He currently serves as an energy advisor to Ayata, Inc., a pioneer in the field of Prescriptive Analytics, and is a member of the Leadership Cabinet of Texas Children’s Hospital.
Suzanne Yoon
Founder and Managing Partner, Kinzie Capital Partners
Suzanne Yoon is the Founder and Managing Partner of Kinzie Capital Partners, where she oversees the firm’s investments and operational activities. Suzanne’s philosophy of combining operational excellence with technological innovation separates Kinzie from other capital providers and seeks impactful and sustained growth for investors.
Prior to founding Kinzie Suzanne was a Managing Director at Versa Capital Management, LLC, where she led transaction development throughout North America. In 2013, she received the “40 Under 40 Dealmakers Award” from The M&A Advisor for her work. Prior to Versa, Suzanne was a Senior Vice President at CIT Group, co-founded LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO’s Corporate Restructuring Group and held positions in distressed loan portfolio management and turnaround advisory at LaSalle Bank and Ernst and Young’s Restructuring Advisory Group, respectively.
Suzanne has served on numerous private company and not-for-profit boards. She currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Colony Display LLC, a Kinzie portfolio company, and as a Board Trustee and Chair of the Investment Committee for the National Philanthropic Trust, a donor-advised fund managing over $8 billion in assets. Suzanne is also a member of the Board of Directors of HFS Chicago Scholars and the Council of Korean Americans. Suzanne is an active member of the Steering Committees for the Private Equity Women’s Investor Network (PEWIN) and the Women’s Association of Venture and Equity (WAVE) and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.
Suzanne received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Iowa and is an Executive Scholar of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
Suzanne remains an ardent supporter of the business community in Chicago, where she resides with her husband and three children. Suzanne is an outdoor and sports enthusiast and enjoys golfing and fishing with her family.
Tyler Zachem
Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Broad Sky Partners
Tyler Zachem is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Broad Sky Partners, which he originally started in 2014. In 2015, Tyler and his team joined Carlyle and Carlyle acquired a portion of Broad Sky’s investments. In June 2021, Tyler relaunched Broad Sky Partners.
While at Carlyle, a leading global private equity firm, Tyler helped build Carlyle’s long-dated investment platform, Carlyle Global Partners (“CGP”). As Co-Head, Tyler’s responsibilities included setting strategy, building the team of investment professionals, investing and fundraising activities across two investment vehicles. In addition, Tyler also served as Co-Chair of the Investment Committee for the Carlyle U.S. Equity Opportunity Fund (“CEOF”), Carlyle’s middle market investment platform. Responsibilities for this role included helping set the fund’s organizational approach and strategic alignment with Carlyle industry groups, as well as playing a leading role in the sourcing and evaluating of CEOF investment opportunities. In his capacity as Co-Head of CGP and Co-Chair of CEOF, Tyler sat on numerous boards.
Prior to Broad Sky and Carlyle, Tyler was with MidOcean Partners and its predecessor, DB Capital Partners, for 14 years where he was Head of Business Services, Media and Communications sector team, and served on the firm’s Investment Committee. In addition to these leadership roles, Tyler led numerous investments and represented MidOcean on several company boards.
Tyler earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated from University of Rochester.
Felix Zhang
Partner, Alternative Credit, Ares Management
Mr. Zhang is a Partner in the Ares Credit Group, where he focuses on alternative credit investments. Prior to joining Ares in 2015, Mr. Zhang was an Associate at Goldman Sachs, where he focused on investment banking. Previously, Mr. Zhang was an Analyst at Barclays Capital, where he focused on investment banking. Mr. Zhang holds a B.A., with honors, from Harvard University in Economics.