Fall Academy Investment Forum

As Deputy CIO, Steven is responsible for portfolio management, and leads the firm’s alternative and private investments, and ESG analysis. Prior to co-founding Acansa, Steven was the Chief Executive Officer of Crosswind Capital, LLC, an investment management firm based in New York and London, where Steven directed and managed the activities of a $1.5 Billion closely held Family Office in the United States. His responsibilities included the development and implementation of the firm’s investment strategy in the areas of real estate, energy and natural resources, industrial services, and infrastructure, as well as overseeing all transaction origination, execution, research, and firm management. Steven earned his M.B.A from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, J.D. (Honors) from The Florida State University College of Law, and B.A. from Washington & Lee University. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Aiglon (Switzerland), and is the Chair of the Finance and Investment Committees. Steven also serves on the Board of Directors of Friends of Barefoot College (USA/India), a non-profit focused on the entrepreneurial empowerment of women in the developing world.

Mike serves as Distinguished ML Scientist at Shopify, where he leads the ML engineering discipline and as a Continuing Data Science faculty member at UC Berkeley. He is known for his work developing LLM natural language understanding applications to classify misinformation, founding the fakerfact.org project, as well as for his work as Chief Scientist at SIG and Head of Data Science for the Uber Advanced Technologies Group. He has a wide breadth of ML applications experience including extensive work with deep learning for NLP, time series forecasting, scalable machine learning, adaptive test based reinforcement learning for self-driving, and recommender applications. He was also instrumental in establishing early data science education standards, as a founding designer of one of the first accredited Masters in Data Science programs before taking his position at Berkeley.

Brendan Welter is the Chief Information Security Officer & Chief Data Officer for Rockefeller Capital Management. Brendan has 20 years of leadership experience focused on building innovative cybersecurity and risk programs within diverse global businesses, including commercial, private and investment banking. Before joining Rockefeller Capital Management, Brendan served as Chief Security and Technology Officer at Sterling National Bank, where he was responsible for cybersecurity strategy, resiliency, governance and enterprise-wide technology services at the bank. Prior to Sterling, Brendan spent seven years with Credit Suisse where he held a number of firm-wide roles leading cyber security, technology risk management and product management. Earlier in his career, Brendan held senior roles with Oliver Wyman Group and NERA Economic Consulting. Brendan received his bachelor’s degree from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business and his master’s degree from New York Institute of Technology College of Engineering and Computing Sciences. Brendan was a Military-Business Fellow with the Madison Policy Forum focusing on national cybersecurity policy. He also served as a Chair of the CISO committee within the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America (MBCA) focused on influencing federal policy, regulatory affairs and collaboration across commercial, digital and consumer banks in the U.S.

Chris Crampton is a Managing Director at Blue Owl and the Head of Strategic Equity. Previously, Chris was a Partner at Goldman, Sachs & Co. (“Goldman”) where he was the head of Services private equity investing and prior to that led Industrials private equity investing in the Merchant Banking and Asset Management Divisions. While at Goldman, he was a member of the Global Corporate Equity Investment Committee and Growth Sub-Investment Committee and represented Goldman on various corporate boards. Prior to Goldman, Chris worked in the investment banking group at Deutsche Bank Securities. Chris serves on the board of the ‘Sconset Trust, a non-profit committed to land conservation, historical preservation, and related educational and recreational initiatives in Siasconset, Massachusetts. Chris received an AB degree in History from Princeton University.

Sean Kelly joined the Alfred I. duPont Charitable Trust in 2014. His primary responsibilities include developing, sourcing and executing investment strategies in the areas of buyouts, growth equity, venture capital, real estate and natural resources. Mr. Kelly earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Virginia and his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business. He is a CFA® charterholder.

John Khoury is the Founder and Managing Partner of Long Pond Capital. Long Pond is a New York-based real estate investment management firm that Mr. Khoury founded in 2010. Mr. Khoury has extensive real estate industry experience, leveraging positions at best-in-class firms focused on investment banking, private equity and hedge fund portfolio management. The Firm implements a rigorous, bottom-up research process across a broad investable universe in an effort to identify asymmetry, which the Firm defines as a material disconnect between price and intrinsic value. Mr. Khoury oversees the investment team and is responsible for managing all investment-related efforts, including portfolio management and risk management. Prior to establishing Long Pond, Mr. Khoury was a Co-Managing Member and Co-Portfolio Manager at Wesley Capital Management, a New York real estate hedge fund advisor. Previously, Mr. Khoury served as a Senior Analyst at DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, where he focused on real estate acquisitions throughout the United States. Mr. Khoury began his career at Lazard Frères in the Real Estate Investment Banking group, where he worked on several notable REIT M&A transactions. Mr. Khoury is a member of the Robin Hood Leadership Council and The Hotchkiss School Board of Trustees and has been a supporter of Ubuntu Pathways since its inception in 1999. Mr. Khoury received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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.

Brian Neale is a seasoned investor and leader with more than 20 years of professional experience working with both for-profit and not-for-profit institutional clients. As a process and outcome-oriented professional, Brian focuses on creating value through repeatable processes central to the management of institutional asset pools. His experience includes working with university endowments, defined benefit plans, captive insurance entities, healthcare entities, and liquidity portfolios. Currently, Brian is responsible for discretionary management and oversight of more than $3.0B of investable assets on behalf of the University of Nebraska Foundation. In this role, his principal duties include managing the internal investment team, establishing long-term asset allocation policies and short-term tactical tilts, manager research and selection, portfolio construction, compliance, and oversight for all endowment portfolios. Brian also has sole portfolio management responsibilities for an internal pool of capital that is in excess of $725M. These efforts provide financial support to four distinct campuses with student enrollment of 52,000. Additionally, he serves as principal investment liaison to the Foundation’s Investment Committee and Board of Directors, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents Business and Finance Committee, and numerous other constituent groups. Executive management responsibilities include leading the investment office team as well as serving as a member of the Foundations Executive Leadership Team, DEI Committee, and Retirement Committee. Brian enjoys sharing his knowledge and views with others and is a frequent contributor as a panelist and/or moderator for a variety of industry events. One of his favorite aspects of his professional career is having the opportunity to mentor interns and others new to or interested in the investment profession. In addition, he has served as a guest lecturer for both undergraduate and graduate-level programs.

Angela Miller-May currently serves as the Chief Investment Officer for the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, a $50.2 billion pension fund that services a membership of over 457,000 members and over 3,030 employers. She focuses on providing strategic portfolio construction, excellent manager selection and rigorous due diligence and provides leadership to a team of investment professionals in meeting IMRF’s investment goals. Ms. Miller-May joined Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund in August 2021. Prior to serving as IMRF’s Chief Investment Officer, she served as the CIO for Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund and in several progressively responsible positions since 2010 when she joined Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund. Ms. Miller-May serves on the First Women’s Bank (FWB) advisory board, on the Women Investment Professionals (WIP) Board, on the Toigo Advisory Board, as a member of Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN), a member of the NASP Africa Institutional Investors Advisory Council, a member of SEO’s LP Advisory Council, a member of the NIRS Board and NCPERS CIO Summit Advisory Faculty, a member of Accelerate Investors CIO Council, on the St. Ignatius College Prep Board, on the Link Unlimited Board, as a member of The Economic Club of Chicago and engages with many other organizations. Ms. Miller-May was honored with the Markets Group 2023 DEI Leadership Award, the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP) 2022 Pacesetter Award, the Institutional Investor’s 2022 DEI Leadership Award, named as Trusted Insight’s 2022 Top Chief Investment Officers, the Women Investment Professional (WIP) 2020 Trailblazer Award “Distinguished Woman Investment Professional of the Year”, named as one of Institutional Investor’s 2020 Industry Voice Innovators, Crain’s 2019 most Notable Women in Finance, Institutional Investor’s 2019 Change Maker of the Year and has had the honor of testifying at a 2019 Congressional Hearing on the topic of Diversity and Inclusion. Ms. Miller-May holds an MBA from Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University and has earned her BA in Economics from Northwestern University.

Shanelle Brown is a managing director for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) in Battle Creek, Michigan. In this role, she supports the foundation’s efforts to promote thriving children, working families and equitable communities. Brown 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. She 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, specializing in public equities. Prior to joining the foundation, Brown spent six years at Exelon Corporation in Illinois where she most recently served as the chief of staff to the Chief Financial Officer. Prior to this, she oversaw $18 billion in public equity investments as a senior portfolio manager with the Exelon Investment Office. During her tenure at Exelon, Brown was the lead for inclusion initiatives, including the Exelon Women and Minority Manager Program to increase diverse manager representation within the company’s investment portfolio. Before joining Exelon, Brown worked for more than 8 years at U.S. Trust where she held several positions including portfolio manager for high net worth-individuals and families. She also worked for Citibank in San Francisco from 2004 to 2006. Brown holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a chartered financial analyst and certified financial planner.

Craig oversees all aspects of Verger’s investment process, including asset allocation, portfolio construction, and manager selection. Prior to founding Verger, Craig spent over ten years performing similar investment duties for Wake Forest University’s Office of Investments where he most recently served as Director of Investments. Craig earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Alfred University, a master’s degree in finance from Syracuse University, and is a CFA® charterholder. Additionally, Craig serves as a mentor with Girls Who Invest, is a board member of Disability Advocates of Northwest NC, and volunteers at his local church. He has also served as an Advisory Board member to a number of investment partnerships. Outside of work, Craig enjoys college football and basketball, reading (especially spy thrillers), and traveling with his wife.

Claire E. Fefer was formerly an investment manager at DUMAC, Inc., the investment management company for Duke University. She joined DUMAC in 2004 focused on public securities and helped oversee the private investments team focused on venture capital, private equity, real estate, and natural resources. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and graduated from Duke University with a degree in mathematics.

Steve Kim is a partner at Verdis Investment Management, directing investment strategy and risk management for the family office. He is an active member of the Investment Committee and has been with the firm since inception. With a focus on buyouts, marketable securities and venture capital, he has been behind investments in over 60 fund managers globally. Beyond his investment background, he brings more than 30 years of experience building and implementing operating infrastructures for venture capital and private equity firms, as well as public and private companies. Before becoming a family office investor, he helped build and lead the technology development and service delivery organizations at Orcom Solutions/Alliance Data Systems, Peopleclick, Clear Communications, Alcatel, Fujitsu and Daleen Technologies. Steve began his career at the Walt Disney Company, serving on the information technology team that helped open what is now Disneyland Paris. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida.

Relvi is a Portfolio Manager of Public Investments for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s $14 billion investment portfolio. He is responsible for investments in public markets, including portfolio strategy and manager selection across global equities, hedge funds, and fixed income as well as select private and opportunistic investments. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2019, he was an Economist for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the fields of labor economics and statistics, where he focused on two primary measures of inflation. He holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation and earned his BA in Economics and M.S. in Finance from Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Ms. Molnar joined Fairfax County Retirement Systems in 2013 and currently serves as Chief Investment Officer of the Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System, a $2 billion plan. Her responsibilities include all aspects of portfolio management and oversight, including strategic and tactical asset and risk allocation, selection and supervision of external investment managers and risk management. From 2001 until 2012, Ms. Molnar was Vice President, Senior Research Analyst at AIG Investments’ Hedge Fund Solutions Group – both in London and New York. At AIG Investments, Ms. Molnar was responsible for due diligence procedures and research including: sourcing new managers, monitoring current hedge funds, analyzing portfolio risk and performance, making new investment recommendations to an investment committee as well as hedge fund asset allocation recommendations for portfolio construction. She was additionally responsible for portfolio reviews and overall asset allocation recommendations for external client portfolios. Previously, she was Vice President, Market Research Analyst at Citigroup Investments’ Alternative Investment Strategies group. Prior investment management experience includes positions at Paribas Asset Management as well as Trevor Stewart Burton & Jacobsen. Additionally, Ms. Molnar spent one year in Warsaw, Poland launching the first retail mutual funds available to the Polish market as well as two years in Frankfurt, Germany as an intern with J.P. Morgan. Ms. Molnar received a B.S. in Business Administration/Finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a CFA charterholder.

Mr. Jeffrey leads StepStone’s activities in Europe and is a member of the private equity team, focusing on Europe, the Middle East and co-investments. He is also involved in the Firm’s responsible investing initiative, as well as various investment and management activities. Prior to joining StepStone in 2012, Mr. Jeffrey was a managing partner at Parish Capital where he founded the firm’s European and Asian practices and oversaw the secondary and co-investment businesses. Before that, he served as managing director of Bank of America’s European private equity group. Previously, Mr. Jeffrey was a managing director and head of BancBoston Capital’s European and Asian operations. Mr. Jeffrey received an MA from Cambridge University and is a qualified chartered accountant.

Ed Eisler is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Eisler Capital, a global investment management firm established in 2015. Eisler Capital pursues a multi strategy investment framework both on a discretionary and systematic basis, utilizing directional, relative value, mean reversion and volatility trading strategies across all asset classes. Prior to founding Eisler Capital, Ed had a 20-year career at Goldman Sachs. He was a Partner and Co-Head of the Global Markets Division, where he oversaw the firm’s global trading activities. Additionally, he was a member of the Management Committee, the Firmwide Risk Committee and the Finance Committee. Ed holds a B.S in Economics and Finance and an M.S in Applied Mathematics from New York University. Ed serves as an Executive Trustee of the Tate Foundation.

Brooke Coburn spent over 25 years with The Carlyle Group in investing roles in Carlyle’s U.S. buyout and U.S. Growth/Middle Market 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 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 is Chairman of the Washington National Cathedral, where he also chairs the investment committee of the WNC parent organization, the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation. He serves on the boards of Altumint, Wyyerd, TDF Ventures and WMVY Radio. He is a dedicated ice hockey coach (USAH Level 4) and avid endurance sport athlete (Clydesdale division). He received an AB with honors from Princeton University.

Brittany Priester is the Chief Investment Officer (“CIO”) of Belk Gambrell Enterprises, a single-family office in Charlotte, NC. In her role as CIO, she implements and manages the family’s investment portfolios. Her primary responsibilities include investment policy formation, strategic asset allocation development, manager due diligence, and portfolio performance monitoring and reporting. Brittany brings 14 years of investment management experience to Belk Gambrell Enterprises. Prior to joining Belk Gambrell Enterprises, Brittany was a Portfolio Manager for two sister companies in Charlotte, Rinehart Wealth & Investment Advisory and Maybry McShane Family Offices. The former is a registered investment advisor, and the latter is a local multi-family office. Before joining Rinehart/Maybry McShane, Brittany was a Family Investment Associate with GenSpring Family Offices, a nationwide multi-family office in Charlotte. Brittany began her career as an International Investment Analyst at Cambridge Associates, LLC, an institutional investment consulting firm in Washington, DC. Brittany graduated from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Concentration in Finance). She also earned a minor in Spanish from UNC – Chapel Hill. Brittany is a CFA charterholder and serves as President of the Board of CFA Society of North Carolina.

R. Todd Ruppert is the founder and CEO of Ruppert International, a firm with diversified interests globally in various fields including education, financial services, disruptive technologies, publishing, arts & entertainment, and strategy consulting. He is chairman of RSR Partners, The World Trade Center Institute, and London’s Royal Parks Foundation (USA). He is a global ambassador for the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, and a board member of Afriex, Antler, Culture3, Hitlab, Infinity Creative Media, Pirkx, Rocket Dollar, Shetland Space Centre, Storelli Sports, The Fine Art Group, The Talent Bank, The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was a board member of INSEAD Business School from 2012-2021 and currently is a member of its Advisory Council. Todd is an advisor to fintech advisory firm SenaHill. He is also an advisor to a number of VC/PE firms including Access Holdings, Antler, Athena Capital, Balerion Space Ventures, BroadLight Capital, CXO Fund, Fin Capital, Global Ventures, Launch Africa Ventures, Motive Partners, Pact VC, Republic Capital, Samos Ventures, Sure Ventures, and Unicorn Growth. Todd has over 40 years of experience in the financial services industry. He retired from T. Rowe Price, the global asset management firm with over $1.5 trillion under management, where he was CEO and president of T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services, co-president, T. Rowe Price International, and a member of the operating steering committee of the T. Rowe Price Group. He also retired from Greenspring Associates, a $17 billion venture capital firm, where he was a venture partner.

Rich is Executive Director, Investments and Global Chief Investment Strategist for Mercer. He works with some of Mercer’s largest, most sophisticated clients, and is accountable for Mercer’s “innovation agenda,” including the creation and development of thought leadership and related products and services across the firm. Over the last 30+ years, Rich has provided investment advice to clients in more than 20 countries, including many of the world’s largest institutional investors. He has also led social security and other long term savings reform projects in five countries and one US state. Rich has led Mercer’s work in several projects with the World Economic Forum, including work related to transformational investment, and to the longevity economy. Rich was President of Mercer’s Investments & Retirement business and a member of Mercer’s Executive Leadership team from 2017 to 2022. Prior to that, he led Mercer’s investment management business globally and served in various other leadership capacities while based in Tokyo, Singapore and New York, including serving as global Chief Investment Officer for Mercer’s investment management business. Rich holds an MBA (with high honors) in analytic finance and accounting from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree (with honors) in mathematical sciences and mathematical economic analysis from Rice University in Houston, Texas. Rich also did graduate work in international economics at Tokyo University. He is a CFA® charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute. Rich has repeatedly been named to CIO magazine’s annual list of the world’s most influential investment consultants and received CIO’s 2017 Industry Innovation Award as Consultant of the Year.

Eric M. Smith is the Chief Executive Officer and a founding member of Locust Point Capital. In 2016, under Mr. Smith’s leadership, Locust Point Capital launched its first institutional private debt fund focused on the senior housing and care industry. Mr. Smith is responsible for establishing the foundation of the firm’s core investment philosophy. In addition, his extensive contacts and his strong understanding of senior housing debt markets have been a driving force in the formation of Locust Point Capital and its growth. With more than two decades of structured finance experience, Mr. Smith has spent the last 25 years originating, underwriting, and managing investments in long-term care, seniors housing, and healthcare services sectors. Throughout his career, Mr. Smith has participated in over 500 transactions representing a total transaction value of approximately $7 billion in senior debt, mezzanine, and equity investments within the long-term care, senior housing and healthcare services industries.

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 ChaosSearch, CloudTruth, Inrupt, Plannuh (acquired by Planful), Reprise, Talla (merged with Seva), Verusen, Zylotech (acquired by Terminus), Celtra, SocialFlow, CrowdTwist (acquired by Oracle), and Navigant Consulting (acquired by Veritas). Rudina has 19 years of investing and operational experience in high-growth companies in IT software, cloud and enterprise SaaS. Before venture capital, Rudina was a Senior Manager in the Corporate Development Group at Microsoft Corporation. In this role, she led a number of successful acquisitions including iView Multimedia, Massive Interactive, Bungie Studios restructuring (creator of the Halo franchise), Deep Metrix, and Lionhead Studios. Prior to Microsoft, she was an investment banker in the Technology Group at Credit Suisse, responsible for multibillion-dollar acquisitions. Rudina was appointed by the Dean of the Harvard Business School (HBS) for four consecutive years to serve as Entrepreneur-In-Residence for the Business School and was named to the HBS inaugural group of Rock Venture Capital Partners. Most recently, she was appointed to faculty and staff at Harvard Business School as an Executive Fellow, and to the Board of Directors of the New England Venture Capital Association. In addition, she is a member of the Business Leadership Council of Wellesley College and a former member of the Digital Advisory Board for GSK Consumer. Rudina serves on the board of directors of M&T Bank and MSC Industrial Supply. Previously, Rudina has served as Chair of the Board of Overseers for the FutureM, a conference with 2,500 technology innovators and digital executives. Her philanthropic work includes serving on the Boston Children’s Hospital Philanthropic Board of Advisors as Chairwoman and Trustee for the Meadowbrook School of Weston. Rudina has been named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs List, Startup Boston’s 2022 Investor of the Year, Boston Business Journal Power 50: Newsmaker, a Women to Watch honoree by Mass High Tech, a Business Insider Most Important VC in Boston, and Top VC investing in AI and Machine Learning, and a Boston Business Journal 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.

As Chief Investment Officer, Shannon O’Leary oversees the Foundation’s Investments team as well as all aspects of the Foundation’s $1.7 billion investment portfolios for individual donors, nonprofit endowment holders as well as two partner foundations, F. R. Bigelow Foundation and Mardag Foundation. In her role, Shannon works closely with the investment committees, Foundation staff and others on portfolio decision-making to maintain and grow assets that sustain the Foundations’ grantmaking, ensuring secure annual income and offering other investment funding, education and capacity-building resources for the 200+ nonprofits it serves. Since joining the Foundation in 2019, Shannon has implemented an approach that both quantifies and preferences Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as well as ESG investing strategies that align with the Foundation’s work to inspire generosity, advocate for equity, and invest in community-led solutions. An experienced leader with depth and breadth in building and managing investment teams, processes and procedures, Shannon joined the Foundation after serving as CIO at The Advocate Group, a Minnesota-based wealth management firm. Previously, Shannon spent seven years as the manager of wealth planning and investments for a large family office and served as a member of its Investment Committee. She played an integral role in portfolio construction and monitoring, the management of due diligence, client reporting and risk management for the family’s complex multi-generational investment structure and associated entities. Shannon began her career as an analyst at Dearborn Partners in Chicago after earning a bachelor’s degree in economics with a concentration in high-energy physics from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. As a mom of four, Shannon enjoys bringing her family to community events where they can see the work of the Foundation.

Adrian Ohmer is an investment director at The Kresge Foundation. He joined the foundation in 2020. Previously, Adrian served as senior manager of private equity at UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, where he was involved with managing investments for the largest purchaser of retiree healthcare in the United States and oversaw the Trust’s investments in diverse and emerging managers. He has also held positions with Invest Detroit Ventures and Goldman Sachs. A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Adrian earned a juris doctorate from The University of Michigan Law School and a bachelor’s of science in foreign service from Georgetown University. Adrian is the recipient of the 2021 Crain’s Detroit Notable LGBTQ in Business, the 2019 Rising Star Award from the National Association of Investment Companies (the largest trade organization for diverse-owned private equity & hedge funds) and the 2015 Up & Coming Investor of the Year Award from the Michigan Venture Capital Association. He serves on board of directors for the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), the only global organization dedicated exclusively to advancing the interests of LPs and their beneficiaries through best-in-class education, research, advocacy and events. He also serves on the investment advisory board for the University of Michigan Accelerate Blue Fund.

Lisa Murray is the chief investment officer for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. She leads the team that oversees the Kauffman Foundation’s globally diversified $2 billion portfolio. Previously, Murray was the managing director in Investments. Prior to joining the Kauffman Foundation, Murray was an investment consultant for Angeles Investment Advisors, where she worked with foundations and endowments, advising on all aspects of their investment programs. Murray earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. She is a CFA holder.

Dr. Vikram Mansharamani is a global trend-watcher who shows people how to anticipate the future, manage risk, and spot opportunities. He is the author of THINK FOR YOURSELF: Restoring Common Sense in an Age of Experts and Artificial Intelligence and BOOMBUSTOLOGY: Spotting Financial Bubbles Before They Burst. Linkedin twice listed him as their #1 Top Voice for Money, Finance and Global Economics and Worth has profiled him as one of the 100 most powerful people in global finance. Vikram is currently a lecturer at Harvard University, where he teaches students to use multiple perspectives in making tough decisions. Previously, he was a Lecturer at Yale University. In addition to teaching, he also advises several Fortune 500 CEOs to help them navigate the radical uncertainty in today’s business and regulatory environment. He has a PhD and two Masters degrees from MIT and a Bachelors degree from Yale University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Vikram lives in Lincoln, NH with his wife, daughter, son, golden-retriever, and two cats, one of which he believes maybe clairvoyant.

Michael has been a student of markets and market structure, for nearly 30 years. His proprietary research into the shift from actively managed portfolios and investment funds to systematic passive investment strategies has been presented to the Federal Reserve, the BIS, the IMF and numerous other industry groups and associations. Michael joined Simplify in April 2021 after serving as Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager for Logica Capital Advisers, LLC. Prior to Logica, Michael managed macro strategies at Thiel Macro, LLC, an investment firm that manages the personal capital of Peter Thiel. Prior to Thiel, Michael founded Ice Farm Capital, a discretionary global macro hedge fund seeded by Soros Fund Management. From 2006-2014, Michael founded and managed the New York office of Canyon Capital Advisors, a $23B multi-strategy hedge fund based in Los Angeles, CA, where he established their global macro strategies, managing in excess of $5B of exposure across equity, credit, FX, commodity and derivative markets. In addition to his work as a market theorist and portfolio manager, Michael has been noted for his work as a public speaker and financial media participant. He is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a CFA holder.

Andrea is the Founder, CEO & President of Academy for Institutional Investors, LLC. Andrea has been working as an educator in the financial sector bringing investment professionals together for over 23 years. Prior to entering the investment world, Andrea produced pharmaceutical conferences for 4 years where she first realized her love for running events, connecting senior executives with one another, building networks, and researching hot industry topics to develop high quality content for her audiences. Andrea has decades of experience helping her clients to strengthen bonds with one another in a relaxed, friendly, non-sales type of atmosphere, fostering an environment to learn and connect in a way that promotes lifelong relationships, trust, and friendship among one another. High-caliber investment education, sophisticated investor attendees and in-depth fun networking are the key components of The Academy’s mission. At the end of every event, you will leave with a head full of new ideas and a handful of new friends that will feel like your extended family year after year. Academy for Institutional Investors (AII) offers new members into our circle of family friends at each event while striving to keep the community to a small niche group of sophisticated investors with a limited number of managers and service providers. Previously, Andrea was a Principal and Director of Marketing and Branding for Morgan Creek Capital Management from 2006-2016 where she led the branding, public relations, client education, events and marketing efforts for the firm. Andrea currently serves on the Strategic Advisory Board for the CFA Society North Carolina and is also one of the founding members of the North Carolina Chapter of 100 Women in Finance. Prior to joining Morgan Creek, Andrea spent six years managing all aspects of conference production, research and development, sales, marketing and relationship management for a financial conference company. Earlier in Andrea’s career she worked at North Shore University Hospital in NY as a vocational rehabilitation job coach. Her first job out of college was at Computer Associates based in Long Island, NY. Andrea received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the State University of New York at Albany and continuing credits towards a Master of Arts in Social Work from Adelphi University. Andrea enjoys spending time with her family and friends at the North Carolina beaches or playing golf with her husband. Andrea is an avid music lover and enjoys going to concerts of any kind. She loves heading back to NYC any chance she gets to see as many Broadway Musicals as possible in one trip!

Ms. Cantrill is a managing director in PIMCO’s portfolio management group. In her role, she analyzes policy and political risk for the firm’s Investment Committee and leads U.S. policymaker engagement and policy strategy for the firm. She also works closely with PIMCO’s Global Advisory Board, led by former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke. She has served as a rotating member of the firm’s Executive Committee and is a founding member of PIMCO Families and PIMCO Women. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2007, she served as a legislative aide in the House of Representatives and also worked in the investment banking division at Morgan Stanley. She has 18 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and received her undergraduate degree in economics from Brown University. Ms. Cantrill is a CFA charterholder and a regular contributor to Bloomberg and CNBC. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the boards of Covenant House New York and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”).

Campbell R. Harvey is a Canadian economist. He is a Distinguished Professor of Finance at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served as President of the American Finance Association in 2016. Professor Harvey obtained his undergraduate degree from Trinity College at the University of Toronto. He obtained his doctorate at the University of Chicago in business finance where his thesis discovered the power of the yield curve to predict economic recessions. He has served on the faculties of the Stockholm School of Economics, the Helsinki School of Economics, and the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. He has also been a visiting scholar at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He has published over 140 scholarly articles on topics spanning investment finance, emerging markets, corporate finance, behavioral finance, financial econometrics and computer science. He has received numerous best paper awards. He is a Fellow of the American Finance Association. Harvey is a Founding Director of the Duke-CFO Survey. This widely watched quarterly survey polls over 1,500 CFOs worldwide. Harvey edited The Journal of Finance – one of the three leading scientific journals in his field and one of the premier journals in the economic profession from 2006-2012.

Gregory A. Poland, M.D., is a physician-scientist and the founding and current director of Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group — a state-of-the-art research group and laboratory that seeks to understand genetic drivers of viral vaccine response and application of systems biology approaches to the generation of immunity, as well as the development of novel vaccines against emerging pathogens important to public health. The Poland lab developed the field of viral vaccine immunogenetics, the immune response network theory, and the field of vaccinomics and adversomics. He has been awarded over $220 million in competitive extramural research funding. Dr. Poland holds the academic rank of professor of medicine and infectious diseases and molecular pharmacology and experimental therapeutics. He is the Distiguished Investigator of the Mayo Clinic, and is the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Vaccine. In 2018 Dr. Poland was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Medicine in London, England. Dr. Poland has chaired or been a member of every Federal committee involved in vaccine decision-making, including the NVAC, VRBAC, and the ACIP. Dr. Poland advocated for and successfully persuaded the CDC to recommend annual influenza vaccine for all Americans age 6 months and older, and was the initial and primary advocate for requiring influenza immunization for all health care providers. Dr. Poland was the 2013 recipient of the Mayo Distinguished Investigator award by the Mayo Board of Trustees, and the 2012 recipient of the Mayo Clinic Department of Medicine Lifetime Research Achievement Award. In 2012, Dr. Poland was named in the top 25 list of vaccine influencers in the world. In February 2013, he was nominated for membership in the Institute of Medicine (IOM). In addition, he recently received an NIH MERIT Award, an honor accorded to less than 5% of the nation’s top NIH-funded investigators. Dr. Poland was awarded the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence in December 2008. In 2008, he was named a Master of the American College of Physicians. Dr. Poland received the Hsu prize in International Infectious Disease Epidemiology in 2007, and the Charles Merieux Lifetime Achievement Award in Vaccinology in May 2006. In December 2006, In December 2006, Dr. Poland was elected President of the Defense Health Board and appointed by President George W. Bush, serving two terms. In 2005 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Illinois Wesleyan University, his alma mater. He was appointed as the Mary Lowell Leary Professor in Medicine (the highest academic distinction for a faculty member) by Mayo Clinic’s Board of Trustees in 2004. In May 2003, he was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. – the highest civilian award given by the Department of Defense He is the immediate past president of the Department of Defense’s Defense Health Board and the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board. Dr. Poland served on the Infectious Diseases Society of America Taskforce on Pandemic Influenza, and chaired the American College of Physician’s Adult Immunization Advisory Board. Dr. Poland received the inaugural Gold Medal from the Spanish Vaccinology Society in 2001. Dr. Poland received his medical degree from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois, and completed his residency and advanced post-graduate work at the University of Minnesota. He has published over 700 professional papers and book chapters. Dr. Poland is regularly sought out by specialized and lay print, TV, and radio (national and international) media for his clarity and views on science, leadership, and theological aspects of current issues in the culture. He has been awarded multiple “Teacher of the Year” awards across his 40 year medical and scientific career. Dr. Poland regularly provides high-level advice to pharma, business, NGOs, and governmental agencies on emerging infectious disease and vaccine issues. Dr. Poland is a popular conference and seminar speaker on the topics of vaccines, scientific issues, and emerging infectious diseases. Dr. Poland has given over 4,000 national and international media interviews and professional presentations on the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.

Ray Jacobson has been the Chief Investment Officer at Davidson College since 2008. He leads a small, experienced team that oversees all aspects of investing the college’s endowment. The portfolio has a significant allocation to alternatives, especially hedge funds and venture capital. Davidson’s endowment has consistently achieved strong absolute, relative, and risk-adjusted returns. Prior to Davidson, Mr. Jacobson served for four years as the first investment officer for the Golden LEAF Foundation, a nonprofit established to increase economic opportunities in North Carolina. He began his endowment career in 2001 at DUMAC, the investment office for Duke University. Earlier in his career, he worked at Bloomberg Financial Markets and Brown Advisory. He received an M.B.A. from Duke University, an M.S. from Clemson University, and a B.A. from Rutgers University. Mr. Jacobson has been a CFA Charterholder since 2001. He serves on the Board of Woodlawn School. Ray lives in the town of Davidson with his wife and they have four children.

Emily serves as the Chief Investment Officer and chair of the investment committee at the firm. In her role, Emily provides oversight and guidance in managing and coordinating all aspects of investment activities and strategies consistent with its mission, objectives, and established policies. Prior to joining the firm, Emily was an Investment Officer at Oklahoma State University and a Vice President within the Investment Management Group at Hatteras Funds where she focused on sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio management of alternative investments strategies across public and private asset classes. Emily received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Randolph Macon College with majors in both Business/Economics and Accounting. Emily also obtained her Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in finance from the University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School. Emily is a CFA® charterholder and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.

Nolan Bean serves as FEG’s chief investment officer and head of portfolio management, developing strategies to help ensure clients receive a consistent investment experience. He is a member of the firm’s investment policy committee and portfolio management team. Nolan firmly believes that results are shaped by the effort one is willing to put forth. This hardworking mentality has helped shape FEG’s culture and expectation of excellence. After receiving his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky, Nolan began his career in investments as a financial advisor with Waddell & Reed Financial Services. He later attended the University of Cincinnati to complete his Master of Business Administration as a member of the Kauffman Entrepreneur Internship Program, which matches accomplished students with companies offering internships in venture capital. Nolan began working at FEG in 2004. He worked directly with FEG’s CIO and over his career has advised more than a dozen chief investment officers at various endowments/foundations and healthcare systems. Those partnerships have all helped shape his approach to managing long-term pools of capital. In addition to his position on the FEG Leadership Team, Nolan is part of the FEG Board of Directors. Outside of FEG, he is a member and past president of the CFA Society in Cincinnati and serves on the Seven Hills School Board of Trustees as the Investment Committee chair. Nolan was born in Nebraska, but attended high school in Columbus, Ohio, where he grew up loving sports and even earned a baseball scholarship to Georgetown College. Now, you can find Nolan coaching little league, and working diligently to translate his baseball swing into a golf swing. His love for music is widely known, especially his admiration for John Prine. If you ask about his greatest concert memory, he will share fond memories of Tom Petty and Chris Singleton performing live at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

J.P. Boyd, CAIA, joined Golden LEAF in February 2017 as Golden LEAF’s investment officer. He is involved in all aspects of the investment process. Prior to joining Golden LEAF, J.P. was an investment officer at the South Carolina Retirement System Investment Commission (RSIC) in Columbia, South Carolina. He spent eight years at RSIC and oversaw a $2.7 billion low-beta hedge fund portfolio of the $27.7 billion Plan. Prior to RSIC, J.P. was a research intern at the Palmetto Institute. J.P. received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business where he double majored in international business and finance. He also is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.

Mary is the CEO and CIO at Acansa Investment Management Group. Mary is the former CIO of Emory University and founder of Emory Investment Management – a position she held for nearly 17 years. During her tenure, Mary successfully led the investment programs for Emory University’s endowment ($7 Billion), defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans ($2.3 Billion), operating bank ($1.5 Billion), hospital reserves, trusts, and insurance assets. Prior to joining Emory, Mary was Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Xerox Corporation. Mary’s entire career has been institutional investing, with prior positions including the Virginia Retirement System, SmithKline, BellSouth and Merck pension plans. Mary has overseen internal equity portfolios, invested fixed income and futures portfolios, built global, multi-asset portfolios, and designed investment options. She serves on the Board of the Woodruff Arts Center (Investment Committee) and the Robert Toigo Foundation (Audit Committee Chair). She is an advisor to the Zeist Foundation and an investment committee member for the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. Mary has an MBA specializing in Finance from St. John’s University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Thomas is Managing Director and head of AltEx Capital – a Toronto based secondary fund focused on single-asset GP-led opportunities. Prior to AltEx, Thomas worked at Scotiabank for over 18 years, where he was Director of Private Equity, responsible for investing the bank’s capital into private equity funds and co-investing alongside sponsor partners. As an LP, Thomas worked closely with numerous sponsors globally and led several secondary market transactions as the bank managed its portfolio in response to the periodic shifts in banking regulations. Thomas earned his Bachelor of Business Administration, Finance from the Schulich School of Business, York University.

Ms. Dalal joined St. Thomas as vice president and chief investment officer in 2022. Previously, Dalal was a 19-year veteran of investing at The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) where she was the deputy chief investment officer. Dalal joined Penn State University early after the Investment Office was moved in-house and was instrumental in the growth of their invested assets including market returns and donations from $900 million to more than $6 billion during her tenure. Prior to that, Dalal had roles at Export-Import Bank of India and Lloyds Finance. Dalal holds the designation of chartered financial analyst. She is also an alumna of Penn State, where she received her MBA in finance. Dalal holds the chartered accountant designation (CPA equivalent) and an undergraduate degree in commerce and accounting from The Bombay University, India.

As Chief Investment Strategist for Cambridge Associates and a Managing Director of the firm, Celia is responsible for formulating our global investment strategy and portfolio construction advice. Since joining Cambridge in 1996, Celia has contributed to a wide range of research initiatives, including serving as one of the main architects of our Risk Allocation Framework and an author of the related report. She is the author of our quarterly publication, VantagePoint, in which she shares our house view and advice. Celia is a regular contributor to other research publications, covering a wide range of capital market, asset allocation, and investment planning topics. She is a frequent presenter and discussion moderator at the firm’s roundtables and various industry conferences. Before joining Cambridge Associates, Celia was a consultant for Harlan Brown & Co, a competitive intelligence consulting firm. In this position, she researched, wrote, and presented market analysis commissioned by Fortune 500 clients on a variety of consumer and industrial products. She also worked for the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), where she conducted research and wrote reports on retirement income security issues. Celia has an MBA from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia and a BA from University of Pennsylvania.

Keri was Partner at Third Point LLC from 2016 to 2017, a hedge fund founded and run by Daniel Loeb, from 2009 to 2017, having joined the firm to start and build its structured credit business. Prior to joining Third Point, Keri was an analyst with EOS Partners, an alternative investment firm, and before that with D.B. Zwirn & Co., a special situations investment firm spun off from Highbridge Capital Management (now part of JPMorgan Chase). Keri serves as an advisor to Firework Ventures and 8VC, a venture capital firm founded by Joe Lonsdale and on the boards of directors of Point Digital, Shogun, Karus, and Architect. She previously served on the board of Clearbanc and LIT. Keri earned a B.S. in Operations Research from Columbia University.

Mr. Friedman founded FJ Capital Management in 2007 and is the Senior Portfolio Manager of FJ’s Funds. In January 2008, he launched the flagship Financial Opportunity Fund, where he has successfully outperformed during historically volatile markets. In the Spring of 2015, he created FJ’s Financial Opportunity Long/Short Fund, a lower net, broader financial services fund with lower market volatility and beta. He launched the Financial Hybrid Opportunity Fund in 2017 to invest in micro-cap public and private financial companies. Most recently in April 2022, he launched the Financial Opportunity Long/Short Fund Series 2—FinTech to invest across next gen opportunities and mispriced “legacy” companies. Mr. Friedman brings more than 31 years of experience in and around the commercial and investment banking industries, during which he applied and developed skills in financial analysis with an expertise in financial institutions, corporate finance, SEC and banking compliance and management. He was previously Director of Research for Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, a research and securities trading firm, from 1998 to 2007. Prior to that, he was a securities analyst, focusing on the financial services industry with the same firm from 1992 to 1998. Mr. Friedman graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in Finance.Mr. Friedman currently serves on the Board of Directors for Dogwood State Bank based in Raleigh, North Carolina since May 2019. He served on the Board of Directors of Silvergate Bank in San Diego, CA from February 2019 to January 2020, and served on the Board of Directors of Denver, CO-based TIG Bancorp from December 2017 until October 2019. In 2013, as part of the recapitalization of Anchor Bank, Madison, Wisconsin; Mr. Friedman was elected to the Board of Directors where he served on the Board of the bank holding company and compensation committee until 2015. Mr. Friedman served on the Board of Directors of Guaranty Savings Bank in Metairie, Louisiana from 2008 to 2009, and Access National Bank (ANCX) in Reston, VA from 2009 to 2019.

David Gilmore is the Chief Investment Officer of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. The Foundation has $3.2 billion in assets and will make over $150 million in grants this year. The portfolio is invested across all asset classes including public equities, hedge funds, private equity, venture capital and real assets. Prior to joining the Foundation, David helped start The Ohio State University investment office in 2009 and served in several senior roles. The investment office was responsible for the investment management of the University’s $3.5 billion long-term investment pool. David was previously a partner at Gerber/Taylor Capital Advisors, Gerber/Taylor is an independent investment advisory firm. During his tenure the firm consulted on over $20 billion in assets and managed over $3 billion in discretionary fund of funds mainly focused on hedge funds and private equity investments. David earned his BBA from Baylor University and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the University of Memphis. David holds the Certified Financial Planner™ professional (CFP®) designation and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.

Larissa Herczeg is the Head of Seeding for Oak Street Real Estate Capital (Oak Street), a Division of Blue Owl. Ms. Herczeg is a member of the Oak Street’s Investment Committee. Ms. Herczeg is responsible for all aspects of Oak Street’s Seeding & Strategic Capital business, including investment sourcing, due diligence, selection and portfolio management and reporting.

Ms. Herczeg’s activities include co-founding Women in Real Estate, serving as a Trustee of Roosevelt University, Co-Chair of the Roosevelt University Women’s Leadership Council, a mentor for the Goldie B. Wolfe Miller Women Leader’s In Real Estate Initiative, a past mentor for the Toigo Foundation and serving as a guest speaker at the University of California-Berkeley, Kellogg School of Management and the University of Notre Dame.

Prior to Oak Street, Ms. Herczeg was responsible for global real estate investing at Morgan Creek Capital Management, Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors and the Credit Suisse Customized Fund Investment Group (now known as GCM Grosvenor). Ms. Herczeg received a B.A. with honors in Government and Economics from the University of Notre Dame, a Master’s degree with honors in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Juris Doctor degree with honors from Columbia University Law School.

Ms. Johns joined the New Jersey Department of the Treasury as Head of Private Equity (NJ Treasury’s Division of Investment) in 2023. Previously she was with the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System as a Senior Portfolio Manager in the Private Equity Group. Ms. Johns has over 15 years of investment experience and managing a global portfolio of institutional alternative investment assets. Ms. Johns has expertise and highly developed personal networks with top performing private equity and venture funds. Ms. Johns was recently included on Trusted Insight’s 2020 list of Top 30 Pension Private Equity Investors. Ms. Johns is co-President of the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN), and a member of both ILPA’s Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council and the SEO Alternative Investments Limited Partner Advisory Council. In 2018 PEWIN awarded Maryland with the 2018 Limited Partner award for Ms. Johns’ work in transforming the private equity industry with a focus on diversity and inclusion. Continuously invited to keynote at conferences including the AIF Institute Global Investor Series, Big Path Impact Capitalism Summit, Women’s Private Equity Summit, Women’s Alternative Investment Summit, GCM Grosvenor Consortium, Markets Group Private Equity US Forum, Kayo Private Equity Conference, Pension Bridge, Emerging Manager Connect, Equity Summit, Hispanic Heritage Foundation Investor Group, Institutional Investor Private Equity Summit, SEO and NVCA. Most recent panel topics included private equity terms & trends, portfolio construction, developing fund managers, diverse fund managers, diversity and inclusion, and venture capital. Ms. Johns has both a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Indiana University Bloomington and a B.S. in Computer Info Systems, Magna Cum Laude 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. She has completed the ILPA Institute’s Private Equity Executive Education program.

Beth is a Senior Investment Consultant at Pavilion, a Mercer Practice. She currently services 6 endowment, foundation and family office clients with over $9 billion in aggregate assets under advisement. For these clients, Beth focuses on projects relating to asset allocation, investment manager selection, performance evaluation, and fund operations and governance. Beth’s prior professional experience includes work as an Investment Director for Vanderbilt University’s endowment, where she was responsible for investments across traditional equities and bonds, marketable alternatives, oil and gas and private equity. She started her investment career as an Investment Analyst at Duke Management Company, managing investment projects across all asset classes for Duke University’s endowment office. Beth attended the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Graduate School where she completed coursework in Economics. She holds a BA in Economics, Mathematics, Computer Science, and German from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Beth has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations. She is a member of the CFA Institute and a past board member of the CFA Society of St. Louis and the Nashville Society of Financial Analysts. Throughout her career, Beth has remained active in her community, sitting on several not-for-profit boards of directors, previously serving as the Investment Committee Chair and then Chair of the Board for the Missouri Foundation for Health, a $1 billion healthcare foundation in St. Louis. In 2008, she received the Foundation and Endowment Money Management’s Non-Profit Consultant of the Year Award.

Christine Zapotoczky Kelleher is chief of investments at the National Gallery of Art, responsible for managing the Gallery’s $1+ billion endowment. Previously, Christine served as senior investment officer for Georgetown University. She co-founded Georgetown’s Investment Office in 2004 and served as acting chief investment officer in 2011. After Georgetown, Christine led investment strategy, sourcing, and evaluation for Avec Capital, a boutique investment advisory and placement firm. Earlier in her career, she served on the executive team of the Central European University, founded by George Soros, in Budapest, Hungary. Christine is a member of the Board of Investment Trustees for the Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans and the Board of Trustees for the Consolidated Retiree Health Benefits Trust, Milken Institute’s Global Markets Advisory Council, The Academy for Institutional Investors’ editorial board, and the CAIA Allocator Council. She serves as a mentor for Accel CIO, accelerating tomorrow’s Black & Latino chief investment officers, and she previously served as an advisor to the Kayo Conference Series supporting women investors, member of the YWCA National Capital Area’s finance committee, and board member for the NHS Scholarship Fund. She received a BA in Russian and international relations from Bucknell University, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and holds MAs in Russian and East European studies and in Central European history from Georgetown University. She serves as president of the Bucknell University Alumni Association and lives in Washington, DC with her husband and son.

Bryan is responsible for the company’s global pension obligations for both defined contribution and defined benefit plans, as well as other related programs. Previously, Lewis managed a $30 billion pension fund for the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS). Prior to that, he served as the executive director of the $20 billion Illinois State Universities Retirement System. Earlier in his career, Lewis spent six years in an investment management role with the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer, where he created the Emerging Manager Program for the state’s retirement system, identifying high-performing asset management companies owned by minorities and women. Lewis earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Miami and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland at College Park. United States Steel Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., is a leading integrated steel producer and Fortune 250 company with major operations in the United States and Central Europe. For more information about U.S. Steel, please visit www.ussteel.com.

Saurabh Mukherjea is the Founder and CIO of Marcellus. Saurabh was educated at the London School of Economics where he earned a BSc in Economics (with First Class Honours) and an MSc in Economics. In London, Saurabh was the co-founder of Clear Capital and in 2007 he was rated by the Extel Survey as one of the top small cap analysts in the UK. In India, Saurabh was rated as the leading equity strategist in 2015, 2016 and 2017 by the Asiamoney polls.Prior to setting up Marcellus, Saurabh was the CEO of Ambit Capital. Upon SEBI’s invitation, he joined SEBI’s Mutual Fund Advisory Committee. In 2019, Saurabh was part of the Expert Committee constituted by SEBI to upgrade the PMS regulations. Saurabh has written four bestselling books.

Before starting Verdad, Dan worked at Bain Capital Private Equity and Bridgewater Associates. He is a member of the investment committee of the Trustees of Donations of the Episcopal Church, is the New York Times bestselling author of American Uprising: The Untold Story of America’s Largest Slave Revolt, and in 2017, was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list. Dan is a contributor to the Wall Street Journal and his investment research has been featured in multiple volumes of The Best Investment Writing. Dan earned an AB from Harvard College summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Mark E. Roberts, CFA serves as the Chief Investment Officer for Ironsides Asset Advisors, LLC, as well as a Managing Director for the Tuscarora Company (a family office). Immediately preceding that, Mr. Roberts was the Director of Global Equities and Hedged Strategies for the North Carolina Retirement Systems where he and his team were responsible for the management of the $33 billion Global Equity and Hedge Fund portfolios for the State of North Carolina. Additionally, Mr. Roberts has served as Chief Investment Officer for families and provided consulting services for endowments and foundations in both asset allocation, manager due diligence and portfolio construction. Earlier in his career, Mr. Roberts served as Director of Risk Management for Centura Bank and had asset – liability management responsibilities. Mr. Roberts received his Master of Science degree in finance from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the Calloway School of Business at Wake Forest University. Mr. Roberts serves on the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine Philanthropic Advisory Board. Mr. Roberts is the past Chairman of the Board for the NC State Investment Fund and still serves on the fund’s board. He is a member of the North Carolina Society of Financial Analysts and the American Finance Association. Mr. Roberts has served on multiple non-profit boards.

Liza Scott joined CornerStone Partners in 2023 as Managing Director. She was previously Vice President of Asset Management at Dominion Energy, Inc. where she oversaw over $20 billion of pension and other assets. Prior to Dominion, she spent 11 years at Spider Management Company, the investment office of the University of Richmond and outsourced investment office for over 25 other endowments and foundations. Before Spider Management, she was an Associate at J.P. Morgan Investment Management in New York. Prior to attending business school, Liza was a high school teacher at a New York City public school through the New York Teaching Fellows program. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in foreign affairs and Spanish from the University of Virginia and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University. Liza serves on the Virginia College Savings Plan Investment Advisory Committee, the University of Virginia Foundation Board of Directors and the MCV Foundation Board of Trustees.

Adela Skenderasi is a partner and portfolio manager at Brown Advisory. She is responsible for managing the investment portfolios of endowment and foundation institutional clients and also providing specific guidance on their long-term investment objectives. Prior to joining the firm, Adela worked for 8 years as a Senior Investment Officer at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where she oversaw all aspects of portfolio management for the defined benefit plan and healthcare benefit assets of the institution. In 2018, Adela took a sabbatical from the IMF to join the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Switzerland, where in addition to overseeing the externally managed funds of the defined benefit plan, she contributed to the alternative investments review and co-authored research papers on sustainable investing and climate change impact on public investors’ portfolios. Prior to joining the IMF, she was Director of Investment Operations for Georgetown University’s Investment Office. Adela holds an MBA with a focus in Finance from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and has been a CFA charterholder since September 2011.

Mark Steed is Chief Investment Officer for Arizona PSPRS, a public pension plan with approximately $9 billion in AUM. Over the last 10 years at Arizona PSPRS, Mr. Steed 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. Mr. Steed recently concluded a four-year stint as a forecaster for the distinguished Good Judgment Project, led by Dr. Phil Tetlock at UPenn, and recently published the first guest-post on the popular decision science blog Farnam Street. Prior to Arizona PSPRS, Mr. Steed worked in Banking at JPMorgan Chase. Mr. Steed 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.