Fall Academy Investment Forum

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.

Mr. Trennert is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Strategas and its related companies. In addition, as Chief Investment Strategist, Mr. Trennert is known as one of Wall Street’s top thought leaders on the subject of markets and economic policy. His research pieces are read by leading institutional investors and corporate executives across the globe. In 2006, Mr. Trennert co-founded Strategas, which originally began with just five employees. Today, the firm employs over fifty research analysts, institutional salesmen, and sales traders at its offices in New York and Washington D.C. Prior to founding Strategas, Mr. Trennert was the Chief Investment Strategist and a Senior Managing Director at International Strategy & Investment (ISI) Group where he built and oversaw two of that Firm’s most popular research efforts, its Company Surveys, and Investment Strategy groups. Widely quoted in the domestic and foreign press, Jason is a regular guest on business news programs broadcast by CNBC, CNBC Italia, Fox Business News, and Bloomberg TV, among others. He is the author of three books about investing and the investment business. My Side of the Street was published by St. Martin’s Press in May 2015. He has authored several op-eds for The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and Investor’s Business Daily. Mr. Trennert’s two most notable calls involved coining the phrase “TINA” as it relates to equities in a world of perpetually low interest rates and his early recognition of the potential allure of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate. His op-ed “The Stock Market and “The ‘TINA’ Factor” was published in The Wall Street Journal in April 2013. “What the Donald Got Right” was published in Investor’s Business Daily in May 2011. His piece “Donald Trump is Under-owned” appeared on the website Real Clear Markets in August 2015. Mr. Trennert credits his often out-of-consensus calls to his frequent travels to visit clients in 45 states and 25 foreign countries. He is committed to a number of Italian, Italian-American, and Catholic causes in New York and abroad. For his efforts he was honored at the 66th Annual Columbus Day parade in New York and was awarded the honorific of Cavaliere by the Republic of Italy on June 2, 2017. Mr. Trennert is a member of the investment committee of the National World War II Museum and a member of the advisory board of Hollow Brook Wealth Management. He has an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and BS in International Economics from Georgetown University.

Peter Zeihan is a geopolitical strategist, which is a fancy way of saying he helps people understand how the world works. Peter combines an expert understanding of demography, economics, energy, politics, technology, and security to help clients best prepare for an uncertain future.  Over the course of his career, Peter has worked for the US State Department in Australia, the DC think tank community, and helped develop the analytical models for Stratfor, one of the world’s premier private intelligence companies. Peter founded his own firm — Zeihan on Geopolitics — in 2012 in order to provide a select group of clients with direct, custom analytical products. Today those clients represent a vast array of sectors including energy majors, financial institutions, business associations, agricultural interests, universities and the U.S. military.  With a keen eye toward what will drive tomorrow’s headlines, his irreverent approach transforms topics that are normally dense and heavy into accessible, relevant takeaways for audiences of all types.  Peter is a critically-acclaimed author whose first two books — The Accidental Superpower and The Absent Superpower — have been recommended by Mitt Romney, Fareed Zakaria and Ian Bremmer. His latest third title, Disunited Nations: The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World became available in March 2020.  Peter’s fourth book, The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization, becomes available in June 2022.

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 $200 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 650 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 2,700 national and international media interviews and professional presentations on the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.

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.

Liza Scott joined Dominion Energy, Inc. in January 2020 as the Director of Asset Management/Assistant Treasurer where she oversees over $20 billion of pension and other assets. Prior to joining 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.

Brandon Baer is the Founding Partner and CIO of Contingency Capital which he started in November 2020. Prior to creating Contingency Capital, Mr. Baer was a Partner and Managing Director in the Credit Funds business at Fortress and was also the Co-Founder and Co-Head of the Fortress Legal Assets group from its inception through November 11, 2019. While at Fortress, Baer focused on litigation finance, distressed debt, and special situations, with an emphasis on complex, private illiquid investments including litigation related assets. Prior to working at Fortress, Mr. Baer was a Senior Vice President of D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. where he was a member of the corporate credit related strategies unit. Mr. Baer has served on numerous private and public boards including the boards of Alloy Power, Direct Group, FAO Schwarz, Foamex International, Oasis Legal Finance, Boyds Collection Ltd., Sure Fit, and Optimal SPV OSUS Ltd. Mr. Baer also has served on ad hoc and official creditor committees including Adelphia Communications, BTA Bank, Dow Corning, Legends Gaming, the Legacy Estate Group, Silicon Graphics, and WR Grace. Mr. Baer began his career as an associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher. He received a JD, cum laude, from Harvard University and a BA, summa cum laude, from Princeton University. He is based in New York.

Steve joined Marshall Wace in August 2015 as the portfolio manager for the Global Industrials strategy within the MW Eureka strategy. The Global Industrials strategy conducts deep fundamental research across a range of sectors, including industrials, technology, fintech and payments, and business and information services. Additionally, Steve is a co-manager on the Marshall Wace XO Digital Finance Fund, launched in 2021. Before joining Marshall Wace, Steve spent eight years at Eminence Capital, initially as an analyst and subsequently as a portfolio manager. Prior to this, Steve worked as an analyst at UBS Investment Bank in New York in the Mergers and Acquisitions group. Steve graduated with a BCom (Finance) from the University of New South Wales.

Jamie is a General Partner and Portfolio Manager on the Frazier Life Sciences team and co-leads Frazier’s public equity investment strategy. Jamie joined Frazier Healthcare Partners in 2016 and invests in private and public development stage biotechnology companies. Jamie co-leads the Frazier Life Sciences public investment strategy and serves as a co-Portfolio Manager of the Frazier Life Sciences Public Fund (FLSPF) with Albert Cha. Jamie co-led Frazier’s investment in Amunix Pharmaceuticals (sold to Sanofi), where he represented Frazier on the company’s board of directors. Prior to joining Frazier, Jamie was a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, where he was a core member of the Healthcare Practice. In this capacity, he led projects involving Biotechnology mergers and acquisitions, R&D, manufacturing, and business development strategy. Jamie received his M.D. from the University of Southern California, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honors society, and his B.A. from Middlebury College. He completed his post-graduate training in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

Eli Casdin, Chief Investment Officer and Founder, founded Casdin Capital in 2011. For the last 16 years he has analyzed and invested in disruptive technologies and business models in life sciences and healthcare. Prior to founding Casdin Capital, Eli was a vice president at Alliance Bernstein “thematic” based investment group where he researched and invested in the implications of new technologies for the life science and healthcare sectors. His Alliance Bernstein black book, “The Dawn of Molecular Medicine” detailed the early yet already accelerating wave of innovations in life sciences, and the next wave of investment opportunities. Eli’s prior experience includes time at Bear Stearns and Cooper Hill Partners, a healthcare focused investment firm. Eli earned a B.S. from Columbia University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Lisa focuses on Knollwood’s venture fund investments, leading fund due diligence, investment data analytics, and portfolio monitoring and forecasting. Lisa joined Knollwood from Ernst & Young, where she served on private equity, venture capital, and public CPG clients. Lisa earned an MBA and an MSF from Loyola University Maryland, and she obtained a BBA in Accounting with a double minor in Information Systems and Spanish from Loyola University Maryland. Lisa holds a CPA from the State of Maryland and is a CFA Level III Candidate.

Michael (Mike) A. Condon, CFA is Head of Portfolio Management at Fund Evaluation Group, LLC (FEG). Condon works with Endowment and Foundation (E&F) clients within FEG’s outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) service. A long-time thought leader within the E&F space, Condon brings more than 20 years of experience as an acting CIO. Most recently as CIO at Southern Methodist University, he led a 15-person office and was responsible for all aspects of investing the university’s $1.5 billion endowment. As CIO for the University of Arkansas Foundation, Condon oversaw a $1.1 billion endowment. During his 10-year tenure at Georgia Tech, the foundation endowment grew from $440 million to $1.5 billion. Additionally, Condon is on the Editorial Committee for The Investment Institute, and on advisory Boards for Institutional Investor and Alternative Investment Management, LLC.

Brian Garrett is the Co-Founder of Crosscut, having now built a 20+ year career in LA advising and investing in the SoCal entrepreneurial community. Brian is very active in the Los Angeles start-up community and works actively with the founders of these amazing SoCal Tech companies: WelcomeTech, Texino, Hivewatch, Umbra Space, Pearl, Kensho, BuildOps, FastData.io, Plink.ai, Intro.co, The BlackTux and Omaze. He has also invested in and worked with entrepreneurs across the country including the founders of Fuzzy, Monarx and Symbl.ai. With over 20 years of both investing and operating/entrepreneurial experience, Brian tries to bring humility and empathy to the lonely plight of starting and scaling start-up companies and works tirelessly to help his entrepreneurs succeed. Brian received his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and he graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering.

Susanne Gealy is a Senior Director of the investments team at CommonSpirit Health (formerly Dignity Health) and is based in San Francisco. She leads the organization’s public equity and directional hedge fund investments. In 2019, Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiative merged to form CommonSpirit Health, which is the largest not-for-profit health system in the US, dedicated to providing quality, compassionate health care. The organization has a $21 billion investment portfolio, allocated across the long term strategic operations, retirement benefits, endowment, and insurance pools of capital.

Prior to joining Dignity Health in 2018, Susanne spent 10 years at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, in Austin, a $150 billion retirement plan. At TRS, she was responsible for the $26 billion external equity investment program comprising US, international, emerging markets, and global equity managers, and actively participated in the emerging manager program of newer, smaller and/or diversity oriented investment managers. Before joining TRS, Susanne worked in New York at Investcorp, Lazard Asset Management, a family office, and Banc of America Securities. She began her career in finance at JP Morgan in equity derivatives. Prior to attending business school, Susanne worked in the field of structural engineering in San Francisco. Susanne holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. She has a M.S. and B.S. in Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

David Gilmore joined The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation in 2014 to help build their first investment office. The Foundation has $3.2 billion in assets and will make over $130 million in grants in 2022. The portfolio is invested across all asset classes including hedge funds, private equity, venture capital and real assets. David is responsible for the design and implementation of the Foundation’s strategic and tactical asset allocation, investment manager selection, risk management, and market research. 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 a Managing Partner of Oak Street Real Estate Capital, LLC and a member of the firm’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 focuses on sourcing, due diligence, investment monitoring and serving on advisory boards for Oak Street’s SASC business. Select 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 mentor for the Toigo Foundation and has served 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.

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.

Ms. Johns joined the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System in June 2011 and is 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.

Christine Zapotoczky Kelleher is chief of investments at the National Gallery of Art, responsible for managing the Gallery’s $1.3 billion endowment. Previously, Christine served as senior investment officer for Georgetown University. She assisted with the founding of 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, the finance committee of the YWCA National Capital Area, the editorial board for The Academy for Institutional Investors, and the CAIA Allocator Council. She serves as a mentor for Accel CIO, accelerating tomorrow’s Black & Latino chief investment officers; an advisor to the Kayo Conference Series supporting women investors; and president of the Bucknell University Alumni Association. She received a BA in Russian and international relations from Bucknell University and holds MAs in Russian and East European studies and in Central European history from Georgetown University. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and son.

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.

John D. Pinkel is a Partner of Indus Capital, based in San Francisco. Mr. Pinkel is the portfolio manager of the Indus Select Fund. Mr. Pinkel joined Indus Capital in March 2003 from Citigroup where he was Managing Director and Head of Equities in the Taipei branch. Prior to joining Citigroup, Mr. Pinkel spent eight years as a securities analyst in Hong Kong, China and South Korea. Mr. Pinkel lived and worked in Asia for 24 years. Mr. Pinkel, a CFA charterholder, graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a BS in Applied Mathematics. He spent the academic year of 1990-1991 at the Stanford Center in Taipei (Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies). Mr. Pinkel is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Michael Reist joined Avec Capital in 2019 as Director of General Partner Relationships. His responsibilities include performing institutional quality due diligence on potential GP clients, working with existing clients on marketing strategies, and distribution to limited partners.  Prior to Avec, he was Chief Investment Officer for Phillips Academy managing endowment assets of approximately $1 billion.  Before Phillips Academy, Mr. Reist was at Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York with various administrative, teaching, and coaching roles. Mr. Reist began his career in the Leveraged Finance Group within the Investment Banking Division of Bear, Stearns and Co. Inc. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Amherst College and holds a M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New York University.  He is a CFA charterholder.

Jamie Rhode is Vice President at Verdis Investment Management, focused on venture capital, private equity and hedge fund investment sourcing and due diligence. She joined Verdis from Bloomberg, where she held roles in both equity research and credit analysis. There, she created, managed and leveraged an extensive library of statutory and financial and market data for buy and sell-side clients that use Bloomberg to make investment decisions. A licensed Chartered Financial Analyst, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Finance and Marketing from Drexel University’s College of Business Administration.

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.

Eva Shang is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Legalist. She leads the company’s 40-person team of engineers, attorneys, and analysts and is a member of its valuation and investment committees and board of directors. Before co-founding Legalist at 20, Eva studied economics at Harvard College.

Mr. Simanovsky is the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Conversant. From 2011-2020, Mr. Simanovsky was a Partner at Senator Investment Group LP, where he was responsible for the firm’s investments in the real estate, gaming & lodging and housing sectors, among others. Prior to joining Senator in March 2011, Mr. Simanovsky was an investment professional with Cerberus Capital Management, LP, where he focused on originating and evaluating investment opportunities across a wide range of industries. Prior to joining Cerberus in August 2008, Mr. Simanovsky was in the Restructuring groups of both Rothschild Inc. and Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, where he focused on providing advisory services to companies undergoing financial restructuring transactions. Mr. Simanovsky currently serves as a Director of Quinn Residences (an owner and operator of purpose-built single-family rental communities), INDUS Realty Trust, Inc. (a U.S. based industrial/logistics REIT), Select Dental Management LLC (a dental services organization) and Valet Manager Inc. (a parking technology and management company) and previously served as a Director of Trade Street Residential, Inc. (an owner and operator of multi-family properties in the Southeast US), Gramercy Property Europe (an owner and operator of industrial assets in Europe), DFI Capital (the holding company for Engs Commercial Finance) and K2 Towers REIT (an owner and operator of cellular telephone towers). Mr. Simanovsky received a B.A. in Economics from Emory University.

Kate is a member of TrueBridge’s investment team, focusing on due diligence and industry analysis. She also leads the firm’s corporate partnership efforts. Kate worked alongside TrueBridge co-founder Mel Williams at UNC Management Company as an investment associate, where she helped manage the firm’s portfolios in private equity, venture capital, real estate, energy and natural resources, and enhanced fixed income. Before joining TrueBridge in 2013, she worked as a director at Parish Capital Advisors, where she was active in primary fund investing, secondary transactions, and co-investments. She has served on numerous fund advisory boards. Kate serves on the Finance and Audit Committee for the Board of Directors of the John Rex Endowment. She previously served as an advisor to Atlas Diligence (acquired by RCP Advisors), where she helped outsource private market intelligence. She is currently a member of the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN) and the local chapter of 100 Women in Finance. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As an undergraduate, she was a member of the two-time NCAA Championship Women’s Field Hockey Team and completed a business program at the Carolina Business Institute.

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.

Andrea Szigethy has been working as an educator in the financial sector bringing investment professionals together for close to 25 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. To Andrea the most fulfilling part of her career has been to connect investment professionals together on a much more “human-level” enabling work colleagues to become dear friends to feel more comfortable doing business together. 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 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 the Founder of The NC Investment Roundtable in 2008 which ultimately became known as The Investment Institute (TII) in 2010 (today it is rebranded to the Academy for Institutional Investors), an educational membership organization for institutional and private investors, managers and financial professionals. Andrea also spent many years as a Partner 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 is one of the founding members of the North Carolina Chapter of 100 Women in Finance. Andrea also holds several voluntary positions. She serves on Advisory Board for the CFA Society or NC as well as the Advancement Committee for the Hill Learning Center located in Durham, NC which provides services to children who have learning differences. Prior to working at Morgan Creek, Andrea was the President of NMS Management, Inc., an educational investment conference company providing unbiased forums for endowments, foundations, family office executives and high net worth individuals. Andrea spent six years at NMS in positions of increasing responsibility, concluding in her role as President of the firm. She managed all aspects of conference production, research and development, sales, marketing and relationship management. Prior to NMS, Andrea had six years of conference management to include supervision and development across marketing and operations functions in multiple market sectors including the healthcare, biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Andrea received her Bachelor of Arts Degree with a dual concentration in Business Administration and Psychology from the State University of New York at Albany and continuing credits towards a Master of Arts in Social Work from Adelphi University. Outside of work, Andrea enjoys spending time at as many concerts as she can possibly attend and playing Golf with her husband Rich. Andrea also enjoys spending time with her two beautiful girls Julia and Eden and all of her closest friends. Andrea’s favorite spots to run away to when she needs a little R&R is Bald Head Island, Wrightsville Beach and Asheville, North Carolina! Mostly Andrea enjoys connecting family, friends and colleagues with one another and spending as much time with them as possible.

Sondra Vitols is a Director of Investments for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital where she is responsible for alternative and impact investments. Prior to this role, Sondra worked at Duke University’s endowment and for North Carolina’s pension plan where she led and managed multi-billion portfolios in Private Credit, Hedge Funds and select Real Asset and Private Equity investments. Sondra was also appointed to spearhead development of the pension’s ESG policy and sustainable investment approach. Sondra began her finance career at McKinsey & Company. She has also held senior roles at Credit Suisse First Boston and D.E. Shaw & Company, in New York and Hong Kong. At Clark University, Sondra served both as investment staff for the endowment and as an associate professor at the business school. She has also held academic positions at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University. Sondra received B.A. degrees in chemistry and philosophy (with honors) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in chemical physics from Princeton.

Elise Wang is a Partner and Head of Private Equity Capital Markets on the Public Structured Finance team and joined the Firm in 2010. Ms. Wang provides extensive research and analysis on individual companies operating in the healthcare industry in both the US and Europe. Ms. Wang is a board member of Jaguar Gene Therapy. Prior to Deerfield, Ms. Wang was a Senior Research Analyst and Managing Director covering the biotechnology sector at PaineWebber and Citigroup. She began her career in healthcare as a venture capitalist and banker at PaineWebber and was an officer of PaineWebber Development Corporation, which managed nearly $1 billion in assets representing three PaineWebber funds and several research and development limited partnerships (RDLPs) invested in biotechnology and high technology companies. Ms. Wang holds an A.B. in Engineering Sciences with a specialty in Biomechanics from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Ward joined the Virginia Tech Foundation in April 2008 where he serves as its Chief Investment Office – Endowment. He leads all aspects of managing the Foundation’s portfolio including manager and investment selection and setting asset allocation policy. Almost 50% of the portfolio is invested internationally including a mix of niche and direct investments. The Virginia Tech endowment performance consistently ranks in the top 25% of its peers and was honored by Institutional Investor as the top mid-sized endowment of 2011. The Foundation currently oversees approximately $1.7 Billion in operating funds and long-term endowment funds which support Virginia Tech University. Prior to joining Virginia Tech he was the director of research for Integritas Advisors, a family office, from July 2004 – April 2008. Mr. Ward holds a BBA from The University of Michigan Business School, a MBA from The University of Florida Warrington College of Business and is a CFA charterholder.

Lauren Taylor Wolfe is co-founder and Managing Partner of Impactive Capital, a $2.5 Billion impact oriented active investing firm. Impactive Capital help companies allocate capital effectively and ethically to drive more sustainable, profitable and valuable businesses for all stakeholders. Prior to founding Impactive Capital she spent 10 years at investment firm, Blue Harbour Group, as a Managing Director and Investing Partner. Prior to joining Blue Harbour in 2007, Lauren was a Portfolio Manager at SIAR Capital, where she invested in small capitalization public companies and private companies. Lauren received an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. magna cum laude from Cornell University. Lauren has been active on various boards including, $9 Billion TEV HD Supply [Nasdaq: HDS], 30% Club Steering Committee, an Angel Member of 100 Women in Finance

Boris Ziser is co-head of the firm’s Finance & Derivatives Group and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. With almost 25 years of experience across diverse asset classes, Boris focuses on asset-backed securitizations, warehouse facilities, secured financings and commercial paper conduits. His practice encompasses a variety of asset classes, including life settlements, litigation funding, equipment leases, structured settlements, lottery receivables, timeshare loans, merchant cash advances and cell towers, in addition to other esoteric asset classes such as intellectual property, various insurance-related cash flows and other cash flow producing assets. He also represents investors, lenders, hedge funds, private equity funds and finance companies in acquisitions and dispositions of portfolios of assets and financings secured by those portfolios.

Recognized as a leading lawyer in the industry, Boris is ranked in Chambers USA, Chambers Global and The Legal 500 US for his work in structured finance. He serves as outside general counsel to the Institutional Longevity Markets Association (ILMA) and is a member of the Structured Finance Committee of the New York City Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and the Esoteric Assets Committee and Risk Retention Task Force of the Structured Finance Association. A frequent speaker at securitization industry conferences, Boris has conducted various securitization, litigation funding and life settlement seminars in the United States and abroad. Boris has been interviewed for the article “Attorneys Must Tread Carefully in Litigation Funding’s Next Stage,” published in Law360, and the articles “SRZ’s Leading Litigation Finance Practice: Holistic Expertise for a Booming Asset Class” and “Life Settlements and Longevity Swaps: Opportunities for Investors, Individuals, Insurers and Pension Funds,” both published in The Hedge Fund Journal. Most recently, his speaking engagements have included “Macro Trends in Litigation Finance: What Does 2021 Have in Store?” at the IMN Litigation Finance Virtual Series and “Litigation Funding: Market Roundtable,” an SRZ Webinar.