Spring Academy Investment Forum

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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”).

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!

John Wolff is a Managing Director at Insight Partners and the Chief Investment Officer of Insight Partners Public Equities (“IPPE”). Prior to Insight, John was the Founder and CIO of C243 Capital Management and from 2015 to 2020, John was the Head of Technology Investing and a Portfolio Manager at Omega Advisors. Before joining Omega, John was a Principal at Andor Capital from 2012 to 2015. John also spent five months at Eastbay Capital during Omega’s transition to a Family Office in late 2018. John started his career in finance at Goldman Sachs in its TMT Investment Banking Division after successfully exiting the internet startup he co-founded. John also served as a director for Slader LLC., a leading education platform for high school and college students, and advised the company through their acquisition by Quizlet in 2020. John graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Psychology. During his junior year, he was drafted by the Chicago White Sox and played two years of minor league baseball in the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets organizations. After retiring from baseball, John received his MBA from Columbia Business School.

Mark Yusko is the Founder, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Morgan Creek Capital Management. He is also the Managing Partner of Morgan Creek Digital. Morgan Creek Capital Management was founded in 2004 and currently manages close to $2 billion in discretionary and non-discretionary assets. Prior to founding Morgan Creek, Mr. Yusko was CIO and Founder of UNC Management Company (UNCMC), the Endowment investment office for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before that, he was Senior Investment Director for the University of Notre Dame Investment Office. Mr. Yusko has been at the forefront of institutional investing throughout his career. An early investor in alternative asset classes at Notre Dame, he brought the Endowment Model of investing to UNC, which contributed to significant performance gains for the Endowment. The Endowment Model is the cornerstone philosophy of Morgan Creek, as is the mandate to Invest in Innovation. Mr. Yusko is again at the forefront of institutional investing through Morgan Creek Digital Assets, which was formed in 2018. Morgan Creek Digital is an early stage investor in blockchain technology, digital currency and digital assets. Mr. Yusko received a BA with Honors from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Chicago.

Erik Sebusch is a Partner at Mercer Alternatives boutique, specifically focused on Private Equity. He is the Global Strategy Leader of Venture Capital and Growth Equity. In addition to fund research, Erik is involved in co investments and secondary opportunities. Before Mercer, Erik was a Partner with a San Francisco-based Venture Capital / Growth Equity manager Presidio Partners FKA CMEA Capital. His primary duties were managing the corporate strategic investors, traditional institutional limited partners and early-stage technology investing. In addition, Erik served on the boards of multiple technology companies, led technology investments and served on the Investment Committee while at CMEA. Prior to CMEA, Erik spent nearly 12 years at UPS. Erik began in New Product Development, and Innovation then moved to the Corporate Venture Capital group and lastly worked as a Private Markets Portfolio Manager to over a $5 billion allocation to private assets in the $30+ billion UPS Pension. Before UPS, he spent ten years working as a high-net-worth financial consultant for Merrill Lynch and private practice for individuals and family offices. Erik holds an International MBA from Thunderbird, School of Global Management and serves on over 20 limited partner advisory boards.

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.

Caroline M. Poland is the Founder and CEO of Poland and Associates Consulting. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, a Licensed Clinical Addictions Counselor, a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, a Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional, and a Nationally Certified Counselor. She is also certified in EMDR therapy, a form of therapy designed for those who experience distress around traumatic memories and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She is the Founder and Owner of Landmark Counseling, a private practice that serves clients in the state of Indiana. Ms. Poland is the creator of the Preferred Cognitive Styles and Decision Making Model, which was first discussed in a 2011 article published in Vaccine. This model outlines a series of cognitive styles that individuals employ in decision making, and outlines communication strategies that the health care provider can use to communicate effectively with that patient to create behavior change – in particular in regards to vaccine acceptance. She has also published on the use of the Empathy tool in improving immunization rates, and the role of distortions of human behavior in pandemic planning. Ms. Poland is the former Director of the Counseling Center at Taylor University, where she served for 10 years and held academic rank. In addition to her duties in the Counseling Center, she designed and taught an innovative psychology class. She is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Vaccine Education Project, and was an invited participant for forums on vaccine hesitancy and acceptance through the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ms. Poland has presented over 170 invited seminars and talks nationally and internationally including invited talks at the United States Air Force Academy, Duke University, Mayo Clinic, Universidad Del Azuay in Cuenca, Ecuador, the University of Athens Children’s Hospital in Athens, Greece, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases Annual Conference on Vaccine Research, the Annual Vaccine Congress, and the 4th Influenza Vaccines for the World Congress in Spain. Ms. Poland has published over 15 scientific papers and book chapters incorporating psychological and cognitive models into health decision making, specifically looking at vaccine hesitancy and acceptance. Ms. Poland is a popular and energetic consultant and conference and seminar speaker, bringing insights from psychology, mental health, and science on every day problems faced in healthcare, business, and leadership settings. She has given many popular and acclaimed seminars and talks on the topics of women in the workplace, vaccine hesitancy, compassion fatigue and burnout, trauma, establishing trauma informed care in educational, hospital, and clinical settings, sexual assault, emotional regulation, and improving overall health and wellness for flourishing. Ms. Poland has worked with organizations around the world on issues of healthy workplaces, impactful leadership, and women in the workplace. Finally, Ms. Poland is frequently sought out by radio, television, and print media for her views on the above topics.

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.

Peter Troob co-heads TF Investments, a single-family office with his brother, Doug Troob. In this role, he is responsible for investing the capital of his family office across asset classes including private equity and debt, real estate, venture capital and special situations. They also co-founded Troob Capital Management LLC in 2002. Peter leads TCM’s opportunistic investment strategy providing capital solutions across asset classes, capital structures, industries and geographies in both liquid and illiquid investments. His responsibilities include identifying, evaluating, structuring, and managing investments as well as portfolios. Mr. Troob has extensive experience investing in growth opportunities as well as deep value, distressed, restructurings, and illiquid situations. Prior to founding TCM, Mr. Troob was a Principal at Everest Capital, a global hedge fund, where he was focused on the Everest Capital Senior Debt L.P. and concentrated on distressed securities, capital structure arbitrage and special situations. Prior to joining Everest, Mr. Troob was a Partner at Contrarian Capital Management LLC, a distressed debt and special situation hedge fund, where he was responsible for all aspects of the investment process with active involvement in driving value-creating events. He also worked in the investment banking departments of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Kidder Peabody and The Geneva Companies engaging in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions. Mr. Troob is a published author of Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle. He received a B.A. and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University in 1991, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1995.

Terry L. Root is Senior Fellow (University Faculty) Emerita in Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. Her research addresses how plants and animals are changing with the changing climate, including extinction risk of species. She was a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change 4th Assessment Report that in 2007 was co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Vice President Al Gore. Also, she was a lead author for the 3rd Assessment Report (2001) and a Review Editor for the 5th Assessment Report (2014). In addition to other honors, Root was awarded the Spirit of Defenders Award for Science by Defenders of Wildlife in 2010, and Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 from the conservation organization Point Blue. She has served on the boards and as science advisor to several non-governmental organizations, including the National Audubon Board from 2010 through 2019. Currently, she is on the board of Defenders of Wildlife, Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute, and Birds Caribbean. Root earned her undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of New Mexico, her master’s degree in Biology from the University of Colorado and her doctorate in Biology from Princeton University. She was a Professor at the University of Michigan for 15 years, when she moved to Stanford University where she was on the faculty for another 15 years. She now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. When not giving talks and continuing scientific research on species and climate change, she is actively pursuing her hobbies of throwing pottery on the wheel, bird watching, and hiking.

Daniel Clifton is a Partner and Head of Policy Research for Strategas Securities. In this capacity, Mr. Clifton evaluates government policy initiatives and its impact on the global economy and financial markets for institutional investors. Daniel and his team have been recognized by Institutional Investor magazine as one to the top Washington policy analysts in their annual survey nine consecutive years. Separately, Mr. Clifton is currently ranked as the #2 analyst on Wall Street for Accounting & Tax Policy in the same survey. Prior to joining Strategas, Mr. Clifton was Executive Director of the American Shareholders Association (ASA), a non-partisan, non-profit organization which analyzes public policy affecting shareholders. In this capacity, Daniel was part of coalitions that successfully lowered capital gains and dividend tax rates to 15 percent, a repatriation tax holiday on foreign source revenue in 2004, and reform of the nation’s private-sector pension system. Prior to joining ASA, Mr. Clifton was Federal Affairs Manager for Americans for Tax Reform and served as a senior staff member in two gubernatorial administrations working on economic and fiscal policy issues. Daniel has also worked in various capacities on elections at federal, state, and local levels. Mr. Clifton received both his BA in Urban Planning and his MS in Public Policy from Rutgers University where he was a Fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics and a Harold Martin Fellow for Public Policy.

Grady Frank is a Partner and Head of Private Credit Origination at GoldenTree Asset Management. Mr. Frank is a member of the Private Credit Committee and leads GoldenTree’s coverage for private equity sponsors and other sources of private credit opportunities. Prior to joining GoldenTree, Mr. Frank spent 22 years in investment banking. Mr. Frank spent 15 years at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Most recently, Mr. Frank was responsible for managing relationships with many of Goldman’s largest private equity clients to provide advisory services and financing solutions. Mr. Frank also spent ten years in Goldman’s Leveraged Finance Debt Capital Markets group where he was Head of Healthcare, Consumer Retail, and Middle Market Industry verticals responsible for structuring debt financing solutions for sponsors and corporate issuers. Mr. Frank received a B.S. in Business Administration from Washington & Lee University.

Terry Gottberg, 55, is the Chairman, President, and CEO of Merit Energy Company. He has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry and has spent 28 of them at Merit. In 2021, Terry was named “Top Midsize Leader” in the Dallas Fort Worth area, along with Merit Energy being named in the “Top 100 Places to Work” for the 10th consecutive year. Since joining in 1994, he has had a meaningful impact throughout all areas of Merit. His engineering background and strong leadership qualities have helped maintain our operational focus, as well as our unique culture. Terry has been instrumental in building relationships with our Limited Partners, bankers, and industry leaders. Currently the leaders of our three operating divisions, Acquisitions, Human Relations, General Counsel, Investor Relations, and our CFO report directly to Terry. His previous positions at Merit include, Acquisition and Region Manager, Vice President of Corporate Development, CFO and Senior Vice President. Prior to joining Merit, Terry held several engineering positions for Conoco Inc. Terry received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wyoming in 1991. He and his wife, Missy Gottberg, have two grown daughters, Kerry and Amy.

Muthu is the Chief Investment Officer at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, stewarding the institution’s assets to create returns that advance the CHOA mission. Previously, he oversaw the strategic and sustainable growth of Group Health Foundation’s investments. Muthu is a seasoned asset management professional, with experience investing globally across various asset classes, including private equity, venture capital, real estate, real assets, and both public and private investments in emerging economies. He has led investment teams and strategies at Emory Investment Management, Covariance Capital Management, the University of Richmond, the State Board of Administration of Florida, and RSM Equico. Outside of work, Muthu reads a lot of nonfiction books, stays active by bicycling or jogging, and enjoys watching Tamil movies. He also likes to travel, including visiting his family and community in India. Muthu holds a BHM from Mangalore University and an MBA from Rollins College.

Joe has 25 years’ experience working as an LP, GP and technology operations executive. Prior to Isomer he was MD for Business Development at Pomona Capital, a leading global secondaries firm, and earlier at Cambridge Associates responsible for advising institutional investors on venture capital and private equity investments. Joe began his career in information technology operating roles, most notably at Invensys plc (now Schneider Electric) in the US and Europe. He received a BS Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and an MBA from London Business School.

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.

Stephanie Pomboy is founder and president of MacroMavens, a boutique research firm that provides macroeconomic research and consulting services to the investment community. Started in 2002, the firm has earned a reputation for calling major macro developments well ahead of the curve, including the housing bust, the financial crisis that followed and the 2018 market meltdown. If reluctantly, Stephanie has submitted to interviews with key industry publications, such as Barron’s and The Welling Letter, as well as Real Vision and Wealthion, among others. She is also a regular guest on Fox Business and Bloomberg TV. Prior to launching MacroMavens, Stephanie worked with Ed Hyman at CJ Lawrence and, then, at Evercore ISI. She earned a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College. And now resides in Florida with her English bulldog.

Ms. Chambers is a private markets consultant focusing on private equity, infrastructure, and opportunistic asset classes. Ms. Chambers has over 20 years of industry experience. She has authored research on the developing infrastructure sector within the US and provides infrastructure advice/services to numerous institutional investors. She also specializes in developing emerging manager platforms and special investment vehicles for institutional investors. In addition to her consulting responsibilities, Ms. Chambers is a co‑chair of the firm’s Emerging and Diverse Manager Committee, and a member of the firm’s Private Markets Policy, Private Markets Research, and Diversity Leadership Committees. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Chambers was a Principal at Caswell Capital Partners, a merchant bank formed to serve the needs of small and middle market media and entertainment companies. Prior to joining Caswell Capital Partners, Ms. Chambers was a Vice President in Investment Banking at Lehman Brothers in the Leveraged Finance Group where she originated and executed transactions in high yield bonds, leveraged loans and bridge financings related to mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and recapitalizations. Ms. Chambers’ completed transactions span various industries, including natural resources, media, financial institutions, industrial, and consumer services. Ms. Chambers holds a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University and a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Community Service Society of New York and as the chair of the Advisory Board of the Robert Toigo Foundation. In addition, Ms. Chambers is on the Advisory Board of the Jazz Foundation of America.

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.

Brian Clark is an Investment Director at the $3.2 billion Baltimore-based Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. He serves as a generalist covering all asset classes with a particular emphasis on private markets and hedge funds. He is involved in all aspects of managing the Foundation’s assets, including manager due diligence, asset allocation and risk management. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2015, Mr. Clark was an Investment Analyst the University of Cincinnati’s $1.2 billion endowment, where he worked as a generalist, monitoring existing investments, and evaluating prospective investment managers. Prior to that, Mr. Clark was at a $1+ billion multi-family office in Cleveland, Ohio focused on the firm’s alternative investments and research. Mr. Clark earned a B.S. in Finance from Miami University’s Farmer School of Business in Oxford, Ohio. Mr. Clark received his CFA charter and is a member of the CFA Institute.

Sondra Vitols was previously a Director of Investments for New York-Presbyterian Hospital where she was 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.

Tracy Fong is an alternative investment professional with over 23 years of experience across startups, public technology companies, investment banking, alternatives endowment management, fixed income and foreign exchange, and strategic equities management. She has a passion for global, complex and emergent investment opportunities, e.g. international startup investments in 2004, emerging markets debt in 2008, healthcare structured investments in 2015, SaaS revenue-based loans and marketplace lending in 2016, technology company SPACs in 2017, and crypto assets in ~2014-2017. With ~23 years of experience across Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, Ms. Tracy Fong is a Partner and Private Markets Investment Due Diligence Analyst at Albourne Partners, a leading investment consulting firm that advises on over $650bn of alternative assets to over 300 institutional clients. She leads the Firm’s global Venture Capital coverage (including crypto/blockchain) and previously served as the co-chair of the Private Markets Investment Committee. Ms. Fong was previously a Managing Director at SVB Capital’s $4bn+ VC fund-of-funds and direct VC fund. Ms. Fong also spent four years at the Harvard University endowment, Harvard Management Company, where she was Vice President of Alternative Assets and worked on HMC’s $20bn+ alternatives portfolio construction, investment manager selection, and direct natural resources transactions (including timber and agriculture). Her Venture Capital experience included allocations to prominent access-constrained firms and strategic transactions resulting from the IPOs of numerous portfolio companies. Prior to business school, she also worked at Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) on the Corporate Finance and Treasury Team during the Web 2.0 era, where her group managed Yahoo!’s $4bn+ fixed income portfolio; worked on structured transactions; and helped manage 30 acquisitions, including the landmark joint venture with Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). Ms. Fong has also worked in Investment Banking at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs where she worked on Technology Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Finance transactions including the IPO of Netscreen Technologies (NASDAQ: NSCN) and NPTest Holding (NASDAQ: NPTT). During the first technology boom, Ms. Fong began her career at two startup companies, Webvan Group (NASDAQ: WBVN) and Varsitybooks.com. Webvan, a Sequoia and Benchmark-backed company, was one of the first online grocery delivery services, was called by CNET one of the most well-known companies of the dot-com / Web 1.0 era. Ms. Fong received a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley (honors recognition) and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Brad Creel is the Director of Real Estate Investments for the Lockheed Martin Investment Management Company (LMIMCo), a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation. LMIMCo manages the Corporation’s pension and savings trusts, including its $30 billion defined benefit plan. Mr. Creel’s responsibilities include strategy formulation, investment underwriting, contract negotiations, and performance monitoring. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin in 2013, Mr. Creel was a Portfolio Manager focusing on real estate investments for the $80 billion North Carolina Retirement System. During his time at Lockheed Martin alone, Brad has overseen the deployment of over $6 billion to real estate investments. He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.

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.

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, became available in June 2022.

Chris leads the team’s research process across the digital assets ecosystem and he is responsible for Forest Road Digital Fund’s portfolio construction, manager selection, and due diligence. Chris brings 18 years of experience as a fund allocator, bridging his institutional expertise to this nascent asset class. Chris has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MComm in Finance from the University of New South Wales. He also has CFA, CAIA, and CPA credentials.

Thejas Nalval is a co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Parataxis Capital. Thejas was previously a portfolio manager with digital asset hedge fund LedgerPrime and Head of Asset Management at the Element Group. Prior to joining the digital asset space, Thejas spent 8 years at Goldman Sachs, most recently as a trader within the firm’s Macro Trading group. Thejas is a graduate of the Stern School of Business at NYU (MBA) and Rutgers University (BA).

Coming soon

McKeever “Mac” Conwell II is a software engineer by trade and was a former DOD contractor with a top-secret clearance. He was a two-time founder with an exit and a failure. Next Mac moved on to the venture capital world via the Maryland Technology Development Corporation as part of their Seed Investment Team.During his four years there, Mac amassed experience leading an initiative to create the Minority Business Pre-seed Fund, the first and only, at the time, state-backed pre-seed fund for women and minorities in the country. The program institutionalized the friends and family round for black-, women-, and minority-led startups and was subsequently funded long-term by the state of Maryland. In 2021 Mac founded RareBreed VC, a $10M pre-seed fund that he raised mostly off of Twitter, that invests in exceptional founders outside of large tech ecosystems.

Andrew Palmer, CFA is the Chief Investment Officer for the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System. In this role, he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the System’s investment division and has overall responsibility for the System’s investment program. Previously he was the Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Director of Fixed Income for the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System. In addition to his role as Director of Fixed Income, he led the construction of a Strategic Lending Portfolio, was a member of the Private Equity and Real Estate Committees and shared in the responsibility for tactical asset allocation and new product development. He began his career at ASB Capital Management, a Bethesda, Maryland based institutional advisory firm. Mr. Palmer is a member of the University of Maryland, Economics Leadership Council, and the ILPA, has been active in the CFA program and was President of the Washington Association of Money Managers. He received a BA and an MA in Economics from the University of Maryland.

Amy Diamond is the Chief Investment Officer of the University of Southern California. Diamond heads the university’s Investment Office, is part of the president’s senior leadership team, and oversees USC’s $8 billion endowment. She joined USC in 2020 after serving two decades as Managing Director of Private Investments and Real Assets with Northwestern University’s Investment Office. Prior to joining Northwestern, Diamond was an Equity Research Analyst for several investment banks, including Dillon, Read & Co., and Vector Securities, where she led coverage of companies in the energy and health care services industries. Diamond earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from George Washington University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Danielle DiMartino Booth is CEO & Chief Strategist for Quill Intelligence LLC, a research and analytics firm celebrating its one-year anniversary of launching The Daily Feather and the four-year anniversary of the Weekly Quill. DiMartino Booth set out to launch a #ResearchRevolution, redefining how markets intelligence is conceived and delivered with the goal of not only guiding portfolio managers, but promoting financial literacy. To build QI, she brought together a core team of investing veterans to analyze the trends and provide critical analysis on what is driving the markets – both in the United States and globally. Since inception, commentary and data from DiMartino Booth’s The Daily Feather have appeared in other financial sources such as Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business, Institutional Investor, Yahoo Finance, The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Seeking Alpha, TD Ameritrade, TheStreet.com, and more. A global thought leader on monetary policy, economics and finance, DiMartino Booth founded Quill Intelligence in 2018. She is the author of FED UP: An Insider’s Take on Why the Federal Reserve is Bad for America (Portfolio, Feb 2017), a full-time columnist for Bloomberg View, a business speaker, and a commentator frequently featured on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, Fox Business News, BNN Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance and other major media outlets. Prior to Quill, DiMartino Booth spent nine years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas where she served as Advisor to President Richard W. Fisher throughout the financial crisis until his retirement in March 2015. Her work at the Fed focused on financial stability and the efficacy of unconventional monetary policy. DiMartino Booth began her career in New York at Credit Suisse and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette where she worked in the fixed income, public equity, and private equity markets. DiMartino Booth earned her BBA as a College of Business Scholar at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from the University of Texas at Austin and an MS in Journalism from Columbia University.

Kim Y. Lew is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Columbia Investment Management Company, responsible for managing the University’s endowment. She came to Columbia from Carnegie Corporation of New York, where she worked for more than a decade, most recently as Vice President and Chief Investment Officer. Lew began her career at Chemical Bank as a credit analyst, after receiving her BS in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She went on to graduate with an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1992, after which she joined Prudential Capital Group and then the Ford Foundation, where she spent more than a decade, first as a portfolio strategist investing in the technology sector and then as a senior manager responsible for the organization’s private equity investments.

Mr. Spellar is Chief Investment Officer for the $4.1 billion Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System located in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Mr. Spellar oversees all aspects of the DB Plan’s investment portfolio, and has worked previously for Parametric Portfolio Associates, GIT Investment Funds and as an independent registered investment advisor. Mr. Spellar holds an MBA from Marymount University and BA’s in History and European Studies from George Mason University.

Kunle Apampa is the Director and Head of Client Advisory & Partnerships at Capricorn Investment Group. Prior to Capricorn in 2021, Kunle was Vice President and COO at Goldman Sachs Imprint, an ESG & Impact Investment platform within Alternative Investments & Manager Selection group in the Asset Management Division. Kunle spent over a decade at Goldman Sachs, holding several leadership roles within the firm’s Global Markets division as well as the Finance division. Kunle holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering, specializing in Energy, Environment & Economics, from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Kunle is based in New York City.

William Heard is the founder of Heard Capital LLC and serves as the Firm’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, leading the Firm’s investment process and strategic direction.

Prior to founding and leading Heard Capital LLC, Mr. Heard was a special situations analyst for Stark Investments, a global alternative investment firm. While at Stark Investments, he covered the telecommunications, media, technology, financials, and energy sectors. Mr. Heard’s investment experience spans asset classes and includes leveraged loans, high yield bonds and equity securities. Mr. Heard is active in the philanthropic community, focusing his efforts on education and disadvantaged youth. He currently serves on the City Year Chicago Board of Directors and actively participates in OneGoal: a diverse collective of local organizations creating opportunities for today’s youth and low-income population. Mr. Heard is also a board member of the President’s Circle and Young Professional Network for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. Mr. Heard is a graduate of Marquette University’s College of Business Administration where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Real Estate. While at Marquette, he founded and established the University’s Applied Investment Management (AIM) Program. AIM was the first undergraduate business program in the nation to be selected as a Program Partner by the CFA Institute. Mr. Heard was raised in Milwaukee, WI. In his spare time, Mr. Heard serves as a mentor to students on topics such as leadership, globalism and markets.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Chris is a member of the LB&C OCIO Investment Committee and leads investment strategy for the portfolios’ public and private investments, which includes overseeing initial and ongoing manager due diligence and manager selection. In addition, Chris is integrally involved in all aspects of the investment process, including asset allocation, portfolio construction and risk management. He was previously a Managing Director of Investments with Verger Capital Management and, before that, a member of the investment team at Davidson College and the Alfred I. duPont Trust. Chris received a B.A. in Communications from North Carolina State University and is a CFA charterholder. Chris recently joined the Investment Committee of the Virginia529 College Savings Plan. Chris joined LB&C in 2018 and has 16 years of investment experience.

Philip Keefe is a Director at VCU Investment Management Company. Previous experience include his time at Mangham Associates, Bain Capital, Sankaty Advisors and Cambridge Associates. Philip graduated with a BS in Finance from Case Western Reserve University.

Ian Bradley is an Investment Analyst at the Foundations for the Carolinas since August 2019. Prior to that he was an Asset Management Analyst at PFM. Ian received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance and Economics from Stetson University.

Mike Dempsey is a Managing Partner at Compound investing in frontier technologies such as robotics, machine learning, biology, crypto, & more with a research-centric, thesis-driven approach. Michael became passionate about nascent technologies after noticing the unique lens it takes to invest into companies in these areas and being inspired by the products these startups were building. At CB Insights, Michael dove into startups developing nascent technologies and coined this area “frontier technology”. Prior to CB Insights, Michael invested in public and private markets at hedge fund Crane Partners, while also managing a small seed stage portfolio out of the fund. Michael grew up in Newton, MA and graduated from NYU with a degree in economics.

Dr. Amlan Roy is a Global Macro Researcher with 30+ years of experience across markets, policy advisory and academia. He was Head of Global Macro Research at State Street Global Advisors until the 30th June 2021. Prior to SSGA, he spent nearly 19 years at Credit Suisse Investment Bank where his last position was a managing director. He is a Guest Finance Professor at London Business School and a Senior Research Associate at London School of Economics. He was recently awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries for his contributions to Retirement & Demographics Research. Dr. Amlan Roy is a global macro researcher across financial markets. He pioneered innovative approach to understanding demographics focusing on consumers and workers. His extensive teaching and applied research expertise allows him to connect and explain complex things very easily to anyone, regardless of their knowledge on the matter. Amlan’s areas of research span: Macroeconomics, Asset Pricing, Portfolio Theory, Demographics & Retirement. His research is innovative and pioneering in its perspective by connecting Global Demographics to growth, debt, asset prices, pensions & insurance, asset allocation and risk management sectors, allocation, health, migration and unemployment. He presents to a global client base (across 30+ countries) that includes fund managers, hedge funds, insurance companies, pension funds, SWFs, governments and central banks. Prior to joining SGGA in 2017, over 1998-2016, he was with Credit Suisse developing their client franchise in Global Demographics and Pensions. He left Credit Suisse as MD and Head of Global Demographics Research. Previously, as global EM strategist, he developed multi-country risk & allocation models used by clients, central banks, govt. treasuries. He also served as an expert on Financial Architecture/Crises Modelling at the Bank of England, IMF and UK Treasury. Prior to joining Credit Suisse in 1998, Amlan spent over ten years in academia at Boston University School of Management, University of Iowa Business School and the University of London (QMW College and LSE). He had a distinguished university teaching career winning 4 teaching awards in 6 years at US business schools. Amlan was named a UK ESRC Research Fellow, Ponders Fellow, a Boston University Doctoral Scholar, a Government of India National Scholar. Amlan has a M.A. and Ph.D. in Financial Economics (University of Iowa), an M.B.A. (Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad) and a B.A. (Honours) in Economics with Maths (St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi).

Christopher Nicolaou is a managing director of Artisan Partners. He is responsible for alternative investment strategy and development as well as growth initiatives across the firm from within the strategic solutions and investment operations group. In addition, he currently serves as the business leader for the Artisan China Post-Venture strategy, as well as a member of a number of firmwide business, strategy and trading oversight committees. Prior to joining Artisan Partners in 2019, Mr. Nicolaou was responsible for corporate development at Palantir Technologies with a primary focus on joint venture strategy and investments. Before that, he was a vice president in the alternative investments and manager selection group at Goldman Sachs where he co-managed the seed and opportunistic investing programs. Earlier in his career, Mr. Nicolaou was a vice president at the Blackstone Group. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in business administration from Columbia Business School.

Ellen J. Ellison was the Chief Investment Officer of the University of Illinois Foundation (UIF) from 2013 to 2021 where she has assembled the Foundation’s first independent investment team and established a Chicago-based investment office. As CIO, she led a six-member investment team, grew assets from $1.0 billion to $2.6 billion and provided guidance for the Foundation and its board of directors on all investment-related matters, including asset allocation, spending policy, and best practices in governance.

Ellison, who has more than 20 years of experience in the financial sector, held a similar role at the University of Miami prior to joining the University of Illinois Foundation as Executive Director of Investments.  Ellison also served as the chief investment officer at J.I.K. Investment Services, Inc., a family office in Miami, Fla., and as a senior vice president and portfolio manager at Fiduciary Trust Company International in both New York and Miami. In 2018, Ellison was named one of the Top 30 University Endowment Chief Investment Officers by Trusted Insight, the world’s largest network of institutional investors.

The Glen Cove, N.Y. native received a bachelor’s degree in French literature from Mount Holyoke College and then earned an MBA from Columbia University Business School. Ellison also holds the Charted Financial Analyst designation. She speaks three foreign languages and serves on a number of not-for-profit, public and family investment advisory boards.  She is at present the Vice-Chair of the Mt. Holyoke College Investment Committee.

Serina Vash is the Managing Partner of the New Jersey Office of Herman Jones LLP. A seasoned former federal prosecutor and litigator, Serina has served for over two decades in the public, private and academic sectors. Her practice focuses on government and internal investigations, pre/post transactional due diligence and risk management, compliance and board training, data privacy and cybersecurity, IPO readiness, and anti-harassment/civility in the workplace. Serina has significant first chair trial experience, handling numerous federal criminal cases from investigation through verdict. She also advises clients on governance, compliance, and enterprise risk management issues, and specializes in creating and augmenting corporate compliance programs and trainings for corporate boards and C-Suite executives. Before joining Herman Jones, Serina served as General Counsel and Executive Director of Governance, Risk and Compliance at RANE Corp., a due diligence and risk management advisory start-up. Serina also served as the first Executive Director of NYU Law School’s Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement (2014-2017). At NYU, Serina developed, established and managed a cutting-edge law and policy program dedicated to understanding the causes of corporate misconduct, the key attributes of effective compliance programs and the efficacy of enforcement policy. In 2010, after twelve years at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, Serina became the first Chief of the Office’s General Crimes Unit. She also served as Acting Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, Senior Litigation Counsel in the Organized Crime/Gang Unit and the National Security Unit, and a member of the Office’s Trial Mentorship Program. Prior to becoming an AUSA, Serina was the first law clerk to the Honorable Faith S. Hochberg of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. She cut her teeth as a litigator in the New York office of Cahill Gordon & Reindel from 1995 to 1999. Serina graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from St. John’s University Law School. Serina speaks regularly on behavioral ethics, effective compliance, cybersecurity risk and regulation, workplace civility, enforcement policy and handling corporate criminal investigations. She serves on the Board of Trustees for the USAO Alumni Association (DNJ) and as a Subcommittee Chair in the Ethics Section of the Federal Bar Association.

Tom Hardin previously spent much of his career as a hedge fund analyst. In 2009, as part of a cooperation agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, Tom assisted the U.S. government in understanding how insider trading occurred in the financial services industry. Known as “Tipper X,” Tom became one of the most prolific informants in securities fraud history, helping to build over 20 of the 80+ individual criminal cases in “Operation Perfect Hedge,” a Wall Street house cleaning campaign that morphed into the largest insider trading investigation of a generation. Since resolving his case in 2015, Tom was invited by the FBI’s NYC office to speak to their rookie agent class in 2016 and is now an international corporate trainer and speaker on conduct risk, behavioral ethics and compliance from his former frontline perspective. Tom received a B.S. Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Fred Greear joined Carilion Clinic, a Virginia-based healthcare system, in 2015 to lead its investment function, overseeing $3 billion across operating capital and defined benefit pension assets. Headquartered in Roanoke, Carilion serves nearly a million residents in the western part of Virginia across six hospitals and more than 200 practice sites. Previously, Mr. Greear worked at Huntington Ingalls Industries with oversight responsibility for the company’s hedge fund and fixed income pension investments and as a generalist at The Pension Boards-United Church of Christ. Prior to transitioning to the plan sponsor side of investing, he worked in different roles at Cohen & Steers and Lord Abbett. He received a Master of Business Administration degree from Vanderbilt University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Denison University and is a CFA charterholder.

Adele Gorrilla is the Chief Investment Officer of Attinger, LLC. In her role, Adele oversees asset allocation, investment sourcing, performance reporting and manager relationships. Additionally, Adele works with individual clients to help design the appropriate asset allocation for a client’s needs.

Prior to founding the firm in January 2021, she was the CIO of Zunis Investments, a family office formed to serve the investing needs of a single family for four years. The client base of Zunis joined Attinger as its first investors. Prior to Zunis, Adele served as the CIO of Denison University for eight years. Denison is a liberal arts school with 2,100 undergrad students located in Granville, Ohio. The investment portfolio is diversified but heavily weighted to alternatives. While at Denison, Adele was awarded Institutional Investors Manager of the Year for Small (under $1 billion) Endowments. Adele has also been featured as one of CIO Magazine’s National Forty Under 40.

Prior to Denison, Adele served as the Director of Investments for the University of Minnesota Foundation Investment Advisors for five years, worked as an Investment Manager for Okabena and started her career as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. Adele earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. She is a CFA charter holder. Adele is a member of the Board of Directors of Get Spiffy, Inc and serves on the Investment Committee of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Philadelphia School. Adele resides in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter.

Brendt joined the Colgate University Investment Office in 2016 after serving the university in various administrative roles beginning in 2001. Prior to his work at Colgate University, Brendt started his investment career in Minneapolis, MN working for the hedge fund group, EBF & Associates. He received an MBA from the University of Iowa and BA in Finance from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. Brendt resides in Hamilton, NY with his wife and two children.

As a Senior Portfolio Advisor, Alex is a member of the Portfolio Advisory team in North America responsible for their alternative investment programs. Prior to joining Aksia in 2021, Alex was a Director in the Capital Formation group at Castlelake, and previously was a Vice President on the Investor Relations team at Bain Capital Credit. Prior to that, he was a Consultant Relations Analyst at Loomis, Sayles & Company. Alex started his career in 2010 at Cambridge Associates. Alex graduated from the Wake Forest University with a BA in Economics.

Geeta Kapadia is Associate Treasurer of Investments at Yale New Haven Health System, where she leads the team responsible for assets of approximately $5.6 billion. At YNHHS, she has responsibility for sound management of the System’s investible assets which includes developing prudent investment strategy for the System’s portfolios, conducting and evaluating capital markets research, and selecting and monitoring the program’s investment managers. With over twenty years of investment experience, Geeta has been with the System since 2009, having previously worked at Mercer Investment Consulting in London and in Edinburgh, where she provided strategic investment advice to institutional investors. She has also held positions at Capital Metrics & Risk Solutions in Pune, India, and Stratford Advisory Group in Chicago.

Geeta holds an A.B. in mathematics from The University of Chicago and a master’s degree in financial markets and trading from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is a CFA charterholder and holds the UK’s Investment Management Certificate. She is an invited speaker at a variety of investment conferences and sits on a number of advisory boards. She is a member of CFA Institute, CFA Society of India, and CFA Society of Philadelphia and served as a member of CFA Institute’s Disciplinary Review Committee from 2008 to 2014. She is the president of the Board of Trustees of Chester County Family Academy and a member of the Board of Trustees of Radnor Memorial Library.

Alisa Mall is a managing director at Foresite Capital responsible for corporate development, long term capital strategy, investor relations, and ESG engagement. She joined the team in November 2020.

Prior to Foresite Capital, Alisa was the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s managing director of investments for 12 years, where she was primarily responsible for the management of Carnegie’s real estate and natural resources portfolios. She oversaw Carnegie’s diversity and inclusion efforts across all asset classes and was responsible for inflation-linked strategies. She also worked on absolute return strategies.

Prior to joining Carnegie, Alisa was a director in the Equity Capital Markets group at Tishman Speyer, working with institutional and private investors in connection with its real estate funds. Previously, she was an attorney with Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, with a general real estate and real estate finance practice. Alisa is a member of the Board of Directors of JBG Smith (NYSE: JBGS), where she sits on the governance committee. She also serves on the boards of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA), where she serves as Vice Chair, Breakthrough New York, and the Bronfman Fellowship. She is a member of the investment committee of UJA-Federation of New York and the Advisory Board of Declaration Partners, a family office. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale College with an honors degree in political science and received her JD from Stanford Law School.

Mina Pacheco Nazemi is a Co-Head of the Funds & Co-Investments team and serves on both the investment committee and valuation committee. She is also responsible for originating, underwriting and monitoring primary fund, direct/co-investments, and secondary fund opportunities for private equity and real assets. Mina has worked in the industry since 1998 with experience as a General Partner and Limited Partner investor in private markets and focused on underwriting direct/co-investment opportunities. Prior to joining the firm in 2017, Mina held several leadership and investment positions including Co-Founder and Partner at Aldea Capital Partners and Partner and Investment Committee Member at GCM Grosvenor Customized Fund Investment Group (formerly Credit Suisse CFIG). She is an alumna of Sponsors for Education Opportunity (SEO) and Robert Toigo Foundation. She also is a board member of the Pan American Development Fund and serves on the investment committee for the City of Hope. Additionally, Mina is a current Finance Fellow for The Aspen Institute. Mina holds a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Economics and Political Science from Stanford University and her Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Douglas Silverman is Managing Partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Senator. Prior to co-founding Senator in 2008, Mr. Silverman spent six years at York Capital Management, a global multi-strategy investment firm, where he was a Managing Director and Co-Portfolio Manager of York Global Value Partners. Prior to joining York, Mr. Silverman was an Investment Banker in the Leveraged Finance department at Merrill, Lynch & Co. Mr. Silverman is active in a wide range of philanthropic and community activities, both individually and through The Senator Foundation. Mr. Silverman received a B.A. in Economics, cum laude, from Princeton University.

Ellen Carr is a high yield portfolio manager and principal at Barksdale Investment Management (BIM), a majority women-owned, boutique, institutional investment management firm based in Nashville, TN. She specializes in the construction and management of high yield and core plus bond portfolios. Prior to joining BIM in 2013, she served as a senior vice president and high yield portfolio manager for institutional separate accounts and mutual funds for The Capital Group Companies/American Funds in Los Angeles, CA. Ellen began her career as an investment analyst for the Fixed Income Group at Capital in 1999.

Ellen has been an adjunct professor of finance at Columbia Business School since 2012, where she teaches courses on the credit markets and cash flow modeling.

Ellen is also a writer. She is an occasional contributor to the Financial Times. She co-authored a book on women in investment management, Undiversified: The Big Gender Short in Investment Management, published in summer 2021 by Columbia University Press.

Ellen is a trustee of the National Public Radio (NPR) Foundation, as well as a board member of her local NPR affiliate, the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, and the University of North Carolina Asheville Foundation. She serves as treasurer of the Wilma Dykeman Legacy and vice chair of the Department of Management and Accountancy Advisory Board at the University of North Carolina Asheville. She is a member of the Kellogg Financial Network Advisory Board. Ms. Carr also manages a family foundation (carrfamilyfoundation.org) which awards college scholarships in rural communities.

Ellen has an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and received her B.A. from Harvard in 1994, where she graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Ellen splits her time among Asheville, North Carolina, rural Tennessee, and New York. She has one son, two cats, and a pandemic puppy.

Christopher Smith, is a managing director of Artisan Partners and founding portfolio manager of the Antero Peak Group. Prior to joining Artisan Partners and founding the Antero Peak Group in October 2016, Mr. Smith was a senior analyst at Kingdon Capital Management where he managed capital directly for Mark Kingdon. Mr. Smith spent the majority of his career at Karsch Capital Management where he was a managing director and a senior analyst covering the consumer, media and industrial sectors. Upon Karsch Capital closing in August 2013, Mr. Smith was selected by Michael Karsch to create and exclusively manage Centerline Investment Partners, a long-only fund with more than $100 million in assets, which he then merged into Kingdon Capital with the client’s approval. Mr. Smith has also worked at Soros Fund Management, as well as UBS and Credit Suisse in equity research. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (summa cum laude).

Dominique spent twenty years at Canyon Capital, a $25 billion multi-strategy hedge fund, as a partner and senior portfolio manager. She is a contributor to Forbes, writes for a variety of financial publications, and speaks broadly on hedge funds and diversity. Her book, Damsel in Distressed, is the first hedge fund memoir written by a woman. It was released by Simon & Schuster on September 7, 2021.

Dominique currently serves on the boards of ReadyCap, a mortgage REIT (2021 to present), Studio City International, a casino in Macau (2018 to present), Tiptree Inc., a specialty insurance (2020 to present), Digicel Group, a wireless operator (2020 to present) and Osiris Acquisition Corp (2021 to present). She was a director and the audit committee chairperson for PG&E during its fifteen-month bankruptcy process and emergence (2019).

At Canyon Capital, she primarily focused on stressed and distressed investments as well as corporate securitizations, and led the collateralized loan obligations business. She played key roles in complicated bankruptcies, serving as a leading creditors’ committee member for Puerto Rico, and as a restructuring committee member for U.S. airlines in the wake of the September 11 attacks. In 2017, she was named one of the “50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds” by the Hedge Fund Journal and Ernst & Young.

She graduated from Stanford University Graduate School and HEC Paris.

Renata is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Renegade Partners. Prior to starting Renegade, Renata was a Partner at Lux Capital, an early stage deep technology investment firm, where she invested in founding teams transforming the future of humanity through the use of technology.

Prior to joining Lux in 2017, Renata was a General Partner at Felicis Ventures, where she worked with startups that define new realities, markets and/or business models. Amongst them: Dollar Shave Club ($1B acquisition by Unilever), Bonobos (acquired by Walmart), Planet (micro satellites) and Cruise Automation ($1B acquisition by GM).

Before becoming a venture capitalist, Renata was an investment manager at Stanford University’s endowment, which invests in dozens of private equity and venture capital funds.

Renata is a Board Member at the NVCA, a Trustee at the Stanford Athletics Department Venture Fund, the Stanford Law School Venture Fund and a Founding Member of All Raise. She earned a law degree from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, LLM and MBA degrees from Stanford University and is a CFA charterholder. She’s also a Brazilian immigrant, a three-time state champion black belt in karate, and a Bossa Nova guitar player.

Luke Ellis is Chief Executive Officer of Man Group, a global active investment firm. Man Group has five investment engines (Man AHL, Man Numeric, Man GLG, Man FRM and Man GPM), which manage USD 139.5 billion (as at 30 September 2021) in a range of liquid and private markets. With a central objective to deliver alpha for clients through time, Man Group provides a wide range of alternative and long-only portfolio solutions for its client base.

As CEO, Luke leads the firm’s Executive Committee, working with teams across investment, distribution, technology and infrastructure, while seeking to deliver the right outcomes for clients and positioning Man Group to adapt to opportunities as markets evolve.

He is also the Deputy Chairman of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments (SBAI), and Chair of the Board of Trustees for Greenhouse Sports.

Luke joined Man Group in 2010 and was previously President of the firm, responsible for management across investment engines. Prior to this, he was Chairman of Man GLG’s Multi-Manager activities and was Managing Director of Man FRM from 1998 to 2008.

Luke was previously a Managing Director at JPMorgan in London and Global Head of the firm’s Equity Derivatives and Equity Proprietary Trading businesses.

He holds a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Economics from Bristol University.

Klaus Röhrig is founding partner of AOC and has more than 15 years of relevant investing experience. Klaus serves on the board of Formycon AG, Francotyp-Postalia Holding AG, and Agfa-Gevaert where he was Chairman from May 2019 until August 2020. Before founding AOC, Klaus was at Elliott Associates, responsible for the funds’ investments in the German speaking countries. Klaus started his career at Credit Suisse First Boston in London, focusing on corporate finance and M&A for technology companies. Throughout his career he focused on identifying investment opportunities, structuring of investments and process-driven value creation. Klaus holds a Master of Economics and Business Administration from Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.

Kaelyn is a Partner and Portfolio Manager of ArrowMark’s private credit funds and separately managed accounts and leads the firm’s fixed income efforts in securitized investments, including regulatory capital relief since 2010. Kaelyn was also the lead analyst for the firm’s participation in the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (“TALF”) program. Prior to joining ArrowMark in 2008, she was an analyst at Janus Capital Group where her areas of focus included residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, and interest rates (2004-2008). Previously, Kaelyn worked at Great-West Life where she was Assistant Portfolio Manager of $5.5 billion in separate account, general account and total return assets with a focus on high quality fixed income securities (1998-2004). Kaelyn graduated from Illinois State University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and earned an MBA from Indiana University.

John Trammell is with Symphony Financial Partners as Managing Director, Global Strategic Relationships. Symphony is a Tokyo based Japanese deep value equity investor. John is currently the President of the NY Episcopalian Diocesan Trust. Trammell also serves on the Investment Committee of Episcopal Diocese of New York, is a member of the Investment Committee of Somerset Hills Learning Institute and St. James Parish. He is also a member of the Advisory Board at Tiedemann Investment Group. He was previously the Global Co-Head of Asset Management at Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors from December 2011 until 2015. Prior to joining Cantor, Mr. Trammell was the CEO of Cadogan Management, LLC, an asset management firm, a position he held from September 2007. Prior to joining Cadogan, he spent seven years at Investor Select Advisors, a hedge fund investment platform, where he served as the Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Trammell joined Investor Select Advisors from Argonaut Capital Management in New York, a global macro hedge fund, where he was Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Trammell began his career with the Hudson Institute, a New York-based think tank, where he served as a primary economic research assistant to Herman Kahn, the founder and a noted strategist. Mr. Trammell received a BA in History and Economics from DePauw University and studied at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Trammell has also spent time as a MD / Institutional Sales with Solovis, LLC., an institutional money management and analytics software platform. Prior to Solovis, Mr. Trammell was a member of the management committee at Novus Partners, a financial technology firm utilizing both public and private data for portfolio analytics. Mr. Trammell is the co-author of several books and has written numerous articles for publication.

Rod Collins is a leading expert and thought leader on the self-managed organization and the future of business. He is a regular blog contributor on Substack where he explores how technological innovations continue to transform the rules for how successful businesses work. He is also the author of Wiki Management: A Revolutionary New Model for a Rapidly Changing and Collaborative World, which highlights the innovative tools and practices used by a new breed of business leaders to sustain extraordinary performance in a world reshaped by digital disruption. Rod is the former Chief Operating Executive of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program, one of the nation’s largest and most successful business alliances. Under his leadership, the business experienced its greatest five-year growth period in its 60 year history.

Marko is a Partner and Chief Strategist at Clocktower Group, an alternative investment asset management firm based in Santa Monica, California. He leads the firm’s Strategy Team, providing bespoke research to clients and partners on geopolitics, macroeconomics, and markets. Prior to joining the firm, Marko founded BCA Research’s Geopolitical Strategy practice (GPS) in 2012, the financial industry’s first dedicated political analysis investment strategy. The GPS service generated geopolitical alpha by identifying gaps between the market’s political expectations and the firm’s forecasts. Marko was a Senior Vice President and the firm’s Chief Geopolitical Strategist. Marko began his career as a Senior Analyst at Stratfor, a global intelligence agency where he contributed to the firm’s global geopolitical strategy as well as its analyst recruitment and training program. In his academic work, he helped create the Center for European Union Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Marko holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Texas at Austin and an MA from the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Geopolitical Alpha: An Investment Framework for Predicting the Future, a book that introduces his constraints-based framework to investors. Born in Belgrade, Serbia, he has lived in Iraq, Jordan, Switzerland, Canada, and the U.S.

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.