Spring Academy Investment Forum 2022

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

Kristopher N. Kapoor, CFA is Chief Investment Officer at Bakala Capital. Previously Kris was Chief Investment Office at Furman University, where he was responsible for the investment oversight of the university’s endowment and debt program. Prior to Furman, Kris was a portfolio manager with BB&T Asset Management and pension investment manager with Michelin North America, Inc. Kris holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is currently a member of the CFA Society of South Carolina. Kris earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Furman University and a Master of Business Administration in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, which he earned with distinction.

Christine Zapotoczky Kelleher is chief of investments at the National Gallery of Art, responsible for managing the Gallery’s $1.3 billion endowment. Previously, Christine served as senior investment officer for Georgetown University. She assisted with the founding of Georgetown’s Investment Office in 2004 and served as acting chief investment officer in 2011. After Georgetown, Christine led investment strategy, sourcing, and evaluation for Avec Capital, a boutique investment advisory and placement firm. Earlier in her career, she served on the executive team of the Central European University, founded by George Soros, in Budapest, Hungary. Christine is a member of the Board of Investment Trustees for the Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans and the Board of Trustees for the Consolidated Retiree Health Benefits Trust, the finance committee of the YWCA National Capital Area, the editorial board for The Academy for Institutional Investors, and the CAIA Allocator Council. She serves as a mentor for Accel CIO, accelerating tomorrow’s Black & Latino chief investment officers; an advisor to the Kayo Conference Series supporting women investors; and president of the Bucknell University Alumni Association. She received a BA in Russian and international relations from Bucknell University and holds MAs in Russian and East European studies and in Central European history from Georgetown University. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and son.

Mike has over 30 years of tax and accounting experience. He began his career in 1988 at Arthur Andersen in the tax department, where he was instrumental in establishing the firm’s Investment Advisory Practice. In 1996, he left Andersen to join Ernst & Young to run their high net worth practice in the Atlanta office. Since 2000, he has run family offices for ultra-high net worth families. There he assists in tax preparation, accounting, investment management, and philanthropy. He is currently the CFO for the Zalik Family Office in Atlanta. Mike received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA and his MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Scott founded CDAM in April 2006 with former colleague Adam Chamberlain. Prior to forming the investment manager, Scott spent four years as Senior Portfolio Manager for the proprietary investments at Manulife Financial. Previous to this Scott was a Vice President of Proprietary Trading at TD Securities Inc. from April 1999 until November 2001. From 1991 to 1999 Scott worked primarily in Toronto and London in the fixed income capital markets at J.P. Morgan. Scott earned the professional designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in 1994. He is registered with the CFA Institute and is a member of the London Society of Financial Analysts. He graduated from Trinity College at the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Commerce, with a specialist in Finance and Economics.

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.

As Verger’s Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer, Jim oversees all investment decisions and is responsible for setting the course for the company, leading our corporate strategy and ensuring that Verger remains competitively positioned to serve our partners’ needs in an increasingly complex and volatile market environment. Previously, Jim was Vice-President and Chief Investment Officer at Wake Forest University, responsible for investment of the University’s endowment, working capital and life income assets. Prior to joining Wake Forest, Jim served as Managing Director at Wilshire Associates Inc., and Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager for Wilshire Funds Management, the money management arm of Wilshire Associates. At Wilshire, Jim was responsible for providing leadership on asset allocation, investment policy and investment manager selection. Jim served as the Chairman of the Wilshire Funds Management Investment Committee and served as Portfolio Manager for all of Wilshire Fund Management’s alternative investment portfolios. Jim holds a BBA in finance from Villanova University, where he was a member of the NCAA Division I men’s varsity soccer team. He currently serves as a member of the Institutional Investor Endowments and Foundations Advisory Board and as the Treasurer of the James Denmark Loan Fund. Jim also sits on the SEI Canada Independent Review Committee as an Independent Director and the Villanova University’s President’s Advisory Council.

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.

Mr. Freeman founded Socorro Asset Management in 2019, an institutional long only, multi-asset management firm based in Dallas, Texas, where he serves as Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager. Prior to forming Socorro, Mr. Freeman served as Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Westwood Holdings Group, where he oversaw the firm’s investment and research functions and was responsible for developing its economic outlook. Mr. Freeman launched and managed the Income Opportunity strategy from its inception in 2003 until his departure in March 2019, ultimately growing the strategy to approximately $5 billion in assets under management. Prior to joining Westwood in 1999, Mr. Freeman worked for KPMG and First American Corp as a Senior Economist and Fixed Income Strategist. He graduated Cum Laude from Millsaps College with a BA in Economics and earned his MS in Economics from Louisiana State University. He achieved the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst in 1998 and is a member of the American Economic Association, the CFA Institute, and CFA Society of Dallas/Fort Worth, where he serves on the Strategic Advisory Board. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Millsaps College and serves as a board member of the Wilson Fund and Capital for Kids. Mr. Freeman also serves on the investment committee for the Communities Foundation of Texas and is a member of the Salesmanship Club of Dallas.

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

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

David Gilmore 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.

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.

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.

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

Ms. Johns joined the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System in June 2011 and is a Senior Portfolio Manager in the Private Equity Group. Ms. Johns has over 15 years of investment experience and managing a global portfolio of institutional alternative investment assets. Ms. Johns has expertise and highly developed personal networks with top performing private equity and venture funds. Ms. Johns was recently included on Trusted Insight’s 2020 list of Top 30 Pension Private Equity Investors. Ms. Johns is co-President of the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN), and a member of both ILPA’s Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council and the SEO Alternative Investments Limited Partner Advisory Council. In 2018 PEWIN awarded Maryland with the 2018 Limited Partner award for Ms. Johns’ work in transforming the private equity industry with a focus on diversity and inclusion. Continuously invited to keynote at conferences including the AIF Institute Global Investor Series, Big Path Impact Capitalism Summit, Women’s Private Equity Summit, Women’s Alternative Investment Summit, GCM Grosvenor Consortium, Markets Group Private Equity US Forum, Kayo Private Equity Conference, Pension Bridge, Emerging Manager Connect, Equity Summit, Hispanic Heritage Foundation Investor Group, Institutional Investor Private Equity Summit, SEO and NVCA. Most recent panel topics included private equity terms & trends, portfolio construction, developing fund managers, diverse fund managers, diversity and inclusion, and venture capital. Ms. Johns has both a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Indiana University Bloomington and a B.S. in Computer Info Systems, Magna Cum Laude from Stevenson University. She graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a master’s in finance while working full time as an associate at Camden Private Capital, a private equity fund of funds. She has completed the ILPA Institute’s Private Equity Executive Education program.

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.

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.

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.

Kate Nevin, President & Portfolio Manager, is responsible for portfolio management, investment research, and fund monitoring. Prior to joining TSW, she was an analyst with Lehman Brothers in their Equity Prime Brokerage Division with a focus on hedge fund sales. She is member of 100 Women in Finance, the Southeastern Hedge Fund Association and PEWIN. Kate currently serves on the LP Advisory Committee for Hannah Grey Ventures, is a member of the Nexus Impact Society, a founding member of Asteri Collective, and is currently serving on the Editorial Committee of the Academy of Institutional Investors. She is a Founder + Board Chair Emeritus of Enough Pie, a non-profit in Charleston, SC. Kate has received the CAIA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst) designation, the alternative investment industry’s first and only specialized educational standard. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999 and completed The Executive Program of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business in June 2004. Kate was a 2014 Diversity Leadership Fellow at the Riley Institute of Furman University. Kate often speaks and moderates at conferences, has presented at TEDx and participates on committees advocating gender equality and conservation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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).

Ms. Snider joined Hackensack Meridian Health in 2020 as their first CIO with the mandate to build an investment office that will support the organization’s mission of transforming healthcare and being viewed as a leader of positive change. The HMH investment office manages both the endowment and pension assets for the hospital system. Prior to joining HMH, Donna was a Managing Director at The Kresge Foundation since 2009 where she had responsibility for evaluating investment opportunities across all asset classes as well as oversight for the internal trading activity. Prior to joining Kresge, Donna was a director in the Global Markets and Investment Banking division of Merrill Lynch in New York where she covered institutional investors for structured credit, rates and equity products, as well as corporate issuers for their balance sheet hedging activity. Prior to Wall Street, Donna was a pension actuary with Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson) in Chicago. Donna earned her MBA with concentrations in accounting and analytical finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; she holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa; professional designations include CFA charter holder and an Associate of the Society of Actuaries.

Mark Steed is Chief Investment Officer for Arizona PSPRS, a public pension plan with approximately $9 billion in AUM. Over the last 10 years at Arizona PSPRS, Mr. Steed has managed Private Equity, Venture Capital, Absolute Return, Opportunistic Credit, Public Equity, Global Trading Strategies and Real Estate portfolios. His creative approach and notable performance across disparate asset classes won him recognition as a “Rising Star” by Money Management Magazine and, later, “Asset Allocator of the Year” by Institutional Investor. Mr. Steed recently concluded a four-year stint as a forecaster for the distinguished Good Judgment Project, led by Dr. Phil Tetlock at UPenn, and recently published the first guest-post on the popular decision science blog Farnam Street. Prior to Arizona PSPRS, Mr. Steed worked in Banking at JPMorgan Chase. Mr. Steed graduated with a Masters of Science degree in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University. He also has an MBA from Thunderbird’s School of Global Management (Jost Henkel Scholar) and received his BA (with honors from Sigma Iota Rho) in Latin American Studies and Business Management from Brigham Young University.

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.

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.