Spring Academy Investment Forum

Andrea Szigethy is the Founder and CEO of the Academy for Institutional Investors (AII), where she has spent more than two decades bringing together some of the most sophisticated minds in the investment world. With over 26 years of experience designing educational programs for institutional allocators and managers, Andrea is known for creating environments where meaningful relationships, high‑quality content, and genuine community thrive.

Andrea discovered her passion for producing events early in her career while organizing pharmaceutical conferences. She quickly realized she loved connecting senior executives, building networks, and curating timely, relevant topics for discerning audiences. That passion carried into the investment industry, where she has since built a reputation for fostering trusted, long‑term relationships in a relaxed, non‑sales‑driven atmosphere.

At AII, Andrea’s mission is simple: combine high‑caliber investment education with a close‑knit community experience. Each event is intentionally designed to spark new ideas, deepen professional bonds, and create friendships that feel like an extended family. While the Academy welcomes new members at every gathering, Andrea remains committed to keeping the community intimate, sophisticated, and highly engaged — with a limited number of managers and service providers to preserve the quality of interaction.

Before founding AII, Andrea served as Principal and Director of Marketing and Branding at Morgan Creek Capital Management (2006–2016), where she led the firm’s branding, public relations, client education, events, and marketing strategy. She previously spent six years producing financial conferences and managing research, development, sales, and relationship management. Earlier in her career, Andrea worked at North Shore University Hospital in New York as a vocational rehabilitation job coach and began her professional journey at Computer Associates on Long Island.

Andrea serves on the Strategic Advisory Board for CFA Society North Carolina and is a founding member of the North Carolina chapter of 100 Women in Finance. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York at Albany and completed graduate coursework toward a Master of Arts in Social Work at Adelphi University.

Outside of work, Andrea loves spending time with her adult daughters and close friends. Andrea and her husband enjoy traveling, spending time at the NC beaches and playing golf and pickleball together. Andrea is a devoted music lover, she never misses a chance to see live concerts or Broadway shows of any kind.

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.

Lisa J. Pattis is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Next Chapter Holdings, based in Highland Park, Illinois. The firm manages investments for the Pattis family and The Pattis Family Foundation. Previously, Ms. Pattis served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: WTFC). Prior to Wintrust, Ms. Pattis was a partner in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP where for nearly two decades she specialized in corporate governance, securities law, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic counseling for public and private companies. She began her career with the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Department of State, focusing on microenterprise lending in Africa and Latin America. Fluent in Spanish, Lisa has lived in Peru and Mexico. Ms. Pattis holds a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Princeton, a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from Stanford, and a JD from Northwestern. She serves on the boards of several community and cultural organizations, including as a Trustee of The Newberry Library, where she chairs the Finance and Investment Committee, and of the National Philanthropic Trust, where she chairs the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Among other recognitions, Ms. Pattis was named a Leadership Greater Chicago fellow (2005) and one of Crain’s “40 Under 40” (2006). Ms. Pattis resides with her husband Mark R. Pattis in Highland Park, Illinois and Asheville, North Carolina.

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

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

Nicholas Csicsko joined Trinity Wall Street in 2016 as part of the organization’s first internal investment office. Nicholas works on a small team as a generalist helping to build and oversee Trinity’s $3.5B Endowment. Prior to Trinity, Nicholas was a member of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s investment team. Nicholas received a BA from Indiana University, MM and PhD from the Juilliard School, and holds both the CFA and CAIA designations.

Celia Dallas is the Chief Investment Strategist and a Partner at Cambridge Associates.

Celia leads the firm’s global investment strategy and chairs the Tactical Asset Allocation Committee. As the author of the quarterly VantagePoint publication, she shapes the firm’s perspective on markets and investment opportunities. With 30 years at the firm, she has driven research and thought leadership on portfolio construction, tactical asset allocation, artificial intelligence (AI), endowment spending, and liquidity management. Celia is a frequent speaker at industry events, recognized for her ability to translate complex investment concepts into actionable guidance.

Outside of work, Celia serves as Board Member and Investment Committee Chair of the Virginia Environmental Endowment.

Before joining the firm, Celia delivered market analysis for Fortune 500 clients at Harlan Brown & Company and conducted research on retirement income security at the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

Celia holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business at University of Virginia and a BA in Economics from University of Pennsylvania.

Reino Ecklord is a Managing Director of Investments at Sawdust Investment Management Corp, a private investment company that manages the investment portfolios of the Circle of Service Foundation and a single-family office created by the founder of CDW. Reino is a generalist, working on investments across all asset classes and is part of the team that sets the strategic direction of the portfolios. Reino has a BSBA in Finance from the University of Connecticut and holds both the CFA and CAIA designations.

Ms. Fefer is a senior investment professional with over 20 years of experience in investment management, asset allocation, and organizational development. Ms. Fefer is a former Investment Manager at DUMAC, Inc., a professionally staffed investment office that manages $27 billion of endowment and other Duke-related assets. Ms. Fefer led private investments in emerging and established general partners across venture capital, leveraged buyout, credit, natural resources, and real estate for 15 years, and prior to that focused on public securities. She has served on the boards of Rock the Street Wall Street and the American Dance Festival and currently serves on the Editorial Committee for the Academy of Institutional Investors and on the boards of Global Connections for Change and Kaleidoscope Dance Theater. Ms. Fefer earned a bachelor of arts in mathematics from Duke University and is a CFA charterholder.

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.

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

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

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

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

Beth was formerly a Senior Investment Consultant at Pavilion, a Mercer Practice. She serviced 6 endowment, foundation and family office clients with over $9 billion in aggregate assets under advisement. For these clients, Beth focused 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.

Danita Johnson is Head of Private Markets at the New Hampshire Retirement System (NHRS), where she oversees investments across private equity, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure. She has more than 20 years of institutional investment experience spanning public and private markets.

Prior to joining NHRS, Johnson held senior investment roles at the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System and the Connecticut Office of the State Treasurer, where she managed diversified real assets portfolios including real estate, infrastructure, energy, and natural resources. Earlier in her career, she was a member of the Private Real Assets team at Franklin Templeton Investments and held roles as a Real Estate Investment Officer with the New York City Comptroller’s Office, as well as an Analyst at Prudential Financial in the Equity Research Group and at Credit Suisse in the Credit Risk Management Division.

Johnson holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and serves on several industry advisory boards, including SEO, AIF Global, ILPA, FTSE Russell’s Private Markets Advisory Committee, and the Executive Board of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA).

Larry Kochard is a Senior Advisor, board member, and the retired Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at Makena Capital Management. Prior to his retirement at the end of 2024, Larry was a member of the three-person Executive Committee that ran the firm. He led the investment process and managed Makena’s investment team. Larry was previously the CEO and CIO of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO). As CEO, Larry provided leadership for all aspects of UVIMCO’s operations and served as UVIMCO’s primary representative to the university, related foundations, and the public. As CIO, Larry was responsible for the investment management of UVIMCO’s Long Term Pool, overseeing the asset allocation, portfolio management, risk management and manager selection activities of the investment staff. Prior to joining UVIMCO, Larry served as CIO at Georgetown University. From 2001 to 2004, he was Managing Director of Equity and Hedge Fund Investments for the Virginia Retirement System. From 1997 to 2004, he taught in the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, first as an adjunct and later as a full-time assistant professor. Larry received his BA in Economics from the College of William & Mary, an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Rochester, and an MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Virginia. He is a CFA Charterholder. Larry currently chairs the Investment Advisory Committee for the Virginia Retirement System, serves on the board and chairs the investment committee for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation and is on the investment committee of Eighteen48. Larry previously served on the board of directors of Janus Henderson Group, Inc. and the Virginia Environmental Endowment, and chaired the investment committee for the College of William & Mary’s endowment. Larry was the 2015 winner of the Rodney H. Adams Award for Endowment Management from the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), which recognizes outstanding contributions to university endowment and investment management. Larry is a longtime moderator and speaker at endowment and foundation conferences, and is the author of several industry publications, including Foundation and Endowment Investing: Philosophies and Strategies of Top Investors and Institutions. He will continue to teach investment courses at the University of Virginia.

Ashley Marks is a Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of Cordillera Investment Partners. She is responsible for directing Cordillera’s overarching investment strategy alongside her co-founders. She also serves as a director of Cordillera portfolio companies. Prior to founding Cordillera, Ashley was a Partner at Makena Capital Management where she was a senior member of Makena’s Real Estate investment team and served as the Portfolio Manager responsible for a Makena Real Estate Fund. She was also a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Before Makena, Ashley was an Associate at MacFarlane Partners, a real estate private equity firm in San Francisco, and held previous positions at MacFarlane Partners and Robertson Stephens in the Technology Investment Banking group. Ashley earned a BBA in Finance from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Rip Mecherle joined the University of Tennessee in August of 2011. He manages the invested assets in the $1.4 billion endowment, as well as the University’s charitable trust platform. He also helps oversee the operating cash for the University system. Combined, the total assets approximate $3 billion. Prior to that, he worked for eleven years as an analyst and portfolio manager in the structured credit and leveraged corporate debt markets, running separately managed accounts, open-end funds, and leveraged closed-end funds. He also spent four years in the non-profit sector. He received his undergraduate degrees from the University of Virginia and a master of business administration from Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. He is a CFA Charterholder.

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

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, 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 provided consulting services for endowments and foundations.  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. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the North Carolina Society of Financial Analysts and the American Finance Association.

Mr. Roberts serves on the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine Philanthropic Advisory Board and on the NC Investment Authority Board for the State of North Carolina Retirement System.  Mr. Roberts is the past Chairman of the Board for the NC State University Investment Fund and has served on multiple non-profit boards.

Kyle Stewart serves a Senior Investment Director at Children’s Health Medical Center Foundation based in Dallas, TX. Kyle focuses on the Foundation’s marketable investments including Public Equities, Diversifying Strategies, Fixed Income and Liquid Real Assets.

Prior to joining Children’s Health, Kyle was a senior investment professional at Irvington Capital and previously held roles at CTC myCFO, Taylor Investment Advisors and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Kyle holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Texas Tech University and a M.S. in Finance from Southern Methodist University.

Stephanie E. Szymanski is the Chief Investment Officer at Lakeview Capital Management, a single-family office in Chicago. She is responsible for asset allocation, due diligence, and portfolio and risk management for investments across public and private markets. Before joining Lakeview, Stephanie spent fifteen years in senior investment roles at two other single-family offices. Before becoming an allocator, she worked in a variety of roles in the financial services industry. Stephanie graduated summa cum laude from DePaul University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and earned her Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2006. Stephanie is a member of the WHI Trust Company Investment Committee; PEWIN, including the PEWIN Foundation Board and PEWIN Midwest Events Committee; the Team IMPACT Midwest Advisory Board; and the global and Chicago chapters of the CFA Institute. She is also a mentor with Evanston Scholars and a Senior Advisor for WORC (Workforce & Organizational Research Committee).

As Director, Investments at Curi, Michael performs a wide range of investment portfolio monitoring and reporting functions, participating in formulation of asset allocation and investment strategy, and leads all aspects of investment due diligence. Prior to joining Curi in 2017, Michael worked as an analyst on the manager research team at LPL Financial, covering mutual funds and separate accounts in the areas of fixed income and real assets. Michael spent several years before that as an analyst at Franklin Street Partners in Chapel Hill and as an associate at Vanguard. He received a Bachelor of Science in Business, with a concentration in Finance from the Cameron School of Business at UNC Wilmington.