The Investment Institute
301 W. Barbee Chapel Road, Suite 200
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
Andrea Szigethy
Founder & CEO
The Investment Institute
Email: andrea.szigethy@theinvestmentinstitute.org
Phone: 919.619.3265
Donna Holly
President
The Investment Institute
Email: donna.holly@theinvestmentinstitute.org
Phone: 646.554.8800
301 W. Barbee Chapel Road, Suite 200
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
For more information, please contact:
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 $1.5 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.
Jack Rich has been President and Chief Investment Officer of ACIMCO (Abilene Christian University Investment Management Company, Abilene, Texas) since 2006. From 1991 to 2005, he served in a variety of positions at ACU (Abilene Christian University) including executive vice president and vice president for business.
He worked as the president and chief operating officer of Morton Companies (a real estate development company) in San Antonio since 1983 until 1991.
Rich received a Bachelor of Business Administration from ACU and an MBA from the University of Texas San Antonio. He is a CPA (1978) and earned the right to use the CFA designation in 2006.
Rich received the Rodney H. Adams award for 2011 from NACUBO. In 2009, Foundation and Endowment Money Management awarded the Abilene Christian University Endowment the 2009 Small Non-Profit of the Year award.
Rich is a former chairman of the Community Foundation of Abilene ($100 million in assets) and chairs the foundation’s investment committee. Rich serves on the Development Corporation of Abilene Board and the Firemen’s Relief and Retirement Board of Abilene.
Articles published:
“Growth Spurt”, NACUBO Business Officer, November 2007
“All Oars in the Water”, NACUBO Business Officer, March 2011
Scott Pittman joined the Mount Sinai Health System as the SVP & Chief Investment Officer in January 2009. The Investment Office is charged with managing the institution’s $2.3 billion endowment and Hospital capital. The office also advises on $5.0 billion of insurance related assets and $5.5 billion of benefit plan assets. Scott serves as the Chairman of the FOJP Investment Committee as well as the Investment Committee Chairman for Healthfirst. Scott also serves on the Investment Council for TIAA-Nuveen.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Scott was the Director of Investments at Baylor University. He also served as an instructor in the Hankamer School of Business and taught Baylor’s Portfolio Practicum course where students actively managed a $6.5 million investment portfolio. Before joining Baylor’s Investment Office, Scott taught Corporate Finance and Economics within the University’s business school, and he spent several years within the healthcare industry.
Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated system encompassing seven hospital campuses, medical school, and a large, ambulatory footprint in the New York metropolitan area with over 40,000 employees. Mount Sinai is internationally acclaimed for its excellence in research, patient care, and education across a range of specialties and ranks as one of our nation’s top medical facilities. Mount Sinai’s investment efforts have been recognized by and received awards from Institutional Investor, Chief Investment Officer, Trusted Insight, and Foundation and Endowment Money Management.
Sharmila Kassam, Esq., CPA, is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer at the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) for the $29 billion ERS Retirement Trust Fund. She co-manages the ERS Investments Division with the Chief Investment Officer by overseeing investments in all asset classes, analyzing asset allocation, managing the staff and pursuing new initiatives. Sharmila is a voting member of the Private Credit Investment Committees and has served on the Private Equity and Private Infrastructure Investment Committees. She also actively works with the $2.9 billion Texa$aver 401(k) / 457 Program, a voluntary defined contribution plan. Prior to her current role, she served as an Assistant General Counsel at ERS for four years during the initial stages of the private asset classes, leading legal negotiations with multiple fund sponsors partnering with the private equity, private real estate and hedge fund teams as the portfolios developed.
Before joining ERS, Sharmila was an associate at WSGR, focusing on securities, mergers/acquisitions, venture capital and corporate governance. She also worked in the venture industry at multiple start-ups and technology companies in financial, operational, legal and management roles. She began her career as an audit associate at Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers).
Sharmila is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and also licensed to practice law in California and Texas. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting, with honors, and a Juris Doctor from The University of Texas at Austin.
Rod Collins serves in the dual capacity as the Director of Innovation at Optimity Advisors, a global strategy consulting firm, and as the Innovation Curator at Salt Flats, a unique innovation ecosystem for creating growth in a rapidly changing world. Rod is a leading expert on the future of business and a regular blog contributor to Management-Issues.com. 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.
Michelle is the Founding Principal of Alefanz Capital, LLC, which is dedicated to working closely with select managers who need assistance with raising capital through client introductions and market positioning. Michelle has over 25 years of institutional asset management investor relations and business development experience across a range of alternative and traditional asset classes. Prior to forming her own firm, she was an original partner and head of business development at Verno Capital, an EM manager based in Moscow, where she built an institutional investor base of over $750mm AUM within the first two years of starting the firm and headed up investor relations for clients in the US, Europe and Middle East. Before establishing Verno with her partners, she was the Head of US Business Development and Investor Relations at Kazimir Partners. Prior to that, she was a Managing Director in the Bear Stearns Asset Management Group where she headed up sales and marketing to endowments and foundations. Earlier, in her career Michelle held senior marketing positions at IBJ Shroeder Asset Management and IXIS Capital Markets where she focused on marketing structured and alternative credit funds. Michelle started her career at Citibank, where she had various marketing and sales roles in the asset management group, and built an $11B institutional cash management business. She holds a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in Marketing from New York University Graduate School of Business.
Mr. Challen joined LCG Associates in 2009 and is a Senior Vice President. His client relationships include corporations, utilities, endowments, and foundations. In addition to lead consultant responsibilities, James conducts capital market and asset class research, investment manager due diligence, and special topical studies.
Before joining LCG, James was with Morgan Keegan & Company as First Vice President of the Manager Due Diligence Group. He was responsible for managing a team that made investment recommendations for institutional and private clients. Concurrently, James was a Portfolio Manager for Morgan Keegan & Company’s Private Client Discretionary Program. He previously held several positions with Morgan Keegan & Company including Research Specialist and Research Associate. James began his career as a Financial Analyst at Remtech Services Inc.
James is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Atlanta. He is also a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Charterholder. James graduated with a B.S. in Finance from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado.
Robert Durden is the CEO/CIO of UVIMCO. Previously, Robert was a Senior Vice President and the Chief Investment Officer at Texas Children’s Hospital. Prior to joining Texas Children’s Hospital in March 2013, Robert was the Managing Director of Private Investments at Morgan Creek Capital Management. There he directed $4.5 billion of private investments across private equity, energy and natural resources, and real estate. Mr. Durden has also worked with Legg Mason/Western Asset Management, Ritchie Capital Management, and Merrill Lynch’s Middle Market M&A group. Robert received his MBA in finance and entrepreneurship, with honors, from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and his Bachelor of Arts in economics, magna cum laude, from Princeton University. Robert Durden primarily oversees the Texas Children’s Hospital Foundation and other investment assets, totaling approximately $2.7 billion.
Cathleen M. Rittereiser leads Commonfund’s educational, market research and professional development activities as Executive Director of Commonfund Institute. She is the co-author of the books Foundation and Endowment Investing and Top Hedge Fund Investors: Stories, Strategies, and Advice. Prior to joining Commonfund, Cathleen was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Uncorrelated, LLC, a conference and thought leadership publishing platform for endowment, foundation and pension investors, and a frequent speaker and writer on the endowment model and Outsourced CIO (OCIO). Prior to Uncorrelated, she held investor relations and marketing roles with leading financial services firms and hedge funds. She received an A.B. from Franklin & Marshall College, where she served on the investment committee, and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern School of Business.
Muthu is responsible for the investment strategy, analysis, and manager selection within the Private Equity and Natural Resources portfolios for Emory Investment Management. The Private Equity portfolio includes buyout, growth and distressed investments and Natural Resources is a diversified portfolio of energy, timber, real estate, and commodities. Prior to joining Emory, he was Head of Private Markets and oversaw the private market portfolio at Covariance Capital Management, an outsourced CIO firm that invests on behalf of endowments and foundations. Prior to Covariance, he was an Associate Director of Investments at Spider Management Company, the University of Richmond’s investment management company, where he led strategy and manager selection for private equity, real estate and all asset classes within emerging markets. His background also includes time as a Portfolio Manager at the Florida State Board of Administration and a Senior Analyst at RSM Equico. Muthu has a BHM from Mangalore University and an MBA from Rollins College.
-Regularly featured author and thought leader for blockchain industry on national television, press outlets, and social media platforms
-Successfully built a number of industrial-grade cryptocurrency mining facilities
-Previously co-founded Full Tilt Capital, one of the fastest growing early-stage US venture capital firms
-Prior to founding Full Tilt Capital, Mr. Pompliano led numerous Product and Growth Teams at Facebook and Snapchat
-Previously, Mr. Pompliano served as a US Army Sergeant in Operation Iraqi Freedom
Brian joined The College of William and Mary Foundation in 2005 to serve as its first Chief Investment Officer overseeing all of the investment management functions for the endowment including asset allocation and manager selection and review. Chartered in 1693, by King William III and Queen Mary II of England, The College of William and Mary is the second oldest college in America. Prior to joining William and Mary, Brian was the first Director of Alternative Investments for the Indiana University Foundation in Bloomington, Indiana, where he launched their Alternative Investment Program, including allocations to hedge funds, venture capital, private equity, and timberland. Prior to joining the I.U. Foundation, Brian was a Principal and Portfolio Manager at Harris Investment Management in Chicago. In 2011, Brian received the Institutional Investor Small Endowment of the Year Award. Brian received his B.S. and M.B.A. from Bowling Green State University.
Anne Shelton joined Atapco, a multi-generational single family investment company, as Chief Investment Officer in July 2017. Previously, Ms. Shelton was Deputy Chief Investment Officer of American Red Cross and led the team investing in all types of alternative investments including private equity, distressed debt, real estate, real assets, and hedge funds. Prior to working at American Red Cross, Anne was Director of Absolute Return at Cornell University and worked at McKinsey in the Corporate Finance and Strategy Practice. Anne serves on the board and finance/investment committee of YWCA National Capital Area. A CFA charterholder, Anne is active in the CFA Society of Washington DC where she has served as a board member, on the programming committee, on the nominating committee, and currently serves on the finance committee. Anne earned a B.S. with distinction in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering from Cornell University and a M.B.A. with distinction in Finance and Marketing from New York University Stern School of Business.
Cathie registered ARK Investment Management LLC (“ARK”) as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2014. Prior to ARK, Cathie spent twelve years at AllianceBernstein as Chief Investment Officer of Global Thematic Strategies where she managed $5 billion. Cathie joined Alliance Capital from Tupelo Capital Management, a hedge fund she co-founded which, in 2000, managed $800 million in global thematic strategies. Prior to her tenure at Tupelo Capital, she worked for 18 years with Jennison Associates as Chief Economist, Equity Research Analyst, Portfolio Manager and Director. She started her career in Los Angeles, California at The Capital Group as an Assistant Economist. Cathie received her Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, in Finance and Economics from the University of Southern California in 1981. In 2016, Cathie received the “Women in Finance – Outstanding Contribution Award” from Market Media.
Alice Handy founded Investure, LLC in 2003 and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer until January 1, 2018. Previously she spent 29 years managing the endowment for the University of Virginia. Beginning in 1974 and except for the period from November 1988 to January 1990, during which time Ms. Handy served as the State Treasurer of Virginia, she was actively involved in the investment of the endowment and operating funds of the University of Virginia and served over the years as Investment Officer, Assistant Vice President and Treasurer. She began her career as a Bond Portfolio Manager and Assistant Vice President at the Travelers Insurance Company. She has been an Independent Director of MSCI Inc. since December, 2009 and as a Director of Bessemer Securities Corporation since 2004. She also serves as Chair of Miller Center Governing Council and on the investment committees of the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Places and the Smithsonian Institute. She previously served as a Member of Investment Advisory Committees of the Virginia Retirement System and the Rockefeller Foundation and on the board of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello) where she was chair from 2008 to 2010. She also has served on the Boards of the Investment Fund for Foundations and the Municipal Securities Rule Making Board. Ms. Handy holds a B.A., Cum Laude, from Connecticut College and took graduate courses in Economics at the University of Virginia.
Albert Cha, M.D., Ph.D. is a Managing Partner who invests in private and public biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. He currently serves on the boards of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ: ASND), KalVista Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: KALV), and Menlo Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MNLO). Albert also co-heads the Vivo Opportunity Fund, a $635MM public equity long-only fund focused on small cap biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
He was an investor in Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ACRS), AirXpanders (ASX: AXP), ProNAi Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNAI), Ceptaris Therapeutics (acquired by Actelion), Neomend (acquired by Bard), Vicept Therapeutics (acquired by Allergan), Bioform Medical (BFRM, acquired by Merz), Biodel (BIOD), and Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ASPV, acquired by Galenica). Albert was also involved in founding NextWave Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer) and Prestwick Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Biovail). Other investments include YM Biosciences (YMI), Dynavax Technologies (DVAX), Avanir Pharmaceuticals (AVNR), Acura Pharmaceuticals (ACUR), and AMAG Pharmaceuticals (AMAG). Albert is also a co-founder and board member of the annual Dermatology Summit and Dermatology Innovation Forum. Prior to joining Vivo, Albert worked at Oracle Corporation in pharmaceutical consulting and at the Palo Alto VA Hospital as a biomedical engineer.
Mr. Prin joined Greylock Capital in 2015 and became a partner in 2017. In this role, he is responsible for directing a macro and fundamental research effort designed to generate returns in global high yield and distressed credit. Prior to joining Greylock Capital, he was a portfolio manager and member of the Global Fixed Income Group at JP Morgan Asset Management, where he was responsible for managing and trading emerging market debt portfolios. Prior to joining JP Morgan in 2008, he held roles at Bear Stearns and Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Prin received his BA in Economics and Classical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a CFA charter holder. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the CFA Society of New York.
Mr. Niemie serves White Oak as Chief Risk Officer. Mr. Niemie has over 35 years of institutional investment industry experience. For the past 15 years, Mr. Niemie has successfully served as the Chief Investment Officer for the New York State Nurses Association Pension Plan (NYSNA). Prior to joining NYSNA in 2000, Mr. Niemie was President and CIO of Commerce Capital Management. Mr. Niemie has served as the CIO for a large public fund, corporate plan and multi-employer plan. Throughout his investment career he has served institutions as an Equity Portfolio Manager, Investment Banker specializing in merger/acquisition and valuation of private companies, Director of Research and Trading, as well as a Research Analyst covering the financial sector. Mr. Niemie received his BA from William Jessup University.
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.
Mark Yusko is the Founder, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Morgan Creek Capital Management. Prior to forming Morgan Creek, Mr. Yusko was President, Chief Investment Officer and Founder of UNC Management Company, the Endowment investment office for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from 1998 to 2004. Throughout his tenure, he directly oversaw strategic and tactical asset allocation recommendations to the Investment Fund Board, investment manager selection, manager performance evaluation, spending policy management and performance reporting. Total assets under management were $1.5 billion ($1.2 billion in endowment assets and $300 million in working capital). Until 1998, Mr. Yusko was the Senior Investment Director for the University of Notre Dame Investment Office where he joined as the Assistant Investment Officer in October of 1993. He worked with the Chief Investment Officer in all aspects of Endowment Management. Mr. Yusko received his Bachelor of Science Degree, with Honors, in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance from the University of Chicago. Mr. Yusko is an Advisory Board member of a number of private capital partnerships and alternative investment programs and has served as a consultant on alternative investments to a select group of institutions. Mr. Yusko is an Investment Committee member of the MCNC Endowment, a member of the DukeEngage National Advisory Board at Duke University, President and Chairman of the Investment Committee of The Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Foundation at the University of Notre Dame, and President and Head of Investment Committee of the Morgan Creek Foundation.
James Rosebush is a widely recognized leader in building and managing corporate, family office, and philanthropic organizations as well as serving as a senior advisor to wealthy families on the complex issues of wealth management. He has recently published a widely-heralded best-seller, TRUE REAGAN: What Made Ronald Reagan Great and Why It Matters, a rare insight into the fortieth president’s mysterious character as Rosebush discerned it from his years of working for President Reagan. Mr. Rosebush is also a frequent public speaker before various audiences and the media on leadership, politics, philanthropy, and the Reagans. He is the founder and CEO of an international advisory firm, GrowthStrategy, Inc. focused on management strategies, finance, marketing, and communications, throughout the world that result in measurable growth for Fortune 500 companies as well as startups including JPMorgan, Mercedes-Benz, Tudor Investments, Bankers Trust, Bessemer Trust, McDonald’s, Sapient, Cannon, Coca-Cola, The Carlyle Group, Stargazer Fund, GlobalBond Fund, Columbia Capital, Cisco Systems, Calibre, Northgate Capital, and over 300 others. He has been a columnist for BusinessInsider.com on character-based leadership.
At the request of President Bush, he created and was the first CEO of the Challenger Memorial Foundation, with forty-six space science education centers around the world. He served as the president of the Fairfax County Education Foundation, Chief Executive of the Howe School—a leadership academy, as founder and CEO of The Technology Transforming Education Compact, and President of the Urban Monuments Foundation. He has served on the Board of and was finance committee chair for The Phillips Collection, America’s first museum of modern art, where he originated the Duncan Phillips Collectors Medal awarded to Leonard Lauder and David Rockefeller among other leaders in philanthropy and the arts. He was awarded a 1999 “Telly” for his documentary “Hands on the Wall” a Discovery Channel program on Thomas Jefferson’s building of Monticello.
In The White House Mr. Rosebush was President Reagan’s “point man” on philanthropy and public-private partnerships. As a commissioned officer at The White House, he managed the President’s favorite domestic program, PRIVATE SECTOR INITIATIVES, designed to engender private sector solutions for public problems, a precursor of today’s social impact investing.
Mr. Rosebush was also the longest-serving Chief of Staff to the First Lady. In this role, he was one of a small group of top aides to President Reagan and served as a member of the President’s historic Theme for The Day communications team. He managed all the official activities of the First Lady including press and media, scheduling, projects and policy (including the anti-drug campaign), as well as the official functions held in The White House. During his tenure Nancy Reagan’s public approval rating increased to an all-time high. He managed worldwide State Visits for the Reagans, traveled with them, and negotiated with host country government leaders including China, Japan, Korea, France, England, and Germany. He negotiated with Russian officials for the historic bi-lateral meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev.
Mr. Rosebush has also had significant management experience in philanthropy. He was director of corporate contributions for The Standard Oil Company, founding vice president for the National Chamber Foundation, and held management positions with the New England Association of Grantmakers and the CS Mott Foundation and was a founder of Grantmakers in Health, Inc. He has published on the topic of strategic philanthropy, given many speeches and hosted conferences on the subject as well. The titles of two recent speeches were: “I’ve Made it—Now How do I Give It Away?” designed for new philanthropists, and “Using the Power of Wealth for Good.” He recently crafted a web-based Philanthropy Toolbox for a leading asset management firm.
He has an MA degree in Public Affairs from Boston University and a BA in Business from The Principia College. He has lectured and taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown and George Washington Universities on corporate public issues and the history of philanthropy. His book, First Lady Public Wife, was lauded as the first book that assessed the non-elected job of First Lady. He has authored numerous articles, has appeared before many television, radio, and other audiences. He was appointed by the President to become US Ambassador to UNESCO, and as a member of the National Museum Services Board, the grantmaking arm of the government to museums. He was invited to tour and lecture in Austria as a goodwill ambassador at the guest of the Austrian government. He was cited as an “Outstanding Young Man in America,” received the Rotary International Award for studies in Russia, and has been listed in Who’s Who since 1976. He was appointed a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Princeton University, elected at-large to the Republican Committee of the District of Columbia, and has served as the chairman of the board of his church, a trustee of the art panel of the Federal Reserve Board. He is Chairman, Proactive School, Inc. and has served on the Board of the Cleveland Music School Settlement and outreach committee of the Cleveland Orchestra and the grant selection committee of United Way. A native of Flint, Michigan, Mr. Rosebush resides in Washington, DC area with his wife of forty-two years, the former Nancy Paull. They have two grown daughters and four grandchildren.
Ted Seides, CFA is the Managing Partner of Hidden Brook Investments, an asset manager that works with a select number of clients seeking to employ the best investment frameworks and practices of investing learned over two decades of experience allocating capital to managers. Hidden Brook is focused on compounding capital for the long-term and marrying investment excellence with business sufficiency. In this capacity, he is the Chief Investment Officer of Perch Bay Group, a single-family office whose holdings include two asset management companies, an industrial company, and private venture investments. Ted manages a tax-efficient, multi-asset class portfolio around these assets that blends diversification, equity orientation, cost consciousness, and best of breed active managers. Ted is the host of Capital Allocators podcast (capitalallocatorspodcast.com) and serves on the Board of Directors and Advisory Boards of five investment organizations. In February 2016, Ted authored the book So You Want to Start a Hedge Fund: Lessons for Managers and Allocators (Wiley). From 2002 to 2015, Ted was a founder of Protégé Partners LLC and served as President and Co-Chief Investment Officer. Protégé was a leading multibillion dollar alternative investment firm that invested in small and specialized hedge funds on an arms-length and seed basis. Ted built the firm’s investment process and managed the sourcing, research, and due diligence of its portfolios. He worked actively with each of Protégé’s 40 seed investments. In 2010, Larry Kochard and Cathleen Rittereiser profiled Ted in the book Top Hedge Fund Investors: Stories, Strategies, and Advice. Ted began his career in 1992 under the tutelage of David Swensen at the Yale University Investments Office. During his five years at Yale, Ted focused on external public equity managers and internal fixed income portfolio management. Following business school, he spent two years investing directly at private equity firms Stonebridge Partners and J.H. Whitney & Company. With aspirations to demonstrate the salutary benefits of hedge funds on institutional portfolios to a broad audience, Ted proposed a non-profitable wager with Warren Buffett that pitted the 10-year performance of the S&P 500 against a selection of five hedge fund of funds from 2008-2017. Ted wrote the Capital Ideas column for Institutional Investor and has written a blog for the CFA Institute’s Enterprising Investor, guest publications for the late Peter L. Bernstein’s Economics and Portfolio Strategy, and case studies for Harvard Business School. He is a Trustee and member of the investment committee at the Wenner-Gren Foundation, is an active participant in the Hero’s Journey Foundation, and is a Decade Rider of Cycle for Survival. Ted holds a BA in economics and political science, Cum Laude, from Yale University and an MBA with first year honors from Harvard Business School.
Bill joined PSPRS 2016 and has 20 years of experience in investments and banking. Previous positions include working as an investment consultant to endowments and foundations at Mercer Investment Consulting and Commonfund. He has also worked as a Portfolio Consultant at Charles Schwab and a Credit Analyst at ABN AMRO Bank.
Mina Pacheco Nazemi is a member of Barings Alternative Investments, a global real estate, private equity and real assets platform. Mina is part of the Funds & Co-Investments team and is responsible for overseeing all co-investments. She is also responsible for originating, underwriting and monitoring primary fund, co-investment, 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 equity 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). 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. 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 on the alumni board of Harvard Business School.
Jose Marques is a 20-year veteran of many investment management businesses on both the buy and sell sides. His experience managing, driving and providing strategic direction on a global basis and across a wide variety of trading oriented businesses and asset classes is substantial. He is a very engaged hand on manager but still retains a clear investor-oriented focus, a high level of business acumen and an unimpeachable sense of personal responsibility. Additionally he has extensive experience in trading technologies and is extremely well versed global market structure and regulatory frameworks. He is also has a significant public presence and is a frequent contributor to market dialogue through many channels including video and print media, public speaking and conference appearances as well as direct engagement with market participants and with global regulatory bodies. Jose currently serves as CEO and is the Founder of Inferent Capital, LLC a quantitative process driven investment management business focusing on global equity market neutral strategies leveraging the latest advances in data science. Prior founding Inferent Capital, Jose was the Head of the Trading Department and is responsible for all trading operations at Bridgewater Associates, LP. In this role Jose manages exposure implementation globally across all asset classes, all operational aspects of the trading business including counter party management, risk management, cost management and associated technology, as well as the development of liquidity inputs into Bridgewater’s investment process. Before joining Bridgewater, Jose was Managing Director and held the roles of Global Head of Equity Electronic Trading and Global Head of Execution Product Development at Deutsche Bank. As head of Electronic Trading, Jose was responsible for all aspects of the electronic trading business including sales & marketing, trading & coverage, product development, operations and technology. As head of product development, Jose was responsible for the development and operations of all equity execution platforms spanning High Touch Cash Trading, Program Trading, Electronic Trading, Index Arbitrage and ETF Market Making businesses. Operations managed by Jose included trading centers spread across Europe, Americas and Asia plus near and off shore resourcing (development and quantitative) in Moscow, Mumbai, Jacksonville, Birmingham and Singapore with total staff numbering 643. Additionally Jose was co-chair of Deutsche Bank’s firm wide Algorithmic and Electronic Trading Oversight Committee which is responsible for the control of all bank wide trading systems and platforms across all asset classes. Finally Jose was responsible the strategic investment portfolio for the Equities Division and represented Deutsche Bank on the boards of several portfolio companies. Beginning in 2005, Jose was Managing Director responsible for market making and internalization at Credit Suisse and part of the management team at AES. His key contributions included the global development of CrossFinder, the first and still largest non-exchange small lot matching facility (dark pool). He was also responsible for development and operation of Credit Suisse’s algorithmic options product in the US. Additionally he initiated and operated the principal strategic investments portfolio for the Equities Division that included the first sell-side participation in BATS, investment in equity and options exchanges including the Philadelphia Exchange, the Boston Stock Exchange, and the National Stock Exchange as well as numerous fin-tech companies and alternative trading platforms including Trading Screen, Turquoise, Boat, LeveL, and BIDS. During the first ten years of his career, Jose developed and ran several fully electronic quantitative statistical arbitrage businesses at Hull Trading (acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2000), Morgan Stanley and Telic Management LLC. Over the years, Jose has had significant opportunities to serve on a number of company boards where he has had the ability to drive the strategic agenda ranging from start ups to major global exchanges including: BATS Global Markets, NASDAQ OMX BX Regulatory Board, the Philadelphia Exchange, the Boston Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange, Trading Screen, Level ATS (Chairman), BIDS, and Mantara. Jose’s academic background includes a PH.D. in Physics from the University of California as well as a member of the Research Faculty at Northwestern University. During Jose’s relatively short but prolific academic career, he published many papers in peer reviewed journals and had significant funding for his research activities from the US Department of Energy which were conducted principally at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago Il.
Don joined the American Institutes for Research in November 2014 in the role of chief investment officer. Prior to joining AIR, he was the chief investment officer for The George Washington University where he was responsible for management of the university’s $1.5 billion endowment for eleven and a half years. In 2000, Don formed the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation which managed the university’s endowment, defined benefit plan and operating funds. He began his investment career with the University of Virginia where he served as investment analyst, senior investment officer, assistant director of investments and director. Don earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Virginia Tech, a Master of Business Administration from James Madison University and a Master of International Policy and Practice from The George Washington University. He is a CFA charter holder and a member of the Washington CFA Society. Don is a member of the investment advisory committee of the Virginia Retirement System.
Adrian F. Lee is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Adrian Lee & Partners Limited, an investment management firm dedicated exclusively to providing active currency and fixed income management to institutional investors. Before founding this firm in 1999, he was Managing Director of JP Morgan Investment Management’s Currency Overlay group in London.
Prior to developing and managing currency overlay at Morgan, Mr. Lee was responsible for developing JP Morgan’s tactical currency models in the Capital Markets Research Group in New York. Prior to joining Morgan, he worked for Winklevoss and Associates (Consulting Actuaries) in Philadelphia and at the University of Pennsylvania as a lecturer in Statistics.
Mr. Lee is the author of several publications on global asset allocation and currency hedging; he was awarded the International Quantitative Group prize for outstanding research in 1990 for his work on currency. He was responsible for much of Morgan’s and the industry’s original research and development work in the area of currency overlay management. He is recognized globally as one of the founders of currency overlay.
Mr. Lee holds an MA in Mathematical Economics & Statistics from Trinity College, Dublin and an MBA in Finance & Actuarial Science from the Wharton School.
Mr. Klein is the Chief Investment Officer and Managing Member of the firm. Prior to Parquet Capital, he was a Global Credit Analyst and Founder of the Distressed and Special Situations effort for the $30 billion Fundamental Fixed Income Group at Janus Capital. Previously, he was an Executive Director and Head of Distressed for UBS AG’s Special Situations Group, and a Director and Head of Distressed and Special Situations for UBS AG’s Structured Lending Group. He began his career in corporate finance at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. in New York. He earned an M.S. degree from Stanford University, an M.B.A. degree from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, high distinction, and a B.S. degree from the University of Florida, honors, where he was also a member of the Division I Track & Field team.
Kristopher N. Kapoor, CFA is Chief Investment Officer at Furman University, where he is responsible for the investment oversight of the university’s endowment and debt program. Prior to joining 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.
Ray Jacobson is the Chief Investment Officer at Davidson College, a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1920 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte, NC. Ray joined the college in the summer of 2008 and oversees all aspects of the college’s $800+ million endowment. Prior to Davidson, he served as the first investment officer for the Golden LEAF Foundation, a nonprofit established to increase economic opportunities in North Carolina’s rural and tobacco-dependent communities. Mr. Jacobson began his endowment career in 2001 as an Investment Manager at DUMAC, the investment office for Duke University. Earlier in his career, he worked at Bloomberg Financial Markets in Princeton, NJ and interned at Brown Advisory in Baltimore, MD. He received an M.B.A. from Duke University, an M.S. from Clemson University, and a B.A. from Rutgers University. He is also a CFA charterholder and serves on the Board of the Woodlawn School and The Pines at Davidson. Ray lives in the town of Davidson with his wife and four children.
Terry Gottberg, 50, is the President and CEO of Merit Energy Company. He has 27 successful years in the oil and gas industry, 24 of them at Merit. 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 all Vice Presidents at Merit including the heads of our three operating divisions, our CFO, head of Acquisitions, head of Human Relations, General Counsel and head of Investor Relations report directly to Terry. His previous positions at Merit include Region Manager, Acquisition Manager, Vice President of Corporate Development, CFO and Senior Vice President. Prior to joining Merit, Terry held several operating engineering positions for Conoco Inc. Terry received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wyoming in 1991.
Libby George is currently the Director of Investments at North Carolina State University and has over 25 years of experience in investment management, corporate, educational, and financial accounting. Prior to becoming Director of Investments, Ms. George was the Manager of Financial Reporting where she was responsible for the financial reporting, capital assets, cash management, debt, and taxes of North Carolina State University. Libby currently manages over $1.2 billion in short term, operating, charitable giving, traditional long-term endowment assets as well as long-term endowment assets invested in a socially responsible manner. Ms. George previously served on the State of North Carolina’s Supplemental Retirement Board of Trustees as appointed by Governor Beverly Perdue in July 2009 and was the Chair of the Investment Subcommittee of the Supplemental Retirement Board. Libby is involved in the community through her church in various capacities such as Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network and past chair of the Permanent Endowment Committee. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Auburn University and was an NCAA athlete in Swimming for the Auburn Tigers. She became a Certified Public Accountant in 1992.
Mr. Gartman has been directly involved in the capital markets since August of 1974, after his graduate work at the North Carolina State University. He was an economist for Cotton, Inc. in the early 1970’s, analyzing cotton supply/demand in the US textile industry. From there he went to NCNB National Bank in Charlotte, North Carolina where he traded foreign exchange and money market instruments. In the late 70’s, Mr. Gartman became the Chief Financial Futures analyst for A.G. Becker & Company in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Gartman was an independent member of the Chicago Board of Trade until 1984, trading in treasury bond, treasury note and GNMA futures contracts. In 1984, Mr. Gartman moved to Virginia to run the futures brokerage operation for the Sovran Bank, and in 1987 Mr. Gartman began producing The Gartman Letter on a full time basis. He continues to do so today. The Gartman Letter is a daily commentary on the global capital markets, distributed to subscribers by 6:00 am EST (11:00 GMT) each business day. The Letter addresses political, economic, and technical trends from both long-term and short-term perspectives. Clients of The Gartman Letter, L.C. include many of the leading banks, broking firms, mutual funds, hedge funds, energy trading companies, and grain trading companies. Mr. Gartman has lectured on capital market creation to central banks and finance ministries around the world, and has taught classes for the Federal Reserve Bank’s School for Bank Examiners on derivatives. Mr. Gartman served a two-year term as an outside Director of the Kansas City Board of Trade from 2006-2008. He has been a member of the Suffolk Industrial Development Authority. He now serves on the Investment Committee of both the University of Akron and the North Carolina State University. Mr. Gartman appears often on CNBC Television and Bloomberg Radio, discussing commodities and the capital markets, and speaks before various associations and trade groups around the world.
Mr. Ford is a Founding Partner and Co-Portfolio Manager of the Fund. Prior to forming LatigoPartners, L.P. in 2005, Mr. Ford was a Principal and Portfolio Manager at Satellite Asset Management. Mr. Ford joined Satellite in 2002 from OchZiff Capital Management and was in charge of all credit and distressed related investments at the firm. At OchZiff , Mr. Ford was responsible for the launch of the distressed component of the firm’s fixed income business in 2000. From 1994-1999 Mr. Ford was the Portfolio Manager of ING Barings’ North American proprietary distressed securities and merger arbitrage portfolios. He holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Connecticut and received an MBA from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, where he has been a frequent guest lecturer on distressed investing.
Annie Duke has leveraged her expertise in the science of smart decision making to excel at pursuits as varied as championship poker to public speaking. On February 6, 2018, Annie’s first book for general audiences, “Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts” was released by Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Random House. In this book, Annie reveals to readers the lessons she regularly shares with her corporate audiences, which have been cultivated by combining her academic studies in cognitive psychology with real-life decision making experiences at the poker table. For two decades, Annie was one of the top poker players in the world. In 2004, she bested a field of 234 players to win her first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet. The same year, she triumphed in the $2 million winner-take-all, invitation-only WSOP Tournament of Champions. In 2010, she won the prestigious NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Prior to becoming a professional poker player, Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Annie now spends her time writing, coaching and speaking on a range of topics such as decision fitness, emotional control, productive decision groups and embracing uncertainty. She is a regularly sought-after public speaker, addressing thousands in keynote remarks at conferences for organizations ranging from the Investment Management Consultants Association to the Big Ten Conference. She has been brought in to speak to the executive teams or sales forces of organizations like Marriott, Gaylord Resorts and Ultimate Software, among others. She is a sought-after speaker in the financial sector, with clients such as Susqehanna International Group and CitiBank. Annie regularly shares her observations on decision making and critical thinking skills on her blog, Annie’s Analysis, and has shared her poker knowledge through a series of best-selling poker instruction and theory books, including Decide to Play Great Poker and The Middle Zone: Mastering the Most difficult Hands in Hold’em Poker (both co-authored with John Vorhaus). Annie is a master storyteller, having performed three times for The Moth, an organization that preserves the art of spoken word storytelling. One of her stories was selected by The Moth as one of their top 50 stories and featured in the organization’s first-ever book. Her passion for making a difference has helped raise millions for charitable causes. In 2006, she founded Ante Up for Africa along with actor Don Cheadle and Norman Epstein, which has raised more than $4 million for Africans in need. She has also served on the board of The Decision Education Foundation. In 2009, she appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice, and raised $730,000 for Refugees International, a charity that advocates for refugees around the world. In October 2013, Annie became a national board member for After School All-Stars. In 2014, Annie co-founded How I Decide, a nonprofit with the goal of helping young people develop the essential life skills of critical thinking and decision making. In 2015, she became a member of the NationSwell Council. In 2016, she began serving on the board of directors of The Franklin Institute, one of America’s oldest and greatest science museums. Annie currently resides in the Philadelphia area. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or LinkedIn and visit her website.
Max Darnell has served as First Quadrant’s Managing Partner since 2012, and Chief Investment Officer since 2002. Max is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the firm, and for overseeing the firm’s investment products with emphasis on strategic research and development initiatives. Max began his career at First Quadrant in 1991, managing derivatives research throughout the decade. In 2000 he was named Director of Research. Max earned a Master’s degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1991.
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.
Michael (Mike) A. Condon, CFA is Senior Vice President of Institutional Investments at Fund Evaluation Group, LLC (FEG). Condon works with Endowment and Foundation (E&F) clients within FEG’s outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) service. A long-time thought leader within the E&F space, Condon brings more than 20 years of experience as an acting CIO. Most recently as CIO at Southern Methodist University, he led a 15-person office and was responsible for all aspects of investing the university’s $1.5 billion endowment. As CIO for the University of Arkansas Foundation, Condon oversaw a $1.1 billion endowment. During his 10-year tenure at Georgia Tech, the foundation endowment grew from $440 million to $1.5 billion. Additionally, Condon is on the Editorial Committee for The Investment Institute, and on advisory Boards for Institutional Investor and Alternative Investment Management, LLC.
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.
Frank Brosens is a co-founder of Taconic. He is primarily involved in management and risk control. Mr. Brosens spent 15 years at Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he was a general partner. While at Goldman, Sachs & Co., he was head of the risk arbitrage area, the stock options business, the equity derivatives area, the Japanese warrants business (which he co-founded), as well as co-head of the energy trading business. Mr. Brosens is a member of the Board of Directors for the Economic Club of New York and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Advisory Council for the Bendheim Center for Finance at Princeton University. He formerly served as Chairman of the Board of the Northern Westchester Hospital and as a member of the Board of Directors at PRINCO, the Princeton University Investment Company. Mr. Brosens received a B.S.E. in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, magna cum laude, from Princeton University in 1979, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Philip joined RiverNorth in 2015 and serves as Portfolio Manager. Philip manages the firm’s marketplace lending strategies. He came to RiverNorth with 12 years of experience in investment management, capital markets, and investment banking capacities within structured finance, securitized products and real estate. Prior to joining RiverNorth, Philip was a Principal at Spring Hill Capital where he focused on the analysis and trading of structured credit, commercial mortgage and asset-backed fixed income investments. Philip began his career in the Mortgage Department at Lehman Brothers Inc. in New York, where he focused on non-agency residential mortgages and esoteric asset-backed securities. Philip graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in Economics and earned his MBA from Columbia Business School with a concentration in Accounting and Finance.
Mark Yusko is the Founder, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Morgan Creek Capital Management. Prior to forming Morgan Creek, Mr. Yusko was President, Chief Investment Officer and Founder of UNC Management Company, the Endowment investment office for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from 1998 to 2004. Throughout his tenure, he directly oversaw strategic and tactical asset allocation recommendations to the Investment Fund Board, investment manager selection, manager performance evaluation, spending policy management and performance reporting. Total assets under management were $1.5 billion ($1.2 billion in endowment assets and $300 million in working capital). Until 1998, Mr. Yusko was the Senior Investment Director for the University of Notre Dame Investment Office where he joined as the Assistant Investment Officer in October of 1993. He worked with the Chief Investment Officer in all aspects of Endowment Management. Mr. Yusko received his Bachelor of Science Degree, with Honors, in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance from the University of Chicago. Mr. Yusko is an Advisory Board member of a number of private capital partnerships and alternative investment programs and has served as a consultant on alternative investments to a select group of institutions. Mr. Yusko is an Investment Committee member of the MCNC Endowment, a member of the DukeEngage National Advisory Board at Duke University, President and Chairman of the Investment Committee of The Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Foundation at the University of Notre Dame, and President and Head of Investment Committee of the Morgan Creek Foundation.
Dr. Ed Yardeni is the President of Yardeni Research, Inc., a provider of independent global investment strategy research. In his publications, Dr. Yardeni explores trends in the economy and financial markets which are vital to a broad spectrum of investment decision makers. Dr. Yardeni previously served as Chief Investment Strategist for Oak Associates, as Chief Investment Strategist and a Managing Director of Prudential Equity Group, as Chief Investment Strategist for Deutsche Bank, and Chief Economist for C.J. Lawrence, Prudential Securities, and E.F. Hutton. He taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and was an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He also held positions at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. Dr. Yardeni completed his doctoral dissertation under Professor James Tobin, a Nobel Laureate, at Yale University. Previously, he received a Masters degree in International Relations from Yale. He completed his undergraduate studies magna cum laude at Cornell University. Dr. Yardeni has published articles in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The New York Times, and Barron’s. He has appeared on numerous television and radio business and financial programs. Many of the world’s top institutional investors subscribe to Dr. Yardeni’s investment strategy service, which is available at www.yardeni.com.
Mel has been investing in private equity for over 15 years and is also a seasoned entrepreneur. Before co-founding TrueBridge with long-time friend Edwin Poston, Mel co-founded UNC Management Company (UNCMC), where he worked closely with the President/CIO to manage over $2 billion of endowment capital for the University of North Carolina, along with other North Carolina-based institutions. As part of the senior management team, Mel had primary portfolio management responsibility for all illiquid asset classes, including UNCMC’s venture portfolio. During his time at UNCMC, Mel formed strong ties with some of the industry’s top-performing managers, which he has continued to develop at TrueBridge. Prior to UNCMC, Mel helped co-found two venture-backed companies. He also spent time as an entrepreneur-in-residence with Commonwealth Capital Ventures in Boston. Throughout his career, Mel has served on the advisory boards of several private capital partnerships. He has also spoken at a number of global private equity conferences and appeared as a guest lecturer at UNC and Duke University. In 2012, he was named an Honorary Kauffman Fellow by the Center for Venture Education, in appreciation of TrueBridge’s contribution and commitment to the Kauffman Fellows Program. Early in his post-graduate career, Mel worked as a manager with both the General Electric Capital Company and the General Electric Corporate Audit Staff. Mel received his MBA from Harvard University and his BA with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Sean Warrington joined the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust in 2010 and holds the position of Director of Private Markets. His primary responsibilities include developing, sourcing, and executing investment strategies for the Trust’s Private Markets portfolio, with a primary focus on Private Equity. Mr. Warrington earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Florida and his MBA from the Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Mr. Ward joined the Virginia Tech Foundation in April 2008 where he serves as its Chief Investment Office – Endowment. He leads all aspects of managing the Foundation’s portfolio including manager and investment selection and setting asset allocation policy. Almost 50% of the portfolio is invested internationally including a mix of niche and direct investments. The Virginia Tech endowment performance consistently ranks in the top 25% of its peers and was honored by Institutional Investor as the top mid-sized endowment of 2011. The Foundation currently oversees approximately $1.7 Billion in operating funds and long-term endowment funds which support Virginia Tech University. Prior to joining Virginia Tech he was the director of research for Integritas Advisors, a family office, from July 2004 – April 2008. Mr. Ward holds a BBA from The University of Michigan Business School, a MBA from The University of Florida Warrington College of Business and is a CFA charterholder.
Ram S. Venkateswaran was raised and educated in New Delhi, India. He attended the Birla Institute of Technology & Science where he earned a Masters Degree in Computer Science with distinction in 1989. Ram went on to pursue a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He graduated first in his class and received the Chairman’s Prize and the Dr. B.C. Roy Gold Medal. Following his post graduate education, Ram joined Citigroup in Mumbai, India and worked with the Merchant Banking Group as an investment banker / the Corporate Banking Group as a marketing & credit officer. In 1996, Ram joined Morgan Stanley India (IBD) and was responsible for sourcing capital market and advisory deals. He moved to Morgan Stanley Singapore as part of the M&A / Execution team and worked on a number of deals including the Raffles Holdings IPO and advisory assignments for DBS Bank. After a brief stint with Citigroup / Salomon Brothers Singapore, Ram made a career decision to move to the United States to focus on investment management. He received an MBA from the Stern School of Business with distinction and was designated a Stern Scholar. In 2002, Ram joined Goldman Sachs Principal Strategies as a research associate, where he initiated numerous fundamental long and short investments across geographies. He was promoted to Managing Director and Portfolio Manager in 2007. He was also part of the core team that launched Goldman Sachs Investment Partners (GSIP) in 2008. During his tenure at Goldman, he participated in various firm-wide strategic initiatives and new product task forces. Ram played an active role in recruiting and mentoring junior professionals including building and managing an investment team. In 2012, Ram was one of the select professionals nominated to the “Managing Director Leadership Acceleration Initiative” (MDLAI) program. Ram lives in New York City with his wife and son. His favorite books include The Big Leap and Poor Charlie’s Almanack.
Mr. Tunick joined the UNC Management Company in 2008 as Vice President and Managing Director of Private Investments where he is responsible for managing the more than $1.6 billion Private Investments portfolio. Prior to joining UNCMC, Mr. Tunick spent seventeen years at Harvard Management Company (HMC) in Boston, MA, where he was Manager, Private Equity and co-managed a $4.1 billion portfolio of alternative investment partnerships. Prior to HMC, Mr. Tunick was also Chief Investment Analyst for the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City, where he managed an $80 million short-term fixed income portfolio and a $3 million equity portfolio. Before the Rockefeller Foundation, Mr. Tunick was Manager of Partnership Fund Accounting at Commodities Corporation USA in Princeton, NJ, as well as the controller at American Handling Equipment, Inc. Mr. Tunick received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA and an MBA from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.
Thomas Nicholas Trkla is the founding member and majority owner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Brookwood and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yesway. Mr. Trkla directs all aspects of Brookwood’s businesses including managing Brookwood’s operations, formulating and implementing Brookwood’s investment and disposition strategies, and evaluating, structuring and capitalizing the company’s real estate and private corporate investments. Prior to founding Brookwood, Mr. Trkla was a senior executive with Winthrop Securities Co., Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Winthrop Financial Associates, a Boston-based real estate investment and management firm that, at the time, was one of the largest privately-held real estate investment firms in the United States. Before Winthrop, Mr. Trkla was a Vice President at The Boston Company Real Estate Counsel, Inc., one of the first real estate investment advisors to large public and private tax-exempt pension plan sponsors in the United States. Mr. Trkla is as an Advisory Committee Member of the Massachusetts Campaign for Children, a non-profit statewide child advocacy organization, a Director of the Princeton Association of New England (PANE), and a member of the Urban Land Institute where he currently serves on the Small Scale Development Council – Gold Flight. Mr. Trkla is a frequent speaker on trends in the United States’ commercial real estate markets and on core, value-add and opportunistic investment strategies. In the past several years, he has spoken at the Urban Land Institute spring and fall meetings, the 2012 National Family Office Private Forum, the 2012 U.S./Ireland Legal Symposium, the 2010 Andes Investment Summit in Bogota, Colombia, the National Conference of State Tax Judges, the New York State Society of CPAs, and the 2010 and 2011 Real Estate Symposia presented by Northern Trust and RSM McGladrey. Mr. Trkla is a 1981 graduate of Princeton University and in 1984 received a Master of Management degree from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. In 2004, Mr. Trkla completed the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.
Clay is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. Since 1995, He has co-founded eight companies in the life science arena and co-founded Hatteras in 2000. Since co-founding Hatteras, Clay has been instrumental in building the firm from its origins with a $3 million seed fund to a venture capital partnership that manages over $450 million across five venture funds. Clay has led investments in a range of life science companies, including biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, and research informatics. Clay began his career in 1995 when he co-founded Xanthon, Inc., a bioinformatics company with electro-chemical detection technology for direct analysis of DNA, RNA and proteins. Shortly thereafter, he co-founded Novalon Pharmaceutical Corporation, where he led financing efforts and was head of business development from inception until Novalon’s sale to Karo Bio for $106.7 million in May of 2000. Subsequently, Clay applied his entrepreneurial passions to co-founding Hatteras Venture Partners (formerly Catalysta Ventures). Since that time, Hatteras has invested in over 60 companies in the life science industry, serving as the founding or first institutional investor in over half of these. Clay has led investments and numerous strategic transaction processes in a variety of portfolio companies, including G1 Therapeutics, Clearside Biomedical, Lysosomal Therapeutics, Inc., Asthmatx, Inc., PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, ArtusLabs, Embrella, and Synthematix, Inc. In the latter case, Clay served as CEO and Chairman from inception in 2000 until the company was acquired in April 2005 by Symyx Technologies (SMMX). Clay currently serves as Executive Chairman of PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals and Chairman of GeneCentric Diagnostics. He is also on the boards of Clearside Biomedical (Nasdaq: CLSD), Rodin Therapeutics, Lysosomal Therapeutics, Artizan Biosciences and Orig3n. He serves on the Chancellor’s Philanthropic Committee at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Board of Visitors of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, and on the board of the NC School of Science and Mathematics Foundation. Clay holds a Masters of Public Policy from Harvard University and a B.A. in mathematics and art history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Community and Board Engagements: Clay started his career as a social entrepreneur by co-founding the Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education (SCALE) as a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1989. For that, he was honored as Point of Light by President George H.W. Bush. Since that time, Clay has been active at state and national levels in public policy and public service. He is a past board member of the NC Biotechnology Center, CED, Public Allies, and the Wildacres Leadership Initiative. He serves on the Board of Visitors of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina and on the board of the Foundation of the NC School of Science and Mathematics.
Cullen is the Chief Investment Officer of Bienville Capital, a NY-based investment firm, which he co‐founded in 2008. He leads the firm’s global research and investment process, and is co-PM of the Bienville Global Opportunities Fund, LP. Cullen has nearly 20 years of experience investing globally across asset classes, in addition to roles in investment research and portfolio construction. Cullen is a graduate of The University of Alabama. He also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Culverhouse Investment Management Group, a value investing program at the University of Alabama. A native of Mobile, AL, Cullen splits time between New York and Los Angeles and is a former All American golfer.
Joel Telpner is a corporate and finance partner in the New York office of Sullivan & Worcester LLP. He is a seasoned advisor, strategist and problem solver. Mr. Telpner brings more than 30 years of legal experience in a career that includes time as an AmLaw 100 partner, the former U.S. general counsel of a global financial institution, and a venture capitalist. He is a highly sought after legal advisor in the blockchain space. – Pioneer in structuring some of the first ICOs and blockchain based applications; – Structured the first issuance of digital securities utilizing blockchain technology for Overstock.com and helped in launching Overstock’s distributed ledger platform, tZero; – Legal advisor for some of the biggest cryptocurrencies; – Led a panel discussion about ICOs and best practices at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. He is working on policy initiatives on global regulatory issues for blockchain on behalf of the Global Blockchain Business Council, the Blockchain Research Institute and Wharton Reg@Tech. He is a member of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance’s Legal Working Group, which is developing guidance on best practices for ICOs, and of the Digital Currency & Ledger Defense Coalition, a coalition of lawyers and academics who focus on the legal issues surrounding digital currency and distributed ledger technology. Mr. Telpner is also recognized for his ability to deftly manage complex financial transactions, especially those involving sophisticated structured finance and derivatives matters and has an extensive and unique combination of transactional and regulatory experience. In addition to his work in the blockchain space, he also focuses on the following: – Complex, structured finance and derivatives transactions; – Private mergers and acquisitions transactions; – Capital raising transactions in public and private U.S. and foreign markets; – Risk management and assessment; – Advising early-stage companies on business and strategic plans, budgets, capital structures and raising capital; – Advising senior management on corporate governance, regulatory and compliance matters; – Developing compliance and regulatory policies and procedures; – Providing road maps for managing complex and conflicting financial global regulatory requirements Mr. Telpner has an M.B.A. from University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, J.D., with distinction, The University of Iowa, and a B.B.A., The University of Iowa. He has also had many awards and honors: “Deal Maker of the Year,” Finance Monthly, 2014 ($1.5 billion issuance by SanDisk); “Lawyer of the Year,” Corporate LiveWire, 2014; New York Super Lawyers (2006-2007; 2013-2017) & The Legal 500 U.S. (2009-2017).
Mr. Strauss joined the firm in 1995 and during his tenure has served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Cowen Investment Management (formerly known as Ramius LLC), a Managing Member of Ramius LLC and Chief Executive Officer of the Ramius Fund of Funds Group. Prior to Cowen, Mr. Strauss was Co-Chairman of Granite Capital International Group, a private investment management firm, where he developed an Absolute Return Alternative Asset Class investment business. From 1963 to 1991, Mr. Strauss was with Salomon Brothers Inc. He was admitted as a General Partner in 1972 and was appointed to the Executive Committee in 1981. In 1986, he became President of Salomon Brothers and a Vice Chairman and member of the Board of Directors of Salomon Inc, the holding company of Salomon Brothers and Phibro Energy, Inc. From 1986 through 1991, Mr. Strauss was responsible for the firm’s Investment Banking, Sales and Trading, Asset Management and International Activities. During his tenure at Salomon, Mr. Strauss was responsible for separating the firm’s Proprietary Trading activities from the traditional client based business, which provided the foundation for Global Proprietary Trading in New York, London and Tokyo. He was also responsible for the development of the firm’s international business in Europe and the Far East, including both Sales and Trading and Investment Banking. Mr. Strauss currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committees of the Mt. Sinai Health System. He is also a trustee of the U.S.-Japan Foundation and The Foreign Policy Association and is Trustee Emeritus of Riverdale Country School. He chairs or is a member of the investment committees at recognized endowments and is a member of the advisory board for a significant multi-family office. He is a former member of the Board of Governors of the American Stock Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Public Securities Association, the Securities Industry Association, the Federal Reserve International Capital Market Advisory Committee and the U.S. Japan Business-Council.
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.
Ms. Snider joined The Kresge Foundation in 2009. Donna has 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. During her seven years with Merrill Lynch, 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 Towers Watson) in Chicago. Donna is a member of the board of the Presbyterian Villages of Michigan Foundation and heads the investment committee for First Foundation. She also currently serves on several advisory committees for various private partnerships. Donna earned her MBA with concentrations in accounting and analytical finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; she holds a Bachelors 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.
Darsh Singh is the co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of Hazoor Partners. He is responsible for research, trading, and portfolio management. Previously, he served as Portfolio Manager and Investment Committee Member at Satori Capital, a specialized alternative investment firm based in Texas. There, Mr. Singh’s primary role was to build the Satori Alpha platform, where he was responsible for research, diligence, structuring, and investment strategy, with a primary focus on seeding emerging managers in niche markets. From 2009 to 2012, he oversaw the equity, fixed income, and hedge fund investments for a family office in San Antonio, Texas. From 2008 to 2009, he served as a civilian and contract worker for the National Security Agency. There, he worked in signals intelligence, developing and testing various tools. Mr. Singh received an M.S. in Financial Mathematics from John Hopkins University and a B.S. in Engineering Science from Trinity University, where he was also captain of the NCAA basketball team. His jersey has been featured in the Smithsonian National Museum of National History.
Valerie J. Sill, CFA, CAIA is President and CEO of DuPont Capital Management (DCM) and serves as its Chief Investment Officer. She is responsible for overseeing the investment of more than $25 billion in assets held by DuPont Company plans and external clients. DCM manages assets across nine different asset classes using a value-based investment approach that combines valuation and risk control disciplines designed to produce risk-efficient excess returns that satisfy its clients’ investment objectives. Prior to joining DCM in April 2004, Ms. Sill was Executive Vice President at The Boston Company. There she chaired the Equity Policy Group and was the Director of Large Cap Value strategies. She was a dual officer with Dreyfus, also a Mellon company, where she managed the Dreyfus Premier Core Value mutual funds. In addition to her work at The Boston Company and Dreyfus, Ms. Sill formed and chaired Mellon’s Research Forum to foster collaboration among investment professionals from each of Mellon’s investment management subsidiaries. Ms. Sill started her career in asset management with State Street Research & Management Company as a Health Care and Utilities analyst and later joined Investment Advisors in Minneapolis as a senior analyst. Ms. Sill is a member of the Board of Trustees of Longwood Gardens and chairs its Investment Committee. Ms. Sill is a Trustee of the Christiana Care Health System and chairs its Investment Committee. Ms. Sill served a three-year term on the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Economic Advisory Council. Ms. Sill was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, in Economics and Philosophy from Wellesley College. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was a Durant Scholar. She holds an MBA from Harvard University and was awarded both the CFA and CAIA charters.
With over nineteen years’ experience, Andrew has worked extensively in the Asset Management, Banking and Structured Finance sectors, and has the versatility to service a diverse range of clients. Andrew has worked with structured products such as structured investment vehicles (“SIV”s), tender option bond / municipal arbitrage funds, leasing vehicles, CDOs/CLOs, segregated portfolio cell structures, CPPI structures and Islamic financing deals and funds. As Head of Banking, he acts as lead Partner for a number of local and international banking audit clients.
Mr. Rudolph oversees investments across the Public Portfolio which includes Equities, Fixed Income, and Diversifying Strategies. He is also a Portfolio Manager for the Intermediate Pool. Mr. Rudolph joined the UNC Management Company in 2006. Prior to joining UNCMC, Mr. Rudolph was the Director of Investments and Planned Giving at the BBC Foundation located in Clarks Summit, PA. From 1997 to 2001, he was a Supervising Senior Accountant with KPMG. Mr. Rudolph received a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude from Cedarville University in 1997 and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in 2007. He is both a CFA and CAIA charterholder and a Certified Public Accountant. In the past, he has served on the boards of BBC Foundation and ReCity.
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.
Dan Parker is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer for Texas Tech University, and is based in Austin, Texas. In this role, he shares broad responsibility for policy, strategy, asset allocation, structure and processes across the organization and the portfolio, in addition to driving the endowment’s investments in public and private equity, diversifying and absolute return strategies, real assets and natural resources. Before relocating to Austin to join Texas Tech, Dan worked in New York as an Investment Officer with Helmsley Charitable Trust, as a Vice President in private equity with BlackRock and as an Associate in investment banking at Citigroup. He began his career serving as a US Marine, where he commanded infantry and reconnaissance units. He holds degrees from Tulane University and The College of William and Mary.
Muthu is responsible for the investment strategy, analysis, and manager selection within the Private Equity and Natural Resources portfolios for Emory Investment Management. The Private Equity portfolio includes buyout, growth and distressed investments and Natural Resources is a diversified portfolio of energy, timber, real estate, and commodities. Prior to joining Emory, he was Head of Private Markets and oversaw the private market portfolio at Covariance Capital Management, an outsourced CIO firm that invests on behalf of endowments and foundations. Prior to Covariance, he was an Associate Director of Investments at Spider Management Company, the University of Richmond’s investment management company, where he led strategy and manager selection for private equity, real estate and all asset classes within emerging markets. His background also includes time as a Portfolio Manager at the Florida State Board of Administration and a Senior Analyst at RSM Equico. Muthu has a BHM from Mangalore University and an MBA from Rollins College.
Larisa Mueller is a senior investment manager with MMBB Financial Services, a private pension fund, where she is responsible for external manager due diligence and selection, portfolio management, audit and regulatory compliance for over $2 billion in retirement and endowment assets. Additionally, she oversees investment operations, regulatory compliance and accounting for thirteen investment funds. Prior to joining MMBB, Ms. Mueller held the position of Supervisor of Accounting Research at Consolidated Edison where she implemented complex accounting standards for the $13 billion company, including fair value, stock-based compensation and hedge accounting. Prior to that, she worked at Grant Thornton, in the tax and audit departments of the firm for both commercial and not-for-profit clients. Ms. Mueller holds an M.B.A. from the New York University and a B.A. degree in accounting from Fordham University. She is a Certified Public Accountant.
Ms. Moss is a Director of Investments focused primarily on all asset classes across the Public Portfolio including Global Equity, Fixed Income, and Diversifying Strategies across all geographies (developed and emerging), and across all structures (hedge funds, long-only). She is also a Portfolio Manager for the Intermediate Pool. Prior to joining UNCMC in 2006, Angela began her career in Boston where she worked for eight years. Most recently she was a Co-Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst for Hale and Dorr Wealth Advisors. Before Hale and Dorr, she worked in investment banking where she assisted in origination, structuring and execution of corporate finance transactions and advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and equity offerings. She began her career as a consultant to investment firms at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Angela is currently the Chair of the East Carolina University Board of Visitors and is the Immediate Past Chair of the Alumni Association and is the Chair of that Board’s Investment Committee and is a member of the Foundation Board’s Investment Committee. She is a member of 100 Women in Hedge Funds and launched their North Carolina chapter. She is also a member of the Triangle Community Foundation’s Investment Committee. Angela holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation and she received a B.S. in Business Administration and a M.S. in Accounting with a Tax Concentration from East Carolina University, where she was Student Body President and on the Board of Trustees.
“Central bankers, businessmen, and investors continually try to beat History to a pulp, but History always wins the final rounds.” —John Mauldin, Thoughts from the Frontline, 2001. When investors, financial professionals, and discerning citizens need a big-picture view of what’s going on in the economy, they turn to John Mauldin. And for good reason. John has dedicated more than 30 years to keeping people informed about financial risk. John is a visionary thinker, a noted financial expert, a New York Times best-selling author, a pioneering online commentator, and the publisher of one of the first publications to provide investors with free, unbiased information and guidance—Thoughts from the Frontline. Thoughts from the Frontline began as John’s way of sharing his thoughts with a few associates. Some 16 years later, it is one of the most widely read investment newsletters in the world. From his timely warnings of impending recessions in 2000 and 2008, prescient calls on market moves to thoughtful pieces on what the new Republican administration should do in in 2017, John has blazed his own trail as one of the most respected macroeconomic minds in the field. He publishes Thoughts from the Frontline through Mauldin Economics, of which he is Chairman. Mauldin Economics publishes a growing number of investing resources, including both free and paid publications aimed at helping investors thrive in today’s challenging economy. John is also President of Mauldin Solutions, LLC, an investment advisory firm registered with multiple states; and President and a registered principal of Mauldin Securities, LLC, member FINRA-SIPC. Together with Mauldin Economics, John proudly hosts the Strategic Investment Conference, an annual gathering of some of the world’s most brilliant economists and analysts. Thanks to its blue-ribbon lineup of past speakers and growing reputation as an incubator of forward-thinking investment strategies, the SIC is fast becoming one of the most hotly anticipated economic events of the year. Additionally, John’s books have appeared on the New York Times best-seller list four times. His current book count (because he always has at least one more in the works) is seven including: – Bull’s Eye Investing: Targeting Real Returns in a Smoke and Mirrors Market; – Endgame: The End of the Debt Supercycle and How It Changes Everything; – Code Red: How to Protect Your Savings from the Coming Crisis; – A Great Leap Forward? Making Sense of China’s Cooling Credit Boom, Technological Transformation, High Stakes Rebalancing, Geopolitical Rise, & Reserve Currency Dream; – Just One Thing: Twelve of the World’s Best Investors Reveal the One Strategy You Can’t Overlook; – The Little Book of Bull’s Eye Investing: Finding Value, Generating Absolute Returns and Controlling Risk in Turbulent Markets. John is a frequent speaker at conferences around the world and is a sought-after contributor to numerous financial publications, as well as a regular guest on TV and radio. He currently lives in Dallas, Texas and is the proud father of seven children, five of whom are adopted.
Don joined the American Institutes for Research in November 2014 in the role of chief investment officer. Prior to joining AIR, he was the chief investment officer for The George Washington University where he was responsible for management of the university’s $1.5 billion endowment for eleven and a half years. In 2000, Don formed the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation which managed the university’s endowment, defined benefit plan and operating funds. He began his investment career with the University of Virginia where he served as investment analyst, senior investment officer, assistant director of investments and director. Don earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Virginia Tech, a Master of Business Administration from James Madison University and a Master of International Policy and Practice from The George Washington University. He is a CFA charter holder and a member of the Washington CFA Society. Don is a member of the investment advisory committee of the Virginia Retirement System.
Bryan Lewis is the chief investment officer of the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System, a defined benefit and deferred compensation plan serving over 236,000 members. In this role Bryan is responsible for leading the investment office in managing over $29 billion in assets to assist with providing retirement income and benefits to its members and their families. Prior to joining the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System, Bryan worked for the State Universities Retirement System of Illinois as executive director and the North Carolina State Treasurer as the chief operating officer of the investment management division. In addition to his professional pursuits, Bryan has been involved in the communities where he has lived by serving on volunteer boards of organizations that work to increase the financial capability of community members. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Maryland and MBA from the University of Miami. Bryan is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Finance Leaders Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
As the Corporation’s director of investments, Mr. Lee co-leads its portfolio strategy for marketable investments, which include long-only, absolute return, and fixed income asset classes. As part of this role, Mr. Lee serves as the primary lead on the Corporation’s developed markets mandates. Mr. Lee also manages the Corporation’s venture capital and growth equity activities in private markets. Prior to joining the Corporation, Mr. Lee served as a senior investment analyst in New York and London at Fauchier Partners, a hedge fund-of-funds that managed money on behalf of pensions, insurance companies, foundations, and endowments outside the United States. Previously, Mr. Lee worked as an investment associate at Horsley Bridge Partners, a private equity fund-of-funds manager, in San Francisco and London. Mr. Lee began his career as an investment banking analyst in the San Francisco office of Robertson Stephens, a boutique investment bank focused on growth companies. Mr. Lee holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA from Yale College, where he studied Economics, and East Asian Studies, with a focus on the History of Art.
Scott Kupor is the managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz where he is responsible for all aspects of running the firm. He has been with the firm since its inception in 2009 and has overseen its rapid growth, from three employees to 135 and from $300 million in assets under management to more than $6 billion. Scott was previously vice president and general manager of Global Customer Support & Software-as-a-Service at Hewlett Packard. Scott joined HP in 2007 as part of the $1.6 billion acquisition of Opsware (previously Loudcloud), where he was senior vice president of Customer Solutions. Scott joined Opsware shortly after the company’s founding and held numerous executive management positions including vice president of financial planning and vice president of corporate development. Prior to Opsware, Scott represented software companies in both financing and mergers and acquisitions transactions at Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers. Scott graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in public policy. He also graduated from Stanford Law School and is a member of the California Bar Association. Scott is chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, chairman of the board of Genesys Works, cofounder and co-director of the Stanford Venture Capital Director’s College, cofounder and co-director of the Stanford Rock Center’s Guide to Venture-Backed Board Membership, and Executive in Residence at Haas School of Business and Boalt School of Law. Scott also serves on the investment committees of St. Jude’s Children’s Cancer Research Hospital, Stanford Hospital, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Lick Wilmerding High School.
Kieran Cavanna is the Co-Founder and CIO of Old Farm Partners. Old Farm is a hedge fund allocation firm focusing on small and mid-sized hedge funds, as well as co-investment opportunities. Prior to Old Farm, Mr. Cavanna worked at Soros Fund Management where he served as the Head of the External Manager Selection team. Mr. Cavanna and his team performed due diligence on and allocated to a select group of hedge funds that deployed a wide variety of hedge fund strategies. Within this pool of externally managed capital, a meaningful amount was in co-investments generated by the underlying hedge funds. Prior to Soros, Kieran was a Partner and the Head of Research at Titan Advisors, a $5b fund-of-hedge funds. In total Mr. Cavanna has allocated to hedge funds for 15 years. Mr. Cavanna started his investment career at KPMG Consulting as Senior Analyst. Mr. Cavanna graduated from the University of Richmond with a BA and received an MBA from Vanderbilt University.
Jonathon King, President & CEO of UNC Management Company, joined the Company in January 2005. In this role Mr. King is also the Chief Investment Officer of the UNC Investment Fund. Prior to joining UNC Management Co., Mr. King was the Associate Vice President and Director of Investments for Dartmouth College where he worked for sixteen years. Previously, Mr. King was an Investment Officer at New England Mutual Life Insurance Company in Boston, MA and a Senior Accountant at Price Waterhouse & Co. in Hartford, CT. Mr. King graduated cum laude from Middlebury College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies. Mr. King also graduated with an MBA degree from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Kristopher N. Kapoor, CFA is Chief Investment Officer at Furman University, where he is responsible for the investment oversight of the university’s endowment and debt program. Prior to joining 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.
Elizabeth was hired in 2015 as Deputy Chief Investment Officer for Mercy Health System, a Catholic non-profit hospital system in the Midwest. She is responsible for portfolio management, due diligence, and sourcing of unique investment opportunities for Mercy’s $2.5B investment portfolio. She previously was an Assistant Vice President of Investments at Allied World, a P&C insurance company with a $9B investment portfolio. Prior to Allied World, Elizabeth was an investment strategist at Prime Advisors, a core fixed-income asset manager with $12B of assets under management. Elizabeth is a member of the CFA Institute, the St. Louis Society of Investment Analysts, and Women with a Mission. Elizabeth also previously served as a board member of the Windsor Education Foundation (Windsor, CT). Elizabeth was recently honored to be included in CIO Magazine’s 2016’ 40 Under 40’. She received her BA from Babson College (Boston, MA) and is a CFA charter holder.
Ray Jacobson is the Chief Investment Officer at Davidson College, a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1920 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte, NC. Ray joined the college in the summer of 2008 and oversees all aspects of the college’s $800+ million endowment. Prior to Davidson, he served as the first investment officer for the Golden LEAF Foundation, a nonprofit established to increase economic opportunities in North Carolina’s rural and tobacco-dependent communities. Mr. Jacobson began his endowment career in 2001 as an Investment Manager at DUMAC, the investment office for Duke University. Earlier in his career, he worked at Bloomberg Financial Markets in Princeton, NJ and interned at Brown Advisory in Baltimore, MD. He received an M.B.A. from Duke University, an M.S. from Clemson University, and a B.A. from Rutgers University. He is also a CFA charterholder and serves on the Board of the Woodlawn School and The Pines at Davidson. Ray lives in the town of Davidson with his wife and four children.
Munib Islam rejoined Third Point in 2011 after serving as an analyst and portfolio manager here from 2004‐2008. Munib is the Head of Equities Research and sits on our Risk Committee. From 2008‐2011, Mr. Islam worked at Highbridge Capital, where he was a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of Highbridge’s European Value Equities fund. Before coming to Third Point, Mr. Islam worked as an Associate at Oak Hill Capital and at Lazard LLC. He received a B.A. in Economics magna cum laude from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
Hans Humes is Founder, CEO and Co-Chief Investment Officer at New York City-based emerging markets credit specialist Greylock Capital Management LLC. Greylock, which Humes founded in 1995, focuses on emerging markets sovereign and corporate distressed debt, event-driven and high yield investing. Mr. Humes has more than 30 years of experience working in emerging markets. From 1991 to 1994, he was a key member of the Lehman Brothers emerging markets debt trading team, co-developing the desk and managing over $500 million in investments. Prior to that he traded a proprietary debt portfolio at Banco Santander and engineered several debt/debt and debt/equity swaps in Latin America. He began his career at Manufacturers Hanover, where he worked on the sovereign debt restructurings for the Philippines and Yugoslavia. Mr. Humes served on the Steering Committee of the Private Creditor-Investor Committee for Greece. He also served as the Co-Chairperson of the Global Committee of Argentine Bondholders (GCAB). Mr. Humes is currently co-chair of the Institute of International Finance’s (IIF) Committee of Sovereign Risk Management, a trustee of the IIF’s Principles Consultative Group (PCG) for the Principles for Stable Capital Flows and Fair Debt Restructuring in Emerging Markets, a member of the IIF Working Group on Reconciliation of Past Due Sovereign Debt and a member of the IIF Market Monitoring Group. He is a member of the World Policy Institute’s World Policy Council, a non-partisan source of global policy analysis that identifies critical emerging global issues. Mr. Humes also is on the board of directors of the MacDella Cooper Foundation, which provides care and schooling for Liberian orphans, and the Wendy Hilliard Gymnastic Foundation, which provides gymnastics training for inner city youth in Harlem. Mr. Humes is also on the board of trustees of the New York Theatre Workshop. Mr. Humes received his BA from Williams College in 1987. He has lived and studied in Nigeria, Morocco, Canada, Netherlands, Chile, Mexico, and Belgium and is fluent in Spanish.
Seema R. Hingorani is currently the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of SevenStep Capital, an opportunistic alternatives seeding platform that has a focus on investing in women and minority portfolio managers. Hingorani is also a Senior Advisor at Crestview Partners and an Advisory Group member at Walter Scott & Partners Limited. Hingorani served until June 30, 2014 as Chief Investment Officer for the New York City Retirement Systems which had assets of $160 billion. Previous to this appointment, Hingorani was Interim Chief Investment Officer and before that Head of Public Equities & Hedge Funds for the pension funds. Under her leadership, the pension fund was named Hedge Fund Manager of the Year – Large Public Pension Plans by Institutional Investor. Prior to Hingorani’s four years of public sector experience, she served as Global Director of Fundamental Research at Pyramis Global Advisors; a General Partner, Portfolio Manager and Senior Equity Analyst with hedge fund Andor Capital Management; a General Partner and Senior Equity Analyst at hedge fund Pequot Capital Management; Co-founder of hedge fund Mirador Capital Management; and an Equity Analyst with T. Rowe Price. Hingorani has worked with several organizations focused on issues concerning women and girls and is a prolific speaker on the topic of a more robust inclusion of women in the corporate sector. She was honored as the 2016 Woman with Impact by the Connecticut Women’s Business Development Council, Wall Street Women Entrepreneur of the Year in 2015 by Traders magazine and received the 2015 Women in Finance Achievement award from MarketsMedia for her work with Girls Who Invest. Hingorani served as a member of the National Finance Committee of Secretary Clinton’s 2016 Presidential Campaign. She is an active member of the Center for American Progress U.S. India Task Force, The Economic Club of New York and 100 Women in Finance. She also served for eight years as a member of the Board of Directors of Project Enterprise, a nonprofit microfinance organization dedicated to supporting and to developing entrepreneurs and small businesses (most of which were women and women-owned) in under-resourced communities in New York City. Hingorani earned her BA in Psychology/Philosophy from Yale College and her MBA in Finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Joanne Hill has over 25 years of experience in research and strategy with an emphasis on indexes, options and quantitative investments. Prior to joining CBOE Vest, Dr. Hill worked with ProShares for 8 years, as Head of Institutional Investment Strategy, focusing on ETF research and education, and spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs, where she was a Managing Director leading global equity index and derivatives research and advising institutional investors on strategies using index and risk management tools. A recognized leader in the financial industry, Dr. Hill is a recipient of the William F. Sharpe Indexing Lifetime Achievement Award and has published extensively on quantitative investment topics, index products, and derivatives. Dr. Hill is a co-author (along with Dave Nadig and Matt Hougan) of A Comprehensive Guide to Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) published by the CFA Institute Research Foundation. She heads the research committee for the “Q” Group and the CFA Institute Research Foundation where she is also a board member. She also serves on the editorial board of the Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Alternative Investments, and Journal of Index Investing. Money Management Executive named Dr. Hill one of the ten inaugural recipients of the Top Women in Asset Management Awards. She was a Founding Member and Co-President of Women in ETFs and currently serves on their board. She is a member of the Investment Committee of the Montgomery County Public School Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution pension plans. Prior to her career on Wall Street, Dr. Hill was on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) and she has a Ph.D. in Finance from Syracuse University.
Larissa Herczeg is a Managing Partner of Oak Street Real Estate Capital, LLC and a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Ms. Herczeg is responsible for all aspects of Oak Street’s Seeding & Strategic Capital business, including investment sourcing, due diligence, selection and portfolio management and reporting. Ms. Herczeg focuses on sourcing, due diligence, investment monitoring and serving on advisory boards for Oak Street’s SASC business. Select activities include co-founding Women in Real Estate, serving as a Trustee of Roosevelt University and a mentor for the Goldie B. Wolfe Miller Women Leader’s In Real Estate Initiative, a mentor for the Toigo Foundation and has served as a guest speaker at the University of California-Berkeley, Kellogg School of Management and the University of Notre Dame. Prior to Oak Street, Ms. Herczeg was responsible for global real estate investing at Morgan Creek Capital Management, Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors and the Credit Suisse Customized Fund Investment Group (now known as GCM Grosvenor). Ms. Herczeg received a B.A. with honors in Government and Economics from the University of Notre Dame, a Master’s degree with honors in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Juris Doctor degree with honors from Columbia University Law School.
Mike Hennessy is a Co-founder of Morgan Creek Capital Management, and serves as the Director of Investments. In this role, Mr. Hennessy provides oversight to the Private Investments Group, and acts as a Portfolio Strategist on portfolios beyond private investments, including work with Morgan Creek’s advisory clients and proprietary funds. Prior to joining Morgan Creek in 2004, Mr. Hennessy was Vice President and a founding member of UNC Management Company. Primary areas of responsibility included domestic equity, international and emerging markets equity, opportunistic equity, absolute return, fixed income, enhanced fixed income and private investments. Mr. Hennessy also assisted in developing overall investment objectives as well as strategic and tactical asset allocation for the funds. Mr. Hennessy was responsible for monitoring both public and private individual managers and overall portfolio performance, as well as risk management. Prior to joining UNC in 1999, Mr. Hennessy was an Investment Director at Duke Management Company (Duke University) where he assisted in the management of multi-billion portfolios across all asset classes of various University-related investment pools. Before joining Duke in 1991, Mr. Hennessy was an Associate at Amundi Smith Breeden Associates, a quantitative investment management firm based in Durham, NC. Mr. Hennessy received his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and he also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Philosophy, Psychology and Mathematics from the College of William and Mary. Mr. Hennessy is Treasurer of Duke University Federal Credit Union, a member of the Investment Committee at the Carolina Friends School, a director of the Morgan Creek Foundation, Emeritus Trustee of the College of William & Mary Foundation Board of Trustees, and former member of its Executive Committee and Investment Committee (immediate past Chair), and a Trustee of the Murray 1693 Scholars Foundation.
Chris Heller is a Partner and Co-Founder of Cordillera Investment Partners. Cordillera was founded in 2014 to invest exclusively in niche, non-correlated assets like water, international arbitration financing, music publishing royalties, wireless spectrum licenses and others. Prior to founding Cordillera, Chris was a Partner at Makena Capital where he was the Portfolio Manager of Makena’s liquid endowment funds, and was also a senior investment professional responsible for Makena’s Absolute Return portfolio. Prior to Makena, Chris worked at Stanford Management Company and prior thereto, at Merrill Lynch in investment banking and debt capital markets. Chris earned his BA from Vanderbilt University and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
David Gilmore joined The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation in 2014 to help build the investment office. The Foundation has $2.2 billion in assets and makes over $100 million in grants each year. David is responsible for the design and implementation of the Foundation’s asset allocation, investment manager selection and risk management. Prior to joining the Foundation, David served in several senior roles at The Ohio State University investment office which managed $3.5 billion. David was previously a partner at Gerber/Taylor Capital Advisors. 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.
Libby George is currently the Director of Investments at North Carolina State University and has over 25 years of experience in investment management, corporate, educational, and financial accounting. Prior to becoming Director of Investments, Ms. George was the Manager of Financial Reporting where she was responsible for the financial reporting, capital assets, cash management, debt, and taxes of North Carolina State University. Libby currently manages over $1.2 billion in short term, operating, charitable giving, traditional long-term endowment assets as well as long-term endowment assets invested in a socially responsible manner. Ms. George previously served on the State of North Carolina’s Supplemental Retirement Board of Trustees as appointed by Governor Beverly Perdue in July 2009 and was the Chair of the Investment Subcommittee of the Supplemental Retirement Board. Libby is involved in the community through her church in various capacities such as Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network and past chair of the Permanent Endowment Committee. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Auburn University and was an NCAA athlete in Swimming for the Auburn Tigers. She became a Certified Public Accountant in 1992.
Vanita W. Gaonkar is an Investment Officer with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, focused on Public Investments. Prior to joining the Foundation, Vanita was the Director of Research at Ehrenkranz Partners, L.P., where she was responsible for investments across asset classes, including fixed income, equities, hedge funds, private equity and real assets. Before joining Ehrenkranz Partners, L.P. she served as a Director in Alternative Investments at Credit Suisse, where she oversaw investments in long/short equity, event driven credit and emerging markets. Prior to Credit Suisse she worked as an analyst at The Blackstone Group and J.P. Morgan Chase. Ms. Gaonkar earned her B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.
Robert Durden is the CEO/CIO of University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO). He was previously a Senior Vice President and the Chief Investment Officer at Texas Children’s Hospital. Prior to joining Texas Children’s Hospital in March 2013, Robert was the Managing Director of Private Investments at Morgan Creek Capital Management. There he directed $4.5 billion of private investments across private equity, energy and natural resources, and real estate. Mr. Durden has also worked with Legg Mason/Western Asset Management, Ritchie Capital Management, and Merrill Lynch’s Middle Market M&A group. Robert received his MBA in finance and entrepreneurship, with honors, from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and his Bachelor of Arts in economics, magna cum laude, from Princeton University. Robert Durden primarily oversees the Texas Children’s Hospital Foundation and other investment assets, totaling approximately $2.7 billion.
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 of over $1.4 billion. 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 is married and the father of two boys. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Wells Fargo Global Alternative Investments, ASGI Agility Income Fund and the ASGI Corbin Multi-Strategy Fund, LLC. Jim also sits on the CAPTRUST Advisory Board, the North Carolina Investment Institute Editorial Committee, the CFA North Carolina Society’s Strategic Advisory Board, SEI Canada Independent Review Committee, Villanova President’s Advisory Council and serves as the Treasurer of James Denmark Loan Fund.
Mr. Doshi founded Harbor Spring in 2012. He is the Managing Partner of the firm and the Portfolio Manager of its Funds. He was previously a partner and Managing Director at Tiger Global Management, LLC, a multi-billion dollar investment firm managing global long/short and private investment funds, where he worked from 2008 to 2012 and during the summer of 2007. Mr. Doshi led select investments as a generalist across a variety of sectors, including technology, media and telecom; consumer and retail; business services; transaction processing; gaming and lodging; and healthcare services. He initiated and guided the firm’s distressed debt investment effort during the credit crisis of 2008-2009 and led many of the firm’s public market investments in India. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Doshi was an Associate at Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC, a multi-billion dollar private equity firm, where he served on the Communications industry team and executed transactions including a late-stage venture financing, Chapter 11 restructuring and large-scale leveraged buyout. From 2000 to 2002, he worked as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Communications, Media and Entertainment group at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he executed advisory assignments on transactions including acquisitions, equity investments and equity and debt financings. Mr. Doshi graduated from a joint degree program at Harvard University in which he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from Harvard Law School in 2008. He earned an AB with Honors in Economics from Harvard University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2000.
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.
Anthony is Head of Alternative Investments where his portfolio of clients includes fund of funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, hedge funds and commodity pools. His experience in the area of capital markets includes audit and accounting services involving a wide variety of financial derivative products and complex investment vehicles. Anthony is a member of KPMG’s Global Alternative Investments Leadership Team and KPMG’s European Council for Investment Management. In his role as Head of Alternative Investments, his responsibilities include strategic planning, thought leadership and business development.
Michael (Mike) A. Condon, CFA is Senior Vice President of Institutional Investments at Fund Evaluation Group, LLC (FEG). Condon works with Endowment and Foundation (E&F) clients within FEG’s outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) service. A long-time thought leader within the E&F space, Condon brings more than 20 years of experience as an acting CIO. Most recently as CIO at Southern Methodist University, he led a 15-person office and was responsible for all aspects of investing the university’s $1.5 billion endowment. As CIO for the University of Arkansas Foundation, Condon oversaw a $1.1 billion endowment. During his 10-year tenure at Georgia Tech, the foundation endowment grew from $440 million to $1.5 billion. Additionally, Condon is on the Editorial Committee for The Investment Institute, and on advisory Boards for Institutional Investor and Alternative Investment Management, LLC.
Ms. Cantrill is managing director and the head of public policy for PIMCO. In this capacity, she helps coordinate the firm’s response to public policy issues and analyzes policy and political events for the firm’s Investment Committee. She is also a member of the firm’s Americas Portfolio Committee. Additionally, she is the co-head of PIMCO’s New York Office and is a founding member of PIMCO Parents, an initiative focused on supporting parents and families at PIMCO, and PIMCO Women, whose mission is to attract, retain, and develop women at PIMCO. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2007, she served as a legislative aide to a member of Congress, where she focused on fiscal and economic policy, and she also worked in the investment banking division at Morgan Stanley. She has 14 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and received her undergraduate degree in economics from Brown University. She is a CFA charterholder.
Mary L. Cahill was previously the Vice President of Investments and Chief Investment Officer of Emory University overseeing investments of all endowment, trust, operating, and employee benefit funds of the University and related medical facilities. Prior to joining Emory, Ms. Cahill was Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Xerox Corporation. Ms. Cahill has 30 years of investment experience, with prior positions including the Virginia Retirement System, SmithKline, BellSouth and Merck pension plans. Mary has overseen internal equity portfolios, invested fixed income and futures portfolios, developed performance measurement systems, and designed investment options. Mary has served as President of Pension Group East, President of Pension 21, an executive member of the Financial Executive Institute’s Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Assets, and a member of the NYSE Pension Managers Advisory Committee. Currently, she serves as a board member of the Emory Center for Alternative Investments, The Institute For Quantitative Research in Finance, The Woodruff Arts Center, and the Robert Toigo Foundation. Mary is an advisor to the Zeist Foundation, a member of the NCAA Investment Committee, and a member of the Economic Club of New York. Mary has an MBA specializing in Finance from St. John’s University and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Chris Burniske is a partner at Placeholder, a venture capital firm based in New York City that invests in decentralized information networks. Prior to Placeholder, he pioneered ARK Invest’s crypto efforts, leading the firm to become the first public fund manager to invest in bitcoin in 2015, and co-authored the best-selling book, Cryptoassets. His commentary has been featured in national media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Bloomberg and Fortune. Chris graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BS from Stanford and can be found on Twitter @cburniske.
Mr. Burke is a Partner of the firm and serves as Chief Client Officer. In this role, Mr. Burke leads the Client Solutions team globally and is additionally responsible for external communications and branding. Mr. Burke is a member of the Client Portfolio Advisory Committee, which includes the CIO and other key members of the Investment Committee and is designed to ensure greater connectivity and communications between the Investment Committee and the firm’s clients. Prior to joining the firm in 2011, Mr. Burke served as the Head of Strategic Initiatives at Arrowhawk Capital Partners from 2009 to 2011, leading all marketing and client development initiatives. Prior to Arrowhawk, Mr. Burke worked as the Head of Client Product Services for DEPFA Bank leading client and proprietary municipal and tax-exempt derivatives, tender option bond, municipal reinvestments and public pension coverage businesses. In 2004, Mr. Burke was a volunteer and member of the National Finance Committee for Bush-Cheney ‘04. In 2003, Mr. Burke founded Silverhurst Group LLC; acting as full-time outsourced corporate finance and COO for a single-family office. Prior to Silverhurst, Mr. Burke was a Vice President in Debt Capital Markets at Merrill Lynch originating cash and derivatives transactions across the capital structure for clients in EMEA and the US, focusing on emerging markets and financial institutions. Mr. Burke serves on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association. He received a B.S. in Management from Binghamton University (1992).
Greg Brown is a professor of finance and director of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. He also is the founder and research director of the Institute for Private Capital. His research centers on financial risk and the use of financial derivative contracts, such as risk management tools. He also studies private investment strategies, including hedge funds and private equity. Dr. Brown’s research has been published in leading academic and practitioner finance journals, including The Journal of Finance, The Journal of Financial Economics, The Review of Financial Studies, The Journal of Derivatives and The Financial Analyst Journal. Dr. Brown is also managing director and director of research for Amundi Smith Breeden Associates, a global asset management firm specializing in fixed income investments. He has served as a consultant on financial risk and portfolio management for money management firms, the U.S. government and Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining UNC Kenan-Flagler, he worked at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in the Division of Research and Statistics. He also worked in artist relations for a subsidiary of Capitol Records in Hollywood. He received his PhD in finance from the University of Texas at Austin and his BS with honors in physics and economics from Duke University.
Mr. East is the Chief Executive Officer of American Assets Capital Advisers (AACA), an investment manager specializing in real estate securities. He has over 30 years of experience on Wall Street as a sell-side securities analyst and investment banker. While at Wachovia Securities and its predecessor companies, hestarted and ran the real estate investment banking platform, managing numerous teams of securities analysts and investment bankers and raising approximately $15 billion in capital (mostly equity) from sophisticated investors globally over three cycles in 142 large-scale real estate transactions including 26 initial public offerings, 40 follow-on offerings and 19 private equity transactions, as well as numerous converts, preferred stock and bond offerings, tenders, mergers, strategic advisory assignments and mezzanine debt placements.
Mr. East has lectured at University of Southern California (USC) Marshal School of Business, Kellogg School at Northwestern, University of San Diego, and University of Wisconsin. In addition, Mr. East has authored approximately 20,000 pages of widely distributed research on real estate securities, including numerous articles for major publications like Barron’s. Mr. Eastserves on Ernst & Young’s Audit Committee Network and the Board of Communidad Realty, a developer/owner or workforce housing. He previously served on the Board of Directors for Excel Trust, Inc., the Associate Board of Governors for NAREIT, the USC Lusk Center Board and the Board of Senior Resource Group, a developer/owner of assisted living facilities.
Mr. East has spoken at over 250 large real estate industry events in the United States, Europe and Asia, and has co-chaired events like NAREIT’s Annual Convention. Mr. East has been frequently interviewed in the financial press and on television. Mr. East was honored by Dow Jones/Realty Stock Review as an Outstanding Sell Side Analyst, Honorable Mention, in 1996, 1997 and 1998. RAAIX, the fund Mr. East Manages was Hedge Fund Magazine’s Hedge Fund of the Year in 2016 and is consistently ranked in the top 1% of real estate funds.
Mr. East has an MBA from Loyola College, Baltimore, Maryland and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
David Brief is a leading expert in non-profit management with over 25 years of investment experience. David established the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago Investment Office in 2002. Under his leadership as Chief Investment Officer, the endowment portfolio evolved from a $350 million internal investment program into a $1.1 billion pool that invested assets belonging to several dozen other non-profits. David has also been a leader in educating non profits on the merits of outsourced investment management. Earlier in his career, David spent eleven years as an investment consultant for three Chicago-based firms: Ibbotson Associates (now part of Morningstar Inc.), Ennis Knupp + Associates (now part of Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting, Inc.), and Capital Resource Advisors (now part of Segal Marco Advisors). Born and raised in New Jersey, David earned a BA degree in Economics from Cornell University, an MBA degree with honors from the University of Chicago, and is a CFA® Charterholder.
Nolan Bean joined Fund Evaluation Group (FEG) in 2004 and is one of 15 managing principals. His primary focus is working with some of the firm’s largest consulting clients. In addition, Nolan oversees the firm’s overall institutional investment strategy. As part of this role, he sits on the firm’s Investment Policy Committee, which sets strategic vision, approves capital market assumptions, and approves managers for inclusion in FEG’s recommended list. Nolan is also a member of FEG’s Investment Advisory Committee, which helps align client interests with the firm’s discretionary portfolio management team through dynamic feedback and advice. Nolan was named one of the world’s 10 most influential investment consultants of 2016 by Chief Investment Officer magazine through the Knowledge Broker award. He has an MBA in Finance and Quantitative Analysis from the University of Cincinnati and a BSBA in Finance from Georgetown College.