Annual Diverse and Emerging Managers Investment Conference

Alison Hirsh

Assistant Comptroller for Pensions and Chief Strategy Officer

Alison Hirsh joined the Office of the Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management in January 2022 and serves as the Assistant Comptroller for Pensions and Chief Strategy Officer. In this role, she serves as the Comptroller's representative to NYC's five pension funds and leads the Comptroller's office's labor policy initiatives.

Prior to BAM, Ms. Hirsh served as Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives for Mayor Bill de Blasio and Senior Advisor to Maya Wiley’s campaign for Mayor. Before that, she spent 12 years at 32BJ SEIU, most recently as Vice President and Political Director. She led and organized campaigns up and down the East Coast including the Fight for $15, Airport Workers organizing, Fair Workweek legislation and prevailing wage protections. Ms. Hirsh formerly served as Policy & Legislative Director for the New York League of Conservation Voters, and Chief of Staff in the New York State Assembly.

Ms. Hirsh holds a degree in Religion from Columbia University. She sits on the board of CoroNYC, a civic engagement and leadership organization in NYC.

John Adler

Chief ESG Officer

John Adler joined the Office of the New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management as the Chief ESG Officer in January 2022. In this role, he is responsible for the Office of ESG that knits together previously separated areas of work as well as engages in new initiatives concerning environmental, social and governance impact on the companies in which the pension funds invest. The areas of work include corporate governance; Economically Targeted Investments; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; climate change; workers’ rights; and integration of ESG throughout the investment process.

Prior to BAM, Mr. Adler served as the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Pensions and Investments and Chief Pension Investment Advisor under Mayor Bill de Blasio, where he was responsible for advising the Mayor’s trustees on the five New York City retirement system boards and on the New York City Deferred Compensation Plan Board on all relevant investment issues that impacted the portfolios.

He previously spent 23 years in the labor movement, most recently as the Director of the Retirement Security Campaign at SEIU, where he managed all aspects of SEIU’s retirement security program, including public pension funds, Taft-Hartley pensions, Social Security, and private sector plans. He ran state campaigns to create state-sponsored retirement plans for workers without access to plans, and co-founded the Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives.
Mr. Adler received his B.A. from Yale University.

Kate Visconti

Chief of Staff, Bureau of Asset Management

Eneasz Kądziela

Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of Private Equity

Eneasz Kądziela serves as Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Hed of Private Equity for the Office of the New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management. He served as an Investment Officer in the Private Equity Group in March 2015; two years later he was promoted to Senior Investment Officer. In this role, he assisted in making private equity investment recommendations and advising on the private equity portfolio. In 2021, he was appointed as Head of Private Equity to oversee the private equity portfolio for the five New York City retirement systems.

Prior to BAM, Mr. Kądziela was the Director of Research and Fund Relations at the Small Business Investor Alliance (SBIA), a trade association of lower middle market private equity funds and institutional investors.

Prior to joining SBIA, he was a sell-side Equity Research Associate at Cross Research Group, a boutique research firm focused on the technology sector.

Mr. Kądziela received a BA in Economics from Rutgers University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation.

Petya Nikolova

Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of Infrastructure

Petya Nikolova is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of Infrastructure Investments for the New York City Comptroller’s Office where she contributes to the investment strategy and management of the $247 billion pension plans. She leads the infrastructure investment team, focusing on new investments and portfolio construction.

Before joining the Comptroller’s office, Ms. Nikolova was a Director with WestLB, where she originated and structured infrastructure deals in the Americas. Prior to that, Petya held various capital market roles with Bank of Ireland and MBIA.

Ms. Nikolova holds an MPA from Syracuse University and an MA/BA in Economics from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria.

John Merseburg

Head of Public Equity

John Merseburg joined the Office of the New York City Comptroller in 1989 and held various positions over a 32-year tenure. He joined the Bureau of Asset Management (BAM) in 2002 and worked in BAM’s Fixed Income Group before moving to the Public Equity Group. In 2014, he was promoted to Head of Public Equity to oversee the external management of the public equity portfolio for the five New York City retirement systems.

Mr. Merseburg received a BA in Government and Politics and an MBA in Finance from St. John’s University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) designation, is a member of the CFA Institute and a member of the CFA Society New York.

Robert Feng

Head of Public Fixed Income

Robert Feng joined the Office of New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management as a Senior Investment Officer in the Fixed Income Group in November 2012. In this role, he was responsible for oversight and due diligence of all Fixed Income Managers, with primary responsibility for the Core Fixed Income Managers. In 2018, he was promoted to Head of Public Fixed Income to oversee the external management of the public fixed income portfolio for the five New York City retirement systems. As Head of Public Fixed Income, he is responsible for monitoring trading performance, following national/global economic conditions, analyzing the effectiveness of different asset allocations and making recommendations to the Systems. Mr. Feng also oversees the Trading Division, which is responsible for investing New York City’s cash in short-term financial instruments.

Prior to BAM, Mr. Feng worked as a full-time trader and portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein, where he handled $140 billion in assets.

Mr. Feng received his B.A. from the University of Michigan.

John Gluszak

Head of Real Estate

John Gluszak joined the Office of New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management as a Senior Investment Officer in the Real Estate Group in September 2015. In this role, he assisted in making real estate investment recommendations and advising on the real estate portfolio. In 2023, he was appointed Head of Real Estate after serving as Acting Head of Real Estate to oversee the real estate portfolio for the five New York City retirement systems since 2021. Prior to BAM, Mr. Gluszak served as a Director at RBC Capital Markets where he was responsible for pricing, hedging, structuring, and securitizing all of the U.S. Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities loans and products.

Prior to joining RBC Capital Markets, he served as a Director for Merrill Lynch, where he served multiple roles, and was most recently responsible for North American third party issuance CMBS deals. Mr. Gluszak received both his B.S in Accounting and MBA in Finance from St. John’s University with over 30 years’ experience in the commercial real estate industry. Additionally, he has served as an expert witness for lending institutions and has been published in a textbook on strategic planning.

Tina Suo

Head of Alternative Credit

Tina Suo joined the Office of the Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management as a Senior Investment Officer in the Alternative Credit Group in August 2019. In this role, she assisted in making investment recommendations and advising on the alternative credit portfolio consisting of public and private non-traditional credit-oriented investments that include below-investment-grade debt. In May 2022, she was promoted to Head of Alternative Credit to oversee the alternative credit portfolio for the five New York City Retirement Systems.

Prior to BAM, Ms. Suo served as Senior Director of Fixed Income Investments at New York Life Investment Management.

Prior to joining New York Life, Ms. Suo was Director of Fixed Income and Hedge Funds Investments at Fiduciary Research & Consulting LLC. Prior to this position, she held roles in risk management, trading, and portfolio management at sell-side and buy-side firms.

Ms. Suo received her M.B.A. degree from London Business School and B.S. degree in Information and Decision Sciences from University of Science and Technology of China.

Neil Messing

Head of Hedge Funds

Neil Messing joined the Office of the New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management as a Senior Investment Officer in the Hedge Fund Group in January 2011. In this role, he was responsible for building, managing and monitoring more than $3 billion in hedge fund investments. In 2014, he was promoted to Head of Hedge Funds to oversee the hedge fund portfolio for the New York City retirement systems.

Prior to BAM, Mr. Messing was a part of the hedge fund manager due diligence team for the US investment arm of Unigestion, a global alternatives investment firm.

Prior to joining Unigestion, he served as a Hedge Fund Analyst for Glenwood Capital Investments, a pioneer in the hedge fund of funds industry.

Mr. Messing received a B.S. in Finance from the University of Arizona.

Ed Berman

Chief Risk Officer

Ed Berman joined the Office of the Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management as the Chief Risk Officer in May 2022. In this role, he is responsible for oversight of the investment portfolios and implementation of the Risk Management framework. As a member of the investment and rebalancing committees, he is actively engaged in all asset allocation decisions and portfolio rebalancing. Ed and his team provide active support for the manager research function focusing on the investment process and risk management functions. He is responsible for the proper capture and reporting of the risks and communicating the risk exposures to the respective Boards.

Mr. Berman has more than 25 years of experience specializing in building market risk oversight for complex portfolios at asset managers, hedge funds, and sell-side institutions.

Prior to BAM, he provided advisory services to institutional asset managers and owners focusing on investment risk management. He worked independently and in a partnership with Deloitte, working on projects advising on risk framework, governance, and integrating risk into the investment process.

Prior to that, Mr. Berman served as a Global Head of Investment Oversight responsible for Multi-Asset and Quantitative strategies at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. As a lead for the first line of defense, he was tasked with building an in-business oversight team for the multi-asset portfolios blending private and public equity, credit, rates, commodities, and real assets. Working in a global environment, he supported regulators and clients in the U.S. and EMEA, including communications with regional Fund Boards (40 Act and UCITS). He focused on building a risk framework consistent with the investment process, aligning the risk profile with the client’s objectives, and working with the investment teams to construct tools for asset allocation and portfolio management.

Prior to joining J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Mr. Berman participated in the launch and served as a CRO of a start-up broker/dealer company C&Co/PrinceRidge Holdings LLC. His previous engagements spanned a spectrum of risk roles between major investment banks and hedge funds. He started his career on the quantitative side, modeling fixed-income products at Bear Stearns.

Mr. Berman holds a Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry from Boston University and an MBA degree in Finance and Statistics from NYU’s Stern Business School.

Shachi Bhatt

Chief Compliance Officer

As the Chief Compliance Officer in the Office of the New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management, Shachi Bhatt is responsible for identifying and implementing policies and systems to assess and monitor regulatory compliance within the Bureau as well as with the New York City retirement systems’ external managers and consultants on a range of issues relevant to the financial services industry. Ms. Bhatt ensures that investments comply with State and Federal law, the Systems’ investment guidelines and the asset allocation decisions made by the Systems’ and related funds’ Trustees.

Prior to joining the Office of the Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management in 2015, Ms. Bhatt served in compliance roles at wealth advisory and asset management firms. There she helped manage the firms’ compliance and risk management programs, including assembling regulatory filings, fulfilling all domestic and foreign registration requirements, staff training, overseeing the Business Continuity Plan and enhancing all policies and procedures.

Ms. Bhatt received her B.S. from the University at Albany and a M.S. from Boston University.

Patricia Miller Zollar

Managing Director, Neuberger Berman

Panelist: Private Equity - The LP/GP Dance: How to Build Trust & Raise a Fund

Patricia Miller Zollar is a Managing Director of Neuberger Berman and a leader of the Firm’s Private Investment Portfolios practice. She is a member of the Co-Investment and Private Investment Portfolios Investment Committees. Additionally, Ms. Zollar sits on the Limited Partner Advisory Boards of a number of funds.

Before rejoining Neuberger Berman in 2004, Ms. Zollar was a vice president in the Asset Management Division of Goldman Sachs. Ms. Zollar began her career as a Certified Public Accountant in the Audit Division of Deloitte & Touche.

She received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BS, with highest distinction, from North Carolina A&T State University, where she is Chairperson Emeritus of the Board of Trustees and the recipient of an honorary Doctorate degree.

Ms. Zollar is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, the Harvard Business School Alumni Board and was a former member of the executive board of the National Association of Investment Companies. She serves as Vice Chairman of The Apollo Theater and a member of the Investment Committee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Board of Trustees and the Neuberger Berman Foundation Board of Trustees.

Jonathan Lesser

Senior Investment Officer, Private Equity, Office of the New York City Comptroller

Panelist: Private Equity - The LP/GP Dance: How to Build Trust & Raise a Fund

Jonathan Lesser serves as Senior Investment Officer, Private Equity at the Bureau of Asset Management. Jonathan helps to lead the management, oversight, and expansion of the NYC Retirement Systems’ private equity portfolio.

Jonathan has held several roles in the private and public sectors, working across many investment functions. Previously, Jonathan was a member of the real estate investments team at the Bureau of Asset Management. Prior to that, Jonathan was the Director of Investments at EquityMultiple, a leading online real estate investing platform for high-net worth investors and family offices. Before EquityMultiple, Jonathan was a hotel appraiser focused on valuation and feasibility studies of large-scale mixed-use, resort, and lodging assets.

Jonathan received his B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.

David Perez

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Avance Investment Management

Panelist: Private Equity - The LP/GP Dance: How to Build Trust & Raise a Fund

David Perez is a Co-founder and a Managing Partner of Avance Investment Management, LLC. Prior to founding Avance, Mr. Perez was the President and COO of Palladium Equity Partners.

Prior to Palladium, Mr. Perez had several senior private equity roles, including Principal of General Atlantic Partners and Atlas Venture and Senior Associate of Chase Capital Partners. Mr. Perez started his career with James D. Wolfensohn and Co, focused on mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Perez earned his B.S. in Systems Engineering from Dresden University of Technology, a M. Eng. in Engineering Management from Cornell University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Mr. Perez is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Co-Chair of the Harvard University Cuba Studies Advisory Group, President of the Board of Trustees of the Trinity School in New York City, and a longstanding board member and former President of the Board of Ballet Hispánico. He also served as Chairman of the Board of the NAIC.

Mr. Perez lives in New York with his wife and three children.

Stephanie Geveda

Founding and Managing Partner, Coalesece Capital

Panelist: Private Equity - The LP/GP Dance: How to Build Trust & Raise a Fund

Stephanie is the Founding and Managing Partner of Coalesce Capital. She has over 22 years of investment experience, the vast majority of which were focused on investing and building pioneering services companies that use technology to empower human capital. Prior to forming Coalesce, she spent over 12 years at Warburg Pincus, most recently as Head of the Business Services Group, leading a team of 22 professionals dedicated to investing in human capital and technology-enabled Business Services companies behind a strategy that she developed and refined over the past decade.

Stephanie believes that human capital is the most important driver of company success, especially in the services sector, and has always taken an executive-led approach to her investing by partnering with incredibly talented executive teams. She also believes that digital innovation will continue to play an increasing role in transforming traditional human capital businesses.

During her time at Warburg, Stephanie was involved in Warburg’s investments in ARAMARK, GrubHub/Seamlessweb, Electronic Funds Source, WEX, Endurance International Group, Sotera Health, Hygiena, Labstat International/Certified Sciences, Arise Virtual Solutions, GA Foods, Sweeping Corporation of America, FlexXray, SPINs, A-LIGN, and TRC. She previously served on the boards of Electronic Funds Source, Sotera Health, Hygiena, Certified Sciences, Arise Virtual Solutions, GA Foods, Sweeping Corporation of America, FlexXray, SPINs, A-LIGN, and TRC.

Throughout her 20+ year career in private equity, Stephanie has been involved in more than $30 billion of private equity transactions and has garnered extensive experience in structured investments, including take-privates, corporate carve-outs and growth equity financings. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus in 2010, she worked as an investment professional at Silver Lake Partners, Fox Paine & Company and CCMP (formerly, J.P. Morgan Partners). She began her career working in Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division, where she advised companies on mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring transactions.

Stephanie attended the University of Notre Dame, where she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in finance and economics. She received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, graduating as a George F. Baker Scholar, the school's highest academic designation.

Stephanie lives in Rye, New York with her husband and four children.

Ermias Nessibu, CPA

Principal, Real Estate Investments, GCM Grosvenor

Panelist: Real Estate - What It Takes: How to sustain and grow an Emerging Manager business in the face of market uncertainty

Mr. Nessibu is involved in all aspects of the firm’s real estate practice, including deal sourcing, structuring, due diligence, asset management, and managing client relationships. He has previously worked with owner-operators where he was responsible for executing real estate debt and equity investments in the residential, office, retail, and hospitality sectors across North America.

Prior to joining GCM Grosvenor, Mr. Nessibu worked as an Associate for Pathway Capital Management where he led new deal execution, conducting due diligence on and recommending private equity investment opportunities across various strategies. Prior to that, he was an investment banker with KPMG Corporate Finance where he advised middle-market clients on mergers and acquisitions within the business services group.

Mr. Nessibu received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting magna cum laude from Old Dominion University and his Master of Business Administration in Real Estate from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Neville Rhone

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Arc Capital Partners

Panelist: Real Estate - What It Takes: How to sustain and grow an Emerging Manager business in the face of market uncertainty

Neville is a 27-year veteran of real estate development, finance, and investing with over $6.4 billion of transaction experience. Prior to forming Arc Capital Partners, Neville was a Managing Director and investment committee member of Canyon Partners Real Estate, which formed $3.0 billion of investment funds with Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Prior to Canyon, Neville led Texas acquisitions and invested in over $1 billion of real estate. Prior to Canyon, Neville was a Vice President at Morgan Stanley focused on investment banking and real estate. Earlier in his career, Neville was a senior development executive with Tishman Realty Corporation in New York City.

Jennifer McElyea

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Ethos Real Estate

Panelist: Real Estate - What It Takes: How to sustain and grow an Emerging Manager business in the face of market uncertainty

Jennifer is a Managing Partner with Ethos Real Estate and is responsible for investment strategy and execution. Jennifer’s career includes investment banking, private equity, distressed debt and public-private partnership experience. She also brings to Ethos a deep expertise in California public policy, land use, affordable housing and building political, community and financial stakeholder consensus.

Jennifer holds a Master of Real Estate Development from the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and German Literature from the University of Virginia. Jennifer is active in a number of leadership positions including Vice Chair of the ULI Public Private Partnership Council, Co-Chair of the LA Business Council Housing and Transportation Committee and member of the board of Coro Southern California and Mercy Housing California. Jennifer was also recently re-appointed by the California State Insurance Commissioner to serve as Vice Chair of the California Organized Investment Network (COIN) Advisory Board as an expert practitioner in the affordable housing space.

Eric Freeman

Founding and Managing Partner, Grandview Partners

Panelist: Real Estate - What It Takes: How to sustain and grow an Emerging Manager business in the face of market uncertainty

Eric is a Managing/Founding Partner of Grandview Partners. Prior to Grandview and through Dec 2018, Eric served as a Managing Director in the Acquisitions Group at Greenfield which he joined in 2004. Eric's responsibilities included underwriting and analysis of potential real estate investments as well as management of new and existing operating partner relationships. Eric was a member of Greenfield’s investment committee. Prior to joining Greenfield, Eric was an Investment Banking Analyst at Citigroup, Inc. in both the Mergers and Acquisitions and Real Estate and Lodging groups. At Citigroup, Eric's responsibilities included providing financial advisory and merger analysis for office, industrial, lodging, and multi-family real estate investment trusts (REITs). Eric earned a B.S. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Melissa Ding

Director, Infrastructure Private Equity, BlackRock

Panelist: Infrstructure - Unlocking Investment Potential: Emerging Managers and trends in infrastructure

Melissa is the lead investment professional for the Americas for BlackRock Infrastructure Solutions. In her role, Melissa is responsible for originating, underwriting, executing, and monitoring infrastructure private equity primary, secondary, and direct investment opportunities in the Americas region.

Prior to her current position, Melissa was a member of BlackRock's Corporate Strategy & Development group where she was responsible for identifying, analyzing, and prosecuting mergers & acquisitions and other strategic initiatives for the firm. Melissa started her career as an Investment Associate at Harding Loevner, a global fundamental equity manager.

Melissa earned an undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Princeton University in Public and International Affairs.

Winnie Wutte

Founding Partner, Asterion Industrial Partners

Panelist: Infrstructure - Unlocking Investment Potential: Emerging Managers and trends in infrastructure

Winnie is a Founding Partner and member of the Investment Committee at Asterion Industrial Partners. She has over 20 years of experience in the financial sector and infrastructure. Prior to founding AIP, Winnie was a Director at KKR Client & Partner Group Europe, where she spent close to 10 years. She was the product specialist for Infrastructure & Private Equity in Europe, responsible for the strategic positioning of the funds as well as helping to drive the co-investment process for the specific deals. She also oversaw the capital raising efforts in several European markets across the entire KKR product range with specific focus on Private Equity and Infrastructure. Formerly Winnie worked for JP Morgan as a Telecoms Analyst and in Specialist Sales for European Equities, covering the pan-European Telecoms universe. Winnie held her studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Alfredo Marti

Co-Founder and Partner, Sandbrook

Panelist: Infrstructure - Unlocking Investment Potential: Emerging Managers and trends in infrastructure

Alfredo co-chairs Sandbrook’s Executive Committee and is a member of the Investment, Performance & Growth, Valuation and Climate Impact & ESG Committees.

Prior to co-founding Sandbrook, he was a partner of Riverstone, a leading energy-focused private equity firm. At Riverstone, Alfredo served as Co-Head of Global Power & Renewables and Co-Head of Latin America, and was a member of the firm’s ESG committee and of several fund investment and technical committees. He also served in multiple boards of directors, including Pattern Energy, Forsa, Empower and Sierra. Prior to Riverstone, Alfredo held numerous leadership positions over a decade at BP, one of the world’s largest energy companies. He was also a professor of finance and entrepreneurship at UCAB, his homeland’s leading university for finance and economics. He has an MBA from Stanford University, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar (top 10% of the class).

Ying Lin

Vice President, StepStone

Panelist: Infrstructure - Unlocking Investment Potential: Emerging Managers and trends in infrastructure

Ms. Lin is a member of the infrastructure and real assets team. She is also involved in the Firm’s diversity and inclusion initiative.

Prior to StepStone, Ms. Lin was a portfolio analyst in AMP Capital’s Global Fixed Income team for corporate bond portfolios of over A$13bn in funds under management for retail and institutional investors.

Ms. Lin received a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney.

Brent Hicks

Managing Director, Global Head of Equity Trading & Futures, BlackRock

Panelist: Brokerage

J. Brent Hicks, Managing Director, is the Global Head of Equity Trading and Futures for BlackRock. He is responsible for managing equity, equity derivatives, and cross-asset futures execution across all investment strategies worldwide. Mr. Hicks's service with the firm dates back to 2005, including his years with Barclays Global Investors(BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Before relocating to New York, Mr. Hicks managed the Index, iShares, and Transition equity trading team in San Francisco, and began his BGI career as a Small and Mid-Cap Equity Trader covering Scientific Active Equity funds. Prior to BGI, Mr. Hicks was a partner with Blue River Capital Management, a hedge fund specializing in international equity arbitrage. He has also worked as a Lead Market Maker on the options floor of the Pacific Exchange. Mr. Hicks holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tennessee, and a M.S. in Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research from Stanford University.

Daniel Hyman

Managing Director, PIMCO

Panelist: Brokerage

Mr. Hyman is a managing director and leads the agency mortgage portfolio management team in the Newport Beach office. He is the lead portfolio manager on PIMCO's Ginnie Mae and Mortgage Opportunities strategies.

Mr. Hyman and team have been recognized by Lipper for their long-term performance on both of these flagship mortgage strategies.

Prior to joining PIMCO in 2008, Mr. Hyman was a vice president at Credit Suisse, where he traded agency pass-throughs. He has 21 years of investment experience and holds an undergraduate degree from Lehigh University.

Michael Grogan

Co-head of U.S. Fixed Income Trading, Global Trading, T. Rowe Price

Panelist: Brokerage

Michael Grogan is the co-head of U.S. Fixed Income Trading in Global Trading. He is responsible for the Investment-Grade Corporates, Securitized, Rates, and Municipal trading desks. Michael is a vice president and member of the Investment Advisory Committee for the US Investment Grade Corporate Bond Strategy and an Investment Advisory Committee member for the US Long Duration Credit Strategy. He also is a member of the Global Fixed Income Brokerage and Trading Control, Global Trading, and Valuation Committees. Michael is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.

Michael’s investment experience began in 1998 when he joined T. Rowe Price, beginning in the Fixed Income Division as a foreign exchange and rates trader. In 2006, he started trading investment-grade corporates and progressed to his current role in 2016.

Michael earned a B.S. in finance from Towson University and an M.S. in finance from Loyola University Maryland. Michael also has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

Brian Rubin

Co-head of U.S. Fixed Income Trading, Global Trading, T. Rowe Price

Panelist: Brokerage

Brian Rubin is the co-head of U.S. Fixed Income Trading in the Global Trading department. He is responsible for the bank debt, emerging markets, and high yield trading desks. Brian is a vice president and member of the Investment Advisory Committee of the High Yield Bond Strategy and a vice president of the Institutional Income Funds, Inc., and the Multi-Sector Account Portfolios, Inc. He also is chairman of the Global Fixed Income Brokerage and Trading Control Committee and a member of the Global Trading and Liquidity Committees. Brian is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and T. Rowe Price Trust Company.

Brian’s investment experience began in 2001, and he has been with T. Rowe Price since 1997, beginning in the Corporate Actions/Pricing department. Before assuming his current role in 2016, he was a trading assistant and then a high yield trader in the Fixed Income Trading department.

Brian earned a B.S. in accounting from the University of Delaware and an M.B.A. in finance from Johns Hopkins University. Brian is a certified public accountant.

Lawrence P. Bancroft

President & Chief Executive Officer, Bivium Capital Partners

Panelist: Public Equity & Fixed Income - Public Markets: What's on the Horizon

Lawrence is a founding partner of Bivium Capital Partners. He is responsible for the overall direction of the firm, including managing the investment process, driving new business development and developing innovative service offerings. Lawrence has over 25 years of investment experience. His responsibilities also include investment research, client servicing, product development, portfolio construction, as well as manager search and due diligence.

Prior to founding Bivium, Lawrence was employed at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York in the Investment Management Division. He was one of the first members of Goldman Sachs' external manager selection team and was involved in all aspects of the development of the group's fund of funds business. Lawrence worked on a number of the firm’s outsourced CIO client portfolios. Lawrence also spent of portion of his time evaluating diverse owned investment companies as part of the firms’ Urban Investment Group for allocation of Goldman Sachs & Co. capital.

Currently Lawrence serves on the boards of Marin Community Foundation, Buck Family Fund, Green Book Ventures, Beacon Rose Partners, Xprize Racial Equity Alliance Brain Trust, and Virginia Union University. Lawrence attended Cornell University where he received his BS from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and his MPA from Cornell University School of Public Affairs. Lawrence has been with the firm since 2003.

Bud Pellecchia

Senior Vice President, Callan

Panelist: Public Equity & Fixed Income - Public Markets: What's on the Horizon

Anthony “Bud” Pellecchia is a senior vice president in Callan’s New Jersey consulting office. Bud rejoined Callan in 2009 after two years as executive vice president and chief trust officer of Amalgamated Bank of New York. While at Amalgamated Bank, Bud had overall responsibility for the bank’s institutional asset management & custody department. He served on the bank’s Private Equity Investment Committee and was the chair of the bank’s 401(K) plan investment committee. Bud is a member of Callan’s Client Policy Review Committee and is a shareholder of the firm.

From 1999 to mid-2007, Bud was a senior consultant in the New Jersey office. He worked with a diverse group of clients, which included public and corporate plans as well as several endowments in the Northeast. Prior to Callan, Bud spent 12 years with Prudential Investments in a number of sales and management roles within their asset management and consulting divisions. Bud is a graduate of Hamilton College with a BA in economics.

Russell Elliott

Head of Asset Management Market Intelligence, Nasdaq eVestment

Panelist: Public Equity & Fixed Income - Public Markets: What's on the Horizon

Russell Elliott is a Head of Asset Management Market Intelligence at Nasdaq eVestment. He joined Nasdaq in April 2016 from Amundi Smith Breeden, where he served as Vice President of Consultant Relations. Prior to Amundi Smith Breeden, he worked in similar roles with TIAA-CREF Asset Management and Wells Fargo Asset Management in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Russell began his investment industry career in 2006.

He attended The University of the West of England, where he gained a BA (Hons) in Business Studies and Combined Science. Russell also graduated Beta Gamma Sigma with a Master of Business Administration degree from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In addition, he is Series 7 & 63 registered and has also obtained the Investment Management Certification from the CFA Institute.

Nedelina (Nina) Petkova

Senior Investment Director, NEPC

Panelist: Public Equity & Fixed Income - Public Markets: What's on the Horizon

Nedelina (Nina) is a member of the Marketable Equity Team, overseeing long only global equity strategies. Prior to her role as part of NEPC Research, Nina worked as a Sr. Consultant advising healthcare organizations and endowments & foundations, and assisting clients with asset allocation studies, manager searches, performance measurement, investment policy development/ education and various technical projects. Nina co-authored the white paper, Achieving Synergies in Investment Portfolios During Healthcare Merger and Acquisitions, focused on equipping healthcare organizations with a short list and step-by-step guide to M&A.

Nina also serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Diverse Manager Committee, which aims to identify highly qualified diverse investment firms that meet the unique goals, risk parameters, and financial objectives of NEPC’s clients.

Prior to joining NEPC in 2013, Nina worked at Wells Fargo in the Home Mortgage Underwriting department. She earned her B.B. in International Business and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a concentration in Finance and minors in Mathematics and Spanish from The University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Vanessa Vargas Guijarro

Vice President, Segal Marco Advisors

Panelist: Public Equity & Fixed Income - Public Markets: What's on the Horizon

Vanessa is a Vice President in Segal Marco Advisors’ New York office with 19 years of experience in the investment industry. She provides consulting services to corporate and public defined benefit and defined contribution plans, foundations and endowment funds and financial advisors. She works with plan sponsors to build the foundations for successful investment programs – a common understanding of the needs of the fund, a careful design of the investment structure and close attention to manager selection and monitoring.

Vanessa is a member of the Performance Report Committee, which periodically reviews performance report templates and formats as well as process improvements in the areas of data collection and portfolio characteristics.

Vanessa is a founding member of NEXT (National Exposure and X-Training), which is a professional development group for every non-officer at Segal who is interested in developing consulting skills, as well as networking and cross training with their peers. She is also a founding member of the KEY (Knowledge Empowers You) Committee at Segal Marco Advisors, which is a grassroots professional development initiative created to help employees learn from the Segal Marco colleagues; share ideas, understand roles and brainstorm effective solutions that meet client objectives.

Vanessa is a member of the Segal Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Steering Committee overseeing Segal’s DEI policies, practices and action plans. The DEI Steering Committee provides guidance, approves resource requests, and monitors progress of Segal’s activities and actions. The DEI Steering Committee also collaborates with business unit and others to develop action plans.

Lisa Hinds

Managing Director, Client Engagement and Sustainability, Xponance

Panelist: The Changing Landscape of ESG - Shaping the Future for Diverse & Emerging Managers. What's on the Horizon?; ESG/Just Transition Roundtable

Lisa Hinds (she/her/hers) leads all Client Engagement & Sustainability activities for Xponance. She is a member of the Management, Investment Governance, and ESG Committees and has over 30 years of experience in the Investment Management and Financial Services industry.

Before joining Xponance, Lisa managed the endowment and foundation business for EnTrust Global, where she was responsible for building portfolios of opportunistic co-investments, private debt, private equity, and hedged strategies. Previously, she led corporate development and client portfolio management for a distressed hedge fund and a private equity firm focused on sustainable investing. Ms. Hinds has also served in senior roles with Morgan Stanley, Standard and Poor’s, and Bear Stearns, starting her career with GE Capital.

Ms. Hinds has a distinguished record of public service. She currently serves as a Board Vice Chair and Investment Committee Chair of the United Church Funds. She is a co-author of the book Faithful Investing: The Power of Decisive Action and Incremental Change (Church Publishing Incorporated, December 2019). In 2020, Ms. Hinds was elected to the Board of Trustees of The Altman Foundation, a philanthropic foundation whose mission is to support programs and institutions that enrich the quality of life in New York City.

Ms. Hinds holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a Bachelor of Science from Northeastern University.

Jimmy Yan

Director of ESG, Office of the New York City Comptroller

Panelist: The Changing Landscape of ESG - Shaping the Future for Diverse & Emerging Managers. What's on the Horizon?

Jimmy serves as Director of ESG in the New York City Comptroller’s Office Bureau of Asset Management (BAM) which manages the investments of the New York City pension funds, collectively the fourth largest pension system in the U.S. He joined BAM in 2014 where he helps lead ESG integration, sustainable investing, and diverse and emerging manager programs in asset allocation, manager diligence and monitoring and risk management. Prior to the Comptroller’s Office, Jimmy served as a Trustee for the New York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS) and as the General Counsel for the Manhattan Borough President’s Office. Jimmy also served as the General Counsel for the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and a Deputy Chief Counsel to the New York City Charter Revision Commission. Prior to entering government, Jimmy worked in public interest litigation, direct legal services, public policy advocacy and community education in education law, civil rights, and immigrant rights. He is a graduate of New York University School of Law and the University of California at Berkeley.

Tara Mei Smith

ESG Integration Officer

Panelist: The Changing Landscape of ESG - Shaping the Future for Diverse & Emerging Managers. What's on the Horizon?

Tara Mei Smith is the ESG Integration Officer for the Bureau of Asset Management, Office of NYC Comptroller. In her role, she works to integrate considerations of material environmental, social, and governance risks and opportunities across asset classes to drive sustainable long-term, risk-adjusted returns for the benefit of the pension funds’ 700,000+ beneficiaries.

Ms. Smith has over a decade of sustainability experience, spanning finance, supply chain management, and environmental stewardship. She has been recognized as a Toyota TogetherGreen Conservation Innovation Leader, ASU Practices for Change Fellow, and a Next City Vanguard.

She holds a degree in Chemistry from Brown University, an MBA in Finance and Sustainable Business and Innovation from NYU Stern, where she was a Forte Fellow and Vice Dean Faculty Scholar, and the SASB FSA, GRI, and CFA Certificate in ESG Investing credentials. 

Katerina Schuman

Senior Investment Officer, Hedge Funds, Office of the New York City Comptroller

Panelist: Hedge Funds - 360 Degree View of MWBE Firms

Katerina Schuman is an Investment Officer in BAM’s Hedge Fund group. Prior to joining BAM she was an allocator at HSBC Asset Management and a multi-family office called “Square Advisors”.

Ms. Schuman began her career in BAM’s Hedge Fund Group as a Senior Investment Analyst prior to her time in the private sector. She graduated from Columbia University with B.A. in Economics in 2010.

Marina Filkin, CFA

Vice President, Investment Research, Aksia

Panelist: Hedge Funds - 360 Degree View of MWBE Firms

Marina is a Vice President on the Investment Research team at Aksia and has over 7 years of industry experience. She is responsible for sourcing, researching, and evaluating managers with a focus on event driven and multi-strategy hedge funds.

Marina joined Aksia in 2016 and graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Applied Economics and Management.

Meredith Tate Scott

Vice President, Capital Introduction, Goldman Sachs

Panelist: Hedge Funds - 360 Degree View of MWBE Firms

Meredith Tate Scott is a Vice President at Goldman Sachs in the Capital Introduction group within Prime Services in New York.

She brings a wealth of expertise advising hedge fund clients as they navigate the complex capital raising landscape.

Prior to her role at Goldman Sachs, Ms. Scott honed her skills at Bank of America Securities in a similar capacity.

She is an alumna of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and grew up in Charlotte, NC.

Kyle Brennan

Executive Director, GCM Grosvenor

Panelist: Alternative Credit - Challenges and Opportunities in Private Credit Investing

Mr. Brennan shares responsibilities for investment research and manager monitoring with a credit focus. Prior to joining the Absolute Return Strategies Research Team, he was a member of the Absolute Return Strategies Portfolio Management Team, where he focused on portfolio construction and the monitoring of portfolios’ investment objectives and constraints. Previously, Mr. Brennan was a member of the firm’s Fund Finance Team.

Prior to joining GCM Grosvenor, he was an Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. Mr. Brennan received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science, with minors in Financial Economics, Chinese and Engineering Management, from Vanderbilt University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

Carlos Mandez

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Crayhill Capital Management

Panelist: Alternative Credit - Challenges and Opportunities in Private Credit Investing

Mr. Mendez is a Co-Founder and a Managing Partner of Crayhill Capital Management. Prior to founding Crayhill in July 2015, Mr. Mendez was a Portfolio Manager in the Fixed Income Group of Magnetar Capital, where he focused on illiquid, structured credit and asset-based investment opportunities.

Prior to Magnetar, from June 2010 until February 2012, Mr. Mendez was a Managing Director and Head of the Structured Finance Group at Sandler O’Neill & Partners, L.P., where he structured new issue origination and asset-based finance solutions for specialty finance companies and banks.

Prior to joining Sandler O'Neill, Mr. Mendez was Co-Founder and Principal of ICP Securities, LLC, where he oversaw a capital markets business focused on structured credit in new issue origination, sales and proprietary trading for asset-backed securities and structured products in New York and London.

Mr. Mendez received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Latin American Studies from the United States Naval Academy. He also holds a graduate certificate in Program Management from the University of Washington.

Leigh Sansone

Chief Investment Officer & Founding Partner, Paceline

Panelist: Alternative Credit - Challenges and Opportunities in Private Credit Investing

Leigh is a Founding Partner and the Chief Investment Officer of Paceline, where she also serves as a member of the Investment Committee. Prior to forming Paceline, Leigh was most recently the Chief Investment Officer at Hudson Advisors, LLC (“Hudson”), the asset management affiliate of Lone Star Funds.

Prior to being named CIO, Leigh held various roles within the organization as a Senior Managing Director and as a member of the Lone Star Senior Management Team. Beginning in 2008, Leigh served as a Managing Director responsible for building the New York team which would capitalize on the dislocation in the residential mortgage market, leading the sourcing, underwriting, and asset management of a $125B portfolio by original UPB comprised of non-performing residential whole loans, mortgage servicing rights, and structured products across multiple series of Lone Star Opportunity Funds (VI –X). During this time, Leigh also served on the Investment Committee of the $1.3B Lone Star Residential Mortgage Fund. Leigh was promoted to the Lone Star North American region team in 2001 to work on the U.S. origination effort for Lone Star Fund III.

Leigh began her career at Hudson Advisors in 1998, as part of the North American asset management team which was responsible for the disposition of the assets in Lone Star Fund I, spanning a tenure of twenty years.

Leigh currently serves on the Advisory Board of Paceline portfolio companies: RELAM, Inc., Quick Fitting, LLC, and AHF Products, LLC. Leigh was involved in the formation, and still maintains an active role in the continued strategy of Gradus, which has a mission to invest in impactful non-profit organizations in Dallas which empower children and their families to use their natural gifts and talents to reach their highest potential, and to pursue excellence in school, in work and in life. In 2023, Leigh was named to Pensions & Investments list of “Influential Women in Institutional Investing”, which celebrates women who are having an outsized impact on the professional investment and retirement market as well as driving positive change across the industry.

Leigh graduated with honors from Texas A&M University with a BBA in Finance and is a CFA charter holder.

Nadine Mentor Williams

Partner & Senior Managing Director, MiDA Advisors

Nadine Mentor Williams is a Partner and Senior Managing Director with MiDA Advisors. Mrs. Mentor Williams has over 20 years of experience as an investment banker and investor. She has led over $17 billion in financings as the lead banker at Citigroup, UBS and Ramirez.

At MiDA Advisors, Mrs. Mentor Williams coordinates Investor Outreach and Education to connect U.S. and African institutional investors with investment opportunities in Africa and other emerging markets. Through joint efforts, MiDA Advisors has helped to mobilize more than $1.8 billion into Africa and other emerging markets.

Mrs. Williams leads the NASP Women’s Forum and is on the FINRA IDAC. Mrs. Mentor Williams brings her passion for women, diversity and investments as a creator for the Women Empowerment and Mentoring Incubation Program in Africa and advisor for the an African Women Impact Fund. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Pace University in New York with a BA degree in Political Science and minor in Business Administration.

Mrs. Mentor Williams earned her MPA in Public Policy and Financial Management from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Mrs. Mentor Williams is an avid traveler, having visited over 70 countries.

Cameron Khosrowshahi

Investment Team Lead, Prosper Africa/USAID

Cameron Khosrowshahi is Senior Investment Advisor to Prosper Africa, a U.S. Government initiative to substantially increase two-way trade and investment between the United States and countries across the African continent.

Previously, he directed the INVEST initiative, a $167 million collaboration platform that aligns the skills and capital of donors, investors and corporates to achieve development outcomes. INVEST deploys USAID resources globally to create viable investment opportunities with social and financial returns.

Over the last six years, Mr. Khosrowshahi has also managed Prosper Africa and USAID’s Institutional Investor Initiative, a collaboration with the US and African pension communities that has mobilized over $1.8 billion in institutional capital commitments. He has been a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and managed development projects in a variety of frontier and emerging markets. His focus areas include capital markets development, project finance, SME finance, capacity building and private sector development.

Ronald Mincy

Head of Africa, CFP, BlackRock Climate Infrastructure

Ron Mincy is a member BlackRock Climate Infrastructure's senior investment team and is Head of Africa for the Climate Finance Partnership, an innovative emerging and frontier market equity fund dedicated to clean energy and enabling infrastructure.

Previously, Ron was a Partner at African Capital Alliance (ACA), an African private equity firm. where he held responsibilities for deal origination and execution across a variety of sectors in addition to the firm's investor relations function. He held responsibilities for developing the firm’s tech ecosystem investment strategy. Before that, he was the CEO & Managing Partner of a Pan Africa-focused investment firm based in Kenya. Prior to this role, Ron worked at GE Capital and GE Africa in renewables, energy and infrastructure investing, private equity, and venture capital, across multiple geographies. Ron was a Managing Director for GE Africa and led principal investments activities in the region. Before moving to Africa, Ron worked with GE Equity and GE Energy Financial Services (GE EFS), where he was responsible for sourcing and managing growth equity, climate tech venture capital, and infrastructure investments. He started his career as an engineer in the ICT sector based in the US with Teradyne and later held senior leadership roles in engineering and operations living in Mexico.

Ron has served as an advisor to the United Nations Joint SDG Fund on private sector investment and clean energy in emerging and frontier markets. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University and an MBA in Finance and International Business from Columbia Business School.

Richard Okello

CEO and Founder, Sango Capital

Richard Okello is a Co-Founder and Partner at Sango Capital. Prior to co-founding Sango, Mr. Okello was a Principal at Makena Capital, a large private endowment. At Makena, he managed portfolios with substantial emerging markets exposure, and was a member of Makena's 20-person investment forum that reviewed and critiqued hundreds of investment opportunities and ultimately invested over US$15 billion into over 300 funds and co-investments across all major public and private asset classes globally. He also led the firm’s investment research forum designed to anticipate and explore new geographies, investment themes and tactical asset allocation strategies. Prior to working at Makena, Mr. Okello was a Partner at Bridgewater Associates, a US$150 billion global hedge fund. His responsibilities at Bridgewater included building and refining investment ideas as part of the research department, portfolio construction, building the research-oriented client advisory team and managing a client business unit. Mr. Okello was educated in Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, receiving an MBA Hons. from Pace University and a BA (Honors Program) Economics & Public Policy from Swarthmore College. He attended the UWC of the Atlantic in Wales on scholarship. He sits on several fund advisory boards, portfolio company boards as well as the boards of the African Leadership Foundation and Human Horizons Foundation.

Jarred Glansbeek

Executive Director, Chief Investment Officer, Riscura

Jarred Glansbeek founded RisCura in 1999, a company built on the foundations of liability-driven investment (LDI) and effective institutional risk management. He is highly regarded as a pioneer in today’s now widely accepted and evolved theory and practice of LDI and incorporating risk in LDI.

He has extensive understanding of quantitative portfolio techniques and complex instruments as well as judgmental and active risk management. Mr. Glansbeek has undertaken substantial investment research in infrastructure and private assets, with demonstrative global experience in terms of manager research, co-investments, due diligence as well as pricing.

This wealth of experience and skill in the asset management and retirement fund industries was honed in previous roles as Executive Director at two asset management companies and as consultant to some of the emerging markets’ largest institutional funds. Now CIO of RisCura, Mr. Glansbeek’s main focus is ensuring RisCura’s global institutional client base receives optimal portfolio performance through investment asset class structuring specific to their needs as well as the best efforts and service from all their investment service providers.

Joanne Yoo

Partner, Development Partners International (DPI)

Panelist: ESG/Just Transition Roundtable

Joanne Yoo is a Partner at Development Partners International (DPI), a leading venture capital and private equity investment firm with over $3 billion under management targeting high growth, impact-driven and innovation-led companies in emerging markets. In addition, Ms. Yoo is an investor in early stage technology companies, and in this capacity, serves on various Investment Committees and Advisory Boards. In 2023, Ms. Yoo received the Pensions & Investments’ Influential Women in Institutional Investing award.

In 2020, Ms. Yoo was appointed by the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the Investor Advisory Committee. In 2021, Ms. Yoo was appointed to the Executive Committee of PEWIN (Private Equity Women Investor Network), representing over $3 trillion in assets under management. Ms. Yoo is currently serving on Harvard Kennedy School Dean’s Council.

Ms. Yoo received a B.S. in Commerce with concentrations in Finance and International Business from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia; a Master’s in Public Administration from the Kennedy School at Harvard University; and an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she was awarded a Morgan Stanley Fellowship.

Mamadou-Abou Sarr

Co-Founder and President, V-Square Quantitative Management

Panelist: ESG/Just Transition Roundtable

Mamadou is the Co-Founder and President of V-Square Quantitative Management, a subsidiary of Valor Equity Partners. Mamadou co-Founded V-Square in 2020 after an accomplished career in asset management whilst working for global financial services company across the U.S., Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

Industry leader in the field of quantitative finance and innovation, Mamadou’s previous role was global head of product development and sustainable investing at Northern Trust Asset Management in Chicago, where he was responsible for driving innovation and product development across asset classes. Mamadou spearheaded, developed, and led one of the largest sustainable investing platforms in the industry.

He has over twenty years of experience in asset management. Previously, Mamadou worked for HSBC Global Asset Management, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Amundi Alternative Investments and Citi in trading, product specialist and business development roles in London, Paris, Abu Dhabi and Dakar.

Mamadou is a Certified Investment Fund Director (CIFD) by the CIFD Institute. Mamadou received his bachelor’s in economics from the Universite Paris- Saclay and holds a master’s in International project management from the European School of Management (ESCP), Paris. He has published many articles and papers in professional and academic journals including Pensions & Investments, European Pensions, Environmental Finance, and the Journal of Portfolio Management.

Mamadou has also spoken at more than 150 conferences in North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Australia and is a guest lecturer at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and ESCP Business School.

Mamadou is actively involved in philanthropic and civic activities. He serves on the boards of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Nature Conservancy Illinois Chapter (TNC) and the US SIF (The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment). He is a former board member of the CFA Society Chicago.

In 2014 he was named in the Financial News "Top 40 under 40 Rising Stars in Asset Management" in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. In 2017, Mamadou was named a "40 under 40" by Crain's Chicago Business. In 2017 he was also recognized in Top 50 Individuals who contribute the most sustainable & responsible investment industry in the world (IRRI). He is a fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago since 2019, and a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.

Mamadou is a French Foreign Trade Advisor, appointed by decree of the Prime Minister of France. The French government bestowed the award of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) on Mamadou-Abou Sarr in 2022.

Samantha Norquist

Managing Director, Prosek Partners

Panelist: Communications and Marketing Roundtable

Sam Norquist has spent most of her 15-year career developing and implementing communications strategies for institutional investment and capital markets firms to build their brand for capital, deals and talent.

She focuses on developing differentiated messaging, engaging the media and building creative thought leadership programs for senior executives and the firms they lead. Her clients and network span LPs and GPs, and include outsourced chief investment offices (OCIOs) and other institutional investment firms; private markets firms with a focus on private equity and venture capital; asset managers and institutional industry influencers and organizations.
Prior to joining Prosek in 2018, Sam managed external communications at Cambridge Associates where she focused on driving visibility and definition for the firm reaching endowments and foundations, private clients and pension investors in North America.
She graduated with a BA in Public Relations and Sociology from Quinnipiac University and now resides in New Jersey with her family.

Josette Thompson

Managing Director, Prosek Partners

Panelist: Communications and Marketing Roundtable

Josette Thompson is a managing director at Prosek Partners. She has more than 20 years of experience in Communications with a current focus on financial and professional services.

At Prosek she manages a multi-million-dollar portfolio of clients across banking, insurance, real estate, private equity, venture capital and wealth management overseeing their crisis communications, executive visibility, thought leadership and social media programs. Thompson also leads the firm’s strategic diversity communications and consulting offering, working closely with diverse founders and managers on their visibility and expert positioning.

Thompson earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Media Studies from Fordham University and holds a CCDP certification as a Certified Diversity Professional from Cornell University’s School of Industrial Labor Relations.

Shelley Simms, Esq.

General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, Xponance

Panelist: Compliance & Legal Services Roundtables

Shelley Y. Simms, Esq., IACCP® is General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Xponance®. Shelley has oversight responsibility for compliance and legal matters at Xponance® and is a member of the firm’s Enterprise Risk Management and Investment (non-voting) Committees.

Shelley has over 25 years of legal and diverse business experience. Prior to joining FIS Group, the predecessor firm to Xponance®, Shelley was independent counsel to ARAMARK Corporation’s Sports & Entertainment, Campus and International divisions, and held legal positions at Comcast Corporation and Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP. Additionally, she served as law clerk to a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Shelley is a graduate of Brown University, received her Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School, where she was a Supervising Editor of the Harvard Law Review, and has bar admissions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Shalonda Epps

Director of Portfolio Operations and Reporting, Xponance

Panelist: Operations Roundtable

Shalonda Epps is Director of Portfolio Operations and Reporting at Xponance®. She and her team are responsible for client on-boarding, portfolio measurement, compliance monitoring, portfolio transitions, proxy voting, client reporting, manager operational due diligence, composite creation and maintenance, GIPS verification, client/manager invoice calculations and departmental compliance reviews and audits. Shalonda is also responsible for maintaining investment policies and procedures for the multi-manager strategies. Shalonda is an equity owner and a voting member of Xponance’s Investment Committee.

Shalonda began her career at Delaware Investments in July 1998, working in various client servicing roles. Toward the end of her tenure with Delaware, Shalonda was a marketing associate, providing marketing support to the firm’s senior marketing and client services team members. In this role, Shalonda served as a primary liaison to the firm’s International Equity clients and investment consultants.

Shalonda is the Executive Director of Xponance’s, A Good Measure Foundation (‘AGM’). A Good Measure Foundation supports individuals and organizations that educate youth and work to improve the lives of impoverished or marginalized women and children. Shalonda also serves on the Board of Philadelphia Youth Basketball.

Shalonda earned a B.A. in Liberal Arts with a minor in Finance from West Chester University. Shalonda has also earned the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM®) designation from the CFA Institute.

Erik Serrano Bernsten

Chief Executive Officer, Stable Asset Management

Panelist: Operations Roundtable

Erik Serrano Berntsen is CEO of Stable Asset Management, responsible for defining and executing the firm’s Investment Strategy.

Prior to Stable, Erik was a consultant with Bain & Co., where he executed both private equity deal studies and investment opportunity sizing deals as part of the Private Equity Group (PEG) and participated in a broad spectrum of corporate client engagements for clients including banks and asset managers.

Erik holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Keble College, University of Oxford and a Master of Business Administration with honours and a Concentration in Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Justina Rivera

General Counsel, Office of the New York City Comptroller

Panelist: Legal Services Roundtable

Justina Rivera, currently serves as General Counsel and Deputy Comptroller for Legal Affairs at the Office of the New York City Comptroller. Justina is chief counsel to the Comptroller, overseeing the Office’s legal affairs and representing its interests safeguarding the fiscal health of the City and the assets of the City’s five public pension systems. In addition to heading the Office of the General Counsel, Justina supervises the Comptroller’s Bureau of Law & Adjustment (settling claims in favor of or against the City), the Bureau of Engineering (analyzing construction claims and contracts), and the Bureau of Labor Law (setting and enforcing prevailing wage and benefit rates for City public works and building service contracts).

Justina previously held the position of senior associate at Harris Beach LLC where she focused her practice in the areas of complex torts and toxic tort litigation, products liability, medical malpractice and general commercial litigation while serving as outside counsel to the City of New York Law Department, Office of the Corporation Counsel. Prior to her role at Harris Beach, she was an Assistant Borough Chief, Senior Counsel, and trial attorney at the NYC Law Department where she defended the City of New York, its agencies and employees in civil litigation and trials in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn Tort Units. During her tenure, she was also an active member of The Law Department's Committee on Diversity Recruitment and Retention.

Justina is a graduate of Fordham University School of Law, where she is also a former Adjunct Professor. She is also a graduate of St. Francis College with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science, summa cum laude. Justina is very actively involved in bar associations. She currently serves as the Vice President of Membership of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and is a member of the NYC Bar Association, Dominican Bar Association, the Hispanic National Bar Association, and the Association of Black Women Attorneys.

Gregory Weston

Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP

Panelist: Legal Services Roundtable

Greg Weston is a Partner at Winston & Straw LLP. He advises emerging managers and other sponsors of private equity, real estate and debt funds regarding fund formation and transactional matters. Greg also represents institutional investors in connection with their alternative investments.

He has extensive experience in real estate finance and investments and has represented lenders, investors, and developers in a variety of complex transactions involving office, retail, and multifamily properties. Greg also has worked extensively with investors and other participants on public-private partnerships relating to transportation, energy, and other infrastructure projects and with bond issuers, underwriters, and not-for-profits in a variety of taxable and tax-exempt transactions involving infrastructure, housing, and higher education.

Greg received a B.A. from Howard University and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.

Cesar J. Gonzales, Jr.

Director, Manager Development & Client Portfolio Manager, Xponance

Panelist: Risk Roundtable

Cesar J. Gonzales, Jr., CMFC® is Director, Manager Development and Client Portfolio Manager at Xponance®. He is a voting member of Xponance’s Investment Committee and a member of the Management Committee. He is responsible for manager development and manager coaching in addition to leading the Xponance® Ecosystem.

Cesar is the liaison between Xponance’s manager research team and our client facing team. He is responsible for coordinating client implementations of Aapryl solutions through our financial technology subsidiary company.

Cesar has over 29 years of investment experience with an emphasis on the utilization of entrepreneurial managers. He has served in various senior investment management capacities including portfolio management, program management and operations at prestigious institutions such as Progress Investment Management Company, IBM Retirement Fund, E*TRADE Global Asset Management and Calvert Asset Management Company.

His passion for entrepreneurial managers was developed at his first job with Hutchinson Richardson Investment Management, an entrepreneurial manager in San Francisco. Cesar’s breadth and depth of knowledge provides Xponance® with a unique perspective in the utilization of entrepreneurial managers. He is an active member of the Association of Asian American Investment Managers and the National Association of Securities Professionals.

Cesar graduated Summa Cum Laude from Strayer University with a B.S. degree in Economics and completed his M.B.A. with honors. Cesar holds the CMFC® designation.

David Andrade

Chief Technology Officer, Xponance

Panelist: Technology Roundtable

David Andrade serves as Chief Technology Officer and is responsible for Xponance’s Information Technology platforms, applications, infrastructure and solutions.

Additionally, David is General Manager of Aapryl, the financial technology subsidiary company of Xponance®. In his role as CTO, David has responsibility for ensuring that the company’s technology needs are securely and cost effectively supported. As Aapryl’s General Manager, he oversees all aspects of Aapryl’s sales, marketing, client services, legal, technology, operations and administrative functions. In this role he is focused on developing and implementing strategies centered on significantly growing revenues for the firm’s software technology platform.

David has more than 20 years of experience in various executive management and entrepreneurial technology roles. A seasoned business leader, operational executive and entrepreneur, his professional experience spans Telecommunications, Financial Services and Insurance, with an emphasis on technology product development, sales and marketing strategy.

David previously was Chief Marketing Officer at Patriot National and a Partner at Centric Consulting. Prior to Centric Consulting, he founded and was CEO of a Fort Lauderdale based Digital Marketing agency. He also worked for 9 years in various executive positions at the National Council of Compensation Insurance (NCCI), and 4 years with Andersen Consulting. David received his M.B.A from Columbia University’s School of Business and a B.Sc. in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Tracy Fong

Partner, Albourne America

Panelist: Technology Roundtable

Ms. Tracy Fong is an alternative investment professional with over 22 years of experience across startups, public technology companies, investment banking, alternatives endowment management, fixed income and FX, and strategic equities management.

Ms. Fong is a Partner and Private Markets Investment Due Diligence Analyst at Albourne Partners, a leading investment consulting firm that advises on over $550bn of alternative assets to over 300 institutional clients. She leads the Firm’s global Venture Capital coverage (including crypto/blockchain) and previously served as the co-chair of the Private Markets Investment Committee. Ms. Fong was previously a Managing Director at SVB Capital’s $4bn+ VC fund-of-funds and direct VC fund. Ms. Fong also spent four years at the Harvard University endowment, Harvard Management Company, where she was Vice President of Alternative Assets and worked on HMC’s $20bn+ alternatives portfolio.

Prior to business school, she also worked at Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) on the Corporate Finance and Treasury Team, where her group managed Yahoo!’s $4bn+ fixed income portfolio; worked on structured transactions; and helped manage 30 acquisitions, including the landmark joint venture with Alibaba (NYSE: BABA).

Ms. Fong has also worked in Investment Banking at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs where she worked on Technology M&A and Corporate Finance transactions including the IPO of Netscreen Technologies (NASDAQ: NSCN) and NPTest Holding (NASDAQ: NPTT). During the first technology boom, Ms. Fong began her career at two startup companies, Webvan Group (NASDAQ: WBVN) and Varsitybooks.com. Webvan, a Sequoia and Benchmark-backed company, was one of the first online grocery delivery services, was called by CNET one of the most well-known companies of the dot-com era.

Ms. Fong received a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley (honors recognition) and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. In her spare time, Ms. Fong enjoys adventurous international travel (~60 countries), immersive art projects, listening to podcasts, and scuba diving.

Anyori “AJ” Hernandez

Chief Executive Officer, New America Alliance

Panelist: Emerging Manager Programs: Importance of Collaboration and Cross-pollination

Anyori Hernandez is the former Director of Emerging Managers for New York State Common Retirement Fund. Under the direction of State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and Anastasia Titarchuk, CIO and Deputy Comptroller, the emerging manager team manages in excess of $7 billion in commitments to over 125 emerging firms across all asset classes. The program’s goal is to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns and participate in the growth of next generation talent alongside a preference for firms that aspire to strong governance standards as well as diverse and inclusive practices.

Previously, Mr. Hernandez was the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Yorkstone Management PR LLC, a boutique capital financing firm based in New York and Puerto Rico focused on funding working capital to small and medium sized businesses. Prior to founding Yorkstone, Mr. Hernandez was a Director at Barclays Wealth & Investment Management, Americas; he specialized in client development and provided his clients with new investments that achieved high risk-adjusted investment returns for individual securities, investment funds and portfolios. Prior to Barclays, Mr. Hernandez was a Senior Investment Officer and Director for the New York State Common Retirement Fund, Office of the State Comptroller. He directed several core investment portfolios, restructured and reorganized asset classes and managed a large Emerging Manager multi-asset investment portfolio with a value of over $4.5 billion in equity. Additionally, Mr. Hernandez created several seeding programs that included a real estate fund-of-funds, private equity fund-of-one and an absolute hedge fund seed platform. He holds a Masters in Real Estate Finance and Investment and a Bachelor of Arts from New York University.

Sylvester (Sly) McClearn

Interim Director of Emerging Manager, New York State Common Retirement Fund

Panelist: Emerging Manager Programs: Importance of Collaboration and Cross-pollination

Sylvester McClearn (Sly) is the Interim Director for The Emerging Manager Program for the New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF). Sly coordinates the investment activities and interactions with Emerging Managers.

Sly acts as an ambassador representing NYSCRF in the extensive network of Emerging Manager fund marketplace. He monitors the $10.2 billion portfolio of public and private assets across Equities, Fixed Income, Real Estate, Real Assets and Credit/Opportunistic asset classes. Sly received both a B.S. and M.B.A. from Fordham University and is a Series 3, 7, and 24 licensed professional. Sly is a Trustee Fellow for Fordham University and an active member in industry associations such as the National Association of Security Professionals (NASP), National Organization of Investment Professionals (NOIP) and Security Traders Association (STANY).

Marlene Timberlake D'Adamo

Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, CalPERS

Panelist: Emerging Manager Programs: Importance of Collaboration and Cross-pollination

Marlene Timberlake D'Adamo was named CalPERS first Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer in June 2021. She works across the organization and the Investment Office to foster a culture of equality, respect and inclusiveness. She partners with the environmental, social, and governance investment team to help identify and analyze emerging DEI issues and opportunities supported by sound investment methodology and academic research that may impact the CalPERS portfolio. Marlene also guides CalPERS DEI framework, the employee Diversity Advisory Council, and works with the CalPERS Health Program and contracting health plans to survey and measure outcomes and customer satisfaction using race, ethnicity, and gender identity data.

She joined the CalPERS executive team in April 2016 as chief compliance officer, responsible for all aspects of the Enterprise Compliance Division. She has more than 25 years of finance and investment experience and has also provided executive leadership as CalPERS' interim chief financial officer.

Prior to joining CalPERS, Marlene served in other leadership capacities in the finance and compliance field, including managing director, senior vice president, Portfolio & Risk Management at PNC Bank in Philadelphia; chief compliance officer of Glenmede Investment Management; and vice president of the Glenmede Trust Company.

She is a former board member to the Committee of 70 and the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, both located in Philadelphia.

Marlene holds a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Seton Hall University, and Juris Doctor degree from the Beasley School of Law, Temple University.

Kirk Sims

Managing Director and Head of the Emerging Manager Program, Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Panelist: Emerging Manager Programs: Importance of Collaboration and Cross-pollination

Kirk Sims heads TRS’ Emerging Manager Program. Since being established in 2005, TRS has committed $3.7 billion to one of the largest programs of its kind. An additional $2 billion has been invested directly with EM Program graduates. Each graduate was selected as a result of consistent outperformance among a group of more than 160 EM managers. Recognizing the Program’s success, in early 2019, TRS rolled out a plan to invest another $3 billion over the next three to five years.

Sims joined the Teacher Retirement System of Texas on March 1, 2019. Before joining Texas Teachers, he was a Senior Investment Officer for the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Sims had oversight and management responsibility of TRS’s Emerging Manager Program, a $750 million evergreen pool of capital designed to identify and invest in emerging investment managers across all asset classes.

Prior, Sims worked at Prudential Retirement where he was responsible for a manager of manager’s retirement platform as well as an open architecture investment platform. He also has a background in asset management and has held various positions with both large and small asset managers.

Sims is a CFA charter holder and holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University in Washington, DC.