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Hedge Fund Leadership Conference

GAINING THE EDGE CHICAGO

June 19, 2019  |  Union League Club, Chicago, Illinois

2019 Speakers

Leading Hedge Fund Allocators

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50 South Capital

Jon Frede, CFA, Director of Research

John Frede is the Director of Research for 50 South Capital’s Hedge Fund Investment Team, responsible for manager selection and monitoring. He is a member of the Senior Investment Committee.

Prior to joining 50 South Capital, John was the Head of Research Management at Mesirow Advanced Strategies and a member of the Senior Investment Group. In this capacity, John was responsible for managing all aspects of Mesirow's hedge fund research process and team. Prior to that role, John opened Mesirow’s London office and built its research team while serving as Head of European Research. He was responsible for monitoring and sourcing all hedge fund strategies in the region. Prior to Mesirow, John was the Head of Research for the Americas at Mercer Investment Consulting where he chaired a number of the firm's ratings committees across traditional and alternative asset classes.

John received a B.S. in finance from Indiana University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the CFA Institute.

John lives in Lake Forest, IL with his wife and three children. He spends the majority of his free time watching and coaching his children’s soccer teams. Away from the pitch you can find John on the golf course in the summer and the paddle tennis court in the winter.

Aon

Chris Walvoord, Partner, Global Head of Hedge Fund Research

Chris leads Aon Hewitt’s Global Liquid Alternatives Team within Global Investment Management.  He oversees research and investment activities across a variety of liquid alternative strategies including hedge funds, currencies, CTAs, and GTAA.  His group is responsible for researching, recommending and monitoring managers for both advisory and delegated client portfolios. Prior to joining AHIC in 2016, Chris was a portfolio manager and a member of the investment committee at William Blair.  Chris was the lead PM for the custom hedge fund business at Blair which managed client specific portfolios for large institutional clients.  He was also the lead PM on the group’s 40 Act fund of hedge funds. Chris worked extensively with William Blair’s distribution team to help clients understand the role of hedge funds within their investment portfolios.  


William Blair entered the fund of hedge funds business by acquiring Guidance Capital, a fund of hedge funds firm founded in 2001, where Chris was one of five equity partners.  As a member of the investment committee at Guidance, he was involved in both hedge fund research and portfolio construction.  He also developed the portfolio risk management system that was used at both Guidance and William Blair.


Prior to joining Guidance Capital, Chris managed an unconstrained bond strategy at the Northern Trust.  The mandates for these funds allowed investments in a wide range of fixed income instruments including corporate and asset backed bonds, swaps, options, futures, and other interest rate and credit derivatives.  Chris began his investment career in the Capital Markets Strategies Group at Nuveen where he assisted investment banking clients with their derivative transactions.  Prior to Nuveen, Chris worked as an automotive engineer in Motorola’s Automotive Electronics Group and in Ford’s Advanced Vehicle Engineering Group.

Chris earned an M.B.A. degree in finance from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an M.S in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Berkeley and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois.

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Ascent Private Capital Management of U.S. Bank

Jonathan Miles CFA, CAIA, Managing Director, Investment Consulting

Jonathan has more than 20 years of investment experience having grown up in Chicago during the golden age of trading when the CBOE, CME, and CBOT beckoned to his generation. Apropos, his first job during college was at an options trading firm where he jokes that he “…learned how to value a stock option before he even knew what an income statement was!” Initially majoring in information systems, his experience on the trading floor inspired him to transition into finance. 


Since then his career has always involved the markets, progressing through investment/trading related roles at both traditional investment management and hedge fund firms until choosing the path of being a trusted adviser to end investors. Leveraging his background working in hedge funds, he first advised institutional investors about investing in alternatives for two globally known investment consulting firms. While enjoying the satisfaction of helping pensions and non-profit organizations achieve their retirement and philanthropic goals, he wanted to help the individuals directly impacted by the wealth he advised on. This led him to join Ascent in the firm's San Diego office. 


Today, besides enjoying how his children explore their new world, he gains personal satisfaction from helping clients make great investments, solve problems, further organizational & philanthropic goals, and make a positive impact to those around them. He does this by advising and educating families on capital markets, asset allocation, portfolio strategy, investment structuring, and implementation.


Jonathan earned his M.B.A. in finance from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and his bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Illinois, Chicago. He holds both the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) and Chartered Alternative Investments Analyst (CAIA®) designations.

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Baylor University

David A. Morehead, CFA, Senior Director of Investments

David A. Morehead is the Senior Director of Investments in the Baylor University Office of Investments.  He previously was a senior portfolio manager at Lotsoff Capital Management, where he managed securities across the corporate capital structure, and a partner at Highview Capital Management, where he focused on public and private energy investments.  Prior to this, he was a portfolio manager at Ritchie Capital Management, responsible for a generalist corporate relative value and distressed portfolio.  Prior to this, he was responsible for equity research on the transportation/logistics and specialty retail sectors at William Blair & Company.  Mr. Morehead also held roles at Bank of America, where he was responsible for the risk management of the bank’s interest rate derivatives desk, and First Trust Advisors, where he advised community banks on their investment portfolios.  Mr. Morehead graduated summa cum laude from Wheaton College and earned his MBA in finance and entrepreneurship with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.  Mr. Morehead also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

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Borealis Strategic Capital Partners

Daniel Harris, CFA, Principal

Dan is a Principal and a member of the Investment Committee at Borealis Strategic Capital Partners, LP. He has 19 years of investment management experience, including over 12 years analyzing and allocating to hedge fund managers. Before joining Borealis in October 2016, he spent more than six years at Aurora Investment Management, most recently as the firm’s Head of Research and member of the Investment Committee. Before joining Aurora, he was a Vice President at Amundi Asset Management as part of the hedge fund manager selection team in Chicago. Dan also worked at Cambridge Associates, Nuveen Investments, and Northern Trust. He is a CFA Charterholder and earned a B.S. from Wake Forest University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Brownson, Rehmus & Foxworth

Keith Cardoz, CFA, Chief Investment Officer

Keith Cardoza is a Principal and the Chief Investment Officer of Brownson, Rehmus & Foxworth, which provides investment advice to wealthy families with over $10 billion of assets.  Keith co-chairs BRF’s Investment Strategy Committee and leads the firm’s asset allocation and manager selection efforts. He serves on BRF’s Impact Investing, Knowledge Management, Private Equity, Public Markets, and Real Estate Committees. 

Prior to joining BRF, Keith served as a Managing Director of Merrick Ventures, an investment firm focused on technology investments. The U.S. Patent Office awarded three patents to Keith, including one for the Ocean Tomo 300 Patent Index, the first intellectual-property based stock-index. Previously Keith chaired Boeing’s Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation Committee, responsible for the investment strategy for $41 billion in retirement assets. This team included the Directors of Equities, Fixed Income, Alternative Investments, and Risk. The team improved the funded ratio of Boeing’s retirement plans from 80% to 91%. Prior to Boeing, Keith managed the $6 billion equity portfolio for the Illinois State Board of Investment pension fund.

Keith received a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and past chair of CFA Society Chicago. Keith serves on the boards of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Malta Human Services Foundation, which makes grants to support the charitable mission of the Sovereign Order of Malta. He has served on the executive committees of the Chicago Children’s Choir, Steppenwolf Theatre, and Chicago Stock Exchange. He also served on the boards of Joffrey Ballet, the Chicago International Film Festival, and the Union League Club of Chicago. Keith is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago and The Chicago Club.

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DiMeo Schneider & Associates

Anthony M. Novara, CFA,  Research Director - Global Head Fund Strategies & Capital Markets

Anthony joined DiMeo Schneider & Associates, L.L.C. in 2011. Anthony directs the firm’s Hedge Fund research effort and chairs the firm’s Capital Markets committee. He is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee, Discretionary Committee and all Research Teams. Prior to joining the firm, Anthony held various roles at National City, Conversus Asset Management and William Blair & Company. Anthony received a BA in Finance from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University and a MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in Analytic Finance, Economics & Entrepreneurship. He is a CFA® charterholder and member of the CFA Society Chicago and CFA Institute. Anthony is actively involved with YearUp, a nonprofit providing urban young adults with the skills, experience and support to pursue professional careers and higher education. He is also on the Advisory Board for the Michigan State University Financial Markets Institute. In his free time, Anthony enjoys playing guitar, golf, running after his two young sons and all things Michigan State Spartans.

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Efficient Capital Management

Marat Molyboga, CFA,  Chief Risk Officer and Director of Research

Dr. Molyboga is the Chief Risk Officer and Director of Research at Efficient, and helps shape strategic priorities as a member of the Leadership Team. He began his career at Efficient in 2001 as a Research Analyst. From 2002, he consulted for Petra Intraday Trading Systems as the Senior Researcher and served as its president from 2004. He left Petra in 2006 and joined the Research Department at Efficient as a Senior Research Analyst. His expertise is in CTA performance evaluation and portfolio construction. Mr. Molyboga is also an expert in portfolio risk management and serves as the Chief Risk Officer for the firm, while also overseeing the work of the Research Team. Dr. Molyboga is a Financial Risk Manager designee (FRM), a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and holds a Series 3 license. He graduated with high honors from Moscow State University in 2001 with a Masters in Financial Mathematics. He also graduated with honors from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business in 2013 with an MBA in Finance, Economics and Strategic Management. He earned a PhD in Finance from EDHEC Business School in 2019. Dr. Molyboga has been in the industry since 2001.

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Employees' Retirement System of Texas

Panayiotis Lambropoulos, CFA, CAIA, FRM, Portfolio Manager - Hedge Funds

Panayiotis Lambropoulos, CFA, CAIA, FRM is a Portfolio Manager of Hedge Funds at the Employees Retirement System of Texas – a $26 billion retirement plan – located in Austin, Texas. His responsibilities include sourcing, analyzing and evaluating potential hedge fund managers, process and performance assessment, interviewing various fund employees and third-party service providers, and maintaining due diligence efforts. Panayiotis started in the alternative investment industry as a Research Analyst in Grosvenor Capital Management in Chicago. He later joined MCP Alternative Asset Management, a $6 billion Tokyo-headquartered Investment Advisor (Fund of Funds) in Chicago. He was responsible for sourcing, analyzing and monitoring hedge fund investments, and contributing to portfolio allocation decisions. He worked alongside institutional clients, all of which were top investment decision makers for some of Japan’s best and largest blue chip financial institutions. Panayiotis holds a B.S in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and Marketing from Boston College, and an M.B.A in General Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Panayiotis is a CFA Charterholder and has earned his Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification

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Evanston Capital

William S. Steele, III, Managing Director & Director of Research

Mr. Steele is a Managing Director – Director of Research, and a member of the Investment Committee of Evanston Capital Management, LLC. He has over 15 years of investment management experience, including over 11 years researching, evaluating, and allocating to underlying managers. Prior to joining the firm in January 2011, he spent more than eight years with Man Investments (fka Glenwood Capital Investments) in the firm’s Chicago office sourcing, evaluating, and monitoring underlying managers for the firm’s multi-manager portfolios. Before joining Glenwood, he was an Associate in the Credit Suisse (originally DLJ) Private Client Services group, where he advised wealthy individuals, family groups and small institutions on their investment strategies. Mr. Steele earned a B.A. from Yale College and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

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Exelon Corporation

Mark Koschik, CFA, Senior Portfolio Manager & Head of Asset Allocation

Mark Koschik is a Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Asset Allocation for the Exelon Corporation Investment Office which manages approximately $44 Billion across the firm’s Pension, Nuclear Decommissioning, VEBA and Employee Savings Plans.  In his current position, Mark oversees Exelon’s portfolio of Hedge Funds and Private Credit investments in addition to assisting on the asset allocation across the company’s Defined Benefit and Cash Balance retirement trusts.  Previously, Mark additionally managed Exelon’s portfolio of public equity investments. 

 

Prior to joining Exelon in November 2010, Mark was a research analyst for Mesirow Advanced Strategies, focusing on credit and equity strategies for the firm’s Fund of Hedge Funds.  He previously also was with Credit Suisse Securities in their fixed income sales group.

 

Mark received an M.B.A from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS Finance From Miami University.  Mark is also a CFA Charterholder.

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Fund Evaluation Group

Sean McChesney, Vice President, Research Analyst Hedge Funds

Sean McChesney is a Vice President and senior member of the research team at Fund Evaluation Group ("FEG").  FEG is an institutional consulting firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio serving endowments, foundations, healthcare, family office, and pension clients.  Sean focuses primarily on diversifying strategies for both discretionary and non-discretionary client accounts.  He is involved with all aspects of research at FEG including manager sourcing, selection, due diligence, and portfolio construction, as well as the development of overall investment strategy. 

 

Prior to joining FEG, Mr. McChesney was a Director and Portfolio Manager at Private Advisors ("PA") where he was tasked with manager sourcing and selection, asset allocation, and portfolio construction responsibilities for a diversified hedge fund-of-funds strategy of more than $3.0bn in assets under management.  Prior to PA, Sean also worked as a Director at Carolinas Investment Consulting and as an analyst at Cambridge Associates.  He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College where he was Captain of the Lacrosse Team. 

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GCM Grosvenor

Craig Goldsmith, Managing Director, Hedge Fund Strategies

Mr. Goldsmith focuses on opportunistic credit strategies and serves on the Global Investment Council. He is also a Portfolio Manager for various credit-focused portfolios and a member of the Strategic Investments' Investment Committee. Prior to joining GCM Grosvenor, Mr. Goldsmith worked at Banc One Capital Markets in a variety of capital markets and corporate banking positions from 1989 to 1991 and again from 1993 to 2004. From 2003 to 2004, he was a Director in the Hedge Fund Credit Group. From 1998 to 2002, he was a Director in the Asset‐Backed and Credit Products Groups. Prior to 1998, he worked in corporate banking, middle market lending, and commercial real estate. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Michigan in 1989 and his Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1998.

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Highland Consulting

Menachem Lubling, CFA, Head of Alternative Investments

Menachem has almost a decade of investment and consulting experience. He began as an analyst on the research team reviewing asset class risk premia and manager due diligence. He focuses most of his research attention on alternatives, and currently leads the alternatives program at Highland. Recently he has been focused on nuanced differences of managers in the alternative risk premia and structured credit asset classes. Menachem mentors other associates and interns as they learn about investment research in the traditional markets.

Menachem was valedictorian of his MBA class at Bar Ilan University. He is a registered Canadian portfolio manager, has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation, and is a member of the CFA Institute, and the CFA Society of Cleveland. In his free time, he works with several Non-Profits in the Cleveland area. He is married with four children.

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Lighthouse Partners

Clark Prickett, CFA, Managing Director

Clark is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Lighthouse multi-strategy funds and custom mandates. Clark is the Chairman of the Lighthouse Relative Value Committee and a member of the Lighthouse Investment Committee. Prior to joining Lighthouse in 2003, he worked in the risk arbitrage group of a multi-strategy hedge fund manager.  Clark began his career at SunTrust Bank, where he worked in the portfolio management division, and later, in the derivatives and interest rate risk management group within the bank’s treasury department.  Clark graduated from the University of Richmond with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Economics and earned his Master of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from the University of Chicago.  He is also a CFA charterholder.

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Magnitude Capital

Hawes Bostic, CFA, Partner, Director of Manager Research

Previously, Mr. Bostic traded OTC equity derivatives and convertible bonds for the D. E. Shaw group and KBC Financial Products. At KBC, Mr. Bostic was one of three traders with responsibility for the firm’s $500 million proprietary convertible arbitrage book. His trading experience also includes structured equity volatility products and listed options market-making. Prior to joining Magnitude, Mr. Bostic conceived, raised financing for, directed, and produced an award-winning documentary on unique aspects of Southern culture.

 

Mr. Bostic began his career as a business consultant focusing on competitive intelligence. He graduated with a B.A. in English literature from the University of Virginia in 1995.

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MacArthur Foundation

Joseph Rumph, CFA, Manager, Absolute Return & Fixed Income

Joe Rumph serves as Manager, Absolute Return and Fixed Income at the MacArthur Foundation, where he is responsible for overseeing the foundation's fixed income and credit hedge fund portfolios as well as two private credit portfolios.  Previously, he was an Associate Director of Investments at the Kresge Foundation.  Joe received an MBA in Analytic Finance, Accounting, and Economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and earned a BA in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Michigan.  He is a CFA charterholder.

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Marquette Associates

Nat Kellogg, CFA, Managing Director

Nat Kellogg is the director of manager search for Marquette Associates and has 17 years of investment experience. An owner of the firm, Nat has been with the company since 2010. Nat is a member of the firm’s investment committee, discretionary committee, and healthcare committee and chairs both the firm’s traditional and alternative investment manager search committee.  Before joining Marquette, Nat was a senior equity analyst at Hudson Securities covering the electrical equipment and basic materials sectors. Previously, Nat was an equity analyst at Brait Specialized Funds, a small-cap focused long/short equity hedge fund.  Nat holds a B.A. in history from Middlebury College and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Nat is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Chicago.

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Pluscios Management

Kelly Chesney, Founding Partner

Kelly is a co-founder of Pluscios. She has 25 years of experience in capital markets and alternative asset investing and serves as the firms COO.

Prior to founding Pluscios, Kelly was a Managing Director at JPMorgan Capital Management (formerly Banc One Capital Management) (the “Bank”), the Bank’s hedge fund investing group which invested both proprietary and client assets in portfolios of hedge funds.  Kelly was one of three voting members of the Investment Committee responsible for all aspects of portfolio management including portfolio construction, manager selection and on-going manager monitoring.  Kelly was also a member of the group’s Management Committee.  Additionally, Kelly had primary responsibility for product design and development, product launches and lifecycle management, and had oversight for all aspects of the business operations.

           
Kelly also spent several years in the mid-nineties as a lawyer for the Bank’s Corporate Investments and Capital Markets Groups. Kelly structured and negotiated complex domestic and international commercial finance transactions including tax-related transactions, derivatives, foreign exchange transactions and hedge fund, venture capital, asset backed and collateralized debt obligation investments. She participated in the strategy development and directed the creation of offering documents for a hedge fund of funds; structured the first foreign tax credit transaction for the Bank; and participated in the development and launch of new derivatives products.

 

 Kelly began her career as an Associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom and Mayer, Brown & Platt. Kelly received an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, a J.D. from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, and a B.A. in communication studies from Northern Illinois University. Kelly is a member of 100 Women in Hedge Funds, the Chicago Finance Exchange, the National Association of Securities Professionals and is on the Illinois Board of Gift Adoption.

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RockCreek Group

Matthew Bullough, Director

Matthew Bullough. Mr. Bullough is a Director at RockCreek.  Prior to this, he was a Research Associate at Cambridge Associates, an investment advisory firm serving endowments, foundations, pensions, and high net worth family offices. At Cambridge Associates, he was responsible for data analysis and maintaining relationships with investment managers in the hedge fund and long-only asset classes. Mr. Bullough received a B.S. in Human Development from Cornell University. 

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State of Wyoming

Matthew Smagacz, CFA, FRM, Senior Investment Officer

Matthew Smagacz, CFA, FRM is the Senior Investment Officer of the Wyoming State Treasurer’s Office where he is integral in managing the $20 billion sovereign wealth portfolio. He has fifteen years of buy-side experience, specializing in alternatives and fixed income. He holds a BSBA in Finance from Washington University in Saint Louis and is a member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals, the CFA Society of Chicago, the CFA Society of Colorado and the CFA Institute. 

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Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Joel Hinkhouse, CFA, Director - External Public Markets

Joel Hinkhouse is a Director in the External Public Markets group at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), a $150 billion pension system serving 1.5 million active and retired educators and their families. Joel currently oversees the Trust’s $21 billion externally-managed equity portfolio.


Prior to TRS, Mr. Hinkhouse served in a similar role at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, where he managed the liquid fixed income portfolio and co-managed a $1 billion hedge fund portfolio and a $500 million private credit portfolio. He has also worked for two hedge fund firms in Chicago in various roles ranging from risk management to creation of new strategies and fund offerings. Mr. Hinkhouse also spent time at Qwest (now CenturyLink) Asset Management in Denver, where he sourced macro investments and developed a risk budgeting model for pension assets. Joel began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a technology consultant focused on risk and trading systems for energy companies.
 

Mr. Hinkhouse earned an MBA with High Honors from the University of Chicago, and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Mathematics. He also has earned the right to use the CFA designation. He served as an appointed director of the board of the Managed Funds Association from 2016-2019, and has served on the Institutional Investor Advisory Committee since 2014. Joel is also on the board of directors for Water to Thrive.

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Teachers' Retirement System of Illinois

Brian Payne, CAIA, Senior Hedge Fund Analyst

Brian Payne started his career at Fortigent, a DC-based OCIO for RIAs, focusing on alternative investment due diligence, capital market research and model portfolio management. Following his time on the investment consulting side, Brian joined the buy side as a trader and researcher for Potomac River Capital, a discretionary global macro hedge fund. Brian is currently a PM/Senior Analyst for the Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois where he manages $5bn+ in assets across hedge fund, alternative risk premia and risk parity strategies. 

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Texas Trust Company

Mohamed Elkordy, Ph.D, Senior Portfolio Manager

Mohamed Elkordy is a Senior Portfolio manager at the $5B Texas Trust, responsible for opportunistic and special situation investments across private and public markets.  He also manages the independent-return pool.  Prior to joining Texas Trust, Mohamed spent about 15 years on Wall Street both as derivative trader at JP Morgan and as head of the Multi-Assets Endowments Solutions Team at Barclays.  Dr. Elkordy served as Assistant Administrator for the $70B Michigan Retirement.  He received his PhD from University of NY in Artificial Intelligence and MBA from University of Michigan Ross School of Business.  In his spare time, Mohamed is an avid fly fishing and cigar aficionado.

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TIFF

John Sinclair, Managing Director

John Sinclair joined TIFF in 2018 and serves as a Managing Director, overseeing Diversifying Strategies. He is primarily responsible for hedge fund investments in TIFF’s absolute return program and comprehensive portfolios. He also is a member of TIFF’s Investment Committee. Before joining TIFF, Mr. Sinclair founded Infusion Global Partners, a hedge fund of funds; founded Abundant Venture Partners, an early stage venture capital firm and startup incubator; served as Managing Director of Research at Fidelity Management and Research Co.; and held senior equity analyst and portfolio manager positions at firms including Sanford C. Bernstein and Montgomery Asset Management. He received a BA in History and Economics from Colgate University and an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University. Mr. Sinclair attended the Middlebury College language program and is fluent in Japanese.

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University of Chicago 

Elisabeth Roth, CFA, Senior Portfolio Manager of Public Markets/Absolute Return

Betsy is a senior portfolio manager, responsible for the University’s investments in credit-oriented and relative value absolute return funds, private debt, fixed income securities, and credit funds. She has also served as the senior portfolio manager for investments in private equity limited partnerships. 


Prior to joining the University in 2007, Betsy was vice president of finance and corporate development at optionsXpress, an online trading and brokerage firm. Before that, she was a vice president in the mergers and acquisitions group of BMO Capital Markets, and also worked on merger and acquisition assignments at Merrill Lynch.


Betsy earned her MBA from Georgetown University and received a BA in economics from Tufts University. She is a CFA Charterholder.

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University of Illinois Foundation

Brett Snidtker, Director of Public Investments

Brett is the Director of Public Investments at the University of Illinois Foundation, a $2.0 billion endowment based in Chicago. His primary responsibility is overseeing all sourcing, evaluating, and monitoring of both current and prospective manager investments that focus on publicly traded securities, while providing support to the Private Investments program. Additionally, he is responsible for managing the Investment Office’s Investment Analysts and the summer intern program.  Prior to joining the University of Illinois Foundation in early 2018, Brett spent 13 years at Cambridge Associates where he was a Senior Director in Hedge Fund Research and served as the Strategy Head for Event Driven and Cross Capital Structure strategies.  He received his BS in Finance from Northeastern University and his MBA from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

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Zurich Alternative Asset Management

Aneja Saurav, Associate Director, Hedge Funds & RIsk Premia

Saurav is a senior Hedge Fund analyst at Zurich Alternative Asset Mgmt. which manages alternative investments for Zurich Insurance Group globally. He joined ZAAM in 2018 and manages portfolio allocation to quantitative Hedge Fund strategies and Risk Premia. He is involved in all aspects of manager research and portfolio construction, as well as development of overall Hedge Fund investment strategy at ZAAM.

Prior to joining ZAAM, Saurav spent 11 years at Deutsche Bank within Equities, Foreign Exchange and Liquid Alternatives divisions respectively with focus on derivatives, portfolio construction and risk management for Institutional clients. He has extensive experience in sourcing and evaluating Hedge Fund strategies. Saurav received his MS and BS in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 2007.

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