Hedge Fund Leadership Conference

GAINING THE EDGE NEW YORK

50 South Capital

Greg Jones, CFA, Vice President Hedge Funds

Greg Jones is a Research Analyst for 50 South Capital's Hedge Fund Investment Team. He focuses on sourcing and monitoring global macro, relative value, and systematic hedge fund investments.  Prior to joining 50 South Capital, he was employed at Cliffwater LLC, where he was a Vice President on the firm's hedge fund research team. At Cliffwater, he was responsible for sourcing and performing due diligence on hedge fund managers, with a focus on the global macro family of strategies, including discretionary global macro, systematic global macro, CTAs, currency, and commodity hedge fund strategies. Prior to attending business school, Greg was an IT consultant for a boutique technology solutions firm. Greg received a BS in decision and information sciences from the University of Florida and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the CFA Institute. 

Cliffwater

Chris Solarz, CFA, CPA, CAIA, Managing Director, Head of Global Macro Strategies

Chris is a Managing Director of Cliffwater LLC in our New York office and a member of the hedge fund research team. Prior to joining Cliffwater in 2011, Chris was a Senior Analyst at SAIL Advisors, where he focused on manager selection and due diligence as Head of Research for tactical trading and relative value strategies. Previous experience includes working for ING Investment Management, Antarctica Asset Management, Societe Generale Barr Devlin, and CIBC World Markets. 

He earned a BA in Economics and Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and a MComm in Finance from the University of New South Wales, where he was a Federation Scholar. Chris is a Certified Public Accountant, holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst® designation, the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation, and is a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts.  Chris has broken 6 Guinness World Records, has run marathons on all 7 continents and in all 50 US states. 

Cleveland Clinic

Adam J. Smith, CFA, CAIA, Director of Absolute Return & Real Assets

Adam joined the Cleveland Clinic in May 2017 and has nearly two decades of investment experience, focused almost exclusively on managing investments for non-profit institutions.  He is part of the team responsible for managing the Clinic’s investible financial assets, including the long-term investment portfolio, two defined-benefit pension funds, and an offshore captive insurance fund.  Adam is involved with all aspects of managing the portfolios, including asset allocation, manager selection, and portfolio structure; however, his primary responsibility is conducting investment manager due diligence across all asset classes, with an emphasis on fixed income, real assets, and absolute return hedge funds.

Prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic, Adam was the Director of Investments at Mercy Health (Cincinnati), where he was responsible for managing a long-term investment portfolio and a defined-benefit pension plan.  Before that, Adam spent more than a decade in institutional investment consulting, focused on asset allocation and due diligence of investment managers across all asset classes.

Adam holds an undergraduate degree from Brown University, where he was a three-year letterman on the football team, and has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations.

Commonfund

David Scarozza, Managing Director - Head of Equities

David Scarozza is a member of the Investment team and is responsible for constructing portfolios that have the objective of outperforming passive equity alternatives. David is also primarily responsible for Commmonfund’s hedge fund portfolio which is used as a diversifying active risk and alpha source within equity portfolios and in the context of a total portfolio. Prior to this role, David was a Managing Director on the hedge fund team and prior to joining Commonfund, he served as a Vice President and the senior manager analyst on Citigroup′s fund of funds team. David received a B.A. in Economics from Swarthmore College, completed a one-year program of study at the London School of Economics and received an M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Delta Air Lines

Jonathan Glidden, Managing Director, Pensions

Jon is responsible for Delta Air Lines’ defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans. In this role he oversees asset allocation and plan level risk management. Jon works with outside consultants in the selection and oversight of active investment managers. Prior to joining Delta in 2011, Jon was Director of Manager Research at Wilmington Trust. There he constructed and provided oversight of multi-manager portfolios across both traditional and alternative asset classes. Jon was also a member of Wilmington’s Investment Strategy Team which set strategic and tactical asset allocation for Wilmington’s clients. Prior to joining Wilmington Trust in 2007, Jon spent six years with Emory University’s Endowment Fund, most recently as the Director of Investment Analysis. In this position, Jon sourced and conducted due diligence on global equity managers, global fixed income managers, and hedge funds. Jon holds a master’s degree in Financial Mathematics from the University of Chicago, a master’s degree in Business Administration from Emory University, and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He served as an officer in the US Navy from 1994 – 1999 as the Tomahawk Missile Officer on USS Stout (DDG-55) and the Weapons and Boarding Officer on USS Firebolt (PC-10). Jon is a member of the Atlanta Society of Financial Analysts. 

DiMeo Schneider & Associates

Anthony M. Novara, CFA, Research Director - Global Hedge 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.

ELCA Foundation

Eric Golberg, Trustee, Investment Committee

Eric leads on the Board of Trustee and Investment Committee of the ELCA Foundation, which sustains and grows ministries by offering gift planning services to ELCA members and stewarding and growing assets for all the related organizations of the ELCA. Previously Eric was Director and Portfolio Manager for the Hedge Fund Team at NLGIA. This team is responsible for Nippon Life’s hedge fund and private debt investments.  His responsibilities include manager sourcing, due diligence, selection and portfolio construction.  Eric’s career features a combination of alternative investment industry and Asia-Pacific Japan financial market experience. He was a founding member of Minerva Alternative Strategies Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation).  At Minerva Eric built multi-manager portfolios for Japanese institutional investors. Prior to joining Mitsubishi, Eric worked at Chemical/Chase/JP Morgan, where he initially spent two years in Tokyo covering Japanese and foreign financial institutions, then eight years in New York City covering hedge funds, CTA’s, fund of funds, and private equity firms. Eric is on the Board of Trustees of the ELCA Endowment Fund and holds a BA in English from Luther College and an MA from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, specializing in the political economy of Japan and East Asia.  

EMM Wealth

Salvatore Russo, Senior Vice President, Head of Research

Salvatore joined EMM Wealth in 2010 and is a partner of the firm.  He serves as the firm’s Head of Research and is a member of the Investment Committee.  In this role, he works closely with the firm’s Chief Investment Officer and Investment Committee members to formulate the research team priorities.  His responsibilities include overseeing the process for identifying, evaluating and conducting due diligence of prospective funds, and monitoring existing investments. 

​

Prior to joining EMM Wealth, Salvatore served as a Director for Tremont Capital Management, Inc. where he researched various hedge funds strategies for the firm’s discretionary portfolio business.  He joined the firm in 2003 as head of operational risk and built out an independent team and process for assessing hedge fund operations before joining the research group.  Previously, he served as Assistant Vice President for JP Morgan where he spent nearly ten years providing investment consulting services to large corporate and public pension plan sponsors. Salvatore received a B.S. in Finance from University of Scranton and an M.B.A. in Finance and International Business from New York University.

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.

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.

Fairfax County Police Officers' Retirement System

Katherine Molnar, CFA, Chief Investment Officer

Ms. Molnar joined Fairfax County Retirement Systems in 2013 as a Senior Investment Officer responsible for managing the Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System, a $1.3 billion plan. Her responsibilities include all aspects of portfolio management and oversight, including strategic and tactical asset and risk allocation, selection and supervision of external investment managers and risk management. From 2001 until 2012, Ms. Molnar was Vice President, Senior Research Analyst at AIG Investments’ Hedge Fund Solutions Group – both in London and New York. At AIG Investments, Ms. Molnar was responsible for due diligence procedures and research including: sourcing new managers, monitoring current hedge funds, analyzing portfolio risk and performance, making new investment recommendations to an investment committee as well as hedge fund asset allocation recommendations for portfolio construction. She was additionally responsible for portfolio reviews and overall asset allocation recommendations for external client portfolios. Previously, she was Vice President, Market Research Analyst at Citigroup Investments’ Alternative Investment Strategies group. Prior investment management experience includes positions at Paribas Asset Management as well as Trevor Stewart Burton & Jacobsen. Additionally, Ms. Molnar spent one year in Warsaw, Poland launching the first retail mutual funds available to the Polish market as well as two years in Frankfurt, Germany as an intern with J.P. Morgan. Ms. Molnar received a B.S. in Business Administration/Finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a CFA charterholder.

General Motors Asset Management

Derek Lublin, Portfolio Manager, Absolute Return Strategies

Derek Lublin is a Portfolio Manager in the Absolute Return Strategy Group at General Motors Asset Management (GMAM). His primary responsibilities include asset allocation and manager evaluation, selection and oversight for various General Motors entities.  Mr. Lublin identifies and evaluates managers and strategies globally across asset classes designing portfolios to meet the return, risk and liquidity objectives for each investor. Prior to joining GMAM, Mr. Lublin has previous experience with Tribeca Global Management and Citigroup Alternative Investments, a multi strategy hedge fund where he was responsible for manager evaluation, risk management and portfolio construction.  Prior to Citigroup, Mr. Lublin founded the investment advisory firm DML Capital Management.  Mr. Lublin received his undergraduate degree from University of Michigan and earned his MBA from Columbia Business School.

Helmsley Charitable Trust

Meena Lakshman, CFA, Director of Investments

Ms. Lakshman serves as the Director of the Investments team at the Helmsley Charitable Trust. In this role, she is involved in overall asset allocation, portfolio strategy, thematic and manager research.

Prior to joining Helmsley, Meena was an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. In her eight years there, she helped manage $8 billion of global multi-asset class portfolios. She conducted macro-economic research and evaluated managers for addition to the portfolio. She also carried out process, performance, and risk review of portfolios with Institutional clients. Previously, she was the lead portfolio manager of the MRIS Balanced Fund at SBI Mutual Fund in India. She was also an investment banker at ICICI Securities, a leading Indian private financial institution, where she was involved in numerous equity and debt structuring transactions. Meena is a member of the Investment Committee at Foundation Financial Officers group, a professional affiliation group of the 200 largest private foundations in America. She also advises on Program related Investments (PRIs), at Helmsley Trust.

Meena received a bachelor’s in Chemistry, from St. Xavier’s College, India, and an MBA in Finance from JBIMS, India. She also has an MBA from NC State University and holds a CFA designation.

Indiana Public Retirement System

Joe Tolen, CAIA, Director of Multi-Asset Strategies

Joe Tolen is the Director of Multi-Asset Strategies for the Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS) and is responsible for the formulation and implementation of the Risk Parity and Absolute Return portfolios.  Joe joined INPRS in January 2018 and previously served as an Investment Officer focused on Multi-Asset Strategies. Prior to joining INPRS, Joe worked on the Equity Derivatives Sales Trading team for Morgan Stanley in London.  Joe received his BS in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Indiana University.

JP Morgan Alternative Asset Management

Paul Zummo, CFA, Chief Investment Officer and Co-Founder

Mr. Zummo is Chief Investment Officer of J.P. Morgan Alternative Asset Management Hedge Fund Solutions and lead portfolio manager for JPMorgan Multi-Manager Alternatives Fund. He is head of the Portfolio Management Group and a member of the JPMAAM HFS Investment Committee. Mr. Zummo co-founded JPMAAM HFS in 1994. Prior to that, Mr. Zummo served as the manager of retirement plan investments for the Interpublic Group of Companies from 1992 to 1994, where he was responsible for analysis, asset allocation, and manager selection. From 1990 to 1992, he worked at the former Chase organization as an investment analyst and consultant for institutional clients of the Chase Consulting Group. Mr. Zummo received a B.S. from the State University of New York at Albany and an M.B.A. from New York University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute.

K2 Advisors

Art Vinokur, CAIA, Managing Director, Head of Credit, Relative Value, and Event Driven Strategies

Art Vinokur is a Managing Director at K2 Advisors, overseeing the firm's investments in Corporate and Structured Credit, Relative Value, and Event Driven strategies.  Most recently Mr. Vinokur served as K2’s Head of Global Macro, overseeing the firm’s investments in discretionary and systematic macro strategies.  Mr. Vinokur has been with K2 Advisors since October 2004, in that time focusing on a variety of strategies including public and private corporate and structured credit; equity, activist, and event-driven; fixed income arbitrage, volatility, convertible arbitrage, and other relative value strategies.  Prior to joining K2 Mr. Vinokur interned as a Research Associate at the University of Maryland Foundation, where he assisted in manager selection and evaluation of the endowment's alternative investment portfolio. In 2003 he worked on a consulting project for K2 Advisors, evaluating the effects of Hedge Funds' size and age on their performance. Mr. Vinokur received an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Western Maryland College with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics and Business Administration. He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) charterholder.

MassPRIM

Bill Li, CFA, CAIA, Director of Portfolio Completion Strategies

Bill C. Li is Director of Portfolio Completion Strategies at Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board (MassPRIM), the USD 70 billion Massachusetts public pension plan. At MassPRIM, he is responsible for completion strategies investing and oversees approximately $10 billion in investments. Prior to this, he was a Senior Researcher at CoStar Portfolio Strategy in Boston and a Portfolio Analyst at Allianz SE in Frankfurt, Germany. Bill is also a Qualified Futures Practitioner in China. Bill graduated from Brandeis University with a master’s Degree in Economics and Finance and holds the CFA charter and the CAIA charter.

PAAMCO Prisma

Scott Warner, CFA, FRM, Managing Director and Partner

Scott Warner, CFA, FRM (Irvine) is a Managing Director and Partner, joined PAAMCO in 2006 and is Head of Manager Research for the firm. He focuses on the evaluation and selection of managers with North American long/short equity and equity market neutral strategies. Scott focuses on the evaluation and management of managers in those sectors. He also serves as the Portfolio Manager and main point of contact for certain institutional investor relationships and is responsible for portfolio construction of equity-focused customized solutions. Scott is also a member of the firm’s Investment Oversight Committee. Prior to PAAMCO, he worked in the Investment Management Division at Goldman, Sachs & Co. (Los Angeles). Scott received his MBA in Finance from the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management, and holds a BA in Business-Economics (cum laude) from UCLA.

Mercer

John Jackson, CFA, Principal, Hedge Fund Research

John is Global Leader of the Hedge Fund Boutique. The Hedge Fund Boutique focuses on researching Hedge Funds and Multi Asset strategies, developing Intellectual Capital and working with clients on portfolio construction. Prior to joining Mercer, John served in the hedge fund research group at Hammond Associates.  Hammond was acquired by Mercer in January 2011.  Prior to joining the Research Department at Hammond, John was an Associate Consultant, Senior Performance Analyst and a Supervisor in the Performance Analysis Department. Before joining Hammond Associates, he worked as an associate for a financial planning firm in St. Louis. He received a BSBA degree in Economics from the University of Missouri, St. Louis and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder.

​

​

​

​

RockCreek

Alifia Doriwala, Managing Director and Partner

Alifia Doriwala is a Managing Director and Partner at RockCreek. She is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and is involved in portfolio management, asset allocation and manager selection across alternative and traditional asset classes. RockCreek invests with a number of top-tier public and private managers as well as direct and co-investments on behalf of endowments, foundations, and pension funds. Prior to joining RockCreek, Ms. Doriwala was an Equity Arbitrage Trader at Wolverine Trading, L.P., where she was responsible for analyzing, modeling, and trading equity spreads resulting from corporate transactions. Prior to that, she was an Investment Banking Analyst in Merrill Lynch’s Financial Sponsor Group, where she assessed the suitability of potential targets for private equity portfolio companies. Ms. Doriwala graduated from Georgetown University magna cum laude with a B.A. in Economics and English and holds an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from New York University’s Stern School of Business. She is a Trustee Board Member and Member of the Investment and Finance committees at The Langley School.

Russell Investments

Cedric Fan, CFA, Senior Portfolio Manager

Based in New York, Cedric Fan is the lead portfolio manager for Russell Investments’ hedge fund team. In this role, Cedric directly manages or oversees all multi-strategy and single-strategy hedge fund portfolios. Cedric also oversees the global hedge fund research team, which is composed of analysts in New York, Seattle, and London. The research team establishes and maintains ranks on all hedge fund products that are used in portfolios. 

Prior to joining Russell Investments in 2004, Cedric worked at Bear Stearns in its risk management group. When he left Bear, he was serving as its first dedicated fixed income prime brokerage risk manager. Cedric began his career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

B.S. (with distinction), Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison M.A., Economics, New York University

RVK, Inc. 

Alexander Leiken, Senior Alternatives Manager Research Analyst

Alexander joined RVK in 2011 as an Investment Analyst and is located in our Portland office. He was promoted to Alternatives Manager Research Analyst in 2012, to a senior-level alternatives analyst in 2014, and to Manager Research Consultant in 2019.

Alexander’s primary responsibilities include leading RVK’s manager research efforts for Multi-Strategy Hedge Funds, CTAs, and Funds of Hedge Funds, as well as advising clients with respect to hedge fund portfolio construction.

​

Prior to joining RVK, he spent nine months at Fisher Investments working as a Client Services Associate. Alexander was able to gain valuable experience acting as the department’s custodian Point of Contact while working with Fisher’s Investment Counselors to service high-net-worth clients. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. Alexander was an active member of the University of Oregon Investment Group, which manages roughly $1 million across three portfolios.

Seven Bridges Advisors

Kate Ottino, Director

Kate Ottino is a Director at Seven Bridges Advisors, an outsourced investment office for families and endowments overseeing in excess of $5 billion in assets. Prior to joining Seven Bridges in 2011, she was a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs on the convertible bonds trading desk. Previous to GS, Kate worked on the convertible bonds desk at JPMorgan . Kate graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Finance and International Business from Georgetown University.

Shinnecock Partners

Alan Snyder, Founder and Managing Partner

Alan is the Founder and Managing Partner of Shinnecock Partners. Alan was the Founder, CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board of Answer Financial Inc. and Insurance Answer Center, CEO of Aurora National Life Assurance, President/CEO of First Executive Corporation and Executive Vice President and Board Member at Dean Witter Financial Services Group (predecessor to Morgan Stanley), where he formulated the launch of the Discover Card as a member of a three-person team. He is also the former Chairman, President and Board Member of the Western Los Angeles Boy Scout Council. Alan is a graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.

​

​

​

​

​

State Board of Administration of Florida

Shoaib Khan, CFA, CPA, Senior Portfolio Manager - Strategic Investments

Shoaib is a Senior Portfolio Manager within the Strategic Investments Group at Florida State Board of Administration. Previously, he was with Axlewood Asset Management, a family office. Prior to Axlewood, Shoaib was with Union Bancaire Privee, a Switzerland-based private bank, initially serving as Senior Portfolio Manager and subsequently as Global Head of Portfolio Management. Shoaib has also served as a Strategy Head at J.P. Morgan Alternative Asset Management based in New York. Shoaib graduated with a Bachelors of Business Administration from Florida International University and Masters of Accounting from Nova Southeastern University. He is a CFA charter holder and a CPA.        

State of Wisconsin Investment Board

Derek Drummond, CAIA, Portfolio Manager Alpha Funds

Derek Drummond, CAIA, is the Portfolio Manager for the Funds Alpha team at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB).  The Funds Alpha team overseeing approximately $20B in assets. Derek and his team are responsible for the sourcing, evaluation and implementation of external investment managers across both traditional and alternative investment strategies.  Derek has over 19 years of experience developing and implementing investment structures for both asset owners and managers, including developing portfolio construction, analytics and risk management frameworks, and establishing manager due diligence and evaluation processes.  

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.

Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Kirk Sims, CFA, Senior Investment Manager, Head of Emerging Manager Program

Bio coming soon.

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. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Texas Tech University

Dan Parker, Deputy Chief Investment Officer

Dan Parker is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer for Texas Tech University, and is based in Austin, Texas. In this role, he shares broad responsibility for policy, strategy, asset allocation, structure and processes across the organization and the portfolio, in addition to driving the endowment’s investments in public and private equity, diversifying and absolute return strategies, real assets and natural resources. Before relocating to Austin to join Texas Tech, Dan worked in New York as an Investment Officer with Helmsley Charitable Trust, as a Vice President in private equity with BlackRock and as an Associate in investment banking at Citigroup. He began his career serving as a US Marine, where he commanded infantry and reconnaissance units. He holds degrees from Tulane University and The College of William and Mary.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Karen Inal, Senior Portfolio Manager

Karen Inal joined the Foundation in 2010 as a senior portfolio manager.  Ms. Inal works with the chief investment officer to manage the Foundation's investment portfolio.  Her areas of focus are hedge funds, natural resources, real estate, and fixed income.Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Inal spent most of her career at JPMorgan, where she was a managing director in investment banking and advised corporate clients on mergers and acquisitions, financing, and derivatives.  She also worked at Thomson Financial, as head of strategy and mergers and acquisitions, and acted as an advisor to the president of Ithaka.  Ms. Inal holds a BS in industrial engineering from Stanford University.  She serves as a trustee on the Trinity School board and is chair of the investment committee. 

TIFF

John Sinclair, Managing Director, Diversifying Strategies

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.

Titan Advisors

Brian Walsh, Principal & Chief Strategist

Brian Walsh joined Titan Advisors as a Principal and Chief Strategist following Titan’s acquisition of Saguenay Strathmore Capital, Ltd. He is active in the portfolio management process as a member of the Investment Committee. He co-founded Saguenay Capital in 2002, an alternatives-focused investment management firm with an investor base of international institutions and family offices. Brian has over 30 years of investment banking, international capital markets and investment management experience. He had a long career at Bankers Trust, culminating in his appointment as co-head of the Global Investment Bank. Prior to that, he served as chairman of Bankers Trust International where he ran the global derivatives business. Brian received his B.A. and M.B.A. degrees from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada.

Willis Towers Watson

Thierry Adant, Director, Head of Illiquid Credit, Investments

Thierry is Head of Illiquid Credit at Willis Towers Watson. In this role he is responsible for asset allocation and due diligence of investment opportunities for institutional investors globally. Thierry is a member of the Investment Committee managing Willis Towers Watson's Alternative Credit Fund. Thierry has a Bachelor of Science from The Pennsylvania State University.

Wilshire Associates

Jessica Nicosia, Vice President

Jessica Nicosia has worked in the alternatives space for 15+ years, and is currently a Vice-President with Wilshire Associates, where she assists in developing Wilshire’s robust alternatives offering, supporting the firm’s efforts to identify and provide customized alternative investment solutions to financial intermediaries and institutions globally.  Nicosia brings to Wilshire 15 years of experience in the alternative investment industry. Prior to joining Wilshire Associates, she held roles with a focus on marketing quantitative hedge funds at R. G. Niederhoffer Capital Management, Vegasoul and J. E. Moody & Company.

AIMA

Jack Inglis, CEO

Jack Inglis is the Chief Executive Officer of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA*). He has been in the financial services industry and closely involved with hedge funds for over 30 years. He has held senior management positions at both Morgan Stanley, where he served for 16 years, and Barclays, where he was prior to joining AIMA. From 2007 to 2010 he was CEO of London based hedge fund manager, Ferox Capital Management. Jack served as a non-executive director of London Capital Group plc from 2007 to 2010 and currently sits on the board of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA). He began his career in 1983 at UK stockbrokers James Capel (which was subsequently acquired by HSBC) and has extensive experience in origination, distribution, financing and trading across the fixed income and equity capital markets. Jack holds a Master of Arts in Economics from Cambridge University.

​

*AIMA is a not-for-profit global trade association that represents the mutual interests of the alternative funds industry, including hedge funds and private debt funds. It has over 1,900 corporate members across more than 60 countries.   AIMA operates out of offices in London, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo & Toronto.

Agecroft Partners

Don Steinbrugge, CFA, Founder & CEO 

Don Steinbrugge, CFA is the Founder and CEO of Agecroft Partners. Agecroft Partners has won 39 industry awards as the Hedge Fund Marketing Firm of the Year. Don frequently writes white papers on trends he sees in the hedge fund industry, has spoken at over 100 hedge fund conferences, has been quoted in hundreds of articles relative to the hedge fund industry and is a regular guest on business television.  

​

Don has 34 years experience in the investment management industry. Previous to Agecroft Don was a founding principal of Andor Capital Management where he was Head of Sales, Marketing, and Client Service and was a member of the firm’s Operating Committee. When he left Andor, the firm ranked as the second largest hedge fund firm in the world. Previous to Andor, Don was a Managing Director and Head of Institutional Sales for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (now part of Blackrock). Previously, Don was Head of Institutional Sales and on the executive committee for NationsBank Investment Management (now Bank of America Capital Management). 

​

Don is a member of the Board of Directors of Help for Children (Hedge Fund Care), Virginia Home for Boys and Girls Foundation and the Child Savers Foundation. In addition he is a former two term Board of Directors member of the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business, The Science Museum of Virginia Endowment Fund, The Richmond Ballet (The State Ballet of Virginia), and Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. He also served over a decade on the Investment Committee for The City of Richmond Retirement System.

Agecroft Partners

Doug Rothschild, President

Douglas R. Rothschild is President of Agecroft Partners where he helps oversee the day to day operations of the firm. He has over 22 years experience in the financial services industry including 6 on the executive committee of one of the largest global hedge funds. Doug was also President of a Chicago based asset management firm where he led the growth from $300M to a peak of over $1B in AUM. He has been a presenter at hedge funds at industry conferences as well as the premiere business schools in the U.S. Doug earned a master’s degree from Arizona State University and a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College. He also spent 2 years in the NFL with the Chicago Bears and the Cincinnati Bengals.

Agecroft Partners

Cara Fleckenstein, Managing Director

Cara Fleckenstein is a Managing Director at Agecroft Partners LLC, a global award-winning hedge fund consulting and marketing firm.  At Agecroft, Cara works with the team on sourcing and performing due diligence on hedge fund managers running a variety of strategies.  She develops relationships with pensions, endowments, foundations, family offices, consultants, and funds of funds in the Americas, Asia and Middle East.  Prior to joining Agecroft, Cara worked at a multi-billion dollar event driven hedge fund.  Previously, she was part of Bank of America's Capital Introduction team where she performed manager due diligence on hedge funds running a variety of equity, credit, and macro strategies, and developed relationships with institutions and family offices.   Prior to BofA, Cara created investment strategies in currency options for hedge funds, pensions, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and corporations at Citibank, and began her career as an options market-maker with Société Générale.  Cara earned a B.A. in Economics from Colorado College.  

Backstop BarclayHedge Division

Sol Waksman, CEO

Mr. Waksman is the founder and CEO of BarclayHedge, a leading independent, research-based provider of information and data services to the alternative investment industry founded in 1985. With more than 30 years of executive experience in the industry, he is a widely quoted media source, providing expert perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends to the financial world. Mr. Waksman has served as a Director of The Foundation for Managed Derivatives Research. He has been a guest lecturer at Cornell University, served on industry panels, and published industry articles. Mr. Waksman holds a BA in Psychology and Economics from City University of New York.

BDO

Dale Thompson, Partner

Dale Thompson is an assurance partner serving registered funds, alternative funds and broker dealers in New York. Dale has more than 21 years experience managing multiple audit engagements covering a wide range of asset management companies including business development companies, closed-end funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, mutual funds, registered investment partnerships, and investment advisers. The structures of the funds include domestic partnerships and off-shore corporations of various structures (master-feeder, parallel funds, mini-master), including fund of funds, commodity pools, covering a range of strategies long/short, event driven, distressed, and macro relative value. 

Dale effectively leads teams of audit, IT, tax, and valuation executives in planning and executing internal control assessments, and account balance procedures to address client specific risk factors, and advising with senior client executives on internal controls, accounting and reporting principles, regulatory matters and industry developments. He has advised investment advisers on accounting, structuring and regulatory matters impacting their products as well as their advisory business. 

Dale serves as a contributor to BDO thought leadership publications specific to investment managers and funds. He also serves as the technical resource to our Asset Management Practice. Prior to joining BDO, Dale served as CFO of a multi-billion dollar investment company and as partner at a Big Four firm.

Crowe

Patrice R Muller, Founding Partner

Ms. Muller is an Audit Senior Manager and has more than 10 years of experience. Currently, she devotes a significant portion of her time to the financial services industry and is a leader in the Firm’s investment company audit practice. Prior to joining Crowe LLP, Patrice worked at a large, multi-strategy hedge fund.  She started her career at Rothstein Kass. 

Gavekal

Anatole Kaletsky, Founding Partner

Anatole is co-founder and co- chairman of Gavekal. He is also a columnist for Reuters and the International Herald Tribune, and chairman of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. His recent book ‘Capitalism 4.0’ was nominated for the 2011 Samuel Johnson Prize.

Before founding Gavekal, Anatole worked as an economic journalist at the Financial Times, The Economist and the London Times.

Hirschler

Brian Farmer, Investment Management Practice Chair

Brian Farmer is the leader of the Hirschler’s investment management and private funds practice group.  His practice focuses on the investment management industry, advising both institutional investors and investment managers.  Brian’s institutional investor clientele includes several top endowments and outsourced chief investment offices (OCIOs).  He also advises fund managers and registered investment advisors (RIAs) regarding personnel issues, executive compensation, ownership arrangements, change of control transactions, outside business activities and regulatory compliance.  Brian has formed and advised on the operations of numerous private funds in a variety of asset classes.  He believes a deep understanding of the investment management industry is essential to effectively serving its participants.  Brian is a frequent lecturer at investment industry events and has been quoted in Reuters, The Wall Street Journal Online, PE Manager, Hedge Fund Alert and Opalesque, among other publications.

Withum

Joseph Cassano, Partner

Joseph Cassano is a partner and leader of Withum’s Financial Services Group based out of the Firm’s New York office. With over 14 years of experience, Joe provides accounting, tax and consulting services to clients in the alternative investments sector. He is currently focused as a business advisor to a variety of alternative investments including hedge funds, fund-of-funds, and private equity funds. Joe’s experience with alternative investment (including hedge fund of funds) includes funds with assets under management ranging from $1 million to $5 billion and includes a wide range of financial products including common stock, derivatives and various debt instruments. As a thought leader in the industry, Joe is the author of the Wiley Advantage Investment Entity Audit Guide. In addition, Joe is actively involved in the development of best practices in the hedge fund industry, and the development of in-house training programs to all levels of professional personnel.

Joe is a graduate of the Pace University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in public accounting. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSCPA), and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA). He is also an active member of the Investment Management Committee of the NYSSCPA.

Yahoo! Finance

Julia La Roche, Senior Writer and Reporter

Julia is a Correspondent for Yahoo Finance covering the C-suite. Her on-camera interviews include former Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, Alibaba vice chairman Joe Tsai, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone COO/president Jon Gray, Blackstone vice-chair Tony James, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach, Galaxy Digital Assets CEO Mike Novogratz, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, Landry's CEO Tilman Fertitta, Pershing Square Capital CEO Bill Ackman, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, and many more. Julia studied broadcast journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she competed on the university's equestrian team. Outside of work, Julia is a member of the NYC Parks Enforcement Patrol Mounted Auxiliary. She's also a volunteer for the New York Junior League