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TRENDS IN FAMILY OFFICES
MAY 24TH
On May 24th we will host a full day seminar on Trends in Family Offices. This event is oriented towards persons in the Family Office
industry working primarily for single family offices as well as multi-family offices. We will spend the day reviewing trends in
family offices with leading experts on the subject matter. This event is for people who presently run or are involved in
Family Office business related info. To get through security, you must register. The event starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 5:30 p.m. A reception will follow.
TOM HUDSON, FOUNDER AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER - DOUBLOON CAPITAL
Tom Hudson – well-known shareholder activist investor and founder of Pirate Capital - is the founder of Doubloon Capital LLC, focuses on distressed and bankrupt companies. Doubloon Capital primarily invests in the industrial, real estate, retail, and casino sectors. Pirate Capital, which Mr. Hudson founded in 2002, invested in distressed companies such as resort operator Intrawest and prison operator Cornell Co. and urged those company’s managers to sell them. The firm returned 99.64% between 2003 and 2009, twice as much as the S&P 500. Doubloon Capital’s investment strategy is to engage in value investing by finding undervalued companies through signals from the macroeconomic environment.
JASON N. ADER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND FOUNDER - HCAM FAMILY OFFICE
Mr. Ader is the founder and sole member of Hayground Cove Asset Management, a New York-based family office. Mr. Ader is also the founder of Hayground Cove Capital Partners LLC, a merchant bank focused on the real estate and consumer sectors which he founded in March 2009. Mr. Ader sits on the Board of Directors of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., serves as Executive Chairman of Reunion Hospitality Trust, Director of Western Liberty Bancorp., and Chairman of India Hospitality Corp. Prior to founding Hayground Cove Asset Management, he was a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., from 1995 to 2003, where he performed equity and high yield research for more than 50 companies in the gaming, lodging and leisure industries. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Ader served as a Senior Analyst at Smith Barney covering the gaming industry. From 1990 to 1993, Mr. Ader served as a buy-side analyst at Baron Capital, where he covered the casino industry. Mr. Ader was rated as one of the top ranked analysts by Institutional Investor Magazine for nine consecutive years from 1994 to 2002. Mr. Ader has a B.A. degree in Economics from New York University and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University, Stern School of Business.
JOHN SCANNELL, FOUNDER AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER - HILDENE CAPITAL
Mr. Scannell joined Hildene at the firm’s inception. Mr. Scannell is responsible for oversight of financial controls, systems and operations. In addition, Mr. Scannell is the in-house advisor to legal matters regarding structured products. Prior to joining Hildene, Mr. Scannell worked in the structured finance market for 13 years. His most recent position was as Vice President in the CDO structuring group at Citigroup where he provided on-desk legal, structuring, documentation, compliance and administration support for the CDO structuring business. Prior to joining Citigroup, Mr. Scannell was an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP where he represented a variety of issuers and underwriters in transactions involving collateralized debt obligations, asset-backed securities and other securities issued in publicly-registered transactions and private placements. Mr. Scannell also was a litigator for Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Before attending law school, Mr. Scannell was financial controller for the New York division of a Fortune 500 medical services company, responsible for financial controls and operations. Mr. Scannell has a Juris Doctorate and graduated cum laude from Brooklyn Law School in 1996 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting at San Diego State University in 1987.
JC KANE, MANAGING DIRECTOR - LIGHTHOUSE POINT ADVISORS
Lighthouse Point Advisors advises families on alternative and investment decisions and advise investment managers on marketing, advisory, and strategic positioning. JC Kane is a highly accomplished investment executive with more than 30 years of hands on experience on Wall Street. From the mid 1980's, he built a successful career of managing assets and private investment funds for individuals and private families worldwide. He has been a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and Laidlaw. He was CEO of SB Group and SBGAM a $900 million asset manager which he sold in 2006. He has an MBA from Tuck / Dartmouth and a PMC from Wharton.
MAXWELL DREVER, CHAIRMAN EMERITUS - CROSSBEAM HOLDINGS
Mr. Drever, the founder of Concierge Asset Management, a firm that merged with Crossbeam Capital, continues to specialize in acquiring and re-developing challenged workforce apartments as well as condominiums, and other properties.
Over a 40 year-career, Drever companies have garnered a verb in acquiring and redeveloping more than 135 nonperforming or underperforming apartments and condominiums in growth cities during real estate cycle downturns and redeveloped them into Class B and Class A units. In acquiring over 18,000 units, Concierge was one of the RTC’s largest, if not the largest, early buyers of multifamily housing (apartments and failing condominium developments). The firm, along with its fund investors, has a legacy of social responsibility. Concierge acquired and redeveloped over 10,000 distressed apartments in Houston alone.
In the current real estate cycle, Drever is a co-founder and one of the investment strategists for RENOVO, a next generation triple bottom line fund. RENOVO is focused to new institutional partners as well as legacy investors the opportunity to invest again in acquiring “workforce housing” with each bottom line incorporating long-term sustainability:
1st Bottom Line: Financial Returns from stabilized assets that generate 8% or more each year;
2nd Bottom Line: Job Creation and Enduring Workforce Housing;
3rd Bottom Line: Environmental Sustainability.Drever, along with legacy investor families and friends, invests on a pari passu basis with his firm’s institutional funds. Currently they are committing to invest in RENOVO Parallel Fund II and benefit in having the same wholesale (single promote), terms as their institutional investors enjoy in the triple bottom line, RENOVO Fund.
TERRY MEEHAN, CHAIRMAN & CEO - AZIMUTH INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC
KEN LASSNER, PORTFOLIO MANAGER - APERIO GROUP
Ken Lassner is a product expert in developing tax-managed customized index solutions including Socially Responsive and Thematic Beta tilts. Ken has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Ken was most recently at US Trust and Columbia Management as a Senior Product Specialist focusing on providing tax efficient equity solutions to high net worth clients and wealth advisors. Prior to that he was a Product Specialist for Deutsche Asset Management in the Advanced Research and Quantitative Strategies Group and an Investment Strategist at JP Morgan Investment Management. Ken also spent nine years as a plan sponsor for the Federal Reserve and the Interpublic Group of Companies, managing pension plan assets. Ken earned a B.S. in finance from Babson College and an M.B.A. in finance/investments from Bernard Baruch College. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the New York Society of Securities Analysts. Ken also has a series 7 license (inactive). Ken resides in NYC with his family.
ABIGAIL LAUFER, CEO AND FOUNDER - VIRID CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
Abigail E. Laufer is the CEO and founder of Virid Capital Management a firm devoted to investments in public cleantech companies. She oversees the investment philosophy and management of the firm. Ms. Laufer has over 27 years of investment experience
Ms. Laufer’s career has spanned a broad cross-section of the institutional investment industry. Following her early days as a securities analyst with the National Bank of Detroit she was appointed Director of Mutual Fund Research for Merrill Lynch in New York. She was then recruited by the Frank Russell Company as a consultant serving Russell’s Fortune 500 clients, providing strategy and conducting manager research for their pension funds and high net worth clients. While at Russell she was the first consultant to work directly with George Russell in the formation of the high net worth effort at that firm. In 1997, she co-founded Hanover Square Associates to represent managers and provide marketing consulting services on a contractual basis. Her successful fundraising venture led to her involvement as a partner at the New Energy Fund, a hedge fund devoted to public and private investments in the renewable energy sector. She formed Virid Capital Management in 2009 to focus exclusively on public market investments in the cleantech sector.
She has an A.B. from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan. She holds a current Series 7 and 63 registration.
ROBERT GENDELMAN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER AND FOUNDER - RG ADVISORS
Robert Gendelman is the CIO and Founder of RG Advisors. He has sourced, interviewed and performed due diligence on more than 70 fund managers. He has made allocations to multiple managers and runs a diversified portfolio diversified to funds, equities, commodities, bonds and currencies. Direct investments include real estate and private equity holdings. Prior to RG Advisors, Bob was a management committee member and portfolio manager with Clearbridge Advisors, managing Legg Mason's $4 billion Capital & Income Fund. Before that he was the founder of Cobble Creek Partners, LLC, a $250 million hedge fund and he was a partner and senior portfolio manager with Neuberger Berman. Bob holds a JD and MBA from the University of Chicago.
JOSH ROACH, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER - PHI GROUP CAPITAL
MIKE DEVLIN, DIRECTOR - SPRUCE PRIVATE INVESTORS
As Director of Portfolio Management, Michael is responsible for business development and managing client relationships. Michael’s focus is to work with clients to ensure they receive the level of service and transparency they require to affirm their individual investment strategy.
Michael joined Spruce Private Investors in March 2010 bringing with him close to two decades of experience helping family offices and high net worth individuals navigate the issues associated with personal wealth tied to corporate success. Over the years Michael has worked closely with clients to identify their unique investment challenges and to develop tax efficient investment strategies utilizing a full range of derivative products.
Prior to joining Spruce, Michael worked and consulted with family offices and high net worth individuals to create customized investment strategies through the use of a broad range of equity derivatives and derivative products. Michael spent five years in the Private Client Group at Lehman Brothers focused on the unique investment needs of clients who held large concentrated stock positions. He continued to build his derivatives expertise in sales roles at both Commerzbank and Merrill Lynch. Michael then joined BNP Paribas where he was responsible for developing tax efficient investment strategies for family offices through the creation of structured products.
Michael earned his M.B.A. in Finance from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at The University of Maryland.
GEORGE HAWES, PORTFOLIO MANAGER - FAIRVIEW PARTNERS
George Hawes’ twenty eight years of experience in the Capital Markets include positions as Director of Marketing for several alternative managers and President of Citicorp Securities Markets, Inc.
At Citicorp, George was responsible for all mortgage-backed product marketing and head of U.S. regional and European securities sales. Prior to joining Fairview Partners, George spent five years as an independent third party marketer for Millennium Global Investments, Beta Hedge and March Partners where he raised over $500 million from various institutional investors.
George graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. in Finance and the Executive Program at University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He served as a Captain and Naval Aviator in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1967 - 1971.
LEW GELBMAN, FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER - COZZENE ADVISORS
Lewis Gelbman is principal owner of Cozzene Advisors Inc. He is a graduate of Brooklyn College with a Bachelors Degree in Economics, and a graduate with honors of NYU with a Masters Degree in both Accounting and Business. Mr. Gelbman holds futures license Series 3 and securities license Series 65.
Prior to Cozzene, he was a Senior Vice President of Finance for Schieffelin & Somerset Company, a one-billion-dollar importer of fine wines and spirits. The company is a joint venture partnership between LVMH, a French company, and Diageo, a British company. He traveled extensively for both companies working on various global initiatives in regard to banking, investments and insurance issues. Before that he was Vice President-Treasurer of Guinness America, a two-billion-dollar manufacturer and importer of adult beverages. In that position he was responsible for the management of all programs related to financial transactions for North America. Included in those transactions were numerous hedging programs for both commodities and currencies.
As a Senior Executive for Guinness and LVMH, Mr. Gelbman was instrumental in setting up creative risk management programs, which produced significant savings and provided extensive coverage for risks in excess of one hundred million dollars. He was Chairman of an offshore insurance captive created in the Bahamas to handle the extensive insurance requirements for the North American subsidiaries.
While at Guinness, he was the head of the companies' Investment Committees for both the United States and Canadian companies. The investment assets within the retirement plan funds during that time grew from approximately $125 million to over $250 million after retirement payments and fees. This growth was achieved through the selection of top-flight investment managers and the use of careful asset allocation. This created a favorable funding status within the plans and significantly reduced the related pension expenses of the company. He implemented one of the first 401(K) plans while at Schieffelin and Somerset.
He has formerly been the Treasurer of the International Amateur Athletic Association, a nonprofit organization that has raised in excess of two million dollars to help educate financially disadvantaged children. He is a former Chairman of the Distillers and Vintners Financial Group, an industry wide group of financial executives from leading companies in the adult beverage industry. He is a former member of the New York Treasurers Group and a current member of the Financial Planners Association of the United States working with the Westchester chapter of that organization.
RICHARD SELVALA - CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND CO-FOUNDER, HARVEST VOLATILITY MANAGEMENT
Rick Selvala is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Harvest Volatility Management. Since inception in April 2008, Harvest has grown its strategy notional AUM from $1mm to $1,106mm via 76 separately managed accounts (as of 5/1/11) which includes the Harvest Volatility Alpha Fund (HVAF). We are targeting ~8-12% annualized returns over time (on cash invested/posted or on the cash equivalent margin release capacity on your underlying securities/collateral). Harvest was positive in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 YTD. Our annualized return since inception is +9.4% net of fees and has outperformed the S&P 500 by 21.6% with less than ½ the standard deviation and a correlation to the S&P 500 of about 0.2.
Prior to founding Harvest, Rick was the Head of Client Strategy, Marketing and Sales for Volaris, a volatility management unit of Credit Suisse. He was responsible for managing the private banking, institutional and third party distribution channels and relationships. He was also actively involved in the development of new Volaris products and strategy offerings. Prior to joining Volaris he was a Director in Credit Suisse’s Equity Derivatives group responsible for marketing and structuring hedging solutions for ultra high net worth clients and third party intermediaries.
Prior to joining Credit Suisse, he spent eight years at UBS advising the firm’s top corporate, institutional and high net worth clients regarding FX and equity derivative hedging solutions. He won the firm’s top cross product marketing award in 1998. He also won Global Finance’s award for the most innovative corporate FX hedging strategy in 1999. He has spoken at numerous derivatives and risk management conferences and contributed many articles concerning risk management practices.
Rick also spent four years with General Motors’ N.Y. Treasurer’s Office in Capital Markets and Fixed Income assignments. His most recent position was Manager of GM’s FX & Commodities Hedging group in New York.
Rick graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1985 where he was a member of Pi Tau Sigma and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He received an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1990 where he was a General Motors’ Fellow and a writer for the Harbus.
LARRY LEPARD - GENERAL PARTNER, EQUITY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES
Mr. Lepard has spent his 28 year career as an investor, principally focusing on venture capital opportunities. Prior to co-founding EMA, Mr. Lepard spent 13 years at Geocapital Partners, in Fort Lee, NJ. There he was one of two Managing General Partners and was responsible for several venture capital funds. Prior, Mr. Lepard spent 7 years at Summit Partners in Boston and California, where he was a General Partner. Mr. Lepard received a BA in Economics from Colgate and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Kosowsky brings 25 years of successful management, technology and investment experience. Prior to co-founding EMA, as an early employee at QUALCOMM, Mr. Kosowsky led several technology development efforts and headed wireless data initiatives and strategy. He has invested and provided interim executive management to many early stage technology companies. Mr. Kosowsky is an active member of MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service. Mr. Kosowsky holds BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from MIT, and an MBA with
STEPHEN KING, FOUNDER AND CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER- C12 CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
Stephen King is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of C12 Capital. Mr. King is responsible for all of the firm’s investment management activities. Mr. King was formerly a Managing Director of Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays, based in New York. He managed the Principal Mortgage Trading Group (PMTG), a proprietary trading group specializing in U.S. mortgages, corporate credit, and other fixed income strategies. Mr. King joined Barclays Capital in 2005, prior to which he held various positions at Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank, and Credit Suisse. Mr. King has a BEng from Kings College London and an MBA from London Business School.
C12 is an independent asset manager formed in September 2009 via a spinoff of a proprietary trading and risk management group from Barclays Bank PLC (“Barclays”). The senior members of C12’s team worked together for 5+ years prior to C12’s formation. The firm currently employs 60 total staff, including 15 investment professionals and a dedicated risk management team. C12 Helix Liquid Opportunities (the “Fund”) is a Macro fund that trades in a variety of liquid fixed income, rates, and credit markets, both on a directional and relative value basis.
IRWIN LATNER, PARTNER- HERRICK FEINSTEIN LLP
Irwin Latner has a broad based practice that focuses on representing hedge fund and private equity fund managers in the establishment of private investment funds and their ongoing operations. Irwin represents both domestic and offshore managers who employ varied investment strategies and need assistance with fund set up and structuring, SEC registration and reporting, agreements with strategic investors, developing effective compliance programs, marketing and advertising practices, employment and compensation arrangements, portfolio investment transactions, derivatives, and compliance with the myriad of federal securities and commodities laws applicable to their business. In addition to representing investment advisers and fund managers, Irwin represents U.S. and non-U.S. based broker dealers, placement agents, commodity trading advisers, seeding firms, family offices and other types of financial service companies and alternative investment firms.
Irwin regularly speaks at hedge fund industry seminars and is frequently quoted in the press on current hedge fund industry issues. Irwin graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn Law School.
ADAM MCCABE, SENIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGER- ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT
Adam McCabe is a senior porfolio manager on the fixed income - Asia Pacific desk, responsible for currency and interest rate strategies in Aberdeen's Asian fixed income portfolios. Adam joined Aberdeen in 2009 following the acquisition of certain asset management businesses from Credit Suisse. Adam worked for Credit Suisse since 2001, where he was a director/investment manager responsible for the development and implementation of its Asian currency and interest rate strategies. Prior to that he was a member of Credit Suisse's Australian fixed income team, where he was responsible for interest rate and currency strategies. He was a member of the global currency and emerging currency strategy groups. Adam was also Head of Fixed Income for Woori Credit Suisse Asset Management, Korea, where he was responsible for the fixed income and money market portfolio management, investment strategy and processes.
Adam has a BComm (First Class Honours and University Medal) from the University of Sydney, Australia and a Diploma in Global Finance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong
MATT KATZEFF, MANAGING DIRECTOR- ASHIR CAPITAL
Matthew Katzeff is the Head of the M&A department and a Managing Director at Ashir Group. Since beginning his investment banking career at The Blackstone Group, Mr. Katzeff has developed a successful 17 year career predominantly focused upon Mergers & Acquisitions advisory, Private Equity sourcing and execution, as well as the development and execution of debt and equity capital transactions, all across a wide array of industry sectors as well as corporate sizes and situations. Since his tenure at Blackstone, Mr. Katzeff was a member of the M&A teams at SBC Warburg Dillon Read (currently UBS), Credit Suisse First Boston and Peter J. Solomon Company. Mr. Katzeff then became a Vice President with North Atlantic Trading Company, focusing on the sourcing and execution of both stand-alone and “bolt-on” private equity investments, primarily within the consumer products sector.
He was also responsible for the financing and refinancing of a number of the company’s investments and acquisitions, including the arrangement of senior debt facilities and high-yield offerings. Immediately prior to joining Ashir Group, Mr. Katzeff was a Managing Director with J Giordano Securities Group, an investment banking boutique in which he focused upon the development, strategy and execution of debt and equity capital transactions as well as M&A across a number of industry sectors. Mr. Katzeff’s experience at both bulge-bracket institutions as well as boutique investment firms have given him a unique and very well-rounded perspective enabling him to be truly value-added with respect to corporate strategy, development and value, while maintaining a very strong sense of creativity. Mr. Katzeff has closed transactions amounting to an aggregate value of approximately $18 billion, including the Blackstone Group’s acquisition of Wahaha Group Corporation, a large Chinese consumer products company. Sectors in which Mr. Katzeff has operated include telecommunications, consumer products, retail, business process outsourcing, teleservices, IT services, aerospace & defense, healthcare, building materials, gaming, enterprise software, financial institutions, natural resources, alternative fuels, and general industrial & manufacturing. Corporate situations have included public and private entities, family-owned situations, joint ventures, corporate partnerships and defense from hostile acquisitions.
Mr. Katzeff graduated from Cornell University, earning a BS in Economics with a concentration in International Finance. He is Series 7, 63 and 79 licensed and also proficient in Spanish and Japanese.
DREW MASON, FOUNDER - JADE CAPITAL
Drew Mason is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Jade Capital Management LLC, a leading provider of venture and growth capital for top entrepreneurs in China’s financial services sector. Mr. Mason is also one of the founding members of Sohu.com, one of the first Chinese companies to list on NADAQ, and China Risk Finance LLC, China’s leading consumer finance solutions provider voted Private Equity International’s Venture Capital deal of the year in 2007. Mr. Mason was formerly the head of investment banking for the technology sector in Asia Pacific for UBS Warburg, where he worked on Asia’s M&A deal of the year in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Mr. Mason’s operating experience includes serving as an intelligence officer during Operation Desert Storm for the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). Mr. Mason is on the board of China Risk Finance LLC, Shanghai Harvest Network Ltd. and a member of the President of Brown University’s China Council. He has a BA in history from Brown University where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and a MBA from Harvard Business School. Mr. Mason has worked in New York, London and Hong Kong and currently resides in Larchmont, New York.
JOSEPH ANZA, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER - ANZA CAPITAL
Joseph V. Anza is the former Vice President of Corporate Development for National Steel Supply, Inc. During his tenure there, National Steel Supply turned over their work force 100% and became the largest steel distributorship in the New York City area. He rolled out a multi-cultural strategy to take market share from competitors by selling to ethnic communities with salesmen of the same ethnic background. This resulted in National Steel’s revenue tripling over an 8 year period of time. As a boardmember of National Steel Supply, he remains intimately involved with their strategy and ventures. Prior to National Steel he was an investment banking analyst with Barclays Capital. Joseph V. Anza is a Tufts University alumnus.
NATHAN TROUTMAN, PARTNER - TROUTMAN INVESTMENTS
Nathan Troutman is a leading investment executive who has restructured companies and investments across varied asset classes. He has also become known for his effectiveness in working with some of the world's most prominent business families. Beginning with the Garza Sada family of Mexico, to most recently the family of Julian Robertson of Tiger Management, Nathan has demonstrated a unique hands-on approach to improving investment performance. In both instances, he restructured the families’ investments and businesses working in very diverse environments: Latin America and New Zealand respectively. Nathan has also managed complex investment situations for the family of Geoffrey Kent, founder and Chairman of Abercrombie & Kent, focusing on the Middle East and Africa.
An important part of Nathan's career was working with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen from 1999-2005. As an outside advisor, Nathan was recruited by Paul Allen to lead a complete reorganization of his multi-billion dollar portfolio. To facilitate that process, Nathan formed Vulcan Capital emphasizing cash flow and intrinsic value. While directing Vulcan Capital and restructuring a portfolio with 100+ direct investments, Nathan built an institutional-quality team of 30 investment professionals covering multiple asset classes. Under Nathan's leadership, the team completed numerous transactions creating several hundred million dollars of value. Key companies restructured include Charter Communications, DreamWorks SKG, TechTV, The Sporting News, Digeo, and RCN. In addition to serving as Board Chairman of The Sporting News and Board Member of Oxygen Media, TechTV and Digeo, Nathan headed the Investment Committee and served on the President's Council with CEOs and Presidents of companies controlled by Paul Allen. Nathan also was a key member of strategy teams for Charter Communications, Microsoft and DreamWorks SKG.
Nathan's success with the investment portfolio led to further executive oversight and reorganization of all activities of Paul Allen through Vulcan, Inc., Mr. Allen’s 500-person company for real estate development, philanthropy, technology R&D and personal holdings. These include the Portland Trailblazers, Seattle Seahawks, The Hospital Club (London), EMP Museum, FlipStart mini PC and Interval Research. Active in the successful launches of the Allen Brain Atlas and Science Fiction Museum, Nathan is credited with improving company culture by instilling disciplined investment practices in all business and philanthropic activities.
Before his work with Paul Allen, Nathan established and managed a private equity fund for the Garza Sada family, a leading business family. Managed through the family's investment bank, Bancomer, the fund was among the first institutional private equity funds in Latin America. As a Managing Partner, Nathan improved investment performance by integrating US business practices into a foreign culture, and did so as the only non-Latin American member of the Management Team and Investment Committee. He also recruited and worked closely with Dale Hanson, former CEO of CalPERS, as Chairman of the Fund Advisory Board.
Nathan holds an MBA from Kellogg Business School as part of a condensed JD/MBA program at Northwestern University.
CHRISTIAN PICOT, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER / MANAGING DIRECTOR- ODYSSEY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC
Mr. Picot has over 25 years of experience in the global investment fund industry and is the Chief Operating Officer of OIM. From 2004 to 2009, Mr. Picot was a Portfolio Manager at Alexandra Investment Management as well as Head of Research at the firm. Prior to joining Alexandra Investment Management, Mr. Picot was the Managing Director of Equity Brokerage and Derivatives for Credit Lyonnais Securities in New York, and subsequently Global Head of European Equity in London where he successfully initiated a hedge fund sales group. Prior, Mr. Picot worked at Paribas Corporation for over 11 years, where he managed all non-dollar equity products and covered large long/short equity and convertible hedge funds. At Baring Securities from 1986 to 1989, he was an analyst and worked in sales covering the European region. Mr. Picot began his career in 1983 as a global analyst in the consumer sector at Argus Research in New York.
KRIS CARNEY, FORMER DIRECTOR INVESTMENTS AND CIO - PRIVATUS
Kris Managed the investments for a family office (100+ trusts) as it transitioned to a private trust company. In process he analyzed over 300 equity holdings - high concentration of technology, healthcare and energy; liquidating 75% from ’07 - early ’08. Reinvested proceeds into multiple asset classes, managers and structures in ’09. He analyzed and funded multiple private equity and venture backed tech, healthcare and energy investments. He diversified assets into a multiple asset class open architecture structure adding active equity managers, alternative investments, taxable fixed income and real assets. He also led the investment committee in setting investment policy, asset allocation, risk parameters, benchmarks, performance, due diligence, manager selection and buy and sell recommendations. He also built new family office investment and operations platforms, including research, banking, technology, trading relationships and selection of investment consultant; negotiated contract terms and fees; responsible for committee meeting agendas and presentation materials, client statements, portfolio reviews and client meetings. Participated in creation of common trust funds, internal and external fund accounting, audits and trust review committee.
He has series 7 and 63 licenses and is a Registered Investment Advisor. He has a degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in Economics.
GABRIEL BALDINUCCI, MANAGING DIRECTOR - PALM VENTURES LLC
Gabriel Baldinucci is a Managing Director at Palm Ventures in Greenwich, CT, where he invests in and develops innovative new companies across a range of industries. Prior to Palm Ventures, Gabriel teamed up with Richard Branson in 2004 as a Vice President at Virgin Management US, where he focused on creating new innovative companies in the consumer sector. Virgin Management is the Venture Capital arm of Sir Richard Branson’s’ Virgin Group of companies, with investment teams focused on Aviation, Media& Telecoms, Leisure& Hospitality, Financial Services, Health& Wellness, and Renewable Energy.
Before Virgin, Gabriel spent two years in the Investment Management Division at Goldman Sachs before leaving to return to more entrepreneurial ventures. He started his first company in high school in 1988, a local pizza chain he sold six years later. He then earned a BA in Economics, cum laude, at Duke University and earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
NIRMAL SAVERIMUTTU, PRINCIPAL - VIRGIN MANAGEMENT USA
Nirmal Saverimuttu is a Principal at Virgin Management USA, the venture capital arm of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. At Virgin, Nirmal is responsible for directing Virgin’s North American investment activities with a particular focus on consumer services businesses in Leisure & Hospitality and Aviation & Travel. He has been extensively involved in a number of Virgin Group transactions in the US including recent investments in Virgin Hotels and Virgin America. Prior to Virgin, Nirmal worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs. He has a MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney where he graduated with First Class Honors. Nirmal has experience working in Africa, the UK and Australia and now resides in New York City.
SEAN SEBASTIAN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER - BIRCHMERE VENTURES LLC
Seán Sebastian is the founding partner of Birchmere Ventures, a Pittsburgh-based $160 million fund family focused on private cleantech, medical, and technology companies. Sample investments he has led include CyOptics, FreeMarkets (IPO and sold to Ariba), ServiceWare (IPO), Precision Therapeutics, MediaSite (sold to Sonic Foundry), NeoLinear (sold to Cadence Design Systems), and Safeguard Interactive (sold to Storage Technologies).
Seán has over 25 years experience in technology commercialization, capital markets, and management consulting. Previously at General Electric Information Services, Seán directed advanced technologies commercialization activities. He was also an applied artificial intelligence systems consultant for various public and private sector clients of American Management Systems.
Seán’s current and prior civic commitments include board roles at Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Duquesne Club, Pittsburgh Technology Council, Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative, Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association, and WYEP-FM.
Seán holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
MODERATOR - JOHN ROGERS, PARTNER - HERRICK FEINSTEIN LLP
John engages in a broad range of private equity and venture capital transactions, including acquisitions and divestitures, investments, joint ventures, financings and restructurings. He has extensive experience structuring transactions and negotiating financial terms, including debt covenants. He routinely reviews financial models and prepares capitalization tables, liquidity scenarios and other financial tools to assist clients in their understanding of a transaction.
John serves as a primary corporate legal adviser to middle market companies and funds. Acting as an outsourced general counsel or supplementing in-house capabilities, he handles a wide range of strategic and commercial legal matters, such as commercial agreements (including license agreements), resolution of commercial disputes and a wide variety of employment and compensation matters.
John also has experience in several other corporate specialty areas, such as fund formations, CDOs, real estate joint ventures and business divorces.
John began his legal career at Shearman & Sterling LLP as a member of their capital markets group, focusing on securities offerings, and subsequently, as a member of their M&A group. John has also worked at Morrison & Foerster LLP, focusing on representation of venture capital firms and companies in the technology, media, life sciences and entertainment industries.
RYAN URECH, PORTFOLIO MANAGER - AVERE FINANCIAL GROUP
Ryan L. Urech serves as the Managing Principal of Avere Financial Group LLC and is responsible for the execution and FINRA compliance for product securities sales, through Avere Financial. He also serves as the Investment Manager of Avere Equity Advisors LLC, a state regulated investment advisor responsible for investment management of Avere Financial sponsored investment programs.
Mr. Urech’s breadth of experience ranges from investment banking transaction structuring and distribution to private equity capital placement. His expertise encompasses all facets of finance and investments including investment analysis, underwriting, structuring, negotiation, and placement of capital in the private and institutional markets.
Mr. Urech began his corporate finance career as an investment banker for Banc of America Securities LLC (BAS), the investment banking subsidiary of Bank of America Corp., serving in several roles in the leverage finance and structured finance divisions. During his tenure at BAS, Mr. Urech completed over $22 billion in corporate debt financing for corporate acquisitions, corporate mergers, private equity sponsor lead leverage buy-outs, and asset securitizations.
Prior to joining the Avere companies, Mr. Urech served as the Vice President of Finance for Cirrus Health, coordinating the in-house healthcare capital markets program, managing debt and equity relationships, and strategic financial planning and analysis. Prior to Cirrus Health, Mr. Urech was Vice President of Acquisitions for a high net worth family office servicing multifamily real estate private equity. He oversaw the acquisition and fund raising efforts of over $100 million in private placement securities through a newly created broker dealer distribution network
Mr. Urech received a bachelors degree in finance from Texas Tech University, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) securities registrations as a general securities principal (Series 24), a general securities representative (Series 7), investment banking representative (Series 79), investment advisor representative (Series 65), uniform securities agent (Series 63), and is currently a candidate in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program
STUART WEISBROD, PORTFOLIO MANAGER AND FOUNDER - IGUANA HEALTHCARE
Dr. Weisbrod was the founder of the Merlin BioMed Group, a broad-based healthcare investment firm, and served as its Chief Investment Officer from January 1998 until it closed in December 2007. The funds managed by Dr. Weisbrod at Merlin BioMed returned a compounded annualized return of over 20%. He began his buy-side career at Harpel Advisors in 1994 as a Partner, responsible for the firm’s healthcare and cyclical investment activities. He joined Oracle Partners in January 1995 as a Partner, focusing on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors of healthcare.
Sell-side Experience: Dr. Weisbrod began his investment career as a securities analyst at Prudential-Bache in 1986 and subsequently joined Merrill Lynch as a First Vice President in 1990. From 1987-1993 he consistently ranked in the top three in both the Institutional Investor and Greenwich Associates rankings of biotechnology analysts in the U.S.
Academic Training: Dr. Weisbrod received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Princeton University in 1980 and an MBA in finance from Columbia University in 1986. From 1980-1984 he held research fellowships at the Medical Research Council Lab in Cambridge, England and at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. Dr. Weisbrod currently serves on the Dean’s Council of the Princeton University Graduate School.
NEAL KAUFMAN, RESEARCH ANALYST - BARON CAPITAL
Neal joined Baron in 2005 as a research analyst and has 10 years of research experience. From 2001 to 2005, Neal worked at Credit Suisse First Boston as a vice president and managed a portfolio in the Equity Proprietary Trading group. From 1996 to 2001, Neal practiced corporate law in New York. Neal graduated cum laude from Yale College with a B.A. in History in 1993, from Columbia Law School with a J.D. in 1996 and from Columbia Business School with an Executive M.B.A. in 2002.
MODERATOR - SUSAN ROBBINS, SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST - BARON CAPITAL
Susan joined Baron in 1982 as the first employee working in a variety of roles and was named senior research analyst in 1991. Susan has 35 years of research experience. From 1976 to 1982, Susan worked with Ron Baron at a brokerage firm as a research assistant. Susan graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.A. in History and Chinese Language in 1975.
TOM HUDSON, FOUNDER AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER - DOUBLOON CAPITAL
Tom Hudson – well-known shareholder activist investor and founder of Pirate Capital - is the founder of Doubloon Capital LLC, focuses on distressed and bankrupt companies. Doubloon Capital primarily invests in the industrial, real estate, retail, and casino sectors. Pirate Capital, which Mr. Hudson founded in 2002, invested in distressed companies such as resort operator Intrawest and prison operator Cornell Co. and urged those company’s managers to sell them. The firm returned 99.64% between 2003 and 2009, twice as much as the S&P 500. Doubloon Capital’s investment strategy is to engage in value investing by finding undervalued companies through signals from the macroeconomic environment.
JASON N. ADER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND FOUNDER - HCAM FAMILY OFFICE
Mr. Ader is the founder and sole member of Hayground Cove Asset Management, a New York-based family office. Mr. Ader is also the founder of Hayground Cove Capital Partners LLC, a merchant bank focused on the real estate and consumer sectors which he founded in March 2009. Mr. Ader sits on the Board of Directors of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., serves as Executive Chairman of Reunion Hospitality Trust, Director of Western Liberty Bancorp., and Chairman of India Hospitality Corp. Prior to founding Hayground Cove Asset Management, he was a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., from 1995 to 2003, where he performed equity and high yield research for more than 50 companies in the gaming, lodging and leisure industries. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Ader served as a Senior Analyst at Smith Barney covering the gaming industry. From 1990 to 1993, Mr. Ader served as a buy-side analyst at Baron Capital, where he covered the casino industry. Mr. Ader was rated as one of the top ranked analysts by Institutional Investor Magazine for nine consecutive years from 1994 to 2002. Mr. Ader has a B.A. degree in Economics from New York University and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University, Stern School of Business.
JOHN SCANNELL, FOUNDER AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER - HILDENE CAPITAL
Mr. Scannell joined Hildene at the firm’s inception. Mr. Scannell is responsible for oversight of financial controls, systems and operations. In addition, Mr. Scannell is the in-house advisor to legal matters regarding structured products. Prior to joining Hildene, Mr. Scannell worked in the structured finance market for 13 years. His most recent position was as Vice President in the CDO structuring group at Citigroup where he provided on-desk legal, structuring, documentation, compliance and administration support for the CDO structuring business. Prior to joining Citigroup, Mr. Scannell was an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP where he represented a variety of issuers and underwriters in transactions involving collateralized debt obligations, asset-backed securities and other securities issued in publicly-registered transactions and private placements. Mr. Scannell also was a litigator for Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Before attending law school, Mr. Scannell was financial controller for the New York division of a Fortune 500 medical services company, responsible for financial controls and operations. Mr. Scannell has a Juris Doctorate and graduated cum laude from Brooklyn Law School in 1996 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting at San Diego State University in 1987.
JC KANE, MANAGING DIRECTOR - LIGHTHOUSE POINT ADVISORS
Lighthouse Point Advisors advises families on alternative and investment decisions and advise investment managers on marketing, advisory, and strategic positioning. JC Kane is a highly accomplished investment executive with more than 30 years of hands on experience on Wall Street. From the mid 1980's, he built a successful career of managing assets and private investment funds for individuals and private families worldwide. He has been a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and Laidlaw. He was CEO of SB Group and SBGAM a $900 million asset manager which he sold in 2006. He has an MBA from Tuck / Dartmouth and a PMC from Wharton.
MAXWELL DREVER, CHAIRMAN EMERITUS - CROSSBEAM HOLDINGS
Mr. Drever, the founder of Concierge Asset Management, a firm that merged with Crossbeam Capital, continues to specialize in acquiring and re-developing challenged workforce apartments as well as condominiums, and other properties.
Over a 40 year-career, Drever companies have garnered a verb in acquiring and redeveloping more than 135 nonperforming or underperforming apartments and condominiums in growth cities during real estate cycle downturns and redeveloped them into Class B and Class A units. In acquiring over 18,000 units, Concierge was one of the RTC’s largest, if not the largest, early buyers of multifamily housing (apartments and failing condominium developments). The firm, along with its fund investors, has a legacy of social responsibility. Concierge acquired and redeveloped over 10,000 distressed apartments in Houston alone.
In the current real estate cycle, Drever is a co-founder and one of the investment strategists for RENOVO, a next generation triple bottom line fund. RENOVO is focused to new institutional partners as well as legacy investors the opportunity to invest again in acquiring “workforce housing” with each bottom line incorporating long-term sustainability:
1st Bottom Line: Financial Returns from stabilized assets that generate 8% or more each year;
2nd Bottom Line: Job Creation and Enduring Workforce Housing;
3rd Bottom Line: Environmental Sustainability.Drever, along with legacy investor families and friends, invests on a pari passu basis with his firm’s institutional funds. Currently they are committing to invest in RENOVO Parallel Fund II and benefit in having the same wholesale (single promote), terms as their institutional investors enjoy in the triple bottom line, RENOVO Fund.
TERRY MEEHAN, CHAIRMAN & CEO - AZIMUTH INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC
KEN LASSNER, PORTFOLIO MANAGER - APERIO GROUP
Ken Lassner is a product expert in developing tax-managed customized index solutions including Socially Responsive and Thematic Beta tilts. Ken has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Ken was most recently at US Trust and Columbia Management as a Senior Product Specialist focusing on providing tax efficient equity solutions to high net worth clients and wealth advisors. Prior to that he was a Product Specialist for Deutsche Asset Management in the Advanced Research and Quantitative Strategies Group and an Investment Strategist at JP Morgan Investment Management. Ken also spent nine years as a plan sponsor for the Federal Reserve and the Interpublic Group of Companies, managing pension plan assets. Ken earned a B.S. in finance from Babson College and an M.B.A. in finance/investments from Bernard Baruch College. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the New York Society of Securities Analysts. Ken also has a series 7 license (inactive). Ken resides in NYC with his family.
ABIGAIL LAUFER, CEO AND FOUNDER - VIRID CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
Abigail E. Laufer is the CEO and founder of Virid Capital Management a firm devoted to investments in public cleantech companies. She oversees the investment philosophy and management of the firm. Ms. Laufer has over 27 years of investment experience
Ms. Laufer’s career has spanned a broad cross-section of the institutional investment industry. Following her early days as a securities analyst with the National Bank of Detroit she was appointed Director of Mutual Fund Research for Merrill Lynch in New York. She was then recruited by the Frank Russell Company as a consultant serving Russell’s Fortune 500 clients, providing strategy and conducting manager research for their pension funds and high net worth clients. While at Russell she was the first consultant to work directly with George Russell in the formation of the high net worth effort at that firm. In 1997, she co-founded Hanover Square Associates to represent managers and provide marketing consulting services on a contractual basis. Her successful fundraising venture led to her involvement as a partner at the New Energy Fund, a hedge fund devoted to public and private investments in the renewable energy sector. She formed Virid Capital Management in 2009 to focus exclusively on public market investments in the cleantech sector.
She has an A.B. from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan. She holds a current Series 7 and 63 registration.
ROBERT GENDELMAN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER AND FOUNDER - RG ADVISORS
Robert Gendelman is the CIO and Founder of RG Advisors. He has sourced, interviewed and performed due diligence on more than 70 fund managers. He has made allocations to multiple managers and runs a diversified portfolio diversified to funds, equities, commodities, bonds and currencies. Direct investments include real estate and private equity holdings. Prior to RG Advisors, Bob was a management committee member and portfolio manager with Clearbridge Advisors, managing Legg Mason's $4 billion Capital & Income Fund. Before that he was the founder of Cobble Creek Partners, LLC, a $250 million hedge fund and he was a partner and senior portfolio manager with Neuberger Berman. Bob holds a JD and MBA from the University of Chicago.
JOSH ROACH, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER - PHI GROUP CAPITAL
MIKE DEVLIN, DIRECTOR - SPRUCE PRIVATE INVESTORS
As Director of Portfolio Management, Michael is responsible for business development and managing client relationships. Michael’s focus is to work with clients to ensure they receive the level of service and transparency they require to affirm their individual investment strategy.
Michael joined Spruce Private Investors in March 2010 bringing with him close to two decades of experience helping family offices and high net worth individuals navigate the issues associated with personal wealth tied to corporate success. Over the years Michael has worked closely with clients to identify their unique investment challenges and to develop tax efficient investment strategies utilizing a full range of derivative products.
Prior to joining Spruce, Michael worked and consulted with family offices and high net worth individuals to create customized investment strategies through the use of a broad range of equity derivatives and derivative products. Michael spent five years in the Private Client Group at Lehman Brothers focused on the unique investment needs of clients who held large concentrated stock positions. He continued to build his derivatives expertise in sales roles at both Commerzbank and Merrill Lynch. Michael then joined BNP Paribas where he was responsible for developing tax efficient investment strategies for family offices through the creation of structured products.
Michael earned his M.B.A. in Finance from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at The University of Maryland.
GEORGE HAWES, PORTFOLIO MANAGER - FAIRVIEW PARTNERS
George Hawes’ twenty eight years of experience in the Capital Markets include positions as Director of Marketing for several alternative managers and President of Citicorp Securities Markets, Inc.
At Citicorp, George was responsible for all mortgage-backed product marketing and head of U.S. regional and European securities sales. Prior to joining Fairview Partners, George spent five years as an independent third party marketer for Millennium Global Investments, Beta Hedge and March Partners where he raised over $500 million from various institutional investors.
George graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. in Finance and the Executive Program at University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He served as a Captain and Naval Aviator in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1967 - 1971.
LEW GELBMAN, FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER - COZZENE ADVISORS
Lewis Gelbman is principal owner of Cozzene Advisors Inc. He is a graduate of Brooklyn College with a Bachelors Degree in Economics, and a graduate with honors of NYU with a Masters Degree in both Accounting and Business. Mr. Gelbman holds futures license Series 3 and securities license Series 65.
Prior to Cozzene, he was a Senior Vice President of Finance for Schieffelin & Somerset Company, a one-billion-dollar importer of fine wines and spirits. The company is a joint venture partnership between LVMH, a French company, and Diageo, a British company. He traveled extensively for both companies working on various global initiatives in regard to banking, investments and insurance issues. Before that he was Vice President-Treasurer of Guinness America, a two-billion-dollar manufacturer and importer of adult beverages. In that position he was responsible for the management of all programs related to financial transactions for North America. Included in those transactions were numerous hedging programs for both commodities and currencies.
As a Senior Executive for Guinness and LVMH, Mr. Gelbman was instrumental in setting up creative risk management programs, which produced significant savings and provided extensive coverage for risks in excess of one hundred million dollars. He was Chairman of an offshore insurance captive created in the Bahamas to handle the extensive insurance requirements for the North American subsidiaries.
While at Guinness, he was the head of the companies' Investment Committees for both the United States and Canadian companies. The investment assets within the retirement plan funds during that time grew from approximately $125 million to over $250 million after retirement payments and fees. This growth was achieved through the selection of top-flight investment managers and the use of careful asset allocation. This created a favorable funding status within the plans and significantly reduced the related pension expenses of the company. He implemented one of the first 401(K) plans while at Schieffelin and Somerset.
He has formerly been the Treasurer of the International Amateur Athletic Association, a nonprofit organization that has raised in excess of two million dollars to help educate financially disadvantaged children. He is a former Chairman of the Distillers and Vintners Financial Group, an industry wide group of financial executives from leading companies in the adult beverage industry. He is a former member of the New York Treasurers Group and a current member of the Financial Planners Association of the United States working with the Westchester chapter of that organization.
RICHARD SELVALA - CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND CO-FOUNDER, HARVEST VOLATILITY MANAGEMENT
Rick Selvala is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Harvest Volatility Management. Since inception in April 2008, Harvest has grown its strategy notional AUM from $1mm to $1,106mm via 76 separately managed accounts (as of 5/1/11) which includes the Harvest Volatility Alpha Fund (HVAF). We are targeting ~8-12% annualized returns over time (on cash invested/posted or on the cash equivalent margin release capacity on your underlying securities/collateral). Harvest was positive in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 YTD. Our annualized return since inception is +9.4% net of fees and has outperformed the S&P 500 by 21.6% with less than ½ the standard deviation and a correlation to the S&P 500 of about 0.2.
Prior to founding Harvest, Rick was the Head of Client Strategy, Marketing and Sales for Volaris, a volatility management unit of Credit Suisse. He was responsible for managing the private banking, institutional and third party distribution channels and relationships. He was also actively involved in the development of new Volaris products and strategy offerings. Prior to joining Volaris he was a Director in Credit Suisse’s Equity Derivatives group responsible for marketing and structuring hedging solutions for ultra high net worth clients and third party intermediaries.
Prior to joining Credit Suisse, he spent eight years at UBS advising the firm’s top corporate, institutional and high net worth clients regarding FX and equity derivative hedging solutions. He won the firm’s top cross product marketing award in 1998. He also won Global Finance’s award for the most innovative corporate FX hedging strategy in 1999. He has spoken at numerous derivatives and risk management conferences and contributed many articles concerning risk management practices.
Rick also spent four years with General Motors’ N.Y. Treasurer’s Office in Capital Markets and Fixed Income assignments. His most recent position was Manager of GM’s FX & Commodities Hedging group in New York.
Rick graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1985 where he was a member of Pi Tau Sigma and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He received an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1990 where he was a General Motors’ Fellow and a writer for the Harbus.
LARRY LEPARD - GENERAL PARTNER, EQUITY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES
Mr. Lepard has spent his 28 year career as an investor, principally focusing on venture capital opportunities. Prior to co-founding EMA, Mr. Lepard spent 13 years at Geocapital Partners, in Fort Lee, NJ. There he was one of two Managing General Partners and was responsible for several venture capital funds. Prior, Mr. Lepard spent 7 years at Summit Partners in Boston and California, where he was a General Partner. Mr. Lepard received a BA in Economics from Colgate and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Kosowsky brings 25 years of successful management, technology and investment experience. Prior to co-founding EMA, as an early employee at QUALCOMM, Mr. Kosowsky led several technology development efforts and headed wireless data initiatives and strategy. He has invested and provided interim executive management to many early stage technology companies. Mr. Kosowsky is an active member of MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service. Mr. Kosowsky holds BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from MIT, and an MBA with
STEPHEN KING, FOUNDER AND CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER- C12 CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
Stephen King is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of C12 Capital. Mr. King is responsible for all of the firm’s investment management activities. Mr. King was formerly a Managing Director of Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays, based in New York. He managed the Principal Mortgage Trading Group (PMTG), a proprietary trading group specializing in U.S. mortgages, corporate credit, and other fixed income strategies. Mr. King joined Barclays Capital in 2005, prior to which he held various positions at Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank, and Credit Suisse. Mr. King has a BEng from Kings College London and an MBA from London Business School.
C12 is an independent asset manager formed in September 2009 via a spinoff of a proprietary trading and risk management group from Barclays Bank PLC (“Barclays”). The senior members of C12’s team worked together for 5+ years prior to C12’s formation. The firm currently employs 60 total staff, including 15 investment professionals and a dedicated risk management team. C12 Helix Liquid Opportunities (the “Fund”) is a Macro fund that trades in a variety of liquid fixed income, rates, and credit markets, both on a directional and relative value basis.
IRWIN LATNER, PARTNER- HERRICK FEINSTEIN LLP
Irwin Latner has a broad based practice that focuses on representing hedge fund and private equity fund managers in the establishment of private investment funds and their ongoing operations. Irwin represents both domestic and offshore managers who employ varied investment strategies and need assistance with fund set up and structuring, SEC registration and reporting, agreements with strategic investors, developing effective compliance programs, marketing and advertising practices, employment and compensation arrangements, portfolio investment transactions, derivatives, and compliance with the myriad of federal securities and commodities laws applicable to their business. In addition to representing investment advisers and fund managers, Irwin represents U.S. and non-U.S. based broker dealers, placement agents, commodity trading advisers, seeding firms, family offices and other types of financial service companies and alternative investment firms.
Irwin regularly speaks at hedge fund industry seminars and is frequently quoted in the press on current hedge fund industry issues. Irwin graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn Law School.
ADAM MCCABE, SENIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGER- ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT
Adam McCabe is a senior porfolio manager on the fixed income - Asia Pacific desk, responsible for currency and interest rate strategies in Aberdeen's Asian fixed income portfolios. Adam joined Aberdeen in 2009 following the acquisition of certain asset management businesses from Credit Suisse. Adam worked for Credit Suisse since 2001, where he was a director/investment manager responsible for the development and implementation of its Asian currency and interest rate strategies. Prior to that he was a member of Credit Suisse's Australian fixed income team, where he was responsible for interest rate and currency strategies. He was a member of the global currency and emerging currency strategy groups. Adam was also Head of Fixed Income for Woori Credit Suisse Asset Management, Korea, where he was responsible for the fixed income and money market portfolio management, investment strategy and processes.
Adam has a BComm (First Class Honours and University Medal) from the University of Sydney, Australia and a Diploma in Global Finance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong
MATT KATZEFF, MANAGING DIRECTOR- ASHIR CAPITAL
Matthew Katzeff is the Head of the M&A department and a Managing Director at Ashir Group. Since beginning his investment banking career at The Blackstone Group, Mr. Katzeff has developed a successful 17 year career predominantly focused upon Mergers & Acquisitions advisory, Private Equity sourcing and execution, as well as the development and execution of debt and equity capital transactions, all across a wide array of industry sectors as well as corporate sizes and situations. Since his tenure at Blackstone, Mr. Katzeff was a member of the M&A teams at SBC Warburg Dillon Read (currently UBS), Credit Suisse First Boston and Peter J. Solomon Company. Mr. Katzeff then became a Vice President with North Atlantic Trading Company, focusing on the sourcing and execution of both stand-alone and “bolt-on” private equity investments, primarily within the consumer products sector.
He was also responsible for the financing and refinancing of a number of the company’s investments and acquisitions, including the arrangement of senior debt facilities and high-yield offerings. Immediately prior to joining Ashir Group, Mr. Katzeff was a Managing Director with J Giordano Securities Group, an investment banking boutique in which he focused upon the development, strategy and execution of debt and equity capital transactions as well as M&A across a number of industry sectors. Mr. Katzeff’s experience at both bulge-bracket institutions as well as boutique investment firms have given him a unique and very well-rounded perspective enabling him to be truly value-added with respect to corporate strategy, development and value, while maintaining a very strong sense of creativity. Mr. Katzeff has closed transactions amounting to an aggregate value of approximately $18 billion, including the Blackstone Group’s acquisition of Wahaha Group Corporation, a large Chinese consumer products company. Sectors in which Mr. Katzeff has operated include telecommunications, consumer products, retail, business process outsourcing, teleservices, IT services, aerospace & defense, healthcare, building materials, gaming, enterprise software, financial institutions, natural resources, alternative fuels, and general industrial & manufacturing. Corporate situations have included public and private entities, family-owned situations, joint ventures, corporate partnerships and defense from hostile acquisitions.
Mr. Katzeff graduated from Cornell University, earning a BS in Economics with a concentration in International Finance. He is Series 7, 63 and 79 licensed and also proficient in Spanish and Japanese.
DREW MASON, FOUNDER - JADE CAPITAL
Drew Mason is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Jade Capital Management LLC, a leading provider of venture and growth capital for top entrepreneurs in China’s financial services sector. Mr. Mason is also one of the founding members of Sohu.com, one of the first Chinese companies to list on NADAQ, and China Risk Finance LLC, China’s leading consumer finance solutions provider voted Private Equity International’s Venture Capital deal of the year in 2007. Mr. Mason was formerly the head of investment banking for the technology sector in Asia Pacific for UBS Warburg, where he worked on Asia’s M&A deal of the year in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Mr. Mason’s operating experience includes serving as an intelligence officer during Operation Desert Storm for the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). Mr. Mason is on the board of China Risk Finance LLC, Shanghai Harvest Network Ltd. and a member of the President of Brown University’s China Council. He has a BA in history from Brown University where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and a MBA from Harvard Business School. Mr. Mason has worked in New York, London and Hong Kong and currently resides in Larchmont, New York.
JOSEPH ANZA, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER - ANZA CAPITAL
Joseph V. Anza is the former Vice President of Corporate Development for National Steel Supply, Inc. During his tenure there, National Steel Supply turned over their work force 100% and became the largest steel distributorship in the New York City area. He rolled out a multi-cultural strategy to take market share from competitors by selling to ethnic communities with salesmen of the same ethnic background. This resulted in National Steel’s revenue tripling over an 8 year period of time. As a boardmember of National Steel Supply, he remains intimately involved with their strategy and ventures. Prior to National Steel he was an investment banking analyst with Barclays Capital. Joseph V. Anza is a Tufts University alumnus.
NATHAN TROUTMAN, PARTNER - TROUTMAN INVESTMENTS
Nathan Troutman is a leading investment executive who has restructured companies and investments across varied asset classes. He has also become known for his effectiveness in working with some of the world's most prominent business families. Beginning with the Garza Sada family of Mexico, to most recently the family of Julian Robertson of Tiger Management, Nathan has demonstrated a unique hands-on approach to improving investment performance. In both instances, he restructured the families’ investments and businesses working in very diverse environments: Latin America and New Zealand respectively. Nathan has also managed complex investment situations for the family of Geoffrey Kent, founder and Chairman of Abercrombie & Kent, focusing on the Middle East and Africa.
An important part of Nathan's career was working with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen from 1999-2005. As an outside advisor, Nathan was recruited by Paul Allen to lead a complete reorganization of his multi-billion dollar portfolio. To facilitate that process, Nathan formed Vulcan Capital emphasizing cash flow and intrinsic value. While directing Vulcan Capital and restructuring a portfolio with 100+ direct investments, Nathan built an institutional-quality team of 30 investment professionals covering multiple asset classes. Under Nathan's leadership, the team completed numerous transactions creating several hundred million dollars of value. Key companies restructured include Charter Communications, DreamWorks SKG, TechTV, The Sporting News, Digeo, and RCN. In addition to serving as Board Chairman of The Sporting News and Board Member of Oxygen Media, TechTV and Digeo, Nathan headed the Investment Committee and served on the President's Council with CEOs and Presidents of companies controlled by Paul Allen. Nathan also was a key member of strategy teams for Charter Communications, Microsoft and DreamWorks SKG.
Nathan's success with the investment portfolio led to further executive oversight and reorganization of all activities of Paul Allen through Vulcan, Inc., Mr. Allen’s 500-person company for real estate development, philanthropy, technology R&D and personal holdings. These include the Portland Trailblazers, Seattle Seahawks, The Hospital Club (London), EMP Museum, FlipStart mini PC and Interval Research. Active in the successful launches of the Allen Brain Atlas and Science Fiction Museum, Nathan is credited with improving company culture by instilling disciplined investment practices in all business and philanthropic activities.
Before his work with Paul Allen, Nathan established and managed a private equity fund for the Garza Sada family, a leading business family. Managed through the family's investment bank, Bancomer, the fund was among the first institutional private equity funds in Latin America. As a Managing Partner, Nathan improved investment performance by integrating US business practices into a foreign culture, and did so as the only non-Latin American member of the Management Team and Investment Committee. He also recruited and worked closely with Dale Hanson, former CEO of CalPERS, as Chairman of the Fund Advisory Board.
Nathan holds an MBA from Kellogg Business School as part of a condensed JD/MBA program at Northwestern University.
CHRISTIAN PICOT, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER / MANAGING DIRECTOR- ODYSSEY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC
Mr. Picot has over 25 years of experience in the global investment fund industry and is the Chief Operating Officer of OIM. From 2004 to 2009, Mr. Picot was a Portfolio Manager at Alexandra Investment Management as well as Head of Research at the firm. Prior to joining Alexandra Investment Management, Mr. Picot was the Managing Director of Equity Brokerage and Derivatives for Credit Lyonnais Securities in New York, and subsequently Global Head of European Equity in London where he successfully initiated a hedge fund sales group. Prior, Mr. Picot worked at Paribas Corporation for over 11 years, where he managed all non-dollar equity products and covered large long/short equity and convertible hedge funds. At Baring Securities from 1986 to 1989, he was an analyst and worked in sales covering the European region. Mr. Picot began his career in 1983 as a global analyst in the consumer sector at Argus Research in New York.
KRIS CARNEY, FORMER DIRECTOR INVESTMENTS AND CIO - PRIVATUS
Kris Managed the investments for a family office (100+ trusts) as it transitioned to a private trust company. In process he analyzed over 300 equity holdings - high concentration of technology, healthcare and energy; liquidating 75% from ’07 - early ’08. Reinvested proceeds into multiple asset classes, managers and structures in ’09. He analyzed and funded multiple private equity and venture backed tech, healthcare and energy investments. He diversified assets into a multiple asset class open architecture structure adding active equity managers, alternative investments, taxable fixed income and real assets. He also led the investment committee in setting investment policy, asset allocation, risk parameters, benchmarks, performance, due diligence, manager selection and buy and sell recommendations. He also built new family office investment and operations platforms, including research, banking, technology, trading relationships and selection of investment consultant; negotiated contract terms and fees; responsible for committee meeting agendas and presentation materials, client statements, portfolio reviews and client meetings. Participated in creation of common trust funds, internal and external fund accounting, audits and trust review committee.
He has series 7 and 63 licenses and is a Registered Investment Advisor. He has a degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in Economics.
GABRIEL BALDINUCCI, MANAGING DIRECTOR - PALM VENTURES LLC
Gabriel Baldinucci is a Managing Director at Palm Ventures in Greenwich, CT, where he invests in and develops innovative new companies across a range of industries. Prior to Palm Ventures, Gabriel teamed up with Richard Branson in 2004 as a Vice President at Virgin Management US, where he focused on creating new innovative companies in the consumer sector. Virgin Management is the Venture Capital arm of Sir Richard Branson’s’ Virgin Group of companies, with investment teams focused on Aviation, Media& Telecoms, Leisure& Hospitality, Financial Services, Health& Wellness, and Renewable Energy.
Before Virgin, Gabriel spent two years in the Investment Management Division at Goldman Sachs before leaving to return to more entrepreneurial ventures. He started his first company in high school in 1988, a local pizza chain he sold six years later. He then earned a BA in Economics, cum laude, at Duke University and earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
NIRMAL SAVERIMUTTU, PRINCIPAL - VIRGIN MANAGEMENT USA
Nirmal Saverimuttu is a Principal at Virgin Management USA, the venture capital arm of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. At Virgin, Nirmal is responsible for directing Virgin’s North American investment activities with a particular focus on consumer services businesses in Leisure & Hospitality and Aviation & Travel. He has been extensively involved in a number of Virgin Group transactions in the US including recent investments in Virgin Hotels and Virgin America. Prior to Virgin, Nirmal worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs. He has a MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney where he graduated with First Class Honors. Nirmal has experience working in Africa, the UK and Australia and now resides in New York City.
SEAN SEBASTIAN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER - BIRCHMERE VENTURES LLC
Seán Sebastian is the founding partner of Birchmere Ventures, a Pittsburgh-based $160 million fund family focused on private cleantech, medical, and technology companies. Sample investments he has led include CyOptics, FreeMarkets (IPO and sold to Ariba), ServiceWare (IPO), Precision Therapeutics, MediaSite (sold to Sonic Foundry), NeoLinear (sold to Cadence Design Systems), and Safeguard Interactive (sold to Storage Technologies).
Seán has over 25 years experience in technology commercialization, capital markets, and management consulting. Previously at General Electric Information Services, Seán directed advanced technologies commercialization activities. He was also an applied artificial intelligence systems consultant for various public and private sector clients of American Management Systems.
Seán’s current and prior civic commitments include board roles at Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Duquesne Club, Pittsburgh Technology Council, Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative, Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association, and WYEP-FM.
Seán holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
MODERATOR - JOHN ROGERS, PARTNER - HERRICK FEINSTEIN LLP
John engages in a broad range of private equity and venture capital transactions, including acquisitions and divestitures, investments, joint ventures, financings and restructurings. He has extensive experience structuring transactions and negotiating financial terms, including debt covenants. He routinely reviews financial models and prepares capitalization tables, liquidity scenarios and other financial tools to assist clients in their understanding of a transaction.
John serves as a primary corporate legal adviser to middle market companies and funds. Acting as an outsourced general counsel or supplementing in-house capabilities, he handles a wide range of strategic and commercial legal matters, such as commercial agreements (including license agreements), resolution of commercial disputes and a wide variety of employment and compensation matters.
John also has experience in several other corporate specialty areas, such as fund formations, CDOs, real estate joint ventures and business divorces.
John began his legal career at Shearman & Sterling LLP as a member of their capital markets group, focusing on securities offerings, and subsequently, as a member of their M&A group. John has also worked at Morrison & Foerster LLP, focusing on representation of venture capital firms and companies in the technology, media, life sciences and entertainment industries.
RYAN URECH, PORTFOLIO MANAGER - AVERE FINANCIAL GROUP
Ryan L. Urech serves as the Managing Principal of Avere Financial Group LLC and is responsible for the execution and FINRA compliance for product securities sales, through Avere Financial. He also serves as the Investment Manager of Avere Equity Advisors LLC, a state regulated investment advisor responsible for investment management of Avere Financial sponsored investment programs.
Mr. Urech’s breadth of experience ranges from investment banking transaction structuring and distribution to private equity capital placement. His expertise encompasses all facets of finance and investments including investment analysis, underwriting, structuring, negotiation, and placement of capital in the private and institutional markets.
Mr. Urech began his corporate finance career as an investment banker for Banc of America Securities LLC (BAS), the investment banking subsidiary of Bank of America Corp., serving in several roles in the leverage finance and structured finance divisions. During his tenure at BAS, Mr. Urech completed over $22 billion in corporate debt financing for corporate acquisitions, corporate mergers, private equity sponsor lead leverage buy-outs, and asset securitizations.
Prior to joining the Avere companies, Mr. Urech served as the Vice President of Finance for Cirrus Health, coordinating the in-house healthcare capital markets program, managing debt and equity relationships, and strategic financial planning and analysis. Prior to Cirrus Health, Mr. Urech was Vice President of Acquisitions for a high net worth family office servicing multifamily real estate private equity. He oversaw the acquisition and fund raising efforts of over $100 million in private placement securities through a newly created broker dealer distribution network
Mr. Urech received a bachelors degree in finance from Texas Tech University, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) securities registrations as a general securities principal (Series 24), a general securities representative (Series 7), investment banking representative (Series 79), investment advisor representative (Series 65), uniform securities agent (Series 63), and is currently a candidate in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program
STUART WEISBROD, PORTFOLIO MANAGER AND FOUNDER - IGUANA HEALTHCARE
Dr. Weisbrod was the founder of the Merlin BioMed Group, a broad-based healthcare investment firm, and served as its Chief Investment Officer from January 1998 until it closed in December 2007. The funds managed by Dr. Weisbrod at Merlin BioMed returned a compounded annualized return of over 20%. He began his buy-side career at Harpel Advisors in 1994 as a Partner, responsible for the firm’s healthcare and cyclical investment activities. He joined Oracle Partners in January 1995 as a Partner, focusing on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors of healthcare.
Sell-side Experience: Dr. Weisbrod began his investment career as a securities analyst at Prudential-Bache in 1986 and subsequently joined Merrill Lynch as a First Vice President in 1990. From 1987-1993 he consistently ranked in the top three in both the Institutional Investor and Greenwich Associates rankings of biotechnology analysts in the U.S.
Academic Training: Dr. Weisbrod received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Princeton University in 1980 and an MBA in finance from Columbia University in 1986. From 1980-1984 he held research fellowships at the Medical Research Council Lab in Cambridge, England and at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. Dr. Weisbrod currently serves on the Dean’s Council of the Princeton University Graduate School.
NEAL KAUFMAN, RESEARCH ANALYST - BARON CAPITAL
Neal joined Baron in 2005 as a research analyst and has 10 years of research experience. From 2001 to 2005, Neal worked at Credit Suisse First Boston as a vice president and managed a portfolio in the Equity Proprietary Trading group. From 1996 to 2001, Neal practiced corporate law in New York. Neal graduated cum laude from Yale College with a B.A. in History in 1993, from Columbia Law School with a J.D. in 1996 and from Columbia Business School with an Executive M.B.A. in 2002.
MODERATOR - SUSAN ROBBINS, SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST - BARON CAPITAL
Susan joined Baron in 1982 as the first employee working in a variety of roles and was named senior research analyst in 1991. Susan has 35 years of research experience. From 1976 to 1982, Susan worked with Ron Baron at a brokerage firm as a research assistant. Susan graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.A. in History and Chinese Language in 1975.
DATE:
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
TIME:
* 8 AM to 5:30 PM
* Lunch, administrative preceding presentations, presentations, round table, reception.
* 8 AM to 5:30 PM
* Lunch, administrative preceding presentations, presentations, round table, reception.
VENUE:
THERE IS NO WALK IN REGISTRATION.
* Herrick Feinstein LLP
* 2 Park Avenue
* New York, NY 10016
* Tel: 212-592-1400
THERE IS NO WALK IN REGISTRATION.
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