Pan-Institutional Virtual Roundtable

Himanshu Gulati founded Antara in March 2018 and serves as Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Prior to Antara, from February 2015 to January 2018, Mr. Gulati was the Head of U.S. Distressed Credit and Special Situations at Man GLG where he launched the GLG Select Opportunities Strategy in February 2015. During his tenure at Man GLG, Mr. Gulati was also a member of the GLG Risk Committee. Before joining Man Group, Mr. Gulati spent nine years at Perry Capital from April 2006 to January 2015, most recently as Managing Partner responsible for distressed securities and event/catalyst equities. Prior to his tenure at Perry Capital, from July 2005 to March 2006, Mr. Gulati was a distressed credit analyst at Rockview Capital, a credit hedge fund. Prior to his time at Rockview Capital, Mr. Gulati worked in investment banking within leveraged finance at Merrill Lynch from September 2003 to June 2005 and began his career in the accounting division of Goldman Sachs from July 2001 to August 2003. Mr. Gulati earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Binghamton University.

Kip McDaniel is the Chief Content Officer & Group Editorial Director for Institutional Investor. Kip was formerly the founding editor of Chief Investment Officer magazine. In 2016, Kip was named the McAllister Editorial Fellow for the Medill Magazine Project at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. His work, as both an editor and writer, has been nominated for 18 Jesse. H. Neal Awards. He has won six times, including for best single article, profile, and media brand. Before launching CIO in 2009, Kip rowed for the Canadian National Rowing Team from 2005 until 2008, where he won two bronze medals at the World Rowing Championships (2005 and 2007). Kip has government and land economy degrees from Harvard University (2004) and Cambridge University (2007), and originally hails from Vancouver Island, Canada. He now resides in New York City and Bow, New Hampshire.

Alex Rodriguez invests in world-class startups and partners with leading global companies in a variety of industries. While best known as one of the world’s greatest athletes (a 14x MLB All-Star and a 2009 World Series Champion with the New York Yankees), Alex now leads a team of experts who work with him to build high-growth businesses and enhance the value of more than 30 companies in the A-Rod Corp portfolio. Alex founded A-Rod Corp in 2003, purchasing a duplex apartment on the theory that investing his MLB earnings wisely would protect him from the kinds of financial struggles that afflict too many professional athletes. While he racked up extraordinary stats on the field (696 home runs and more grand slams than any other MLB player in history), Alex simultaneously assembled an impressive team at A-Rod Corp, bought apartment units across the southeastern U.S., and built a fully integrated real estate and development company. Following his success in real estate, Alex has invested in a variety of sectors where he has expertise, including sports, wellness, media and entertainment, and technology. He looks for long-term opportunities to provide financial capital and unlock value for stakeholders. In addition to leading A-Rod Corp., Alex is CEO of Slam Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with Antara Capital Chairman Himanshu Gulati as equal partner. SlamCorp is seeking to acquire a leader in the sports, media, entertainment, or health and wellness sectors, with compelling technology-enabling growth opportunities. Alex is also an Emmy Award-winning MLB analyst for Fox Sports and ESPN. He has been a judge and investor on ABC’s Shark Tank, mentored financially distressed ex-athletes on CNBC’s Back in the Game, and currently co-hosts the podcast The Corp with Barstool Sports’ Dan Katz, interviewing CEOs, entrepreneurs, and sports legends. Committed to creating opportunities for young people to succeed, Alex serves on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade and the Boards of Trustees of the University of Miami and The Paley Center for Media. His gifts to the University of Miami and Florida International University have provided scholarships to dozens of students. Alex is based in Miami. His pride and joy are his fiancé, Jennifer Lopez, and their children, Natasha, Ella, Max, and Emme.

Diamonte joined United Technologies Corp. as Chief Investment Officer in December 2004. She is responsible for overseeing UTC’s $69B in global retirement assets. This includes $31B in domestic pension plans, $9B in foreign pension plans and $29B in the defined contribution plan. Diamonte serves on UTC’s Finance Council and is an executive sponsor for UTC’s Finance Inclusion Forum. Robin will be the CIO for Raytheon Technologies after the merger in 2Q 2020 responsible for over $100B in global assets. Prior to joining UTC, she spent thirteen years with Verizon Investment Management. She served as Managing Director of Global Investments, responsible for asset allocation and management for their $40B pension plan. In 2013, Robin was appointed by President Obama and served as a member and chair of the Advisory Committee for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for six years. Ms. Diamonte has been an Independent Director of Morningstar, Inc. since December 2015. She also serves on the board for the Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Assets (CIEBA), representing more than 100 of the country’s largest private sector retirement funds on fiduciary and investment issues in Washington. Robin is also a current member of the investment committee for Miss Porters School. Diamonte earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and her MBA in finance from the University of New Haven.

Kristin joined NEPC as a Senior Consultant to help spearhead the newly formed NEPC Chicago office. She focuses on providing investment advice on investment policy development, asset liability modeling/asset allocation, investment manager selection and monitoring. In addition to her role as a lead consultant with public fund clients, she is the Co-Chair of the Emerging Manager Advisory Committee and a member of the Alternatives Due Diligence Committee. Prior to joining NEPC, Kristin spent 6 years at Mercer where she was a Principal in the Chicago office where she provided investment consulting services to large public and corporate fund clients and spent 3 years as the National Public Fund Segment Leader. Prior to Mercer, Kristin spent over 6 years at Credit Suisse First Boston. Kristin holds an M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from the University of Chicago and a B.S. from Howard University. Kristin is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designee and a frequent speaker at conferences.

Roz Hewsenian currently serves as the Chief Investment Officer of the $5.0 billion Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. The Trust is dedicated to healthcare, the environment and education and the arts. Roz joined the Trust in 2010. She has had a more than 30-year investment and business career during which she has held both executive and board positions. Previously, Roz was the CEO and a member of the Board of Clay Finlay LLC in New York City, a $2.0 billion global equity investment firm she was hired to turn around. The firm served institutional and retail clients, and sub-advised mutual funds. Roz was Principal at Wilshire Associates in Santa Monica, CA for 21 years where she served as a Managing Director and Senior Investment Consultant, and was a Member of the Board. She was the lead consultant to CalPERS and was instrumental in the strategic direction of its investment program, which had achieved full funding on a market value basis during her work with the System. Responsible for client service, operations and legal and regulatory compliance, Roz was a Vice President at the Santa Monica-based mutual fund company, Dimensional Fund Advisors. She also held investment and operating positions at both PepsiCo, where in 1982 she successfully installed one of the first 401K Plans in the country, and Kraft General Foods. Additionally, Roz has served as an independent director of Forward Funds, a multi-asset class mutual fund company in San Francisco, CA, and has served on the boards of two not-for-profit organizations. A frequent commentator on pension and investment issues, Roz appeared in 2003 on "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw," and has been quoted in The International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Institutional Investor, Pensions & Investments, The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Los Angeles Times. She has addressed industry conferences, and in 2006 spoke at the United Nations on investing in the Emerging Markets. Roz has testified to California, New Mexico and Nebraska state legislative committees on investment matters. In 2012 Roz received the MacArthur Award for outstanding contributions to the investment consulting industry from the Investment Management Consultants Association. Roz is the first woman to receive this award, which has also previously been won by two Nobel Prize-winning economists. Roz has an MBA in Finance, awarded with Distinction, from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University, and a Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York at Oneonta.

Carlos Rangel is director of investments at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan, reporting to the vice president and chief investment officer. In this role, he serves as a member of the Kellogg Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Trust investment teams, developing investment strategy, managing the portfolio and reviewing the analysis of investment managers. Prior to joining the foundation, Rangel spent nine years at Managed Asset Portfolios, serving as an assistant portfolio manager and an associate analyst. From 2008-2010, he taught undergraduate finance classes as an adjunct instructor at Walsh College of Accountancy and Business Administration. Carlos earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in finance from the University of Michigan – Dearborn. He holds the following designations: Certified Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Financial Risk Manager (FRM), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and Certificate in Investment Performance Management (CIPM). He volunteers at Family & Children Services.

Phillip Titolo serves as a Portfolio Manager/Director of Investments for the MassMutual Insurance Co. general account portfolio, focusing on asset allocation and external investment relationships across asset class. Mr. Titolo was previously at Hartford Investment Management (The Hartford) and was jointly responsible for managing $2.3B in hedge fund investments on behalf of affiliate insurance accounts and The Hartford‰Ûªs corporate defined benefit plan. Prior to joining HIMCO in 2011, Mr. Titolo graduated from the University of Connecticut with a joint JD/MBA. He has also held alternative asset positions at Credit Suisse Asset Management in New York and at United Technologies Corporation in Hartford, CT. Mr. Titolo earned his BS in Business Administration from Boston College. He is also a Level III candidate in the CFA program, and holds series 3, 7 and 65 licenses.åÊ

Shayne McGuire manages the Emerging Markets portfolio and Gold Fund for Teacher Retirement System of Texas, a pension fund with $150 billion in assets under management. McGuire has also been a portfolio manager for Southern Europe at TRS, and before then he was a Senior Analyst for ING Barings and Deutsche Bank in Mexico City, where he was twice recognized as being among the top Latin American analysts by Institutional Investor. He holds an M.A. in History and MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. Shayne is author of three books on precious metals investing, including Hard Money: Taking Gold Investment to a Higher Level.

MICHAEL A. ROSEN PRINCIPAL & CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER ANGELES INVESTMENT ADVISORS Michael has more than 30 years of experience as an institutional portfolio manager, investment strategist, and investment consultant. From 1997 to 2001, he was a partner at Asset Strategy Consulting. From 1993 to 1997, Michael was the director of investments for WellPoint/Blue Cross of California. He managed a substantial portfolio of fixed income and equity assets internally and oversaw all outside investment managers. Previous to 1993, he worked as a bond and currency trader, and then as Chief Market Strategist with First Interstate Bank, Ltd. in Los Angeles. He started his career as a derivatives trader with Barclays Bank plc in New York and in London. Michael was an Adjunct Professor of Finance at Pepperdine University from 1991-2000 and at Loyola Marymount University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Tufts University, and Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is the former Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Ms. Shen is Chief Investment Officer of Gavi Alliance, an international organization that has immunised more than 760 million children in the world’s poorest countries since inception in 2000. Jeanne is responsible for the strategic and operational planning of Gavi’s $1 billion+ investment portfolios. Since joining Gavi’s Washington DC office, Jeanne has worked with her Investment Committee to diversify the investment portfolios, implemented robust risk management practices, and guided the development of Gavi’s Sustainable Investment Policy. She also has oversight of the retirement plans of the Washington, DC and Geneva offices. Jeanne enjoys giving back to the local community and organizes collection drives for homeless and animal shelters. Prior to joining Gavi, Jeanne was a finance manager at a telecommunications start-up that spun off from Lockheed Martin. Jeanne has a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. She earned her CFA designation in 2001.

As Verger’s Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer, Jim oversees all investment decisions and is responsible for setting the course for the company, leading our corporate strategy and ensuring that Verger remains competitively positioned to serve our investors’ needs in an increasingly complex and volatile market environment. Previously, Jim was Vice-President and Chief Investment Officer at Wake Forest University, responsible for investment of the University's endowment, working capital and life income assets of over $1.4 billion. Prior to joining Wake Forest, Jim served as Managing Director at Wilshire Associates Inc., and Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager for Wilshire Funds Management, the money management arm of Wilshire Associates. At Wilshire, Jim was responsible for providing leadership on asset allocation, investment policy and investment manager selection. Jim served as the Chairman of the Wilshire Funds Management Investment Committee and served as Portfolio Manager for all of Wilshire Fund Management’s alternative investment portfolios. Jim holds a BBA in Finance from Villanova University, where he was a member of the NCAA Division I men’s varsity soccer team. Outside the office, Jim spends time with his most important teammates: his wife and two boys. 

Mr. Erickson has been a Director of Investments for the Boston University Investment Office since 2008 with responsibility to source, diligence, and monitor investments across traditional and alternative asset classes and geographies. He works closely with the Chief Investment Officer on asset allocation, portfolio and liquidity management, and overall portfolio risk management. Prior to Boston University, Mr. Erickson was a Portfolio Manager with Morgan Stanley Investment Management, implementing synthetic beta, portable alpha and LDI hedging strategies for institutional investors. He was a founding member of Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners and held several roles within the organization including Senior Administrative Officer and Head of Operational Due Diligence. 

Dominic Garcia serves as Chief Investment Officer for the New Mexico PERA, a $16 billion pension system that serves over 90,000 members and provides over $1.1 billion in annual benefits. At New Mexico PERA, Dominic has led the effort to integrate a risk-based approach, separating Alpha and Beta in its investment philosophy, which has helped the system produce strong risk adjusted returns and exceed benchmarks. Dominic is a native of New Mexico and began his allocator career over 15 years ago at New Mexico PERA as a Deputy CIO and came back home to re-join the system in 2017 as CIO. In between, for nearly a decade, Dominic served on the Investment Committee and as a Senior Alpha Manager at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB). Dominic has been a speaker at numerous industry events and he and his teams’ have received numerous industry-wide awards recognizing their innovative work. Dominic was also named 40 under 40 for three consecutive years by industry publications. Dominic is a member of the Santa Fe Community Foundation, Impact Investing Committee and a member of the Managed Funds Association (MFA) Institutional Investor Advisory Council. Dominic has degrees from the University of New Mexico and University of Chicago and lives in an old adobe home in Santa Fe, NM with his wife and three children.

Sarah is a partner at NEPC and oversees the firm's investment managers research teams across public equities and credit, hedge funds and private markets. Prior to joining NEPC, she was managing director at Wellesley College, where she was responsible for the investment of the College’s endowment, including manager selection across private markets, public markets, and hedge funds, asset allocation and portfolio construction.Earlier in her career, Sarah was the deputy chief investment officer at Mass PRIM, where she chaired the internal Investment Committee and oversaw asset allocation, investment research, and manager selection across asset classes. Samuels led the portfolio management of the $45 billion public markets and hedge fund portfolios. She regularly presented investment recommendations, asset allocation, and portfolio management strategy to the Investment Committee and Board, and was a member of the four-person Executive Management Team tasked with strategic planning and management of the organization. Samuels also worked as an associate portfolio manager at Boston Advisors and in a variety of roles at Wellington Management Company.Samuels is a Board member and Investment Committee Chair of the CFA Society Boston and the University of New Hampshire Boards, serves on the Advisory Board for Girls Who Invest, and founded the Boston chapter of Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN).She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations, earned an MBA in Finance at Boston University, and a BA in German and minor in Business from the University of New Hampshire.

Jeff Immelt is the former ninth chairman of General Electric and served as CEO for sixteen years. Currently, he is a partner at NEA and the author of Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company. Immelt has been named one of the “World’s Best CEOs” three times by Barron’s. During his tenure as CEO, GE was named “America’s Most Admired Company” by Fortune magazine and one of “The World’s Most Respected Companies” in polls by Barron’s and the Financial Times. Immelt has received fifteen honorary degrees and numerous awards for business leadership and chaired the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness under the Obama administration. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a lecturer at Stanford University. Immelt earned a BA in applied mathematics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard University. He and his wife have one daughter.

Kip McDaniel is the Chief Content Officer & Group Editorial Director for Institutional Investor. Kip was formerly the founding editor of Chief Investment Officer magazine. In 2016, Kip was named the McAllister Editorial Fellow for the Medill Magazine Project at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. His work, as both an editor and writer, has been nominated for 18 Jesse. H. Neal Awards. He has won six times, including for best single article, profile, and media brand. Before launching CIO in 2009, Kip rowed for the Canadian National Rowing Team from 2005 until 2008, where he won two bronze medals at the World Rowing Championships (2005 and 2007). Kip has government and land economy degrees from Harvard University (2004) and Cambridge University (2007), and originally hails from Vancouver Island, Canada. He now resides in New York City and Bow, New Hampshire.

Derek Drummond, CAIA is a Portfolio Manager at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board and member of the firm's Investment Committee. Derek’s team is responsible the sourcing, evaluation and implementation of liquid alpha portfolios across both traditional and alternative strategies. He has extensive experience building frameworks for manager evaluation, portfolio construction and risk management.

Dan Freel serves as Investment Director at Northwestern Medicine. He joined in December 2017 and leads the research team overseeing the investment portfolio. Dan’s responsibilities including manager and asset class research as well as portfolio construction. Previously, he spent 13 years at Mesirow Advanced Strategies, a hedge fund of funds managing institutional client capital. At Mesirow, he covered hedge fund strategies including credit, event, short selling, and most recently, led Mesirow's hedged equity team. Dan received his MBA with a concentration in Finance from Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University and has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Spanish from Wittenberg University.

Christie is an institutional allocator with 15 years of experience working with Endowments & Foundations, most recently as Head of Investments for Children’s Health System of Texas. In that role she oversaw portfolio construction & manager selection across all asset classes. Prior to Children’s, she was an Associate Consultant at Cambridge Associates. Christie received her MBA from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business.

Ms. Vargas is a Vice President in Segal Marco Advisors’ New York office with 13 years of experience in the investment industry. She provides consulting services to corporate and public defined benefit and defined contribution plans, foundations and endowment funds, and financial advisors. She works with plan sponsors to build the foundations for successful investment programs – a common understanding of the needs of the fund, a careful design of the investment structure and close attention to manager selection and monitoring.Ms. Vargas is a member of the Defined Contribution Practices Committee, which develops the firm’s strategy and process for servicing our defined contribution clients. She is also a member of the Performance Report Governance Committee, which periodically reviews performance report templates and formats as well as process improvements in the areas of data collection and portfolio characteristics. Prior to joining Segal Marco Advisors, Ms. Vargas was a legal assistant in the law office of Angela S. Riordan in Trumbull, Connecticut. Ms. Vargas received her BS cum laude in Finance and International Business from the University of Bridgeport and studied at the Fundacion Universitaria San Martin, Barranquilla, Colombia. She has a Masters in Technology Management from the University of Bridgeport.

Renee Astphan is the Director of Alternative Investments at Providence St. Joseph Health and is based in Southern California. Renee joined Providence in 2020 and is responsible for portfolio construction, sourcing, due diligence and monitoring for Providence's alternative investment portfolios. Prior to joining Providence, Renee spent eight years at the $8 billion Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island ("ERSRI"). As Senior Investment Officer, she oversaw ERSRI's absolute return, private equity, private debt, real estate and infrastructure investments. Her experience also includes serving on Limited Partnership Advisory Committees, investment manager fee analysis and reporting, and compliance oversight. Renee received a B.S. from Ithaca College. 

Christopher Finn is a Managing Director and Head of Real Estate at Liberty Mutual Investments. He is responsible for Liberty Mutual’s global private real estate equity and credit investments. Since joining LMI as an Associate in 2007, Chris held various roles and was involved in constructing the real estate portfolio through investments in joint ventures, funds, and co-investments. Chris holds a B.S. from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an MBA from Boston University.

Michael Leifeste is the Head or Real Assets at Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company (TTSTC).  Mr. Leifeste ahs been with TTSTC for over 23 years and during that time he has managed assets across fixed income, real estate, infrastructure, natural resources, private debt, and private equity.  Mr. Leifeste is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. 

Greg Leonberger is the director of research and a managing partner for Marquette Associates. An owner of the firm, Greg has been with the company since 2008 and has 22 years of investment experience. He leads the firm’s capital markets research and directs investment strategies and policies. He also chairs the firm’s investment committee and serves on the OCIO committee. He has authored numerous papers on portfolio strategy, asset allocation, and liability driven investing, and regularly consults with clients on these topics.Prior to joining Marquette, Greg was an actuarial consultant at Hewitt Associates for nine years where he consulted on all aspects of pension and postretirement welfare plans, including funding, accounting, strategy, design, and regulatory compliance.Greg holds a B.S. in mathematics and economics from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. with honors in analytic finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Greg is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, an enrolled actuary, and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Demetri Fifis is Co-Head of Private Assets for Liberty Mutual Investments, directly responsible for private equity, private credit, and energy transition & infrastructure investment activity. He is part of a senior investment team responsible for over $9 billion in private capital. He has been with the organization since 1997 and has been investing in private equity since 2003. He is a CFA Charterholder and received his BSBA and MBA from Boston University.  

Han Hu is director of private equity and mezzanine and a portfolio manager and is responsible for the management of private equity and private credit partnership investments; the commitment of capital to new partnerships; and investing subordinated debt and private equity capital in companies on a direct basis. Prior to his current role, Han spent two years at Prosperity Life Insurance Group, a Reservoir Capital portfolio company, where he was a portfolio manager focused on private equity and credit investments. Prior to Prosperity, he was a vice president at Reservoir Capital focused on direct private equity and mezzanine investments and private equity seeding. Prior still, Han was an analyst at Silver Point Capital focused on distressed and special situation investments, and an associate at Morgan Stanley focused on structured credit. Han has 11 years of industry experience and joined the firm in 2019. Han graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a BAS from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and a BSE from the Wharton School. His received his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar.

Jackie is a Managing Director and the head of Hamilton Lane’s Product Management Group, where she is an Investment Committee member and has responsibility for the firm’s specialized funds including secondaries, direct equity, direct credit, and multi-strategy. Jackie began her career with Hamilton Lane on the Fund Investment Team, and she has held roles in Relationship Management, PR and Marketing. Prior to joining Hamilton Lane in 1997, Jackie was a Corporate Finance Analyst for Comcast Corporation. Previously, she was a member of the Chemical Division’s Financial Analysis Department for Sunoco, Inc. Jackie received an M.B.A. from Villanova University and a B.S. from Drexel University.

Ferdinand Seibert is the Managing Director at Zurich Alternative Asset Management. Prior to ZAAM, Ferdinand Seibert served as Investment Manager at Swiss Life Private Equity Partners Ltd. Mr. Seibert joined Swiss Life Private Equity in 2001 from Credit Suisse First Boston’s generalist M&A group in Zurich and London, where he spent 4 years advising on divestiture, acquisition, merger and privatization opportunities as well as on strategic advisory engagements. Prior to Credit Suisse First Boston, he served as an Associate Consultant with corporate finance practice in Frankfurt and Paris at BNP-Banexi. Mr. Seibert started his career in product marketing with Procter & Gamble and later, he worked for Olivetti Systems & Networks.

Kelsey Deshler serves as Chief Investment Officer of Carleton College. She is responsible for the day-to-day management of the College’s endowment portfolio and the Minneapolis-based investment office. Prior to joining Carleton, Kelsey was Head of Manager Research at BlackRock, managing a global team of investment researchers across asset classes, including traditional and alternative strategies. Ahead of her time at BlackRock, she worked at Credit Suisse Asset Management as a Portfolio Manager and Head of Fundamental Strategies Research, overseeing equity long/short, event driven and distressed credit strategies globally. She joined Credit Suisse from General Motors Asset Management where she was an Investment Analyst on the pension’s Absolute Return portfolio. Kelsey started her career in finance as a Hedge Fund Research Analyst at CTC Consulting. A native Minnesotan, Kelsey graduated from the University of Minnesota, with a B.S. degree in management and French. She also holds an M.S. degree from the New York University Stern School of Business, with a concentration in finance.

Al Y. Kim is a Director of Investments at the Helmsley Charitable Trust. In this role, he is responsible for helping lead the development and implementation of the overall investment strategy for Helmsley, w hich entails thematic research, manager research, investment due diligence, and portfolio construction across the long only, hedge fund, private equity, and real asset segments of the investment program. Prior to joining Helmsley, Al was a director in BlackRock's client solutions business which is responsible for developing and managing investment solutions for a global institutional client base, including over $80 billion in OCIO assets. Prior to BlackRock, Al was a consultant with Wilshire Associates where he advised public and corporate pension plans on a range of asset allocation, investment structure, and manager selection issues. Al received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS from the University of Southern California, and also holds the CFA and CAIA designations.

Mr. Shooshani has more than 20 years of investment and consulting experience, with over 10 years focused on private equity. He joined Verus in 2016 through the firm’s merger with Strategic Investment Solutions. Mr. Shooshani is a shareholder, sits on the management committee, and he oversees private markets research and consulting at Verus. Additionally, he is the lead consultant on a number client relationships, helping the firm’s endowment & foundations, healthcare, and public clients build and manage their private markets and alternatives investments. Mr. Shooshani is a frequent speaker at investment industry conferences globally.Prior to becoming an investment consultant, Mr. Shooshani was part of the investment management team at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he helped restructure and diversify the university’s endowment, charitable income trust, operating cash, and technology transfer stock portfolios. Previously he founded Catapult Ventures, a venture catalyst practice that launched seed- and early-stage startups as venture backed concerns in Silicon Valley.Mr. Shooshani started his professional career with Booz Allen, a global management consulting firm focused on business strategy, operations efficiency, and information systems across sectors. Additionally, he held finance and sales and marketing roles at a number of operating companies in real estate, textiles, and semiconductor industries.Mr. Shooshani is an active member and a volunteer at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. He earned his master’s in business administration (MBA) from the Yale School of Management, and a bachelor of arts (BA) degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Robert Thompson is a Senior Portfolio Manager responsible for Credit for the UPS Investments Group.  In this role, Robert has responsibility for the plan’s Credit investments capturing both Private and Public exposures.   Robert’s role includes strategic and tactical asset allocation decisions, manager selection and due diligence, and performance monitoring.  He joined UPS in July 2011 and was previously a Portfolio Manager at ING Investment Management for five years.   He has fourteen years of investment experience and holds an MBA from Wake Forest University and a Bachelor of Science in Management from Georgia Tech.  

Jean M. Hynes, CFAManaging Partner, Senior Managing Director, and Global Industry Analyst Jean is one of Wellington’s three managing partners, who are responsible for governance of the Wellington Management partnership. Throughout her nearly 30 years at the firm, she has researched the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, as well as served as a health care portfolio manager and leader of the health care sector research team. She serves as the chair of Wellington’s Executive Committee and is the sponsor for the Wellington Women's Network. On 1 July 2021, Jean will succeed Brendan Swords as chief executive officer. Jean joined Wellington Management upon her graduation from Wellesley College (1991), where she was awarded a BA in economics. Additionally, she holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society Boston. She is also a member of the Investment Committees at Wellesley College and the Winsor School. 

Kip McDaniel is the Chief Content Officer & Group Editorial Director for Institutional Investor. Kip was formerly the founding editor of Chief Investment Officer magazine. In 2016, Kip was named the McAllister Editorial Fellow for the Medill Magazine Project at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. His work, as both an editor and writer, has been nominated for 18 Jesse. H. Neal Awards. He has won six times, including for best single article, profile, and media brand. Before launching CIO in 2009, Kip rowed for the Canadian National Rowing Team from 2005 until 2008, where he won two bronze medals at the World Rowing Championships (2005 and 2007). Kip has government and land economy degrees from Harvard University (2004) and Cambridge University (2007), and originally hails from Vancouver Island, Canada. He now resides in New York City and Bow, New Hampshire.