Brian J. Conway | Chairman of Executive and Management Committees at TA Associates | Keynote Fireside Chat

Brian Conway is the Chairman of TA Associates’ Executive and Management Committees and has more than 35 years of experience in the private equity industry at TA Associates. He joined TA in 1984, became a Managing Director in 1989, Chairman in 2014 and Managing Partner in 2017. Mr. Conway was the former Co-head of TA’s Technology Group. He was actively involved in 92 closed growth company investments for TA, 41 as a sponsor and an additional 51 as a member of the company-specific Investment Committees. In addition, he is the Vice-Chairman of The Steppingstone Foundation, a Board Member of The Boston Foundation, Member of the Board of Fellows of Stanford Medicine and Trustee Emeritus Amherst College.

Mr. Conway holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College with B.A. in Economics and English.

Rick Slocum | Chief Investment Officer at HMC | Asset Allocation (Pensions & Endowments) panelist

Rick Slocum joined Harvard Management Company (HMC) as Chief Investment Officer in March 2017. Previously, Mr. Slocum served as chief investment officer of a family office in New York where he was responsible for building the portfolio, the investment team, and developing an asset allocation framework. Prior to the family office, Mr. Slocum was responsible for portfolio management and private equity at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and worked as a Senior Director in the University of Pennsylvania’s Office of Investments. Mr. Slocum also worked for three different banks in New York over 20 years, primarily as a private placement specialist. He structured private credit and private equity deals, and also performed fundamental analysis in both credit and equity.

Mr. Slocum holds a BS and MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a member of Chatham House and serves on the Rockefeller Foundation’s Investment Committee.

Gabriel Sod Hoffs | Head of EM and Global Macro Strategies at Blackstone | Public Market panelist

Gabriel Sod Hoffs is a Managing Director of the Hedge Fund Solutions Group. Mr. Sod Hoffs is primarily focused on emerging market and global macro investing.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Sod Hoffs was a Portfolio Manager at Caxton Associates where he focused on emerging markets. Prior to Caxton, he was a senior investment associate at Bridgewater Associates focusing on emerging markets within the investment engine. Mr. Sod Hoffs was the founder and CIO of Austin Credit Macro, a global macro hedge fund seeded by TPG Capital. He also held investment management positions at Dodge & Cox and Farallon Capital where he concentrated on currencies, interest rates, and sovereign credit. Prior to that, Mr. Sod Hoffs was a strategist in emerging markets fixed income and global foreign exchange at JPMorgan, as well as a proprietary trader. He also served as director for strategic planning at Televisa. Mr. Sod Hoffs began his career at Mexico’s Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Mr. Sod Hoffs received a Ph.D. and a MA in Economics from Harvard University where he was a Fulbright and Ford-MacArthur fellow. He also received a B.Sc. in Economics from the Instituto Tecnólogico Autónomo de México, where he graduated with the highest honors.

John Koudounis | CEO of Calamos Investments | Closing Fireside chat

John Koudounis joined Calamos Investments as Chief Executive Officer in 2016. His principal duties include overseeing the firm’s day-to-day operations, fiscal function and overall performance. His responsibilities include managing operations, leading business and corporate development, and directing strategic growth initiatives

Mr. Koudounis has 32 years of financial services experience including executive leadership in the global securities business and a deep background in global capital markets. Most recently, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mizuho Securities USA, Inc. (MSUSA), a subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group, one of the world’s largest full-service financial institutions.

Mr. Koudounis is a public speaker and appears frequently on financial news programs including CNN, Fox Business, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and others. He is a member of the Leadership Council at Concordia and the Bretton Woods Committee, as well as a board member of the National Hellenic Museum, a Patron of Prince’s Trust International, and a founding board member of The Hellenic Initiative. He received his B.A. in International Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs and Economics from Brown University.

David Schmittlein | John C Head III Dean at MIT Sloan School of Management | Opening Remarks

David Schmittlein is the John C Head III Dean and Professor of Marketing at the MIT Sloan School of Management. As dean, Schmittlein’s focus has been to broaden MIT Sloan’s global visibility, to work with the faculty in creating new high-quality management education programs, to develop enhanced educational opportunities for current students, and to develop and disseminate business knowledge that has impact and that will stand the test of time. He also has engaged the many members of MIT’s alumni community to gain their valuable insights on MIT Sloan and management education. 

Prior to his appointment at MIT Sloan, Schmittlein was the Ira A. Lipman Professor and Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania from 1980 until 2007. He also served as Interim Dean during July 2007 and as Deputy Dean from 2000 to 2007, and was chair of the editorial board for Wharton School Publishing. His research assesses marketing processes and develops methods for improving marketing decisions. He is widely regarded for his work estimating the impact of a firm’s marketing actions, designing market and survey research, and creating effective communication strategies. 

Schmittlein holds a BA in mathematics from Brown University and an MPhil and a PhD in business from Columbia University.

Ted Keith | Partner at Long Path Partners Fund | Fireside chat moderator

Ted Keith is a Partner for the Long Path Partners Fund.  From 2015 to 2018, Ted was a Senior Investment Analyst at Three Bays Capital, a long/short hedge fund where he was an industry generalist.  From 2011 to 2013, Ted was an Associate at Berkshire Partners where he was an industry generalist and member of Berkshire’s investment committee.  From 2009 to 2011, Ted was an Analyst at the Blackstone Group’s mergers and acquisitions advisory practice where he worked as an industry generalist. 

Ted received his BA in Management Science and a minor in Economics from MIT and his MBA from Harvard Business School in 2015.

Jennifer K. DeSisto | Chief Investment Officer at Anchor Capital | Women in Investing panelist

Jennifer DeSisto is the Co-Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager at Anchor Capital Advisors. She is a co-lead portfolio manager for both All Cap Value and Balanced Value Accounts, two of Anchor’s leading investment strategies. She has a deep background with broad industry experience, including structuring leverage buyouts, working out distressed debt, fundamental and quantitative portfolio management, and results-oriented business management. Her unique perspective is shaped by her experiences as both an asset manager and asset allocator. Prior to joining Anchor Capital Advisors in 2016, Ms. DeSisto was a portfolio manager at Fiduciary Trust Company and Batterymatch Financial Management.   

Ms. DeSisto holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with B.S. in Industrial Management and Economics. She is also a CFA charterholder.

Camille Carlstrom | Managing Director of Research at Fidelity Investments | Women in Investing panelist

Camille Carlstrom is a Managing Director of Research and a Portfolio Manager in the Equity Division at Fidelity Investments. In this role, Ms. Carlstrom is responsible for the REIT group and research associates, as well as undergraduate and MBA campus recruiting. She is also lead portfolio manager of the FIAM International Growth strategy, responsible for asset allocation and risk control across the portfolio. Prior to assuming her current responsibilities, she served as an associate portfolio manager and analyst supporting the FIAM Japan Growth strategy. She also provided research coverage for the Japanese financial sector. 

Prior to joining Fidelity in 2012, Ms. Carlstrom was a Senior Vice President and Analyst in the investment division at Putnam Investments. In this capacity, she was responsible for fundamental research coverage of more than 100 financial sector stocks, banks, insurance, credit cards, brokerage, and real estate across developed and emerging Asia. Previously, she co-managed a sub-portfolio specializing in Asian financials in addition to directing the investment associate program for equity research. She also served as a business analyst in the corporate development group and an investment associate in the investment division. 

Ms. Carlstrom earned Bachelor of Arts degree in finance and accounting from Villanova University and MBA degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management.

Whitney Kelly | Principal at Berkshire Partners | Women in Investing panelist

Whitney Kelly is a Principal at Berkshire Partners, a private equity firm that has invested in over 100 middle market companies since 1986. Whitney has current portfolio involvement with Precision Medicine Group and has previous portfolio company experience with Carter's, Farm Boy, HMT, Torres Unidas.

She originally joined Berkshire Partners in 2012 as an Associate and returned in 2016 after graduating from business school.  Prior to joining Berkshire, Whitney was an analyst at J.P. Morgan.

Whitney has a B.A from Williams College and M.B.A from Harvard Business School.

Susie Harbour | Vice President at Volition Capital | Women in Investing panelist

Suise Harbour is a Vice President at Volition Capital. Her main focus is on next-generation consumer brands, tech-driven consumer services, and e-commerce platforms. Susie joined Volition Capital in 2018 to help lead the Internet and Consumer Team and bring expertise specifically to CPG investing. She previously worked at Yellow Wood Partners, a consumer-focused private equity firm that focuses on investments in CPG. 

Prior to that, Susie worked at Putnam Investments, a large asset manager, as part of the consumer investing team covering public equities and private placements across the consumer sector. She began her career at BAML as an equity derivative trader. Susie holds a BSBA from Georgetown University in Finance and Accounting.

David Frankel | Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Founder Collective | Venture Capital panelist

David Frankel is Managing Partner and co-founder of Founder Collective, a seed-stage venture capital fund with offices in San Francisco and Boston. Founder Collective counts Uber, Makerbot and Cruise amongst its seed stage portfolio companies. Frankel is the lead investor for Founder Collective in companies such as Buzzfeed, Coupang, Seatgeek and Pillpack. He previously provided the first term sheet or capital for companies such as OPower (NYSE: OPWR) and Volaris (NYSE: VLRS). 

Mr. Frankel was Co-founder & CEO of Internet Solutions (IS), the largest ISP and private data carrier in Africa. Frankel served as an Executive Director on the board of London Listed Dimension Data plc which was subsequently acquired by NTT Japan for $3.2bn. David has served on the board of directors of Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) since 2007. 

In 2000, Mr. Frankel was voted the South African Technology Achiever of the Century, by the Financial Mail. The World Economic Forum later selected him for the GLT (Global Leader of Tomorrow) program in Davos, Switzerland. Frankel is an Electrical Engineer (Wits) and post selection for the Fulbright Scholarship Program earned an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School. He currently serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations including The Rashi School in Boston, Foundation 2000, the King David Schools Foundation and Endeavor South Africa.

David Hornik | General Partner at August Capital | Venture Capital panelist

David Hornik is a General Partner with August Capital. He invests broadly in information technology companies, with a focus on consumer facing software and services, enterprise application, and infrastructure software. Mr. Hornik joined August Capital in 2000 to invest in a broad range of software companies. Since that time, he has invested in dozens of companies across the software spectrum, including a number of enterprise software and SaaS (e.g, Splunk, Fastly, GitLab), consumer services (e.g., Evite, Ebates, Drop), and financial technology companies (e.g., WePay, Bill.com, PayNearMe). Prior to joining August Capital, he was an intellectual property and corporate attorney at Venture Law Group, Cravath Swaine & Moore, and Perkins Coie LLP. 

Mr. Hornik has an eclectic educational background. He received an BA from Stanford in Computer Music, an M.Phil in Criminology from Cambridge University, and a JD from Harvard Law School. He teaches courses in entrepreneurship and venture capital at Stanford Business School and Harvard Law School, and serves as a VC Partner at the Harvard Business School. He is the vice-chair of GLAAD, a leading LGBTQ rights organization, and is a member of the board of the Stanford Alumni Association.

Sarah Hodges | Partner at Pillar VC | Venture Capital panelist

Sarah Hodges invests in enterprise and consumer companies on behalf of our firm and leads Pillar’s platform, bringing leadership insight, capabilities and resources to our portfolio companies. Prior to Pillar, she was a member of the executive team at Pluralsight (NASDAQ: PS), the world’s largest online learning community for IT, dev and creative training. Before joining the company, she was a member of the executive team at Smarterer (sold to Pluralsight), where she oversaw business strategy, operations and marketing.

In 2012, Ms. Hodges co-founded Intelligent.ly, a leadership development company that has transformed over 3,000 emerging leaders from hundreds of high-growth Boston companies.

Ms. Hodges has held additional leadership roles in early-stage startups including RunKeeper (sold to Asics) and Carbonite (CARB). She is on the board of the New England Venture Capital Association, and previously served on the board of BUILD.

Blake Barlett | Partner at OpenView | Venture Capital panelist

Blake Barlett is a Partner at Openview Venture Partners. He helps identify value and lead investments in product-led businesses driving market dislocation. Blake has led investments in companies like Highspot, Calendly, Expensify and Logikcull, among others. Blake is a key leader in the firm’s efforts around all things product led growth. He personally coined the term “product led growth,” and has crafted the key definitions and frameworks that have led to rise of the broader PLG movement.

Prior to OpenView, Blake was an investor at Battery Ventures, where he helped lead investments in companies like Glassdoor (acq. by Recruit Holdings), Wayfair (NYSE:W), Q2 Holdings (NYSE:QTWO) and Optimizely, among others.

Blake grew up in San Diego, which means he left America’s best weather for some of America’s worst weather in Boston. He has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. 

Larry Bohn | Partner at General Catalyst | Venture Capital panelist

Larry Bohn is a Managing Director at General Catalyst Partners and invests in both new and existing technology businesses. Areas of special interest include: open source, information technology; systems; and software on-demand business models. Larry is a board member of Advanced Electron Beams; Black Duck Software; Demandware; Good Data; HubSpot; Optaros; QUMAS and VisibleMeasures, which are all active General Catalyst investments. Larry also served on the Board of Venetica, a General Catalyst investment that was acquired by IBM in October 2004.

Previously, he served as the President, CEO and Chairman of the board of directors of NetGenesis, a leading software and analytic solutions provider, from 1997 until 2001. Prior to NetGenesis, Mr. Bohn served as President of PC Docs, Inc. a developer of document management software for enterprise networks. He currently serves on the board of directors of several private software and technology companies, including BlackDuck, GoodData, HubSpot and Yottaa. 

Josh Lerner | Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking at Harvard Business School | Venture Capital panelist

Josh Lerner is the Head of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit and the Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking at Harvard Business School. He graduated from Yale College with a special divisional major.  He worked for several years on issues concerning technological innovation and public policy at the Brookings Institution, for a public-private task force in Chicago, and on Capitol Hill. He then earned a Ph.D. from Harvard's Economics Department. 

Much of his research focuses on venture capital and private equity organizations.  (This research is collected in three books, The Venture Capital Cycle, The Money of Invention, and Boulevard of Broken Dreams.)  He also examines policies on innovation and how they impact firm strategies. (That research is discussed in the books Innovation and Its Discontents, The Comingled Code, and The Architecture of Innovation.)  He co-directs the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Program and serves as co-editor of their publication, Innovation Policy and the Economy. He founded and runs the Private Capital Research Institute, a nonprofit devoted to encouraging access to data and research, and has been a frequent leader of and participant in the World Economic Forum projects and events.

Brendon Parry | Managing Director at TIFF | Asset Allocation panelist

Brendon Parry joined TIFF in 2011 and serves as a Managing Director, overseeing TIFF’s Private Investments Program, including the selection and monitoring of external managers, secondary interests, and co-investments; risk management; and portfolio construction. He is a member of TIFF’s Investment Committee and Management Committee. Prior to joining TIFF, Mr. Parry was at media and communications-focused private equity firm Providence Equity Partners. He began his career in the consulting group at Cambridge Associates. Mr. Parry holds an AB in economics from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a CFA charterholder and serves on the Investment Committee of Belmont Day School.

Sarah Samuels | Partner at NEPC | Asset Allocation panelist

Sarah Samuels is a Partner at NEPC and oversees the firm's public markets and hedge fund manager research. Prior to joining NEPC, she was a 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, Samuels 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. She 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. She also worked as an associate portfolio manager at Boston Advisors and in a variety of roles at Wellington Management Company. 

Samuels is a Director of the CFA Society Boston and the University of New Hampshire Boards, served 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.

Lila Hunnewell | Chief Investment Officer at Boston University | Asset Allocation panelist

Clarissa (Lila) Hunnewell joined Boston University as Chief Investment Officer in May 2011. She provides day-to-day oversight, management, and monitoring of the University’s endowment. Specific responsibilities include portfolio positioning, manager selection, performance reporting, and advising the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees in establishing risk and return objectives and investment policy. 

Previously, for 20 years, Lila was a Managing Director at Cambridge Associates; she provided investment advisory and outsourced CIO services to a range of non‐profit organizations, as well as to families; she also advised educational institutions’ in‐house banks and planned giving programs. Earlier in her career, Lila was an investment banker with Brown Brothers Harriman, First Boston Corporation, and BNE Associates. 

Lila currently serves on the Board of Trustees and chairs the Investment Committee for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and serves on the Board of the Boston Athenaeum. Lila earned her B.A. Magna Cum Laude from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School as a Baker Scholar.

Andrew Z. Tubman, CFA | Managing Director and Director Endowments and Foundations Strategy at Wellington Management | Asset Allocation panel moderator

Andrea Z. Tubman is a Managing Director and Director, Endowments and Foundations Strategies. As director, Endowments and Foundations Strategies, Andrew oversees the firm’s Endowment and Foundation (E&F) relationships and is responsible for identifying, sharing, and acting upon the major trends occurring within the nonprofit community. In this capacity, he sets the firm’s strategy for our partnerships with E&Fs, synthesizes information on relevant industry trends, develops thoughtful and actionable investment insights, and works directly with our clients as well as various groups at Wellington Management to ensure the firm is well-positioned as a trusted resource and solutions provider for our clients.

Andrew also serves as a relationship manager to our endowments and foundations partners, helping to deepen and strengthen our client relationships by understanding the needs of the community and providing solutions to meet those needs based on the firm’s capabilities and resources.

Before joining the firm in 2000, Andrew held various roles at Egon Zehnder International (1998) and Andersen Consulting (1996 – 1998).

Andrew received his MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan, 2000) and his BBA from Emory University (1996). He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and sits on the board of directors for the CFA Society Boston.

Ed Fang | Director of Research at Man Numeric | Quant panelist

Ed Fang is a director of Research at Man Numeric. He joined Man Numeric in the summer of 2005 after he completed his doctorate degree in economics from Duke University. 

Mr. Fang has been actively engaged in a broad spectrum of research ranging from bottom-up alpha models to top-down dynamic asset allocation and alternative investment products. He has also been responsible for developing and managing several innovation portfolios within the Numeric Absolute Return strategy and Alternative Beta strategy.

Mr. Fang obtained his Bachelor of Science degree with honors in economics and management information science from Fudan University in China. Ed is also a CFA charterholder.

Alejandro Canete | Head of Research and Trading Platform at Millennium Management | Quant panelist

Alejandro Canete is the Head of Research and Trading Platform at Millennium. Prior to this role, he worked as a technologist and researcher in a statistical arbitrage group within Millennium. Prior to Millennium, he was the co-founder and principal of several firms including a financial software factory and a proprietary high-frequency trading company.

Mr. Canete holds bachelor degree in Engineering and Computer Science from Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, MS in Applied Finance from Universidad del Desarrollo, MA in Marketing and Commercial Management from IEDE Business School, MS in Financial Engineering from City University of New York - Baruch College.

Noah Rumpf | Director of Quantitative Equity Research at MFS Investment Management | Quant panelist

Noah Rumpf is an investment officer and the Director of Quantitative Equity Research for MFS Investment Management (MFS). In this role he helps shape the firm's quantitative equity research agenda and manages a team of analysts focused on enhancing MFS' quantitative stock selection models and portfolio construction processes. He also performs quantitative research. 

Noah first joined MFS as a quantitative fixed income research analyst in 2003 and left in 2006. He rejoined MFS in 2009 as quantitative equity research analyst. In between he spent three years at Putnam investments as a quantitative equity research analyst. Prior to joining MFS Noah worked at the Royal Bank of Canada in risk management. Noah also spent two years as a risk management associate at Bankers Trust Company, and served as an emerging markets associate with J.P. Morgan & Company for two years. 

He earned his Master in Business Administration degree from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds a master's degree in Statistics and Operations Research from New York University and a bachelor's degree in Economics from Wesleyan University. 

Our portfolio managers are supported by our entire team of investment professionals in nine worldwide offices. The team employs a proprietary investment process to build better insights for our clients. The core principles of our approach are integrated research, global collaboration, and active risk management.

George D. Mussalli | Chief Investment Officer and Head of Research, Equity at PanAgora | Quant panelist

Mr. Mussalli is Chief Investment Officer and Head of Research, Equity. He is responsible for oversight of the firm’s Dynamic, Stock Selector, and Diversified Arbitrage strategies, as well as the Equity team’s Data Infrastructure, Portfolio Construction, and Trading teams. He is also a member of the firm’s Investment, Operating, and Directors Committees.

As Chief Investment Officer and Head of Research, Equity, Mr. Mussalli directs innovative equity research used in the development of models used within PanAgora’s equity strategies. Prior to becoming Chief Investment Officer and Head of Research, Equity, Mr. Mussalli served as Head of PanAgora’s Stock Selector strategies. His work focuses on combining fundamental insights with sophisticated quantitative techniques to develop proprietary models designed to analyze companies across many dimensions. In addition to overseeing the management of the firm’s Stock Selector strategies, he has significantly contributed to the proprietary pool of equity research leveraged across the entire firm during his tenure. The research he has conducted also led to the founding of the firm’s Diversified Arbitrage hedge fund strategy in 2010.

Before joining PanAgora, he was a Portfolio Manager on the Putnam Investments Structured Equity team, where he was responsible for Structured Equity portfolios. He contributed to quantitative research and analysis that supported all equity strategies, including International and Global strategies. Prior to joining Putnam, Mr. Mussalli worked as a Senior Investment Analyst at John Hancock Funds. Mr. Mussalli is a CFA charterholder.

Mr. Mussalli holds an MBA degree from MIT Sloan and a B.S. degree from Tufts University. 

Steve Lanzendorf | Portfolio Manager at QS Investors | Quant panel moderator

Steve Lanzendorf is a Portfolio Manager at QS Investors and a member of the Global Equity Portfolio Management group.

Formerly Deputy Chief Investment Officer and head of the Developed Markets investment team at Batterymarch Financial Management from 2012 to 2014. At Batterymarch, he also served as co-head of the Developed Markets team from 2010 to 2012 and head of the US investment team from 2006 to 2010. Prior to joining Batterymarch, he spent six years as the Director of Quantitative Strategies at Independence Investments, where he also managed the equity trading desk. He was also a Portfolio Manager and Quantitative Analyst at The Colonial Group for 10 years.

Steve has BS and MS in Nuclear Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Stephen Cook | Executive Managing Director and Co-Founder of LFM Capital | Private Equity panelist

Stephen Cook co-founded LFM Capital and brings to the Fund over 23 years of operating experience, having served in a variety of senior executive and functional roles in manufacturing, supply chain, engineering, technology and sales. 

Prior to founding LFM, Steve was a Principal with TVV Capital, where he directed portfolio value creation efforts of six portfolio investments, with a focus on operating improvements, management recruiting, leadership development training and performance. Steve also helped to identify investments and served in a leading role on deal negotiations. He has served on the boards of four TVV portfolio companies: INDCO, Critical Solutions International, Big 3 Precision Products, and Bigham Brothers. 

Prior to joining TVV, Steve was Chief Operating Officer of MFG.com, the world’s largest global online marketplace for the manufacturing industry. Prior to MFG, Steve spent 11 years as a Southeastern regional Senior Director with The Dell Corporation serving in a range of executive roles. Prior to joining Dell, Steve served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, where he flew combat missions in support of Desert Shield and was selected to participate in test squadron flying test missions in all Navy/Marine Corps aircraft. 

Steve received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and his MS in Electrical Engineering from MIT’s School of Engineering and his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management where he graduated first in his class. He has served for over 12 years as a member of MIT’s Leaders for Global Operations Operating Committee where he speaks to classes annually on executive leadership and career management.

Gabriel Ling | Managing Director at M33 Growth | Private Equity panelist

Gabe Ling is a Managing Director at M33 Growth, a venture and growth stage investment manager that partners with founders and CEOs and seeks to rapidly scale and build industry-leading companies. He brings a zeal for entrepreneurship to the M33 founding team. Over his career, he has helped launch startups and taken an active operational role with several portfolio companies. He is a seasoned growth equity investor with a focus on technology, data services, and healthcare, and has an experience in helping teams drive growth and create valuable data assets.

Most recently, Mr. Ling was a Partner at General Catalyst, where he led investments in growth stage companies in the software, business services, and healthcare services and IT sectors. He served on several boards, including Datalogix (acquired by Oracle), CLEAResult (acquired by General Atlantic), Oceans Healthcare, OGSystems, and Brighter.

Prior to General Catalyst, Gabe attended Yale University, where he graduated with a B.A. in Economics and worked at the Yale Investments Office, which manages the university’s endowment and is recognized as a pioneering institutional investor. He was recognized by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce as a 2016 recipient of the Ten Outstanding Young Leaders (TOYL) award for civic and business leadership and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program, which convenes leaders from around the country to foster cross-sector collaborations that impact local communities. Mr. Ling currently serves on the United Way PE/VC Leadership Council and works on the organization’s early childhood development initiatives.

Julia Karol | COO of Watermill Group | Private Equity panelist

Julia Karol is President and COO of Watermill Group. She is responsible for overall firm operations and helping Watermill portfolio companies develop and implement their strategies. Previously, as a Watermill Principal, Julia helped guide the day-to-day operations of the firm, directed the firm’s investor relations and managed fundraising initiatives for acquisitions.

Prior to joining Watermill, Julia worked at Jumpstart, a national nonprofit organization. While at Jumpstart, she managed Boston-area fundraising, coordinated communication and marketing efforts, cultivated partnerships, developed alumni relations programming, and oversaw staff recruitment efforts.

Julia currently serves as a Partner with Social Venture Partners Boston, a venture philanthropy organization which connects Boston’s most promising nonprofits with the money and minds to fuel their success. Julia has served as a Mentor for Endeavor, a global high-impact entrepreneurship movement and that promotes economic growth and job creation. She also serves as a member for the Budget and Administration Committee for Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Previously, Julia founded and served as board chair for the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network in Boston. Julia is a member of ACG Boston and the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and has been named as one of the Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A by Mergers and Acquisitions Magazine for three consecutive years. In 2017 Julia was named an Emerging Leaders by the M&A Advisor and has received the Women of Influence Award from ACG Boston in 2019.

She received a M.A. in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership from Stanford University, completed the Owners, Presidents, Managers program at Harvard Business School, and the Summer Institute for Entrepreneurship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and earned a B.A. from Tufts University.

Nina Streeter | Director of Asset Management in Abbot Downing | Private Equity panel moderator

Nina is a Director of Asset Management in Abbot Downing’s Boston office and focuses on all facets of sourcing, researching, selecting for approval, and monitoring alternative private capital fund investments for Abbot Downing clients. This includes the full range of private equity, private debt, and real assets. She is also engaged in asset allocation and portfolio construction within these sectors. Additionally, she is currently an adjunct professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. Previous to joining Abbot Downing, which is part of Wells Fargo, Nina worked at Cambridge Associates, Kidder Peabody in London and State Street Bank.

Nina earned her MS in Management from the MIT Sloan School where she concentrated in finance, information technology, operations, and accounting. She received a BA with honors in history from Harvard College. She is currently on the Board of Friends of Harvard/Radcliffe Rowing and was previously on the Board of the National Rowing Foundation.

Sean Cameron | Former Investment Officer and Research Analysts at MFS Investment Management | Public Markets panelist

Sean Cameron, CFA, was an investment officer and research analyst with the Fixed Income Strategic Solutions Group at MFS Investment Management. He provided quantitative research with economic and investment insights and works with MFS’ Global Product team to develop and manage custom fixed income client portfolios. Mr. Cameron joined the firm in 2014 as a quantitative research analyst. Previously, he was a vice president and fixed income portfolio manager at PIMCO for three years. He also spent three years as an investment banker and fixed income trader at Goldman Sachs in New York.

Mr. Cameron earned his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Princeton University and his Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School, where he received the Dean’s Award. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute.

Rob Forker | Portfolio Manager of International Small Company Growth Strategy at Polen Capital | Public Markets panelist

Rob Forker joined Polen Capital Management in 2018. He is the lead portfolio manager of the International Small Company strategy, and is also responsible for investment research outside of the United States.

Prior to joining Polen Capital, he worked for ten years at Loomis, Sayles & Company with six of those years dedicated to the Global Opportunities Fund as a senior equity analyst and four years as an equity analyst in central research. 

Before business school, Mr. Forker worked at Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers on the institutional trading desks. He received his B.A. and M.B.A. from the University of Virginia. Mr. Forker is a member of the Boston Economic Club.

Jeffrey Shames | Executive in Residence at MIT Sloan School of Management | Public Markets panel moderator

Jeffrey Shames is an Executive in Residence at the MIT Sloan School of Management where he lectures in Finance, Leadership and Global Health Management. He is the retired Chairman and CEO of MFS Investment Management and the Board of Trustees of the MFS Funds. 

Shames joined MFS in 1983 as an industry analyst and was named a portfolio manager in 1985; chief equity officer in 1987; president and a member of the board in 1993; and chairman and chief executive officer in 1998.  In September 2002 he retired as CEO and retained the chairman title until his retirement in February 2004. From 2010-2013 he was a senior advisor at Morgan Stanley where he advised the president of Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Wealth Management. 

He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the X Prize Foundation, Wesleyan University, City Year, US 2020, Summer Search, Tufts Medical Center, and is chairman of the Board of the Berklee College of Music.  He also serves as a member of the Advisory Boards of the MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT Masters of Finance Program, MIT Leadership Center, Service Nation, and Kensho (a financial technology firm). 

Shames graduated from Wesleyan University in 1977 and the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1983.  In between college and graduate school he served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Fiji and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C

Meredith Joly | Vice President and Investment Director at Wellington Management | Impact Investing panelist

As an investment specialist in Investment Products and Strategies, Meredith is responsible for covering approaches managed by the US Broad Markets Team, including our fixed income impact investing approaches. She works closely with the investment teams and investment directors to help ensure the integrity of the investment approaches by overseeing portfolio positioning, performance, and risk exposures. She meets regularly with the investment teams and contributes to developing new products and client solutions and managing business issues such as capacity, fees, and guidelines. Meredith also participates in meetings with clients, prospects, and consultants to communicate our investment philosophy, strategy, positioning, and performance.

Meredith joined Wellington Management in April 2012 as a fixed income product management analyst on the Financial Reserves Management Team. Before that, she worked as an analyst in the Global Securitized Products group at Citi.

Meredith earned her BS in management, magna cum laude, from Boston College, with concentrations in finance and economics.

Vitaly Veksler | Founder of Beyond Borders Investment Strategies | Impact Investing panelist

Vitaly Veksler is the founder of Beyond Borders Investment Strategies, LLC (BBIS), where he serves as the CEO and Global Macro Portfolio Manager. During his 18+ years in investing, Vitaly has specialized in identifying global and country specific macroeconomic, political, business and valuation trends, and translating them into individual investment selections and asset allocation decisions for global portfolios. At BBIS, he manages equity portfolios built from single-country exchange traded funds (ETFs) of countries where markets trade at discounts to their long-term valuations. He blended his experience in the fields of equity, quantitative, and country analyses into the firm’s unique “country value” investment style. 

Prior to BBIS, Vitaly was Vice President at BNY Mellon Asset Management. He was responsible for analyzing trends affecting various investment asset classes worldwide and recommending global portfolio asset allocations to BNY Mellon’s institutional clients, such as central banks, public and corporate pension plans, endowments and foundations. He distributed these recommendations via popular quarterly Global Economic & Market Outlook reports that he authored. Prior to BNY Mellon, Vitaly analyzed macro trends affecting global equities in Technology and Energy industries at Fidelity Investments and State Street Research (now BlackRock). 

Vitaly is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation holder, and is on the Board of Directors of the Boston Security Analysts Society (BSAS), the Boston chapter of CFA Institute. Vitaly serves as the Chair of the Economics committee at BSAS, and has also spoken on global and emerging market investing to business and academic audiences. 

Vitaly received his MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, Master of Arts with concentration in international finance from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and Diploma in Management Information Systems and Artificial Intelligence from Moscow Technical University.

Praveen Shahay | Founder and Managing Director at Wave Equity Partners | Impact Investing panelist

Praveen is the Founder and Managing Director at Wave Equity Partners. Praveen is a nuclear physicist and gained experiences in oil exploration, petrochemicals and power industries.  Thereafter he took on leadership roles, first becoming an Armed Forces battalion commander, and then with the UNO as National Coordinator (CIVPOL) for the first ever democratic elections in Mozambique, for which he was awarded a UN Peace Medal.  For the last 15 years, he has been investing in technology companies. Praveen’s talent lies in identifying technological and business innovations that will catalyze rapid market adoption and generate strong investment returns. He is a member of WAVE’s Investment Committee.

Prior to founding WAVE, Praveen was a Director with VIMAC Ventures, an early stage venture firm, since 1993. Before that, he was an Associate at Updata Partners, an investor in IT and communications startups. He was also a strategy consultant to technology corporations and private equity investors during his tenure at Dean & Company. Praveen has an eclectic set of experiences that include managing mutual fund retail operations, exploring for oil and gas deposits in the Arabian Sea, and leading armed troops as a Deputy Commandant in situations involving threats to industrial safety and security. He was also the National Elections Coordinator (CIVPOL) at the United Nations Operation in Mozambique where he played a key role in the country’s transition to democracy. Praveen has a Bachelor of Science in Physics (Honors) from St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi, a degree in Geophysics from IIT, Roorkee, Master of Science in Nuclear Physics, and Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Mike Chen | Director at PanAgora | Impact Investing panelist

Dr. Mike Chen is a Director at PanAgora. In this role he is responsible for novel alpha research and model development in the Dynamic team and across the wider Equity group, and daily management of firm’s Dynamic portfolios. Dr. Chen’s current research interests are in the areas of machine learning/alternative data, ESG, and China A. Previously, he was a portfolio manager at PanAgora’s Stock Selector team.

Prior to joining PanAgora, Dr. Chen was a Portfolio Manager at BlackRock’s Scientific Active Equity (SAE) team, where his responsibilities include portfolio management and research into alpha insights for use across the entire SAE platform. While at SAE, Dr. Chen won “Signal of the Year” award for a signal he researched and developed. Prior to BlackRock, Dr. Chen worked at Google where he was a member of the team that managed Google’s fixed income investment portfolio and FX exposures. Dr. Chen started his career at Morgan Stanley in New York where he traded and managed a portfolio of exotic US rates derivatives. While at Morgan Stanley, Dr. Chen researched, developed and patented a framework that allowed for pricing of derivatives based on two rate curves with dynamic multiplicative spread, one of the first such models on the street.

Dr. Chen graduated from the University of Illinois in 2005 with a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He has published in leading engineering and applied mathematics journals, and had been invited to talk at numerous academic and industry conferences.

Adam Rein | Managing Director at MissionPoint Capital Partners | Impact Investing panelist

Adam Rein is Managing Director at MissionPoint Capital Partners. Adam Rein helps lead MissionPoint's direct investment origination, portfolio management, and broader impact investment strategy. In 2010, Adam co-founded Altaeros Energies, a startup launched out of MIT to bring low cost wind energy and telecommunications to the developing world. Adam is also a co-founder of Greentown Labs, the country's largest clean technology incubator. Previously Adam worked as a strategy consultant for Bain & Company.

Adam has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a BA from Yale University.

Prof. Gita Rao | Senior Lecturer in Finance and Associate Faculty Director of the Master of Finance at MIT Sloan School of Management | Impact Investing panel moderator

Gita R. Rao is a Senior Lecturer in Finance, and Associate Faculty Director of the Master of Finance program at the MIT Sloan School of Management.  She has over two decades of experience in global investing, asset allocation, risk management, and client service. In addition, she has managed socially responsible portfolios and teaches a course on social impact investing at MIT Sloan. 

Dr. Rao is the founder and president of Aspari Capital, a consultancy focused on quantitative research and portfolio strategies for institutional investors. Her previous roles include: portfolio manager at MFS Investment Management, managing global long-short portfolios and co-director of quantitative equity research; associate partner and director of quantitative equity research at Wellington Management Company, managing over $4 billion in global equity portfolios on a team responsible for $15 billion in client assets; senior vice president at Liberty Financial Companies, managing over $1 billion in global and international equity/balanced mutual funds and serving on the firm’s investment policy committee; senior research analyst at Fidelity Management & Research Company and vice president at Kidder, Peabody & Co. in New York.

Dr. Rao has served as a president of the Society of Quantitative Analysts, on the editorial board of the Financial Analysts Journal, on the board of trustees of the Research Foundation of the CFA Institute, and as Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  She holds a Ph.D. in Finance and Accounting from the University of Rochester, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a BA in Economics from Delhi University’s St. Stephen’s College in India.