Panelist Bios
The following people have been confirmed as panelists for the 2010 conference. This list is continually being updated, and is subject to change.
- Todd Abbrecht
- Christina Alesci
- Enrique Bascur
- Michael Berk
- Joel Biran
- Kevin Bitterman
- Rick Bolander
- Dana Callow
- Ronald Croen
- John Davis
- Robert Davis
- David Donabedian
- Gustavo Eiben
- Eric Emmons
- Alex Finkelstein
- Tony Florence
- Jean George
- Ryan Harper
- Joseph Haslip
- Bob Higgins
- Matthew Jones
- Kosmo Kalliarekos
- Jon Karlen
- Srinivas Kaushik
- Hovey Kemp
- Jim Kim
- John LeClaire
- Douglas Lowenstein
- James Lowy
- Alicia Masse
- John McCormick
- Tom McKinley
- Joseph Michaels
- Scott Myer
- Mina Pacheco Nazemi
- Devin O'Reilly
- Douglas Onsi
- Ed Powers
- Jack Purcell
- Kirk Radke
- Kim Reinert
- James Rhee
- Matthew Rhodes-Kropf
- Cynthia Ringo
- Gwen Ruta
- Jay Sammons
- Ian Schuler
- Jonathan Shepherd
- Rajath Shourie
- Omar Simmons
- Shashank Singh
- David Soo Ming Jie
- Greg Stenton
- Daniel Sterenberg
- Ileana Stone
- Goro Takeda
- Steven Taub
- Russ Thomas
- Scott Turco
- Daniel Vasquez
- Sebástian Villa
- Scott White
- Jim Wilder
- Josh Wolfe
- Ryan Woodley
- Andrew Wright
- Ruifen Xu
Todd Abbrecht Thomas H. Lee Partners
Todd M. Abbrecht is a Managing Director at THL. Prior to joining THL, Mr. Abbrecht worked in the Mergers and Acquisitions department of Credit Suisse First Boston.
Mr. Abbrecht is currently a Director of Aramark Corporation, Dunkin' Brands, Inc. and Warner Chilcott Corporation (NASDAQ: WCRX). His prior directorships include National Waterworks, Inc., Michael Foods, Inc., and Affordable Residential Communities, Inc (NYSE:ARC).
Mr. Abbrecht holds a B.S.E. in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Cristina Alesci Bloomberg
Cristina is a journalist covering private equity for Bloomberg News in New York. She received her M.A. from The City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism, specializing in business reporting. Her most recent reporting has focused on the restructuring of portfolio companies and the evolving dynamic between private equity firms and their investors.
Enrique Bascur CVC International
Mr. Bascur is Managing Director and Latin American Department head of Citigroup Venture Capital International and has headed CVC's Latin American effort since January 2006. Over the past 7 years he has focused on investments in Latin America including the Southern Cone and Andean Regions, Brazil, and Mexico.
Prior to his current role, Mr. Bascur was Citigroup's Corporate Finance Head in Santiago, Chile, where he also managed the local equity investment unit. Between 1992 and 1997, Mr. Bascur worked at Bankers Trust in New York, focused on capital markets and M&A transactions across the Latin American region. From 1990-1991 he was Citicorp's Corporate Finance Head in Venezuela, and prior to that, an investment banker at Citicorp Chile. He started his career at the Chilean securities market regulator, SVS, in 1980.
Mr. Bascur is currently a board member of Sundance Investments LLC, Intcomex, Inc., Dream S.A., Adir (La Curacao), Tenedora Augusta (Hoteles Prisma), and Avantel Holdings, Ltd. He is also a director of LAVCA, the Latin American Venture Capital Association. Mr. Bascur earned a Civil Engineering degree from Universidad Católica de Chile and an M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School.
Michael Berk TA Associates
Michael is a Managing Director at TA Associates, where he concentrates on investments in the business, financial and consumer services sectors. He is currently a Director of Dealer Tire, Microban International, and Professional Warranty Service Corporation, and he is a Board Observer of Keeley Asset Management Corp. He was formerly a Director of Triumph HealthCare, which was sold in 2009. Prior to joining TA, Michael was Senior Vice President at Joseph Littlejohn & Levy. Michael was also previously an Associate at Frontenac Company. He received an AB degree from Harvard College, a JD degree from Harvard Law School and an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School.
Joel Biran Versa Capital Management
Mr. Biran has 14 years of business experience in private equity, investment banking, corporate finance, business development and operations. Most recently, he was a Vice President at American Capital Strategies, where he sourced and executed investments in numerous control and non-control special situation middle-market investments. Mr. Biran received his M.B.A from the Harvard Business School and graduated from Tel Aviv University, where he earned a B.A. in Economics and Accounting and conducted post-graduate work in advanced accounting and taxation.
Kevin Bitterman Polaris Venture Partners
Kevin J. Bitterman is a Principal at Polaris Venture Partners. Kevin joined Polaris in 2004 and focuses on investments in the life sciences.
Prior to joining Polaris, Kevin completed his Ph.D. in genetics at Harvard Medical School. His doctoral research focused on the molecular regulation of caloric restriction and on modulation of a novel class of protein deacetylases. Kevin has authored papers in several top tier journals, is an inventor on multiple patents and is a cofounder of Genocea Biosciences, Parasol Therapeutics and Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (GSK).
Kevin currently represents Polaris as a Director of Biolex Therapeutics, EPacing Inc., Follica Inc., Genocea Biosciences, Kala Pharmaceuticals, Parasol Therapeutics, Solace Pharmaceuticals, and Taris Biomedical. Additionally, Kevin is a Board Observer to Pulmatrix Inc.
Rick Bolander Gabriel Venture Partners
When Rick Bolander co-founded Gabriel Venture Partners in 1999, he sought to create an innovative venture capital firm with the strong organizational structure and entrepreneurial focus needed to build the next generation of market-leading technology companies. Rick identifies the smartest entrepreneurs and works side-by-side with them to build highly successful companies from the ground up. Rick's hands-on approach stems from his deep operational experience and long track record as both an entrepreneur and a VC.
Rick co-founded Gabriel Venture Partners in 1999. During his venture career, he has been involved in more than 50 venture deals and has led over $100 million in early-stage financings. He currently focuses on investments with disruptive business models in digital media infrastructure and applications, communications, information technology, and the Internet. Before joining Gabriel, he served as General Partner at Chicago-based Apex Investment Partners, where he honed his early experience spanning angel, early stage, late stage, and large institutional rounds for four years.
Rick graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School. He also holds Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Dana Callow, Jr. Boston Millenia Partners
Mr. Callow is the Managing Partner of Boston Millennia Partners. Prior to founding Boston Millennia Partners, Mr. Callow co-founded Boston Capital Ventures in 1982. Before that, he worked as a Senior Consultant at Braxton Associates, an international strategic planning firm that was formed by professionals from Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Co. He worked with Fortune 100 companies in strategic planning and implementing merger and acquisition strategies. Prior to working in the management consulting business, Mr. Callow worked in sales and marketing for Tymshare, Inc. (McDonnell-Douglas). He currently is Presiding Director and Chair of the governance committee of PAREXEL International Corporation (NasdaqGS:PRXL) a $1 billion plus clinical trials management company. He is, or has served, as a Director of a number of other public and private companies, including ILEX Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ILXO), a cancer pharmaceutical company acquired by Genzyme for $1 billion; MedAptus, Inc., a mobile computing provider of clinical, financial and administrative software solutions to the medical community; and PHT Technologies, Inc., a provider of mobile and Web-based technology solutions to the pharmaceutical industry focused on clinical trials management. Other investment responsibilities included Glycofi Inc., (acquired by Merck, NYSE: MRK); HotJobs, Inc. (acquired by Yahoo, NasdaqGS: YHOO); iVillage, Inc. (acquired by NBC Universal, a subsidiary of General Electric, NYSE: GE); and Tektagen, Inc. (acquired by Charles River Laboratories, NYSE: CRL). Mr. Callow is a Director of Jobs for Massachusetts, a Massachusetts based non-profit organization comprised of business and political leaders including the Governor and Congressional leaders. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Dartmouth/Tuck Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and the Chairman of the Investment Committee at Tufts University and on the Board of Overseers at Tufts University Medical School. Mr. Callow is a graduate of Tufts University and holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.
Ronald Croen Nuance Communications
Ronald Croen, entrepreneur and founder of Nuance Communications, is currently an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) at Tufts University. He began working with The Gordon Institute's Entrepreneurial Leadership Program in August, 2009. As entrepreneur-in-residence, Mr. Croen is applying his experiences from the software industry to assist the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (ELP) as it expands and progresses.
A co-founder of Nuance, Mr. Croen served as Nuance's President and Chief Executive Officer from 1994 to March 2003. He has also served as the Chairman of the board of directors. From 1993 to 1994, Mr. Croen served as a consultant to SRI International. From 1989 to 1993, he was an independent management consultant in Paris, France. Prior to that position, he served in various positions at The Ultimate Corp., including Managing Director of European Operations and Vice President and General Counsel. He holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Tufts University.
John Davis Harvard Business School
John A. Davis is Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Professor Davis is co-founder and faculty chair of Harvard Business School's Families in Business: From Generation to Generation program.
Trained in business management, psychology, and economics, Professor Davis earned his Doctorate in Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1982. He has served on the faculty of the Graduate School of Business at the University of Southern California, and has lectured on family business management at Stanford University, IMD (Switzerland), INCAD (Costa Rica), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (Chile), and Universidad de los Andes (Chile).
Robert Davis Aetna
Mr. Davis is a Managing Director in Aetna's Private Equity Group where he is responsible for evaluating, executing, and monitoring private equity investments in both companies and limited partnerships. He represents Aetna on several portfolio company boards and serves on the advisory boards of numerous private equity funds. Mr. Davis joined Aetna in 1997.
Prior to joining Aetna Mr. Davis was an early employee in a start-up telecommunications firm that grew to be ranked #12 on the Inc. Magazine 500. Previously, he worked in the fixed income division of Lehman Brothers and for Merrill Lynch.
Mr. Davis holds a BA from Amherst College and an MBA from The Yale School of Management.
David Donabedian, PhD GlaxoSmithKline, US CEEDD
Dr. Donabedian joined the ceedd in 2009 and in his role identifies and evaluates new business opportunities for the U.S. ceedd. Prior to joining the ceedd, Dr. Donabedian was a principal of his own consultancy practice, which he started in June 2007 to provide business development services to emerging biotechnology companies. He has sourced and closed agreements with biopharmaceutical companies and academic institutions and has served as CEO, COO, SVP and VP of Business Development and in other senior management positions for BioChemics, Tutorzilla, Surface Logix, Accenture, Dow Chemical and Boston Scientific, managing all levels of business and strategic development. He has been responsible for the development and implementation of business development strategies (in and out-licensing), identifying potential strategic relationships and has led a product development team specializing in developing, and patenting a broad range of technologies to the life sciences industries. Dr. Donabedian began his research career as a scientist with SciMed Life Systems, a division of Boston Scientific, where he developed novel bioadhesives to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms. He received an A.B. from St. Anselm College, a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Gustavo Eiben Aureos Capital
Mr. Eiben is the head of North America investor relations of Aureos Capital. Aureos is a global emerging market private equity manager focused on small to mid-market transactions across Africa, Asia and Latin America. As head of North America IR, Mr. Eiben is responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships with existing and potential investors, and for developing new business and products that fit Aureos' overall global strategy. Prior to Aureos Capital, Mr. Eiben was a member of the Alternative Investments Group at J.P. Morgan Private Bank raising and investing capital in third-party private equity funds. Prior to that, he was the head of fundraising and business development at Schroeder Ventures US and before that, a member of the UBS Private Equity Funds Group; the placement arm of the bank. Mr. Eiben started his career in the Mergers and Acquisitions group at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Mr. Eiben received his MBA degree from Thunderbird, the Global School of Management and his BA degree from Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina.
Eric Emmons Siemens Venture Capital
Eric Emmons is an Investment Partner based in Boston, MA. He focuses on investments in energy, materials, and industrial technologies. His current and past board involvement includes Managesoft, Powerit, Porogen, Bandgap Engineering, and Protonex (PTX.L).
Before joining Siemens Venture Capital, Eric was a partner at the Massachusetts Green Energy Fund, where he led many of its investments in power generation, energy efficiency, and new materials. He also worked with Commons Capital, a Boston area venture capital firm which invests in energy, medical, and technology companies.
Eric was on the founding team of Enmed, Inc., which developed clinical trial management software for the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries, and managed strategic planning for EPIX Medical, Inc., (Nasdaq: EPIX) a public biotechnology firm in Cambridge, MA. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelors degree cum laude from Princeton University.
Alex Finkelstein Spark Capital
Alex is a General Partner at Spark Capital and joined the firm at its inception. He has led Spark's investments in 5min, 8D World,Linkwell, and Altius Education. Alex focuses on working with and investing in highly passionate entrepreneurs who enjoy leaving stable jobs to build transformative companies.
Prior to joining Spark Capital, Alex was the creator and producer of a number of television shows and Internet properties that he sold to major networks, including FOX, E!, Discovery, ITV1 (U.K.) and Yahoo. Alex's shows all had major product integration components and were sold in partnership with Fortune 500 brands.
Previously Alex was a Principal at Seed Capital Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm that was formed in partnership with Softbank. Before joining Seed Capital Partners, Alex was an Associate at GrandBanks Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm that was also formed in partnership with Softbank.
Alex also worked at Cambridge Associates, where he served as a Senior Venture Capital Research Associate and Senior Consulting Associate.
Alex Finkelstein holds a BA in political science from Middlebury College.
Jean George Advanced Technology Ventures
Jean, ATV's East Coast lead partner for healthcare investments, has been with ATV since 2002. She focuses on the life sciences and therapeutic device markets, identifying innovations viable for commercialization. Jean was featured on the 2009 Forbes Midas list and recently named a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. She represents the ATV on the boards of Acceleron Pharma, Critical Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CRTX), Five Prime Therapeutics, Hydra Biosciences, Portola Pharmaceuticals, and Zeltiq Aesthetics. She also was on the boards of Hypnion prior to its acquisition by Eli Lilly in April 2007 and Proteolix prior to its acquisition by Onyx Pharmaceuticals in November 2009.
Jean has been in the biopharmaceutical industry for over 20 years, including 10 years spent at Genzyme Corporation, where she held a variety of operational roles in marketing, product development, and business development, including Vice President of global sales and marketing. She also was Vice President and founder of Genzyme's Tissue Repair Division, where she was responsible for identifying new product opportunities and potential acquisition candidates.
Jean joined BancBoston Ventures in 1998 to lead its life sciences investments. There she led investments in Neurometrix (NASDAQ: NURU), Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (formerly Microbia), NuGenesis Technologies (acquired by Waters), and Syntonix Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Biogen/Idec). Previously, Jean spent six years working in chemistry and bioresearch. She earned an M.B.A. from Simmons College Graduate School of Management and a B.S. from the University of Maine.
Tony Florence NEA
Tony joined NEA in June 2008 and is focused on a broad range of information technology investments, with special emphasis on venture growth equity. Prior to joining NEA, he was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and was Head of Technology Banking in New York, and was a member of the North American Management Committee for investment banking. Tony joined Morgan Stanley as a financial analyst in 1992, and subsequently rejoined the firm as an associate in 1997 from business school. Tony was focused on technology investment banking for over a decade at Morgan Stanley, where he was responsible for advisory and financing transactions for a broad range of public and private technology clients. During his 14 years at Morgan Stanley, Tony advised clients on over $50 billion of strategic transactions and helped raise over $100 billion in equity and debt capital for clients. Tony received an MBA and an A.B. in Economics from Dartmouth College.
Ryan Harper Summit Partners
Ryan Harper joined Summit Partners in 2009 and now serves as Vice President. Prior to Summit, he worked for Diamond Castle Holdings and UBS Investment Bank.
Based in Summit's Boston office, Ryan is active in the firm's investment activities in North America, Europe and Asia.
Ryan received a BBA in finance, magna cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Joseph Haslip Formerly at Office of NYC Comptroller
Joseph J. Haslip formerly served as Assistant Comptroller for Pensions for New York City Comptroller, the Honorable William C. Thompson Jr., and served as the Comptroller's trustee representative to four of the city's five pension boards.
The New York City Retirement System's is composed of five pension boards: The New York City Employees' Retirement System, The Teachers Retirement System of the City of New York, The New York City Police Pension Fund, The New York City Fire Pension Fund, as well as The New York City Board of Education Retirement System. The total assets under management for the five funds are approximately $100 Billion.
Joe also sat for the Comptroller on the $7 Billion New York City Deferred Compensation Board.
At the request of Comptroller Thompson, Joseph was charged with working with the Bureau of Asset Management in developing a strategy to increase the plan's exposure to smaller / minority and women investment managers. As a result of Joe's efforts coupled with the Bureau's and the Board of Trustees, New York City increased its commitment from $ 1.5 Billion to close to $ 7 Billion.
In private equity alone, within the city's $5 Billion PE Program, the trustees recently adopted an increase of $450 Million to their emerging manager fund of fund program.
Joseph also has served as Co-Chairperson for the Opal Emerging Manager Summit in both 2005 and 06. This national conference attracts hundreds of emerging investment managers across asset classes each year, and provides a forum for them to interact with institutional investors.
Recently he was invited to serve on The Dow Jones Wilshire National Pension Fund Task Force. This group, which consists of leading pension fund trustees and administrators, was brought together to look at the major challenges facing public plans on both the investment and benefits sides.
Prior to working with Comptroller Thompson, Joe served as Chief of Staff and Director of Policy in The New York State Legislature to then State Senator and now Governor David A. Paterson.
In his home city of New York, Joe has been extremely active in the area of community development serving as a board member of such groups as The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone and The Harlem Community Development Corporation.
Bob Higgins Highland Capital Partners
Bob Higgins is a General Partner and Co-Founder of Lexington, MA based Highland Capital Partners. He has more than twenty five years of experience in venture capital and has served as a director of many public and private companies. Bob has been a faculty member at the Harvard Business School since 2001. At HBS, he currently teaches a second year course called Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital in Healthcare. In addition, he has been teaching a course entitled Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Public, Private, and Social Sectors at The Kennedy School of Government.
Bob has been an investor in many successful healthcare service, medical device and biotechnology companies. In addition, in 2009, Bob was recognized by AlwaysOn Venture Capital 100 as one of the top venture capitalists in the industry. Before co-founding Highland, Bob was a general partner at a Boston-based venture capital partnership. Immediately prior to entering venture capital, Bob ran several healthcare foundations in New York. Prior to that, he was the Assistant to the US Secretary of Commerce. He was an officer in the US Army, and he served on active duty at West Point.
Bob has graduated from Harvard College and the Harvard Business School.
Matthew Jones Pantheon Ventures
Matt Jones is a Principal at Pantheon Ventures' New York Office. Matthew focuses on the sourcing, analysis, evaluation and completion of secondary transactions. Matt joined Pantheon in 2001. He was previously an Assistant Economist at HM Treasury where he worked on private equity policy areas and was part of the Myners Review team. Matt holds a BA in Economics and Politics, Leeds University.
Kosmo Kalliarekos Baring Private Equity Asia
Kosmo is a Managing Director of Baring Private Equity Asia, based in Hong Kong. Kosmo is a member of the firm's investment team, while actively participating in the oversight and management of various fund investee companies. Kosmo also serves on the firm's portfolio management committee and has also participated as a member of the fund's board of advisors since 2004.
Prior to his current position, Kosmo was a founding member, Senior Partner and a member of the Executive Committee of The Parthenon Group, a strategic advisory firm consisting of 160 members located in Boston, London, San Francisco and Mumbai. Kosmo was the lead partner for Parthenon's recent expansion to India.
Kosmo graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and received an M.B.A., with High Distinction, from Harvard Business School.
Jon Karlen Flybridge Capital
Jon is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners whose investment interests and experience include enterprise software, consumer-focused products and online services, and energy technology. He currently represents the firm on the boards of Eka Systems, GamerDNA, Virtual Computer, Inc., and a LED company currently working in stealth mode. He also previously sat on the board of ZING Systems (acquired by Dell).
Prior to joining the firm in October 2005, Jon served as Director of Product Marketing at OATSystems, an RFID software company, where he led the company's product positioning and marketing activities. Jon joined the company following a successful Entrepreneur-in-Residence position at Greylock, where he developed the investment opportunity in OATSystems.
Before Greylock, Jon was an executive at NTRU Cryptosystems, an early-stage company focused on commercializing data encryption technology for constrained devices. During his tenure at NTRU, Jon served as General Manager for the RFID and Smart Card group and Director of Product Management. Jon also spent time as an Associate with Greylock and an Equity Research Associate at Montgomery Securities.
Jon holds a BA in Philosophy from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Jon is married with three children. He enjoys sports of all kinds and is a hack on the guitar. While at Harvard, Jon was a 4-year member and co-captain of a national championship squash team, earned individual All America honors, and was the #3 ranked amateur in the U.S.
Srinivas Kaushik Kirkland & Ellis
Srinivas is a partner in the corporate practice of Kirkland's New York office. Srinivas concentrates his practice on domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, formation of venture capital/private equity funds and securities offerings.
Srinivas is qualified to practice law in New York, India and the U.K. and in addition to representing clients on domestic matters, has significant experience in India related transactions. He has represented the firm's clients in a number of acquisition/buyout and investment transactions in Indian companies, including in one of the first ever leveraged buyouts of an Indian company, formation of India focused private equity/real estate funds and also represented Indian companies in acquisition, investment and securities transactions in the United States.
Hovey Kemp Goodwin Procter LLP
Hovey Kemp is a partner in the Private Equity Group at Goodwin Procter LLP and serves as Chair of the firm's Clean Tech & Energy practice. He oversees an interdisciplinary team working with investors, entrepreneurs, operating companies, and think-tanks that are pioneering renewable energy development and clean technologies. Mr. Kemp has particular expertise advising growth equity investors and private equity funds in later-stage financings of renewable energy and clean technology businesses. He also has a robust practice representing energy-focused operating companies in a wide variety of corporate transactions, including the recent representation of SunEdison and its investors in its sale to MEMC Electronic Materials. Mr. Kemp holds a JD from Georgetown University Law Center and an AB from Harvard University (magna cum laude).
Jim Kim Khosla Ventures
Jim first recognized the value of partnering with great visionaries during the 3rd grade while building a snow fort in his parents' front yard in Fishkill, NY. That theme has persisted throughout his career and has led to his working with some extraordinary entrepreneurs in the Energy sector.
Jim first became exposed to energy by accident when GE Structured Finance was reorganized into industry verticals. Instead of pursuing opportunities in other sectors, Jim followed his mentor to GE Energy Financial Services (EFS). While at EFS Jim worked on project finance opportunities across the energy value chain. After helping to structure several renewable energy projects, Jim partnered with a colleague to found the Energy Technology Ventures group. His investments included A123Systems, China High Speed Transmission, Ocean Power Delivery, and several later stage companies across diverse Cleantech sectors.
Most recently, Jim worked as a Senior Partner in the Energy & Materials practice at CMEA Capital, where he collaborated with entrepreneurs from such firms as A123Systems (AONE), Danotek, Solyndra, Foro Energy, and a number of university spinouts.
Jim received his undergraduate degrees in Computer Science & Electrical Engineering and Political Science from MIT, where he also founded an Internet infrastructure start-up at the height of the technology bubble. He received his MBA and a Masters in Quantitative Methods from Columbia University.
John LeClaire Goodwin Procter
John LeClaire is a co-founder and the chair of Goodwin Proctor's nationally ranked Private Equity Group, which was named the 2009 U.S. Buyout Firm of the Year by Buyouts magazine. The Goodwin Procter Private Equity Group serves leading private equity firms and growth companies operating in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Mr. LeClaire's practice focuses on private equity transactions and relationships with growth companies. He joined Goodwin Procter in 1982 and has been a partner since 1989.
Mr. LeClaire is listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America, Lawdragon 500 and Leading Dealmakers in America.
Mr. LeClaire holds an A.B. from Brown University and a JD from Boston University School of Law.
Douglas Lowenstein Private Equity Council
Doug Lowenstein is the founding president of the Private Equity Council. Before joining the organization in February 2007, Lowenstein founded and served as president of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). In his 13 years at the organization, Lowenstein built the ESA into the most influential and important worldwide trade body representing the $30 billion computer and video game software industry.
Earlier, Lowenstein was an executive vice president in the Washington and New York strategic communications firm Robinson Lake Sawyer Miller, Inc. From 1986-1991, Lowenstein was a Principal in National Strategies, Inc., a Washington public policy consulting firm. From 1982 through 1986, Lowenstein worked for U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH), spending the last two years as legislative director.
Lowenstein spent the first eight years of his career as a newspaper reporter, starting with the Buffalo Courier Express, followed by two years at the Capitol Hill News Service. From 1976-82, he was a correspondent in the Cox Newspapers Washington Bureau. Douglas Lowenstein received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 1973 from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
James Lowy Ernst & Young
Jim Lowy is a principal in the Joint Ventures and Partnership Tax Group of the National Tax Department of Ernst & Young, resident in the San Francisco office. He advises clients on tax matters relating to the strategic use of partnerships in operating joint ventures, private equity, real estate opportunity and hedge funds, and real estate ventures. He also advises real estate investment trusts (REITs), sovereign wealth funds and other foreign investors.
Jim has been a frequent speaker on partnership and real estate tax matters at conferences sponsored by the NYU Institute on Federal Taxation, the Practising Law Institute, the American Bar Association Tax Section and other organizations. He also formerly taught partnership taxation in the Golden Gate University Graduate Tax Program. He is the co-author of Real Estate Investment Trusts and writes a regular column on REIT taxation in the Journal of Pass-through Entities. Jim has authored or co-authored articles in various tax journals, including a recent article in Tax Notes, addressing the tax consequences of "stuffing" or "fill-up" allocations by hedge funds.
Prior to joining Ernst & Young in 1997, Jim practiced tax law for 20 years as a partner with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton and Pettit & Martin. He received a BS from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a joint JD-MBA from UCLA.
Alicia Masse Ernst & Young
Alicia, a Principal, leads Ernst & Young's Midwest Restructuring Practice. She has more 30 years of financial experience which includes over 20 years in business consulting. In the last 14 years, Alicia has primarily focused on restructuring and turnaround. She has successfully concluded over 100 distressed and turnaround engagements and is experienced with cross-border insolvency within North America and Europe. Additionally, she has developed and launched a predictive global financial scoring system that helps companies identify potential distress 12 months prior to difficulties.
In her in-depth experience, Alicia brings a solution-oriented view to challenging business situations. She advises companies on a wide array of restructuring and strategic issues, including strategic alternative and portfolio analysis, plans of reorganization, profit enhancement, litigation support, distressed advisory and transaction support. Her distressed experience includes negotiations with all stakeholders such as management, senior and subordinate lenders, employees, unions, trade creditors and other stakeholders.
She holds an MBA, with distinction, from the University of Michigan and a BA in Accounting from Florida Atlantic University.
Joseph Michaels, Ph.D. One Equity Partners
Dr. Michels is a Managing Director of OEP. Prior to joining OEP in 2007, he was the Director for Research Initiatives and a lecturer at Princeton University. Formerly he was a Congressional science fellow with Senator Joseph Lieberman and served as science advisor for Senator Richard Lugar. He is President of the Society for Energy and Environmental Research, a nonprofit organization that promotes renewable energy, is on the scientific advisory board of Applied Semiconductor, Inc., is a director of the National Rowing Foundation and a Steward of the Henley Royal Regatta. Dr. Michels currently serves on the Board of Clipper. Dr. Michels received a B.A. in Physics and English with honors from LaSalle University and a Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from Oxford University.
John McCormick Monument Group
John joined Monument Group in 2006 from Cambridge Associates where he was a specialist consultant advising foundations, families, universities and non-profit organizations on the non-marketable alternative asset portfolios of their endowments. Prior to Cambridge Associates, John was a vice president at BancBoston Capital/BancBoston Ventures. During his tenure John was responsible for investments ranging from primary and secondary fund investments to direct investments in both early stage venture and middle market buyout opportunities. These investments were made in a variety of sectors including biotechnology, healthcare services, information technology, telecommunications, restaurants and manufacturing John also worked as an investment banking analyst in Lehman Brothers' Mergers and Acquisitions Group focusing on retail and consumer products. He is a graduate of Williams College and received his MBA from The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College.
Tom McKinley Cardinal Partners
Tom is the West Coast Representative for Cardinal Partners. Prior to joining Cardinal, Tom was Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of Partech International. Tom has over 30 years of investment experience with a track record of helping entrepreneurs create significant and successful enterprises. His investments include Ascend Communications (ASND acquired by Lucent Technologies), Automated Healthcare (acquired by McKesson), Medicode (acquired by United Healthcare) and VISICU (EICU acquired by Philips). He is currently serving as a board of director of TelaDoc, a telehealth services providing doctor consults to consumer.
Tom has served on the boards of U.C. Berkeley's Entrepreneurs Forum and the Western Association of Venture Capitalists (WAVC). He is an active member of the Health Management Academy (HMA), a founding member of Healthcare IT Advisory Group to State of California, and an active supporter of the University of San Francisco's Entrepreneurship Program. As an alumnus, Tom maintains close ties with Stanford's Business School, as well as Harvard University, where he serves as class secretary and started the I3 Harvard College Innovation Challenge (undergraduate business plan competition).
Tom received an undergraduate degree in Economics from Harvard University, an MS in Accounting from New York University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Scott Myers Cogent Partners
Mr. Myers is Managing Director in the firm's Dallas office. Prior to co-founding Cogent Partners, Mr. Myers was a director with The Crossroads Group. Mr. Myers began his career at Bain & Co where he spent five years advising corporate and private equity clients on operational and strategic issues. Mr. Myers holds an MIA in economics and international affairs from Columbia University in New York and an M.Phil in international relations from Oxford University, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar. He also holds a BA in economics and history from the University of British Columbia.
Mina Pacheo Nazemi Credit Suisse Customized Funds Group
Mina is a Principal in the Customized Fund Investment Group, Credit Suisse's fund of funds and co-investment group globally. In addition to traditional fund of funds investments, the Customized Fund Investment Group allocates capital to women and minority managers through its Emerging Domestic Manager (EDM) vertical.
Prior to Credit Suisse, Mina was a Senior Investment Associate in International Private Equity at GE Asset Management. Prior to that, Mina co-founded a consulting firm focused on small and medium sized businesses. Mina also worked for W.R. Hambrecht +Co as an Investment Analyst in public equities and for Prudential Global Asset Management as an Analyst in private placements. Mina is a NAA organizer of the annual Pension Fund Forum and a significant contributor to the formation of Association of Asian Americans Investment Managers. She is also an alumnus and mentor of the Toigo Foundation and SEO, for which she also serves on the Board of Directors. Mina is the Vice President of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association.
Mina holds a BA with Honors in Economics and Political Science from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Devin O'Reilly Bain Capital
Mr. O'Reilly joined Bain Capital in 2005. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. O'Reilly was with Bain & Company where he consulted for private equity and healthcare industry clients. Previously, he spent several years in the software industry in corporate development and general management roles.
Mr. O'Reilly received an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated with an AB from Princeton University.
Douglas Onsi HealthCare Ventures
Doug Onsi is a Venture Partner of HealthCare Ventures. Prior to joining HealthCare Ventures in 2007, he served as Vice President, Campath Product Operations & Oncology Portfolio Management and as Vice President, Business Development at Genzyme Corporation. Before joining Genzyme, Mr. Onsi was Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, Business Development of TolerRx, Inc., a company in which HealthCare Ventures was the lead investor. Prior to TolerRx, he held a senior business development position at LeukoSite, Inc., another HealthCare Ventures portfolio company, which was merged with Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He has also practiced corporate law at Bingham Dana LLP.
Mr. Onsi received his J.D. degree from University of Michigan Law School and B.S. degree in biology from Cornell University.
Edward J. Powers BAML Capital Access Funds
Mr. Powers co-founded BAML Capital Access Funds in 1997. He joined Bank of America in 1994 in community development banking, where he originated investments in a variety of community development equity products.
He is one of the founding members and serves as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Small Business Investment Alliance, a group of institutions focused on private equity funds targeted toward under-served markets. In 1999, Mr. Powers was named one of Crain's Chicago Business Top 40 Business Leaders under 40.
He holds bachelor's degrees in English and economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA and MA in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.
Jack Purcell BAML Capital Partners
Jack is a Vice President and General Partner based in the firm's headquarters in Charlotte, NC. He focuses primarily on investments in the consumer products and retail sectors, and has prior experience investing in industrials and media businesses. Jack currently represents our group on the Advisory Board of Bass Pro Group, LLC and serves on the board of Accent Health Holdings, LLC. Jack joined Banc of America Capital Investors (BACI), the predecessor group to BAML Capital Partners, in 2002. Jack earned a B.A. in Economics from Davidson College.
Kirk Radke Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Kirk Radke is recognized internationally as one of today's top private equity and corporate attorneys. During his 25 year career, he has handled every type of complex business transaction for global private equity and corporate clients. Most recently, Mr. Radke was named "Best Private Equity Lawyer 2009, U.S.A." by World Finance magazine. Included in Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business since its inception in 2003, he ranks nationally as a Tier 1 attorney in Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the "Private Equity: Buyouts" category. Additionally, Mr. Radke is the only attorney to rank in Tier 1 for "Private Equity: Buyouts" and also rank in "Investment Funds: Private Equity: Fund Formation". Clients describe him as "a terrific lawyer with an exhaustive practice" and a "terrific all-around deal lawyer" who "knows the intricacies of the industry at the highest possible level". He is also regularly recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, Practical Law Company, International Who's Who and IFLR's Guide to the World's Leading Lawyers.
Kim Reinert Ernst & Young LLP
Kim Reinert, a Boston-based partner, leads Ernst & Young's Northeast Venture Capital Advisory Group. Kim has more than 14 years of experience working with both public and private companies, with a focus on early-stage and middle-market high technology firms. She advises clients on growth strategy and planning, particularly in the areas of revenue recognition, equity and compensation and business combinations. Kim also has extensive experience helping clients prepare for and carry out initial public offerings and meet other filing obligations required by the Securities and Exchange Commission. She is a graduate of Boston College with a bachelor's degree in accounting, a CPA in Massachusetts and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
James Rhee GB Merchant Partners
James Rhee joined GB Merchant Partners in 2009 to oversee the 1903 Equity Fund. Prior to this, he founded FirePine Group, a merchant bank that provided operating and capital solutions to distressed retail and consumer companies. From 2000 to 2007, Mr. Rhee held various senior level positions at J.W. Childs Associates, where he was involved with such investments as The Meow Mix Company, Murray's Discount Auto Stores and Brookstone, and where he played an integral role in managing the turnaround of such companies as Pan Am International Flight Academy. He was also an Associate in the Mergers and Acquisition Group of Merrill Lynch & Company. Mr. Rhee has raised well over $1.0 billion of debt capital and invested in or stewarded companies with over $2.0 billion of aggregate enterprise value. Mr. Rhee serves on the Board of Directors of Como Fred David and Ultra Stores. Mr. Rhee received his AB with honors from Harvard College and his JD with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Cynthia Ringo DBL Investors
Cynthia is a Managing Partner of DBL Investors, an investment firm focused on delivering strong financial returns together with positive social, environmental, and economic impact, which she joined in April 2008. She was formerly a Managing Director of VantagePoint Venture Partners from 2002 to 2008 where she was Group Leader of the Communications, Systems Internet and Media Practice. Prior to VantagePoint, Cynthia served as the CEO of Coppercom, a next-generation network switching company. Cynthia served on the board of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE) from 2000 to 2004, and as Chair of the Board for 2001 through 2003. Winner of 2000 FWE's Entrepreneur Award. Advisor to Astia. Cynthia received a B.S. in Legal Systems from Georgia State University and a JD from Emory University School of Law.
Matthew Rhodes-Kropf Harvard Business School
Matthew Rhodes-Kropf is an associate professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit, where he teaches the Venture Capital and Private Equity course in the MBA elective curriculum. He specializes in mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, hedge funds, and corporate governance and has published in leading finance and economic journals, including The Journal of Finance, The Journal of Business, Journal of Financial Economics, and The RAND Journal of Economics. His 2004 paper "Market Valuation and Merger Waves," published in The Journal of Finance, was nominated for the Brattle Prize for Best Paper in Corporate Finance in 2005.
Professor Rhodes-Kropf founded RK Ventures, an early-stage venture capital company with a focus on finance, technology, and biotech companies. RK Ventures-funded companies— including Rackspace (NYSE: RAX), Redpoint Bio (OTC: RPBC), Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, iCor Brokerage, and Axioma have gone on to raise an aggregate of over $200 million from leading institutions. Professor Rhodes-Kropf has served as acting CFO of Avid Radiopharmaceuticals and has been a member of its board of directors since its founding. He is also a director of Credit Where Credit Is Due, a nonprofit credit union and financial education program focused on low-income individuals, and he is a member of the board of advisors of Duke University's Graduate School, and Ada Investment Management, a process driven hedge fund that uses long- run economic signals, and Correlation Ventures, a quantitatively based venture fund.
Professor Rhodes-Kropf was formerly the Daniel W. Stanton Associate Professor of Business at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, where he received the Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence. A graduate of Duke University, Professor Rhodes-Kropf holds a BA in computer science and economics and an MA and Ph.D. in economics.
Gwen Ruta Environmental Defense Fund
As Vice President of the Corporate Partnerships Program, Gwen Ruta spearheads Environmental Defense Fund's work with leading multinational companies to develop innovative, business-based solutions to environmental challenges and to drive change through the corporate value chain. Ranked #1 among environmental organizations for credible and effective partnerships by the Financial Times, Gwen's group has kicked off transformations in market sectors from catalogs to shipping to retail to food service, with Fortune 100 companies such as FedEx, Wal-Mart and McDonald's.
Prior to joining Environmental Defense Fund, Gwen was Vice President and Director of Environmental Sustainability at Metcalf & Eddy, an international environmental engineering firm. She has also held senior management positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Gwen has authored numerous articles on environmental issues and is a frequent speaker at business conferences. She is on the Board of Directors of the Environmental League of Massachusetts and the Erb Institute at the University of Michigan, and was recently named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Finance by Treasury and Risk magazine.
Gwen holds an M.P.A. from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia. Learn more about Gwen at www.edf.org/gwenruta.
Jay Sammons The Carlyle Group
Jay Sammons is a Vice President focused on U.S. buyout investment opportunities in the consumer and retail industries. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Sammons was a Vice President at Avista Capital Partners, a private equity firm that was formed by several former partners from DLJ Merchant Banking, where he was an Associate. Previously, Mr. Sammons was an Associate at the Cypress Group, a New York based private equity firm. Prior to that, Mr. Sammons was an Analyst in JP Morgan's mergers and acquisitions group.
Mr. Sammons received his MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS with distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of philosophy.
Ian Schuler Fidequity
Ian is a co-founder of Fidequity and heads the group's activities in North America. He also leads the secondary effort where he is responsible for originating, structuring and distributing both private equity interests and direct assets. In 2009, he advised on over $200mm of original capital commitment and limited partnership interests including both structured solutions and direct sales.
Fidequity is a private equity advisory firm focusing on two core businesses: fund formation and placement, and secondary market advisory and distribution for private equity funds. The group was established in 2007 and has offices in New York, London and Paris. On the primary side, Fidequity's has helped in the successful fundraises for the likes of Thomas Weisel Global Growth Partners IV (S), and Physic Ventures I among others.
Prior to Fidequity, Ian was in the Fixed Income Sales team at JPMorgan focused on the marketing and sales of a wide range of credit products to institutional investors. He received a B.S. in Finance from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and his MBA from CASS Business School, London. He holds Series 7, 63 & 24 licenses.
Jonathan Shepherd Harvard Business School
Jonathan Shepherd is an Associate Director in MBA Career and Professional Development where he focuses on investment banking, investment management and VC/PE. Jonathan has worked in various financial positions at firms including Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan. Immediately prior to joining HBS, he was the CFO of TCP Communications, a private equity-backed wireless tower company sold to a Blackstone Group portfolio company. Jonathan received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics from Middlebury College.
Rajath Shourie Oaktree Capital Management
Rajath Shourie joined Oaktree in 2002 after having spent two years at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as an Associate in the Principal Investment Area. Prior experience includes three years as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. Mr. Shourie holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then went on to receive an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. At Oaktree he has made both control and non-control investments in distressed debt across a variety of sectors. He has invested in the airline / aircraft industry for a number of years, and has more recently spent the majority of his time investing in financial institutions. He has been active on a number of creditors' committees, and served recently on the steering committee in the restructuring of CIT Group. Prior board memberships include Exco Resources (NYSE: XCO), Pinnacle Foods and Pegasus Aviation Finance Company.
Omar Simmons Windjammer Capital
Omar joined Windjammer in March 2008 from Reliant Equity Investors, a $120 million private equity fund where he was a co-founder and managing director at the firm. Omar led several control-buyout transactions at Reliant and was responsible for sourcing, analyzing, structuring and managing multiple portfolio investments. Prior to Reliant, Omar was a Senior Associate at McCown De Leeuw & Co., a $1.2 billion middle market buyout fund, where he played a lead role in identifying and evaluating potential deals as well as negotiating complex financings for new investments and the disposition of existing portfolio investments. His other middle market private equity experience includes working at Summit Partners as an Associate and Littlejohn & Co. as a Summer Associate. Omar also worked at Marakon Associates, as a Senior Analyst, Physicians Quality Care, a venture-backed health care services company, and Lotus Development. Omar received an A.B. from The Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy at Princeton University and earned his M.B.A., with honors, from Harvard Business School, where he was a Toigo Fellow.
Shashank Singh Apax Partners
Shashank co-heads the India office of Apax Partners, based in Mumbai, having helped set up the office in 2007. He specializes in the Tech & Telecom sector and his past deal experience includes Weather Investments, TIM Hellas, Q-Telecom, Bezeq, TDC and Synetrix. Prior to joining Apax Partners in 2004, Shashank was a strategy consultant with Monitor Company, where he specialized in leading client engagements in the telecoms and high technology industries across Europe.
Shashank graduated with B.A. in Economics with distinction from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University. He then received a first class M.A. in Economics from St. Edmunds's College, Cambridge University. Shashank also received his M.B.A. with High Distinction from Harvard Business School.
David Soo Ming Jie Sino Fortune Capital
David is a Senior Partner of Sino Fortune Capital and serves on the boards of the firms various portfolio companies. Previously, he has held executive positions with Jardines Group, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch.
David received his B.A. from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, and his EMBA from Peking University, Beijing, China. He also attended University College, Oxford, England and the Yale-in-China program at Chinese University Hong Kong.
Greg Stento HarbourVest
Mr. Stento joined HarbourVest in 1998 and focuses on partnership investments. Greg also serves on the advisory boards of several private equity partnerships.
Greg joined HarbourVest from Comdisco Ventures, where he was a managing director and provided equity and debt capital to startup and emerging growth technology and life sciences companies. Prior to Comdisco, he was a general partner at Horsley Bridge Partners, where he was responsible for making and managing investments in a variety of private equity partnerships and companies. Greg also spent six years in marketing and sales at NCR Corporation, where he focused on information technology solutions for financial institutions.
He received a BS (with distinction) from Cornell University in 1982 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1989.
Daniel Sterenberg Carlyle Brazil
Daniel Sterenberg is a Vice President focused on buyout opportunities in Latin America. He is based in Sao Paulo.
Mr. Sterenberg was responsible for the acquisition of CVC Brasil Operadora e Agência de Viagens S.A. (CVC Brasil), the first investment of Carlyle's buyout group in Brazil. He is actively involved with CVC Brasil, including serving as a board member.
Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Sterenberg was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, where he led several Growth Strategy and New Business Development studies for retail banking, consumer goods and industrial clients. Prior to that, he was the Co-Founder of Aceleradora.Com S.A., a seed-stage venture capital firm, and a financial analyst at Banco Bozano Simonsen.
Mr. Sterenberg received his M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He received a B.S. in Computer Science from the Federal University of Rio De Janeiro.
Ileana Stone Bank of America
Ileana C. Stone is an Assistant General Counsel of Bank of America Corporation. Ms. Stone co-heads the Legal Department team that supports the Global Principal Investments group, which deploys capital worldwide in private equity, mezzanine and strategic transactions through growth financings, buyouts, acquisitions, recapitalizations, and private equity and hedge funds. Prior to joining Bank of America in 2003, Ms. Stone was an associate at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP and a tax manager at Ernst & Young LLP. Ms. Stone received her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1997 and her Bachelor in Business Administration and Masters of Public Accounting, with a specialty in taxation, from the University of Texas in Austin in 1991.
Goro Takeda Sofinnova Ventures
Goro Takeda joined Sofinnova Ventures in 2007 as a Kauffman Venture Fellow with a focus on identifying Life Science spin-out opportunities in Asia. Goro holds the honor of being the first person from Japan to be selected as a Kauffman Venture Fellow. He is also a co-founder of FinTech Global Capital, an early stage venture capital firm in Tokyo, where he currently serves as Managing Partner.
Before arriving at Sofinnova Ventures, Goro was the Deputy General Manager of NIF SMBC Ventures, a Japanese venture capital firm with $2 billion under management. Goro was responsible for life science investments across multiple geographic regions. Goro was involved with investments in biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical companies including Arrow Therapeutics, Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, and Orexigen Therapeutics. Prior to launching his career in venture capital, Goro spent nine years in the pharmaceutical industry, most recently as Corporate Officer of the U.S. subsidiary of Tanabe Pharmaceuticals. While in this position, Goro worked on global business development and marketing assignments.
Goro holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Waseda University and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School at Northwestern University.
Steven Taub General Electric
Steven Taub is Senior Vice President, Investment Strategy at GE Energy Financial Services. In this role he works closely with GE investment professionals to evaluate project finance and venture capital investment opportunities and to create and develop new ones.
Prior to joining GE, Mr. Taub was with Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), where he was engaged in research and strategic consulting on energy technology and electric power for a wide range of clients worldwide. Mr. Taub also has worked for the U.S. Department of Energy office of Environmental Management and office of New Production Reactors.
Steve earned master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University. He also completed a U.S. DOE engineering training program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and classwork in corporate finance at Harvard.
Russ Thomas Availity
Russ Thomas is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Availity, LLC, a joint venture between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc., Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), Humana Inc., and WellPoint, Inc. He joined Availity in early 2008 and oversees enterprise-wide operations, including business solutions, professional services, market strategy, and sales and market development.
Russ brings with him to Availity a career in clinical information products and services. Prior to joining Availity, Russ was the Chief Executive Officer of Gold Standard, Inc., an industry leader in drug information databases and clinical knowledge solutions. Russ grew Gold Standard from a small start-up business to a national operation, serving all sectors of the health care market, before selling the business to Reed Elsevier in 2006.
In addition to his professional responsibilities, Russ has been active in industry and philanthropic organizations. He was a founding board member of the Tampa Bay Regional Health Information Organization. He was also a founding board member and past chairman of Hillsborough Kids, Inc., which, in concert with the Florida Department of Children and Families, provides oversight and resources for more than 4,000 disadvantaged children in Hillsborough County, Florida.
Russ earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Virginia Tech and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia. He resides in Jacksonville, Florida with his wife Claudia and their two children.
Scott Turco THL Credit
Prior to joining THL Credit, Mr. Turco worked at Plainfield Asset Management, LLC, Gabelli & Company, Inc., and Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. in the Corporate Finance, Equity/Special Situations, and Institutional Equity Groups.
Mr. Turco earned an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Sebástian Villa Southern Cross Group
Sebástian Villa has 15 years of corporate, entrepreneurial and investing experience. Mr. Villa was responsible for opening Southern Cross' office in Mexico in 2005, from where he led the successful investments in MMCinemas (2nd largest movie theater chain, sold in 2008), More Pharma (leading specialty pharmaceutical) and Javer (largest private homebuilder).
Prior to this, Mr. Villa was a member of Three Cities Research ("TCR"), a New York based private equity firm, where he successfully executed the sale of Meridian Rail, a leading service company to the North American freight rail industry. In 1999, Mr. Villa co-founded South-Net, a Latin American technology incubator sponsored by Southern Cross, where he was the acting Chief Financial Officer. At South-Net, Mr. Villa led successful investments such as Construmega (sold in 2000), HotelDO (leading regional hotel wholesaler), and MayoristaNet (sold in 2008). Before South-Net, Mr. Villa was a consultant at Boston Consulting Group's Buenos Aires office. Mr. Villa began his career at Royal Dutch/Shell, where he worked as Area Manager for the Province of Buenos Aires.
Mr. Villa holds an Economics degree from the Universidad de San Andres, Buenos Aires, and an MBA from Columbia University.
Daniel Vasquez, PhD EDM Capital Partners
Mr. Daniel W. Vasquez is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of EDM Capital Partners.
Prior to founding EDM Capital Partners, Mr. Vasquez was a Harvard Business School researcher with Professor Michael Porter's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, where he worked with the California State Treasurer in creating The California Initiative – a CalPERS-sponsored $1 billion private equity investment vehicle, deploying capital in California's underserved emerging domestic market ("EDM"). Mr. Vasquez was also the lead Harvard researcher to identify and define inner city economies across America for the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City in Boston.
Before launching EDM Capital Partners, Mr. Vasquez was Vice-President with Hamilton Lane Advisors, a private equity asset management firm, where he was the Product Manager for the Golden State Investment Fund – the second $500 million of the $1 billion California Initiative.
Prior to Hamilton Lane, Mr. Vasquez was an Investment Advisor with Morgan Stanley's Global Wealth Management Group. Before Morgan Stanley, Mr. Vasquez spent several years as a Research Associate at Harvard Business School's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, working alongside Professor Michael Porter on competitiveness and economic development.
Mr. Vasquez is completing his Ph.D. in Finance at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Centre and Business School in France. He holds a Master's degree from The University of Chicago where he studied Economics under Nobel economists Gary Becker and Robert Fogel as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. He earned a Certificate in Public & International Affairs from Princeton University. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Ethnic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. He has published academic monographs in the areas of business and economic competitiveness of ethnic markets and corporate strategy.
Scott White Brookfield Asset Management
Scott is a Senior Vice President in the Private Equity Funds Group at Brookfield Asset Management based in New York. Mr. White is the Head of Transaction Management responsible for managing Brookfield's private fund offerings including real estate, infrastructure and distressed private equity. Prior to joining Brookfield, Mr. White was a Director in the Citi Alternatives Distribution Group where he was the Head of Deal Management responsible for advising clients on alternatives capital raising activities, including private equity, real estate and infrastructure funds. Before focusing his career on alternative assets, Mr. White was an Associate in the healthcare practice of Citi's Investment Bank. Prior to joining Citi, Mr. White was a Senior Auditor at Price Waterhouse. Mr. White earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Journalism from Rutgers University, his M.B.A. from Rutgers Graduate School of Management and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is a Certified Public Accountant and admitted to the bars of New York and New Jersey.
James L. Wilder Housatonic Partners
Mr. Wilder joined Housatonic Partners in 2001. Prior to that, he was an Associate with The Beacon Group, a private equity firm acquired by JP Morgan Chase in 2000. While at Beacon, he focused on leveraged buyout investments in the energy and telecommunications sectors. Previously, Mr. Wilder worked in the Media and Telecommunications group at Lehman Brothers where he was involved with Mergers and Acquisition transactions for wireless services and cable companies.
Mr. Wilder is a graduate of Princeton University and the Harvard Business School. He is a Director of Aircraft Fasteners International, LLC; MedOptions, LLC; OnRamp Access, LLC; Wind River Environmental, LLC and Boston Association for Corporate Growth.
Josh Wolfe Lux Capital
Josh Wolfe is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Lux Capital Management focusing on investments in the physical and life sciences. Mr. Wolfe manages Lux's investments in Nanosys, Cambrios, Siluria and serves on the Board of Directors of Kurion, Silicon Clocks, Crystal IS and Lux Research. Before forming Lux Capital, he worked in Salomon Smith Barney's Investment Banking group, in capital markets at Merrill Lynch on its Financial Futures & Options/Government Strategy desk and at Prudential Securities in Municipal Finance.
Prior to venturing into the financial world, Mr. Wolfe published cutting-edge AIDS-immunopathology research in Cell Vision and The Journal of Leukocyte Biology, leading medical-immunology journals. He serves as co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Coney Island Prep, the first charter school in his native Coney Island, Brooklyn, and has been actively involved with the East Harlem School at Exodus House for over a decade. The son of a public school teacher, Josh is passionate about science, inner-city education and kids having a deep desire to learn and the right heroes.
Josh is a columnist with Forbes, Editor for the Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Tech Report and host of a show on the Forbes Video Network. He has been an invited guest to the White House and Capitol Hill to advise on nanotechnology and emerging technologies, a lecturer at MIT, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia and NYU, and a frequent guest on CNBC and CNN. Mr. Wolfe graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Economics and Finance.
Ryan Woodley Polaris Venture Parnters
Ryan Woodley is a principal in the Polaris Boston office. He originally joined Polaris in 2004 and focuses primarily on growth equity investments in the technology, healthcare, and business services industries.
Prior to joining Polaris, Ryan was a strategy consultant with the Monitor Group. During his tenure at Monitor, Ryan worked with Fortune 500 clients on a range of strategic and operating issues, focusing primarily on growth strategy and performance improvement. Prior to Monitor, he worked as an analyst and manager at Authorize.Net, an online payment gateway. Ryan also has experience at Google where he was a manager in the Online Sales and Operations group.
Ryan was part of the teams responsible for Polaris' investments in Art.com, Botanical Laboratories, Focus Financial Partners, Living Proof, National Electronic Attachment, and Xpressdocs. Ryan represents Polaris as a director on the board of National Electronic Attachment and as an observer on the boards of Focus Financial Partners and Xpressdocs. Ryan received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Brigham Young University.
Andrew Wright Kirkland & Ellis
Andrew Wright is a partner in the New York office of the international law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he represents sponsors of leading private equity, venture capital, hedge and other private investment funds. He has represented sponsors and investors in numerous billion dollar private equity fund formations, as well as assisted clients in connection with a wide range of on-going operational as well as extraordinary events involving private investment funds, including "key person" events, parent bankruptcies, investor defaults, strategic investments in a fund sponsor, and other significant transactions. He has been recognized as a selected lawyer for The International Who's Who of Private Funds Lawyers and has authored and been cited in numerous articles relating to private investment funds. Mr. Wright's past experience in the investment management industry also includes serving as the General Counsel of a billion dollar global investment management firm.
Ruifen Xu Zan Capital
Ruifen Xu, is founding partner of Zan Capital, venture capital and private equity investment fund partially owned by RIC Capital Management Ltd. She is also managing director of RIC Capital Management Ltd which invested in companies and real estate, she is board member of private companies in China. She was portfolio investment manager for global alternative investment of Dow Corporate Pension and advised Dow Europe Pension Alternative Investment. She also sat on the advisory boards of several major global investment Fund; She conducted the extensive global research and due diligence, built the strategy and made the investment allocation to achieve the optimal risk-adjusted investment return; Finance Project Manager for Lucent technologies, AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical with PWC & E&Y; Consultant of Chinese and German government joint Real Estate projects; She was a committee member of Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) publication committee; She has duel Masters in Real Estate Finance and Master in Science from Columbia University, Bachelor in Civil Engineering from Tongji University.














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