Rob Balkema, CFA Head of Multi-Asset Solutions, North America
Russell Investments
Rob has primary responsibility for managing Russell Investments’ Multi-Asset Solutions, including institutional investment outsourcing mandates. In this role, he leads the North American team which integrates the firm’s equity, fixed income, real asset, and alternatives capabilities globally. He is tasked with creating strategic asset allocations for the portfolios, selecting active or passive mandates to populate asset classes, integrating the firm’s capital market insights, and positioning the total portfolio to help clients achieve their objectives. Rob has deep experience researching and managing both traditional and non-traditional assets from his 17+ years in the industry, all of which are with Russell Investments.
Previously, following the Global Financial Crisis, Rob was a senior analyst in the investment process and risk group for the investment division at Russell Investments. In this role, Rob focused on learnings from 2008 market volatility and worked on improving the measurement, evaluation, and enhancement of Russell’s portfolio management practice.
From 2006 until 2009, Rob was a member of the global equity team in multiple capacities. He was responsible for evaluating asset management firms worldwide that offer global, international and emerging market equity mandates and supported portfolio managers in the structuring and monitoring of Russell’s global equity strategies.
Rob holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard College. He also previously served on the board of Covenant House NY, a non-profit organization charged with serving NY homeless youth.
Pierre Bonart is Group Head of Multi-Management at Edmond de Rothschild. Mr. Bonart started his career in 1994 as a financial engineer on FX and interest rates derivatives products for BNP Paribas. He then joined Invesco as an asset allocator and fund manager before becoming deputy CEO of HSBC Louvre Gestion in 2003, heading the multi-management department. He then became CIO of Unigestion Family Office in 2008. Pierre holds the CFA and CAIA certifications.
Mr. Burton joined the firm in 2004 and is a Portfolio Manager with the Leveraged Finance team, where he is responsible for managing both high yield bond and leveraged loan portfolios. He previously served as a Credit Research Analyst and has covered a number of industries in the communications and consumer cyclical sectors. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Burton was an Investment Banking Analyst with CIBC World Markets and an Investment Analyst with Linden Advisors. Mr. Burton received a BA with a concentration in History from Harvard College in 2000 and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. He also is a CFA charterholder and holds the CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing.
Aaron Chan is Chief Financial Officer of Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI), a value-added strategic growth equity fund co-founded by Danny Meyer and affiliated with Union Square Hospitality Group. At EHI, Aaron leads the firm’s finance, compliance, and investor relations functions. Prior to joining EHI, Aaron was the interim Chief Financial Officer at Advent Global Opportunities, an affiliate of Advent International. At Advent, Aaron led the finance team of a global crossover fund that pursues a public and private equity investing strategy. Prior to Advent, he was Partner and Chief Financial Officer at Act II Capital, a global TMT sector focused long/short equity hedge fund based in New York City. At Act II, Aaron assumed broad leadership responsibilities for their flagship fund and helped launched their UCITS product and institutional managed accounts.
Aaron began his career at Ernst & Young in New York before joining Ramius Capital, a multi-strategy investment advisor as Vice President. After Ramius, he partnered closely with general partners to help launch and raise capital for two start-up hedge funds.
Aaron received his Bachelor of Accounting with Honors from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Todd Copenhaver is a Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager at Merganser Capital Management, a Boston-based institutional fixed income manager with over $15 billion in assets under management. He is the lead portfolio manager for longer-duration strategies, serving a variety of institutional clients including sub-advisory relationships and OCIO platforms. In addition to his portfolio management responsibilities, Todd serves as Head of Credit and sits on the firm’s ESG committee. Additionally, he has a leadership role in the development of new products and customized strategies through partnership with clients and investment consultants.
Prior to joining Merganser in 2013, Todd was a portfolio analyst at Galliard Capital Management. He earned his B.A. in Economics and Urban Studies from Macalester College. Todd holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society Boston.
Stephane Corsaletti is the Chief Investment Officer of Allfunds. He is also the General Manager of Allfunds Investment Solutions (Management Company) and the Chairman of Allsolutions (SICAV). He is based in Luxembourg.
Until 2019 he was the CEO (and founder in 1998) of ABN AMRO Investment Solutions, the asset management arm of ABN AMRO Private Banking. After having started his career as an economist at the OFCE, a French think-tank belonging to the state-owned “Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques”, Stephane was, until 1998, the Chief Economist and Strategist of Neuflize OBC, a leading private bank in France.
Stephane holds two Master’s degrees, in Economics and Business Administration, as well as a post-graduate diploma in Banking and Finance from La Sorbonne.
Jamie Dunham
Director of Financial Institutions & National Accounts
Jamie Dunham Director of Financial Institutions & National Accounts
William Blair
James Dunham is the Director of Financial Institutions and National Accounts (FINA) at William Blair Investment Management. Based in New York, he’s responsible for the firm’s relationships with financial institutions and the sub-advisory market. James has 30 years of experience in the investment management industry with expertise across the full spectrum of strategies, clients, and geographies.
Before joining William Blair, he was Managing Director and Global Head of Sub-Advisory at Perella Weinberg Partners. Before that, he served as Vice President in the Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs & Co. Previously, he was Managing Director and Head of Sub-Advisory at Principal Global Investors in New York. Jamie spent six years at Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank in Australia before joining Principal in the United States in 2000.
He is a graduate of the University of South Australia where he holds both a Bachelor of Business Degree majoring in Banking and Finance and an Associate Diploma of Business with a major in Credit Management. He also holds the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 7 Securities License, the Series 63 Securities Agent Law License, the Series 3 Commodity Futures License and the National Futures Association Series 30 Supervisory License.
James is a frequent speaker, panelist and industry source on financial markets and has been a guest on Bloomberg TV. He’s also a former Chairman of Financial Research Associates Sub-Advised Funds Forum. Outside of work, he’s married with two children, has completed over 30 marathons and is a four-time Ironman Triathlete.
William Blair is a premier global boutique with expertise in investment banking and investment management. The investment management business manages $71 billion in assets across U.S equity, global equity, emerging markets debt and alternatives.
Lionel Erdely is Co-CEO and CIO of Investcorp-Tages. He joined Investcorp as Head and CIO of the Absolute Return Investments division in 2013. Prior to this, Lionel worked for 11 years at Lyxor Asset Management, where he held the dual position of Chief Investment Officer (2004 – 2013) and Chief Executive Officer of Lyxor Inc. (2009 – 2013). Previously, he was Vice President in the Equity Corporate Finance department at Société Générale. Lionel has an MBA Degree in Finance from the École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (ESSEC) in Paris.
Karina Fin is a Manager, Talent Acquisition at Pzena Investment Management based in New York City, New York. Previously, Karina was a Talent Management & HR Consulting Analyst at Merrill and also held positions at Avanade, Capital One, MKP Capital Management, Balyasny Asset Management. Karina received a Management and International Business degree from National University of Singapore.
Kimberly Flynn Managing Director, Alternative Investments
XA Investments
Kimberly Flynn, CFA is a founder and Managing Director of XA Investments where she is responsible for all product and business development activities. XA Investments has a proprietary closed-end platform and a consulting practice to assist clients with developing US and UK registered closed-end funds. Previously, Kim was Senior Vice President and Head of Product Development for Nuveen Investments’ Global Structured Products Group. Kim received her MBA degree from Harvard University and her BBA in Finance and Business Economics, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame in 1999. Kim earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Chicago. Kim was recently selected to serve on the Notre Dame Wall Street leadership committee. She also serves as secretary of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Women’s board executive committee and on the advisory board of Youth Guidance’s Becoming A Man program. She is an active member of the Harvard Club of New York City and the University Club of Chicago where she serves on the Finance Committee.
Eivind Lorgen is the former CEO & President and the Global Head of Manager Selection & Alternatives of one of Europe’s largest and most innovative asset managers in North America. A global leader within multi-assets, responsible investments, and sustainable investment strategies with more than $400 billion in AuM.
He is today an unconstrained advisor to corporate issuers, asset owners & managers, management consultants as well as non-profit organizations and leading business schools. He is a founding member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (today the International Sustainability Standards Board a part of the IFRS) Investor Advisory Group (IAG) and was the Chair from 2020 – 2022. He is today the Chair Emeritus and thus a member of IAG at ISSB.
Eivind is on the Reiman School of Finance Advisory Board for the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. He holds a BSBA from the University of Denver and he also did his master’s studies at the University of Denver. He is on the faculty at the University of Denver and University of Glasgow Caledonian (NYC). He has also lectured at Columbia Business School. His work is published by University of Notre Dame. His Executive Management education is from IMD, Switzerland and The London Business School. He is faculty member at Competent Boards a leading educational platform for Board Members. Eivind is a frequent public speaker and lecturer.
Eivind served in the Norwegian Royal Air Force and played varsity soccer for The University of Denver. He lives in Harlem, Manhattan with his family.
Kevin D. Mahn joined Parsippany, NJ based Hennion & Walsh as a Managing Director in 2004. Currently serving as the President and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Hennion & Walsh Asset Management, Mr. Mahn is responsible for all of the Wealth and Asset Management products and services offered at the Firm including fee-based money management and the various portfolio strategies within the SmartTrust® series of Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). Mr. Mahn was also the former portfolio manager of the SmartGrowth® Mutual Funds.
Elana Margulies-Snyderman is a Director of Publications with EisnerAmper’s Marketing Group. Elana oversees, produces and edits various publications of many of the firm’s largest industry groups and service lines. She coordinates thought leadership pieces and industry-related content within these groups for both internal and external audiences.
Elana joined the firm in 2014 in the Financial Services Group, working within the Asset Management Practice where she launched the firm’s quarterly Asset Management Intelligence publication and the Alternative Investments Intelligence blog.
Prior to joining the firm, Elana was Chief Reporter at Pageant Media’s Hedge Fund Manager Week (HFMWeek). She began her career at Institutional Investor’s Alternative Investment News.
Stephen A. Marks, 63, has been a senior executive for the past 35 years in investment banking, asset management, and alternative investments.
He graduated with Honors from Brown University in 1982 and received his MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1988. Steve completed a program at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan and speaks Japanese.
He worked in investment banking at Nomura Securities, Merrill Lynch, and UBS. He led international asset management business for Keystone Investments (now known as Allspring Global Investments), Eaton Vance (acquired by Morgan Stanley), and Prudential Financial.
For the past 20 years, Steve has worked at Klitzberg Associates and Klitzberg Fund Solutions (https://klitzbergfundsolutions.com/), raising capital for alternative investments and sourcing external sub-advisors for fund groups.
He is one of the founding partners and co-managers of WHATiF 88, LLC, (www.whatif88.com), a group of Wharton MBA classmates measuring and advising on social and economic impact. Steve is on the Advisory Board of Steward Asset Management (https://stewardassetmgmt.com/), a Steward is a strategic investor to emerging and diverse private equity and opportunistic managers with fund sizes from $150 to $750 million. He is a Venture Partner of Beta.Ventures (https://beta.ventures/), an early-stage venture firm supporting Africa’s leading technology entrepreneurs.
Sari J. Mayer, CAIA, is Director of Marketing and Investor Relations at Global Credit Advisers, LLC ("GCA"), a manager of long/short credit funds specializing in research, trading, and portfolio management in primarily high yield corporate credit. The firm AUM was approximately $830 million as of March 1, 2024. Before joining GCA, Sari was Director of Marketing at Boone Capital, manager of an event driven hedge fund. Before entering the hedge fund space, she was a sell-side Latin America Telecommunications equity analyst at Salomon Smith Barney for which she received several industry awards including high rankings as determined by Institutional Investor, and was the Latin America telecommunications investment banking Director at Credit Suisse in New York. Sari earned her BA cum laude in Mathematics and Spanish from Amherst College, and received her MBA in International Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business, and was selected to and participated in the International Management Program at ESADE in Barcelona, Spain. Sari is a member emerita and past Vice President of the Horace Mann School Alumni Council, a founding member of the Alumnae Council of New York University Stern School of Business, and an active member of 100 Women in Finance and Financial Women’s Association. Sari lives in New York City with her husband and three daughters.
Andrew Miller is a Managing Director at Harbor Capital Advisors, Inc. He is a member of the Investment Research team, which is responsible for the identification, evaluation, and selection of investment managers for the Harbor Funds and the Harbor Capital Group Trust. Prior to joining Harbor, Andrew was an Executive Director on the Manager Solutions team at JPMorgan Private Bank, where he focused on manager research and investment solutions for JPMorgan’s global wealth management business. Andrew began his career at JPMorgan Asset Management in the U.S. Equity Group, most recently serving as Equity Research Analyst covering industries within the Industrial and Consumer sectors for the firm’s global equity platform, including both long and long/short portfolios. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance with a concentration in Accounting from William & Mary and is a CFA® charterholder and a CFP® professional.
Ben Nye is the Chief Investment Officer at Narwhal Capital Management where he leads the investment operations of the firm. Narwhal Capital is a boutique investment advisory firm, providing investment management, tax, financial planning, and 401(k) services to its clients. Ben is responsible for the $1.5 billion in assets under management, leading equity research, fixed income strategy, and portfolio management and trading practices of the company.
Ben arrived at Narwhal in 2016, following 5 years at JP Capital Management in Eugene, OR. He is a CFA Charterholder and has also received the FRM designation. He earned an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in 2020 and completed his undergraduate work in 2011 at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.
Bonni Pesner Pactor is the Founding Member and Manager of ConnectMe Capital, llc, a boutique recruiting firm focused on the financial industry. Bonni's diverse career enables her to understand employers’ needs and candidates’ qualifications thoroughly. She takes the time to understand both clients’ and candidates’ goals to find the right fit, while providing timely results. Bonni’s project management, relationship building, problem solving, networking skills, attention to detail, follow through, and sales/business development skills are second to none. She served as a Client Relationship Manager at SS&C GlobeOp for many well-known HFs and PE platforms with over $140B AUM; worked at UBS/Swiss Bank/SBC Warburg/Bank of Tokyo in Securities Lending, Prime Brokerage, and Custody (managed the lending side of the Securities Lending Desk with a $40B portfolio); and was Principal & Director of HR/Marketing for Technology Infrastructure Management Services Inc. (TIMSI). Bonni is a Global Angel member of 100 Women in Finance and former Chair of the NY 100 WIF Philanthropy Committee, is a Co-Chair of the Help for Children (HFC) Golf Committee, member of the HFC Committee of Hearts, and is a Rotarian.
Furio Pietribiasi is responsible for Mediolanum Business Operations in Ireland. He is CEO of Mediolanum International Funds, which is the European Asset Management platform of Banca Mediolanum Group and a member of the Board of Mediolanum International Life.
He has been active in the Irish financial services industry for over 25 years serving as member of different government sponsored advisory groups for Asset management and Funds. Having served previously as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Irish Association of Investment Managers and the Board of Financial Services Ireland (part of IBEC), he is still today a member of the Boards.
As part of his industry international engagement, he co-chaired the Brexit Stream of the Anglo-Irish Dialogue between City of London and FSI and he still today active member and contributor to the dialogue.
Furio has always been a convinced promoter of the uniqueness of the Irish ecosystem for innovation in financial services supporting several initiatives, including having provided input in the Fintech strategy for Ireland, as well as being an active investor in Fintech Start-up. He has been serving as BoD member and advisor in some fast-growing companies in Ireland, UK and Italy, including Scalapay, Soldo Financial Services and previously in Prima Assicurazioni.
He also founded and has been chairperson of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Ireland part of Assocamere Estero.
Gulsey Torenli Director, Global Private Equity Platform
Vistra
Gulsey joined Vistra in 2018 and is based in New York. She is responsible for assisting in the execution of the AI strategy. Her responsibilities include AI operations both within the Private Equity, Private Debt, Venture, and Real Estate Private Equity space.
With over 15 years of professional experience in financial services, Gulsey has held senior roles in Private Equity and Private Equity Real Estate accounting at various organizations including, Lehman Brothers, ABP Investments, SS&C/Geller Co., Goldman Sachs and Citco Fund Services LLC. In her most recent role at Citco Fund Services, she was Senior Vice President in the Private Equity Fund Services Group overseeing Hybrid Private Equity and Private Equity clients.
Gulsey earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business Management from Pace University and her MBA in Accounting from University of Phoenix.
Nancy Vailakis has 17 years of alternative asset management industry experience as a business development, marketing and investor relations professional, and over 20 years of experience in financial services overall.
Previously, Ms. Vailakis was a Business Development Director at IQ-EQ, a Vice President of Investor Relations at Cerberus Capital and a Sales + Client Relations Specialist at BlueMountain Capital, among other roles.
She earned her MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business and her BA in English Literature from Binghamton University. Ms. Vailakis continues to serve the Stern community as an Alumni Advisory Board Member of the Stern Private Equity / Venture Capital Club.
Ms. Vailakis is engaged with many non-profit and professional organizations in New York, including, but not limited to Women in Funds, Portfolios With Purpose, 100 Women in Finance, and Binghamton Women in Business. She is a regular speaker at events like SuperReturn Private Credit US, LPGP Connect’s 5th Annual Women in Private Debt and a Contributing Writer to industry publications includingAlternatives Watch, Worth, and Emerging Manager Monthly. She is also the host of the podcast Ignite, a Women in Funds production geared toward discussions with prominent women in the industry. Ms. Vailakis won the prestigious Worthy 100 award 2022, for her support of women in the alternative asset management industry.
