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Aaron joined Centerbridge in 2017 and leads the Firm’s Asset Finance Team, which invests in predominately consumer-based financial assets through three main verticals: assets, origination platforms and loans & securities, across a range of sectors including mortgage and specialty finance. Prior to joining Centerbridge, Aaron was a Managing Director at Perry Capital and the Portfolio Manager for Perry Capital’s Structured Credit business. Throughout his time at Perry Capital, Aaron’s team invested across liquid and illiquid credit and equity special situations in both the U.S. and Europe, primarily concentrated in Residential and Commercial Real Estate and Consumer Finance. Prior to joining Perry Capital, Aaron was a Managing Director at Bear Stearns, where he ran the ABS trading desk. Aaron started his career at Credit Suisse as a large loan originator in the Commercial Real Estate Group and later traded ABS. Aaron serves on the Boards of Directors of Cascade Financial Holdings LLC. Aaron received a B.A., cum laude, from The University of Vermont and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Aaron Levy is a Managing Director of Monroe Capital’s Alternative Credit Solutions. He is responsible for deal origination, execution, structuring, and portfolio management with a focus on specialty finance investments. Based in Miami, he joined the firm in 2024. Aaron has over 15 years of experience in credit investing across the entire capital stack as well as minority and majority private equity investing. Prior to Monroe, he was Managing Director at a $10 Billion family office where he led the firm’s minority and majority equity investing for their consumer and commercial finance vertical and litigation finance vertical while overseeing their U.S. based investment team. Mr. Levy was also Vice President at Comvest Partners where he was responsible for high yield credit and equity investments across all industries. He began his career as an investment banker with the Restructuring and Recapitalization Investment Banking group at Raymond James in New York. Aaron earned his B.S. in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Accounting from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Aaron Ong joined TPG Angelo Gordon in 2006 and is a Managing Director on the TPG AG Structured Credit & Specialty Finance team and Head of Private Asset-based Credit. He is responsible for sourcing, analyzing, and managing private or illiquid investments for the strategy. Prior to joining TPG Angelo Gordon, Aaron worked at J.P. Morgan Chase on the correlation desk, structuring and trading credit derivatives of corporate debt. Aaron holds a B.A. degree from the Johns Hopkins University.
Adam Benowitz, known for being fearlessly entrepreneurial, is an experienced businessman and investor with 30+ years of experience in financial services. He's the CEO of VOX Funding, specializing in alternative financing for small businesses. Previously, he co-founded Converge Media Group, a talent management and production company. Adam is a founding partner at Exsight Ventures, focusing on early-stage impact investments in eye health. He mentors startups at Harvard Business School, engages in philanthropy with organizations like the Foundation for Fighting Blindness and Math for America, and has entertainment projects including the Emmy-nominated documentary "Kill Chain." Adam is adamant about creating a corporate culture that is authentic and genuine. In his personal life, he's a Philadelphia Eagles fan, a poker player, art collector, and enjoys comedy clubs and playing the guitar.
Adam Castle is responsible for contributing to the management for the firm’s taxable-fixed income strategies with a focus on securitized credit and specialty finance. He manages Lord Abbett’s ABS & CLO team. He also serves on the firm's Partnership Committee. Mr. Castle joined Lord Abbett in 2015 and was named Partner in 2022. His previous experience includes serving as Vice President, Securitized Products Group in the investment bank at Credit Suisse and as Assistant Vice President and Research Analyst, Securitized Assets at AllianceBernstein. He has worked in the financial services industry since 2008. He earned a BS in biology from Cornell University and is a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) designation.
Alfredo has over twenty years of experience in the financial services and institutional fund management industries, managing fixed income portfolios for insurance, pension funds, endowments and mutual funds. Using his deep understanding of complex financing solutions. He is now working to help attorneys find better litigation finance solutions to cover their firms' financing needs across the working capital cycle.
Alkarim Jivraj has been involved in technology investment banking, venture capital, and venture debt for over 25 years, during which period he has advised or invested in more than 300 companies. Prior to joining Espresso, he was the Founder and Managing Partner of Intrepid Business Acceleration Fund, a venture capital fund, and also the Managing Director of Intrepid Equity Finance, a corporate finance advisory firm. Alkarim started his finance career at Yorkton Securities, a boutique investment banking firm, eventually leading its information technology investment banking practice and co-managing two investment funds.
Altin Kadareja is the Founder and CEO at Cardo AI, an investment intelligence SaaS/IaaS solution provider supporting institutional investors and credit originators to manage their private market investments with next generation technology and artificial intelligence algorithms. Altin has covered several investment and risk management roles at BlackRock, Prometeia, Intesa Sanpaolo and Allianz Bank Financial Advisors. He holds a master of science degree in Economics and Management of Innovation and Technology from Bocconi University in Milan and followed an executive program in Risk Management at Imperial Business School in London.
Amit Singhal is a Managing Director and Head of ORIX Corporation USA’s Credit Opportunities business. He is responsible for originating, structuring and executing debt investments in the US middle-market. He has over 20 years of experience, and a focus on infrastructure and specialty finance sub-sectors. He joined the firm in 2021 and is based in New York. Prior to joining ORIX USA, Mr. Singhal was at Macquarie Principal Finance, a $10bn private credit and special situations platform that invested in unitranche and junior debt, as well as structured equity. Prior to that, Mr. Singhal was at Elliott Management, where he focused on distressed debt investments and activist equity investments in large cap stocks. Before Elliott, Mr. Singhal served in Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division, as part of the founding team for its infrastructure private equity fund. Mr. Singhal started his career at Morgan Stanley in a complex-debt structuring role, where he worked on unique financings from distressed aircraft debt to healthcare royalty finance, commodity-hedge backed project finance deals and esoteric ABS. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School, at the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA from Franklin & Marshall College.
Amy Bishop is Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy at Concord Servicing, where she is spearheading the firm’s strategic efforts in fund administration for Private Credit. She brings more than 15 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate strategy, and fintech, having led initiatives across the U.S., Europe, Africa, India, and the Philippines. Her career includes building and integrating high-growth businesses, scaling international operations, and leading strategic investments that transformed how financial services companies approach technology and operational efficiency. Before joining Concord, Amy held leadership roles in corporate development and M&A, where she drove complex cross-border deals in payments, lending, and credit servicing. Her work has spanned digital payments platforms in Africa, large-scale carve-outs in North America, and operational transformations across multiple continents. At Concord, she applies this global perspective to help Private Credit managers navigate complexity, reduce operational risk, and build scalable infrastructure that enhances investor confidence. Amy is passionate about bridging the gap between innovative technology and disciplined operations, ensuring that fund administration becomes a driver of performance and efficiency.
Barry Bobrow is a Managing Director and Head of Credit Markets for Regions Business Capital, having joined Regions in November 2022. Most of his 40 years in banking has been as a debt capital markets professional, primarily in asset based lending, leveraged lending and supply chain finance. Barry has managed highly successful loan syndication teams at several large banks, including Wells Fargo and Bank of America. He has been deeply involved in the asset-based lending market for many years and is the immediate past President of the Secured Finance Network (SFNet), the primary trade association for asset based lending and factoring. Barry is the creator and Chairman of the Asset-Based Capital Conference (ABCC), an SFNet sponsored conference focusing on the middle-market leveraged and asset-based markets, now in its 18th year. Barry is the creator and host of the In the Know podcast featured on the SFNet website. In 2021, Barry was inducted into the SFNet Hall of Fame. In 2017, Barry was honored as Humanitarian of the Year by National Jewish Health’s annual Financial Industries Dinner, an event annually sponsored by all major players in the asset based industry. Barry has a BA in Economics and an MBA in Finance, both from the University of Michigan.
Bob is Vice President of Capital Markets at Summit Funding Group, a direct funder and provider of equipment financing solutions to companies throughout the U.S. and Canada, and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH. For over 32 years, Summit Funding Group, Inc. has amassed a high performing portfolio of more than $6.5 Billion in equipment lease and finance originations and over $1.3 Billion in assets under management. Summit Funding Group was acquired by First Financial Bank in December 2021, and prior to acquisition was the 4th Largest U.S. independent equipment lessor. Bob has been in a variety of Origination and Capital Markets roles in the Equipment Finance space for 8 years, spending times at Banks, Independent Finance Companies, and Fleet Management Companies. Bob resides with his wife in Summit, NJ.
Co-head of the Finance Group and member of firm’s Executive Committee. Advises on diverse asset classes such as asset-backed lending and securitization, warehouse facilities, secured financings, specialty finance lending and esoteric finance transactions. With almost 30 years of experience, Boris works on a variety of asset classes, including life settlements, litigation funding, equipment leases, structured settlements, lottery receivables, timeshare loans, merchant cash advances and cell towers, in addition to other esoteric asset classes such as intellectual property, various insurance-related cash flows and other cash flow producing assets. He also represents investors, lenders, hedge funds, private equity funds and finance companies in acquisitions and dispositions of portfolios of assets and financings secured by those portfolios. Boris manages the firm’s London finance practice and its global litigation funding and law firm finance practice.
Brian S. Korn is a partner in Manatt’s New York office and leads the firm’s fintech and blockchain and cryptocurrency practices. His practice focuses on corporate finance transactions. Over the past five years, Brian has led more than 100 deals, including initial public offerings (IPOs), early-stage and start-up venture financings, fund formations, and high-yield debt financings. He also advises clients on SEC and broker-dealer/investment advisory compliance, corporate swap transactions, and blockchain technology. Brian has extensive experience representing issuers and underwriters in investment banking and capital markets transactions, including special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), spin-offs, split-offs and carveout/tracking stock transactions. He also has extensive experience in sponsor-leveraged buyouts and bank/bond acquisition financing. His deep technical knowledge of the fintech space has contributed to the Manatt fintech team’s track record of success in advising cutting-edge fintech startups. He was recognized by The Legal 500 in 2021 for being “very active in the fintech platform and Regulation A space. He has good visibility with the SEC and is willing to push through novel concepts and issues.” Under his leadership, the firm won “Professional Services Firm of the Year” at the 2022 Fintech Nexus Industry Awards. The firm also achieved a Chambers Global Fintech rating, and Brian was recognized as a “Notable Practitioner.” Brian has had multiple media interviews with Billboard Magazine, Bloomberg, American Banker and Law360, commenting on blockchain and cryptocurrency, including the impact on nonfungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi), marketplace lending and market trading dynamics.
Corporate clients rely on Brian Kuhl for advice on securitization and other innovative structured finance transactions involving all types of residential mortgage loans and other residential real property-related assets. He provides guidance in areas including nonqualified mortgage loans, reverse mortgage loans, mortgage servicing rights, servicing advances, REO properties, single-family-related properties, home improvement loans, fix and flip loans, and home equity products. Commercial lending institutions, REITs and other corporate borrowers seek out Brian for representation in various innovative structured lending transactions, including repurchase facilities. Brian has served clients including: AB CarVal Investors, LP; Asset Based Lending, LLC; Deephaven Mortgage LLC; Pretium Partners, LLC; Finance of America Reverse LLC; Front Yard Residential Corp.; Sculptor Capital LP; Seer Capital Management LP; Unison Investment Management, LLC; Western Asset Management Company, LLC; and Waterfall Asset Management LLC.
Brooke Major-Reid serves as the Chief Capital Officer at Affirm where she is responsible for the Company’s Capital Markets Treasury Bank Partnerships and Quantitative Markets teams. Prior to joining Affirm Brooke was the Corporate Treasurer of Macy's Inc. the omnichannel retailer. She is a seasoned finance and strategy professional who also successfully led short-term credit products businesses among other senior roles at Morgan Stanley where she worked for over 15 years. Before joining Macy's in 2019 Brooke was SVP Head of Strategy at Cross River. She founded BEAMR Group Inc. in 2015 providing strategic and financial advice to startups with a focus on women and minority-founded enterprises. She currently serves as a board member for Uncommon Schools a nonprofit charter school management organization and previously served as a corporate board member for Anaplan Inc. which was acquired by Thoma Bravo in 2022. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BBA in International Business with a concentration in Finance from Howard University.
Bruce Richards is the CEO, Chairman, and Co-Founder of Marathon Asset Management. Based in New York, Bruce co-founded Marathon with Lou Hanover in 1998. Bruce received a B.A. in Economics, Summa Cum Laude, from Tulane University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He previously worked at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette and Smith Barney. Fun Fact: Bruce's side hustle is competitive tennis and online chess, has traveled to all 50 states, and provides 8 scholarships per year to Veterans at leading universities totaling over 50 thus far.
Cesar is responsible for Arcesium’s data management and investment operations technology and services offered to private markets fund managers and investors. Previously, he served as Senior Managing Director and Alternatives Business Head for North America at State Street – a role in which he drove the growth agenda for a business with approximately $1 trillion in Assets Under Administration by leading new product launches, expansion into new client segments, strategic partnerships, and acquisitions. He served on the board of State Street Fund Services Inc. Prior to that, as a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan, Cesar led the Private Equity & Real Estate Funds Services business from launch to $350Bn AUA. While at J.P. Morgan, he also held investment banking roles in New York, London, and Hong Kong. Cesar has a BS in Chemical Engineering from ITESM and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Charles Stackhouse is a senior finance executive with extensive experience in equipment finance, leasing, and asset-based finance. He leads strategic initiatives at JA Mitsu, including the growth of Oakmont Capital Services, and previously played a key investment role at InterVest Capital Partners. He is an ELFA member with deep expertise in capital markets and specialty finance platform development.
Chris Bracken is the Chief Executive Officer at Momnt, a fintech company specializing in moment-of-need lending. With over 20 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur, Chris has an extensive background in building and managing data-driven financial services organizations. Before joining Momnt, he founded and led a private equity-backed consumer finance business. Prior to that, Chris played a pivotal role in developing and selling a leading national provider of recovery management solutions for issuers and investors in debt products. He also served as CEO of an alternative investment company focused on distressed consumer loan assets. Chris began his career as an attorney, representing banks and other lenders in complex collection and recovery actions.
Chris Grizzard is a Director with Bayshore Capital and a member of the firm’s investment committee. He is responsible for investment research, due diligence, and execution, with a primary focus on private credit, private equity, and venture capital. He was previously in the Investment Banking division of Robert W. Baird & Co., completing M&A, IPO, and debt refinancing transactions for Baird’s global industrial clients. Chris graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance from Florida State University, and a Master of Science degree in Finance from the University of Florida. Chris is a CFA and CAIA charterholder.
CJ participates in the origination, evaluation and monitoring of Northleaf’s private credit investments, with a focus on asset-based specialty finance investments globally. Prior to joining Northleaf in 2019, CJ was a Vice President at Fundamental Advisors focused on specialty finance investment opportunities across the capital structure. Previously, CJ worked at Jefferies Group focused on debt advisory and restructuring. CJ began his career as an Investment Analyst at Man Group. CJ received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Veteran fintech executive with a history of leading in Frontier Markets for consumer financing, first Solar and now Fertility. Currently CEO and Founder of Future Family. Previously, an executive at SolarCity (now TSLA). At Future Family, has defined and scaled the Fertility Asset class with over $200M in credit extended to American Families and a new $400M Forward Flow Commitment for Fertility announced in the Wall Street Journal in Q2 2025. Launched the first nationwide IVF Insurance product in the U.S. in February 2025. Claire has been recognized as an EY Winning Women (Class of 2023), Kauffman Fellow, Inc Magazine’s Top 100 Female Founders, and SF Business Time’s 40 Under 40. She has been featured as a speaker at TechCrunch Disrupt, HLTH 2022, Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) 2023, and Precision Medicine World Conference, with features on the Today Show and CBS News, and numerous podcasts. Claire holds a PhD in Applied Economics and Finance (MS&E) from Stanford University and a B.A. from the University of Arizona.
Cory Stavis is a member of the Capital Formation team at Point, where he leads fundraising and investment strategy initiatives. He partners with institutional investors to design and scale opportunities in home equity investments and structured investment solutions. Prior to joining Point, Cory held senior positions at Pagaya where he focused on investment partnerships and strategic initiatives.
Courtney Johnson is a visionary entrepreneur and passionate advocate for supporting individuals and families fighting cancer. At 23, she founded Culinary Care, a Chicago-based nonprofit, inspired by her father's battle with lung cancer and the impact of meals delivered to their home. Under her leadership, Culinary Care has delivered over 30,000 free meals in the past 10 years to families fighting cancer, reducing loneliness, restoring hope, and fostering community. Courtney's story exemplifies the power of compassion, perseverance, and turning personal pain into purpose. She has been recognized as a Crain's Chicago 20 in their 20s honoree and a Tyson Foods Meals that Matter Hero®, inspiring others to make a lasting impact in the fight against cancer.
Ms. Brown has been in the alternative asset management industry for over 20 years and has developed a successful track record of growing firms during her tenure. Her career has spanned all facets of the industry including manager diligence and allocation, investment team and client facing roles, as well as oversight of operational functions. In her role at Altriarch as the founder of the Firm, Danielle is responsible for day-to-day oversight of the investment team, client development, investor relations, operations and finance. Prior to Altriarch, Ms. Brown was a Managing Director based in New York for Dyal Capital Partners, a leading GP-stakes firm, from 2012 to 2020 where she played a key role in strategic planning and client development at underlying portfolio companies. This included creating strategic plans for corporate growth, planning new product launches and instilling best practices across all operational functions. Danielle was actively involved in the positioning and growth of Dyal Capital early on before transitioning to an operating partner role to focus on increasing enterprise value of Dyal’s holdings. Prior to Dyal Capital Partners, Ms. Brown was the Global Head of Client Development for Roundtable Investment Management Company from 2010-2012. Roundtable was a hedge fund based in Charlotte, North Carolina. During Danielle’s tenure, the Firm underwent a reorganization from multi-strategy to global macro; and, subsequently, grew from $184 million in assets to over $1.1 billion in a little more than 14 months. Ms. Brown was responsible for drafting all corporate policies and procedures, overseeing third party service providers, managing client development and investor relations and instilling institutional standards across the Firm. Prior to Roundtable, Danielle was a Senior Research Analyst at Wachovia Bank (now Wells Fargo) from 2004-2010. While at Wachovia, Danielle was responsible for investment and operational due diligence on alternative asset managers under consideration for distribution through the bank’s brokerage and wealth management channels. She was also responsible for oversight of the bank’s sub-advisory fund of fund relationship, which at peak exceeded $3 billion in AUM. Ms. Brown began her alternative asset management career with Quellos Capital in Seattle in 2001. Ms. Brown was a member of the Milken Institute’s Young Leader Circle from 2014-2018 and became a Chartered Financial Analyst in 2008. She also currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Ronald McDonald House of Charleston. Ms. Brown received a BA in Finance, Magna cum Laude, from Seattle University.
Fixed Income, Asset Management, and Treasury executive/leader with 15 years of investment and transaction experience in fixed income, securitized products, and capital markets transactions. Extensive track record managing banking and investor relationships, improving risk and operational processes, and hiring and managing diverse teams of talent.
David is a Partner and Managing Director at Performance Trust. After trading credit across multiple sectors, David co-founded the Capital Markets business at PT in 2015 that has since become a trusted partner to issuers and originators across a broad spectrum of credit sectors—spanning residential, commercial, consumer, and asset-backed markets. David and the Capital Markets team at PT have developed a market leading reputation for delivering sophisticated solutions in securitization, whole loan sales, and warehouse financing for issuers seeking optimized financing in each of those credit sectors. The business takes a differentiated approach, built on a foundation of deep market expertise, creative structuring, and hands-on advisory services that enable customized execution strategies for both investors and issuers. Whether serving first time or seasoned issuers, a key differentiator of the PT Capital Markets business is its unique and highly effective distribution platform, which bridges the full spectrum of capital—from extensive coverage amongst community and regional depository institutions to the largest institutional investors -- including insurance companies, asset managers, credit, and hedge funds. This broad reach, combined with product, structuring, banking, and advisory expertise enable PT to unlock unique sources liquidity – creating efficient capital solutions that best align with the objectives of all stakeholders involved. David is Series 7, 63, 79, and 24 licensed and received a B.S. with distinction in Finance and Economics from Gonzaga University.
Douglas Monticciolo is Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer and Co-Founder of Brevet Capital Management. He is an entrepreneur and investment manager with deep data analytics and technology experience developed over three decades while providing credit financing and advisory services. Mr. Monticciolo founded Brevet Capital Management in 1998 and has established the firm as a leader in helping government agencies solve complex problems – and drive positive social impact – by creating innovative financing products and services. This “finance as a service” approach provides direct lending and other financing to private middle market companies that enable them to effectively serve the government sector as contractors – a low credit risk strategy with highly competitive barriers to entry. Mr. Monticciolo’s years of experience working in start-up environments as a software entrepreneur and within asset-backed securities, fixed income, and investment banking helped him identify a gap in the market where traditional lenders failed to provide the innovative financing and forward-looking advisory services needed for the private contractors government contractors rely on to deliver services. Mr. Monticciolo has a passion for technology and approaches investing and credit financing with a problem-solving mindset. He began his career at Goldman Sachs in the financial institution’s industry resource group where he specialized in investment banking and principal finance trading and helped create numerous serviced-marked products and services to address the unmet needs of clients. He later joined Lehman Brothers as a senior vice president in the company’s strategy group, a principal investment joint venture between investment banking and fixed income. He left Lehman Brothers to become director and co-head of asset-backed securities in North America at Deutsche Bank and head of proprietary fixed income in the merchant banking/principal finance group. Mr. Monticciolo’s career took a turn from academics to finance when he was studying at Columbia University and working with Fischer Black, creator of the Black–Scholes model, on complex mathematical formulas. He was encouraged to apply his skills to financial problem-solving instead of academia and he decided to put aside his pursuit of a PhD to join Goldman Sachs. Mr. Monticciolo received a Master of Engineering Sciences degree in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University. He graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook with an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and earned a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. Mr. Monticciolo is a Level III certified member of the National Association of Rocketry (NAR High Power Rocketry) and a member of the Randonneurs USA (long distance road biking organization). Mr. Monticciolo also coaches robotics and innovation and has led teams to numerous regional awards. He led one of his teams to a worldwide 2nd place finish (runner-up) for the FLL Global Innovation Award season sponsored by Edison Nation and XPRIZE Foundation, in cooperation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (an agency of the United States Department of Commerce). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Hope for New York and is a Board Member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) Gotham Chapter.
Edwin Wilches, CFA, is a Managing Director and Co-Head of PGIM Fixed Income’s Securitized Products team. Mr. Wilches is also a portfolio manager for dedicated CLO Tranche portfolios as well other dedicated securitized products funds. Mr. Wilches oversees securitized product security selection across the firm’s multi-sector, investment grade, high yield, LDI, money market and general account strategies. He plays an active leadership role in PGIM’s Racial Equity Initiative via participation in multiple workstreams, and is a member of the Latinx Executive Leadership Team for both PGIM and PGIM Fixed Income. Mr. Wilches is an active member in multiple trade associations across the US and European markets seeking to represent our client’s best interests and to help promote a functioning market structure. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Mr. Wilches was responsible for managing and trading the Firm's investments in CLO tranches, supporting the Dryden CLO platform's business development and investor relations efforts, and analyzing off-the-run alternative fixed income opportunities. Earlier, Mr. Wilches was a member of PGIM Fixed Income’s CDO analyst team, Business and Product Development Team and Fixed Income Operations team. Mr. Wilches joined the Firm in 2003. He received a BA in Economics from Rutgers University and an MBA from New York University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Endurance Aku, CAIA, FDP is an experienced investment professional with a strong background in private equity, private debt, co-investments, and fund management. Currently serving as Director of Private Debt for the NYS Teachers' Retirement System, Endurance has previously held significant roles at Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers as a Fund Manager and TIAA as a Licensed Financial Consultant. Earlier experience includes an extensive tenure at Standard Bank Group as a multi-asset Portfolio Manager and Investment Analyst. Endurance holds a Bachelor's degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Lagos, earned between 2000 and 2005.
Eric Newman is a public pension trustee, institutional investor, and global development finance leader. He serves as Treasury Manager for the City of Stamford, where he is Chairman of the Investment Advisory Committee, Vice Chairman of the OPEB Board, and Trustee on the Classified Employees Retirement Fund and Defined Contribution Plan Boards. He also serves on the Town of Fairfield Employee and Joint Retirement Investment Boards. Eric is a member of the NASP Africa Institutional Investor Advisory Council and has participated in USAID MiDA Institutional Investor Delegations to Senegal, Kenya, and South Africa. Before entering public service, he held senior roles at the Royal Bank of Scotland, IBM Global Financing, Price Waterhouse, and Soros Fund Management. Eric is currently pursuing graduate studies in Global Development at Harvard University, where he earned a Graduate Certificate in Environmental Policy and International Development. He also holds an M.B.A. in Finance from Sacred Heart University, a B.B.A. in Accounting from Adelphi University, and a Certificate in Investment Banking from New York University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA).
Ethan is a Co-Founder and Partner of BharCap. Prior to BharCap, Ethan spent seven years as a member of Pine Brook’s financial services investment team. He represented Pine Brook as a board director of Trinitas Capital Management, WhiteStar Asset Management, Belmont Green Limited and Fair Square Financial Holdings LLC, and as an observer on the board of Kapitus and Better Mortgage. Before joining Pine Brook, Ethan was with JLL Partners, where he spent two years focusing on specialty finance, healthcare and business services opportunities. Prior to that, he was an analyst with Milestone Advisors, which was later acquired by Houlihan Lokey. He is currently on the Board of Clarus Capital and TRIA Capital Partners. Ethan holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.B.A. from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago (with high honors).
Prior to the formation of Kuvare Strategic Investments, Faisal Kassam was the Head of the Asset-Based Finance team at Kuvare Asset Management. Prior to joining Kuvare Asset Management, Faisal led the origination and structuring of private asset-based credit facilities and special situation private equity investments at Waterfall Asset Management. Previously, he worked at Guggenheim Partners in the Financial Institutions, Structured Products Origination, and Aircraft Investments groups. Faisal attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he earned a BA in Economics.
Ganesh is a Managing Partner at Integer Advisors, an investment and capital advisory firm specializing in private and alternative credit markets. He has 25+ years’ experience in the traded and private credit markets – with a particular focus on asset-/ mortgage-backed finance – from a career spent mostly at global investment banks. Prior to co-founding Integer Advisors, he led the fixed income credit and securitized product strategy team at RBS in London for 7 years. Before joining RBS in 2010, Ganesh was at Henderson Global Investors where, as the Head of Advisory, he spearheaded the effort to provide solutions to third-party holders of structured credit risk in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis. From 2001 until beginning of 2009, he led the securitization research team at Deutsche Bank, serving as Managing Director in the Global Markets Research group. Ganesh joined Deutsche from Merrill Lynch where he spent his early career. Ganesh is a graduate from the London School of Economics and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Mr. Amos joined Golden Pear as President and COO in August 2019 and was named CEO and a member of its board of directors in February 2020. Mr. Amos has experience managing and assessing growth opportunities and market trends concerning portfolios of up to $1 billion, including financing for healthcare, industrial tech, manufacturing, and software. Before his role at Golden Pear, Mr. Amos acted as CEO of Commercial Finance Americas in Siemens Financial Services from September 2011 to July 2019. At Golden Pear, Mr. Amos focuses on enabling digital transformation and growing the firm by accelerating processes and customer interface and creating a more valuable customer experience. Mr. Amos received his B.S. in Economics from Penn State University.
Gary has spent nearly three decades in specialty finance and private credit both as a direct lender and also as a structured finance banker funding via the term ABS markets and with asset-backed commercial paper. Prior to joining Revere Capital where he originates Lender Finance transactions, Gary served as the Head of Originations for Finitive, a capital raising platform serving the needs of specialty finance companies and other non-bank lenders. Gary spent a decade at Credit Agricole where he was a managing director and Head of Originations for its securitization team after a tenure in the Term ABS group at the former Banc One Capital Markets (now JP Morgan.) He also spent six years at a boutique asset management firm where they managed nearly $5 billion in complex structured finance transactions.
Gurvinder spent his early career in technology consulting during the late 90's with Sapient, helping financial services firms adapt to Internet technologies. In 2000 he co-founded IVP as a niche-consulting firm focused on the Capital Markets industry initially working with prime brokers. He has led IVP's growth since inception to its current size of 500+ employees across 5 global office locations servicing more than 160+ fund managers managing more than 3.6 trillion in assets using IVP Technology ,“digital first” Managed Services and Consulting Services. Gurvinder graduated with a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University in 1995 and is also a graduate of Harvard Business School's OPM (Owner/President Management) program.
As co-head of Katten's highly ranked structured finance and securitization practice, Howard Schickler offers clients insights formed from more than 30 years of experience representing private equity funds, special situation funds, specialty finance companies and the full range of players in structured finance transactions. Howie takes care to understand his clients' businesses, having worked with some all the way from the launch of their businesses through their growth cycle, including mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and restructurings and liquidations. Understanding the full life cycle of client enterprises is part of the wide perspective that he maintains in his work.
Hugo Della Motta is the visionary founder and managing partner of Vanderlu Strategic Partners. With over two decades of experience in the financial sector, Hugo has been instrumental in shaping the firm’s strategic direction. His expertise in fund marketing and investor relations has led to the successful closure of numerous funds, solidifying Vanderlu’s reputation as a leader in the industry. Hugo’s commitment to fostering long-term partnerships is reflected in his hands-on approach and dedication to client success.
A Forbes 30 under 30 alum, Jack serves as the Chief Executive Officer of VIVA Finance. He oversees the development of VIVA’s proprietary credit model, co-manages the product roadmap, and drives the strategic direction of VIVA’s business. During his tenure as CEO, VIVA has been named the second fastest growing company in GA from 2020-2023 by both Inc Magazine and the Deloitte Fast 500. VIVA has raised over $230mm to fund its loans and operations, and VIVA has originated over $250mm in personal loans since inception. Jack previously worked as the lead analyst managing Third Lake Capital’s consumer finance portfolio. There, Jack led the growth of TLC’s loan portfolio from $40mm to over $105mm in receivables in a two-year period. Jack was responsible for building and iterating on the credit model for the portfolio, raising debt capital, and their low-cost dealer acquisition strategy. Jack holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.
James Bedell works on Yieldstreet’s Investments Team, where he manages the litigation finance strategy and is responsible for originating, underwriting, and structuring legal finance transactions. Prior to joining Yieldstreet in 2018, Mr. Bedell worked at Wells Fargo structuring and managing asset-based credit facilities and leveraged loans. Mr. Bedell is a graduate of New York University where he studied economics and mathematics. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts.
- 30+ years in investment banking, project finance, and corporate strategy
- Leads capital markets and investor relations at DIG.
- Formerly founded Sag Harbor Advisors and held senior roles at Credit Suisse and JP Morgan
- CFA charterholder; B.A. from Amherst College
Jan Stewart is a finance and securities partner whose practice is focused on structured finance representing originators, investment banks, commercial banks, funds, asset-backed commercial paper conduits and investors in the public and private markets. Jan has experience structuring complex financing transactions, including the securitization of various types of assets such as solar loans and leases, credit card receivables, commercial loans (CLOs) and equipment receivables. Jan regularly advises both fund sponsors and insurance company investors on rated feeder fund transactions. Jan was named a 2019 Law360 Rising Star in securitization.
Jared Shulman, CFA is the Co-founder/CEO of Lendica, an embedded lender for SMBs. Prior to Lendica, Shulman was a trader at ILA Capital, a private credit hedge fund managing digital loan portfolios. Shulman is an active member of the Boston CFA Society's financial literacy program and a guest lecturer in the finance department at his alma mater, Babson College.
Jason Tepperman serves as President of J.G. Wentworth and leads its lending business. He is a longtime specialty finance executive, holding prior roles as Chief Lending Officer of Caribou Financial and Managing Partner of IntraFi Local Credit. Earlier, Jason served in the U.S. Department of the Treasury in its response to the global financial crisis, leading special situations for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and later establishing the Treasury’s Small Business Lending Fund. He began his career at Oliver Wyman and was subsequently a partner with Baker Capital, a $1.5 billion growth equity and buyout fund. Jason holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School and a BS with Honors from Yale University.
Jeffrey Rogers has over 25 years of executive management experience in technology, finance, and e-commerce. Mr. Rogers is the President & CEO of LiftForward, Inc., a private equity backed company, which provides brands, merchants and banks with embedded finance software platforms that power global financing programs. LiftForward is a leader in designing, developing, and powering integrated financing and payment ecommerce solutions. Its platform connects OEMs, channel partners, financial institutions, and service providers to deliver device subscription, upgrade, and trade-in programs worldwide. By streamlining integration and lifecycle management, LiftForward enables partners to launch and scale modern payment and financing experiences for their customers.
Prior to LiftForward, Mr. Rogers was President of Behalf, which provided online financing for the inventory, supplies, equipment and services small and medium size businesses need to grow. As a payment service provider, Behalf also partnered with merchants, distributors and manufacturers to offer their customers unique financing offerings powered by real-time analytics to immediately respond to the needs of small businesses. Behalf was funded by Sequoia Capital and other investors.
Prior to Behalf, Mr. Rogers, as President & COO, grew and managed one of the largest professional services firm in the United States, Integra Realty Resources, Inc. Integra, with 64 offices in the United States and Mexico, serves the nation’s largest and most prestigious financial institutions, corporations, law firms, and government agencies. Under his leadership, the company built proprietary analytical technology which fueled record growth for the company over a 9-year period.
Prior to joining Integra, Mr. Rogers held other operating positions and worked as an investment banker in the Financial Sponsors Group at Deutsche Banc Alex Brown. At DB Alex Brown, he advised private equity firms and internal investment funds on investments, leveraged buyouts, and mergers and acquisitions. Jeffrey began his career in law, as Counsel for NationsBank Corporation (now Bank or America), where he practiced corporate law.
Mr. Rogers sits on the boards of Star Mountain Credit Opportunities Fund, L.P., US Strategic Metals, and SunRocket Capital. Mr. Rogers received his BA from Washington and Lee University, his JD from Washington and Lee University School of Law, and finally, his MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. LiftForward and Jeffrey Rogers have been the recipient of numerous awards including regional finalist EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Deloitte Technology Fast 500, Finovate presenter, and Smart CEO Future 50.
Mr. Beltz has been investing in litigation finance since 2015. He started his career in private equity in 2005 with Wayzata Investment Partners and has managed and invested more than $1.5 billion in alternative investment opportunities. In addition, Mr. Beltz represented his firm on over 15 restructuring committees and six corporate boards. Most recently, Mr. Beltz managed a litigation finance fund at Imperial Capital Asset Management (“ICAM”) and was a partner at Neponset Bay Capital, an alternative asset focused private equity firm.
Joel Magerman has been the Managing Partner of Bryant Park Capital since 2001, a middle market investment bank focused on specialty finance companies. During the course of his career, he has been involved in closing approximately 200 transactions as both a principal and an investment banker, exceeding $7 billion in value. From 1995 until 2001 Joel was the President of Associated Venture Management where he oversaw a family office that invested and raised approximately $250 million for its portfolio companies. From 1991 to 1995 Joel was the Senior Vice President for FCA International, LTD (TSX:FCA), where he headed corporate development, M&A, and US sales, marketing, he started and was President of Structured Financial Capital, a purchaser of settlements issued by the state of NJ and also was a founder of a firm that purchased over $1.5 billion of non-performing assets from the Resolution Trust Corporation. Prior to FCA, Joel was one of the founders and board members of Odyssey Golf, the number one putter company in the world that was later sold to Callaway Golf. Earlier in his career, Joel was the Director of Finance and Technology for Citicorp Diners Club. Joel received his MS from the University of Pennsylvania and his BA from UCLA. He serves on the board of Maccabi USA Sports for Israel, and has previously served on the boards of other for profit and not for profit organizations. He holds FINRA series 7, 24, and 63 Securities Licenses.
John is a Partner in the Linklaters’ U.S. Structured Finance Practice. John has represented issuers, underwriters, placement agents, trustees, and investors in asset-backed financings and securitizations across a wide range of structures and asset classes, including traditional consumer and commercial asset securitizations and esoteric digital infrastructure, renewables, digital assets and aviation financings. He has led a number of market-leading and innovative structures in the U.S. and in the cross-border market. He has represented numerous clients on the development of innovative structures involving structured finance products. His work also includes advising clients in connection with asset portfolio purchases and dispositions. John has played a key role in the drafting of comment letters for industry groups regarding various proposed regulations affecting offerings of asset-backed securities. John is widely recognized as a leading securitization lawyer, and has been ranked in Chambers USA for seven years.
Jonathan is a Principal at Apollo Global Management on the Asset-Backed Finance investment team. In this role, he is responsible for credit investments across asset classes, focusing on commercial ABS. Prior to joining Apollo in 2023, Jonathan was an Associate at Goldman Sachs within the structured finance origination group.
Jonathan Evans works with lenders, underwriters, issuers and borrowers on a range of different public and private asset-backed finance transactions. His clients include private equity funds, investment banks and finance companies.
Judy Chou joined the Cooper Family Office as a senior investment advisor with extensive credit experience including roles in investment management, buy-side business development, and mergers & acquisitions. Ms Chou graduated from the Walter A Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Sciences. She also holds the Chartered Alternative Investments Analyst (CAIA) designation. Judy started her career as a mergers & acquisitions investment banker covering private equity firms at JPMorgan Chase, where she received her credit training. Subsequently, Ms Chou was a Senior Credit Analyst at Callidus Capital, a CLO asset manager, where she managed a portfolio of leveraged loans and high-yield bonds. Consequently, she was an advisor to True Course Capital, a private credit boutique. Judy was then a product specialist on the marketing team at CIFC Asset Management, an alternative credit manager. Immediately prior to joining the Coopers Family Office, Judy was a Sales Director and Senior Relationship Manager at CreditSights/Covenant Review, a FitchSolutions Company, establishing and maintaining relationships with a broad array of investor clients in the leveraged finance space. Judy is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and is an avid golfer and tennis player.
Karan is a Principal and the Head of RCR/Specialty Finance at Eagle Point Credit Management responsible for the Firm’s investments in securitized transactions. Karan has 28 years of experience in sourcing and executing partnerships and lending facilities with banks and non-bank specialty lenders across various asset classes. Prior to joining Eagle Point in 2022, he was a Partner and Portfolio Manager at KLS Diversified Asset Management, where he spearheaded their investments across specialty finance and structured products. Before that, he was a part of the Structured Credit Research and Strategy Team at Bear Stearns where he was a top ranked Analyst in Institutional Investor’s All-America Fixed Income Research survey for his work in CLO and mortgage credit research. Karan started his career as an FX and interest rates Trader at BNP Paribas in Mumbai.
Katya Baron is a seasoned capital markets and fintech executive with 20+ years of experience in asset finance, securitization and lending partnerships. As VP of Capital at Wisetack, Katya leads the Company’s capital and lending partner relationships. Prior to Wisetack, Katya was head of capital markets for Mosaic’s $1+BN portfolio of residential solar loans, launching Mosaic’s de novo Solar Loan ABS program and establishing the company’s warehouse and whole loan sales facilities. Katya began her career at JPMorgan Securities and holds a BA in International Relations from Mount Holyoke College.
Keith is a Managing Director with Onex Transportation Partners, where he focuses on developing and executing Onex’ investment strategy in transportation businesses. Keith has over 22 years of experience with transportation finance and investment through positions in asset management and investment banking. Prior to joining Onex, Keith oversaw a 2bn USD commercial transportation debt book at Loomis Sayles, where he also completed bespoke equity investments in aircraft and shipping containers. Keith also invested in infrastructure operating companies through an investment management role at Bamboo Capital Partners, a Swiss impact investing fund. His prior banking experience included roles at bulge bracket banks such as MUFG, where he ran a division that focused on financing both the debt and equity of transportation assets in aviation, shipping containers, railcars, and mid-ticket equipment. Keith earned dual bachelor’s degrees from UCLA and a master’s degree from Columbia University.
Kunal is the VP of Capital Markets Execution at Upgrade, responsible for Upgrade’s institutional capital markets execution. Prior to Upgrade,Kunal lead the capital markets, treasury and finance initiatives at Uplift (acquired by Upgrad, Inc.) and Earnest (acquired by Navient) managing relationships with a variety of investors including Hedge funds, asset managers and banks. Started his career as a financial analyst at a boutique wealth management firm in India. Kunal has earned a Masters in Finance from HULT International Business School and Masters of Science in Information and Technology Management from Campbellsville University.
Leah Sanzari serves as co-leader of Orrick’s Structured Finance practice, including leading the firm’s esoteric ABS practice in both the Private Placement and 144A markets. She is a trailblazer in novel deal structures which have brought many new asset classes and structures to market. Leah is a member of Orrick’s Board of Directors, a former member of the firm’s Management Committee and was a longtime leader of Orrick’s Women’s Initiative.
Leanne Wilson is a Managing Director at Contingency Capital and member of the Investment Committee. Contingency Capital applies a credit focused approach to investing in legal assets, looking for downside and duration protection across diversified pools of assets. Contingency focuses on four main verticals: priming and rescue finance, law firm lending, special situations, and portfolio finance. Leanne sources, underwrites, and manages investments across all of Contingency’s business lines. She joined Contingency Capital in 2021 from Sculptor Capital (formerly known as Och-Ziff), where she was an analyst on the litigation-finance desk. Prior to Sculptor, Leanne practiced securities law, representing investors in litigation related to residential mortgage-backed securities and other structured products. Leanne has a JD from Columbia University, an MBA from McMaster University, and a BSc from Queen’s University.
Leigh Lytle is the President and CEO of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), the premier trade association representing 575+ member organizations in the $1 trillion equipment finance sector. In her role, Ms. Lytle leads the association in executing its mission and delivering on the value proposition to its members. This includes providing a platform to promote and advocate for the industry, including attracting and developing new and diverse talent; a forum for professional development and training; and a resource that develops information about, and for, the industry. She also serves as the President of the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (ELFF), which is dedicated to inspiring thoughtful innovation and contributing to the betterment of the equipment leasing and finance industry. Before joining ELFA, Ms. Lytle served as the Head of North American Policy at Plaid and led education and engagement efforts with regulators and financial institutions. In this role, she advocated for protecting consumers' rights within the digital financial ecosystem and in Washington, D.C. She also served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Financial Technology Association (FTA), which represents innovative companies shaping the future of finance. The industry trade group champions the power of technology-centered financial services and advocates for the modernization of financial regulation to support inclusion and responsible innovation. Before joining Plaid, Ms. Lytle spent over 15 years in the Federal Reserve Bank system in various executive roles ranging from engagements in monetary and regulatory policy to operations and data analytics oversight.
Mark Parsa is a Partner at SLR Capital Partners, focusing on origination and structuring of investments in the specialty finance businesses. Prior to joining SLR, Mark was a Managing Director at East West Bank’s Structured Finance lending team, where he originated and managed the execution of specialty-finance and securitization-style lending transactions. Mark was a Managing Director and a co-founding member of Brooklyn Park Asset Management, LLC, an investment and asset-securitization advisory firm that predominantly focused on origination and management of esoteric self-amortizing asset classes. Prior to Brooklyn Park, Mark was a Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group, where he focused on origination of rediscount lending transactions and investments. Prior to Fortress, Mark was a Vice President at DZ Bank’s Asset Securitization group that offered senior secured warehouse facilities to specialty finance companies.
Matt Biczak is a Managing Director on the Asset-Based Credit team at Fortress. Mr. Biczak is focused on providing capital solutions to specialty finance companies. Prior to joining Fortress in 2006, Mr. Biczak was an Associate in the Asset Securitization Group at DZ Bank where he was responsible for asset management, surveillance and funding duties on credit facilities funded through the bank’s asset-backed commercial paper conduit. Mr. Biczak received a B.A. in Economics from Bucknell University.
Matt Edgar is the Founder & CEO of Edgar Matthews & Co. and works with businesses across sectors to raise capital and advises on strategic matters, spanning M&A, restructuring and other complex situations. Prior to founding Edgar Matthews & Co., Edgar was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs where he managed relationships with, and advised, middle-market companies across industries, with a particular focus on the financial services sector. While at Goldman, Edgar helped spearhead the middle market coverage effort for financial service businesses, building new client relationships and executing transactions across products and situations, leading several innovative capital markets and advisory transactions for the firm. Over his career, Edgar has worked on 175+ completed transactions, representing more than $70 billion in total transaction value; client engagements have canvassed situations across size, sector and geography, with broad experience across M&A and public and private capital markets. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Edgar worked as an investment banker at Sandler O’Neill + Partners, where he focused on M&A execution for financial services businesses globally.
Matthew Neisser is the CEO and Co-Founder of LendingOne, where he has scaled the company into one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing private lenders by overseeing all facets of the firm. Prior to founding LendingOne, he served as Principal at a regional commercial real estate firm managing office, industrial, retail, multi-family, and land transactions, while also gaining valuable experience in residential real estate and land development. He brings extensive knowledge in technology and finance, with hands-on expertise in owning, selling, and leasing both residential and commercial properties. Matt is also a member of the Young Presidents Organization, Urban Land Institute, Turnaround Management Association, Columbia Real Estate Association, and International Council of Shopping Centers. He graduated with honors from Rutgers University-New Brunswick with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and earned his MBA with honors from Columbia Business School.
Mehdi has been at L&G for over 10 years with experience working in UK, European and North America regions. Over the past few years he has led several new asset initiatives for the UK and US balance sheet leading to the creation of innovative funding solutions and structuring of assets into debt and equity (with a focus in real estate, digital infrastructure and clean energy), examples include long lease commercial properties, residential real estate , Energy Infrastructure assets and Esoteric ABS assets. The solutions have helped increase profitability and boosted L&G's competitive advantage winning over $5 billion new business. Over the past few months, he has led efforts to increasing the investment universe of securitized credit such as data centers, fiber, rail car and container ABS closing over $100m of transactions for the US balance sheet. He is a qualified Investment & Finance Actuary, Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary and member of the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investments. Mehdi also Chairs the Infrastructure task form part of the Fixed Income Investors Network (FIIN). Prior to L&G, he worked at BP in the Credit and Market risk teams and has experience trading financial products such as FX, Index and Fixed Income futures.
Melissa Niu is a Portfolio Manager within the Secured Finance Group at Insight Investment, where she oversees investments in commercial real estate and commercial ABS, with a focus on non-traditional ABS asset classes across both public and private markets. She brings over 24 years of experience in the asset-backed finance industry. Melissa joined Insight in January 2015 following BNY Mellon’s acquisition of Cutwater Asset Management, where she had been a member of the investment team since 2008. Prior to Cutwater, Melissa was part of the Global Structured Finance Group at MBIA Insurance Corporation, where she structured and analyzed a wide range of asset-backed transactions. Earlier in her career, she worked as a senior credit analyst at CITIC Bank’s trade finance division, specializing in underwriting Letters of Credit for multinational clients. Melissa holds an MA from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Yale University. She is also a CFA charterholder.
Mr. Dryden is a Partner at Sixth Street, a leading global investment firm. He leads the firm’s Asset Based Finance business, which focuses on investing and origination across specialty finance markets, including commercial and residential mortgages, renewables and energy finance, consumer asset classes, infrastructure debt, transportation, and commercial equipment. Prior to Sixth Street, Mr. Dryden was the global head of securitized products at Credit Suisse AG. Previously, he worked at Barclays Capital where he was responsible for the mortgage, real estate, and government advisory business within the securitized products origination group. Mr. Dryden received a B.A. from Harvard University.
Nick Hernandez focuses on Growth & Partnerships at Finley. Prior to Finley, Nick previously worked at Goldman Sachs, where he focused on investing in middle-market debt and structured equity.
Nick has over 25 years of experience in the financial services sector across M&A and Structured Finance. Nick recently joined Interpath to build out its Financial Services Transactions business having previously been at the professional services firm Ernst & Young where he was a Partner heading up the Financial Services Corporate Finance offering. His unique background includes working as a structurer on warehouse/securitization transactions, a debt advisor, an M&A advisor, and head of capital markets at a specialty financing business giving him one of the most unique aspects and experiences in the specialty finance markets. Nick has worked on transactions involving an exceptionally wide range of asset classes from the structuring and placing of financing of credit card receivables, mortgages, music rights, football player transfer financing all the way to the sale of businesses across HGV leasing business, SME leasing, etc.
Nicole Byrns is an accomplished asset-backed finance investor with 20+ year track record of private investing and financing experience at funds and financial institutions. Ms Byrns is currently a senior advisor to funds considering launching a structured finance strategy and to specialty finance companies looking to optimize their capital structure. Previously, Ms Byrns was Managing Director at Canada’s largest pension plan, CPP Investments (CPPIB) where she managed $3.5bn credit portfolio that focused on asset-backed lending, specialty finance, renewables, CLOs and fintech sectors. Prior to CPP Investments, Ms. Byrns was at Deutsche Bank’s Global Credit Trading group where she developed innovative financing solutions for her clients in the fintech, aviation, mortgage and esoteric industries. Previously, she was at Garrison Investment Group and Citi where she was responsible for originating and executing asset-based financings and whole loan purchase programs. Ms. Byrns is a distinguished writer, contributor, and conference speaker, known for her engagements at industry-leading events such as the Kayo Women’s Group and ABS East. She regularly publishes insightful articles for "Credit Check," a forum dedicated to discussing trends in the asset-based finance industry. A strong advocate for women's advancement in financial services, Ms. Byrns frequently contributes to "Balancing the Books," where she explores themes affecting women in private credit. Additionally, she has collaborated with the Structured Finance Association on various research publications and is an editorial board member for SFA’s Structured Finance Journal. Ms Byrns received a BA from Wellesley College and an MA from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She also studied at L’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) as a Rotary Scholar. She serves on the board of Jacob Riis Neighborhood Settlement.
Noah Cooper is Chief Investment Officer, Head of Capital Solutions Group at Cross River. In this role he oversees the capital solutions Cross River provides its fintech partners across the capital stack via the Group’s principal finance and strategic advisory groups. Noah began his career in the Structured Products Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. From there, he joined the fintech bank, Laurel Road, to lead its capital markets and strategy effort. Outside of his roles in financial services, Noah previously served as the President and Co-Founder of the healthcare non-profit, Hearts of ECMO and the President of the Columbia University Athletics Alumni board. Noah holds a B.A. from Columbia University.
Peter Renton is the CEO of Renton & Co, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in fintech media, events and thought leadership. He was formerly the co-founder and chairman of Fintech Nexus, a fintech media and events company that produced 31 large-scale events worldwide. The events business was sold to Fintech Meetup in 2023 and the media business was sold to COMMAND, a PR firm, in 2024. Peter has been writing about fintech since 2010, with over 2,500 articles published. He is the author and creator of the Fintech One-on-One Podcast, the first and longest-running fintech interview series, recently crossing 500 episodes. Over the last decade, Peter has conducted over 750 interviews and panel discussions and produced over 1,800 fintech newsletters. Peter has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The New York Times, CNBC, CNN, Fortune, NPR, Fox Business News, the Financial Times and dozens of other publications
Peter Walgren is a Managing Director and Co-Head of SMG Capital Markets at Jefferies, having joined in May 2024. Peter has spent his career as an innovator in the Esoteric ABS sector, specializing in bringing new issuers, asset classes, and transaction types to market. During the course of his 17-year career he has structured and executed securitizations for issuers across the Digital Infrastructure, Oil & Gas, Whole Business, and Fund Finance sectors, among others. This includes structuring the first-ever film-library securitization (Miramax), fiber securitization (SummitIG) and cross-border Data Center securitization (Vantage), the first collateralized fund obligation post-crisis (CUNA), the largest-ever bridge to WBS (Subway), and the first-ever Non-US Fiber securitization (Beanfield). Prior to Jefferies Peter was Co-Head of Securitized Products Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley, following eleven years in the Securitized Products Origination group at Barclays, and three years as a lawyer at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Peter has a B.A. from Dartmouth College and a JD from Stanford Law School.
Pierre-Yves Cyr is Senior Director, Capital Solutions. He plays a key role in CDPQ’s Specialty Finance strategy, which includes identifying, negotiating and executing key transactions. Mr. Cyr joined CDPQ in 2017 and has led real assets, intellectual property and structured credit transactions. He has forged new partnerships and executed transactions involving music catalogs, pharmaceutical royalties and monetization of long-term contracts, particularly in the industrials and media sectors. He has more than 15 years of experience in investment and financing. Prior to joining CDPQ, he worked at National Bank Financial, where he held various roles in investment banking and debt capital markets. Mr. Cyr holds an MBA from the London Business School, a Bachelor of Business Administration from HEC Montréal, and is a CFA charterholder.
Pramit Mukherjee is an experienced investor for institutional portfolios across asset classes including private credit and fund finance. Most recently, he led PRT and annuity portfolio management and investment origination as a Senior Director at Legal and General America. He led research on new asset classes and executed investment strategies and structuring across multiple regulatory jurisdictions, including RBC, BSCR, and Solvency II. Previously, he was a Senior Analyst and Portfolio Manager at Converge Re, the reinsurance business of Lightstone Group, where he led investment evaluation, due diligence, and portfolio management. At Converge Re, he focused on alternative credit and real estate investments for insurance portfolios in a capital efficient manner. Prior to Converge Re, he was an analyst and strategist at Goldman Sachs leading thematic equity research and portfolio strategy for institutional investors. At Credit Suisse, he advised leading global consumer & retail companies on M&A and IPO transactions valued at over $5 billion. He is a Board member of the Fixed Income Investor Network by IMN. Mr. Mukherjee received his MBA (Beta Gamma Sigma honorary) with distinction from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He graduated magna cum laude from the Indian Institute of Technology with an MS and BS in Industrial Engineering.
Priya Desai is a Managing Director at MetLife Investment Management's (MIM) Private Fixed Income group, focused on Asset Backed Finance. Priya began her career in 2004 and prior to joining the Private Capital team, she served as the sector head of MIM's Public ABS group for four years. Prior to joining MetLife, Priya worked as a structured products banker at JPMorgan and Lehman Brothers, structured products trader at Shinkin Central Bank, ABS structurer at Deutsche Bank, and in ABS capital markets at fintech firms. Priya earned an MBA and MS in Finance from Boston College and is a CFA Charterholder.
Punit Dholakia has spent nearly two decades across Fintechs and on Wall Street. Punit currently runs Treasury and Capital Markets at Tilt, a consumer Fintech company. Prior to this role, Punit headed Capital Markets and Institutional Investor teams at Pipe and Upgrade, positioning them as market leading fintech franchises during his stint. Punit started his career on Wall Street - he spent a decade between Barclays and Wells Fargo where he held a variety of roles originating investment grade bond transactions and structured ABS deals across multiple asset classes. Punit holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology from Mumbai University and a Masters in Finance from Illinois Institute of Technology.
Rajan is a Managing Director in the Private Fixed Income team of SLC Management, the brand name for the institutional asset management business of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF). SLC Management manages $300 billion in AUM of which, $41 billion is in IGPC. Rajan is primarily responsible for sourcing, structuring and managing non-recourse flow financing deals in the equipment, consumer and esoteric finance space. Previously Rajan was Executive Director, Securitization with CIBC World Markets. Rajan is a Chartered Profession Accountant, CA from Canada and a graduate of Kellogg School of Management (EMP’05).
Rajiv was co-founder at social commerce startup Mertado (YCombinator W2010) through its acquisition by Groupon. Later, he led data science at ad tech unicorn InMobi. He has a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from University of Colorado at Boulder and an undergraduate degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.
Over 30 years of middle market M&A and private capital raising experience, working with family-owned, entrepreneurially owned and sponsor-backed companies. Transactions include a wide variety of structures in the US and overseas including control sales, minority recaps, acquisitions, growth capital, rescue financings and refinancings. Has raised over $6 billion of debt and equity financing for middle market companies in the specialty finance, litigation finance, healthcare services, consumer products, retail, and food & beverage industries, among others. Additionally, maintains strong relationships with over 250 of the leading capital sources in the credit opportunity fund, hedge fund, BDC, sovereign wealth fund, insurance company, structured equity, mezzanine, growth equity, bank and specialty finance markets in the US and Europe. Leads current mandates in litigation finance for issuers based in the US, Europe, and South America. Financing transaction structures include asset based and cash flow credit facilities, asset-level SPVs, fund-level LP units, mezzanine, forward flow, prepaid forwards, converts, holdco notes and structured equity. Served three times as chairperson of the Annual Mezzanine Symposium and nominated by the M&A Advisor as Financing Professional of the Year.
Renaud is the co-founder and CEO of Upgrade, Inc., a fintech company offering mobile banking and responsible credit to everyday consumers. Under his leadership, Upgrade has delivered over $35 billion in affordable credit to consumers in just over 6 years and launched Upgrade Card, an innovative credit card named the fastest growing credit card in America by Nilson Report in 2021 and 2022, making Upgrade the only fintech company ranked among the top 25 U.S. Card issuers. Upgrade was ranked the fastest growing company in the Americas by the Financial Times in 2021 and is one of the most valuable US fintech companies with a valuation that reached $6.3 billion in its latest financing round. Prior to Upgrade, Renaud founded and ran Lending Club for 10 years. He took the company public, reaching a market capitalization of over $10 billion. At Lending Club, Renaud pioneered consumer fintech and grew the company to become the largest provider of personal loans in America. Renaud was ranked among the world’s most influential leaders by Bloomberg Markets and recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative for expanding access to affordable and responsible credit. He holds the Newport-Bermuda sailing record with the only crossing ever achieved under 24 hours. Renaud received his M.B.A. from HEC Paris and London Business School and his J.D. from Montpellier University.
At Compass Datacenters, my role as SVP of Capital Markets and Investor Relations is centered on our evolving capital structure as a hyper-growth, capital-intensive business. Overseeing these initiatives, my expertise fuels our strategic objectives and fosters key stakeholder relationships. The culmination of years in equity research at Guggenheim Partners and Evercore ISI equipped me with a deep understanding of communications infrastructure. This knowledge, paired with extensive experience in debt markets, propels our team towards achieving sustained growth in the high-growth data center sector.

