Agenda
Opening Remarks & Welcome
Product Overview
Come hear about the evolution of the Backstop product over the past 12 months and over the next few quarters. You get the inside scoop on active initiatives, key areas of development and service focus, and a front row seat to Backstop's trajectory.
Keynote
Funds, Private Markets, and Intelligence - Industry Presentation
Panel -State of the market- the increasing convergence of private markets
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Coffee Break
GP Track: GP Top Gems
In today's ever-changing environment, it is crucial for GPs to effectively track leads, optimize capital-raising and streamline processes. Join us as we unveil Backstop's latest innovations tailored to meet the specific needs of GPs.
LP Track: LP Top Gems
It is crucial for allocators to stay up to date on due diligence, optimized portfolio tracking, investment research, stakeholder reporting, and be on the lookout for new asset class opportunities on the horizon. Join us as we delve into the latest capabilities of Backstop tailored to meet the unique needs of LPs.
GP Track: Revolutionize Reporting: Get Organized and Operate Smarter with Backstop’s Newest Capabilities
- Capital raising
- Investor Relations
Get up to speed on the Insight Center, New explorers, Template Libraries (along with a few other items) as revolutionary changes to your reporting . We’ll cover how these these capabilities fast track your experience to a state of WOW! And learn about the next innovations right around the corner.
LP Track: Tailor Backstop to your team with Templates
- Research
- Portfolio (Light)
Better practices are now at your fingertips across Backstop from the community of Backstop LPs. Tailor your instance with specific use cases in seconds using the new Backstop standardized template capabilities and then personalize to the specific needs of your teams and users. Get up to speed fast with the new Insight Center.
Lunch
GP Track: ION Connectivity and Entity Insights
This session will highlight new capabilities coming from a connected experience with Ion and how Backstop users can take advantage of these capabilities as a value-add tool for raising capital and service clients.
In addition, we will do a deep dive on specific use cases where the new entity report links will enable you to drill-down and zoom out with ease to get the right level of intelligence.
LP Track: ION Connectivity and New Entity Relationships
This session will highlight new capabilities coming from a connected experience with ION and how Backstop users can leverage these capabilities for increased data standardization and value-added insights for new and existing manager relationships. In addition, clients will learn about the new power inherent in the Add Flows available across entities in Backstop as they establish relationships with Managers and Counterparties.
Coffee Break
GP Track: Mastering Insights: A Working Session on Our Top Templates for leading GPs
Better practices are now at your fingertips across Backstop's insights solutions (including Explorers, Dashboards, Reports, and Home Base) from the community of Backstop GPs. Tailor your instance with our favorite use cases in seconds through this working session with our experts and then enhance the workflow of your users and team.
LP Track: Increase your (AI)Q with Activity Intelligence
This session will focus on updates to Backstop AI-driven solutions which merge human insight with machine intelligence to power your team and processes forward including Activity Summaries, IntellX Connector, Document Insights and Activity Explorer, tailored to meet the unique needs of LPs.
Champagne Roundtable Discussions
Cocktails
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Kevin is a Partner and Head of Strategy for Sapphire Ventures, where he is responsible for advising the investment teams, portfolio companies, and limited partners on key market trends and dynamics. Kevin works across all Sapphire strategies to help the firm best execute against current opportunities, while also identifying and evaluating future focus areas.
Prior to joining Sapphire, Kevin spent 7.5 years in Corporate Strategy at Microsoft where he was a Senior Director and member of the strategy leadership team. In this role, Kevin worked directly with Microsoft’s Leadership Team on the company’s most critical strategic growth initiatives, with work that touched both existing and new product categories, go-to-market, M&A, and partnerships. Prior to Microsoft, Kevin worked at Booz & Company in the firm’s Technology, Media, and Telecom practice where he consulted for several Fortune 100 technology clients in the software and ecommerce categories, and also was selected as one of the 3 members of the inaugural class of the Katzenbach Center’s Leadership Program.
Kevin is a graduate of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas-Austin, as well as of Emory University, where he majored in Economics. He currently lives in Austin, TX with his beautiful wife Cassie and their two children, Olivia and Owen.
Mr. Althofer, 41, began his career in strategy consulting where he worked as an analyst and associate in the Strategy & Operations practice of Deloitte Consulting after graduating cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis in 2001 with a degree in Economics and minors in Philosophy and Humanities. After receiving his Master of Business Administration, with distinction, from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, with emphases in Finance and Accounting, Mr. Althofer transitioned into financial services where he spent roughly 3 years as an associate with Jefferies, working in the Consumer & Retail coverage group, where he executed over 25 M&A, debt, and equity transactions. Leveraging his background in consulting and investment banking, Mr. Althofer accepted a role with Capitala Investment Advisors where he progressed from a Vice President to Director, principally responsible for screening, structuring, underwriting and executing potential credit investments. Mr. Althofer was also integrally involved in growing the portfolio monitoring team and actively managing the growing portfolio of Capitala's credit investments. Most recently, Mr. Althofer served as Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Finance/M&A at Live Ventures (NASDAQ: LIVE), a publicly traded investment holding company where he oversaw all M&A efforts, as well worked with Live Venture's existing subsidiaries to manage their capital structures and lending relationships, and helped develop enhanced underwriting and reporting processes across the platform.
Over the past 20 years, Mr. Althofer has developed a broad range of experiences across both operations and investing and has executed numerous transactions on both the buy-side and sell-side for a wide range of companies from food manufacturers and retailers to manufacturers and suppliers of highly engineered metal products and healthcare testing and distribution businesses
As Funds Editor, Tom is launching Mergermarket's coverage of private funds in North America, which includes profiles of GPs and LPs, news and insights on funds, and data-driven analysis. Based in Chicago, he has over 15 years' experience in financial journalism, predominantly as an M&A and ECM specialist, as part of the former Acuris, and now ION Analytics. Starting as a reporter in London, Tom covered the financial services and real estate sectors for Dealreporter during the global financial crisis, including a secondment at the Financial Times. He has also been based in Hong Kong and New York, with highlights including launching Mergermarket's coverage of the Asian ECM market, as well as serving as Managing Editor for Mergermarket and Dealreporter in both APAC and the Americas, overseeing large teams of over 50 journalists. Most recently, he served as Chief of Staff to ION Analytics' Chief Content Officer, who he supported in strategic planning, operations and communications.
Ms. Kruse joined Crestline in 2007 and is Head of Marketing, Head of ESG, and is a member of the ESG Committee. Prior to joining Crestline, Ms. Kruse worked in the loan origination division at Chase Home Finance. Ms. Kruse is a graduate of Texas Christian University where she received her B.B.A. in Marketing.
ZACH STRAEBEL, CFA | VICE PRESIDENT, PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
Zach Straebel joined Transformco Properties in 2020 as Senior Director of Portfolio Management. Prior to joining Transformco Properties, Zach held portfolio management positions at Pine Tree and IRC Retail Centers. He has also worked as a Senior Associate for Alignium, a real estate investment advisor. In his current role at Transformco Properties, he is responsible for analysis, underwriting and reporting for the portfolio. Zach is a CFA Charterholder, and a member of the CFA Society of Chicago.
Jennifer Schmidt
Since 2018, Jen has led Global Investment Operations and Compliance for 3M’s pension plans. She currently heads 3M’s middle and back-office operations as well as manages relationships with various service providers, custodian banks, consultants, investment managers and vendors. Prior to joining 3M, she was with PwC for nearly 15 years, specializing in the financial services industry and serving investment management firms in assurance, controls and consulting engagements. She is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles with a BA in Business Economics and a Minor in Accounting and has an MBA from the University of St. Thomas. She is a Certified Public Accountant.
Emma Andrews is a seasoned Senior Business Analyst at NEPC, LLC, having been with the firm since 2016. Currently, Emma is a key player on the Consulting Operations team, specializing in evaluating and improving processes, technology, and organizational structures. Her expertise includes project management, technology analysis, user interface design, end-to-end business process design, user acceptance testing, data mapping and migration, and implementation planning. She collaborates closely with the Information Technology group to translate user requirements into effective process models and system enhancements, while also managing project timelines, business resources, and communication plans.
Emma has been recognized with four individual and four team awards at NEPC for her significant contributions to the firm. Notably, she led the selection process for a combined CRM and RMS system in 2022 and is currently overseeing the implementation of Backstop as both Project Lead and Product Owner, with the CRM solution rollout underway. Prior to NEPC, Emma worked in the Nonprofit sector as a Corporate Event Planner and Logistics Coordinator overseeing trade shows and international summits.
Emma holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maine and an MBA from Suffolk University. Outside of work, she is an avid ultra hiker, a novice gardener, and a tea enthusiast.