Mergermarket Private Equity Forum New York 2024
Confirmed Speakers Include:
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Mr. Benegas Lynch is an Operating Partner at Strategic Value Partners.
Prior to joining SVP, Mr. Benegas Lynch was a senior executive at Ansell, where he held leadership roles across P&L ownership, M&A, corporate strategy and commercial strategy. Before Ansell, Mr. Benegas Lynch was an Operating Partner at private equity firm Protostar Partners. Earlier in his career, he was an Associate at McKinsey & Company and a Financial Analyst at Aluar Aluminio Argentino.
Mr. Benegas Lynch holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Ms. Benza serves as Investment Manager for the GE Investment Management Corp focused on the private markets. She previously worked for Abbott Capital, where she was most recently a Principal and a member of the Investment Committee. Before joining Abbott, she was a Vice President with DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, an Associate with THL Partners, and a Mergers & Acquisitions Analyst with Merrill Lynch. Ms. Benza received a B.S. in Finance & Accounting from NYU Stern and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Neha Champaneria Markle is a Managing Director and the Head of Morgan Stanley Private Equity Solutions. Prior to joining the firm, Neha served on the investment teams at Apax Partners and Pomona Capital. She also served on the management team for Springboard Enterprises, Inc., a non-profit organization focused on improving female entrepreneurs’ access to venture capital. Neha started her career as part of the financial analyst program at Morgan Stanley. Neha received a B.S. magna cum laude in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Pam Chan is Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Mosaic at Lingotto. Mosaic launched in Feb 2024 and is anchored by Exor. It is a flexible private market investment strategy pursuing the “weird and wonderful” with a focus on structured downside protection and orthogonal sources of risk.
Previously, she was Chief Investment Officer and Head of Direct Private Opportunities at BlackRock. She served on BlackRock's Global Operating Committee and Alternatives Executive Committee, in addition to a number of investment committees across private market strategies. Ms. Chan's service with the firm began in 2012. She co-founded Alternative Solutions (predecessor group to Direct Private Opportunities) in 2013 and prior to becoming CIO of the group in 2018, she served as a senior portfolio manager and primary deputy to the CIO. Prior to joining BlackRock, Ms. Chan worked as a senior research analyst for the Financial Stability Board, as a Senior Investment Associate at Bridgewater and as a member of the Financial Institutions Group at Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Ms. Chan was recognized in 2020 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a Young Global Leader and presented at Davos in 2022. She is a member of the WEF's Women in Finance community and was appointed to the Global Future Council on the Future of Responsible Investing. She was previously nominated as a WEF Global Shaper in 2012, serving as curator for the New York City hub in 2014. Additionally, she was named as a Women of Influence in Private Markets in 2022 (Cross Asset Class) by PEI Media.
She currently co-chairs the Harvard College Schools and Scholarship Committee of New York City and has previously served on the Board of the Harvard Club of New York Foundation and the Harvard Business School (HBS) Alumni Board. She is a member of the Board for the HBS Club of New York, YPO and Extraordinary Women on Boards. She has also served on the Boards of Macro Media, Inc., Forbright, Inc. and Home Partners of America.
She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a joint concentration in Philosophy and Government and, earned an MBA with high honors from Harvard Business School.
She loves to golf and enjoys reading, mega-former pilates and contemporary art (including creating some pieces of her own). She currently lives in New York City with the two Texan loves of her life (Allen, her partner, and Socrates, their very charismatic and curious beagle)
Preet Chawla is senior director at Carnegie Corporation of New York, responsible for manager selection, across the Corporation’s public and private portfolios.
Prior to joining the Corporation, Preet was research director at Benchmark Plus Management, responsible for manager selection across hedge fund portfolios. Previously, he was an investment manager at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he was responsible for partnerships with both public and private managers; vice president at Canterbury Consulting, where he led the hedge fund research efforts; and an analyst for Attalus Capital and UBP Asset Management.
Preet was a dual major at the University of California, Davis, graduating with a BS in applied mathematics and a BA in economics, and obtained an MBA degree from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. He is also a CFA Charterholder.
Thomas Cockburn is Senior Director, Corporate Credit at CDPQ. Mr. Cockburn has responsibility over origination and execution of private credit opportunities in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, he is engaged in the development and monitoring of the private debt investment strategy and portfolio.
Before joining CDPQ, Mr. Cockburn worked for Power Corporation of Canada, a diversified holding company with a focus on financial services, where he was responsible for mergers & acquisitions as well as corporate finance activities for the holding’s portfolio companies. Prior to this, he spent 8 years at GE Capital, successively in real estate M&A and in leveraged finance roles. During his tenure at the company, he was involved in the creation of Mubadala GE Capital, a structured finance joint venture between Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala and GE Capital. He later joined Mubadala GE Capital’s investments team as a Vice-President and was responsible for executing leveraged and structured finance transactions in the U.S. and Europe. Prior to his time at GE Capital, he started his career in investment banking at Desjardins Securities.
Mr. Cockburn holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and a Master of Science - Finance, both from HEC Montréal.
Mr. de Groen joined Bain Capital in 2011. He is a Partner on the North American Private Equity team. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Mr. de Groen was a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, where he consulted in the healthcare, financial services, & technology practice areas. Mr. de Groen received an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar. He graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Finance from the University of Minnesota.
Susanne Forsingdal has served as Head of the New York investment team at Allianz Capital Partners, GmbH since January 2015. She represents ACP on the advisory boards of a number of Private Equity Funds. Prior to joining ACP, Ms. Forsingdal headed the New York team of ATP Private Equity Partners. Previously she worked in equity research, strategy and investor relations with Copenhagen based banks and insurance companies. Ms. Forsingdal received a Masters in Finance and Accounting from Copenhagen Business School. |
Henry Frankievich, Managing Director, Insight Partners
Henry is a Managing Director on Insight’s investment team. Since joining the firm in 2016, Henry has focused on investments in both growth stage and scaled software businesses, particularly in vertical and horizontal application software in the US and Europe. He specializes in helping growing companies build and scale their organizations, source and execute M&A, and navigate the capital markets.
Henry has been involved in over $1.6bn in new equity investments at Insight. He has served on the board or worked closely with many Insight portfolio companies, including Afresh, AMCS, Camunda, Exactera, Exclaimer, Gamma, Gelato, Inky, Jama, Jedox, Lakeside, Nuvolo, PayCargo, Portside, PrecisionLender (acquired by Q2), Sanas, and TriTech (acquired by Bain Capital).
Prior to Insight, Henry was an investor at TA Associates focusing on growth-stage vertical software companies. He started his career as an investment banker at Credit Suisse.
Henry graduated with honors from the University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in Economics.
Cynthia Haidar is the director for investments at the Doris Duke Foundation. In this capacity, she is responsible for evaluating investment opportunities across multiple asset classes, including liquid alternative strategies, private equity, real estate and private credit investments.
Prior to joining the foundation in 2021, Haidar spent over a decade at Gapstow Capital Partners, a credit-focused multi-manager and advisory firm. At Gapstow, Haidar was involved in various research and operational aspects of the business. She was responsible for portfolio and fund analysis for Gapstow’s discretionary accounts and those of advisory clients. She also led the development and management of some of Gapstow’s alternative credit indices and the in-depth analysis of their constituents. When Gapstow managed discretionary assets, she was a member of the firm's investment committee and valuation committee.
Haidar earned a Master of Science in financial engineering from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Engineering in computer engineering from the Lebanese American University in Lebanon.
Trent is a Managing Director and is responsible for developing investment opportunities, conducting due diligence, arranging debt financing for portfolio investments, structuring investments, and monitoring portfolio companies.
Since joining VSS in 1999, he has been active in the Firm's investments in AccessIntelligence LLC, Centroid, Coretelligent, GreenSlate, Hanley Wood, Mediatel (Yellow Brick Road), MetSchools, Pepcom, QuadraNet, Really Great Reading, Southern Theatres, TMP Worldwide (now Radancy), Tranzact, and Vault.com.
Trent is currently a member of the Board of Managers of the following VSS portfolio companies: Centroid, GreenSlate and QuadraNet. In addition, he is a board observer of Coretelligent. He previously served on the boards of AccessIntelligence, Coretelligent, Radancy, Really Great Reading, Southern Theatres, Tranzact, and Vault.
Prior to attending business school, Trent was an Analyst and Associate in the Media & Entertainment Investment Banking Group of First Union Securities (now Wells Fargo Securities), where he was involved in structuring and underwriting syndicated leveraged loans and high yield issuances for several VSS portfolio companies, including Rifkin Acquisition Partners, Canon Communications, Centaur Communications, and The Official Information Company.
Trent serves on the Finance Committee for the New York State Ski Racing Association as an Alpine Ski Racing Coach for Windham Mountain. He previously served as a Trustee and member of the investment committee for the Hunter College Foundation and as a Trustee and Chairman of the board of trustees of Bronx Charter School for the Arts.
Trent holds an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an AB in History and French from Duke University.
Violetta Kokolus possesses 15+ years of experience working with emerging and established companies and technology-focused investors, particularly within the fields of asset management, payments, consumer products, data innovation, healthcare, tech-enabled services, robotics and software. Violetta advises on tech aspects of mergers and acquisitions and also represents companies in stand-alone collaborations and strategic commercial transactions with complex technical and intellectual property considerations.
Cari Lodge is Head of Secondaries, a member of the Investment Committee and Senior Executive Group of CF Private Equity. She oversees the origination, evaluation, structuring and negotiation of secondaries transactions as well as the portfolio construction, monitoring and fundraising of the firm’s secondary funds. Additionally, Cari contributes to the firm’s buyout, growth equity, venture capital, and real assets and sustainability strategies. Cari has over 23 years of secondaries experience and has closed over 375 secondary transactions for approximately $2.8 billion in total exposure. She began her career at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (which merged with Credit Suisse in 2000) as an Associate in Investment Banking. She spent 12 years with Credit Suisse’s Secondary Team, Strategic Partners, since its founding in 2000, and served as a member of the Investment Committee. Prior to joining CF Private Equity, Cari was at Tulane University’s Investment Management Office where she was responsible for overseeing the private equity and private real assets investments for the endowment. She is presently a member of the advisory board of several private equity limited partnerships. Cari is also a member of the Investment Committee of her alma mater, The Hotchkiss School. In 2022, she was recognized by PEI as one of the top ten women of influence in private markets. Cari received an A.B. from Dartmouth College in both Economics and Government and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
Lee is an Operating Partner on AEA’s Middle Market Private Equity team. In his role, he is primarily focused on working with portfolio companies to assess, develop and build value creation via digital initiatives. He also facilitates sharing of digital best practices across the AEA portfolio. Lee is involved with AEA’s Senior Advisory Council and serves on the board of AEA portfolio company Window Nation.
Prior to AEA, Lee most recently served as Vice President of North America at Alibaba Group, leading the company’s North American initiatives. Prior to Alibaba, Lee was the first Global Head of Travel at Facebook, where he was responsible for developing the company’s monetization and growth strategy. Previously, Lee held various executive positions at Expedia, including overseeing APAC and North America where he led many supply optimization initiatives. Earlier in his career, Lee was part of the start-up office for eBay UK, where he helped drive eBay’s market penetration with several initiatives across supply, product, digital payments and platform trust and safety. Lee started his career with Warner Music in London.
Lee studied at Warwick Business School where he earned an M.B.A. He also earned an M.A. from Sheffield Hallam University in film & media production.
Fayez Muhtadie is Co-Head of Private Equity and a Managing Director at Stone Point Capital. Fayez helps to lead Stone Point’s global investments in asset management, business services and wealth management & fund administration. He sits on a number of portfolio company boards, including Ascensus, Focus Financial Partners and Kroll.
Prior to joining the Stone Point platform in 2003, Fayez was an Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group at Credit Suisse First Boston from 2000 to 2003. Previously, he was a Financial Analyst at Aon Capital Markets. Fayez holds a B.S.B.A. from The Ohio State University and an M.B.A. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
Darren joined Campbell Lutyens in 2021 and is a member of the secondary advisory team. Prior to joining Campbell Lutyens, Darren spent eight years at Origami Capital Partners investing across private assets, most recently as a Partner based in Chicago. Darren previously worked on the investment teams at WL Ross and Brookfield in New York, as an investment banker at Citigroup and an auditor with KPMG. Darren earned his MBA from Yale School of Management, a BBA in Accounting and Finance from Loyola University of Chicago and is a registered CPA in Illinois.
Carlo Padovano joined OEP in 2012 and is a Partner based in New York. Mr. Padovano focuses primarily on investments in the technology, technology services, and tech-enabled business services industries. Mr. Padovano is a member of the Board of Directors of Orion Innovation, CDI, and Cless, and has previously been a member of the Board of Directors of Rizing, Allied, Wow! Nutrition, Portal, and Unicoba.
Prior to joining OEP, Mr. Padovano worked at GP Investments, where he was a member of the Board of Directors of Magnesita Refratários and Brazil Hospitality Group. Previously, Mr. Padovano worked in the Investment Banking division of JPMorgan in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Mr. Padovano received his B.Sc. in engineering and management systems from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Columbia University.
Jay Ramakrishnan joined AB in 2014 and is a founding member, Head of Originations, and a member of the investment committee of AB Private Credit Investors. In addition, she is responsible for business initiatives such as technology-focused growth capital solutions, oversees investments in the healthcare/HCIT sectors, and covers select East Coast financial sponsors with an emphasis on technology, healthcare and business services. Previously, Ramakrishnan was a managing director with Barclays Private Credit Partners, and as a founding member of the business was involved in various aspects of business launch, transaction sourcing and execution. Prior to joining Barclays, she was a vice president at Goldman Sachs, in the Specialty Lending Group in New York, and in London, where she oversaw a European leveraged-loan portfolio and managed restructurings. Before that, Ramakrishnan was in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns, and she started her career as an associate consultant for Bain & Company. She holds a BA (Hons) in economics from the University of Cambridge, England, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Location: New York
Kathy Reiland is a member of the Investment Committee at Integrum.
Kathy has over thirty years of investment and acquisition experience most recently during her tenure at Standard Industries (“Standard”) and 40 North Management (“40 North”) and Evercore Partners (“Evercore”).
Kathy joined Standard and 40 North in 2016 as Head of Strategy and Development and a member of the executive leadership team. Standard is a privately held global industrial company with a broad array of investments, technologies and holdings including building materials assets and next-generation solar solutions. 40 North, a related investment business of Standard Industries, is a fundamentally based investment platform that takes concentrated, long-term positions across a range of sectors to create value for all stakeholders. During her tenure, Kathy was involved in both public and private investments totaling more than $10 billion in enterprise value and ranging from early to late stage including Braas Monier, W.R. Grace, Clariant, Hover, and Hippo.
Prior to joining Standard, Kathy spent eighteen years as a Senior Managing Director at Evercore, a global independent investment banking advisory firm, and Evercore Capital Partners, Evercore’s private equity platform. During that time, Kathy was a general partner of the private equity funds, and ultimately served as the Chief Operating Officer of the firm’s investment businesses that included private equity, traditional asset management and wealth management. Later, she served as head of Evercore’s international joint ventures in Asia. Kathy was involved in Evercore Capital Partner’s investments in Fidelity Information Services (FIS), Sedgwick, Bollinger, and Causeway Capital. In addition, Kathy was actively involved in Evercore’s diversity and recruiting efforts responsible for launching the Women’s Forum which was designed to establish relationship networks and training to position women for senior leadership roles.
Prior to joining Evercore, Kathy was a buy-side equity analyst at Sanford Bernstein and a consultant at Bain & Co.
Kathy earned her B.A. degree from Duke University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth.
Paul Sanabria is a Senior Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Secondaries at Manulife Investment Management. Mr. Sanabria has more than 25 years of experience in principal investing and investment banking. Prior to Manulife, he was Co-Head of Houlihan Lokey’s Illiquid Financial Assets practice, a unit he co-founded and built into the leading advisory group focused on customized transactions for holders of illiquid securities. Previously, Mr. Sanabria was Senior Managing Director at Bear Sterns Asset Management where he co-led the private equity fund and secondary investing unit. Earlier, Mr. Sanabria was co-founder of BDC Financial Inc., a firm that provided customized private equity investment management and advisory services to institutional and high-net-worth investors, which he sold to Bear Stearns. Mr. Sanabria received a B.S. in Engineering from California State University, Sacramento and an MBA from Harvard University.
John Sander is a Principal at Lightyear Capital joining in 2022. Previously, John was with McKinsey & Company and the operating arm of Vista Equity Partners. Mr. Sander holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Pomona College and was a Fulbright Scholar in Machine Learning in Germany. He received his M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Firm Biography: Lightyear Capital is a specialist private equity firm that partners with growth companies at the nexus of financial services and technology, healthcare, and business services. For over 20 years, Lightyear has worked closely with management and leveraged its industry expertise, operating resources, and network of advisors to accelerate growth and build market leading businesses. As of December 31, 2021, the firm had assets under management of $4.9 billion.
Zach is a Managing Director and Private Equity Cyber Insurance Solutions Team Leader for Aon’s Cyber Solutions E&O/Cyber Broking team. Zach is responsible for providing client advisory, coverage analysis, risk assessment and insurance placement advice with focus on Cyber, Technology, Media, and Professional Liability exposures.
His team works with Private Equity firms to build Cross-Portfolio E&O/Cyber Programs. Zach has over 15 years’ experience as a broker in the Professional Liability & Cyber Insurance space. During this time, Zach has held various positions with insurance brokers in New York. Prior to joining Aon, Zach most recently was an equity partner at Privacy Professionals LLC, specializing in cyber insurance placements, advisory and privacy risk management services. Prior to Privacy Professionals, Zach worked at Crystal & Company in New York, where he specialized in Professional Liability and Cyber Liability risks. Zach is a licensed Property & Casualty Broker. Zach is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) via the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Zach is a member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS). Zach holds a BS in Business/Economics from Randolph-Macon College.
David is a Partner in Cooley’s Private Equity and M&A groups. He represents private equity and strategic investors in a wide variety of transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, divestitures and other complex business transactions. David’s experience spans across several high-growth industries and his clients include technology, software, ecommerce, healthcare IT, telecommunications, media, consumer, retail and services companies.
David Tayeh joined Investcorp in 1999 as a Partner in the Private Equity team. From 2003 to 2005, David served as the Chief Financial Officer of Jostens, Inc., a former Investcorp portfolio company. Prior to Investcorp, David was a Vice President with DLJ. In 2015, David rejoined Investcorp as the Head of North American Private Equity from CVC Capital Partners where he was a Partner from 2011. David is a member of Investcorp’s Operating Committee, Investment Committee and the Financial & Risk Management Committee.
He currently serves on the board of directors of AlixPartners, Best in Class Technology Services, CrossCountry Consulting, Fortune International, Health Plus Management, ICR, KSI Auto Parts, RESA Power, Revature, Roadsafe, Sunrise Produce, Shearer Supply, Alex Lee, and Arab-American Family Support Center.
David holds a BA degree in Politics, Economics, Rhetoric and Law from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Christiaan van der Kam is the head of Schroders Capital’s secondary investment program, responsible for all secondary investment activities globally. Prior to joining Schroders Capital in 2020, Christiaan spent more than 12 years at Unigestion, where he co-lead the global secondary investment program and was responsible for all secondary investments in North America and Asia. Prior to that, he worked at New Amsterdam Capital, a hedge fund based in London, where he provided financial and advisory services to companies. Christiaan started his private equity career at ATP Private Equity from 2001–2006. ATP is the largest pension fund in Denmark and one of the largest private equity investors globally. Christiaan holds a Bachelor of Science in International Business and a Master degree in Applied Economics and Finance from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.
Mr. Vincent is the founder and CIO of Summation Capital, a newly formed independent investment management firm focused on providing investors exposure to the Private Equity asset class in a high-quality, low-cost, and aligned manner. Previously he led the Private Equity portfolio of Cornell University’s $10 billion endowment. He had responsibility for the endowment’s Venture Capital, Growth Equity, and Buyout portfolios which he led for over a decade generating top returns among peers. Prior to Cornell, he was an investment partner at Founders Equity, a New York based private equity firm making control investments in lower middle market businesses. He began his career at DLJ where he was a principal investor in the Merchant Banking and Sprout Groups.
Roger graduated Dartmouth College with a BA in Economics and received his MBA from Columbia Business School with Beta Gamma Sigma academic honors.
Chris Westington joined BCI in 2022 and is based in New York City. He leads the value creation program for the private equity asset class. BCI’s value creation strategy focuses on alpha generation across our private equity portfolio by partnering with management teams to scale profitable growth and drive performance improvement opportunities. With $233.0 billion in gross assets under management as of March 31, 2023, BCI is one of the largest institutional investors in Canada.
Prior to joining BCI, Chris was Vice President of Strategic Finance at Rent The Runway, an industry leading unicorn start-up. During his time at Rent The Runway, Chris oversaw numerous strategic commercial and operational initiatives, which positioned the business for a successful initial public offering (IPO) in 2021. Additionally, Chris was an active leader for the IPO roadshow and S-1 efforts and, subsequently, managed public markets processes, including guidance for developing investor and analyst education.
Prior to joining Rent The Runway, Chris led finance and strategy at Jet.com, an e-commerce start-up, which was acquired by Walmart in 2016 for $3.3 billion. Chris subsequently worked at Walmart across several key roles overseeing e-commerce and omnichannel strategy. Prior to Jet.com, Chris spent 10 years in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) transaction services. Chris brings over 17 years of strategy and operating expertise across rapid scale and established public companies.
Chris graduated from The College of New Jersey with a bachelor of arts in accounting and held a CPA designation, currently inactive, in the state of New Jersey.
Joyce Zhang joined the investment team at Wallace in 2016. She assists the chief investment officer in the management of the foundation’s investment portfolio. Her responsibilities include the monitoring of investment managers, and risk management and analytical support.
Zhang worked as a senior fixed income trader at Ping An Asset Management, one of the largest insurance companies in China.
Zhang received her M.B.A. from Yale University. She holds an M.S. in global business from Pepperdine University and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. Zhang is both a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and chartered alternative investment analyst (CAIA).