Panelists
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"Steven Meier | Chief Investment Officer and Deputy Comptroller for Asset Management
As Chief Investment Officer and Deputy Comptroller for Asset Management, Steven Meier, oversees the five pension systems that compose the New York City retirement systems.
Mr. Meier brings over 40 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, previously serving as Assistant Treasurer and Interim Chief Investment Officer for the Connecticut Office of the State Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden, overseeing the investments of Connecticut’s $40 billion public pension system and its ESG initiatives. Before joining the Connecticut state treasurer’s office, Meier spent more than a decade at State Street Global Advisors, where he rose to Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for Global Fixed Income, Currency, and Cash Management, overseeing over $900 billion in assets.
Prior to his time at State Street, he worked at Credit Suisse as Director, Global Head of Fixed Income & Money Market Electronic Trading and Senior Trader in the Global Financing Group at Credit Suisse. His experience also includes roles at Oppenheimer Capital, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, and Irving Trust Company.
Meier is a CFA Charter Holder and certified Financial Risk Manager. He holds an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business and a BBA from Hofstra University’s Zarb School of Business."
Prior to joining AGL, Boswell was a Partner at Carlyle, serving as Head of Direct Lending and Chief Investment Officer, Direct Lending. In this role, he led the investing and business operations of Carlyle Direct Lending from 2019 until 2022, including origination, underwriting, portfolio management and investor relations. In addition, he served as President, Chief Investment Officer and Board member of Carlyle’s various business development companies (BDCs); and was on the Investment Committee for the firm’s managed Direct Lending vehicles. He previously also served at Carlyle as a founding, senior member of the Opportunistic Credit team, with primary responsibility for building that business’s US investment capabilities while leading the deployment of capital across a wide variety of private credit investments.
Prior to joining Carlyle in 2017, Boswell served as Managing Director and Investment Committee Member in the Illiquid Credit Business at Apollo Global Management.
Before joining Apollo in 2013, he was a Director at Perella Weinberg Partners, where he spent seven years focused on corporate fundamental investing across both debt and equity mandates. Prior to Perella Weinberg Partners, Boswell was an Investment Associate at Providence Equity Partners. He began his career as an Investment Banking Analyst at Deutsche Bank in 2001.
Boswell has an AB in Political Economics from Princeton University.
Margaux Buridant joined Tikehau in 2024 as Co-Head of Private Wealth Solutions after 15 years in Wealth Management. Prior to joining Tikehau Capital, Margaux served at Bank of the West (BNP Paribas, and more recently BMO) in New York as a Senior International Wealth Strategist and Wealth Management Regional Manager. Before that, she began her career as a Notary in France, later transitioning to legal services as a Managing Director at Colombus Consulting Group NY.
Education: Master’s degree in business & law and a Notaire diploma from Aix-en-Provence University, US International Tax certification from New York University
Brian joined Centerbridge in 2016 and focuses on the Firm’s portfolio operating effort.
Prior to joining Centerbridge, Brian worked at Bain Capital Private Equity for nine years as an Operating Partner, where he partnered with executive teams to drive growth-oriented and operating initiatives at portfolio companies.
Previously, Brian was a Vice President and General Manager at Boston Beer Company, Inc. Prior to Boston Beer, he was a Manager at Bain & Company, Inc., where he worked in a variety of industries, including consumer products, industrial manufacturing, technology and healthcare. Brian began his career in financial and information technology positions in the healthcare industry.
Education
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, B.S.
MIT Sloan School of Management, M.B.A.
Alexandre Décary is Vice-President, Private Equity, Americas. In this role, he is responsible for all activities in the region and leads a team of specialists in the field.
Mr. Décary has over 20 years of finance and investment experience. He has executed numerous private and public transactions around the world. Before his appointment, he was Managing Director, Québec, and supervised an investment team working with large caps. Before joining CDPQ in 2017, he held leadership positions at PSP Investments, Aimia and RBC Capital Markets.
Mr. Décary holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and a Graduate Diploma in Accounting from HEC Montréal, as well as a Master’s in Finance from the London Business School. He is a CPA and a CFA charterholder, and represents CDPQ on the Boards of Administration of several portfolio companies and non-profit organizations.
Cynthia Do Nascimento, Managing Director of Investments, joined RWJBarnabas Health in 2024 where she collaborates with the CIO to devise and implement investment strategy, risk management frameworks, and asset class structures. Prior to joining RWJBarnabas Health, she spent 11 years at the New York University investment office where she was a senior member of the investment team, specifically responsible for public and private equities and credit, with generalist responsibilities across the portfolio. Prior to joining NYU, Ms. Nascimento was a Vice President at Marathon Asset Management, a $10 billion global credit investment manager, where she focused on distressed and situational investments. Prior to Marathon, she was an Associate at CHS Capital, a middle-market private equity firm, and an Analyst in the Investment Banking division of William Blair & Company. Ms. Nascimento holds a Bachelor of Science with the Highest Distinction Honors from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. She is a recipient of accolades including the Top 22 in ’22 by Kayo Conference Series, Top 30 Investors at Next Generation Leading Endowments by Trusted Insights (2019), as well as nominations as a Fellow of the Robert Toigo Foundation and of The Economic Club of New York. She is fluent in Portuguese and conversant in Spanish.
David Fann is a Partner, Senior Managing Director, and Head of Investor Relations. He joined VSS in 2024. David has executive leadership roles in organizations that have invested over $50 billion in private equity, private credit, real assets and real estate for institutional clients and limited partners. Prior to joining VSS, David was Vice Chairman of Apogem Capital, a subsidiary of New York Life Investment Management.
Previously, he was a Partner and Vice Chairman of Aksia LLC. He was also a co-founder, President and CEO of TorreyCove Capital Partner LLC (merged with Aksia in 2020) and was President and CEO of PCG Asset Management. He was a Managing Director (Head of Alternatives) of US Trust and started his career at Citibank, where he was a Vice President of Citicorp Venture Capital Ltd.
David holds a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree in Industrial Engineering and Economics from Stanford University. He serves on the advisory boards of the Robert Toigo Foundation and the Association of Asian American Investment Managers.
Dan Goetz is an Operating Principal based in H.I.G.’s New York office. He is responsible for supporting portfolio value-creation efforts across the firm’s U.S. private equity funds.
Dan has over 15 years of portfolio operations and investment experience in middle market private equity, spanning a range of industries.
Prior to joining H.I.G., Dan was a Managing Director at Siris Capital Group, LLC, where he led the firm’s portfolio operations and value creation practice. Earlier in his career, he worked as an investment professional at Veritas Capital and in investment banking at UBS.
Dan earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University.
Amyn is the Global Head of Private Equity Secondaries at Pantheon. In his role, Amyn also serves as a voting member of Pantheon’s Secondaries Investment Committee as well as the Firm’s International Investment Committee. Prior to joining Pantheon, Amyn was an Investment Partner and formerly the global Co-Head of Investment Execution at Coller Capital, where he worked for almost 17 years in both London and New York. Prior to joining Coller, he practiced corporate law, focusing on private equity transactions and fund structuring. Amyn holds a bachelor’s degree in Politics from Brandeis University and a JD from the Duke University School of Law.
Bo Huang joined Advent in 2016 and is a Managing Director in Boston. He advises on investments in the business & financial services sector. Bo has advised on 16 investments during his career, eight while at Advent.
Prior to joining Advent, Bo worked at Apax Partners, where he focused on investments in the technology and healthcare sectors. Before that, he worked at Lazard in mergers & acquisitions.
Bo received a BA in Economics and Biology and BAS in Biomedical Science, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Eli Nagler is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group, where he leads investments in the Technology and Financial Services sectors. Since initially joining Blackstone in 2007, Mr. Nagler has been involved in the execution of the firm’s investments in Alight Solutions, BankUnited, Bayview Asset Management, Ellucian, Exeter Finance, IntraFi Network, Lendmark Financial Services, MB Aerospace, Paysafe, Refinitiv, Renaissance Learning, Sphera, Tradeweb, Viva Capital, Vivint, and Vivint Solar. He currently serves as a Director of Ellucian, IntraFi Network, Paysafe, Renaissance Learning, and Sphera.
Before rejoining Blackstone after the completion of an MBA, Mr. Nagler worked at the United States Treasury Department in the Office of Capital Markets.
Mr. Nagler received an AB magna cum laude from Harvard College and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a John L. Loeb Fellow. He is a former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Partnership for New York City Rockefeller Fellow.
Benjamin Perl is a Managing Director of Neuberger Berman and Global Co-Head of NB Secondary Private Equity. He is a member of the Secondary, Real Estate Secondary and Strategic Capital Investment Committees. Ben joined the firm in 2001 and Neuberger Berman Private Equity in 2007. Prior to that, he worked as an associate at Lehman Brothers Venture Partners (now Tenaya Capital), where he was responsible for executing and evaluating mid-through late-stage equity investments across a wide range of industries. He also worked in Lehman Brothers’ Investment Banking Division in New York and San Francisco as part of both the Consumer Retail and Equity Capital Markets groups. Ben holds an MBA, with High Distinction (Baker Scholar), from Harvard Business School and a BA, Phi Beta Kappa, from Wesleyan University.
Ms. Pope is a managing director within Oaktree’s Global Private Debt strategy where she focuses on public and direct lending investments across a variety of industries, including telecom, consumer, retail, travel, leisure and infrastructure. Prior to joining Oaktree in 2013, she spent a year at Lazard Frères & Co. as an associate in the Restructuring Advisory group. Prior thereto, Ms. Pope practiced law at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, where she worked as an associate in the Restructuring and Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions groups, focused on advising clients on a variety of public and private acquisitions, financings, and in and out of court restructurings. Ms. Pope received her M.B.A from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated as a Juris Doctor from the School of Law at Duke University. She received her B.A. in economics and political science from Duke University.
Stefanie is a Principal on the Genesis team with a focus on Fintech and GRC opportunities.
Experience
Stefanie joined Hg in 2021 to support Genesis in North America. She is currently involved with Hg’s investments in Nitrogen (board member), Ncontracts (board member), Mitratech (board member), and Gen II.
Prior to Hg, Stefanie spent five years at Atairos focused on hospitality, leisure & entertainment, and financial services investments. Stefanie began her career at JP Morgan in the TMT & Fintech investment banking group.
Christopher Sand is a Managing Director with Ardian’s Buyout team, which invests in high-quality mid- and large-cap companies in both Western Europe and North America, applying transformational strategies to develop global leaders in their niche markets. Based in New York, Christopher focuses on the food and beverage, healthcare, and specialty chemical sectors. The New York team seeks to identify transatlantic opportunities, North American businesses that the team can support as they expand internationally, and compelling acquisitions for European portfolio companies. Previously, Christopher was responsible for investments in the food & beverage, financial services, and industrial sectors at Centre Partners Management. He began his career in leveraged finance at RBS. Christopher received an honors degree in economics, politics, and philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert R. Schmidt is a Partner and Global Co-Head of Healthcare. He is based in New York.
Since joining Carlyle in 2011, Mr. Schmidt has been involved in a number of the firm’s investments globally, including Beats Electronics, Included Health (fka Grand Rounds), Medline, MedRisk, One Medical, QuidelOrtho (fka Ortho Clinical Diagnostics), Resonetics, Sedgwick, and Unchained Labs. He is currently a member of the board of directors of Included Health, Medline, MedRisk, QuidelOrtho, Resonetics, and Unchained Labs.
Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Schmidt worked at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a private equity firm focused on healthcare and technology investments, and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, focused on buyouts in North America.
Mr. Schmidt received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently a member of the External Advisory Board at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.
Arta Tabaee is a Partner and Managing Director at Clearlake Capital Group, an investment firm with >$90 billion in assets under management focused on private equity, credit, and special situations in the technology, industrials, and consumer sectors. Prior to joining Clearlake in 2010, Arta was an investment professional at H.I.G. Capital and TPG Capital. He began his career as a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Morgan Stanley. Arta currently serves on the Board of Directors of BakeMark, Concert Golf Partners, FullBeauty Brands, Intertape Polymer Group, MRP Solutions, Pretium Packaging, and the Wellness Pet Company, and serves on the National Board of Directors of The Posse Foundation. Arta graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. in Economics and a minor in Spanish from Duke University, and he received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.
Sophia Tsai is Managing Director at Trinity Church, a ~$6 billion endowment. Sophia covers asset allocation, fund investments and co-investments across all alternative and traditional asset classes globally.
Prior to joining Trinity Church in 2017, Sophia was Managing Director and Co-Head of Hedge Funds at State Street Global Advisors. She co-led the hedge fund program and was also responsible for private equity direct investments, co-investments and fund investments for GE Pension. Sophia joined State Street in 2016 through its acquisition of GE Asset Management. At GE, Sophia was based in the US more recently for eleven years, and also held several roles in Asia during 1995 to 2005 at three GE Capital divisions including GE Equity, GE Capital Asia Pacific’s M&A Group and GE Capital Finance.
Sophia chairs the Investment Committee of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. She holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and the University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong, and a BBA in Accounting from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Sophia is a CFA charterholder.
Aaron Witte is a Senior Portfolio Manager at AustralianSuper in the Private Equity Group, operating out of the New York office, where he started in July 2022 to help the fund execute its North American investment strategy of primary fund investments and direct investments. Prior to joining AustralianSuper, Aaron was a founding member of SwanCap Partners, a Munich-based private equity manager, where he led the firm’s North American investment activities out of the New York office across private equity fund, co-investment and secondary investments. Before helping to establish SwanCap Partners, Aaron held positions in the Principal Investments and Leveraged Finance groups at UniCredit Bank. Prior to joining UniCredit, Aaron was in the Private Placements Group at Deloitte and started his career at Houlihan Lokey, where we worked on a variety of financial restructuring and M&A transactions.
Aaron holds a B.S. from NYU’s Stern School of Business and a Masters Degree from SDA Bocconi School of Management.
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.
Prior to Wallace, Zhang worked as a senior fixed income trader at Ping An Asset Management, one of the largest insurance companies in China. There, she traded Chinese and Hong Kong stocks and international bonds for 200 portfolios with more than $100 billion in assets and was one of the firm’s top traders.
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. She is both a chartered financial analyst and chartered alternative investment analyst.
Zhang is a Kauffman Fellow, part of a two-year program dedicated to advancing education, leadership, and networking for venture capitalists and innovation leaders. She also serves as a New York chapter leader for the Association of Asian American Investment Managers, advocating for greater diversity and inclusion within the investment industry.