Select 2026 Speakers

Andy Bernard is Partner and CIO at Left Lane Development, a landmarked building hotel conversion real estate fund. Andy's investment experience spans debt, equity, CMBS, existing assets, renovation, and ground-up development, with expertise in hospitality, residential, and office sectors. His capital markets background includes raising closed-end funds, transaction capital, EB-5, construction financing, and loan trading. Previously, Andy served as Head of Acquisitions and Development for Equinox Hotels, managing $2B in projects across the US, Canada, and UK while launching the brand. He held leadership positions at Witkoff Group, and he began his real estate career at Morgan Stanley. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Colgate University.

Bick Brooks is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Maritime Partners, a New Orleans-based inland marine transportation asset management firm with $4 billion in assets under management. Bick began his career as an analyst in the Corporate Credit Group at Guggenheim Partners Investment Management, a fixed income asset manager with approximately $68 billion in assets under management. From 2012 through 2015, he was a Vice President and the Senior Industrials and Transportation Analyst with direct oversight of $3.0 billion in assets. During his tenure at Guggenheim, Bick led the deployment of approximately $600 million of capital into fixed income and hybrid securities within the Jones Act and international shipping markets. He graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Trinity College.

Danielle Brown is General Partner & CEO of Altriarch, a private credit firm with expertise in factoring and asset-backed lending. Prior to founding Altriarch, Danielle was a Managing Director with Dyal Capital Partners, where she led strategic planning, fundraising and creation of operational efficiencies within portfolio companies. Prior to Dyal, she was Global Head of Investor Relations & Client Development at Round Table Investment Management Company, and was a Senior Research Analyst with the Alternative Strategies Group at Wachovia Bank (currently Wells Fargo). She began her investment career with Quellos Capital Management. Danielle graduated magna cum laude in Finance from Seattle University, and holds the CFA designation.

Nadine Buckland is Co-Founder and CEO of Zenzic Capital, a leading provider of real estate credit offering bespoke structured financing solutions to borrowers across the UK and Europe. Founded in 2014, Zenzic has built a track record across acquisition, development, and opportunistic credit strategies, financing over $2 billion in real estate and asset-backed transactions since inception. Prior to founding Zenzic, Nadine held insolvency and transaction advisory roles at Baker Tilly, RSM Tenon, and Horwath Clarke Whitehill.

Hugh Crossley is the Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Investment Committee of Equitix, a global lower middle-market infrastructure investments firm. Prior to joining Equitix, Hugh was Commercial Manager at John Laing, where he sourced and delivered investments in social infrastructure, including Bart’s and the Royal London Hospital. Prior to John Laing, he worked for Bechtel Enterprises both in London and the United States, with a focus on the power, airport development and civil sectors. Hugh graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Environmental and Ecological Engineering from the University of Newcastle, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Ashley Dodd-Noble is Deputy CIO and Portfolio Manager at DG Partners, a discretionary macro strategy focused on identifying and monetizing macroeconomic disequilibria and market dislocations globally. Ashley rejoined the firm in 2023 after more than a decade with DG earlier in his career. Previously, he was a Portfolio Manager at Autonomy Capital, where he ran an emerging and developed market macro portfolio. Before that, Ashley held several roles at BNP Paribas, including the Emerging Market Proprietary Trading group and Head of Central and Eastern Europe Research and Strategy. He holds a BA and M.Phil in Economics from Cambridge University.

Casey Dwyer is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Lattis, an infrastructure and commodity fund providing middle market energy solutions. Previously, Casey was Partner and Head of Research at Andurand Capital, where he designed, launched, and co-managed the Andurand Climate & Energy Transition Fund — which delivered a +33% net return over two years and was named Eurohedge's Best New Macro Fund in 2022. He also maintained a four-year portfolio manager track record across transitional energy, new energy, and base metals derivatives. He holds a BA from Columbia University and an MBA and MA from the Wharton School.

Dan Freuman is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Nebari Holdings, an investment firm focused on creative financing solutions within the natural resources sector. Prior to Co-Founding Nebari, Dan was a Senior Trader at Glencore International AG and helped lead M&A and Business Development for Glencore’s Iron Ore Division. Prior to Glencore, he was an Analyst at Perry Capital and was also an Analyst at JPMorgan’s Investment Bank. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in Economics & Finance, Magna Cum Laude, from Princeton University.

Quinn Heidenreich is Managing Partner of Allied Strategic Partners, a private equity firm specializing in marine and waterfront hospitality. He oversees investment sourcing, valuation, transaction structuring, fundraising, and portfolio value creation. Previously, Quinn was Co-Head of Investments at Suntex Marinas, a large marina investment platform, where he led new business development, underwriting, and strategy. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA in Economics from DePauw University.

Sean Hoge is the Founder and General Partner of Starship Ventures, an early-stage deep tech venture capital firm based in San Francisco. Sean is a serial entrepreneur, technologist, and investor with expertise in product development. In 2012, he co-founded Crossfader.fm, which was backed by top-tier investors such as Kleiner Perkins, Index Ventures, and Google Ventures. He later joined NVOLV, a mobile app provider for events, as Head of Product.

Arjun Kapoor is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Lattis, an infrastructure and commodity fund providing middle market energy solutions. Previously, Arjun spent over a decade at the Dell Family Office (DFO) as Managing Director and Head of Direct Investments, where he deployed over $1 billion of capital across infrastructure and adjacent companies. Within DFO's Credit and Special Opportunities team, he executed 30+ structured investments totaling $600 million, generating a 20%+ IRR track record across public and private credit. He holds a BA from Columbia University and an MBA and MA from the Wharton School.

Chris Kelly is a Co-Founding General Partner at Stackpoint, a venture studio that conceives, funds, and builds agentic AI companies in high-barrier industries. Prior to Stackpoint, Chris co-founded Convene, a workplace hospitality platform with 40 locations in 9 cities across the U.S. and U.K., and EvoJets, a private jet charter brokerage that has operated in over 30 countries. His contributions to entrepreneurship have earned him recognition as a two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® nominee, CoreNet Global Young Leader of the Year, a Top Entrepreneur by Crain's New York Business, and a two-time honoree on Inc. Magazine's "30 Under 30" list of Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs. He earned a BBA from Villanova University.

Jason Koenig is the Founder and Managing Partner of ITE Management, an investment firm dedicated to industrial transportation asset leasing. ITE has investments and operations throughout the United States and Europe, and currently manages approximately $10b in assets. Jason held prior roles in private equity and asset management at Hale Capital Partners, Avenue Capital and Versa Capital Partners, and was a corporate attorney at Kirkland & Ellis and Cooley Godward, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and bankruptcy acquisitions. He earned an MBA from the Wharton Business School, a JD from the University of Michigan Law School and a BBA from the University of Michigan.

Amanda Lindberg joined Acacia in 1998 and serves as Chief Investment Officer with oversight over the acquisition, financing and selling of multifamily property. While at Acacia, she has been actively involved in asset management, acquisitions, and dispositions. She is also a member of Acacia's internal investment committee. Prior to joining Acacia, Ms. Lindberg worked as a project manager for Cresleigh Homes in San Francisco. She received her BA from the University of California at San Diego.​

Eric Lonergan is Head of Macro at Calibrate Partners, a London-based discretionary macro hedge fund. Previously, he was a portfolio manager at Eisler Capital and managed macro long-short and asset-allocation funds at M&G Investments, including co-managing the award-winning Episode Macro Fund and the top-quartile Episode Growth fund. Eric served as Managing Director and Head of Macro Research at JP Morgan Cazenove. He holds a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University and a Masters in Economics from the London School of Economics. Eric has advised central banks and governments, published influential papers on monetary policy, and co-wrote Angrynomics, a Financial Times book of the year in 2020.

Jordan Mendell is the Founder and CEO of Full Circle Capital Management, which focuses on senior bridge lending to the U.S. hotel industry. Prior to Full Circle, was most recently in the Corporate & Investment Bank of Wells Fargo advising public CEOs and CFOs on debt and equity capital raises. He also spent ten years in Wells Fargo’s Hospitality Finance Group, where he was responsible for the origination and asset management of $8.0 billion of hospitality loans, and held roles in the Real Estate Merchant Bank (originating opportunistic debt across asset classes) and the Real Estate Managed Assets Group (leading restructurings and workouts of distressed hospitality debt). Prior to Wells Fargo, Jordan worked at HVS Hodges Ward Elliott providing investment advisory services for hotels and resorts across EMEA. Jordan holds a BS from Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration.

Nicole Musicco is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Square Nine Capital, a private credit firm providing senior debt solutions to middle-market companies across both sponsored and unsponsored transactions. Previously, Nicole served as CIO of CalPERS, where she managed approximately $500 billion in assets. Before CalPERS, she was an investment partner at RedBird Capital Partners. Earlier in her career, Nicole spent 16 years at Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, where she led the public equity team, launched the firm's Asia investment business in Hong Kong, and oversaw the private equity fund and co-investment program. She holds a BS in Kinesiology and an MBA from Western University's Ivey School of Business.

Jo Natauri is the Founder and Managing Partner of Invidia Capital Management, a healthcare-focused private equity manager. Prior to Invidia, Jo was a Partner and the Global Head of Healthcare Private Investing at Goldman Sachs, where she was responsible for sourcing, executing, and managing over $9 billion of healthcare investments across both Goldman Sachs’ balance sheet and its flagship private equity funds. Before leading Healthcare Private Investing, Jo was a senior partner in Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division, where she advised on more than $250 billion of M&A transactions and executed over 100 financing and strategic transactions across the healthcare landscape. She earned her BA in Economics and Biology from the University of Virginia.

Vijay Palkar is a Founding Partner of Dextra, a multi-strategy private equity firm focused on the middle market, and is responsible for co-managing the firm and leading investments. Before co-founding Dextra in 2022, Vijay was a Managing Principal of GoldPoint Partners, where he spent 20 years helping to build the firm into a leading multi-strategy middle market private equity manager with a global investor base and $16 billion of assets. Prior to GoldPoint, Vijay was an Analyst in Bear Stearns’ Investment Banking Division. Vijay has a B.S.E. with a concentration in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Neil Smaldon is CIO of the Auxo Series at Valent Asset Management, a discretionary commodity fund focused on global agriculture and sustainable energy markets. Neil joined Valent in 2024 with over 25 years of experience analyzing and trading commodity markets. He spent 14 years at Tudor Investment Corp as a commodity analyst, strategist, and portfolio manager for Paul Tudor Jones, followed by portfolio manager roles at Millennium and Graham Capital Management. Most recently, he served as Head of Discretionary Commodities at Marshall Wace. He holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Vermont and earned his CFA in 2002.

Benny Soffer, MD is Founder and CIO of Sky Life Sciences Capital, a concentrated long/short fund focused on public life sciences companies undergoing durable economic transformation. Previously, Benny co-founded Consonance Capital Management, a healthcare-focused long/short fund, where he served as CIO and Portfolio Manager and grew the firm from approximately $25 million to $1.7 billion in AUM. Earlier in his career, he completed a residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he also served as an attending physician. He holds a BA from Williams College, an MD from Emory University School of Medicine, and an MBA from Yale University.

TJ Sudweeks is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Interlude Capital, which provides structured capital solutions to key shareholders at leading pre-IPO technology companies. The firm focuses on cloud-native software and AI companies with strong fundamentals, offering liquidity to founders, early employees, and senior executives at companies approaching IPO readiness. Prior to founding Interlude, TJ spent over a decade as a Co-Founder and Partner at Section Partners, a technology-focused investment firm, where he was a key member of the investment committee and helped lead the firm's investment activities. Earlier in his career, he was a Senior Associate at University Growth Fund, where he was a member of the investment team and helped train and mentor hundreds of students, many of whom have gone on to build careers in banking, consulting, private equity, venture capital, and technology. TJ holds a B.S. in Accounting from Brigham Young University.

David Tayeh is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Tayeh Capital Group (TCG), a private equity firm focused on professional and industrial services businesses. Prior to TCG, Dave was the Global Head of Private Equity for Investcorp, where he was a member of the Executive Committee, Operating Committee, and various Investment Committees. Previously, Dave was a Partner at CVC Capital, served as the Chief Financial Officer of Jostens Inc., and started his career as an investment banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Dave currently serves on the boards of AlixPartners, CrossCountry Consulting, Fortune International, ICR, Alex Lee, and the Arab-American Family Support Center. He holds a BA degree from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Stefan Vitorovic is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Juvia Group, a life sciences venture fund. Previously, Stefan was Co-Founder and Managing Director at Vida Ventures, where he participated in the creation and scaling of companies including Praxis Precision Medicine, Dyne, Scorpion, Peloton, and Kyverna, among others. Earlier in his career, Stefan was at Third Rock Ventures, where he was part of the founding team of Decibel Therapeutics. Before that, he worked at TPG Capital and Credit Suisse. He holds a BS and MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Brian T. Walter is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Fairbridge Asset Management LLC, a real estate bridge lending company. Previously, he served as Chief Investment Officer of Tannenbaum Family Office LLC, where he managed investments across multiple asset classes. Before that, Brian was Managing Director and Head of Institutional Products at Fifth Street Asset Management, a $5 billion public asset manager. Earlier, he held senior positions at Stifel Financial, Imperial Capital, UBS, and Lehman Brothers. He earned a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Yale University and an M.B.A. with Beta Gamma Sigma honors from Columbia Business School.

Jeremy Weisberg is Managing Partner of A&M Capital Secondaries, where he leads the firm's secondary private equity investment activities. Previously, Jeremy was Managing Director on the Secondaries team at CPP Investments, heading investment activities across the Americas from New York. Before CPP Investments, he was a senior member of the private equity secondaries team at GIC, which he joined in 2015 from Pantheon.