Alex Abell

Partner, Head of Research, RCP Advisors

Session: Qualitative Due Diligence: Best Practices in Evaluating the Quality and Depth of a GP Investment Team

Alex Abell is responsible for the identification and analysis of potential fund investments and managing RCP’s research efforts. Prior to joining RCP, Alex founded Atlas Diligence after spending 10 years working in the private capital industry. Prior to founding Atlas, Alex worked for BlackRock Private Equity Partners. At BlackRock PEP, he helped lead manager identification and due diligence on private capital fund opportunities as well as diligence on co-investment and secondary transactions. He previously worked at Quellos’s Private Capital Strategies Group, Shoreline Investment Management, and Cagan McAfee Capital Partners. Alex holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA with honors in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated magna cum laude.

Andrea Auerbach

Managing Director, Cambridge Associates

Session: Private Equity Heads Session - Keeping an Eye on the Speedometer: Assessing Pacing in Private Markets and its Impact on a Program

Andrea is a Managing Director at Cambridge Associates and head of the firm’s global private growth research team responsible for researching markets and managers in private equity, growth equity, venture capital, distressed investments, private credit, secondaries, and funds of funds. She joined the firm in 2001 and led the ex-U.S. private equity and venture research effort for five years, and is currently head of the U.S. private equity research effort, in addition to her global responsibilities.

Andrea’s private equity career spans over 20 years, starting in the Leverage Buyout Group at Prudential Insurance, where she led early efforts to benchmark Prudential’s $5 billion buyout portfolio, and domestic and European fund investment portfolios, among other responsibilities. Andrea was named one of the 100 most influential people in private equity over the past decade by Private Equity International magazine.

Andrea received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Smith College.

Matt Clark

State Investment Officer, South Dakota Investment Council (SDRS)

Session: CIO Outlook Panel Discussion: Managing Investment Assets in a Slow Growth Low Return Environment

Matt Clark has been the Chief Investment Officer for the South Dakota Investment Council since January of 2005. He joined the Investment Council in 1984 and was named Deputy Investment Officer in 2000. Prior to being named Chief Investment Officer, Matt managed or led the launch of several internally managed investment programs including fixed income, domestic equity, merger arbitrage, convertible arbitrage, international equity, and relative valuation asset allocation.

Matt is a graduate of the University of South Dakota with a B.S. in Business Administration and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Matt is a member of the South Dakota Retirement Board of Trustees. He is a Past President and member of the South Dakota Investment Society. He serves on the Investment Committees of the University of South Dakota Foundation and the South Dakota Community Foundation.

Matt and his wife, Pam, have three children.

Peter Goodson

Professor, UC Berkley – Hass Business School

Session: Created Value Attribution: Portfolio Company Level Analysis in Private Equity

Mr. Goodson is a pioneer in the private equity discipline as an early stage partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. One of the first management buyout firms, with executives like Jack Welch, CD&R has purchased and transformed operational performance at 65 companies worth more than $100 billion over the last 35 years.

Retired from PE business ownership, Peter teaches at the University of California at the Berkeley - Hass Business School and has been awarded the Outstanding Teaching award by the students for many years. He was also elected a fellow of Dartmouth’s Tuck Center for entrepreneurship and holds the position of Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD in its Global Private Equity Initiative. He regularly lectures at Wharton, INSEAD, USC and Tuck.

Barry Griffiths

Partner, Landmark Partners

Session: Quantitative: Introduction to Direct Alpha

Barry Griffiths is a partner and head of quantitative research at Landmark Partners. He is responsible for quantitative analysis for Landmark’s private equity and real estate areas, including customer-oriented research, performance analysis, and risk management activities.

Prior to joining Landmark in 2009, Mr. Griffiths was head of quantitative research at Goldman Sachs Private Equity Group. Earlier, he was an aerospace research engineer specializing in guidance, navigation, and control.

Mr. Griffiths is a CFA charterholder, who received a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University and an MS and BS from Michigan State University.

Kara King

Managing Director, TorreyCove Capital Partners LLC

Session: Red Flags in Financial Statements: Leveraging Data and Managing Risk

Ms. King manages TorreyCove Capital Partner’s Risk Management Department. She is also a member of the Firm’s Executive and Investment Committees. Ms. King has been focused on risk management since 1998. The risk management team focuses on cash flow verification, monitoring and analysis of private equity portfolios, valuation guidelines, general partner compliance verification, and client-focused reporting and auditing functions. Prior to co-founding TorreyCove, Ms. King was a Managing Director and Chief Compliance Officer at PCG Asset Management, LLC. Earlier, she was a retirement plan consultant with U.S. Pension Services and was responsible for plan design, administration and IRS-required compliance. She also held a similar position with Watson & Wyatt (now Towers Watson). Ms. King received a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University where she studied business finance and economics, and a master’s degree in finance from San Diego State University.

Dan Kolb

Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

Session: Legal Issues with Respect to the GP Clawback Provisions

Daniel C. Kolb is a partner in Ropes & Gray's New York office. His practice focuses on transactional tax matters, including matters relating to private equity, real estate, and hedge funds; joint ventures; REITs; inbound and outbound investments; and REMICs, collateralized bond obligations, and other structured finance transactions. Dan also regularly represents a number of large investors with respect to their private equity, hedge, timber and real estate fund investments and in connection with secondary and co-investment transactions.

Jérôme Lussan

CEO, Laven Partners

Session: Operational Due Diligence: Spotlight on the On-Site Visit

Jerome is the founder and CEO of Laven. His background includes acting as a COO of a hedge fund and as a financial lawyer at Jones Day. Jerome has a broad degree of expertise in the alternative fund and fund management industry, specialising in operations and regulatory matters. In addition, he is an advisor to many international financial services firms. He is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales and of the CFA Society of the UK. Jerome holds an LLB from the University of Edinburgh. In 2010 and 2011, Jerome was named by Financial News as one of its 100 Rising Stars, and in 2011 and 2012 as one of its 40 under 40 Rising Stars in Hedge Funds. Jerome Lussan is also the author of the Financial Times Guide to Investing in Funds.

Rainer Ott

Senior Associate, Capital Dynamics

Session: Benchmarking Private Equity Portfolio Performance with a Performance Attribution Framework

Mauro Pfister

Senior Director and Head of Solutions, Capital Dynamics

Session: Benchmarking Private Equity Portfolio Performance with a Performance Attribution Framework

Mauro is a Senior Director and Head of Solutions, which includes Portfolio and Risk Management and Structuring. He has over 11 years of private equity and investment management experience, and has been involved in primary and secondary investments across the entire private equity spectrum. He has distinguished himself by developing Capital Dynamics’ proprietary quantitative model for analyzing performance, through his ongoing work evaluating and implementing investment strategies to align with the firm’s business focus, and in helping to establish the firm’s strategic business partnerships around the world. Mauro holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and the professional designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Dan Primack

Session: Closing Keynote – Out of the Inbox: A Fireside Chat with Dan Primack

George Pushner

Director, Alternative Asset Advisory, Duff & Phelps

Session: Created Value Attribution: Portfolio Company Level Analysis in Private Equity

George Pushner is a director in the New York office and part of the Portfolio Valuation service line. He has demonstrated expertise in the valuation field for more than 15 years and has more than nine years of specific experience in portfolio valuation.

At Duff & Phelps, George has been responsible for quarterly and monthly valuations and reviews of more than 250 portfolio positions. George has valued a wide variety of financial instruments, firms and intangible assets including restricted shares, stock options, putable and callable convertible debt, financial services firms and foreign start-ups and joint ventures. He has served numerous sectors, including financial services, technology, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, retailing, energy and manufacturing and industries, including brokerage, asset management, automotive, aerospace, internet, software, transportation, jewelry, beverages and lumber.

He has also co-developed a framework to attribute created value for private equity investments and has led numerous engagements for this service offering. He has also demonstrated expertise in performance measurement and calculation and directed multiple engagements related to the calculation of alphas, PME analysis, investment performance benchmark evaluation, IRR calculations, and performance reporting.

Prior to joining Standard & Poor’s Corporate Value Consulting, which merged with Duff & Phelps in 2005, he was a manager with Analysis Group, where he led litigation consulting engagements for more than 20 cases involving valuations, securities issues and damages calculations. Prior to joining Analysis Group, he was a founder and chief financial officer of a start-up software company. His experience also includes strategic planning and financial analysis for AT&T and transfer pricing analysis for Deloitte & Touche. George was also a professor of finance and has several publications in refereed finance journals relating to performance measurement, corporate governance, capital structure and securities fraud.

George received his Ph.D. in finance and economics from Columbia Business School and his M.P.A. and A.B. degrees from the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement and passed the Certified Financial Planner Exam.

George has been an instructor since 2010 for the World of Money, whose mission is to empower youth with a sound financial foundation.

Dhvani Shah

Chief Investment Officer, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Session: CIO Outlook Panel Discussion: Managing Investment Assets in a Slow Growth Low Return Environment

Ms. Dhvani Shah joined the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) as the Chief Investment Officer in December 2011 and oversees a program with approximately $34.5 billion in assets as December 31, 2014.

Ms. Shah’s investment background includes managing an institutional portfolio across major asset classes. Ms. Shah has managed over 100 Limited Partnerships (LPs), conducted all aspects of due diligence for new private market investments including legal document negotiations with General Partners (GPs). Previously, Shah was the Managing Director of Private Equity, an Executive Staff position, for the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS) and oversaw a program with more than $13 billion in commitments across 64+ managers and 140+ partnerships. Ms. Shah was a member of the Internal Investment Committee at NYSTRS that considers and votes on all investment actions and considers key issues in the asset allocation for the $86 billion Retirement Plan. Prior to joining NYSTRS, Shah spent seven years investing in private equity and real estatefunds in the Chicago office of Bank of America, serving as Vice President of the bank’s Strategic Investment Group. Ms. Shah started her career with five years at Northwestern University’s Investment Office where she was part of a team that managed the University’s $2.5 billion endowment fund. .

Christopher Slavin

Partner and Head of Private Markets Operational Due Diligence, Albourne Partners (Canada) Limited

Session: Operational Due Diligence: Tips for LPs

Greg Stento

Managing Director, HarbourVest Partners, LLC

Session: Portfolio Management: Investing in Different Market Environments

Gregory Stento joined HarbourVest in 1998 and focuses on global partnership investments. He is a member of the Global Investment Committee and also serves on the advisory boards of several private equity partnerships.

Greg joined HarbourVest from Comdisco Ventures, where he was a managing director and provided equity and debt capital to startup and emerging growth technology and life sciences companies. Prior to Comdisco, he was a general partner at Horsley Bridge Partners, where he was responsible for making and managing investments in a variety of private equity partnerships and companies. Greg also spent six years in marketing and sales at NCR Corporation, where he focused on information technology solutions for financial institutions.

He received a BS (with distinction) from Cornell University in 1982 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1989.

Terri Troy

CEO/CIO, Halifax Regional Municipality Master Trust

Session: CIO Outlook Panel Discussion: Managing Investment Assets in a Slow Growth Low Return Environment

Terri is responsible for all aspects of the plan and including governance, risk management, customer service, pension administration, and investments. Prior to this, Terri oversaw the pension investments for Royal Bank of Canada’s global pension plans.

Terri is an active participant in the Canadian pension industry and is frequently asked to speak and write on various investment topics. She was recognized by peers with the Leading Pension Plan Sponsor in 2011 and has been recognized in other years as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Plan Sponsors. She is an active member of the Pension Investment Association of Canada having chaired PIAC’s Government Relations Committee from 2010-2011, chaired PIAC’s Investment Practices Committee from 2005-2009, served on PIAC’s Board of Directors from 2004-2009, and chaired the PIAC Board in 2007. She is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Canadian Investment Review, is a member on Advisory Committees for various portfolio investments and is a Director of a UK Energy Company and a Canadian financial services company.

Charles Van Vleet

Assistant Treasurer, CIO, Textron Inc.

Session: CIO Outlook Panel Discussion: Managing Investment Assets in a Slow Growth Low Return Environment

Charles Van Vleet is Assistant Treasurer and Chief Investment Officer of Pension Investments at Textron Inc., Providence RI*. Together with an investment team of four, Charles has Trustee oversight of $10.2BN in defined benefit and defined contribution assets for Textron’s U.S., Canada and UK Plans providing retirement security for over 75,00 current and past employees. The Textron retirement Plans are well funded with broadly diversified investments including private equity, hedge funds, real estate, fixed income and public equity. In addition to investment oversight, Charles serves as a Member of Textron’s Investment Committee, Investment Management group, Employee Benefits Committee, Trustee and Board Member of Textron’s UK and Canadian Plans.

Prior to Textron, Charles spent 8 years as Director, Pension Investments at United Technologies in Hartford CT. Prior to pension investment Charles spent 25 years in the asset management divisions of Credit Suisse, Putnam Investments, Alliance Capital, Brown Brothers Harriman and Nomura Securities. At different times -living and working in New York, London and Tokyo- he has had the opportunity to manage ‘40 Act mutual funds, high net worth, endowment, public pension and corporate pension funds.

Charles holds bachelors’ degrees in Economics and Political Science from UC Berkeley, Berkeley CA and an MBA from the University of CT (UCONN) in Storrs, CT. Currently, Charles serves on the investment advisory board for the endowment and pension funds of Lifespan, Rhode Island's largest not-for-profit health care system. In addition, he serves on the advisory Board for Rhode Island’s Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and advisory committee for the Washington DC based, Managed Fund Association (MFA).

PJ Viscio

Managing Director, Alternative Asset Advisory, Duff & Phelps

Session: Created Value Attribution: Portfolio Company Level Analysis in Private Equity

PJ Viscio joined Duff & Phelps in 2005. He is a managing director in the New York office and part of the firm’s Valuation Services practice. PJ has approximately 20 years of valuation experience.

Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, PJ held positions of increasing responsibility with Standard & Poor’s Corporate Value Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Coopers & Lybrand, where he started his career in 1987. He specializes in analyzing the value of privately held businesses and equity investments for transactions, financial reporting, tax, restructuring and other purposes. PJ has served an array of private equity and corporate clients.

PJ holds an M.B.A. in finance from Columbia Business School, an M.A. in Earth and planetary sciences from Washington University and a B.A. in geology from Franklin & Marshall College.