Private Equity ex-Venture Capital

• Adele Oliva, 1315 Capital.  Philadelphia-based firm which provides expansion and growth capital to commercial-stage healthcare services, medical technology and specialty therapeutics companies
• Heather Faust and Kay Blackwell, Argand Equity.  New York and San Francisco Bay Area-based private equity firm investing in market-leading, middle-market advanced manufacturing and business service companies 
• Willie Woods, ICV Partners.  New York and Atlanta-based firm focused on the lower middle-market across the business services, consumer product, food, and healthcare sectors
• Damien Dwin, Lafayette Square.  Impact-driven firm focused on the societal challenges of housing, jobs, and financial inclusion
• Hugh Browne, P4G Capital Partners.  San Francisco-based firm, specializing in investments in manufacturing, infrastructure, industrials and business service companies
• Nick Antoine, Red Arts Capital.  Chicago-based firm focused on supply chain and industrial businesses

Venture Capital

• Dayna Grayson, Rachel Holt, Construct Capital.  Early-stage venture firm that invests in founders building technology to transform the most foundational industries of our economy, from manufacturing and supply chain to food and mobility
• Daryn Dodson, Jason Henning, and Heran Getachew, Illumen Capital.  Impact fund of funds focusing on education, financial inclusion, climate & sustainability, and health & wellness themes. Delivers bias reduction coaching to venture fund managers with an aim to drive capital to overlooked entrepreneurs and communities
• Marlon Nichols, Adrian Fenty, and Michael Palank, MaC Venture Capital.  Seed-stage firm investing in technology companies that benefit from shifts in cultural trends and behaviors in an increasingly diverse global marketplace
• Constance Freedman, Moderne Ventures.  Early-stage venture fund focused on technology companies that are innovating within real estate, mortgage, finance, insurance, hospitality and home services
• Lo Toney, Plexo Capital.  Invests in venture capital funds and directly into GP portfolio companies with an aim to drive alpha and increase diversity in the startup ecosystem
• Miriam Rivera and Clint Korver, Ulu Ventures.  Seed-stage venture firm investing primarily in Enterprise IT, Smart Data and the opportunities created by Stanford and broader Silicon Valley tech ecosystems
• Christie Pitts and Brittany Davis, Backstage Capital.  Backstage is focused on tech companies of exclusively underrepresented founders in venture
• Adeyemi Ajao, Base10.  Base10 is a research-driven firm investing in companies automating the largest sectors of the Real Economy and founders who believe purpose is key to profits and whose companies solve problems for the 99%
• Xuezhao Lan, Basis Set Ventures.  Basis Set is one of the only Machine-Learning (ML) focused and ML-enabled early stage funds. It invests in seed/A stage enterprise startups that transform the way people work
• Adam Sharkawy and Carmichael Roberts, Material Impact.  Material Impact is a venture firm solving formidable real-world problems by building valuable companies that develop transformative products leveraging material science and technology at their core
• Vishal Vasishth, Obvious Ventures.  A venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs reimagining every sector of the economy to create a smarter, healthier, more sustainable world
• Sergio Monsalve, Roble Ventures. An early-stage thematic fund focused on human enablement including work productivity, edtech, and job-creating marketplaces

Public Equity & Hedge Funds

• Anna Yaeger, Ally Bridge Group.  The MedAlpha Fund is an absolute return, US-centric, research-intensive strategy investing in high-tech healthcare innovation across therapeutics, medtech, digital health, diagnostics, and tools
• William Heard, Heard Capital.  Two fundamental equity strategies (Heard Opportunity Master Fund and Heard High Conviction Long Only Fund) investing in misunderstood situations across technology, media, telecommunications, financials, industrials, and energy
• Vivian Lau, One Tusk.  New York-based hedge fund using special situations and long/short investment strategies. Concentrated portfolio balanced between credit and equity allocations to optimize risk return through various market environments
• Munir Alam, Sentinel Dome.  Fundamental, absolute return strategy utilizing a cross-capital structure approach to invest in a select number of industries. Core focus areas include communications, software, services, and consumer facing businesses enabled by technology
• Rebecca Pacholder, Snowcat.  Concentrated, value-oriented hedge funds focused on legally intensive credit investments and opportunities for co-investments
• Eduardo Abush, Waterfront.  New York-based hedge fund with a market neutral long/short equity strategy and a focus on real estate stocks
• Jennifer Ralph Oppold, Alpine Peaks Capital.  Public Equity manager with concentrated, small and mid-cap L/S and long only strategies
• Josephine Jimenez, Channing Global Advisors.  Public Equity manager with concentrated, small and mid-cap L/S and long only strategies
• Joyce Meng, FACT.  Public Equity manager focused on US/China quality growth micro-themes
• Rajat Suri, Helm Investment Partners.  Opportunistic strategy capitalizing on country-wide recoveries globally
• Lauren Taylor Wolfe, Impactive Capital.  Activst hedge fund, focused on US mic-caps with room for improvement on ESG issues
• Peter Zaldivar, Kabouter.  Public Equity manager focused on international small/mid-caps with friendly ESG activism 

Building a Diverse Talent Pipeline

• Katherine Colsher, Girls Who Invest.   A nonprofit focused on education, industry outreach, & career placement for young women becoming tomorrow's leading investors 
• Chelsea Roberts, HBCUvc.  The program provides interns with foundational venture capital training, peer support in a cohort model, and networking opportunities with VC leaders to advance their career 
• Cristal Baron, MLT.   MLT equips and emboldens high-achieving individuals from underrepresented communities—Black, Latinx, and Native American—to realize their full potential, to make a mark, and make a difference
• Ashley Leftwich, Rock the Street Wall Street.  A financial and investment literacy program designed to spark the interest of a diverse population of high school girls into careers of finance 
• Julian Johnson, SEO.   An innovator in education, mentorship, positive peer pressure, high standards, and networks to turn untapped potential into newfound greatness  
• Nancy Sims and Maura Allen, Toigo.  The mission is to foster career advancement and increased leadership presence of underrepresented talent in the financial industry by creating mechanisms for greater inclusion from the classroom to the boardroom 
• Gordon C.C. Liao, Association of Asian American Investment Managers (AAAIM).   Dedicated to increasing diversity and inclusion in the investment management industry, serving as a powerful voice for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community 
• Robert Raben, Diverse Asset Managers Initiative (DAMI).   An effort to increase the absolute number of, and assets under management by, diverse-owned asset management firms for institutional investors, with specific focus on public, corporate, faith and labor union pension funds as well as foundation and university endowments
• Grace Reyes, The Investment Diversity Exchange (TIDE).  While each ethnic group needs their own voice as they face different challenges, there needs to be a united front for broader diversity issues.  The Investment Diversity Exchange (TIDE) breaks down silos to advocate and amplify the voice of the,  underrepresented communities within the investment industry
• Clarence Williams, National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP).   A resource for diverse professionals within the securities and investments industry 
• Solange Brooks, New America Alliance (NAA).   NAA leadership and members leverage their influence to increase capital access for women and minority-owned firms, and to accelerate diverse leadership in entrepreneurship, corporate America, and public service 
• Kirsty McGuire, Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN).   The pre-eminent organization for senior women leaders in private equity 

Getting Ready for DEI Discussions at Your Next Investment Committee Meeting

• John Yates, Cornell.  Research findings on how E&Fs are approaching diversity (definitions, questionnaires, inclusion in portfolios, etc.)
• Jake Barnett, Wespath Sustainable Investment Services.  The decision to sign the Investor Statement of Solidarity to Address Systemic Racism and Call to Action and balancing racial justice and diversity with fiduciary duties as a pension
• Reggie Sanders, W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  Racial justice work and IC discussions involved with its development and monitoring
• Bhakti Mirchandani, Trinity Church Wall Street.  Overview of Trinity's bespoke and systematic approach to gauging manager DEI status and momentum and strengthening and supporting manager transitions toward DEI
• Lisa Howie, Yale.  The process and discussions behind Yale’s letter, the manager reaction to the letter, and the investment committee's role in the letter