Diversity and Inclusion Initiative

The Harris Family Alternative Investments Program is pleased to announce the launch of an initiative on diversity and inclusion.  Attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse workforce is important in helping firms achieve sustainable financial success.  Diversity enhances a firm’s ability to execute strategy, deliver for clients, and have a positive impact. We remain firmly committed to supporting the financial services industry in increasing diverse representation at all levels and creating and strengthening a culture of inclusion for all people.

Towards this end, the Harris Program is launching:

  • A speaker series on diversity and inclusion in alternative investments, to foster dialogue and engagement,
  • Research and thought leadership on diversity and inclusion in the investment industry, to provide resources to the community,
  • Events focused on diversity and inclusion, to cultivate connections among students, alumni and industry.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

On January 11, 2022, Sarah Hammer delivered the keynote address on diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Public Funds Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Her presentation emphasized how critical it is for investment funds to compete on diversity by selecting impactful diversity metrics, measuring them, and holding themselves accountable.

 

 

 

 

Wharton’s Partnership with AltFinance

Leading firms invest in Black Futures with formation of “AltFinance”

PRESS RELEASE

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has signed on to create a best-in-class virtual institute to offer educational materials and tools necessary to excel in the alternative investment industry. The virtual institute will be open to interested students at all HBCUs, and will provide participants with relevant coursework and other supplementary content developed by top professors and finance professionals.

The Harris Family Program Faculty Director, Professor Bilge Yilmaz, will inform all of the academic elements through a series of carefully designed networking and learning opportunities. The resulting educational products and programming will be delivered in both an in-person and digital environment.

Harris Program Diversity Articles

January 20, 2021

Compete to Win: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Financial Sector
by Sarah Hammer

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Sarah Hammer

HOST

Sarah Hammer is Managing Director of the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance and Senior Director of the Harris Alternative Investments Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In these roles, she focuses her efforts on private capital investments and financial technology. Ms. Hammer is also Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, teaching an upper-level juris doctor course on financial regulation.

Previously, Ms. Hammer was Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions and Director of the Office of Financial Institutions Policy at the United States Department of the Treasury. In this role, she led and directed the Department’s policy responsibilities involving financial institutions, as well as oversaw the Federal Insurance Office and the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Compliance Policy (cybersecurity). 

Ms. Hammer has held various leadership positions throughout financial services in general management, portfolio management, trading, marketing, research, and analytics at the Vanguard Group, PIMCO, JP Morgan Chase, BlackRock, and Tudor Investments.

Ms. Hammer earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Studies from Oxford University.  She is a Harry S. Truman Scholar and a Member of the American Law Institute. 

Sarah Hammer serves as an advisor/mentor for the Tory Burch Foundation Fellows Program which facilitates VC investment in female owned companies.

The Foundation provides women entrepreneurs access to capital, education and digital resources. The flagship Fellows Program provides early-stage women entrepreneurs the opportunity to access funding, education, networks and business guidance.

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Dominique Mielle

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2023 | 6:00PM 

Click here to view the recording of this talk

Join us for a talk with Dominique Mielle, an author of ‘Damsel in Distressed: My Life in the Golden Age of Hedge Fund’ and a former partner and senior portfolio manager at Canyon Partners, a $25 billion multi-strategy hedge fund, to learn more about the industry, career in hedge fund and women in distressed investing

About the speaker: Ms. Mielle was a partner at Canyon Capital Advisors, LLC from August 1998 to December 2017, where she primarily focused on distressed investments and corporate securitizations. She was named one of the “Top 50 Women in Hedge Funds” by the Hedge Fund Journal and Ernst & Young in 2017. Before 1998, Ms. Mielle worked at various investment banks, including Libra Investments, Lehman Brothers and Credit Lyonnais.  She graduated from Stanford University Graduate School and HEC Paris.

The event is hosted by Wharton Restructuring and Distressed Investing club in collaboration with the Harris Family Alternative Investments Program.

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Raj L. Gupta

A SPECIAL EVENT – WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
“A Remarkable Journey”

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Raj L. Gupta, Chairman of APTIV PLC since March 2015 (formerly Delphi Automotive PLC). From 1999 – 2009, Mr. Gupta was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rohm and Haas. Mr. Gupta held a variety of posts at the company beginning in 1971. He was elected a vice president of the company and was named director for the Pacific Region in 1993. Early in 1996, Mr. Gupta became one of six members of the Chairman’s Committee and was given oversight responsibility for the company’s Electronic Materials business group. In December 1998, Mr. Gupta was elected to the Board of Directors and named Vice Chairman in January 1999. He became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer on October 1, 1999. Mr. Gupta assumed the additional title of President in early 2005 and held that title until May 2008.

Mr. Gupta holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (1967), a M.S. degree in Operations Research from Cornell University (1969) and a M.B.A. in Finance from Drexel University (1972). Mr. Gupta is a past Chairman of the American Chemistry Council and the Society of Chemical Industry, America Section. He is a member of the boards of Arconic Inc., the Dupont Advisory Board and is Chairman of Avantor Inc. He has also served on the boards of HP, IRI, The Vanguard Group and Tyco International, amongst other companies, in the past.

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Seema Hingorani

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
“Building a Diverse Investing Team”

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Seema R. Hingorani is a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management focused on investment talent development, strategic client relationships and diversity initiatives across the platform. She is also Senior Sponsor of Investment Management’s Diversity Council. Seema joined Morgan Stanley in 2019 and has 25 years of investment experience.

Seema is also the Founder and Chair of Girls Who Invest, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in portfolio management and leadership in the asset management industry. Previously, Seema was the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of SevenStep Capital, an opportunistic investment platform focused on seeding women portfolio managers. She was also a Senior Advisor at Crestview Partners and an Advisory Group member at Walter Scott & Partners Limited. Seema served until June 30, 2014 as Chief Investment Officer for the New York City Retirement Systems which had assets of $160 billion. Previous to this appointment, Seema was Interim Chief Investment Officer and before that Head of Public Equities & Hedge Funds for the pension funds. Under her leadership, the pension fund was named Hedge Fund Manager of the Year – Large Public Pension Plans by Institutional Investor. Prior to Seema’s four years of public sector experience, she served as Global Director of Fundamental Research at Pyramis Global Advisors; a Partner, Portfolio Manager and Senior Equity Analyst with hedge fund Andor Capital Management; a Partner and Senior Equity Analyst at hedge fund Pequot Capital Management; Co-founder of hedge fund Mirador Capital Management; and an Equity Analyst with T. Rowe Price.

Seema has worked with several organizations focused on issues concerning women and girls and is a prolific speaker on the topic of a more robust inclusion of women in the corporate sector. She was honored as the 2019 Bloomberg 50 “Ones To Watch”, the 2016 Woman with Impact by the Connecticut Women’s Business Development Council, and Wall Street Women Entrepreneur of the Year in 2015 by Traders magazine. Seema served as a member of the National Finance Committee of Secretary Clinton’s 2016 Presidential Campaign. She is an active member of The Economic Club of New York and 100 Women in Finance.

Seema earned a B.A. in psychology/philosophy from Yale College and a M.B.A. in finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Alysa Craig

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
“Launching a SPAC Business During a Pandemic”

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Alysa Craig is a Managing Director at Stifel in the M&A group and also leads Stifel’s Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) practice.  Mrs. Craig has over 19 years of investment banking experience and a track record of originating and executing over $40bn of M&A, capital markets and lending transactions across a broad range of industries and geographies.  Prior to Stifel, Mrs. Craig worked at Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Rothschild and Tegris.  She is a winner of the M&A Advisor 40 Under 40 Award and has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.  Mrs.  Craig has lived, worked in studied in four countries on two continents.  She currently resides in New York City, with her husband and two children.

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Stacey Dion

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EST
“Diverse Leadership in Private Investing”

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Stacey Dion serves as a Managing Director and Head of Global Government Affairs. She is based in Washington, DC.

Ms. Dion leads Carlyle’s global government relations and public policy functions, collaborating with Carlyle senior executives and investment professionals to shape Carlyle’s global legislative and regulatory activities.

Ms. Dion joined Carlyle in 2017 as a Managing Director, focusing on U.S. government regulatory and legislative matters. Prior to joining Carlyle, Ms. Dion served as Vice President of Corporate Public Policy for The Boeing Company, where she was responsible for developing and implementing the government relations strategy and tactics on corporate issues including tax, benefits, financial services, corporate governance, energy, environment, workforce training and education.

In her career in government, Ms. Dion was Policy Advisor and Counsel in the Office of the Republican Leader, where she served as lead Republican staff for negotiating and drafting the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 on behalf of the House Republican Leader Boehner. Prior to that, she served as Tax and Pension Policy Advisor in the Office of the Majority Leader and was responsible for drafting the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and managing the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005. From 2002 to 2003, Ms. Dion worked in the Employee Benefits Security Administration in the U.S. Department of Labor, where she developed final regulations, rulings and advisory opinions on ERISA. Ms. Dion began her career in a Washington, DC law firm.

Ms. Dion earned her BA from Merrimack College and JD from The Catholic University of America.

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Pam Hendrickson

Pamela Hendrickson is the Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman of Strategic Initiatives at The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm. As COO, Ms. Hendrickson manages a number of teams, including deal origination and fundraising, and as Vice Chairman she oversees the development of new initiatives and supervises several of Riversides’ fund strategies. Ms. Hendrickson also sits on the global Riverside Investment Committee, which considers investments in most of Riverside’s fund strategies.

Ms. Hendrickson has been an active advocate for private equity through Congressional testimony, television interviews, various printed interviews and op-eds that she has written. She is currently a member of the Board of the American Investment Council, is a past Chairman of the Board of the Association for Corporate Growth and has been a member of the board of the Small Business Investor Alliance. She is the incoming Vice Chairman of the advisory board of the Kenan Institute at Duke University and on the Board of Trustees of the National Humanities Center.

Prior to joining Riverside, Ms. Hendrickson spent 22 years at JPMorgan Chase, 15 of them as a Managing Director in a variety of leadership roles. Pam has an AB in Public Policy and History from Duke University and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

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Christine Hommes

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4 | 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
“A Seat at the Head of the Table: Female Leadership in Private Equity”

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Christine Hommes is a Partner at Apollo, having joined the firm in 2011. She currently serves on the board of directors of Chisholm Oil & Gas, Momentum Minerals, and Talos Energy (NYSE:TALO). Prior to joining Apollo, Christine was an Associate at First Reserve and prior to that a member of the Power & Utilities Group at UBS. Ms. Hommes also serves on the board of directors of Youth, Inc., a non-profit focused on New York City youth. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics and a BAS in Systems Engineering.

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Olivia Wassenaar

Olivia Wassenaar is a Senior Partner at Apollo Private Equity and Co-Lead of Natural Resources. She serves on the boards of several Apollo portfolio companies, including American Petroleum Partners, LifePoint Health, Pegasus Optimization Managers, and Talos Energy (NYSE: TALO). Prior to joining Apollo, Ms. Wassenaar was a Managing Director at Riverstone Holdings, where she was a member of the investment team for ten years. Previously, Ms. Wassenaar worked at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Banking Division focusing on natural resources and at The World Bank Group. Ms. Wassenaar also serves on the Board of The Bearley School. She received her AB, magna cum laude, from Harvard College and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
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Kevin Chavers

THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021 | 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
The Outlook for 2021

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Kevin G. Chavers, Managing Director, is a member of the Global Fixed Income Securitized Asset Investment Team at BlackRock. He was formerly a member of the Global Public Policy Group and began his career at BlackRock as a member of the Financial Markets Advisory Group. Mr. Chavers has extensive experience in the mortgage capital markets and housing finance policy in both the public and private sectors. He is a member of BlackRock’s Government Relations Steering Committee. He is also the Co-Chair of the Black Professionals Network at BlackRock.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2011, Mr. Chavers was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, where he served as a Senior Relationship Manager with coverage responsibilities for the mortgage Government Sponsored Enterprises and related clients. He previously headed the global mortgage operating businesses of Morgan Stanley during their strategic repositioning. He also led strategy, execution and banking for the mortgage principal finance team within the Securitized Products Group.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he was a vice president in the Mortgage Securities Department at Goldman Sachs & Co.

Mr. Chavers served as the President of Ginnie Mae in the Clinton Administration. He also formerly served as Majority Staff Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. He began his career with the law firm of Milbank, Tweed Hadley and McCloy.

Mr. Chavers is a graduate of Harvard Law School and earned a Bachelor’s in City Planning from the University Of Virginia School Of Architecture.

He currently serves as Chairman of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and on the boards of directors of the Structured Finance Association, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, the University of Virginia Foundation and the Penn Institute for Urban Research. He is a former Partnership for New York City David Rockefeller Fellow.

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Christine Feng

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2021 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
“Banking, Technology and Private Equity”

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Christine Feng is a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone. Ms.Feng focuses on technology investing for Blackstone’s opportunistic investing platform, Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, and works closely with Blackstone’s credit investing platform, GSO.

Prior to joining Blackstone, Ms. Feng led data and analytics M&A on the Corporate Development team at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where she sourced, evaluated, negotiated and executed acquisitions and investments to support AWS’s strategic priorities.

Before joining AWS, she was a senior member of the Corporate Development team at Microsoft, where she focused on acquisitions and divestitures across all of Microsoft’s business units. Prior to Microsoft, Ms. Feng was at Rhone Capital, where she worked on middle market private equity buyouts. She started her career in investment banking on the Global M&A team at JPMorgan.

Ms. Feng received a BSE, cum laude, in Electrical Engineering and a Certificate in Finance from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

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Seth Carpenter

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
“Monetary Policy, the Labor Market, and Race.”

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Seth Carpenter is the US Chief Economist at UBS. Before joining UBS, he was Head of US Research at Rokos Capital Management. Prior to this position, he had a long and distinguished career in the public sector. Seth was at the US Treasury from 2014 to 2016 and was nominated by President Obama to be Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets after being Deputy Assistant Secretary for Macroeconomic Analysis. Seth worked for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 1999 to 2014. He joined as a research economist, rising to the level of Deputy Director of the Division of Monetary Affairs.

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Bhairav Trivedi

TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
Global Financial Inclusion.

Click here to view the recording of this talk

Bhairav Trivedi is Chief Executive Officer Designate of Crown Agents Bank’s Group. Bhairav has over 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry, with a strong focus on payments and payment processing, cross-border remittance and financial technology.

He has held senior roles at leading financial institutions around the globe, including – from 2012-17 – as Group CEO of Network International Payment Solutions, a UAE-based payments provider for the Middle East and Africa.

Bhairav has been President and Chief Operating Officer of Sigue Global Services Ltd., a global money transfer company, and was Managing Director, Global Head of Remittance Services at Citi’s Global Transaction Services from 2008 to 2010. He also founded PayQuik (acquired by Citi in 2008) and has worked at McKinsey and Company, Fair Isaac and Providian Bancorp.

He joined Crown Agents Bank in January 2021 after a nine-month stint as Group CEO of LSE-listed Finablr – having been appointed to oversee the company’s successful sale to Prism Advance Solutions (completed in December 2020). Bhairav holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a Masters in Engineering Economic Systems from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree in Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, India.

He has also been in the Indian Navy.

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Susan Soh

MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2021 | 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
“Asian American Investment and Economic Power.”

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Susan Soh joined Two Sigma in 2017 as Chief of Strategy and Capital Development to lead the growth initiative and fundraising efforts. She is responsible for overseeing the marketing process and leading the team in new business development.

Previously, Susan was a founding partner and Global Head of Marketing and Client Services at Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP). In this role, she was responsible for marketing and client services, strategic business development, and sourcing new managers for PWP’s asset management business. Prior to PWP, she was Managing Director and Head of Hedge Fund Marketing at Highbridge Capital Management. Previously, she was a vice president at Lightyear Capital, responsible for business development and investor relations. Prior to that, Susan was a Vice President in the Merchant Banking Group and an M&A Banker at Bear Stearns. She began her career as an attorney at Cravath Swaine and Moore. Susan is an active board member of AAAIM (Association of Asian American Investment Managers). She holds a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in Economics, summa cum laude, from Yale University.

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Anna Nekoranec

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2021 | 12:00 Noon
“Women Leaders in Private Investment”

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Anna Maria Nekoranec is the CEO and co-Founder of Align Private Capital LLC, which provides tailored private equity solutions to families. She co-founded Align Private Capital with Robert Blabey in 2014 to make discretionary direct investments on behalf of family offices and to connect families on transactions. Align Private Capital also manages investment portfolios for its family office clients. Ms. Nekoranec specializes in working with families or their investment staffs to supplement in-house skills and provide outsourcing for specialized projects and portfolio oversight.

Ms. Nekoranec has over 25 years of international experience making direct investments in operating businesses, real estate, and private equity funds.  Ms. Nekoranec previously was a member of the Advisory Board of London Alfa (family office consulting firm), a Senior Advisor to Plexus Capital, and a Consultant at Arcadia Resources.  Ms. Nekoranec founded LBK Capital in Sarasota in 2003 after moving from New York to Florida. LBK co-managed private portfolios with families and worked with families on direct transactions, focusing on select private equity investment opportunities and private equity fund creation.

Ms. Nekoranec is a founding Member of the Association for Corporate Growth – Tampa Bay, and a member of the Investment Committee of the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board (as of 2019).

Ms. Nekoranec is a member of the Board of Directors of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. She also has been a member of the Selection Committee of the University of Virginia Licensing & Ventures Group (dates undetermined).

Ms. Nekoranec has been a Trustee of the Forty Carrots Family Center, a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening families in Sarasota and Manatee counties (last listed as a Trustee in 2018). In 2017-2018, she also was a Director of Asolo Repertory Theatre.

Ms. Nekoranec holds an MBA from the Wharton School (Finance and Entrepreneurial Management, 1991) and a BA from the University of Virginia (Economics and Modern Studies, 1986).

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David Mussafer

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16 2021 | 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM EDT | G06 JMHH
“Advent International and Lululemon: Partners in Value Creation and DEI”

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David Mussafer joined Advent in 1990 and has worked on more than 30 buyout transactions across a range of industries, with a particular focus on the financial services, healthcare services and specialty retail sectors. Prior to Advent, he worked at Chemical Bank and Adler & Shaykin in New York.

David holds a BSM, cum laude, from Tulane University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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Susan Gelinas

Susan Gelinas is the Senior Vice President of People & Culture at lululemon, where she leads the People & Culture team globally and oversees all strategies, initiatives and programs across the company related to human resources, recruitment and culture. Ms. Gelinas joined lululemon in 2011 and has played a critical role in developing and shaping lululemon’s people initiatives and policies across the business, including lululemon’s industry-leading development programs for employees. Recent accomplishments include leading development of lululemon’s new parenthood policy, achieving and maintaining pay equity within the organization and the continued expansion of a thorough, internal Vision & Goals program. Before serving as the Senior Vice President of People & Culture at lululemon, Ms. Gelinas held the role of Vice President, Health, Wealth & Mobility, and Director, Total Rewards. Before joining lululemon, Ms. Gelinas was a Senior Consultant at Towers Watson. In her spare time, she enjoys running – whether it be on a track, trails or the road, with her spouse, friends or solo.
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Reggie Love (WG'13)

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2022 | 4:30pm | Room 1206 SH-DH

 

Reggie Love is a Senior Advisor at Apollo Global Management. Reggie’s responsibilities include supporting and developing strategy for human capital, public engagement and DE&I initiatives.

Reggie previously served as Partner at RON Transatlantic EG from 2012-2019, an international financial holding company with interests in the financial services, logistics, energy, industrial and beer sectors in the United States, Latin America and Europe. The group, via its portfolio companies, encompasses assets under management and revenues of over $14 billion. Mr. Love’s work at the firm focused on financial services and energy investments.

Prior to joining Transatlantic, Reggie served at the White House as personal aide to President Barack Obama from 2009-2011, where he was responsible for assisting with the coordination and completion of the President’s daily schedule as well as coordinating with other White House offices to set up long and medium range planning. Love moved to the District of Columbia in 2006 to work for then Senator Obama after short stints in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers.

Love is a graduate of Duke University, holds and MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is the author of the New York Times Best Seller, Power Forward, My Presidential Education, which is a collection of stories and principles learned during his time working for President Obama and being a captain for the all-time most winning NCAA coach, Mike Krzyzewski.

Love also serves on the boards of Cox Media Group, National Summer Learning Association, Center for Environmental Farming Systems, Organizing for Action, MilitaryBowl Committee, Team Works, and The New Renaissance.

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Suzanne Donohoe

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2022 | 11:30am | BlueJeans (virtual event)

 

Suzanne Donohoe (New York) joined KKR in 2009 and is a Partner of the firm and the Global Head of Strategic Growth. She co-chairs the firm’s Inclusion & Diversity Council, along with serving on the Investment Heads Committee. Ms. Donohoe is a Board member of Global Atlantic Financial Group as well as PAAMCO Prisma Holdings, both investments that KKR has made from its balance sheet. Prior to the formation of Strategic Growth, Ms. Donohoe built and led KKR’s Client & Partner Group for over eleven years. Prior to joining KKR, she was with the Goldman Sachs Group, serving as a partner and the head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management International. Ms. Donohoe also led Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s client businesses in North America and co-headed GSAM’s EMEA business previously. Ms. Donohoe holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University and an M.B.A from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Donohoe also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Georgetown University and a Co-Chair of Georgetown University’s Wall Street Alliance, one of the largest endowed scholarship pools Georgetown has to assist its students with financial aid.

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Yup S. Kim

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2022 | 4:30pm | Room 1206 SH-DH

Yup S. Kim serves as the Head of Investments for Private Equity and Investment Director at CalPERS, California’s $500 billion pension fund. He serves on the private equity investment review committee and helps lead CalPERS’ private equity program across all functions, including strategy, team management, and investment activities across primary, secondary, and co-investment opportunities globally.

Previously, he served as the Senior Portfolio Manager at the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (“APFC”), a $80 billion sovereign wealth fund, where he helped lead their private investment activities. He served on the private markets investment committee and as a board observer on several portfolio companies. The private equity and special opportunities portfolios generated industry-leading annualized net of fee returns of 25% over the past decade. In 2017, 2018 and 2020, APFC was voted “Limited Partner of the Year – Americas” by industry peers through Private Equity International Magazine. In 2018, Capital Constellation (a joint venture with APFC, Kuwait PIFSS and UK Railpen) won the “Partnership of the Year Award” by Institutional Investor. Prior to Alaska Permanent, he worked at DB Private Equity, where he served on the investment committee, Performance Equity, Silver Point Capital and began his career at Citigroup in New York.

Yup was recognized as a “Future 40” by Private Equity International in 2020, and a “Top Public Pension Director” in 2021, “Top 30 Private Equity and Venture Capital Investor” in 2019, and a “Top 30 Sovereign Wealth Fund Rising Star” in 2016 by Trusted Insight. Additionally, he was recognized as a “40 under 40” by Chief Investment Officer Magazine in 2017. Yup guest lectures for a private equity course at Harvard Business School, a society and wealth course at Yale-NUS and an international political economy course at Seoul National University. Yup regularly speaks at private equity industry conferences in the U.S., Asia, Latin America and Europe and has written articles for Privcap Media, Private Equity International, Asian Venture Capital Journal (“AVCJ”), Chief Investment Officer Magazine, Trusted Insight and the Alaskan Chamber of Commerce. He serves as a member of the Milken Institute’s Global Capital Markets Advisory Council and as a Senior Advisor to the Korea Finance Society.

Yup received his B.A. in Economics from Yale University and speaks six languages.

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Connie Hess Williams

MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2022 | 12:00 noon | Room 1206 SH-DH

Click here to view recording of this talk

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Dom Kelly

MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2022 | 12:00noon | BlueJeans (Virtual Event)

Click here to view the recording of this talk

Dom Kelly is a person with Cerebral Palsy, a lifelong disability justice advocate, and a passionate progressive. Dom is currently the Development Manager for Fair Fight Action, a Georgia-based national voting rights organization founded by Stacey Abrams. After the loss of his triplet brother Paul at the age of 6, Dom and his identical brother Sean helped start and lead a program in their local school district that taught other kids about disabilities, ultimately leading to his passion for disability justice and desire to help build political power among the disability community. In addition to working in politics, Dom is a longtime musician. As a member of his award-winning band A Fragile Tomorrow, he and his brothers recorded and toured with artists including Indigo Girls, Joan Baez, The Bangles and Toad the Wet Sprocket starting at 15 years old. They have toured around the world and released six studio albums. When he’s not working to protect democracy, writing songs, and dreaming about helping disabled progressives run for office, Dom is at home in Atlanta with his wife Catie, their dog Vivi, and their cat Pippi Longstocking most likely having a dance party in their living room. Dom holds a bachelor’s degree in music production and a master’s degree in new media journalism. He recently earned a graduate certificate in social impact strategy from University of Pennsylvania.

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Judge Stella Tsai

AAPI HERITAGE MONTH EVENT

FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2022 | 2:30PM 

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Hon. Stella M. Tsai was appointed to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas then elected in November 2017. Judge Tsai was a distinguished business litigation partner in the Philadelphia office of Archer & Greiner, PC concentrating in regulatory compliance, land use, and ethics. Ms. Tsai re-entered private practice after serving as Chair of Administrative Law at the City of Philadelphia Law Department from 2000-2003 where she managed the attorneys who represent the child welfare and social service agencies.

Throughout her career in private practice, Judge Tsai remained actively involved in pro bono and public service through numerous organizations and public policy initiatives. She was and inaugural member of the Reconstituted City of Philadelphia Board of Ethics, which is charged with enforcing the city’s campaign finance and ethics laws. In 2011, the Hon. Michael A. Nutter appointed Judge Tsai to the City’s Zoning Code Commission (“ZCC”) to help rewrite the Zoning Code and help modernize how future development, and facilitate sustainable growth would be managed. After the ZCC concluded its work, Mayor Nutter appointed Judge Tsai to the Board of Trustees of the Community College of Philadelphia, the largest public institution of higher education in Philadelphia. Judge Tsai has also chaired or held other leadership positions on numerous non-profit boards including the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania, the Women’s Law Project. Volunteers for the Indigent in Philadelphia (“VIP”), Philadelphia Diversity Law Group, and Legacy Youth & Tennis Education.

While in private practice, Judge Tsai provided countless hours of pro bono representation and advocacy for low income individuals in a wide range of matters including custody and support disputes, voting rights cases, civil rights cases, political asylum and other immigration issues.

Judge Tsai earned her B.A. in political science with honors and distinction from the Pennsylvania State University in 1985 and her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1988.