Patricia Barron, IACCP Senior Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer, CCO, CRO

Barrow Hanley

Ms. Barron joined Barrow Hanley in 2000. She began serving as Compliance Officer in 2001 and was appointed Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) in 2004, appointed Chief Risk Officer in 2010, and appointed Chief Operating Officer in 2020. She has oversight of the firm’s business, including operational management strategies, implementation of strategic initiatives, the compliance program, and the firm-wide risk assessment program. Her 35-year career in the investment industry includes serving at Bank of America, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley. Ms. Barron graduated from Western Governors University with a BS in Business Management. She holds the Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional® (IACCP®) certification, as well as the Risk Management Specialist certification, and has also earned the CFA Institute Investment Foundations™ Certificate.

Alison Bray Director, RFPs and Due Diligence

Baron Capital

Alison Bray is the Director of the RFPs and Due Diligence Team at Baron Capital. Alison joined Baron in 2014 as a Senior RFP Writer on the Product Analysis, RFPs, and Databases Team, and was later promoted to RFP Manager. She left Baron in early 2018 and joined AQR Capital Management as an Associate, but returned to Baron at the end of 2018 to head its newly-formed RFPs and Due Diligence Team. Prior to Baron, Alison worked at Prudential in its Group Insurance Division, three years of which she was a Research and Proposal Specialist. Alison graduated from The George Washington University with a B.A. in Psychology and from Boston University with an M.S. in Finance.

Michael Cairns Partner

NEPC, LLC

Michael Clarke  Head of Reporting & Performance

Walter Scott & Partners Limited

Michael is Head of Reporting & Performance at Walter Scott and joined the firm in 2009. Prior to this he held senior business development positions with two Edinburgh law firms and, before that, spent eight years at Baillie Gifford. He holds a BA (Hons) in Commerce from Edinburgh Napier University.

Michael has over 20 years of being part of and leading RFP, reporting and other client operations teams. He now leverages that experience to support his managers by helping create the best possible environment for their teams to excel.

Gus de los Reyes Chief Information Security Officer

Brown Advisory

Gus de los Reyes is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Brown Advisory. Gus leads the information security risk management and business continuity activities to help secure data and systems.   

Prior to joining Brown Advisory, Gus served in a number of security roles including as Executive Director of Technology Security at AT&T where he established and led the AT&T Security Research Team working on projects to protect against advanced threats.   

Gus has over 23 years of experience in information security in a broad range of security domains.  

Gus has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, and an MS and BS in Engineering from MIT.  He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). 

Jeffry Haber Professor

LaPenta School of Business, Iona College

Jeffry Haber is Professor of Accounting at Iona College, teaching undergraduate and graduate classes in a variety of accounting areas, Senior Director, Finance at the Commonwealth Fund and Managing Member of Classic Lanes Operating LLC.  He publishes in academic journals about investing and accounting matters. A sampling of some recent publications include:

Journal of Applied Business and Economics

“Passively Active Investing – A Five Year Test,” Volume 22(2), 2020, pp 74-87

Global Journal of Business Research

“Can Active Fund Managers Be Replaced with Exchange Traded Funds?” Vol. 13, No. 2, 2019, pp 95-104

The CPA Journal

“A Primer on Cause Investing,” April 2019, pp 46-51

“Preparing the Statement of Cash Flows Using the Direct Method: Illustrating a Simpler Approach,” April 2017, pp 52-55 (Co-authored with Karen Wallace)

International Journal of Financial Research

“Forecasting Portfolio Balance Using Return Mean, Standard Deviation and Spending,” Vol. 7, No. 2; April 2016, pp 98-121 (Co-authored with Andrew Braunstein)

He is the author of “What If Everything We Knew About Investing Was Wrong?” and “Accounting Demystified,” a primer on financial accounting, which is available in English and Chinese.

Haber received BS and MS degrees from Syracuse University and a PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and is a CPA licensed in New York, and holds other licenses and certifications. He is a frequent speaker at academic, professional, investment and accounting conferences.

Robyn Hatcher Founder and CEO

SpeakEtc.

Robyn Hatcher, founder and CEO of SpeakEtc. is a dynamic keynote speaker, communication expert, author, thought leader and award-winning actor. Robyn transforms the careers of business leaders and the culture of organizations in the financial services industry and beyond, through corporate programs, private coaching, and interactive presentations.  

Using her 15 plus years in the entertainment industry and her experience as a certified Neuro Linguistic Programming practitioner, she inspires. She invigorates. She leaves you with tangible skills you can apply the very next day. In 2018, Robyn appeared on Good Morning America speaking about the “#metoo” movement and was named one of the '21 Leaders for the 21st Century' 2019 by Women's eNews! 

Robyn has successfully trained and coached thousands of business professionals from Fortune 500 companies and noteworthy brands - Lifetime Television, Jones New York, UBS, AXA - Equitable, PayPal, Spotify, Con Edison, Hewlett Packard and many others and has spoken in front of hundreds and has spoken in front of hundreds of audiences large and small like Professional Business Women of California, Women's Professional Network,Professional Women of the Gulf Coast, Administrative Professionals Conference, Association of African American Advisors and many others. 

Robyn is on the executive board the National Speakers Association, New York City Chapter and has been quoted and published in major magazines and has appeared on over 40 Podcasts. 

Her book, Standing Ovation Presentations (Motivational Press, 2013), contains a unique communication-style system called ActorTypes.  and was named on Forbes.com as one of 2015’s Top 100 Coaching Books.

FUN FACTS About Robyn 

• Robyn's LITERAL nickname growing up was "Shy" (or "Shai" as it appeared on Christmas Cards).  
• She once wrote for two daytime dramas; One Life to Live and All My Children 
• A TV commercial she starred in for the New York Times ran for 8 years and was parodied on Saturday Night Live with Hallie Berry playing her.  
• Robyn has a son who graduated from Yale and played professional baseball. 

Sharon Hayman Head of Relationship Management

Jackson Square Partners, LLC

Sharon Hayman, Partner, Head of Relationship Management, SFA 

Sharon Hayman joined Jackson Square Partners in January 2015 as head of relationship management. Prior to joining Jackson Square, she was with Matthews International Capital Management from December 2012 to January 2015, where she was responsible for the firm’s relationship management efforts. From 2006 to 2012, Hayman was head of financial institutions client services at Delaware Investments. From 1994 to 2000, she held various roles at Delaware Investments, beginning in the internal audit department and later in the fund product management area. From 2000 to 2006, she was with Gartmore Global Investments, where her product management experience included working with sub-advisory and offshore funds. Hayman earned an MBA in marketing and finance from Drexel University and a bachelor’s degree in management from Gettysburg College. 

Brett Hickey Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Star Mountain Capital, LLC

Brett Hickey is the Founder & CEO of Star Mountain Capital, LLC, an approximately $1.5 billion AUM specialized U.S. lower middle-market investment firm. Star Mountain employs a data-driven approach to provide value-added debt and equity capital to established small and medium-sized companies leveraging its large market expertise, scale-driven resources, and longstanding relationships. 

With over 40 team members and 35 senior advisors / operating partners, Star Mountain brings large market resources and expertise to help business owners maximize value. Star Mountain's team include former senior executives from GSO / Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, and Citigroup. Star Mountain is focused exclusively on the U.S. lower middle-market by investing debt and equity directly into established operating companies, making strategic investments into fund managers and purchasing secondary direct and fund positions. 

Star Mountain's in-house technology team has built proprietary systems with the goal of maximizing value for investors and business owners alike. Star Mountain is a trademarked brand and has also trademarked "Investing in the Growth Engine of America ®" as well as Star Mountain's distinctive "Collaborative Ecosystem ®". Star Mountain's Charitable Foundation supports career development for women, veterans, and athletes as well as health & wellness initiatives including cancer research. 

Prior to becoming a principal investor starting in the early 2000s, Mr. Hickey was an Investment Banker at Salomon Smith Barney / Citigroup Global Markets in New York City where he covered global Asset Managers and Financial Institutions. In that role, he analyzed asset managers and asset classes, ultimately working on over $20 billion in completed strategic acquisitions and capital raises. 

Mr. Hickey's board roles and memberships include NYC and Greenwich chapters of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), global board of Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs, global board of Help for Children (HFC) and board of the Greenwich YMCA. 

Mr. Hickey received a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction from McGill University (Finance Major and Accounting Concentration) and completed Harvard Business School's Owner/President Management executive leadership program. He is a frequent guest lecturer on industry panels and at academic institutions. Mr. Hickey is also a former Canadian national gold medalist and North American medalist in speed skating. 

Elizabeth Hiss Investment Research Analyst

Brown Advisory

Elizabeth Hiss serves as a research analyst at Brown Advisory, a private investment management and strategic advisory firm with approximately $100 billion in client assets. Elizabeth works in the Investment Solutions Group (ISG), which performs manager research and selection, makes asset allocation recommendations, and creates and manages specialized partnership funds for individuals, families, endowments and foundations. Elizabeth focuses primarily on identifying sustainable strategies and managers for clients across asset classes. She also works to understand and develop programs for clients seeking mission-based and sustainable investing programs. Elizabeth joined the firm’s New York office in 2017. She earned her two undergraduate degrees at Columbia University and at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). Prior to joining the firm, Elizabeth worked in J.P. Morgan’s Commercial Banking Division, Quasar Energy Partners and Anbaric (a developer of large-scale, electric transmission systems and storage solutions).

Community Involvement: Board Member – Leadership Advisory Board of the Girl Scouts of Greater New York. Volunteer – The New York Junior League

Alison Hope Senior Manager

Walter Scott & Partners Limited

Alison is Senior Manager RFP & Consultant Reporting at Walter Scott and joined the firm in 2008. Prior to this she worked in the software and technology industry and had various marketing and business management roles in the UK and Japan. Alison holds a BA in Communication Studies from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.

Alison has successfully built a high achieving team producing top quality RFPs, DDQs and consultant database profiles across all Walter Scott strategies.

Ellen Jones Vice President, Global Marketing Services

Nuveen

Ellen Jones is a VP and Marketing Content Manager for Nuveen. She manages asset management RFP content and related processes that ensure up-to-date, consistent and integrated messaging and product descriptions. Previously at TIAA, she was responsible for overseeing and directing all pension, retirement and asset management RFP activities in the organization. She has more than 20 years of experience in proposal writing and management in multiple financial services arenas.

Afiya Kirk Senior Consultant Relations Associate 

American Century Investments 

Afiya is responsible for developing relationships with investment consultants and working with institutional clients. She has worked in the investment industry since joining American Century Investments in 2005. Afiya earned a bachelor’s degree in film and media from Hunter College and a master’s degree in business administration from Baruch College. Afiya holds FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses.

Melissa Lane Senior RFP Associate

Baron Capital

Melissa Lane joined the RFPs & Due Diligence Team at Baron Capital in March 2021.  Prior to that, she worked at Crewcial Partners LLC (formerly Colonial Consulting, LLC) from 2009 to 2021.  She worked alongside Crewcial’s consulting group with a focus on prospective clients. She managed the RFP process and acted as a liaison for prospective and new clients. Prior to joining Crewcial,, Melissa worked in the Client Analytics Group for Commonfund Securities, Inc., where she assisted the RFP team and Implementation Specialist to coordinate and process new investments.  Prior to that, she worked at Greywolf Capital Management, providing support to the Head of Investor Relations. She is a graduate of Loyola University Maryland.

Elana Marqulies Senior Manager

EisnerAmper

Elana Margulies-Snyderman is Senior Manager of Publications with EisnerAmper’s Marketing Group. Elana oversees, produces and edits various publications of many of the firm’s largest industry groups and service lines. She coordinates thought leadership pieces and industry-related content within these groups for both internal and external audiences. 

Elana joined the firm in 2014 in the Financial Services Group, working within the Asset Management Practice where she launched the firm’s quarterly Asset Management Intelligence publication and the Alternative Investments Intelligence blog. 

Prior to joining the firm, Elana was Chief Reporter at Pageant Media’s Hedge Fund Manager Week (HFMWeek). She began her career at Institutional Investor’s Alternative Investment News. 

Elana received her B.A. with honors from Brandeis University and master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. She is co-founder and secretary of board of directors for Phyt Cares, a 501c3 U.S. tax-exempt and 1101.01 Puerto Rico tax-exempt non-profit that educates youth and communities in New York City and Puerto Rico through fitness. She founded Brandeis University’s Alumni in Alternative Investments.  

Sari Mayer Director of Marketing and Investor Relations

Global Credit Advisers, LLC

Sari J. Mayer, CAIA, is Director of Marketing and Investor Relations at Global Credit Advisers, LLC ("GCA"), a manager of long/short credit funds specializing in research, trading, and portfolio management in primarily high yield and distressed corporate credit. The firm AUM was approximately $913 million as of February 1, 2021.

Raleigh Mayer Gravitas Guru & Principle

Raleigh Mayer Consulting

Raleigh Mayer, the Gravitas Guru and Principal of Raleigh Mayer Consulting, helps leaders of all levels elevate presence, speak persuasively, and become more sophisticated at managing relationships and reputation. She is an advisor, coach, educator, and speaker, serving large corporations, private firms, and individual executives.

Raleigh has counseled and trained dozens of chief executives and hundreds of business leaders from Fortune 500 companies, representing a wide variety of enterprises, including financial services, technology, government, the armed forces, advertising, law, consumer products, non-profit, and public interest groups. Some of her signature presentations and seminars include “Getting to Gravitas”, “Persuasive Presentation”, “The Seven Ups of Successful Leadership”, and “Inclusive Leadership”.

Raleigh is also a senior fellow at the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership, and teaches in the professional development division of Columbia University’s School of Engineering. She has lectured and coached at Harvard Business School and Columbia’s Masters in Business Administration programs, and was an adjunct professor of communication at New York University’s Marketing and Management Institute for 20 years. Previously, she was head of public affairs and spokesperson for the New York City Marathon.

Safia Mehta Managing Director

Manager Analysis Services, LLC

Safia provides outsourced investment consulting services to pension plans, endowment foundations, philanthropic organizations and OCIO firms.  Engagements include developing asset allocation strategy, portfolio construction, manager research, due diligence and implementation.  She also assists clients in   developing investment strategy and implementation involving Emerging, MWBE and ESG sub-advisors.

Safia previously served as SVP, Portfolio Manager at Progress Investment Management; where she managed discretionary multi- asset class portfolios for blue-chip institutional clients. Other career highlights includes her tenure at Alliance Bernstein, where she led the development and placement of multi-asset investment solutions for Asian and European investors, and at Prudential Retirement she provided direction and oversight of their $40 billion multi-asset class sub-advisory investment platform for over 150 public and corporate pension plans.  As the Pension Manager at PepsiCo, she managed their pension plans and also implemented pension governance standards.

Safia graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto, Canada and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.  Safia has been a member of the CFA Institute’s Asset Manager Code Advisory Committee, and presently serves as the Treasurer and board member of the CFA Society of Stamford.  She regularly speaks at various industry conferences on current investment topics.

Diana Miranda, CSCP®-BD,IA Claritas® Investment Foundations Certificate, Consultant,

Alpha Consulting & Project Management LLC, Adjunct Professor Zicklin School of Business, Dept of Management Baruch College, CUNY

A recognized process improvement expert in the areas of risk mitigation through excellent client service and distribution support, Diana Merenda has extensive asset management experience including tenures at several major Wall Street firms. Diana has managed several RFP, Marketing Support and Client Support teams throughout her career and currently consults on a project-by-project basis for financial services firms specializing in asset management. Diana is a subject matter expert in RFPs, client onboarding, contract change management as well as management of “trigger events” with a view to mitigating reputational, financial, operational and regulatory risk through accessible, intelligent workflow for all stages of the client’s lifecycle. Diana has implemented corporate training programs, and is an Adjunct Professor teaching the interdisciplinary management capstone course to graduating seniors at CUNY’s Zicklin School of Business. She’s authored white papers and articles for the National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP), FUNDfire and Smart Business; served on the Financial Women Association’s Leadership Council and is a member of Project Management Institute and NSCP. She holds the Certified Securities Compliance Professional (CSCP) designation and the Claritas® Investment Foundations Certificate, CFA Institute ID #6916469. Diana has an undergraduate degree in communications from Hunter College, an MBA in management from Baruch College and has successfully completed project management and entrepreneurship courses at Hofstra University. She has also served in local elected public office, most recently as a two-term Mayor of the Village of Plandome Heights, NY. 

Beth Mosley Senior Manager, Global Product Information

Principal Global Investors

Beth is a Senior Manager – Global Product Information overseeing RFP, Client Due Diligence, Consultant Database and Product Content teams for Principal Global Investors supporting a global distribution team and 13 investment boutiques across the organization.  Her duties include driving strategy for the teams in alignment with company initiatives and business growth plans, identifying and implementing solutions to improve team structure and service driving the efficiency and quality of Product Information, and creating and policies which promote an accurate, compliant and growth culture for the organization.

Beth joined the firm in 2005. Prior to her current role, she was a senior client service manager for Principal Global Investors, based in London. She received a bachelor's degree in finance from Drake University and has passed the FINRA Series 7 and 63 examinations.

Monica Patterson CF, APMP, Customer Success Manager

RFPIO

Monica is a Customer Success Manager with RFPIO. With a career in sales support and marketing spanning nearly 30 years, Monica’s expert skills teamed with her business intelligence and analytical acumen equip her to consistently execute on sales support and marketing strategies. She has a passion for content management and enjoys working with clients to keep their proposal libraries filled with gold standard content! Connect with Monica on LinkedIn.

Krishna Rangarajan Chief Executive Officer

Big Pi Ventures

As CEO of Big Pi Ventures, Krishna Rangarajan is helping firms in the financial services industry deliver compelling, comprehensive and consistent narratives. Big Pi is bringing natural-language processing technology to transform the creation and use of narrative content, and is run by a team of technologists and executives from Stanford, Caltech, Salesforce, Oracle and Yahoo.

Daniel Rollins Assistant Vice President, Global Marketing Operations

MFS Investment Management

Dan Rollins joined MFS Investment Management in 2015 and currently is the Director of the RFP team as well as providing oversite for other functions within Global Marketing Operations. 

Before joining MFS, Dan led Creative at John Hancock Investments managing account service, creative, design, video, print and fulfillment. 

Dan received his art degree and currently resides in Ipswich, Massachusetts. 

Jeff Schaechter President & Chief Operating Officer

Crawford Lake Capital Management LLC

Jeff Schachter is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Crawford Lake Capital Management LLC, a $425 million long/short equity hedge fund. Prior to Crawford Lake from 2011 to 2015, Mr. Schachter was the co-founder and Managing Partner of Avet Capital Management, a long/short biotech equity hedge fund partially seeded by Julian Robertson of Tiger Management. Prior to Avet, from 2010 to 2011, Mr. Schachter was a Managing Director at Helios Advisors LLC, a ~$580 million New York based multi-strategy hedge fund.  At Helios, Mr. Schachter was responsible for creating the Helios Energy Fund, LP, long/short energy fund.  Prior to Helios, from 2009 to 2010, Mr. Schachter was Head of Marketing for Greystone, Inc., a real estate company with ~$10 billion in assets. From 2004 to 2009, Mr. Schachter co-founded and built Cedarview Capital Management into a ~$700 million alternative asset manager focusing in the high yield bond and leverage loan markets.  Prior to establishing Cedarview, Mr. Schachter was involved in institutional high-yield and distressed debt sales for nine years. Mr. Schachter began his Wall Street career at Jefferies & Company in March 1995.   

Mr. Schachter received a Juris Doctor degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley in 1990 and a B.A. degree in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986, where he graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors. 

Amanda Tepper Founder, CEO

Chestnut Advisory Group

Amanda Tepper is the founder and CEO of Chestnut Advisory Group, a firm that provides business development consulting to asset managers. Chestnut’s services encompass strategy, content and implementation. Previously Amanda was Global Director of the senior portfolio management team at AllianceBernstein. Amanda has deep experience in sell-side equity research, as Associate Director of Equity Research at Bank of America and as an Institutional-Investor All-America Team- ranked analyst at JPMorgan. 

Amanda holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA from Brown University, Phi Beta Kappa. Amanda is a member of the Investment Advisory Committee for the Endowment of the Art Students League of New York. She also serves on the Andover Development Board of Phillips Academy.