Belén Villalonga is a Professor of Management and Organizations, the Yamaichi Faculty Fellow, and a Professor of Finance (by courtesy) at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Between 2001 and 2012 she was a faculty member at Harvard Business School.

Professor Villalonga serves as an independent board director and audit committee member at several companies that are global leaders in their respective industries: Grifols (biopharma); Ferroglobe (metallurgy); and Banco Santander International (private banking). She was also an independent director for 13 years at Acciona (renewable energy and infrastructure); and Talgo (high-speed trains). She also consults to business families around the world on family, ownership, and business matters.

Professor Villalonga’s teaching, research, and advisory activities are in the areas of corporate strategy, finance, and governance, with a special focus on family-controlled companies. She has developed and taught courses and programs for graduate and undergraduate students as well as for executives and business families. Her award-winning research has been published in leading academic journals, has been cited over 15,000 times in scholarly articles, and has been featured in the leading international media outlets.

She holds a Ph.D. in Management and an M.A. in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles, where she was a Fulbright Scholar. She also holds a second Ph.D. in Business Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid. She is fluent in Spanish, English, and French, and conversant in Portuguese and Italian.

Max Holmes has been an Adjunct Professor of Finance since 1993.

He is the Chief Investment Officer of Haven Asset Management LLC of Greenwich, Connecticut. In addition, since 2015 he has served as a Senior Advisor to American Industrial Partners (AIP), a middle-market private equity firm ($7.0 billion in AUM) and some of its portfolio companies.

From 2005 to 2016, Mr. Holmes was the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Plainfield Asset Management LLC ($5.4 billion in AUM). From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Holmes was the Head of the Distressed Securities Group and a Managing Director of D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P., where he served as Co-Portfolio Manager for D. E. Shaw Laminar Portfolios, L.L.C. ($2.7 billion in AUM).

Previously, he worked at RBC Capital Markets (a subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Canada), Gleacher NatWest Inc. (a subsidiary of National Westminster Bank Plc), and Salomon Brothers Inc. From 1986 to 1989, Mr. Holmes worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert in Beverly Hills, California.

At the beginning of his career, Mr. Holmes was a practicing attorney at Vinson & Elkins in Houston, Texas. He remains a member of the bar in New York and Texas.

Mr. Holmes received a J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1984, an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School in 1984, and a B.A. from Harvard College in philosophy in 1981.

Raghu Sundaram is Dean and the Edward I. Altman Professor of Credit and Debt Markets at New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business. He was appointed Dean on January 1, 2018, having previously served as Vice Dean for MBA Programs and Online Learning.

Dean Sundaram’s work in finance spans a number of areas including agency problems, executive compensation, corporate finance, derivatives pricing, and credit risk and credit derivatives. He has also published extensively in mathematical economics, decision theory, and game theory. His research has appeared in leading academic journals in finance and economics, as well as in several practitioner-oriented journals. He is the author of two books: A First Course in Optimization Theory (Cambridge University Press, 1996) and Derivatives: Principles and Practice (McGraw-Hill, 2010).

Dean Sundaram has taught courses across Stern’s Undergraduate, MBA, PhD, and Executive Education programs. Of all the awards he has received over the years, he is most proud of being the inaugural recipient of Stern’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2007. He has a long record of service to the School and the University, including as chair of the Tenured and Tenure-track Faculty Senators Council and as a member of NYU’s Presidential Search Committee in 2014. Dean Sundaram currently serves as a member of the Academic Council of Krea University and Advisory Council of Shiv Nadar University Delhi-NCR, both in India, and the Advisory Board of the Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Beijing, China.

As Dean and Vice Dean, Dean Sundaram has led the launch of multiple new degree programs, including two one-year MBA programs, a number of specialized master’s programs, and the extension of the School’s New York City-based Executive MBA program to Washington, DC. He has overseen Stern’s entry into online education and the establishment of several new, high-profile initiatives at the intersection of entrepreneurship and technology, notably the Endless Frontier Labs. He also established the School’s first Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Prior to joining NYU Stern in 1996, Dean Sundaram was on the faculty of the University of Rochester from 1988-96. He received a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Madras, India, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a PhD in economics from Cornell University.

J.P. Eggers joined New York University Stern School of Business as an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations in July 2008. Professor Eggers teaches the core M.B.A. strategy class and a strategy capstone elective.

Professor Eggers's research interests focus on technological change, decision-making under uncertainty and new product development. Specifically, he studies the challenges faced by managers and executives in making good decisions and addressing new opportunities in emerging technologies. His recent work examines firms that backed the wrong technology during the emergence of the flat panel display industry and the role that managerial cognition played in determining the course of organizational action during the early years of the fiber optics industry.

Prior to his academic career, Professor Eggers was a strategy consultant with two firms, Kurt Salmon Associates and Viant, Inc., both of which specialize in product development strategy and new technology projects for firms ranging from Nordstrom to NASCAR and from Coca-Cola to YKK Zippers. He also worked as a political consultant on congressional, senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns across the United States.

Professor Eggers received his B.A. in History from Amherst College, his M.B.A. in Management from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and his Ph.D. in Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Sabina is a Partner advising French and international companies, family offices, and private equity funds on domestic and international tax structuring that arise from complex corporate transactions, restructurings and refinancings, often involving multiple sponsors. She also has a wealth of experience in creating and structuring private investment funds, including joint ventures and private equity vehicles.

She is one of the few practitioners in France equipped to offer both tax advice and handle the legal and regulatory sides of fund formation. Her ability to address private equity and funds matters as an industry expert as well as a tax practitioner enables her to translate advice into tangible figures and models.

Ms. Comis is a recognized leader in the French tax and funds communities. She has been recommended over many years as a “Leading Individual” in Chambers. She is also recommended in The Legal 500 Paris and The Legal 500 EMEA 2021 editions in both the Tax and Fund Formation categories, where clients admire her for being “one of the few lawyers in Paris, who is able to handle heavy tax structuring and fund formation matters at the same time” and ”a private equity industry leader”. In addition, she has been highlighted as a leading tax adviser by International Tax Review, and is recognized for France: Financial Services Regulatory, Investment Funds by IFLR1000 2021. Ms. Comis is also recognized among the leading lawyers in France by Best Lawyers 2021 in Private Equity Law and Tax Law.

Joshua Pang is a Managing Director and the Head of Digital Infrastructure for Carlyle Global Infrastructure. He is based in New York.

Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Pang served as Managing Director at Blackstone. Throughout his career, he has been investing in and partnering with leading businesses and management teams across digital infrastructure asset classes, including data centers, bandwidth/broadband and mobile infrastructure, and adjacencies such as communications IT, services, and software.

Before Blackstone, Mr. Pang was a Principal in the U.S. Buyouts group at BC Partners, where he primarily focused on telecom. He began his career as an analyst at Blackstone. He received his B.S. in Finance and Financial Accounting from the Stern School of Business at New York University, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Nadia is the Co-founder and Co-CEO of Bridge Point Capital, a cross-border private equity firm and RIA.

She works closely with family offices and high-net-worth individuals on asset allocation across multiple asset classes (from fund of funds to direct deals). Nadia’s vast network of Asian family offices with capital to deploy in the US has brought Bridge Point Capital to a unique position to educate, engage, and implement strategies for clients.

Bridge Point Capital is a firm believer in preserving clients’ wealth by diversification and applying the right amount of leverage. BPC provides advice on liquid and illiquid assets allocation, estate planning, tax planning, and insurance planning.

Previously, Nadia worked as a Business Unit Manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, responsible for sales strategy for RIA and Banks channels in the mutual fund Third Party Distribution division. Managed the launch of two Closed End Funds from 2013 to 2015, each with over $500mm AUM. She started her career with Goldman Sachs Asia (Hong Kong), covering 14 Asia Pacific markets. Identified as a high-potential analyst (top 5% performer) and was awarded to move to New York in 2010 as part of the firm’s New Markets Mobility Exchange Programs.

Tianyi was named a 2019 AACYF 30 Under 30 and received the 2020 Hurun US-China Innovation Outstanding Award. He is the Founding Partner of Skylight Investment. Tianyi was the founder of Boston Entrepreneurs and Investors Group, connecting entrepreneurs and investors in the greater Boston Area. He is also an LP of Berkeley Catalyst Fund, a member of MIT Alumni Angels, and a partner at 8 Decimal Capital.

Mr. Michael Zhu is a partner at Hermitage Capital, a fast-growing PE fund in Asia with over $1.2B AUM. Headquartered in HK with offices in Shanghai and NYC, Hermitage invests across the value chain of enterprise technology with deep tech focus globally. Portfolios include Tencent Music, SenseTime, Horizon Robotics, Airwallex, ScaleFlux, Innovusion, SmartMore, Ximalaya, etc. Mr. Michael Zhu is deeply involved in the strategic planning of the company's development in the global capital market and establishes and manages overseas investor relations. Mr. Michael Zhu has more than 15 years of professional experience in the financial industry and entrepreneurship.

Meanwhile, Mr. Michael Zhu is also an experienced social influence practitioner and cultural investor. His family has spent last 25 years in collecting magnificent numbers of arts & antiques and built a private museum for better preserving these precious cultural heritages, including ancient Marine fossils, Jurassic dinosaur fossils, Dunhuang murals, Majiayao colored pottery and other rare collections. Mr. Michael Zhu has often been invited to give keynote speeches regarding cross-border investment, mergers and acquisitions, industrial upgrading, and other related topics at Forbes, Nasdaq, Harvard University, Peking University, and other world-known institutions and universities. At present, Mr. Zhu serves as a Board Member at numerous startups, non for profit organizations and the member of Young Leaders Circle at Milken Institute at NYC Chapter. Mr. Michael Zhu holds EMBA degrees from Columbia University Business School and London Business School. Nowadays, Mr. Michael Zhu resides in New York, USA.

Christian Matarese focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions and various private equity transactions, and his experience includes domestic, cross-border, private and public company M&A. He also advises on venture capital and joint venture transactions and a variety of other general corporate and business matters. He represents private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, strategic buyers and sellers and venture capitalists across various industry sectors.

Mr. Matarese has been recognized as a leading lawyer in the United States for private equity buyouts in legal directory Chambers USA, which noted that “he has made an excellent impression on clients." In addition, he is listed as a recommended lawyer for M&A and ranked as a next generation lawyer for private equity buyouts by The Legal 500 United States, where he is described as a “terrific M&A lawyer.” He is also a key member of the team that won the LMG Life Sciences "2015 Collaboration Deal of the Year” award for work on behalf of Johnson & Johnson in connection with its strategic partnership with Google Life Sciences to innovate advanced surgical robots. Prior to that, he received Dechert’s Exceptional Teachers Award in recognition of his “genuine inquisitive spirit, continually seeking to expand upon his awareness and understanding of deal mechanics and market movements — inspiring others to do the same.” In addition, Mr. Matarese was recently recognized as a Rising Star for both M&A and private equity by IFLR1000 and as one of LMG's Rising Stars for private equity/M&A.

Elizabeth Colonna is a Vice President at Health Enterprise Partners (HEP), a lower middle market growth equity firm that invests in healthcare services and HCIT companies. Elizabeth is currently on the board of directors of MD Alliance and serves as a board observer of Wildflower Health. She previously served as a board observer of AxiaMed (acquired by Bank of America) and Access Physicians (acquired by SOC Telemed).

Prior to joining HEP, Elizabeth was a Senior Consultant at FTI Consulting. As a member of FTI’s Health Solutions practice, she provided data analytics, litigation support, and other consulting services for a variety of healthcare clients, including large commercial payers, retail pharmacy chains, and healthcare data management companies. During her time in business school, she was a hospital administration and operations intern at UCLA Health.

Elizabeth currently serves on the Healthcare Private Equity Association (HCPEA) Young Leaders Council. She holds a BA with Distinction from the University of Virginia and received Dean’s Honors with Distinction from Columbia Business School.

Kevin joined ICG in 2020 as a member of the US Direct Private Equity team. He has responsibility for investments in the healthcare and technology sectors and is a member of the investment committee.

Prior to joining ICG, Kevin worked at Aquiline Capital Partners, where he led the firm’s healthcare practice, and was previously at Partners Group, where he sourced and executed direct investments across a range of sectors. He also worked in the investment banking and private equity investment divisions of Citi and began his career at Deloitte.

Kevin holds a BA in Political Science, with honors, from Haverford College, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Dan Tasset is a seasoned entrepreneur who is dedicated to revolutionizing the healthcare experience. He co-founded and currently chairs three industry-leading healthcare enterprises: ValueHealth, NueHealth and Nueterra Capital. He founded Nueterra Capital, a private equity firm that invests in multiple aspects of healthcare– equipping others with the resources and expertise to drive change in the industry. From there, he developed ValueHealth, a portfolio company aiming to develop joint ventures, an Ambulatory Centers of Excellence™ (ACE) network, and improved opportunities for consumers to take active control of their healthcare.

Through his achievements with these companies, including strategic partnerships, innovations, and revenue-generating delivery models, Mr. Tasset has led these enterprises to be industry leaders in the patient-to-consumer revolution and provider payment reform. He is at the helm of taking healthcare forward.

Terry Wang is a Partner at Regal Healthcare Capital Partners. Prior to Regal, Terry was the VP of Operations at CHE Senior Psychological Services, a leading, private-equity backed provider of mental health services to skilled nursing, assisted living, adult day care, and rehab centers. Prior to CHE, Terry worked in management consulting at Bain & Co., and in private equity investing at Bain Capital. Terry received a B.S. in Finance and Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Zeev is a General Partner and Co-Founder of Landmark Ventures, a leading investment bank and corporate advisory firm working with growth-oriented private companies, public companies, and investment funds. Founded in 1995 and based in New York City, Landmark works at the forefront of innovation advising over 750 emerging growth ventures across the enterprise software, cyber security, hardware, internet of things, artificial intelligence, sports, digital media, and crypto/NFT sectors. A significant portion of these deals involve cross-border transactions involving the US, Europe, China and Israel. He graduated with a BA in Economics from Northwestern University and received his MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

Zeev is the Founder & CEO of Royal Society of Players and House of First, two leading NFT projects that sold out in minutes and have generated million in sales following launch. Additionally he is a frequent speaker, media contributor, and sought-after expert on the topics of cryptocurrency, fund management, and angel investing for several of the top NFT & Crypto companies.

John joined Greycroft in 2013 and is based in New York City. He focuses on early-stage companies in enterprise fintech and insurtech.

John’s active investments include Candid, Frame.ai, ImperativeX, Invisible, Kheiron Medical, Merchant Candy, Optimus Ride, PebblePost, Rapid Robotics, and Velocity. His notable exits include ClearGraph (acquired by Tableau), MapAnything (acquired by Salesforce), Vidible (acquired by AOL), and WorkFusion (interest sold to Georgian).

Prior to Greycroft, John was a Managing Partner at iNovia Capital and led the firm’s investments in TripleLift (majority acquired by Vista), Chango (acquired by Rubicon Project), Vizu (acquired by Nielsen), and Babble (acquired by Disney).

John was part of the early New York City startup community starting at 24/7 Media where he worked in strategic planning. After 24/7 Media, John joined Turnstone Capital and advised dMarc Broadcasting prior to its sale to Google. John started his career at Veronis Suhler Stevenson, an investment firm focused on the media and communications industries. He continues to support the NYC startup community as a Mentor to NYU’s Entrepreneurship program.

John holds a BA in Economics from Lehigh University and an MBA from New York University.

Amanda has recently joined the Founder Collective investment team and will be based out of New York. She has spent the last years building and growing one of the largest omni-channel retailers in South Africa, launching their e-commerce and expanding the footprint to over 300 stores and serves on the Board of Cape Union Mart.

Prior to returning to South Africa, Amanda was with the Highland Consumer Fund investing in and growing retail and consumer goods companies. Previously, she was at L Brands in New York, launching new beauty brands and focusing on growth and innovation. She began her career at Boston Consulting Group in New York.

Amanda has a passion for building strong cultures in growing companies and an operational background in building e-commerce companies from the ground-up.

Amanda completed her Undergraduate in Economics at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and received her MBA from Harvard Business School. She is a mom of three and a yoga enthusiast, with a side passion for healthy cooking and living.

Caitlin Strandberg is a Partner at Lerer Hippeau. She joined from FirstMark, an early-stage venture firm based in NYC, where she was a Vice President. She previously worked on the investment team at Flybridge Capital partners and at two startups, LearnVest (acquired by Northwestern Mutual) and Behance (acquired by Adobe). Caitlin is a graduate of Cornell University, where she majored in History. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Caitlin sends all her best gifs via GIPHY.

Joe is a general partner at Millennia Capital, a NY based investment firm focused on VC and growth equity opportunities. The firm has multiple investments across FinTech & blockchain, enterprise software, and consumer marketplaces, and has selectively made investments in other early-stage VC & blockchain funds as a limited partner. Post investment the firm seeks to add capital and strategic support along a company’s growth path, and exits have included Robinhood (HOOD), and Marqeta (MQ), DigitalOcean (DOCN), and Palantir (PLTR).

He has over 10 years of experience working across strategy consulting and financial services. Prior to earning his MBA from Stern, he was a financial markets economist at the Federal Reserve and International Monetary Fund and covered financial institutions.

He earned his MBA from NYU and is a member of the World Economic Forum and the Milken Institute.

Robert J. Jackson, Jr. is the Pierrepont Family Professor of Law, Co-Director of the Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance, and Director of the Program on Corporate Law and Policy at the New York University School of Law. Among other premier publications, his work has been featured in the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Law and Economics, and the Harvard Law Review.

He was nominated and unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2017 and served in that role until February 2020. Commissioner Jackson was an outspoken advocate for protecting investors, consistently calling for more transparency in capital markets and championing evidence-driven policymaking. Jackson challenged Silicon Valley insiders on dual-class stock that enables intergenerational transfers of control of America’s largest public companies and called competition economics the “forgotten fourth pillar” of the SEC’s mission. Jackson’s Office helped lead the SEC’s unanimous adoption of a pilot to study effects of stock-exchange payments on market dynamics.

Jackson’s research has consistently produced bipartisan legislation to address the gaps created by application of securities law to modern markets. His paper identifying significant insider trading before the announcement of significant corporate developments led to legislation to outlaw that trading. Another study identifying how SEC systems gave high-speed traders an advantage over ordinary investors led to bipartisan demands for a level playing field. And Jackson’s calls for an insider-trading law for the 21st century produced a bipartisan bill to close gaps in existing law.

Prior to his nomination to the Commission, Professor Jackson taught at Columbia Law School, where students honored him with the Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Before that, he served as a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Treasury Department during the financial crisis and as deputy to Kenneth Feinberg, Treasury’s Special Master on Executive Compensation. Earlier in his career, Professor Jackson practiced law at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and was an investment banker at Bear, Stearns. Jackson holds two undergraduate degrees (one in finance, another in philosophy) from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business, a Master of Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a law degree from the Harvard Law School. He was born in the Bronx, is a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees, and lives in New York with his wife, Bryana.

Mark Kronfeld is a seasoned professional with over 26 years of experience as a bankruptcy lawyer, litigator, distressed investor, restructuring advisor, and professor. He has led hundreds of successful restructurings, workouts, and distressed transactions, and has significant expertise in high-stakes litigation and negotiations, investigations, corporate governance, and investor activism. At Province, Mr. Kronfeld focuses on trustee and fiduciary services (e.g., litigation trustee, independent director, special committees, examiner, etc.), investigations, litigation and dispute resolution, restructuring, and expert testimony.

Mr. Kronfeld has significant experience in restructuring and distressed investing across the capital structure, in both public and private markets and across a wide range of industries and regions. He has led numerous ad hoc and official creditor committees in corporate, municipal, and sovereign restructurings across the world. Mr. Kronfeld has also been involved in numerous activist situations and has led many litigation and liquidating trusts.

Most recently, Mr. Kronfeld was a senior executive at BlackRock where he was the Global Head of Restructuring and served on BlackRock’s Global Credit Oversight Committee. He was responsible for overseeing workouts and restructurings across the platform as well as related governance, credit monitoring, and risk functions. Mr. Kronfeld was also as a senior member of the Office of the CIO where he managed various U.S. special situations funds and credit mandates. He also led and taught BlackRock’s internal credit training programs as well as external training programs for such clients as foreign central banks, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.

Prior to joining BlackRock through its acquisition of Tennenbaum Capital (TCP), Mr. Kronfeld was a managing director at TCP and a portfolio manager at Plymouth Lane Capital where he launched and led the firm’s credit strategy. Before Plymouth Lane, he was a managing director at BlueMountain Capital, a partner at Owl Creek Asset Management, and a senior analyst at Aurelius Capital. Before his career in finance, Mr. Kronfeld was an accomplished bankruptcy attorney and litigator. As a bankruptcy attorney, he represented debtors, creditors, trustees and boards in complex restructurings both in and out of court. As a litigator, he handled a wide variety of commercial and bankruptcy litigation. Mr. Kronfeld also served as a prosecutor in New York City, where he was a member of the elite Investigations Division and prosecuted cases involving complex white-collar crime, fraud, money laundering, corruption, organized crime, and murder, achieving a 100% jury trial conviction rate.

Mr. Kronfeld is a highly regarded expert in such as areas as distressed debt, credit analysis, restructuring, and litigation claim valuation. He is a frequent lecturer, panelist and published author on corporate governance, distressed investing, litigation, restructuring, and the credit markets. Mr. Kronfeld is an adjunct professor at NYU Stern where he co-teaches Corporate Bankruptcy (with Prof. Ed Altman) and is a lecturer at Columbia Business School where he teaches Distressed Value Investing. He was also a bankruptcy law professor at Boston University School of Law and has guest lectured at Wharton, Duke, Yale, UVA and Oxford. Mr. Kronfeld is an active member of the Turnaround Management Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute. He served on the advisory committee for ABI’s Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11, which submitted its 2014 Final Report to Congress.

Craig Brown is part of Dechert's global finance practice as a Partner based in New York, focusing on commercial real estate.

Mr. Brown has more than 25 years of experience advising on all aspects of real estate law, including acquisition, development, financing, leasing, and disposition of all types of domestic and international real estate assets, as well as structuring complex real estate joint venture transactions. He also has significant experience advising family offices, and regularly advises prominent investment funds, homebuilders, developers, hotel operators, money center banks, and insurance companies. Mr. Brown received a J.D. and M.B.A. from Hofstra University.

Mike Forman is a Managing Director in the Real Estate group where he currently focuses on new investment opportunities in the data center, digital infrastructure, and retail sectors.

Since joining Blackstone in 2012, Mr. Forman has been involved in investments across several asset classes, including the privatization of QTS Data Centers, Sunset Studios, International Market Centers, Juniper, ShopCore, and the creation and eventual IPO of Invitation Homes.

Mr. Forman received a BA in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences and Economics from Northwestern University, where he graduated with honors. He received a certificate in Financial Economics from Kellogg.

Jared Melnik is a Managing Director in Acquisitions at Starwood Capital Group. In this role, Mr. Melnik is responsible for sourcing, structuring, underwriting and executing investments in the hospitality and leisure sectors throughout the United States.

Prior to joining Starwood Capital in 2021, Mr. Melnik was a Principal at KSL Capital Partners, a travel and leisure focused investment manager, where he oversaw equity and debt investments in both hotels and leisure operating companies. Mr. Melnik led the implementation of investment strategy and opportunity sourcing, and partnered with portfolio company management to drive operational improvement. Mr. Melnik began his career at Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Melnik received a B.S. degree in finance and international business from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University. Additionally, he is a CFA charter holder.

Rob Naso is a Managing Partner and Head of U.S. Asset Management for BentallGreenOak. In this role, Rob is responsible for working with the investment and asset management teams on the business plan execution activities of all real estate holdings across the US portfolios.

Rob has 28 years of institutional real estate experience throughout the United States, including a 13-year period based in Asia where he worked across the region and lived in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. Rob’s broad experience has covered acquisitions and dispositions, asset management, capital markets, and investor relations while managing both hard assets and entity-level investments. Rob’s property type exposure has been equally diverse and has included CBD and suburban office, existing/ground-up development, multifamily, retail, serviced apartments, hotels, land development, residential-for-sale, worker dormitory, and industrial/logistics. Rob’s past responsibilities have included both equity and mezzanine lending asset management oversight.

Rob’s previous work experience includes his role as founder and managing director at Green Bridge Asia Capital in 2012 and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing in 2002, where he was Head of Asset Management for Asia-Pacific. Prior to that, Rob spent 10 years with Prudential Real Estate Investors involved in asset and portfolio management.

Rob graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Scranton and has an MBA from New York University.

Matt Smith is a Managing Partner in Brookfield’s Real Estate Group, where he leads portfolio management for Brookfield’s multifamily investments. Prior to joining Brookfield in 2017, Mr. Smith was an Executive Vice President at Related Companies, responsible for leading operations of rental and condominium portfolios across the U.S. Prior to that, he held senior positions at Avalon Bay and Archstone.

Mr. Smith holds an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

Belén Villalonga is a Professor of Management and Organizations, the Yamaichi Faculty Fellow, and a Professor of Finance (by courtesy) at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Between 2001 and 2012 she was a faculty member at Harvard Business School.

Professor Villalonga serves as an independent board director and audit committee member at several companies that are global leaders in their respective industries: Grifols (biopharma); Ferroglobe (metallurgy); and Banco Santander International (private banking). She was also an independent director for 13 years at Acciona (renewable energy and infrastructure); and Talgo (high-speed trains). She also consults to business families around the world on family, ownership, and business matters.

Professor Villalonga’s teaching, research, and advisory activities are in the areas of corporate strategy, finance, and governance, with a special focus on family-controlled companies. She has developed and taught courses and programs for graduate and undergraduate students as well as for executives and business families. Her award-winning research has been published in leading academic journals, has been cited over 15,000 times in scholarly articles, and has been featured in the leading international media outlets.

She holds a Ph.D. in Management and an M.A. in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles, where she was a Fulbright Scholar. She also holds a second Ph.D. in Business Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid. She is fluent in Spanish, English, and French, and conversant in Portuguese and Italian.

Howard Cooper began his career trading public equities for his own account, becoming a full-time trader in the 1980s. In 2006 Mr. Cooper established a single-family office to manage his family assets, which were derived from his stock trading. His SFO has since then transitioned to global investing, primarily in alternative investments, including hedge and private equity funds as well as direct investments in operating companies. Mr. Cooper is an honors graduate of Princeton University and has guest lectured at Princeton, Yale and Brown Universities.

Howard Cooper was Chairman of the Board on Family Offices, Endowments and Foundations at Princeton University, Chairman of the Yale School of Management College of Family Offices and chairs the Family Office Council at the NYU Stern School of Business. He is involved in the Genome Project at Harvard Medical School and was Chairman of the advisory board on Osteoarthritis and Orthopedics at Duke University Medical School and has been an advisor to the Princeton University Department of Astrophysical Sciences and was Chairman of the Weill Cornell Medicine Department of Neurological Surgery Advisory Board and the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Health Symposium. Howard Cooper is Chairman of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Global Investor’s Forum, past-Chairman of the Investment Committee of Florida Atlantic University, was Chairman of the University of Florida Department of Astronomy Advisory Council, co-Chair of the Johns Hopkins University Discovery Council and co-Chair of the Johns Hopkins University Departments of Physics and Astronomy Advisory Board. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Princeton University Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering and a member of the Board of Directors of Florida Atlantic University. Howard Cooper has been Chairman of the Duke University School of Medicine Family Office Leadership Board. He is an advisor to several university academic advisory councils and a member of the 14-10 Investment Fellowship of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Mr. Cooper is devoted to his favorite philanthropic endeavor of supporting music and art education among underprivileged students.

Stacy S. Dick is President and Chief Financial Officer of Equilibra Partners Management LLC, a single family office based in New York City. Prior to joining Equilibra in 2018, he served for ten years as Chief Financial Officer of Julian Robertson Holdings. Earlier in his career, Mr. Dick led the private equity investing activities of the Rothschild investment banking group and created the group’s proprietary co-investment business. During the period 1992–1998, he was a senior executive of Tenneco Inc., and he began his career as an investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions at First Boston.

Mr. Dick was educated at Harvard University, receiving an AB in Economics in 1978 and a PhD in Business Economics in 1983. He is a former board member of the Charles H. Revson Foundation and the Shalom Hartman Institute and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Finance and Law at New York University.

Rochelle Gunn is the chief investment officer of HRK Group, Inc. (HRK), a single-family office in Saint Paul, Minnesota. HRK provides integrated financial services to 20 fourth through sixth generation family members. Rochelle is responsible for setting the strategic asset allocation for two global investment portfolios and executing all investment activities to meet the long-term goals for current and future beneficiaries of the family's wealth.

Prior to joining HRK in 2008, Rochelle served as portfolio manager at Waycrosse, Inc., a single-family office in Wayzata, Minnesota. At Waycrosse, she was responsible for managing the global fixed income and global active equities portfolios. Rochelle is a Chartered Financial Analyst and has a bachelor's degree in finance and economics.

Roberto is the CFO of Maraé Investmentos, the São Paulo-based family office of Mr Guilherme Leal, entrepreneur and co-founder of the cosmetics group Natura & Co (which owns the Natura, Avon, The Body Shop and Aesop brands). Roberto’s primary areas of work include family, governance and investment matters. Roberto is a board member of companies invested by the family office, such as Dengo Chocolates, Urbem (engineered wood) and Amata (forestry) and is also involved in the analysis of additional investment opportunities. Prior to joining Maraé in 2015, Roberto was an officer at Janos Holding and previously, an Associate General Counsel at McKinsey & Company.

Roberto graduated in Administration (Fundação Getulio Vargas) and Law (Universidade de São Paulo) and obtained an M.B.A. from the New York University Stern School of Business.