Valerie Jarrett

Senior Advisor, Obama Foundation

Valerie Jarrett is a senior advisor to the Obama Foundation and Attn, a Senior Distinguished Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, and President of the Board of When We All Vote. She also serves on the boards of Ariel Investments, 2U, Lyft, the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, and the Economic Club of Chicago.

Ms. Jarrett was the longest serving Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama. She oversaw the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and Chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls. Ms. Jarrett worked throughout her tenure at the White House to mobilize elected officials, business and community leaders, and diverse groups of advocates in order to champion the creation of equality and opportunity for all Americans.

Before her White House service, Ms. Jarrett was the Chief Executive Officer of The Habitat Company in Chicago, Chairman of the Chicago Transit Board, Commissioner of Planning and Development, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Shelley Zalis

Chief Executive Officer, The Female Quotient

Shelley Zalis is a pioneer for online research and a champion of gender equality as the founder and CEO of The Female Quotient.

In 2000, she left the corporate world to launch OTX (Online Testing Exchange), which became one of the fastest growing research companies in the world. She sold OTX to Ipsos in 2010, and then led global innovation in more than 80 countries at Ipsos OTX.

Today, as CEO of The Female Quotient, Zalis works with Fortune 500 companies to advance gender equality. The FQ’s signature pop-up experience, the FQ Lounge, brings a Home of Equality to major conferences, companies and college campuses around the world. The FQ Lounge is the gathering place for leaders of all levels at events including the World Economic Forum, Cannes Lions and the Consumer Electronics Show. Through the destination-turned-movement, Zalis has connected more than 18,000 women in business and created the largest female-led community to transform workplace culture.

Zalis is also the co-founder of #SeeHer, a movement led by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) to increase the accurate portrayal of women and girls in advertising and media. Likewise, she is on the Board of Directors for MAKERS, ColorComm and Dress for Success.

Lindsay Zizumbo

Chief of Staff, Sorenson Impact Foundation

Lindsay Zizumbo is the Chief of Staff at the Sorenson Impact Foundation where she oversees the day-to-day operations and contributes to the development and implementation of the strategy and vision for the Foundation. She is focused on fulfilling and building upon the mission of the Foundation to invest in innovative, scalable solutions to the world’s most pressing needs. Lindsay also manages the communications and field building activities to continue to further the impact investing field. Previous to joining the Foundation, Lindsay was the President of Intentional Media, a family of brands that include SOCAP, Conscious Company Media and Good Capital Project; dedicated to connecting, educating and inspiring the intentional use of capital and business for good. Lindsay graduated from the University of Utah and lives in Salt Lake City with her husband Devin and two sons.

Dr. Joon Yun

President & Managing Partner, Palo Alto Advisors

Dr. Joon Yun is President of Palo Alto Investors LP, a hedge fund founded in 1989. Board certified in radiology, Joon served on the clinical faculty at Stanford. Joon serves as a trustee for the Salk Institute and for the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. He was the $2 million founding donor to the National Academy of Medicine Global Grand Challenge for Healthy Longevity. Joon graduated from Duke Medical School and Harvard College. He has been to Burning Man the past 19 years.

Jon Youshaei

Product Marketing Manager, IGTV

Jon Youshaei has been named a top marketer by Forbes and Entrepreneur and lauded by Inc. Magazine for “cracking the code for going viral." As YouTube's Head of Creator Product Marketing, Jon worked with the platform’s biggest stars to grow their communities and create viral content that generated millions of views. Today, he works at Instagram as the Product Marketing Manager for their new video platform, IGTV. Jon is also the creator of Every Vowel, a popular cartoon series that Business Insider calls the "Dilbert for our generation" and now has over 400,000 readers. Known for his unique topics and stage presence, Jon was also ranked by NPR as “one of the best commencement speakers since 1774” alongside Steve Jobs, Sheryl Sandberg and John F. Kennedy."

Rana Yared

Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Rana is a managing director in the Principal Strategic Investments team, which is responsible for leading the firm's investments in financial technology and enterprise technology, developing market structure strategies across regions, and commercializing technology assets. She is a member of the Clearing House Risk Committee and a lead investor for Launch With GS, the firm’s first for-profit investing initiative with a gender lens. Rana joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in 2006, was named managing director in 2013 and partner in 2018.

Rana serves on the boards of Tradeweb, NAV, and Barefoot Networks, as well as on the Advisory Committee of Swapclear on behalf of the firm. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of Wabash College and the Executive Board of the Penn Fund at the University of Pennsylvania.

Rana earned a BS from the Wharton School and BA in International Relations, both at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MSc from the London School of Economics.

Pamela Yang, CPA, CFA

Managing Director & Head of Charitable Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors

Pamela Yang, CPA, CFA, is Managing Director, Head of Charitable Asset Management, a division of State Street Global Advisors that invests and administers charitable assets for non-profit organizations in the United States. Prior to this role, she was Senior Vice President, Head of Trust Investment and Operations at Harvard Management Company where Pamela spent eighteen years, overseeing the investment, operation, administration, donor relations and tax teams that manage the charitable assets of Harvard University. At Harvard, Ms. Yang was also responsible for relationship management with the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University employees’ defined benefits pension plan and Harvard Club Foundation of New York City.

Ms. Yang joined HMC in 2000 from PricewaterhouseCoopers where she primarily focused on financial services and higher education clients. She is an active volunteer at the CFA Institute, currently serving as Chair of the Disciplinary Review Committee and Executive Editor of In Practice section of Financial Analysts Journal and was named the Volunteer of the Year in 2015 by the CFA Institute. Additionally, Pamela is a former Chair of the Board of CFA Society Boston and served on the board for eight years. Ms. Yang obtained her MBA/MS in Accounting at Northeastern University and did Ph.D. work in French Literature at New York University.

Robert Wolf

Founder, 32 Advisors

Robert Wolf is the Founder of 32 Advisors and the direct investing arm 32 Ventures, and does advisory services for corporate clients on financial matters, risk, and governance. Robert was named Chairman of the AI-driven messaging software platform Community in Summer 2022. Prior to forming 32 Advisors, Robert spent 18 years at UBS, a global financial services firm. While at the firm, he held several senior positions including Chairman and CEO of UBS Americas and President and Chief Operating Officer of the Investment Bank. He joined UBS in 1994 after spending 10 years at Salomon Brothers. In November 2022, Robert was appointed by President Biden to the Pentagon’s Defense Business Board and prior to that he held three Presidential appointments under President Obama: as a member of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board from 2009-2011, the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness from 2011-2013 and the Export Council from 2014-2016. Currently, Robert serves on the Board of Directors of the Obama Foundation, on the Alumni Board of the Wharton School, and on the Leadership Council of NYC’s Robin Hood Foundation. In 2016, Robert joined Fox News/Fox Business as a contributor. Robert is a 1984 graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving a B.S. in Economics.

Neal J. Wilson

Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, EJF Capital

Mr. Wilson is a founding member of EJF and serves as its Chief Operating Officer. In addition to serving as the Chief Operating Officer for EJF, Mr. Wilson currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of EJF Investments Manager LLC, the external manager to a closed-end fund listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: EJFI). Prior to forming EJF, Mr. Wilson served as a senior managing director for both the Alternative Asset Investments and Private Wealth Management groups at FBR. Prior to joining FBR, he was a senior securities attorney at Dechert LLP and a Branch Chief in the Division of Enforcement at the US Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Urban Exposure Finance Limited and a member of the Board of Trustees of Hood College. He served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Sidwell Friends School for five years until 2018. He also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools Employee Pension for nine years until 2013 and in 2014 received a Distinguished Service Award from Montgomery County for his contributions. In June 2014, Mr. Wilson served as Co-Chair of the Bridges Gala for the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities Bridges from School to Work Program. He received his BA from Columbia University and his JD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Lorraine S. Wilson

Director of Investment Products, JUST Capital

Lorraine S. Wilson is the Director of Investment Products at JUST Capital. She oversees the business development and marketing strategy for JUST Capital within the investor and financial community. With the goal of driving and accelerating the flow of investment capital towards more just companies, JUST Capital’s presence within the financial services and investment management industry is a critical element of its mission and strategy. Lorraine is focused on driving adoption of new investment products, indices and ideas, and investor tools based on the JUST Capital rankings and analysis.

Lorraine served on the American Museum of Natural History’s junior council steering committee. She is an active alumna of NYU Stern; where she serves on the host committee for her class reunion and the annual alumni holiday celebration. Lorraine is a member of the National Arts Club. She was also selected for the inaugural Economic Club of New York Fellows Program.

Lorraine has over 13 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining JUST Capital, Lorraine was Vice President, Exchange Traded Fund Product Manager at Merrill. Lorraine also held institutional sales roles at Third Avenue Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management in New York.

Ryan Williams

Founder, Executive Chairman & Co-Chair, Global Investment Committee, Cadre

Ryan A. Williams founded Cadre in 2014 to begin to level the playing field in commercial real estate investing, leveraging technology to provide institutions and individuals access to previously inaccessible real estate and alternative investment opportunities. The next-generation platform uniquely empowers individual investors to invest alongside institutions with lower minimums and fees than traditional private equity and offers first-of-its kind liquidity through a secondary trading market.

Ryan, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and serial entrepreneur, has founded and scaled multiple companies over the past fifteen years. More recently, he started investing in real estate as an undergraduate student at Harvard University.  Seeing the dislocation that resulted from the 2008 financial crisis, Ryan pooled funds from his classmates to acquire foreclosed homes in the Atlanta area, frequently working with previous owners to remain in their homes and eventually buy them back. This experience cemented in Ryan an ethos to “do well and do good.”

After graduating from Harvard, Ryan worked at Goldman Sachs in its technology, media, and telecom group, and then at The Blackstone Group in its real estate private equity division.

Ryan is regularly profiled as a top Founder and CEO. He was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine in 2019 and has written extensively about the urgent need for social and economic justice for all members of society. Cadre is dedicated to doing business with local operators from diverse backgrounds and with community and Black-owned banks. 

Ryan and his family live in Brooklyn.

Scott Walker

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, DNA

A Serial Entrepreneur, Walker began his tech career in 1995 Founding NetPage Communications. An early web-hosting company. Successfully grew the company and sold in 1997 to NetGuard Technologies. Next in 1999 as the Co-founder and President of  www.content.ad  a $50m+ online “Native Advertising” agency which is in operation and profitably running today.  Next, in 2004, as Founder and CEO of mobile game company Atrinsic helped grow to $100m in revenue and 250 employees. Raised $30m and took company public NASDAQ: ATRN. After leaving ATRN in 2007 Walker became an angel investor and has invested in multiple software companies from 2007-2011. In early 2012 fell in love with Blockchain technology and invested in a Bitcoin mining operation with crypto legend and pioneer Brock Pierce. Together acquired several first-generation Avalon mining “ASICS” This provided the initial seed BTC. From there Walker invested in several early stage crowd sales including Ethereum, Mastercoin (Omni), EOS, Block.one, CVC, Storj, Fun, and dozens of others. As a founding LP in Blockchain.Capital with investments in Coinbase, Kraken and more Walker is one of the most knowledgeable crypto investors in the sector.

Jen Wieczner

Senior Writer, Fortune

Jen Wieczner is a senior writer at Fortune, co-founding editor of The Ledger, Fortune’s franchise dedicated to the intersection of finance and technology, and co-chair of the Fortune Brainstorm Finance conference. Her recent writing includes an award-winning investigation into Paul Singer's activist hedge fund Elliott Management; cover stories on legal marijuana and the Bitcoin bubble; and profiles of business titans from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, such as hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen and former HP chief Meg Whitman. Jen also co-hosts a weekly video show dedicated to fintech, “Balancing the Ledger,” Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Time, Fast Company, The Atlantic, New York and Glamour. She graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Adam White

Chief Operating Officer, Bakkt

Adam White is Chief Operating Officer of Bakkt, a regulated, global ecosystem for digital assets. In this role, he is responsible for the strategic direction, P&L, and day-to-day operations for the Company.

White joined Bakkt in November 2018 as a founding executive. He previously served as Vice President & General Manager of Coinbase. He joined Coinbase in 2013 as the fifth employee, originally leading business development and strategy and later their exchange and institutional products. Prior to Coinbase, White tested experimental aircraft as a Captain in the United States Air Force and is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He has testified before Congress as an expert in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.

White received his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and his Bachelor of Science in Optical Engineering from the University of California, Davis.

Michael Weisz

Founder & President, YieldStreet

Michael Weisz is the Founder and President of YieldStreet. Michael is responsible for YieldStreet’s investment strategy and originator network and has overseen more than $900M in transactions over his career.

Michael began his career at a $1.2 billion New York based credit fund, working his way to Vice President before co-founding his own fund in 2013. During his 10 years on the institutional side of the business, he grew frustrated that access to superior wealth creation opportunities was not accessible to individual investors. In 2015, he teamed with Milind Mehere to create YieldStreet.

When not working late you can find Michael spending time with wife and three kids or hosting dinners at his home in Long Island - bringing together friends and family from all backgrounds.

Nicholas Vita

Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Columbia Care

Nicholas has over 25 years of experience serving in corporate leadership roles, investing capital, structuring and funding public/private partnerships and providing strategic advisory services to Fortune 500 companies throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. Prior to Columbia Care, Nicholas was a Partner and served as the Chairman of the Investment Committee at Apelles Investment Management, LLC, a private investment management company focused on the healthcare and privatized military infrastructure sectors. Before Apelles, Nicholas was a General Partner, member of the Investment Committee, and the Portfolio Manager for the Healthcare Sector at ARX Investment Management, a multi-billion dollar global credit hedge fund. Previously, he worked in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Inc., as an Analyst, Associate and Vice President in the Healthcare Department focused on Mergers, Raid Defense and Corporate Finance. Nicholas is a graduate of Columbia College, Columbia University where he was a member of the Men’s Varsity Heavyweight Crew Team and President of Saint Anthony Hall. In 2018 he was awarded a Tribeca Film Festival Disruptive Innovation Award for his efforts to combat the opioid crisis as CEO of Columbia Care. Nicholas has served as a guest lecturer at a number of leading universities, serves on several corporate and philanthropic advisory boards including GenNext (NY), Success Academy, Deerfield Club of New York, NY State Industrial Hemp Working Group and US Attorney’s (Eastern District, NY) Counterterrorism Working Group (Disruption and Early Engagement) and is a Knight of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta.

Adam Vigna

Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer, Sagard Holdings

Adam Vigna is Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Sagard Holdings, a multi strategy alternative asset manager that today invests across 4 asset classes: private equity, private credit (Sagard Credit Partners), venture capital (Portag3 Ventures and Diagram Ventures) and healthcare royalties (Sagard Healthcare Royalties Partners). Sagard Holdings is a wholly owned subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada, where Adam also serves as Vice-President.

Prior to joining Sagard Adam led the Global Principal Credit Investments Group (“PCI”) at the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (“CPPIB”) with approximately CAD 20 billion of AUM. Prior to joining CPPIB, Adam was Vice-President at Goldman Sachs in the Special Situations Group (“SSG”) in New York and Toronto. In 2006, he moved to Toronto from New York to become one of the three founding members of the Canadian Special Situations Group (“CSSG”). Before joining SSG, Adam worked in Goldman's Investment Banking Division in New York where he was a part of their Financial Institutions Group (“FIG”). Adam currently serves on the board of Peak Achievement Athletics.

Michael G. Trotsky, CFA

Executive Director & Chief Investment Officer, Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (“PRIM”) Board

Michael G. Trotsky, CFA, is the Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer of the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (“PRIM”) Board, the entity responsible for investing the $73.8 billion Massachusetts pension fund, which contains the assets of the Massachusetts Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement Systems as well as the assets of approximately 100 participating municipal and county retirement systems.

Mr. Trotsky’s work at PRIM was preceded by a 25-year career in the private sector, most recently as senior vice president and portfolio manager at PAR Capital Management, a Boston-based absolute return strategy fund. Previously, he was a senior analyst at Greenberg-Summit Partners in Boston and also served as a principal and senior vice president at Independence Investment Associates (a John Hancock subsidiary), also in Boston. Mr. Trotsky began his professional career in 1985 as an engineer at Intel Corporation in California.

Mr. Trotsky serves as Vice-Chair of the CFA Society Boston and is a member of the Boston Economics Club. Mr. Trotsky previously served as a member of the CFA Institute Board of Governors and as Chairman of the CFA Institute’s Asset Manager Code of Professional Conduct Advisory Committee.

Mr. Trotsky received a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Chris Toomey

Executive Director, Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management

Chris is a partner of a top NYC-based Private Wealth Management team managing ~$5 billion in client assets. Their clients include high net worth individuals, family offices, foundations and organizations, money management principals, institutional money managers, small cap banks, and offshore investors.

Chris primarily focuses on the asset allocation, alternative investments, and strategy implementation for their clients.

Chris began his career at JP Morgan’s Private bank and was there until 1998 when he then joined Lehman Brothers. Chris held various positions throughout the firm, transitioning from Portfolio Manager of LB Gov / Credit Portfolio to building out Lehman’s third party long only manager platform. As Senior Vice President, he was responsible for manager due diligence and often assisted in providing asset allocation and investment advice for private wealth clients. He joined Morgan Stanley Private Wealth in May 2008.

Chris has earned various distinctions including membership in Morgan Stanley’s President’s Club. He was recognized by Financial Times as one of the top 400 Advisors.and Forbes Shook Top Wealth Advisors. He has spoken at several conferences about alternative investments, including SALT, HedgeWorld, and the Investment Institute. He has also appeared on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Fox Business News’ FBN:AM and Wall Street Week, and Reuters.

Chris is a Chartered Financial Analyst and earned his Bachelor of the Arts from Hamilton College.

Reid Thomas

Executive Vice President & General Manager, NES Financial

Reid Thomas is Executive Vice President and General Manager of NES Financial’s Specialty Financial Administration, focusing on technology-enabled EB-5, 1031 and Opportunity Zone fund administration.

Reid is responsible for overseeing the day to day operations of the Specialty Financial Administration business unit. To this role he brings decades of leadership experience in both public and private companies, primarily in high-growth Silicon Valley technology companies. At NES Financial, Reid has been instrumental in the rapid growth of the company's EB-5 and Opportunity Zone businesses, working to develop the purpose-built software solutions and dedicated client services teams, which have propelled the company into leadership positions in both industries.

Reid actively contributes to both the EB-5 and Opportunity Zone communities as a writer and as a speaker at events and conferences across the country. In 2018, he received IIUSA’s “Industry Game Changer” award for his visionary work in the EB-5 space.