Josh Brown

Chief Executive Officer, Ritholtz Wealth Management

Josh Brown has spent his career helping people invest and manage portfolios. His clients range from individuals to corporations, retirement plans and charitable foundations.

Josh is the author of the book Backstage Wall Street, (McGraw-Hill, 2012).

He is on the advisory board of Brightscope, where he hopes to help usher in a new era of transparency for the financial advisory industry.

Josh blogs at The Reformed Broker, where he discusses markets, politics, economics, media, culture and finance using statistics, satire, anecdotes, pop culture references, sarcasm, fact, fantasy and any other device that help to get his points across and easily understood.

He will challenge your perceptions, call it like he sees it and occasionally, make you laugh.

G Money

Delphi INFINIT

gmoney is a technologist focused on pushing boundaries within the NFT space to disrupt industries around the world.  In January, he wrote a thread on his CryptoPunk purchase, which at the time was the highest price paid for a Punk ($150,000).  He is an angel investor as well as runs an NFT infrastructure fund with Delphi Digital to invest in the space.

Brian Brooks

Partner, Valor Capital Group

Brian Brooks is a long-term partner of Valor, member of the Strategic Board of Advisors, and has recently joined the firm as a full-time Partner.

He is a globally recognized leader in financial technology and financial services. Brian served as the CEO of Bitfury, one the largest crypto miners in the world. Prior to joining Bitfury, he was the CEO of Binance US.

He most recently served as Acting U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, where he was the administrator of the federal banking system and the chief executive of the 3,500-employee federal agency responsible for chartering and supervising banks comprising 70 percent of all banking activity in the United States. Brooks was often referred to as the “first fintech Comptroller” and “CryptoComptroller” for his focus on financial innovation.

Brooks’s background before leading the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency included serving as Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase, the largest digital asset exchange in the United States; executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of Fannie Mae, the $3.2 trillion housing finance giant; vice chairman of OneWest Bank, a regional bank based in Southern California; and Washington, D.C. managing partner of global law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

Brooks’s board experience includes service on the boards of directors of Fannie Mae; Avant, Inc., a major marketplace lending platform; and Spring Labs, a blockchain-enabled digital credit bureau; and numerous nonprofit boards. He has also been an advisor to and/or early stage investor in EarnUp, TextIQ, LoanSnap, and other technology companies. He holds an A.B. cum laude from Harvard University and a J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago.

Peter Wallach

Executive Managing Director & Head of Risk Management, Sculptor Capital

Peter Wallach is an Executive Managing Director and Head of Risk Management for Sculptor Capital. He is also a member of the Firm’s Partner Management Committee and Portfolio Committee. Mr. Wallach’s team develops tools and technology and delivers content and analysis to manage the Firm’s active risk process. 

Mr. Wallach was previously a Senior U.S. Structured Credit Trader, where he focused on identifying, analyzing and implementing strategies across the spectrum of mortgage- and asset-backed securities for Sculptor Capital.

Prior to joining the Firm in 2011, Mr. Wallach was a Senior Analyst at Moore Capital Management. Before that, he held various roles at Citigroup and Bank of America.

Mr. Wallach holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Harvard College.

John Peurifoy

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Floating Point Group

John Peurifoy is the CEO and Co-Founder of Floating Point Group (FPG) - a unified platform for institutions to trade, custody, and settle cryptocurrency assets efficiently and safely. Prior to founding FPG, John was an MIT PhD candidate in advanced computational electronics and graduated from MIT with a degree in electrical engineering, computer science, and physics.

Kapil Rathi

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, CrossTower

Kapil is the Co-Founder and CEO of CrossTower. He is a financial services industry veteran, having previously held senior leadership roles at NYSE, Bats, ISE and Cboe. Prior to founding CrossTower, Kapil was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at AlphaPoint. His background also includes product and technology leadership roles at NYSE, AT&T, and Aithent. Kapil’s accomplishments include managing four equity options exchanges at Cboe, launching a new options exchange at Bats, and building multiple innovative trading products at ISE. Kapil holds an MBA from Fordham University.

Jeff Schumacher

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, New Asset Exchange (NAX)

Jeff Schumacher is the founder and CEO of NAX (the New Asset Exchange). Positioned at the intersection of Web3 and ESG, NAX creates the financial constructs to make ESG profitable and viable. By transforming data into products that pioneer new assets and markets, Jeff and his team are paving the way to a more fair and sustainable future.

As an innovation leader with over 25 years of experience building new businesses and transforming large corporations, Jeff has actively contributed to the startup network as an operator, investor and entrepreneur, helping to found over 100 early-growth companies.

He co-founded BCG Digital Ventures, which quickly became one of the fastest-growing
venture investment and incubation firms worldwide. Jeff spent nearly half a decade developing the groundbreaking business model for BCG Digital Ventures, which he subsequently scaled into a global platform with innovation centers across four continents creating transformative digital businesses for large multinational corporations. Prior to founding BCG Digital Ventures Jeff was a Partner for McKinsey & Company, and was the founder of their Global Solution Center, which was a machine learning business supporting clients in healthcare, consumer and industrial goods. He also held roles as the Chief Marketing Officer, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Sports Authority. He frequently contributes to media conversations speaking on the topic of digital disruption throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Bobby Valentine

Former Major League Baseball Manager; Candidate for Mayor of Stamford, Connecticut; Inventor of the Wrap

Bobby Valentine was born and raised in Stamford, the son of Joseph and Grace. Bobby attended Ryle Elementary, Cloonan Middle School, and Rippowam High School, where he was elected student body president and became the only three-time All-State football player in Connecticut history.

Bobby received a scholarship to the University of Southern California and was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1968.

After 10 seasons as a professional baseball player, Bobby made his major league managerial debut in 1985 with the Texas Rangers. He was the American League Manager of the Year in 1986 and went onto become the winningest manager in Rangers history. Bobby began managing the New York Mets in 1996 and led the team to back-to-back postseasons, including a 2000 World Series appearance. He also won the 2005 Japan Series Championship while managing the Chiba Lotte Marines.

In 1980, he opened his first business, Bobby Valentine's Sports Cafe in Stamford. The highly successful restaurant ignited a multi-decade transformation of the downtown business district. Bobby Valentine's Sports Academy continues to thrive in Stamford, serving thousands of area athletes.

In 2013, Bobby become the Executive Director of Athletics at Sacred Heart University. His leadership of a program with almost 1000 student athletes and 90 coaches has significantly improved the school's standing.

Bobby has always been a passionate advocate for Stamford and the other communities where he has served the public interest. In 2001, he worked tirelessly to lead an emergency staging area at Shea Stadium for families impacted by the events of 9/11. He was awarded the 2002 Branch Rickey Award for his extraordinary contributions to the relief effort.

Sydney Schaub

Chief Legal Officer, Gemini

Sydney Schaub is the Chief Legal Counsel of Gemini Trust Company, LLC. Prior to joining Gemini, Ms. Schaub was General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Rent the Runway, Inc., a late-stage private company disrupting the retail industry. Prior to that, Ms. Schaub served as Acting Co-General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Square, Inc., where she was responsible for payments regulatory and compliance matters, international expansion, and the legal aspects of the company’s public offering. Ms. Schaub started her legal career at Google Inc. She has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts, both in English Literature, from Stanford University.

Joanna Reiss

Partner and Co-Lead of Impact, Apollo Global Management

Ms. Reiss is the Co-Lead of Impact and Partner at Apollo Global Management. She joined Apollo from Cornell Capital, a private equity firm where she was a partner since founding in 2013. At Cornell Capital, Ms. Reiss invested across the industrial, financial and consumer sectors and served as a member of the investment committee. In addition to her investing role, Ms. Reiss launched and led the firm’s ESG program, which included policy development and implementation across investment diligence and ownership. She began her career at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Banking and Merchant Banking divisions, and subsequently served as an analyst at Merchants’ Gate Capital. Ms. Reiss serves on the board of directors of Smart and Final, and she has previously served as a member of the boards of Monolith Materials and Corelle Brands. Ms. Reiss is a graduate of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Petya Nikolova

Head of Infrastructure Investments, New York City Retirement System

Petya Nikolova is the Head of Infrastructure Investments for New York City Comptroller’s Office. Ms. Nikolova built the infrastructure asset class and is investing the infrastructure allocation on behalf of the $260 billion New York City Retirement Systems. The exposure to infrastructure on a committed and invested basis is over $8.0 billion and well diversified across strategies, sectors and geographies.

Ms. Nikolova joined the Comptroller’s office from WestLB, where she was a Director in the Infrastructure Americas team originating, structuring and executing transactions across transportation, social infrastructure and utilities in the Americas. Prior to this, Ms. Nikolova spent nine years with Bank of Ireland and MBIA in infrastructure origination and execution covering energy and infrastructure globally. 

Ms. Nikolova holds an MPA from Syracuse University and an MA/BA in Economics from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Nathan McCauley

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Anchorage Digital

Nathan McCauley is the Co-Founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital, the leading digital asset platform for institutions. He started his career at Arxan Technologies, where he worked on anti-reverse engineering and key management for commercial and military applications. As an early employee at Square, he worked on the infrastructure security platform now used to move over $80B in annualized GPV. Later, at Docker, together with Anchorage Co-Founder Diogo Mónica, he built and led the security team, developing code that helps secure containers, one of the core underpinnings of modern infrastructure. At Anchorage, Nathan’s leadership and technical expertise guides internal development of products and services. As CEO, Nathan’s driven growth and expansion for Anchorage, pioneering Anchorage as the nation’s first crypto federal bank charter where he serves as President and CEO of Anchorage Digital Bank.

Dr. Michio Kaku

Henry Semat Chair in Theoretical Physics, City University of New York

Dr. Michio Kaku is one of the most renowned figures in science and the world today.

Theoretical physicist, bestselling author, acclaimed public speaker, futurist, and popularizer of science, he co-founded “String Field Theory” and continues Einstein’s quest to unite the fundamental forces of nature into a single grand unified “Theory of Everything.”

Dr. Kaku holds the Henry Semat Chair in Theoretical Physics at City University New York, graduating summa cum laude from Harvard with a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. He has written numerous New York Times bestselling books including The Future of Humanity, The Future of the Mind, Physics of the Future, and Physics of the Impossible.

Kaku’s latest bestselling book The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything explores the history of unification theories from Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation through Quantum Mechanics and The Standard Model of Particle Physics — culminating in his own landmark contributions to the most cutting-edge ideas in theoretical physics.

With over five million followers on social media, Kaku has appeared on every major television network and news outlet in the world plus over 500 radio stations. He hosts Science Fantastic, the largest nationally syndicated science show on commercial radio.

Michio Kaku is a sought-after public figure with a gift for explaining complex abstract concepts in ways that people from all walks find engaging, enlightening, and entertaining — predicting future trends in business, communications, transportation, medicine, and our very way of life.

Dr. Jasmin Hume

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Shiru

Dr. Jasmin Hume is the Founder and CEO of Shiru, a biotechnology company addressing a critical need in the food industry by providing access to more sustainable and healthy ingredients. Shiru is fueled by data-driven discovery, combining machine learning and fermentation to uncover functional alternative proteins from nature. Shiru is a 2021 recipient of the Elizabeth Elting Venture Award and is a YCombinator Graduate. Prior to founding Shiru Jasmin was the Director of Food Chemistry at JUST (fka Hampton Creek).

Jasmin is an expert in proteins, leveraging deep biochemistry, materials science, and food science knowledge to bring transformative, sustainable foods from concept to reality. She is a 2021 Rising Star & Disruptor honoree from Women Building the Future by Vegan Women Summit and Impossible Foods. Jasmin holds a doctorate in protein engineering from NYU, an MSc from Chalmers University, and a BEng from McGill University.

Leanna Haakons

President, Black Hawk Financial

Leanna Haakons is the founder of financial marketing and consulting firm Black Hawk Financial, which she formed in 2014 following her last role in London working for the only FCA authorized investor relations firm in the UK. She has over 13 years of experience consulting and facilitating transactions alongside multi-billion-dollar funds, private, and public companies listed worldwide.

Ms. Haakons is a recognized leader in financial literacy following the publication of her bestselling book “Young, Fun & Financially Free” with 100% of the proceeds being donated to the WE Charity. Her entrenched passion for education and business, while acting and modeling for over 10 years has led her to an impressive array of hosting and media accomplishments. She has been requested to speak, adjudicate and host at hundreds of international conferences, media outlets, podcasts, and blogs. Leanna is an innovator in the financial literacy community and works with brands to educate the Gen Z-X-Y cohorts on the importance of investing, financial planning, and wellness.

Leanna grew up in Vancouver and attained her Bachelors in Business Administration from Ryerson University. She has since gained securities licensing and higher education in journalism and capital markets at Harvard University, Pepperdine University, and Skema International Business School (France). She is a devoted athlete having been a competitive ski racer and is a true “give back” enthusiast. She remains active in the wellness and philanthropic communities while residing in New York City.

Richard Fontaine

Chief Executive Officer, Center for a New American Security (CNAS)

Richard Fontaine is the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He served as President of CNAS from 2012-19 and as Senior Advisor and Senior Fellow from 2009-12. Prior to CNAS, he was foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain and worked at the State Department, the National Security Council, and on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

Mr. Fontaine currently serves as Executive Director of the Trilateral Commission and has been an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. 

A native of New Orleans, Mr. Fontaine graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in International Relations from Tulane University. He also holds a M.A. in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, and he attended Oxford University. He lives in Virginia with his wife and their four children. 

Jennifer Drake

Chief Operating Officer, AYR Wellness

Jen is a proven business leader in both large blue-chip institutions and at lean start-ups. A former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs with extensive M&A experience, she institutionalized the businesses of several multi-billion-dollar asset management firms, ensuring compliance within complex regulatory frameworks and creating a foundation for accelerated growth. Jen leverages her deep experience in these areas while leading corporate functions for Ayr, including capital markets strategy, investor and strategic communications, government affairs, and corporate compliance.

Mei-Li da Silva Vint

Chief Compliance Officer, Brevet Capital Management

Mei-Li da Silva Vint is the Chief Compliance Officer of Brevet Capital Management. She is a legal and compliance expert with experience executing M&A, private equity, and venture capital transactions and serving institutional investor clients.

Ms. da Silva Vint possesses a unique blend of private capital, investor relations, and corporate compliance expertise. She has significant experience supporting M&A transactions and structuring complex private credit loans.

Prior to joining Brevet Capital in 2016, Ms. da Silva Vint served almost five years within Morgan Stanley’s Bank Resource Management division where she covered key institutional clients in the fixed income and equity space and structured private secured loans. In 2012, she began her tenure at Morgan Stanley on the Institutional Securities Documentation team focusing on cross-border and local derivatives markets for fixed income, equities, and commodities. She then joined the Sales & Marketing team in 2014, where she was responsible for managing a multi-billion-dollar exclusive securities lending portfolio and sourcing secured funding to manage the liquidity of the firm.

Ms. da Silva Vint began her career as a corporate attorney with McDermott Will & Emery, an international law firm where she executed cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructurings, private offerings, and venture capital and private equity transactions.

She earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, obtained her MBA from Columbia Business School (with honors), and received a B.A. in English and Communications from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Ms. da Silva Vint is on the board and the Governance Committee of the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. She is fluent in Portuguese

Bill Campbell

Portfolio, Global Bond Strategy, DoubleLine

Mr. Campbell joined DoubleLine in 2013. He is a Portfolio Manager for the DoubleLine Global Bond Strategy and is a permanent member of the Fixed Income Asset Allocation Committee. He covers Developed Markets, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA), and China. Prior to DoubleLine, Mr. Campbell worked for Peridiem Global Investors as a Global Fixed Income Research Analyst and Portfolio Manager. Previous to that, he was with Nuveen Investment Management Company, first as a Quantitative Analyst in their Risk Management and Portfolio Construction Group, then as a Vice President in their Taxable Fixed Income Group. Mr. Campbell also worked at John Hancock Financial as an Investment Analyst. He holds a BS in Business Economics and International Business, as well as a BA in English, from Pennsylvania State University. Mr. Campbell holds an MA in Mathematics, with a focus on Mathematical Finance, from Boston University.

Les Borsai

Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Wave Financial

Les Borsai is a Los Angeles-based technology entrepreneur, music promoter and manager, and advisor in the cryptocurrency, blockchain and music-technology industries. He began his career in the music and entertainment industry, working in artist management and marketing, after first gaining recognition as a rave promoter in the Southern California underground scene of the late 1980s. He held positions at Avalon Attractions (now Live Nation Entertainment|Live Nation), MCA Records, and Bill Silva Entertainment before starting the musician management company Modern Artist Management. His client list includes country singer Wynonna Judd, pop artist Jason Mraz, and the alternative bands Burning Brides, The Icarus Line and Unwritten Law, among others.

In the later 2000s, Borsai became involved in other industries, including digital music, cryptocurrency and blockchain. He co-founded the iPhone application development company gridMob in 2008 as well as SongLily in 2012, a digital platform company that simplifies music licensing for mobile application and game developers.After being an early investor in cryptocurrency platform Ethereum, he served as an advisor to blockchain companies and in 2018 co-founded Wave Financial, a digital asset management firm.