Peter Tarrant

Managing Director & Global Head of Capital Introduction & Business Development, BTIG

Peter Tarrant is a Managing Director and Head of Business Development and Capital Introduction at BTIG. Responsible for marketing and sales across the firm's various divisions, he works to identify potential clients and cultivate new business opportunities. Mr. Tarrant is also a member of BTIG’s Global Operating Committee. He joined the firm in 2002 via BTIG’s predecessor firm Baypoint Trading. Mr. Tarrant has nearly 25 years of industry experience. Previously, he spent seven years at Banc of America Securities (formerly Montgomery Securities), where he held several senior management roles within the Equity Trading division. Mr. Tarrant began his career as an Associate within Private Client and Corporate Services at Montgomery Securities. He earned his BA from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Distinguished Scientific Advisor, Universa Investments

Nassim Nicholas Taleb spent 21 years as a risk taker (quantitative trader) before becoming a researcher in philosophical, mathematical and (mostly) practical problems with probability.

Taleb is the author of a multivolume essay, the Incerto (The Black Swan, Fooled by Randomness, Antifragile, and Skin in the Game) covering broad facets of uncertainty. It has been translated into 36 languages.

In addition to his trader life, Taleb has also written, as a backup of the Incerto, more than 70 scholarly papers in statistical physics, statistics, philosophy, ethics, economics, international affairs, and quantitative finance, all around the notion of risk and probability.

Taleb is currently Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering (only a quarter time position) [and scientific advisor for Universa Investments]. His current focus is on the properties of systems that can handle disorder ("antifragile").

Taleb refuses all honors and anything that "turns knowledge into a spectator sport.”

Jon Stein

Chief Executive Officer & Founder, Betterment

Jon Stein is the CEO and founder of Betterment. Passionate about making life better, and with his experience from his career of advising banks and brokers on risk and products, he founded Betterment in 2008. Jon is a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Business School, and he holds Series 7, 24, 63, and is a CFA, Chartered Financial Analyst. His interests lie at the intersection of behavior, psychology, and economics. What excites him most about his work is making everyday activities and products more efficient, accessible, and easy to use.

Michael Steele

Former Chairman, RNC

When he was elected Lt. Governor of Maryland in 2003, Michael Steele made history as the first African American elected to statewide office; and again with his subsequent chairmanship of the Republican National Committee from 2009-2011.

As chairman of the RNC, Michael Steele was charged with revitalizing the Republican Party. A self-described "Lincoln Republican," under Steele’s leadership the RNC broke fundraising records (over $198 million raised during the 2010 Congressional cycle) and Republicans won 63 House seats, the biggest pickup since 1938. His commitment to grassroots organization and party building at the state and local levels produced 12 governorships and the greatest share of state legislative seats since 1928 (over 600 seats).

As Lt. Governor of Maryland, Mr. Steele’s priorities included reforming the state's Minority Business Enterprise program, improving the quality of Maryland's public education system (he championed the State’s historic Charter School law), expanding economic development in the state and fostering cooperation between government and faith-based organizations to help those in need.

Prior to his public service, Mr. Steele served as in-house finance counsel to the Mills Corporation (1997-1998) and as a corporate securities associate in the D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (1991-1997). In 1999, Mr. Steele formed The Steele Group, Inc. a business and legal communication and consulting firm which he still operates today.

From 2007-2008, Mr. Steele was a partner in the Washington, DC office of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, where he focused on corporate securities, government relations, and international affairs, with an emphasis on Africa. In 2012, Mr. Steele joined with former White House Counsel Lanny Davis in founding the crisis management and strategic communications firm Purple Nation Solutions (PNS). PNS was absorbed by Levick in 2014.

Mr. Steele’s ability as a communicator and commentator has been showcased through his current role as a political analyst for MSNBC. He has appeared on Meet the Press, Face the Nation, HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Comedy Central's The Colbert Report and The Daily Show. In addition to his work in television, Mr. Steele can be heard weekdays on his radio program, Steele & Ungar on the POTUS Channel on SiriusXM.

Mr. Steele writings on law, business and politics have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Washington Post, and on websites such as MSNBC.com, The Hill.com, The Grio.com, The Root.com, BET.com, Politico.com, Townhall.com, and in scholarly journals such as The Journal of International Security Affairs and Catholic University Law Review, among others.

He is the author of Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda, which is a call to arms for grassroots America and co-author of The Recovering Politician’s Twelve Step Program to Survive Crisis.

Born at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Mr. Steele was raised in Washington, DC. Upon graduating Johns Hopkins University (‘81), he entered the Order of St. Augustine where studied for the priesthood. He is a graduate of Georgetown Law Center (’91), an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership and a University of Chicago Institute of Politics Fellow.

Sally Staley

Former Chief Investment Officer, Case Western

Sally Staley is a board member, investment committee leader and advisor to institutional asset owners and investment managers. She retired in 2017 from Case Western Reserve University where she had worked for 15 years, serving since 2006 as CIO for $3 billion of endowment and retirement plan assets. She began her financial career in international bond market research and sales with Salomon Brothers and Merrill Lynch and transitioned to investment management at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board where she established an international fixed income program and managed an international bond portfolio. Sally later worked as Senior Consultant with the investment management consulting practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers. She holds a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from The College of Wooster where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She has been a member of Wooster’s board of trustees since 2006, currently chairing the investment committee and serving on the finance, governance, and executive committees. She is also a board member and investment subcommittee chair for Great Lakes Theater Festival Inc., a member of the advisory committee of the Certified Investment Fund Director Institute, and a former board member and investment committee chairperson for the Saint Luke’s Foundation of Cleveland.

Eldon Sprickerhoff

Founder & Chief Innovation Officer, eSentire

Eldon Sprickerhoff is the original pioneer and inventor of what is now referred to as Managed Detection and Response (MDR). In founding eSentire, Eldon responded to the incipient, yet rapidly growing, demand for a more proactive approach to preventing and investigating information security breaches. With over twenty years of tactical experience, Eldon is widely acknowledged as a subject matter expert in information security analysis. Eldon holds a Bachelor of Mathematics, Computer Science degree from the University of Waterloo.

James Lee Sorenson

Founder, Sorenson Impact Foundation

Jim is a world-renowned entrepreneur, business leader and societal innovator. Among the numerous companies Jim has founded, are those that have become instrumental in developing new industry categories and tens of thousands of jobs. These include digital compression software and tech solutions which enable on-line video and addressability, data and interactivity at scale on broadcast TV at Sorenson Media and Video Relay Services (VRS) which have transformed opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing individuals through Sorenson Communications. Jim also served as Chairman of the Board of MediConnect Global, a leader in medical records digitization and data analytics.

Jim is regarded as an important thought leader and pioneer of the impact investing movement around the world through his role as Chairman of the Sorenson Impact Foundation, which funds sustainable, scalable endeavors that maximize positive impact on the lives and societies they touch. Sorenson also endowed the Sorenson Impact Center at the University of Utah. Sorenson serves as Chairman of the Board of Village Capital and a member of the National Advisory Board of Impact Investing.

Jim has served on many community boards, including Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, Gallaudet University, the University Venture Fund, Art Works for Kids, the Utah Sports Commission, and Trustee of the University of Utah.

Michael Sonnenshein

Chief Executive Officer, Grayscale

Michael Sonnenshein is the CEO at Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager. Under his leadership, the firm has grown to be the definitive leader in crypto investing, offering a wide range of investments including single-asset and diversified products. Michael is regularly featured on CNBC and Bloomberg and was honored in 2018 as one of Business Insider’s Rising Stars of Wall Street. Michael serves as a member of the Grayscale Board of Directors, CME Group Bitcoin Futures Council, and NYU Blockchain Association. Prior to joining Grayscale, Michael was a financial advisor at JP Morgan Securities, covering HNW individuals and institutions, and an analyst at Barclays Wealth, providing coverage to middle‐market hedge funds and institutions. Michael earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and his Master of Business Administration from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.

Barry Silbert

Chief Executive Officer & Founder, Digital Currency Group

Barry Silbert is the Founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG), a global enterprise that builds, buys, and invests in blockchain and bitcoin companies all over the world.  

A pioneer in bitcoin investing, Barry began buying bitcoin in 2012 and quickly established himself as one of the earliest, most active investors in the industry.

Barry founded DCG in 2015 and today, DCG sits at the epicenter of the blockchain industry, backing over 140 companies across 30 countries, including Coinbase, Ripple, and Circle. DCG also invests directly in digital currencies and other digital assets. Additionally, DCG is the parent company of Grayscale Investments (the largest digital currency asset manager with ~$1 billion in AUM), Genesis Trading (the largest regulated crypto trading and lending firm), and CoinDesk (the preeminent blockchain media and events company). 

Prior to leading DCG, Barry founded SecondMarket, a technology company that was acquired by Nasdaq. Barry has received numerous accolades for his leadership including Entrepreneur of the Year by both EY and Crain's, and being selected to Fortune’s “40 under 40” list.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Barry worked as an investment banker. He graduated with honors from the Goizueta Business School of Emory University.

Gareth Shepherd, PhD, CFA

Co-Head of Voya Machine Intelligence & Portfolio Manager, Voya Investment Management

Gareth Shepherd is co-head of the Voya machine intelligence (VMI) team and a portfolio manager at Voya Investment Management. Prior to joining Voya, Gareth was a managing partner and co-founder of G Squared Capital LLP. Prior to that, he held various positions within risk and asset management in Australia, Switzerland, the U.S. and the UK. Gareth earned a PhD in applied expert systems and a Master of Applied Science from the University of New South Wales, and a BE from the University of Queensland. He also completed a World Economic Forum sponsored Executive Masters (INSEAD, London Business School, and Columbia University) and is a CFA® Charterholder.

Allyn L. Shaw

Chief Operating Officer, Global Information Security, Bank of America

Allyn L. Shaw is the Global Information Security (GIS) Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for business operations as well as managing risk, strategy, finance, resources, performance and metrics management. Allyn and his team are also responsible for the development and implementation of an integrated GIS workforce strategy that delivers on future-state resource, location and learning goals.

Before moving to GIS, Allyn was the Workspace Services Chief Operating Officer in the Chief Technology Organization. In this role, he was responsible for aligning the technology initiatives of the workforce, marketing, and financial and risk controls. His team enabled the delivery of end-to-end technology and operations, which supported desktop platforms, productivity applications, mobility services, communication and collaboration technologies for the company.

Prior to joining Bank of America in 2004, Allyn led Enterprise Voice Network Services at Countrywide. He managed a team responsible for real-time communications, mobility, interactive response, contact centers, unified communications, trader voice, carrier transport services globally, and voice, web and video conferencing.

Allyn is a passionate advocate for inclusion, sponsorship and the creation of successful diverse teams. He serves on Bank of America’s LGBT Executive Council and the Black Executive Leadership Council. Allyn is the executive sponsor for the Charlotte, NC chapter of the bank’s Black Professional Group, a member of the Global Technology & Operations Diversity & Inclusion Council and a member of the Women in Technology & Operations Global Advisory Board. Within the community, Allyn serves on the board of Out and Equal Workplace Advocates.

Allyn is a California native, who currently lives with his husband in Charlotte, NC, where they enjoy music, tennis, travel, and spending time with friends and family.

Angelique Sellers, CFA

Senior Director, Portfolio Management, Penn State University

Angelique Sellers joined The Office of Investment Management at The Pennsylvania State University in October of 2011. She provides leadership in management of the University’s Long-Term Investment Pool, with primary responsibility for non-US public equity; diversifying strategies, including hedged and commodity related strategies; credit, and other opportunistic strategies. As the Sr. Director, she oversees global investment manager sourcing and due diligence, and is involved in all aspects of management of the University’s investment program.

Prior to joining the Penn State investment team, Sellers was co-Chief Investment Officer for Anchor Point Capital, LLC in Coral Gables, Florida, a multi-manager hedge fund investment firm.

Prior to Anchor Point Capital, Sellers served as an investment officer with the $2 billion John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami, where she was the team leader for a multi-manager, multi-strategy $600 million hedge fund portfolio.

Ms. Sellers attended Moscow State Linguistic University in Moscow, Russia, where she received a BA degree in Linguistics. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a member of the CFA Institute.

The Honorable Jeff Sessions

84th Attorney General of the United States

Mr. Sessions was born in Selma, Alabama as the son of a country store owner. After attending school in nearby Camden, Sessions attended Huntington College, a small liberal arts college, in Montgomery graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1969. He taught in public schools one year before receiving a Juris Doctor degree in 1973 from the University of Alabama. In 1973, he received his U.S. Army Commission and served in the U.S. Army Reserve for over 10 years, ultimately attaining the rank of Captain.

Mr. Sessions served for over two years as an Assistant U.S. attorney (1975 – 1077) before being nominated by President Reagan in 1981. Confirmed by the Senate to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, he held the position for 12 years (1981 – 1993). Sessions was later elected as Alabama Attorney General in 1995, serving as the State’s chief legal officer until 1996 when he was elected to the United States Senate (1997 – 2017). In the Senate, he was an active member of the Senate’s Judiciary and Armed Services Committees for 20 years. During this time, he served as ranking Republican on both the Judiciary and the Budget Committees.

Senator Sessions vigorously advocated for a restrained and objective Judiciary that follows the judicial oath to serve the Constitution and laws of our country. He fought for a frugal and balanced budget, a vigorous foreign policy and a strong military. Sessions strongly supported the War on Terrorism but acknowledges the need for realism and limits in our policies. Furthermore, he supports lawful immigration that serves the national interest and that the nation must stand firmly against unfair trade practices.

President Donald J. Trump announced his invitation to nominate Mr. Sessions on November 18, 2016 and he was sworn in as the 84th Attorney.

Laurie Segall

Journalist

Laurie Segall got her start identifying and interviewing founders of disruptive tech companies and bringing their stories to light. She has interviewed entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and Bill Gates, giving her audience a behind the scenes look at tech companies like Twitter and Facebook during their meteoritic rise.

Covering technology for a decade, she has also interviewed the founders/CEOs of companies like Instagram, Twitter, Uber, Pinterest, Salesforce, Microsoft and more.

Segall was most recently a senior technology correspondent for CNN and editor-at-large for CNN Tech, where she covered the intersection of technology and culture for a decade. Her latest documentary for CNN, “Facebook at 15: It’s Complicated” provided unprecedented access to Facebook and top executives like CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg. Segall was also the executive producer and host of, Mostly Human with Laurie Segall, a six-part investigative docuseries, exploring sex, love, death - humanity - through the lens of tech.

An award winning storyteller, Segall specializes in investigative reports showing the impact of technology on our daily lives. Her investigations range from emerging forms of online harassment to an intimate look at the hacker community and drug use in Silicon Valley.

After a decade covering tech, Segall is launching a venture exploring technology through the most important lens of all: the human one.

Adam Seessel

Founder & Chief Investment Officer, Gravity Capital Management

Adam Seessel is founder and Chief Investment Officer of Gravity Capital Management, which runs money for both institutions and high-net worth individuals in a long-term, tax-efficient manner. He began his career at Sanford Bernstein and moved to progressively higher analytical responsibilities at Baron Capital and Davis Selected Advisers, where he ran consumer-products and media research. He started Gravity in 2003.

Gravity Capital Management manages money in both a partnership and a separate-account format. It has a long-term record of beating the market after fees, with special focus on capital preservation. In 2008, for example, the Gravity Long-Biased Fund lost only 5.5% of capital and returned 27% in 2009.

Seessel began his career as an investigative journalist, winning the George Polk Award in 1991 for environmental reporting. The award is generally considered the 2nd highest honor in American journalism after the Pulitzer Price. He remains active in journalism as an occasional contributor for both Barron’s and Fortune magazines.

Adam graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1985 with a BA in Religion.

Todd G. Sears

Founder & Principal, Out Leadership

Todd Sears is the Founder and Principal of Out Leadership, the global LGBT+ business advisory company that partners with the world’s most influential firms to build business opportunity, cultivate talent, and drive equality forward.

More than 430 global CEOs have engaged in Out Leadership’s work, and the organization counts more than 65 major companies as members. Thousands of LGBT+ and ally executives share insights and best practices at Out Leadership’s annual Summits in New York, London, Hong Kong and Sydney. Many more engage with its global talent initiatives including OutNEXT, the first global development program for the next generation of LGBT+ executives; OutWOMEN, its groundbreaking effort to connect and celebrate Out LBT+ women in business; and Quorum, the first effort to place senior LGBT+ executives on corporate boards.

A former investment banker, Todd specialized in wealth management at Merrill Lynch, creating the first national team of financial advisors on Wall Street focused on the LGBT+ community, which brought over $1.4 billion of new assets to the firm. Todd then moved into diversity leadership, as Head of Diversity & Strategic Initiatives at Merrill Lynch and then at Credit Suisse, where he served as Americas Head of Diversity and Inclusion.

A graduate of Duke University and Woodberry Forrest School, Todd is also an active philanthropist and community leader. He is the founding co-chair of Jeffrey Fashion Cares, a fundraiser supporting LGBT+ civil rights, youth and HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, which has applied an innovative cost-structure to raise millions of dollars since its inception.

Todd serves on the non-profit boards of The Williams Institute of UCLA, The Palette Fund, and Lambda Legal. In 2014 he received Aid for AIDS International’s My Hero Award; in 2015 he received the Minority Corporate Counsel Association's Paula L. Ettelbrick Award for achievements in advancing LGBT attorneys.

Marc Schultz

Partner, Snell & Wilmer

Marc Schultz is a partner at Snell & Wilmer LLP, based in Phoenix, Arizona. Marc's practice is concentrated in federal, local and state taxation matters, including complex transactions involving corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, tax exempt entities, and real property. Marc regularly engages in advising clients with respect to mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, formation of private investment funds, tax credit financing, and energy transactions. Marc currently chairs Snell & Wilmer’s Tax Credit Finance Group and Renewable Energy Group, and founded and co-chairs the firm’s Opportunity Zones and Funds Industry Group.

Marc has represented investors, developers, and syndicators with respect to Low-Income Housing Tax Credit transactions, and has represented numerous parties with respect to transactions involving New Markets Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, and Renewable Energy. Marc is a regular speaker and panelist on the subject of tax credit finance and the Opportunity Zone incentive, and has written numerous articles and has been quoted in numerous publications with respect to these subject areas.

Marc is currently representing investors, fund sponsors, and developers with respect to the Opportunity Zone Program. Marc was involved in the advising and drafting of a number of comment letters that were submitted to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service regarding the Opportunity Zone proposed regulations. Marc was recently a panelist and/or speaker at the State of Delaware’s Opportunity Zone Summit hosted by the Biden Institute, the Opportunity Zone Conference hosted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the State of Rhode Island’s Opportunity Zone Workshop.

Marc received a Juris Doctor with highest honors from the Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he was elected to Order of the Coif, and received a Legal Masters in Taxation (LL.M.) from the New York University School of Law. He has also served as an adjunct professor, teaching taxation of business entities in the Graduate Program of Accountancy, at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Marc also served on the Board of Directors for the Arizona Housing Finance Authority, as an appointment by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey.

Chris Schultz

Chief Executive Officer & Creative Director, Launch Pad

Chris Schultz is a seasoned expert in high-growth startups and expansion in momentum markets. He’s an active angel investor and has spent 15+ years bringing together the “doers” of the world—startups that have raised hundreds of millions in venture capital and created 5,000+ jobs. He founded Launch Pad, a startup workspace and community for entrepreneurs, creatives, and professionals in New Orleans in 2009. As an early-stage investor in New Orleans, Chris was the first check in to Lucid and served as a board member as it grew from 1 to 220 employees and recently raised $60mm. In 2018, he guided the expansion to new markets in Newark, Memphis, and Nashville and plans to continue the expansion to 25 more locations by 2020.

Kristen Scholer

Senior Anchor, Cheddar

Kristen Scholer is Cheddar's Senior Anchor, hosting the business news network's flagship show "Opening Bell" live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange each weekday from 9 to 11 a.m. Eastern time. Before joining Cheddar as its first news anchor, Kristen was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, writing a daily finance column and reporting across its digital and print platforms. Kristen was a producer and writer at CNBC prior to her work at the Journal. She graduated cum laude from Northwestern University, studying journalism, economics and politics.

Justin Schmidt

Head of Digital Asset Markets & Vice President, Goldman Sachs

Justin Schmidt joined Goldman Sachs as VP, Head of Digital Asset Markets in April of 2018. Prior, Justin spent ten years as a quantitative equities portfolio manager for hedge funds in NY and London. Justin is a graduate of MIT with degrees in Computer Science, specializing in artificial intelligence and distributed systems engineering.