Andrew Ng

Managing General Partner, AI Fund

Andrew Ng is the Managing General Partner at AI Fund, Founder of DeepLearning.AI, and an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University.

As a pioneer both in machine learning and online education, Dr. Ng has changed countless lives through his work in AI, and has taught over 7 million people AI. He was the founding lead of the Google Brain team, which led Google’s drive to adopt modern AI, as well as the chief scientist at Baidu.

He is also the co-founder and Chairman of Coursera – the world’s largest MOOC platform. Dr. Ng now focuses his time primarily on his entrepreneurial ventures, looking for the best ways to accelerate responsible AI practices in the larger global economy. He was also named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by TIME magazine in 2013.

Steven Meier

Chief Investment Officer & Deputy Comptroller for Asset Management, New York City Retirement System (NYCRS)

As Chief Investment Officer and Deputy Comptroller for Asset Management, Steven Meier, oversees the five pension systems that compose the New York City Retirement system.

Mr. Meier brings over 30 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, previously serving as Assistant Treasurer and Interim Chief Investment Officer for the Connecticut Office of the State Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden, overseeing the investments of Connecticut’s $40 billion public pension system and its ESG initiatives. Before joining the Connecticut state treasurer’s office, Meier spent more than a decade at State Street Global Advisors, where he rose to Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for Global Fixed Income, Currency, and Cash Management, overseeing over $900 billion in assets.

Prior to his time at State Street, he worked at Credit Suisse as Director, Global Head of Fixed Income & Money Market Electronic Trading and Senior Trader in the Global Financing Group at Credit Suisse. His experience also includes roles at Oppenheimer Capital, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, and Irving Trust Company.

Meier is a CFA Charter Holder and certified Financial Risk Manager. He holds an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business and a BBA from Hofstra University’s Zarb School of Business.

Jens Foehrenbach, CFA

Chief Investment Officer, Man FRM, Man Group

Jens Foehrenbach is the Chief Investment Officer at Man FRM and chairs Man FRM's Investment Committee. He is responsible for the investment policy and oversight of Man FRM portfolios. He also serves on Man Group’s Executive and Responsible Investment Committees.

Previously, Jens managed a range of Man FRM portfolios and has served in several capacities for Man FRM and the Man Group multi-manager businesses, including Head of Equity and Credit strategies.

Prior to joining Man Group in 2008, Jens spent four years at Harcourt Investment Consulting AG, where he was style head of relative value equity strategies. Before that, he was employed by UBS AG, where he worked on the bank’s fixed income derivatives trading desk in Switzerland and London.

Jens holds a Master’s degree in Business Economics from the University of Basel, Switzerland (lic. rer. pol.). He is also a CFA charterholder.

Anita Dunn

Senior Advisor to President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Anita Dunn is one of the nation’s top communications and political strategists. As Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to President Biden, Anita advises on the administration’s overall strategy and messaging. Prior to serving in the Administration, she served as a senior advisor on the Biden-Harris campaign, advising on all aspects of the winning campaign.

Ms. Dunn has decades of experience advising Presidents and senior Democrats. She served as a chief strategist to President Obama both as a senior campaign advisor and as the White House Communications Director. She has also worked in leading roles for former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, as well as former Senators Bill Bradley and Evan Bayh. Ms. Dunn has worked on six Democratic presidential campaigns over a period of 40 years. Ms. Dunn was also a partner and founding member of a top national communications and political consulting firm, where she brought unparalleled strategic communications experience to Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, philanthropic organizations, and labor unions, as well as political committees and candidates.

Joe Dowling

Senior Managing Director & Global Head, Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM)

Joe Dowling is a Senior Managing Director and the Global Head of BAAM, where he oversees and leads all of BAAM’s investment activities.

Prior to joining Blackstone in 2021, Mr. Dowling led Brown University’s endowment, including as Chief Executive Officer from July 2018 to July 2020 and Chief Investment Officer from June 2013 to July 2018. Mr. Dowling also served as interim Chief Financial Officer of the University from May 2019 until January 2020, leading all finance and treasury functions as well as cash and debt management.

Before joining Brown University, he was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Narragansett Asset Management, where he managed funds for institutions, pension funds, and endowments. Mr. Dowling has also worked for First Boston and Tudor Investments.

Mr. Dowling has a B.A. from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Alexander Lipton

Global Head, Quantitative Research and Development, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA)

Alexander Lipton is Global Head, Research & Development at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Professor of Practice at Khalifa University, Visiting Professor and Dean’s Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Connection Science Fellow at MIT, and Advisory Board member at ADIA Lab. Alex is a Co-Founder of Sila, a company providing, digital wallet & ACH payment services, and an advisory board member at several fintech companies worldwide. From 2006–2016, Alex was Co-Head of the Global Quantitative Group and Quantitative Solutions Executive at Bank of America. Earlier, he was a senior manager at Citadel, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and Bankers Trust. In addition, Alex held visiting professorships at EPFL, NYU, Oxford University, Imperial College, and the University of Illinois. Before becoming a quant, Alex was a Full Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois and a Consultant at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Risk Magazine awarded him the Inaugural Quant of the Year Award in 2000 and the Buy-side Quant of the Year Award in 2021. Alex authored/edited twelve books and more than a hundred scientific papers on nuclear fusion, astrophysics, applied mathematics, financial engineering, and distributed ledgers. He frequently gives keynote presentations on Quantitative Finance and FinTech at conferences and forums worldwide.

Bouchra Darwazah

General Partner, Asymmetric

Bouchra Darwazah is a General Partner at Asymmetric, a multi-strategy investment fund focused on venture and liquid investments in cryptocurrency and Web3. Asymmetric is backed by Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, the founders of Solana, Circle Inc. among other reputable institutional asset managers.

Bouchra has over 13 years of experience as an institutional trader, entrepreneur, and early-stage investor. Moroccan-born, Bouchra grew up between Casablanca and Paris before relocating to the US to attend Princeton University.

She moved to New York in 2010 to join Goldman Sachs as a derivatives trader where she traded and managed the US rates options, flow exotics, hybrid, and mortgage options books. Most recently she was the co-CEO at Aurate New York, a venture-backed leading DTC business she co-founded in 2017.

Bouchra is an angel investor focused on fintech and Web3 early-stage companies and is also a Limited Partner in technology-focused venture capital funds.

She is a founding member of the Moroccan Children Parliament, an initiative started by UNESCO in 1999, a member of the host committee of MacroMinds, and a member of the Visionary Committee of Friends of Hudson River Park in New York.

Bouchra earned a MSc in Finance from Princeton University and a BSc and MSc in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from the French Grande Ecole- ENSAE Paris Tech.

At Princeton, she was the recipient of the Gerhard R. Andlinger Honorary Graduate Fellowship in Finance. She is currently based in Washington, D.C. with her husband and two children.

Frederick Blackford

Founder & Managing Partner, Future Positive

Fred Blackford is Founder and Managing Partner of Future Positive, a multi-stage venture capital investment firm. Fred has led investments in Pinterest, Beyond Meat, NotCo, Belvo, Upside Foods, and Pachama among others. Fred serves as a board director of NotCo and Pachama. Previously Fred founded Swing Technologies, a San Francisco based imaging technology company, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2017. Fred graduated from the London School of Economics.

Margaret Anadu

Senior Partner, The Vistria Group

Margaret Anadu is a Senior Partner at The Vistria Group where she heads Real Estate. She is based in New York City.

Margaret has devoted her career to investing which not only generates strong economic returns, but importantly has a demonstrable positive impact on underserved individuals, families, and communities. Margaret is widely recognized as one of the foremost experts on equitable access to capital having invested over $10 billion across hundreds of transactions throughout the United States and was named one of the most influential figures in U.S. commercial real estate by Commercial Observer.

Margaret has been a trusted advisor to many senior government officials at the federal, state, and local levels on utilizing private capital to create more equitable communities. As an experienced investor and thought leader on public-private partnerships, Margaret is often asked to share her views including on CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC and Yahoo Finance. She was named to 40 Under 40 lists by Fortune, Black Enterprise and Crain’s.

Prior to joining Vistria, Margaret was a Partner at Goldman Sachs where she was the Global Head of Sustainability and Impact for Asset Management and Chair of the Urban Investment Group (GSUIG), the first impact investing platform at a major U.S. financial institution and Goldman Sachs’ primary impact investing business. Under her leadership, GSUIG’s portfolio was primarily comprised of real estate with a focus on workforce, affordable, and mixed-income housing, but also included investments in community facilities, educational space, industrial facilities, green infrastructure, student loans, and small businesses. Margaret ultimately grew the business to over $2 billion of investments annually.

While at Goldman Sachs, Margaret was the chief architect of the One Million Black Women investment strategy, the Firm’s $10 billion capital commitment to narrow opportunity gaps for Black women in the United States and by extension their families and broader communities. In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she led a $2 billion relief effort for small businesses.

In April 2022, Margaret was appointed chair of the board of directors of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. She also serves on the boards of the Low Income Investment Fund, the Center for an Urban Future, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Africa Center. Margaret is a graduate of Harvard College and lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two children.

Gautam Sharma

Chief Executive Officer & Chief Investment Officer, BH Digital

Gautam Sharma is CEO & CIO of BH Digital, dedicated crypto division of Brevan Howard, a multi-manager, multi-strategy crypto hedge fund. Gautam previously led Principal Investments at Brevan, including overseeing Alan Howard’s Family Office strategic businesses in crypto & fintech. Prior to this, Gautam spent over 4 years at Steadview Capital, a tech-focused fund, and 5 years as an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Co.

Marc Raimondi

Chief of Staff to the Executive Director, Silverado Policy Accelerator

Marc Raimondi serves as the Chief of Staff to the Executive Director of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a bipartisan Washington, DC based think-tank focused on cybersecurity, energy and environmental security and effective international trade policy that supports American competitiveness in the global marketplace.  Marc is also the founder of the strategic consulting firm LexStrat, LLC, supporting clients in the national security, public safety, cyber and technology markets.  From March 2014 through September 2021, Marc led the national security related communications and corporate outreach efforts for the U.S. Department of Justice, including serving stints as the Director and Deputy Director of Public Affairs.  At the Justice Department, Marc was the lead communications official for national security related matters including foreign and domestic terrorist incidents, mass shootings, cyber attacks, espionage and other critical issues.  Marc was detailed from the Justice Department as a career national security professional to the White House’s National Security Council (NSC) from late 2016 until mid 2018, where he served as Director of Strategic Communications and was the lead communications advisor to the Assistants to the President for Homeland Security, Counterterrorism and Cybersecurity during both the Obama and Trump Administrations.  While at the White House, Marc supported the counterterrorism, intelligence, cybersecurity and aviation security teams and directorates. Prior to joining the Justice Department, Marc served for several years in private industry as Director of Global Government Relations and Communications at L3Harris Corporation’s (LHX) Washington Operations.  Before moving to the private sector in 2007, Marc held senior communications positions at the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense and started his career as an infantryman in the U.S. Army.

Sonali Basak

Wall Street Correspondent, Bloomberg TV

Sonali Basak is the primary Wall Street correspondent for Bloomberg Television, covering the largest financial firms globally. Her industry-wide newsletter can be found on LinkedIn under her profile and she frequently writes for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek. She graduated from Bucknell University, Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism for her journalism master's and has her MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business. She covers a lot of crypto, too.

Rabia Iqbal

Managing Partner, Nural Capital

Rabia Iqbal is Managing Partner of Nural Capital. Nural Capital is a web3 investing platform focused on providing access to top blockchain funds and direct investments. Nural's investors include FTX Ventures, executives from leading VC firms, global family offices, HNWs, and crypto natives like Kenetic Capital. Rabia began personally investing in crypto in 2017; she is excited about the power of web3 to build community and financial independence for a wide swath of the world.

Rabia brings ten years of experience from the traditional finance sector to web3 investing. Prior to Nural Capital, Rabia worked at Morgan Stanley, Mubadala Capital, and Coatue Management covering investments, business development, and operations. She holds a BS from Cornell University and is a member of the Milken Young Leaders Circle.

Christine Moy

Partner & Head of Digital Asset Strategy, Apollo Global Management

Christine Moy Christine is a Partner and Head of Digital Asset Strategy at Apollo Global Management, Inc. In this newly created position, Christine leads digital asset strategy across the firm, exploring more ways to apply blockchain technologies to Apollo’s business. She also plays a key role in Apollo’s strategy to invest in some of the most innovative digital asset companies and founders, with a specific focus on those transforming the financial services sector where Apollo can serve as a validator and enabler of new technologies. Previously, she was a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan and led its Blockchain/Crypto/Metaverse program through initiatives in digital assets, tokenized payments, internet-of-things, decentralized identity, NFTs, and virtual worlds. She is a graduate of Brown University. Christine was named in Fortune’s The Ledger 40 Under 40 list of “the most impressive, young superstars transforming business at the leading edge of finance and technology.”

Dr. Uma Valeti

Chief Executive Officer & Founder, UPSIDE Foods

Dr. Uma Valeti is the CEO and Founder of UPSIDE Foods, the world’s leading cultivated meat company. UPSIDE Foods was the first company focused on growing meat directly from animal cells and has led the industry ever since. Since 2015, UPSIDE Foods has achieved numerous industry-defining milestones, including being the first company to produce multiple species of meat (beef, chicken and duck), to partner with the existing meat industry and to receive the world’s first green light from the U.S. FDA for a cultivated meat, poultry, or seafood product. UPSIDE Foods has raised over $600 million from a diverse coalition of investors including Richard Branson, John Mackey, Bill Gates, Temasek, ADG, Softbank, Threshold, Baillie Gifford, Norwest, Cargill, Tyson Foods and Whole Foods. Uma’s vision is to enable people around the world to eat the meat they love, while transforming the food system to become more sustainable and humane. At scale, cultivated meat is expected to use less land and water, emit significantly fewer greenhouse gases than conventionally produced meat, and transform animal welfare. Uma and UPSIDE Foods have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and NBC News, and Uma has spoken at the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Milken Institute Global Conference and SXSW. In 2019 he was named a “Global Thinker of the Decade” by Foreign Policy magazine. Prior to founding UPSIDE Foods, Uma served at the Mayo Clinic as a practicing cardiologist. He is an adjunct professor in Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University.

Alex Klokus

Founder & Managing Partner, Kyber Capital

Alex Klokus is a Founder and Managing Partner at the SALT Fund. Alex is a serial entrepreneur who built and sold both the media company Futurism and the sleep and wellness business Gravity.

Steve Cohen

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Point72

Steven A. Cohen is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Point72, a global asset management firm that invests in multiple asset classes and strategies.

Mr. Cohen bought the iconic New York Mets major league baseball team in 2020 and serves as Chairman and CEO of the team.

An avid philanthropist and entrepreneur, Mr. Cohen has founded and holds active leadership roles in a number of nonprofit organizations.

Mr. Cohen and his wife, Alexandra, founded the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation in 2001. The Cohen Foundation is committed to achieving lasting and meaningful change through commitments to Lyme and tickborne disease research, underserved communities, children, the arts and sustainability. Mr. Cohen created Cohen Veterans Network and Cohen Veterans Bioscience in 2015 to improve the mental healthcare, treatment, and quality of life for veterans and their families.

Mr. Cohen also serves on the Emeritus Board of the Robin Hood Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Board of Trustees.

Mr. Cohen received a B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He began his investing career at Gruntal & Co., where he managed proprietary capital for 14 years before starting his own investment business.

Jennifer Prosek

Founder & Managing Partner, Prosek Partners

Jennifer Prosek is the founder and Managing Partner of Prosek Partners, a leading international public relations and financial communications consultancy with offices in New York, London, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Palm Beach, Fairfield and Cape Town. The firm ranks among the top financial communications consultancies in the U.S. and UK. Prosek Partners was named among Forbes’ America’s Best PR Agencies in 2021, has been listed as an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company for nine years running, and is ranked among the Top 25 firms in New York Observer’s PR Power List. Jennifer was also listed personally among Insider’s list of top financial communicators in the United States.  Jennifer received her MBA from Columbia University and a B.A. in English Literature from Miami University.

Jeff Blau

Chief Executive Officer & Partner, Related Companies

Jeff T. Blau is the Chief Executive Officer and a partner of Related Companies, the most prominent privately-owned real estate company in the United States. Mr. Blau joined Related in 1990.

Mr. Blau also serves as Chairman and is a founding partner of energyRe, a leading independent company developing transformative clean energy projects across the country.

As Chief Executive Officer of Related, Mr. Blau is responsible for directing and overseeing new developments worth more than $60 billion in virtually every sector of the real estate industry. He is responsible for the strategic direction of the company, overall management of the firm, the pursuit of new development opportunities and corporate acquisitions and financing activities across all business platforms.

In his role as Chairman and Founding Partner of energyRe, Mr. Blau led the recruitment of the company’s executive management team, and continues to oversee the company's foundational, nation-leading renewable energy projects including Clean Path NY and Leading Light Wind. Clean Path NY is the largest renewable energy infrastructure project in the United States and is an $11 billion transmission-led development, comprised of a 175-mile underground transmission line and 3,800 MW of solar and wind generation. Leading Light Wind, is a $6 billion, off-shore wind project in the New York Bight.

Mr. Blau also serves on the Board of Directors of Equinox Holdings, Inc., the Central Park Conservancy, the New York City Partnership Fund, Robin Hood Foundation, Real Estate Roundtable, The Wharton Graduate School, Trinity School, Lincoln Center, and The Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Over the years, Mr. Blau has received numerous honors for his business, civic and philanthropic activities and was named to Crain’s New York’s New Influentials list of 25 leaders reshaping New York.

Mr. Blau completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan and received a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Lauren Kolodny

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Acrew Capital

Lauren is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Acrew Capital where she leads the firm’s fintech practice. Lauren led the 2016 Series A round in Chime. Other investments include Pie Insurance, Klar, La Haus, Divvy, Gusto, Papaya Payments, Creative Juice, Paceline, among others.

Previously, Lauren was a partner at Aspect Ventures. She also worked in product marketing at Google leading a number of launches for Google Workspace, including Google Drive. After seeing the early success of product-led growth in productivity, Lauren became extremely passionate about the opportunity for fintech to become more collaborative.

Lauren began her career building tech partnerships for the Clinton Foundation in India. While there, she witnessed some of the earliest entrepreneurial activity around mobile money, and developed a strong belief in the opportunity for fintech to drive financial inclusion.

Lauren is a Trustee Emerita at Brown University where she served as the university’s youngest board member.

Lauren was featured on the 2021 Forbes Midas Brink List. Lauren has been recognized in publications such as WSJ’s 10 Women to Watch List, Business Insider’s Rising Stars of Venture Capital, and named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital (2016).