Dr. Vishal Gulati

Partner, Draper Esprit

Dr. Viahal Gulati is a venture capital investor focusing on companies at the intersection of data and health sciences. As a partner at Draper Esprit, a leading European venture capital firm, he led investments and severs on the boards of Evonetix, Fluidic Analytics, Clue, Push Doctor, Lifesum, Ieso Digital Health and Horizon Discovery. He is also an investor in Zoe, Kherion Medical, Arctoris and Quit Genius.

Vishal has played an active role in translating high quality academic research into successful commercial enterprises in the Europe. He continues to do this by helping organisations such as Oxford Science Innovation, the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK (world’s largest funder of cancer research) identify most promising science in their portfolios that can have real world applications.

Prior to this, Vishal worked at Atlas Venture and The Wellcome Trust. Vishal trained as a medical doctor and a clinician scientist and received his postgraduate medical training in the UK at the Nuffield Department of Medicine (Oxford) and Department of Medicine (Imperial College, London) as a Rhodes Scholar.

General H.R. McMaster

Fouad & Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution at Stanford University

H.R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Stanford University. A native of Philadelphia, H.R. graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1984. He served as an Army officer for thirty-four years and retired as a Lieutenant General in 2018. He remained on active duty while serving as the 26th Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. He taught history at West Point and holds a PhD in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Gert Dijkstra

Senior Managing Director, APG Asset Management

Gert Dijkstra is Senior Managing Director at APG Asset Management, responsible for Global Networks and Peers and for Investing in the Netherlands. Formerly he was Chief Strategy & Communication and member of the Board at APG Asset Management from January 2010 until March 2017. He joined ABP in 2000 and subsequently APG Asset Management in 2008. At APG Asset Management he fulfilled several positions such as Manager Business Development, Legal & Tax and Program Manager for the implementation of a new multi-client fund structure. Prior to working for APG Asset Management, he made his career in management consulting and interim management, specialized in strategic marketing and corporate strategy & finance. Most of his experience lies in the financial sector and the food sector. Gert studied Business Management at the University of Groningen and followed several management courses at INSEAD and the Harvard Business School. He has frequently given lectures at Seminars, Round Tables and at Universities.

Gil Mandelzis

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Capitolis

Gil Mandelzis is the Founder and CEO of Capitolis, the leading SaaS platform driving financial resource optimization for capital markets. He is an award-winning, serial entrepreneur and industry executive in financial technology with a successful record of creating disruptive products and companies and leading them through global scaling.

Prior to Capitolis, Gil was CEO of EBS BrokerTec, NEX Group’s (formerly ICAP’s) foreign exchange and fixed income Electronic Markets business. He also served as a member of ICAP’s Global Executive Management Group. Before EBS-BrokerTec, Gil was CEO of Traiana, a post-trade processing company he founded in 2000. Gil led Traiana’s growth from a small start-up to a recognized global leader, resulting in Traiana’s acquisition by ICAP in 2007 for $250M. A Kellogg business school business case study was written about Gil and the Traiana story. Gil has been a member of the New York Federal Reserve’s Foreign Exchange Committee, the Bank of England’s Joint Standing Committee, and the Bank of Canada’s Foreign Exchange Committee.

Dr. Finian Tan

Founder & Chairman, Vickers Venture Partners

Dr. Finian Tan founded Vickers Venture Partners in 2005 with four partners, and has grown Vickers into a top-performing, global deep-tech firm with $3B under management across six funds and co-investments. Vickers invests in early-stage companies with technical solutions to solve large, global problems, and the portfolio tackles such issues as:

• The plastic problem, with a company producing a fully biodegradable plastic alternative

• The infectious disease problem, with a company developing a new T-cell based (as opposed to antibody-based) vaccination platform that can be designed for diseases including covid-19, dengue and pandemic flu

• The clean energy challenge, with a company that has new geothermal extraction technology that can provide clean, sustainable, baseload power virtually anywhere

Before starting Vickers, Finian was a Managing Director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, acting also as the founding partner of its Asia Pacific Operations, he led the investment into Baidu and remained its largest backer until IPO. Prior to DFJ, Finian was Deputy Secretary of Trade and Industry for the Singapore Government where he oversaw the creation of the billion dollar TIF fund and was subsequently appointed as chairman of the fund.

Finian received his Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Philosophy in Engineering from Cambridge University. He received his B.Sc. in Engineering from the University of Glasgow. He is currently based in Singapore.

Fareed Zakaria

Host, Fareed Zakaria GPS

Fareed Zakaria hosts Fareed Zakaria GPS for CNN Worldwide and is a columnist for The Washington Post, a contributing editor for The Atlantic, and a bestselling author.

Fareed Zakaria GPS is a weekly international and domestic affairs program that airs on CNN/U.S. and around the world on CNN International. Since its debut in 2008, it has become a prominent television forum for global newsmakers and thought leaders.

Interviews on Fareed Zakaria GPS have included U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Other past guests include military officials such as Gen. David Petraeus and Adm. Michael Mullen; corporate leaders such as Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi; and other public figures like Bill Maher and Bono. The program earned the prestigious Peabody Award in 2011 and an Emmy® Award nomination in 2013.

Zakaria has regularly hosted primetime specials for CNN Worldwide, such as “Blindsided: How ISIS Shook the World,” “Why Trump Won,” and “Putin: The Most Powerful Man in the World.” He frequently contributes his thoughtful analysis of world events and public affairs to CNN.com; Fareed’s Global Briefing, a daily digital newsletter; and other programming across CNN’s multiple platforms.

Zakaria is the author of three highly-regarded and New York Times bestselling books: In Defense of a Liberal Education (2015), a commentary on the importance of a well-rounded education; the international bestselling The Post-American World (1st ed. 2008, 2nd ed. 2011), a discussion of the rise of non-Western powers; and The Future of Freedom (2003), a study of “illiberal democracy” in various countries, also an international bestseller.

Prior to his tenure at CNN Worldwide, Zakaria was editor of Newsweek International, managing editor of Foreign Affairs, a columnist for Time, an analyst for ABC News, and the host of Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria on PBS.

In 2017, Zakaria was awarded the Arthur Ross Media Award by the American Academy of Diplomacy. He was named a “Top 10 Global Thinker of the Last 10 Years” by Foreign Policy magazine in 2019, and Esquire once called him “the most influential foreign policy adviser of his generation.”

Zakaria serves on the boards of the Council of Foreign Relations and New America. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a doctorate in political science from Harvard University, and has received numerous honorary degrees.

Jason Wilson

Cannabis Banking & Research Expert, ETFMG | MJ

With 20+ years of experience in the asset management, finance and structured product space, Jason has a track record of bringing hard-to-access asset classes to market. He has held senior positions at several leading financial institutions. Most recently, Jason was Senior Vice President at INFOR Financial Inc. INFOR is a leading boutique investment bank based in Toronto, Canada that has worked in connection with a number of companies in the legal cannabis industry, including acting as advisor to Canopy Growth Corporation in connection with entering into its strategic relationship with Constellation Brands.

Jason has also worked at the investment banking divisions of Société Générale and at CIBC, one of the five largest banks in Canada. While at Société Générale and CIBC, Jason provided asset managers and financial institutions with various capital raising, financing and risk mitigation solutions and strategies.

Notably, he was also a member of the Canadian Forces and is a recipient of the Gulf of Kuwait Medal, awarded for his engagement in direct combat during the Gulf War in 1991.

Erik Huey

President, Platinum Advisors

Erik Huey is a senior entertainment, tech, and media industry government and public affairs executive with over twenty-five years of experience. Along with Darius Anderson, he recently opened Platinum Advisors DC in Washington, DC. Prior to joining Platinum Advisors, Erik was the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at ESA, where he oversaw the entire federal and state advocacy apparatus for the $36 billion US video game industry. He also orchestrated the government affairs component of ESA’s historic US Supreme Court free speech victory. In addition, he worked with US House members to form the Congressional Video Game Caucus. He also created the Higher Ed Video Game Alliance of over 300 universities and a Webby Award-winning map of the video game ecosystem by state/congressional district. He acts as a Strategic Advisory to the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards, and serves on the Smithsonian American Arts Council, the Board of the Washington Ireland Program, and the Gala Board of the American Ireland Fund.

David Culver

Vice President, US Government & Stakeholder Relations, Canopy Growth Corporation

David serves as Canopy Growth's Vice President of US Government and Stakeholder Relations, bringing over 20 years of US federal experience to the Canopy team. In his role, David manages all day-to-day U.S. federal and state engagement for Canopy Growth. Prior to joining Canopy, David served in a variety of campaign and legislative positions for Senator(s) Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), Tom Daschle (D-SD), J. Robert Kerrey (D-NE), and Ben Nelson (D-NE). He previously served as a Vice President of Government Affairs for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS). David holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Hamilton College and resides with his wife in Washington, DC.

Patrick Martin

Principal & Director, Midwest Public Strategies, Cozen O’Connor

Patrick directs the firm’s government relations and public advocacy efforts in the Midwest, and is a key member of the firm’s federal government relations team in the nation’s capitol. Him and his team are recognized leaders in the emerging cannabis industry and work with several major national and international multi system operators on a whole host of legal and government relations matters, and their central role in Canopy Growth's planned acquisition of Acreage Holdings cemented the firm's place among the industry heavyweights and earned them Law360's 2019 Cannabis Practice Group of the Year.

Patrick was named as one of the 2018 and 2019's Top Lobbyists by the publication The Hill in their “Hired Guns” category. Prior to his current position, Patrick worked closely with Senator Evan Bayh, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Obama Administration.

Erika Nardini

Chief Executive Officer, Barstool Sports

Erika Nardini, CEO of Barstool Sports, is known for her tenacious passion for growing consumer brands.

In July 2016, Erika joined Barstool Sports as the company's CEO. Known for its original takes and unfiltered view, Barstool Sports is a driving force in comedy, sports, entertainment and culture. Under Erika’s leadership, Barstool Sports has experienced explosive brand and business growth as one of the fastest growing companies on the internet. It is the 6th largest podcast platform in the world with the number one sports podcast and female podcast, and the 10th largest distributed media company in the US. Barstool Sports drives 1.6 billion social views and 26 million video views monthly and 11.9 million listeners across its platforms, owning the 18-34 year old demographic.

In under 3.5 years, Nardini has grown its employees from 15 to 201 with its revenue is approaching 100 million. She has launched over 35 brands, including breakout franchises in entertainment, sports, and sports betting.

Nardini has been named one of Fast Company's Most Creative People and one of the Most Powerful Women in Sports by AdWeek and Forbes Magazine. Prior to Barstool Sports, Erika held several notable positions at top internet companies including AOL, Demand Media, Yahoo! And Microsoft.

Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding

Senior Fellow, Federation of American Scientists

Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding (Eric Ding) is an epidemiologist and health economist and a Senior Fellow at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington DC, and Chief Health Economist for Microclinic International.

In January 2020, he was recognized in the media as one of the first to alert the public on the pandemic risk of COVID-19. He is part of FAS’s work to stop COVID misinformation, and communication with lay public.

He was previously a faculty and researcher at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School between 2004-2020.

A World Economic Forum Global Shaper, he has chaired committees for the Health Directorate of the European Commission, advised the World Health Organization, Denmark Ministry of Health, and served as a member of the Global Burden of Disease Project.

Dr. Feigl-Ding graduated from The Johns Hopkins University with Honors in Public Health and Phi Beta Kappa. He then completed his dual doctorate in epidemiology and doctorate in nutrition, as the youngest graduate to complete his dual programs at age 23 from Harvard SPH. Teaching at Harvard for over 15 years, he has advised and mentored two dozen students and lectured in more than a dozen graduate and undergraduate courses, for which he received the Derek Bok Distinction in Teaching Award from Harvard College.

Ed Roman

Managing Director, Hack VC

Ed Roman is the Managing Director of Hack VC, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. His mission is to democratize access to top Silicon Valley startups to investors. Ed has a decade of venture capital experience and is a shareholder in 4 startups worth over $1 Billion, and 17 startups worth over $100 Million.

Ed is also a best-selling book author and has been CEO of 3 companies with 2 exits.

Mark Matthews

Head of Research, Asia Pacific, Julius Baer

Mark Matthews is Head of Research Asia Pacific for Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd., an appointment he has held since June 2011. His research coverage comprises single stock, sector and select country analysis. In addition, he is a member of the Bank’s investment committee, which determines asset allocation recommendations to clients.

Mark has a wealth of experience in advising private clients and institutional investors through his 27-year banking and finance career. He has held senior positions managing the research and equity sales functions at financial institutions, including ING Barings Securities, Standard & Poor’s and Merrill Lynch in Asia.

Currently based in Singapore, he has lived and worked in Asia for most of his life, including in Hong Kong, Thailand and Taiwan.

He is often quoted in the media and invited regularly by CNBC Asia and Bloomberg TV to appear on their programmes.

Mark holds a Master of Business Administration (Finance Major) from the Schulich School of Business, York University and a Bachelor of Arts (History Major) from Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada. He is fluent in French and Chinese.

David Halpert

Founder, Portfolio Manager & Chief Investment Officer, Prince Street Capital

David Halpert is the founder, portfolio manager, and chief investment officer of Prince Street Capital, a specialist emerging and frontier market asset management firm based in New York and Singapore. With 30 years of experience researching and investing in the developing world, David coined the term ‘Digital Decolonization’ – a new paradigm for assessing investments in emerging and frontier markets, unveiling the concept in a 2019 white paper.

Prior to founding Prince Street in 2001, David managed a long only EM portfolio at Zesiger Capital Group and worked in Indonesia as an equity research analyst.

David has appeared on Bloomberg, CNBC and CNN, and presented at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. His writings on economics and policy have appeared in publications including the Miami Herald, San Jose Mercury, Philadelphia Inquirer, Far Eastern Economic Review, and several others across the developing world. He has lectured at universities including NYU, Cornell Tech, Arizona State, Nanyang Technical University and Singapore University of Social Science.

David earned a BA (magna cum laude) in Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is fluent in English and Indonesian, and conversant in several European and Asian languages.

Deven Parekh

Managing Director, Insight Partners

Deven Parekh joined Insight Partners in 2000, and has been a Managing Director with the firm since 2002. He also manages the firm’s largest investment team, doing deals across the spectrum of venture, growth, and later-stage leveraged transactions. As head of Insight Partners, Deven manages investments in application software, data, and consumer internet businesses globally, having actively worked with investments in Europe, Israel, China, Latin America, and Russia. Deven has led 68 deals at Insight, deploying $4.3 billion in capital to date, with 38 exits averaging gross multiple returns of 2.6x. Deven’s control deals are growth focused rather than emphasizing cost reduction as seen in many private equity investment models. Deven sits on 16 portfolio company boards of directors and advises many other CEOs more informally. Deven brings 20+ years of deep industry knowledge and a large network across PE and investing. In addition to his investment work, Deven has been a leader and a vocal advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. He has been a primary driver of initiatives and thought leadership programs within Insight, promoting female and minority leadership across Insight’s portfolio and the larger software and investment ecosystems.

David Dayen

Executive Editor, The American Prospect

David Dayen is the executive editor of The American Prospect magazine. He is the author of Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street's Great Foreclosure Fraud (2016), winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel Prize, and Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power (2020), released in July. His work has also appeared in The Nation, The Intercept, The New Republic, Vice, HuffPost, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and more. He has been a guest on MSNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, NPR, and Pacifica Radio. He lives in Los Angeles.

Daniel Silva

#1 New York Times Best-Selling Author

Daniel Silva is the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Unlikely Spy, The Mark of the Assassin, The Marching Season, The Kill Artist, The English Assassin, The Confessor, A Death in Vienna, Prince of Fire, The Messenger, The Secret Servant, Moscow Rules, The Defector, The Rembrandt Affair, Portrait of a Spy, The Fallen Angel, The English Girl, The Heist, The English Spy, The Black Widow, House of Spies, The Other Woman, and The New Girl. He is best known for his long-running thriller series starring spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon. Silva’s books are critically acclaimed bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than 30 languages. He resides in Florida with his wife, television journalist Jamie Gangel, and their twins, Lily and Nicholas. For more information visit www.danielsilvabooks.com

Daniel Okrent

Author, The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics, and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America

Daniel Okrent is the author of six books, most recently The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics, and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America. It is his third book since he concluded his term as the first Public Editor of the New York Times in 2005. His earlier works include Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, winner of the American Historical Association’s prize for the year’s best book of American History; and Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center, a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in history.

Before his tenure at the Times, Okrent spent 13 years at Time Inc., where he was successively managing editor of Life magazine; editor of new media; and corporate editor-at-large. Earlier in his career, he worked extensively in book and magazine publishing in various editorial and executive positions. He has lectured at the Columbia School of Journalism, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard (where he was the Edward R. Murrow Fellow in 2009-2010), and other universities. He is currently on the boards of the Authors Guild and the Skyscraper Museum, and is a former chairman (2003-2008) of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

Angela Matheny

Director, Investment Staff & Head, Diverse Manager Equity, Crewcial Partners

Angela Matheny joined Crewcial Partners in July 2016. She and the firm’s CIO co-manage the investment team to ensure internal processes are efficient while managing the firm’s manager selection process and the systematic process that helps best ideas that are constructed into portfolios. Angela also continues to drive the firm’s manager diversity initiative to attract and source diverse asset managers while monitoring protocol and the internal vetting process of women and diverse asset managers.

Angela facilitates the constant communication between Crewcial Partners and fund managers as the firm continues to build a robust pipeline of what it believes is a largely under-followed segment of the asset manager community marketplace. Angela also acts as a conduit in sourcing diverse managers when recommendations or introductions are made by clients and/or board members. She frequently attends emerging manager/diverse manager conferences returning with best practices while networking and learning about industry-wide issues and the inclusive approach many institutions may take to include diverse managers in their searches.

Angela received a Master of Public Administration at Metropolitan College of New York. She also earned a Certificate in Human Resources Management from VillaNova University, which included studies in diversity and inclusion. Angela’s Bachelor’s degree is in Psychology from Bernard Baruch College of New York. She also serves on York College’s (CUNY) foundation board.