Arvind Gupta

Partner, Mayfield

Arvind Gupta co-leads Mayfield’s Human & Planetary Health practice whose mission is to invest in science based companies that could change history. Ranging from reinventing our food system to stopping climate change to novel therapeutics, Arvind was the first investor in breakout companies such as Geltor, Synthex, Prime Roots, NotCo, Prellis, New Culture, DNA Lite, Catalog, Prellis and Memphis Meats.

As Founder of IndieBio, Arvind redefined the pace and possibilities of early stage biotech, investing in over 136 companies in five years, defining human and planetary health, and growing the IndieBio portfolio into billions of dollars in value. Under his leadership, IndieBio expanded to New York and grew to fifteen investment professionals with a world renowned adjunct partner board. He now serves as Venture Advisor at IndieBio.

Arvind is the author of Decoding the World: A Roadmap for the Questioner, published by Twelve Books, a division of the Hachette Publishing Group. He was honored with the F50 Global Award for Impact in HealthTech Innovation. He is a frequent speaker at TechCrunch Disrupt, Slush, TedX and Future FoodTech. His work has been profiled in global media outlets such as Bloomberg News, Forbes, The Guardian UK, Neo.life, Nikkei News, Rotman, The Times of India, and CGTN in China. Arvind has been a guest lecturer at UCSF, MIT and Harvard and is a judge at the annual BIO conference startup stadium.

Prior to founding IndieBio, Arvind was Design Director at IDEO in Shanghai where he earned numerous international design awards and presented his work at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He was also a BASE jumper and big wall climber and now fights professional grappling.

Arvind received his B.S. in Genetic Engineering from UCSB. He holds 8 patents.

Arvind is married to an Icelander and has two daughters.

Raj Gokal

Co-Founder, Solana

Raj Gokal is the co-founder of Solana. He previously was director of product at Omada Health, an entrepreneur-in-residence at Rock Health, the co-founder of Sano, a minimally invasive glucose sensor company, and an investor at General Catalyst Partners. Raj has a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Regina Gannon

Managing Director, BlackRock Aladdin

Regina Fay Gannon is Managing Director and Co-Head of BlackRock’s Aladdin Client Engagement team in the Americas. She leads BlackRock’s largest pension fund, endowment, corporate treasury, and asset management client relationships across BlackRock’s Aladdin business. Her team is responsible for partnering and advising these clients across asset allocation, portfolio construction, risk management, performance, and attribution. In addition, she is responsible for business development of new opportunities across all asset classes—including alternatives, ESG analytics, data/API strategy, and accounting solutions. Previously, Regina was the head of the Insurance Aladdin Client Engagement team.

She joined BlackRock from J.P. Morgan's Investor Services Division as the Head of New Business Development and Sales for Asset Managers. In this role, she was focused on managing and growing the firm's largest relationships across the derivatives clearing, prime brokerage, custody and fund services businesses. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Regina was Global Head of Client Relationship Management across fixed income and equities capital markets and trading within UBS Investment Bank; as well as a fixed income salesperson for emerging markets and high yield at Merrill Lynch.

Regina has a B.A. from Georgetown University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Vaughn Crowe

Managing Partner, Newark Venture Partners (NVP)

Vaughn Crowe is a Managing Partner of Newark Venture Partners (NVP), a global seed-stage investment firm, with a focus on B2B technology.  Prior to joining NVP, Vaughn served as Managing Director at Wesray Social Investments, the investment arm of Ray Chambers’s family office.  Vaughn was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey.  He has a degree from Colgate University and attended Harvard Business School for Executive Education.  Vaughn currently serves as Vice-Chair of Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, an RWJ Barnabas Hospital, and the New Jersey State Investment Council, the governing body for the State's pension fund.  In his spare time, he likes to play golf, spend time with family, read, and listen to music.

Frank Chaparro

Director of News, The Block

Frank Chaparro covers the intersection of financial markets and cryptocurrency as Director of News for The Block. Since joining the publication in 2018 as its first reporter, he has played a key role in building The Block into a leader in financial journalism and research. He leads special projects, including The Block's flagship podcast, The Scoop. Prior to The Block, he held roles at Business Insider, NPR, and Nasdaq.

Alex Bornyakov

Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

Alex Bornyakov is a Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine on IT industry development. His main goal in this position is to turn Ukraine into the largest IT Hub in European.

Among Alex’s projects is the introduction of a unique tax and legal space for the IT industry Diia.City. It combines favorable tax conditions with effective tools that allow companies to build a transparent corporate structure, attract foreign investment, and use additional mechanisms to protect intangible assets. Alex also places a great deal of emphasis on developing the Ukrainian startup ecosystem, as he aims to bring Ukraine to the TOP-5 countries with the highest number of startups per capita in Europe. As part of the support initiatives in this area, The IT Generation project was launched. It offers free training in IT specialties for switchers.

Alex has an MBA (University of New Brunswick), an MPA (Columbia University) and more than ten years of experience in IT management. He founded and managed a number of successful companies and startup incubators, including the American video monetization platform Adtelligent and the outsourcing company Intersog, which was included in the TOP-5 App Developers in Chicago according to Clutch. In 2015, he became Best CEO / COO - IT BIZ AWARDS 2015, and in 2016 he was included in the ranking of 25 trailblazing business leaders in Ukraine.

Cate Ambrose

Chief Executive Officer & Board Member, Global Private Capital Association (GPCA)

Cate Ambrose is CEO and Board Member of the Global Private Capital Association, an independent, non-profit membership organization. Members include 300+ fund managers, institutional investors, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, development finance institutions, and industry advisors who manage more than US$2t in assets across 130 countries.

Cate is a Steering Committee Member of the United Nations Institutional Investor Partnership for Sustainable Development (IIPSD) and on the Advisory Board of the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America (LAVCA). She is also a Board Member for Girls Write Now, a non-profit that mentors underserved young women in New York City.

Prior to joining GPCA (formerly EMPEA), Cate was President and Executive Director of LAVCA. Cate was also previously the Chief of Advocacy for the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, a United Nations initiative where she spearheaded the commission’s work on business regulation and property rights in Africa, MENA, Asia, and Latin America. Until 2005, Cate was Executive Director of Programs for The Economist Group.

Cate speaks and writes regularly on a range of topics related to public policy and private investment in Emerging Markets. She is a commentator on CNN En Español, Bloomberg, and Fox Business and a guest lecturer at The Wharton School. Cate holds an MPA in International Economic Policy from Columbia University and received her BA in Latin American studies from St. Lawrence University and the University of Madrid.

Khalida Ali

Director of Diversity & Inclusion, Vista Equity Partners

Khalida Ali joined Vista Equity Partners in 2019. Ms. Ali is responsible for developing and delivering the diversity and inclusion strategy and initiatives for Vista Equity Partners.

Prior to joining Vista, Ms. Ali worked at Zendesk as Head of Diversity and Inclusion, where she was responsible for building inclusive and equitable business practices across 15 international offices. Before her time with Zendesk, Ms. Ali was Vice President and Chief of Staff for Bank of America’s Global Head of Campus Recruiting and Junior Talent Management, where she established operational, business management and budgetary procedures for a global team. Prior to Bank of America, Ms. Ali was a Manager of Diversity Analytics at NBCUniversal, where she focused on developing company-wide and business unit specific diversity and inclusion strategies by leveraging workforce analytics and industry trends. Ms. Ali began her career at Morgan Stanley.

In addition to her work at Vista, Ms. Ali sits on the boards of Friends of the Children Austin and The Urban Assembly.

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.

Aaron Wright

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Tribute Labs

Aaron Wright is the co-founder and CEO of Tribute Labs and a Professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (where he is currently on leave). He played a role helping to launch Ethereum and has worked closely with a number of different prominent blockchain projects over the past several years.

At Tribute Labs, Wright leads a team that structures, conceives of, and supports the largest network of DAOs, including The LAO, Flamingo DAO, Neptune, Red DAO, Ready Player DAO, Neon DAO, and Dark Horse DAO.  These DAOs have supported over 200 projects, acquired thousands of NFTs, and have deployed millions of dollars into DeFI.

Outside of Tribute Labs, Wright's academic research has focused on smart contracts and the regulation of blockchain-based systems. His first book, Blockchain and the Law: The Rule of Code (Harvard University Press, co-authored with Primavera De Filippi) was published in 2018.  His other academic works have appeared in publications from Oxford University Press and the Hastings Law Journal.   Professor Wright has testified before Congress on issues related to blockchain technology, served on the Technical Advisory Committee of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and his work has been reviewed or excerpted by the The New York Times and Slate.

Jason Wood

Managing Director, Morgan Stanley

Jason Wood is a Managing Director with the Morgan Stanley Next Level Fund, focused on investments in Women-led and Multicultural Founded Early-Stage companies.  He has over 20 years of finance industry experience as both a principal investor and as a corporate advisor.  

Most recently before joining Morgan Stanley, Jason spent six years leading AIG’s Direct Equity, Venture Capital and Private Equity Co-investment business, with responsibility for sourcing transactions, executing on high conviction investment opportunities and overseeing the investment management process.  Prior to that, Jason was a Director with Zurich Alternative Asset Management, where he was responsible for the private equity co-investment and primary fund commitment business.  Earlier in his career, he served as a Vice President at Parish Capital Advisors, investing in and alongside Diverse and Emerging managers, and as an investment banking Associate with Merrill Lynch & Co. 

Jason earned a BBA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from NYU Stern, where he was a Consortium Fellow.   He recently served as Treasurer and Chair of the Executive Committee for Common Denominator, a New York based non-profit focused on improving middle school students’ math and critical thinking skills. 

Barbara Widholm

Vice President, State Street Digital

Barbara Widholm is in Product Development, Digital Assets, NA, at State Street’s newest division focused on digital assets and technologies, encompassing the setup of a new integrated business and operating model to support clients’ entire digital investment cycle from pre-trade, trade, and post-trade as well as other initiatives designed to enhance the client experience.

Barbara joined State Street in EMEA in April 2016, where she started in the Global Markets FX Sales/RM for StreetFX and Indirect FX. Since then, she has worked in numerous roles and locations focused on Data Management, Pre-Sales Engineering and Product Development for all Segments. She relocated to Boston in 2019 to work for Alpha Data Management and Pre-Sales Engineering for Alternatives, Asset Owners, Asset Managers and Insurance.

Prior to joining State Street, she has worked globally in the US, UK, Germany starting at Goldman Sachs in London with a focus on Back office and Legal Documentation.

Barbara holds two Master of Science degrees. One in MSc Data Science completed in 2021 from the University of Edinburgh and one in MSc Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship from Manchester Business School. In addition, she has recently completed certificates on Coursera focusing on Blockchain, Cryptoassets, and Decentralized Finance.

Elizabeth Velez

President & Principal, Velez Organization

Elizabeth Velez spearheads strategic growth and project diversification for the 50-year-old Velez Organization as President and principal, ensuring that the second-generation construction services firm is one of the longest established and successful in the region. To her credit are hundreds of projects which have come to fruition under her direction, including over 600 units of housing made affordable by state and federal grants in the Bronx and Harlem, and over $10 billion of significant educational, healthcare, and large-scale projects throughout New York.

In 2022, Velez was appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul to the Board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In July 2022, Ms. Velez was joined the MTA Traffic Review Board – a six- member panel to determine the city’s congestion pricing toll. She served until 2021 as commissioner of the NYC Property Tax Reform Commission, which produced public inclusive recommendations to create transparency and equity in the NYC tax system. From 2020 to 2021, she served for both Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on COVID pandemic advisory and recovery boards. She also served on the New York Stands with Puerto Rico Recovery & Rebuilding Committee, and the New York Memorial Commission for Hurricane Maria. In her advocacy role for the design and building industry of New York, Velez was Chair of the New York Building Congress, the preeminent A/E/C industry group. She continues in a leadership role with the NYBC as the newly created Chair of the NYBC Council of Presidents.

Velez is a graduate of Hofstra University, with both a Bachelors and Masters of Business Administration

Phil Tseng

Managing Director, BlackRock

Phil Tseng, Managing Director, is a member of BlackRock's Global Credit Platform and President and COO of BlackRock TCP Capital Corp (NASDAQ: TCPC). He is Co-Head of US Private Capital and is the Investment Committee Co-Chair for BlackRock's US Private Capital (USPC) business. He is responsible for co-leading the platform, originating and executing investment opportunities, and maintaining relationships with key deal sources and intermediaries across the US. He is also Co-Chair of the Management Operating Committee for US Private Capital and a member of the Private Credit Executive Committee for Global Credit.

Prior to joining BlackRock, Mr. Tseng served on the Management Committee and was a Managing Partner at Tennenbaum Capital Partners (TCP). TCP managed more than $9 billion in committed capital and was acquired by BlackRock in 2018. In addition to managing the growth and build out of TCP, he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating, structuring and executing private debt and equity investments. Prior to TCP, he held roles in equity research and investment banking at Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Banc Alex Brown. Mr. Tseng currently serves as a Director on the Board of Connexity Inc., and previously on First Advantage, ITC DeltaCom, and Anacomp, Inc.

Mr. Tseng also serves on the Board of Trustees for the California Science Center Foundation and as a Director of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Southern California.

Mr. Tseng received his A.B. with honors in Economics from Harvard College and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Nadya Tolokonnikova

Founding Member, Pussy Riot

Conceptual artist and activist Nadya Tolokonnikova is the founding member of Pussy Riot, a global feminist protest art movement. Today, hundreds of people identify as a part of the Pussy Riot community.

She was sentenced in 2012 to 2 years' imprisonment following an anti-Putin performance. Went through a hunger strike protesting savage prison conditions and ended up being sent far away to a Siberian penal colony, where she managed to maintain her artistic activity and with her prison punk band she made a tour around Siberian labor camps. Published a book "Read and riot: Pussy Riot's guide to activism".

Co-founder of independent news service and media outlet, Mediazona. Has spoken before the US Congress, British Parliament, European Parliament, appeared as herself on season 3 of House of Cards, performed at Banksy's Dismaland exhibition.

Pussy Riot's Punk-prayer was named by The Guardian among the best art pieces of the 21st century ("feminist, explicitly anti-Putin, protesting the banning of gay pride and the Orthodox church’s support of the president"), collaborated with Bansky on his Dismaland exhibition, endorsed by Marina Abramovic and Ai Weiwei, created an immersive experience in Saatchi gallery in London.

Pussy Riot joined the NFT community in early 2021, co-founder of UnicornDAO, instrumental in raising over $7m with UkraineDAO, a PleasrDAO member, and a supporter of a stronger female representation in the NFT space.

Pussy Riot stands for gender fluidity, inclusivity, matriarchy, love, laughter, decentralization, anarchy, and anti-authoritarianism.

Sumali Sanyal, CFA

Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager, Systematic Global Equities, Xponance

Sumali Sanyal is Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Systematic Global Equities Platform. She is the Lead Portfolio Manager for Xponance’s systematic active and passive equity products. She also co-leads the firm’s Quantitative Working Group, which is a collaborative forum for quantitative research at the firm. She is a co-founder of Piedmont Investment Advisors, an investment firm acquired by FIS Group, the predecessor company to Xponance®. At Piedmont, Sumali led the Quantitative Equity team. She served as the Chief Operating Officer of Piedmont for several years and at the time of its acquisition by FIS Group she held the position of Co-CIO of Equities. Prior to that, Sumali served as Director of Quantitative Research at Loomis Sayles.

Sumali received her B.S. and M.S. in Economics from the University of Calcutta, India, one of the premier educational institutions in India. She received her M.B.A. in Finance and Management Information Systems from Oakland University in Michigan. Sumali holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and has obtained the Certification in ESG Investing from the CFA Institute. She sits on the board of the CFA Society of North Carolina and is a member of the Chicago Quantitative Alliance (CQA), the Association of Asian American Investment Managers (AAAIM), 100 Women in Finance, and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). Sumali has served on the Board of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, on the Board of the Emily K Center, and on the Grants Committee of The Art of Giving.

Christine Sandler

General Partner, Head of Investor Relations, Walden Bridge Capital

Christine Sandler is a General Partner and Head of Investor Relations at Walden Bridge Capital, a leading cryptocurrency hedge fund. Christine brings decades of institutional sales, business development, and marketing experience across traditional finance and cryptocurrency markets to her current position. 

Previously, Christine held senior leadership positions at Fidelity Digital Assets and Coinbase, where she helped establish their respective institutional crypto businesses and led their business development, marketing, and research teams. Prior to working in the digital asset space, Christine held executive positions at Barclays, the New York Stock Exchange, and Merrill Lynch. She earned her BA in Economics from SUNY Stony Brook and is a graduate of the Insead Global Executive program. 

Margaret Rosenfeld

Chief Strategy & Legal Officer, Deltec International Group

Margaret is the Chief Strategy and Legal Officer of Deltec International Group, a global financial platform serving innovative and disruptive businesses for their banking, insurance and digital asset needs. She also serves on the board of directors of Gryphon Digital Mining, a Bitcoin mining operation with a net carbon-negative footprint and board of advisors of Caturiant, a DLT-based carbon credit registry and validator. Prior to Deltec, Margaret was a partner of K&L Gates, where she co-chaired its global Digital Assets, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency practice.  Margaret has more than 25 years of corporate, financing, strategic and securities experience focused on large private and public technology companies both in the United States and internationally, having practiced law with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in Tokyo, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London and Frankfurt and Smith Anderson in the Research Triangle Park region.  Margaret has been actively involved in the cryptocurrency industry since 2015, advising crypto mining and hosting companies, DeFi platforms, banks, DAOs, NFT issuers and platforms, stable coin companies and many others.  Margaret has engaged in service activities including serving on the NY Bar’s Committee on Securities Regulation, the NC Board of Science, Technology and Innovation, and the advisory board of the North Carolina Technology Association.  Margaret served as the Honorary German Consul for North Carolina (while maintaining her law practice) from January 2014 to December 2021, which was  a joint diplomatic appointment by the U.S. State Department and the German government.  She is a 1997 graduate of the George Washington University law school and received a B.A. from Rutgers University  in 1992. 

Steven Plate

Chief, Major Capital Projects, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Steven P. Plate joined the Port Authority in June 1985 and was appointed the agency’s first Chief, Major Capital Projects, in December 2015, where he oversees projects that include the Port Authority Bus Terminal replacement, the PATH to Newark Liberty International Airport extension, the Bayonne Bridge “Raise the Roadway” Navigational Clearance Project, the Port Authority Bus Terminal Replacement, Cross Harbor Freight Rail Tunnel, the emerging Gateway Tunnel project, and redevelopment of the World Trade Center site.  Previously, Mr. Plate served as the Deputy Chief of Capital Planning/Director of WTC Construction Department, where he continues to be responsible for all aspects of the project’s planning, financial strategies, processes and operations, and the management of both in-house and consultant staff, as well as coordinating with outside governmental agencies and major real estate and construction firms.  Mr. Plate has more than 40 years of proven leadership in program management, with particular experience managing major multibillion-dollar capital projects in both the private and public sectors, including JFK AirTrain. Mr. Plate earned his Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Manhattan College in 1976.

Jacquelyn Melinek

Senior Crypto Reporter, TechCrunch

Jacquelyn Melinek is a senior crypto reporter at TechCrunch based in New York City. She was previously a crypto reporter for Blockworks covering DeFi, DAOs and crypto venture capital funding and prior to that covered energy markets for S&P Global Platts and Bloomberg News. Jacquelyn can be reached via email at jacquelyn@techcrunch.com or on Twitter at @jacqmelinek