Aberdeen Standard Investments

aberdeenstandard.com

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Whit Matthews, Senior Investment Director

R. Whit Matthews is a Senior Investment Director focused on Aberdeen Standard Investment’s Private Equity strategies and a member of its US investment committee.   He is responsible for all aspects of the investment process including portfolio construction and the due diligence and ongoing monitoring of existing and prospective fund commitments, co-investments and secondaries.  Whit joined Aberdeen Standard Investments (SL Capital Partners) in 2009.  Previously, he was an Investment Analyst at the University of Pennsylvania endowment allocating to private equity, venture capital, and hedge fund opportunities. 

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Whit has spent the bulk of his career investing in the North American middle and lower-middle market.  He holds (and/or has held) numerous limited partner advisory board seats for various fund commitments and is a regular speaker at industry conferences and events.

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Whit earned a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Villanova University School of Business, and holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.  Whit also holds Series 7 and 63 licenses with FINRA.

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Franger

frangerllc.com

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Grace Lovret, CIO, Managing Member

Grace Lovret started working for the Franger Family Office while in high school in 1968, she continued while attending Queens College, and she has been there ever since. As the CIO and Managing Member of the family fund as well as an officer and Board member of other family corporations, she has a wide array of roles and also operates her own tax practice, which is responsible for all the filings for the family office. 

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HKW

hkwinc.com

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Jim Snyder, Partner

Jim Snyder, Partner – HKW (Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Company)

James Snyder joined HKW in 1999. Jim’s primary responsibility as partner is leading the firm’s Investor Relations Team. He travels regularly to meet with investors, co-investment funding sources, and lending institutions throughout North America.

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Prior to joining HKW, Jim worked as vice president and general counsel for Browning Investments. He also served as director of finance and general counsel to the city of Indianapolis mayor and chief of staff for the Indiana state treasurer.

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Jim lives in Carmel, IN with his wife Maryann. They have a daughter who is a recent college graduate and son who is currently in college. Outside the office, Jim and Maryann enjoy traveling to watch college sports.

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Education: Wabash College (BS) Indiana University (JD)

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Kingdon Capital Management

kingdon.com

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Rosemary Sagar, Chief Investment Officer

Since early 2005, Rosemary Sagar has managed the investments of the Kingdon Foundation and charitable trusts for Mark Kingdon, founder and principal of Kingdon Capital Management LLC, a hedge fund established in 1983. She invests in hedge funds, PE funds, late stage VC funds, secondary funds, other non-traditional strategies as well as private direct deals and co-investments. She is Trustee and Co-Chair of the Investment Committee of Rumsey Hall School in Washington Depot, CT, and is a member of the NY Committee of Human Rights Watch.

As part of the family legacy established by her late father Dr. Vidya Sagar, Rosemary is a member of the Executive Committee of the IP law firm Remfry & Sagar (www.remfry.com) founded in 1827, leading in India and among the oldest worldwide. She is also Chair of The Sagar School (www.thesagarschool.org), a co-educational boarding school in Rajasthan, India.

Rosemary was Managing Director and Head of Global Investments at US Trust from 1996 to 2004, where she and her team managed $1.6B in mutual funds, common trust funds, and separate accounts. She chaired the Global Investment Committee and was a member of the Excelsior Venture Partners III, LLC Investment Committee.

From 1990 to 1996, Rosemary was SVP, International Equities at GE Investments in Stamford, CT, and was responsible for managing $1.8B for GE pension fund, NYCERS, NYC Teachers and NYC Police. She was also Chair of GE (UK) Common Investment Fund (GE’s largest pension fund outside of North America) and a board member of the GE Netherlands Pension Fund. Previously, Rosemary was Associate Director of European Research at Baring Securities, VP International Research at Drexel Burnham Lambert and the first international analyst hired at Morgan Stanley, reporting to Barton Biggs.

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LaCrosse Investments 374

lacrosseinvestments374.com

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Jonathan LaCrosse, Managing Member

Jonathan LaCrosse, Managing Member – LaCrosse Investments 374  

Jonathan D. LaCrosse is the Founder of LaCrosse Investments 374, LLC, an alternative investment placement firm dedicated to raising capital for funds and deals. He has more than 20 years of alternative investment experience, including fundraising sales in excess of $4.5 billion in assets, investing more than $4 billion in 165 funds, secondaries and co-investments, and roles on 35 Board Director and Advisory Boards.

 

Previously, he was Co-Founder, President and CEO of Trusted Insight, Inc, the largest online alternative investment marketplace focused on matching investments across new funds, secondary transactions and co-investments. Members include 400+ institutional investors from 90 countries. During his tenure at Trusted Insight, Mr. LaCrosse led a Series A financing from premier venture capitalists and leading financial technology angel investors.

 

From 2006-2009, Mr. LaCrosse was a Founding Partner of Centinela Capital Partners, LLC (separate accounts with CalPERS), an alternative investment fund-of-funds with over $1 billion of assets under management and a focus on emerging managers. He was an investment committee member involved in the approval of over $825 million to 41 deals and served on 7 advisory boards.

 

From 1994-2006, Mr. LaCrosse was an Investment Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation where he was in charge of its private equity, below investment grade credit and real assets strategies, including sourcing, executing, and monitoring investments. He led all efforts with regards to due diligence on investment proposals, the negotiating and structuring of key investment terms in partnership agreements, building of financial models and the trading of in-kind distributions from leveraged buyout and venture capital funds. Mr. LaCrosse was responsible for investing over $3.1 billion in 121 alternative investment funds, including over $730 million in 37 emerging manager funds. While at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Mr. LaCrosse served on 25 advisory boards across the following types of funds: buyouts, venture capital, growth, secondary, mezzanine, distressed, real estate, timber, and fund-of-funds.

 

Mr. LaCrosse earned an M.B.A. from Rider University and B.S. from Rowan University. He holds Series 7, 63, and 79 securities licenses.

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LaCrosse Investments 374

lacrosseinvestments374.com

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Kevin McCaffrey, Director

Kevin McCaffrey is a Vice President at LaCrosse Investments 374, LLC, where he focuses on business development, deal origination, and raising capital. He will also expand the firm’s reach and highlight clients’ expertise in relevant events and media. He has more than 20 years of financial and operational experience across corporate environments and the capital markets – including private equity, venture capital, real estate, equities trading, equity research, and market research.

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Before joining the team, Kevin built the PartnerConnect conference series for Thomson Reuters. Starting with the launch in 2011, his focus was connecting institutional investors with fund managers by leveraging events and media services through several acquisitions. He presided over 12,000 pre-screened LP/GP meetings and accelerated fundraising efforts for hundreds of funds in Private Equity and Venture Capital primarily.

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Mr. McCaffrey also launched market research services for Frost & Sullivan and equity research services for a NYSE Broker/Dealer following a successful exit from his own real estate and construction company.

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Kevin earned a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University, where he also played Division I Lacrosse.

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Promethean Investments

prometheaninvestments.com

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Michael Burt, Partner

Michael Burt is the Founder and Managing Partner of Promethean Investments and has successfully raised and managed the three funds: Fund I Promethean PLC, a £50m London Stock Exchange, AiM listed Vehicle, 2005-2013; Promethean Fund II, LP Fund of £167m including co-investments, started in 2014; Promethean Fund III, LP Fund of £78m to date for disruptive, tech-enabled concepts identified in 2018. As of January 2020 Promethean has invested over £302m including co-investment in 16 private companies.

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Michael has sat on the board of over 15 companies over the course of his career in a non-executive role including 5 years as a non-executive director of a London Stock Exchange AiM listed entity. Michael currently sits on the board of 9 companies.

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Michael played Rugby for Scotland U18 and was Scotland U16 Five’s pairs champion.

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Roar Capital

roarcap.com​

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Greg Imbruce, Portfolio Manager

Greg Imbruce is a portfolio manager covering special situations in energy, real estate and technology with a focus on public and private opportunities across the corporate lifecycle, from venture capital to special situations.  Greg is a restructuring and bankruptcy specialist, investing growth capital in the form of debt and equity to unlock value via financially engineered solutions.    

Prior to Roar Capital, Greg was a Principal at Glenrose Holdings, a private investment firm, where he managed energy and technology assets and directed acquisitions and investments across the corporate capital structure.  He was previously the Portfolio Manager for Talek Investments (BBT Fund LP, for which Sid Bass was the primary investor), where he unwound a prior manager's $1.2 B troubled portfolio and managed a $200 million energy portfolio consisting of long/short equities, high yield, as well as a volatility concentrated derivatives portfolio.  Greg also worked at Jefferies from 2001-05, where he was the Senior High Yield Energy/Power analyst and involved in over $10 B in new high yield issuances, debt swaps, and restructurings that included Enron, Calpine, Northern Offshore and Mission Resources, among others.  While at Jefferies, Greg also engineered and traded the first Enron trade claim resulting from hedges held by certain oil and gas companies, structuring and trading a total of approximately $300 MM in claims.  Greg began his career covering special situations while working as a Senior Analyst for Wexford Capital from 1995-98, where he worked directly with its Chairman, Chuck Davidson, in trading equities and high yield, in addition to acquiring assets directly and via distressed debt and bankruptcies.  From 1994-95, Greg was a financial analyst in the Investment Banking Division of Credit Suisse in the Power and Infrastructure Group.

Greg is an adviser to Rapid Oxygen Company among other energy and technology companies, which included Qwiki, a software application company sold to Yahoo in 2014.  He also serves on the Board of the Oxygen Foundation and previously served on the Board of the National Emphysema Foundation from 2009-16.  Greg graduated from Lehigh University with an Economics degree, where he won the Musser Entrepreneurial Award and also helped establish the sailing team.

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Schroeder Adveq

schroderadveq.com

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Jeremy Knox, Sr. Investment Director

Jeremy Knox covers Adveq's US buyout and turnaround investment activities across primary funds, secondaries, and co-investments.

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Prior to joining Schroder Adveq in 2016, Jeremy spent 7 years as a Director in the investment arm of PartnerRe Ltd., where he was responsible for private equity investments in primary funds and co-investments. Prior to PartnerRe, Jeremy worked in the Investment Banking group of Fox-Pitt Kelton where he focused on transactions within the financial services industry.

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Jeremy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Franklin & Marshall College, US.

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Star Mountain Capital

starmountaincapital.com

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Brett Hickey, CEO & Founder​

Brett Hickey is the Founder & CEO of Star Mountain Capital, LLC, a $1+ billion AUM specialized U.S. lower middle-market investment firm. Star Mountain employs a data-driven approach to provide value-added debt and equity capital to established small & medium-sized companies leveraging its large market expertise, scale-driven resources, and longstanding relationships.

 

Prior to becoming a principal investor starting in the early 2000s, Mr. Hickey was an Investment Banker at Salomon Smith Barney / Citigroup Global Markets in New York City where he covered global Asset Managers and Financial Institutions. In that role, he analyzed asset managers and asset classes, ultimately working on over $20 billion in completed strategic acquisitions and capital raises.

 

Mr. Hickey’s board memberships include member and former Chairman of Networks for the NYC Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Global Board of Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs, and Global Board of Help for Children (HFC).

 

Mr. Hickey received a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction from McGill University (Finance Major and Accounting Concentration) and is an alumnus from Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management executive leadership program. He is a frequent guest lecturer on industry panels and at academic institutions. Mr. Hickey is also a former Canadian national gold medalist and North American medalist in speed skating.

 

Mr. Hickey is married with two children and lives in New York.