Panelist Snapshots - September 1, 2021
MetLife Investment Management
https://investments.metlife.com/
Matt Curtolo, Director, Private Equity at MetLife Investment Management
Matt is a Director at MetLife and is responsible for the oversight and management of the Firm’s domestic alternatives portfolio. Prior to joining MetLife, Mr. Curtolo served as Head of Private Equity at Hirtle Callaghan, an outsourced CIO. There, Matt led all private equity activities and was a member of the firm’s Investment Policy and Strategy Committees. Prior to joining Hirtle Callaghan, Matt worked at Hamilton Lane Advisors in a variety of capacities, both in client services and investment roles. Mr. Curtolo holds a B.S. in Finance from DeSales University. He is a CAIA charter holder.
Gabriel Horn Capital
https://gabrielhorncapital.com/
Jonathan LaCrosse, Managing Member [Webinar Sponsor]
Jonathan D. LaCrosse is the Co-Founder of Gabriel Horn Capital, 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 the Series 7, 63, and 79 securities licenses.
747 Capital
Gijs van Thiel, Managing Partner at 747 Capital
747 Capital is a private equity firm focused exclusively on the small-cap buyout market. 747 Capital provides investors with diversified portfolios of private equity funds, co-investments, and secondaries.
Gijs is the co-founder of 747 Capital and a Managing Partner of the firm. Gijs is a member of the firm’s investment committee and serves on the advisory boards of various underlying portfolio funds. As a member of the 747 Capital investment team Gijs actively monitors its portfolio of 50+ fund investments and approximately 60 active co-investments. Gijs has been active in private equity since 1995.
Gijs holds a M.B.A. in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a B.A. from Webster University.
The Alta Group
Paul Kang, CIO, Alta Companies
Paul began his 30-year investment and merger advisory career at Goldman Sachs in New York. He also served as CEO of Alta Capital Group, focusing on cross-border merchant banking with offices in New York, Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London and San Francisco. He began his career as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati.
Currently he focuses on investments for his family with broad portfolio construction mandates and specific private equity efforts in the Americas and Europe. He has also served for over 20 years on investment committees ranging from $50 million to $50 billion. He received his AB in mathematics from Harvard and his MBA from Stanford.
Calibrium AG
David Hartford, Senior Advisor at Calibrium AG
David Hartford was a founding partner of Calibrium AG (formerly known as aeris Capital) in 2006, and since 2016 has been senior advisor to the firm. Calibrium manages funds for the family office of a successful European entrepreneur, as well as for his foundation, one of the largest in Germany. During David’s tenure at Calibrium, it invested in PE and VC funds on six continents, and companies on five.
In addition to his role at Calibrium, David has personally invested in and served on a number of boards of early-stage technology companies. He is currently focused on a company reducing methane production by cows.
David has over 40 years of experience in the U.S. and Europe as a private equity investor, venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He was elected four times to the board of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.
Earlier, he represented, as an attorney, a number of VCs and high technology companies. Prior to that, he was a systems specialist with Rockwell International.
David has been a frequent speaker and contributor at conferences in Europe, Asia and the United States on private equity and technology topics. He is a mentor at the Haas Graduate School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and has been an adjunct professor for New Venture Finance at Cal State University, East Bay's MBA program, and in Moscow at the Academy for the National Economy.
David received his BS from the University of Pittsburgh, his JD from the University of Pennsylvania, and completed the Advanced Executive Program "Competing in a Global Environment" at The Anderson School at UCLA.
Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners
Brandon Richter, Managing Director at Hamilton Robinson, [Webinar Sponsor]
Brandon Richter joined HRCP in 2010 and has led transactions, overseen portfolio company investments and is a member of the Investment and Management Committees. Brandon currently serves as a director of Custom Engineered Wheels, GrayMatter, Tanknology and Zone 4. Previously he served as director of W-Technology, Unifiller, Sound Seal and Inspire Automation. Prior to joining HRCP, he worked in the Mergers and Acquisitions group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch on deals across a variety of industry verticals. He began his career at Goldman Sachs in the technology division. Brandon received a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University and his MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University.
Gabriel Horn Capital
https://gabrielhorncapital.com
Kevin McCaffrey, Vice-President
Kevin McCaffrey is a Vice President at Gabriel Horn Capital, 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.
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.
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.
Kevin earned a B.S. (Industrial Engineering) from Lehigh University, where he also played Division I Lacrosse. He holds the Series 79 securities license.