Join us for our Annual North American Forum to hear from industry leaders from both institutional investors and managers to discuss global markets, the financial paradigm shift, investment opportunities in capital solutions and the evolution of the operational environment, including the business impact of future regulation.
Agenda:
11:30: Registration
12:00: Networking Lunches (Concurrent - Please Choose one)
A career is an important part of that journey with challenges and obstacles along the way. Join Mario Therrien of CDPQ and other esteemed industry leaders to discuss career paths, milestones and decisions that have led them to where they are today.
Samantha Foster, MD, OCIO business, Russell Investments
Elizabeth Jourdan, Deputy CIO, Granger Management
Priti Singh, Global Head of Capital Markets & Factor Investing, CPP Investments
Mario Therrien, SBAI Chair; Head of Investment Funds & External Relationships, CDPQ (Moderator)
To register your interest click here.
Our Operational Leaders & Operational Due Diligence Communities are gathering to discuss challenges and opportunities in business operations, operational resilience and adapting operating models/processes in an ever-changing environment.
Danielle DeLapp, Operational Due Diligence Analyst, Albourne Partners
Robyn Grew, President, Man Group
Muqu Karim, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer, Whitebox Advisors
For information on how to join our communities and register for the lunch, please click here.
Stuart Bourne, Global Head of Prime Financing, BofA Securities
Derek Drummond, SBAI North America Cmte Chair; Funds Alpha Manager, SWIB
Mario Therrien, SBAI Chair; Head of Investment Funds and External Management, CDPQ
Join experts from the largest asset management companies in the world sharing their views and perspectives on opportunities and challenges across asset classes, investment strategies and managing risk/reward in an uncertain economy and market.
Bruce Phelps, Head of AIS, PGIM
Paul Russo, Global Head of Equities Risk, Millennium Management
Ben Samild, Deputy CIO, Portfolio Construction, Future Fund
Edouard Matitia-Cohen, Head of Global Prime Financing Sales, BofA Securities (Moderator)
2:45 PM: Break
3:15 PM: Interactive Breakout Sessions
Leading investors and managers will discuss the ever-changing landscape and convergence of private and public markets and the evolution of capital solutions focusing on the structural shifts in this area that have created an entirely new landscape for opportunistic capital.
Derek Drummond, SBAI North American Committee Chair; Funds Alpha Manager, SWIB
Joel Holsinger, Partner, Portfolio Manager and Co-Head of Alternative Credit, Ares Credit Corporation
Greg Lippmann, Partner and CIO, LibreMax Capital
Richard Shin, MD, Capital Solutions, CDPQ
The SBAI Regulatory Committee members will convene for a discussion with asset manager and owners on the business impact of new and forthcoming regulation on the alternatives industry. What will be the impact of regulation for asset managers and investors, and what questions should investors be focused on.
Stephen Berger, MD, Global Head of Government & Regulatory Policy, Citadel
Chris Bowlin, Sr Compliance Counsel, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Luana DiCandia, Director & Senior Legal Counsel, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
Brian Digney, Research & Content Director, SBAI
Thomas Deinet, Executive Director, SBAI
Members of the SBAI Board of Trustees and the Chairs of the SBAI North America Committee will lead a thought provoking discussion on priorities for our industry moving forward and how collectively we can make an impact in various areas, continuously improving our ecosystem.
Derek Drummond, SBAI North America Cmte Chair; Funds Alpha Manager, SWIB
Stuart Fiertz, Co-Founder, President and Director of Research, Cheyne Capital Management
Robyn Grew, President, Man Group
Mario Therrien, SBAI Chair; Head of Investment Funds & External Relationships, CDPQ
Sapna Vir, SBAI North American Cmte Deputy Chair; MD, Business Development, Verition Fund Management (Moderator)
5:15 PM: Networking Reception
Portfolio Manager, Funds Alpha, State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)
Co-Founder, President and Director of Research, Cheyne Capital Management
CIO, Private Markets & Funds Alpha, State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)
Partner, Portfolio Manager and Co-Head of Alternative Credit, Ares Management Corporation
MD, Global Head of Government & Regulatory Policy, Citadel Advisors
Stephen Berger is a Managing Director and Global Head of Government & Regulatory Policy at Citadel. He leads the firm’s engagement on legislative and regulatory initiatives impacting the financial markets globally, including in the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.
Mr. Berger has testified before the House Agriculture Committee on the impact of the G-20 clearing and trade execution requirements, presented before CFTC advisory committee meetings on issues including package transactions and position limits, participated in workshops at the New York Fed and Chicago Fed on CCP recovery and resolution, and spoken on panels at MFA, FIA, Eurofi and ASIFMA conferences on topics ranging from cross-border harmonization to US Treasury market structure modernization.
Mr. Berger is a member of the CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Working Group on Financial Markets. He has served as Chair of the Managed Funds Association’s Derivatives and Swaps Committee and is an active participant in a number of MFA, AIMA, SIFMA AMG, FIA and ISDA committees.
Prior to joining Citadel, Mr. Berger was an Executive Director at UBS Investment Bank, where he led UBS’s US financial regulatory reform team.
Mr. Berger received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.
Global Head of Prime Financing , BofA Securities
Stuart Bourne is Managing Director and Global Head of Prime Financing at BofA Securities, which includes Prime Brokerage, Securities Lending, Equity Swaps, Futures and Custody. He has been in this role since August of 2021 having previously been the Global head of Equity Asset Management Services which included Prime Brokerage, Futures and Custody.
Stuart joined the firm in 2013 in London before relocating to New York in 2016 initially as head of the Broker-Dealer client business, and subsequently as head of America's Asset Management Services.
Prior to joining the bank Stuart was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley in London, where he spent 16 years and held various roles across the Prime Financing organization.
Stuart holds a BSc degree in Economics from the University of Warwick, England, and currently lives in Rye, NY with his wife and two daughters. Stuart is a member Director of the Option Clearing Corporation's Board of Directors and serves on the Technology Committee.
Senior Compliance Counsel, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Chris Bowlin joined the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) in May 2020 where he currently serves as Senior Compliance Counsel. At TRS, Chris specializes in investment compliance and ethics matters related to the Texas public pension.
Before joining TRS, Chris was Associate General Counsel at Lockheed Martin Investment Management Company (LMIMCo) in Bethesda, Maryland, where he assisted with all legal, regulatory and compliance, and corporate secretarial matters involving LMIMCo and the approximately $80 billion in Lockheed Martin pension and savings plan assets under management.
Chris received a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and received his J.D. from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law. He is admitted to practice law in Texas.
Executive Director, SBAI
Thomas Deinet was appointed Executive Director of the SBAI (previously known as the HFSB) in 2008. In 2007, Thomas joined the working group to project manage the development of practice standards proposed by 14 leading international alternative investment managers that led to the establishment of the SBAI.
Prior to joining the SBAI, he was a senior manager at Oliver Wyman, where he extensively worked with major financial institutions in Europe covering asset management as well as corporate and investment banking. Thomas also worked as an analyst in energy trading for a major commodities trading firm.
Thomas is a graduate of the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, with a major in industrial engineering and holds an MSc from Purdue University, USA. Thomas is a CFA charterholder.
ODD Analyst , Albourne Partners
Danielle DeLapp is an ODD Analyst at Albourne Partners since 2021.
Prior to this, Danielle was Head of Operations at a startup investment advisor. Danielle was at UBS Asset Management from 2007 to 2019, where she held various operational and Director-level roles with UBS Hedge Fund Solutions and Americas Regional Governance. Prior to this she spent two years at Pequot Capital Management.
Danielle holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Business Economics from Scared Heart University, Fairfield, CT.
Director & Senior Legal Counsel, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
Luana DiCandia is Director & Senior Legal Counsel, Securities Regulatory & Compliance at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and has been with Ontario Teachers’ since 2014. She advises the organization on securities law and regulatory compliance matters and transactions, and works with each asset class to provide risk-based solutions.
Prior to Ontario Teachers’, Luana held legal and compliance roles at RBC, the TSX and BLG LLP. She is called to both the Ontario (2001) and New York (2010) bars.
Luana has an HBA from Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, an LLB and MBA from Windsor University, and an LLM in Corporate Law & Finance from Delaware Law School at Widener University.
Portfolio Manager, Funds Alpha, State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)
Derek Drummond, CAIA, is the Portfolio Manager for the Funds Alpha team at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), overseeing approximately $30B in assets.
Derek and his team are responsible for the sourcing, evaluation and implementation of external investment managers across both traditional and alternative investment strategies.
Derek has over 20 years of experience developing and implementing investment structures for both asset owners and managers, including developing portfolio construction, analytics and risk management frameworks, and establishing manager due diligence and evaluation processes.
Co-Founder, President and Director of Research, Cheyne Capital Management
Stuart Fiertz is the Co-Founder, President and Director of Research of Cheyne Capital. From 1991 to June 2000, and prior to establishing Cheyne Capital, Stuart worked for Morgan Stanley where he was responsible for the development and implementation of customised portfolio strategies and for credit research in the convertible bond management practice.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Stuart was an equity research analyst for the Value Line Investment Survey, and a high yield credit analyst in Boston at Merrill Lynch and in New York at Lehman Brothers. Stuart is a CFA® charterholder and a CAIA designee. He is chairman of the Alternative Credit Council (ACC) and a Founder & Trustee of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments (SBAI). From 2014 until 2020, Stuart was also a council director of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) board.
Stuart has been awarded the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing. Stuart was educated at the International School of Geneva and at Dartmouth College where he was awarded a BA degree in Political Science and Economics.
CIO, Private Markets & Funds Alpha, State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)
Anne-Marie Fink serves as the State of Wisconsin Investment Board's Chief Investment Officer for Private Markets and Funds Alpha. With SWIB since 2020, she is responsible for overseeing more than $70 billion across private equity, real estate, hedge funds, externally managed accounts, private debt, and venture capital portfolios, and a team of 40 professionals.
Anne-Marie has more than two decades of investment management experience. She served as the chief investment officer for the Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island and for a large family office. Anne-Marie started her investment career at JP Morgan, where she spent more than 16 years as an equity and hedge fund analyst. Before SWIB, she was at State Street Global Advisors as the portfolio strategist for alternative investments.
Anne-Marie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. She is also the author of The Money Makers: How Extraordinary Managers Win in a World Turned Upside Down, which draws on investors’ experience to identify best practices in business management across companies and industries.
MD, Non-Profit OCIO Solutions, Russell Investments
Sam Foster, CQF, is a Managing Director at Russell Investments responsible for non-profit solutions. She is responsible for leading the organization's efforts in developing and delivering strategic advice and investment management solutions for non-profit organizations. She is also responsible for new business development, establishing investment management relationships and supporting client needs on an ongoing basis.
She works with boards, committees, and staff to develop customized investment strategies and help solve unique problems for each client. This work includes direction on investment strategy and implementation, risk management, asset allocation, operations, and culture.
Sam spent 10 years managing total endowment asset allocation and risk for the University of Southern California, as well as making endowment investments and all non-endowment investments. At Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company (PAAMCO), she chaired the Risk Management Committee and advised clients on hedge fund investments.
Prior to business school, she was a Quantitative Research Analyst for the International Equity mutual fund at Bailard, Inc. She also earned the Certificate in Quantitative Finance (CQF). Sam is an active committee member for the Standards Board for Alternative Investments (SBAI) and Women in Institutional Investing Network (WIIIN) organizations.
Sam studied graduated with a MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business Bachelor of Science, California Institute of Technology CQF, Certificate in Quantitative Finance.
CEO, Man Group
Robyn Grew is CEO of the LSE-listed active investment management firm Man Group, and an executive director on the Man Group Board. The global firm manages USD 151.7 billion (as at 30 June 2023) across a broad range of alternative and long-only portfolio solutions. As CEO, Robyn leads the firm’s Executive Committee, which is focused on ensuring the firm continues to evolve to meet the needs of its clients and the millions of pensioners and savers they represent.
Robyn was previously President of Man Group, based in the US, and has a strong track record of demonstrating strategic vision and leadership. Since joining Man Group, via GLG, in 2010, Robyn has managed the solutions business, overseen trading and execution as well as acted as Group COO, Head of ESG and General Counsel. She has been integral to the firm’s global strategic expansion and oversaw the reorganisation of Man Group’s corporate structure in 2019 to better align it with the global footprint of the business. She has also spearheaded the firm’s diversity programme, Drive. Before joining the firm in 2009, Robyn held senior positions at investment banks Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers as well as at LIFFE, the largest futures and options exchange in London – since renamed ICE Futures Europe. These roles saw her based for periods of time in New York, London and Tokyo giving her broad, global experience. Robyn is a qualified barrister and has worked in the investment industry since 1994.
Partner, Portfolio Manager and Co-Head of Alternative Credit, Ares Management Corporation
Mr. Holsinger is a Partner, Portfolio Manager and Co-Head of Alternative Credit in the Ares Credit Group. Mr. Holsinger serves as a member of the Ares Credit Group's Alternative Credit Executive Committee and the Alternative Credit, Pathfinder and Pathfinder Core Investment Committees. He also serves as a member of the Ares Secondaries Group's Private Equity Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Ares in 2019, Mr. Holsinger was a Partner at Fortress Investment Group in the Credit Group, where he served on the Management Committee of Fortress and the Investment Committee for the Credit Funds. He also co-headed Illiquid Credit, which included leading the Direct Lending, Structured Equity, Net Lease, Structured Finance and Energy Groups at Fortress and focused on tactical and opportunistic direct investments across all asset classes, industries and geographies. Previously, Mr. Holsinger was a Founding Partner of Atalaya Capital Management, where he co-headed the investment committee. Additionally, Mr. Holsinger held prior positions within financial services at Navigant Consulting, American Commercial Capital (subsequently acquired by Wells Fargo) and Citigroup.
Mr. Holsinger currently serves on a number of corporate boards and advisory groups. He is also active in a number of charities, with a particular focus on global health and education, which includes serving on the board of directors of PATH Global Health. Mr. Holsinger holds a B.A. from California State Fullerton in Business Management and Administration, with an emphasis in Finance.
Deputy CIO, Granger Management
Elizabeth joined Granger Management in December 2020 as the Deputy Chief Investment Officer. Elizabeth was formerly the Deputy CIO at Mercy Health in St. Louis, a non-profit hospital system. Elizabeth also previously served as an Assistant Vice President of Investments at Allied World, a publicly-traded insurance company. Elizabeth started her career as an investment strategist at Prime Advisors.
Over the past decade she has been honored with multiple awards, including: AI-CIO’s 2019 ‘Next Gen of the Year’, Institutional Investor’s 2019 ‘Most Wanted Allocators’ and CIO Magazine’s 2016 ’40 Under 40’. Elizabeth is responsible for portfolio management, due diligence, and sourcing of unique investment opportunities for Granger’s institutional clients. She also leads Granger’s Responsible Investment effort.
Elizabeth received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Babson College. She is also a CFA charterholder. Elizabeth currently serves on the board of the Metro New York Chapter for Gift of Adoption. She formerly served as an investment committee member of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, a board member of the St. Louis CFA Society, and as Vice President and Co-Founder of the St. Louis Women in Investments Network.
Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer, Whitebox Advisors
Muqu Karim joined Whitebox in July 2020 and serves as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer, where he leads all non-investment functions.
Prior to joining Whitebox, Mr. Karim was a Partner and the Chief Operating Officer of Stream Asset Management, LP (“Stream”) between October 2017 and July 2020, Prior to Stream, Mr. Karim served as the Chief Operating Officer of Saba Capital Management, LP (“Saba”), a credit focused SEC registered hedge fund, from July 2009 to October 2017. Mr. Karim joined Saba as an original member of the team that spun out from Deutsche Bank, also serving as its Chief Financial Officer from May 2014 to April 2016. At Deutsche Bank, Mr. Karim was the business manager of Saba Principal Strategies from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Karim worked at Barclays Capital as an Associate Director in the Product Control Group from 2000 to 2002 and 2004 to 2006, in the New York and London Global Credit Trading business. Mr. Karim began his career at Deloitte & Touche, leading audit engagements for major clients in the firm’s Financial Services Audit Assurance practice in London and New York.
Mr. Karim earned a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is an Associate Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.
Partner, CIO, LibreMax Capital
Mr. Lippmann is a Managing Founding Partner and the Chief Investment Officer (“CIO”) of LibreMax. He is chairman of LibreMax’s Investment Committee, a non-voting member of its Risk Management and Valuation Committees, and a member of its ESG Committee.
Prior to co-founding LibreMax, Mr. Lippmann was head of all non-agency RMBS, ABS and CDO trading globally at Deutsche Bank, where he led a team of 30 senior professionals in New York and London. Mr. Lippmann began his career at Deutsche Bank as a trader of non-investment grade ABS and RMBS securities. In 2003, he became Global Head of ABS and CDO trading, adding non-agency MBS to his business in late 2008. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank in 2000, Mr. Lippmann was a Director and head of ABS/MBS Subordinate and CDO trading at Credit Suisse, which he joined in 1991.
Mr. Lippmann graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991, magna cum laude, with a B.A. in Economics and a minor in English. Mr. Lippmann serves on the board of New 42nd Street and the South Fork Natural History Museum. He is also on the Advisory Council of the American Museum of Natural History.
Global Head of Prime Financing Distribution, BofA Securities
Edouard Matitia-Cohen is a Managing Director and Global Head of Equity Financing Distribution at Bank of America, based in New York. In his role, he is responsible for all sales globally across Prime Brokerage, Equity Synthetics and Stock Loan, ensuring the delivery of an integrated coverage and distribution strategy worldwide. He joined the firm in 2012 and was previously Americas Head of Equity Sales.
Prior to joining Bank of America, Matitia-Cohen was the European Head of Equity Derivatives, Convertibles and Delta One sales at Credit Suisse, based in London. He was a member of Credit Suisse's European Equity Management Committee and Global Equity Management Committee.
Previously, Matitia-Cohen worked at Morgan Stanley for over 11 years and held various roles including the Head of U.S Capital Structure and Special Situations business in New York, and a member of the Equity Derivatives trading team in London.
He holds a B.A. (Hons.) in economics from ICADE University in Madrid and Ecole Superieure de Commerce in Reims, France.
Matitia-Cohen is a board member of the Managed Fund Association (MFA), a term corporate member of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) and serves as an outdoor advisor to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
MD, Head of PGIM IAS, PGIM Institutional Advisory & Solutions
Bruce Phelps is a Managing Director in PGIM's Institutional Advisory & Solutions Group . He was previously Managing Director in the Quantitative Portfolio Strategy group at Barclays Capital/Lehman Brothers conducting client-based research on asset allocation, alternative benchmarks, risk modelling, liquidity measurement and evaluation of investment strategies.
Prior to joining Lehman, Bruce was Managing Director and Portfolio Manager for Lehman Ark Asset Management where he was Head of Fixed Income and responsible for managing MBS Board of Trade where he developed new futures and options contracts and the exchange's electronic trading system. Bruce started his investment career as a credit analyst and foreign exchange trader for Wells Fargo Bank.
Bruce received an AB degree (Economics) from Stanford University and a PhD (Economics) from Yale University. He is a CFA charterholder.
Co-CIO and Global Head of Equities Risk, Millennium Management
Paul Russo is Co-Chief Investment Officer, Global Head of Equities Risk, and a member of the Office of the CIO. He is responsible for managing all risks within our Equities businesses.
Prior to joining Millennium, Paul was a Partner and Senior Director at Goldman Sachs where he served as Global Co-Chief Operating Officer of the Equities Franchise. He was a member of the Management Committee, the Partnership Committee, Firm-wide Risk Committee, Firm-wide Conduct and Operational Risk Committee, and Securities Division ExecComm. Paul was also Co-chair of the Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, L.P. Securities Division Execution Standards Review Committee. During his nearly 30 year career at Goldman he lived in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, with responsibility for both equity and fixed income cash, derivative, and financing businesses.
Paul earned an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1990 and a BS in Applied Mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University in 1986.
CIO, Future Fund
Ben Samild was appointed Chief Investment Officer of the Future Fund in August 2023, having previously served as DCIO, Portfolio Construction.
As CIO, Ben leads the Future Fund’s investment team investing A$250bn across all asset classes and geographies, with a particular focus on stewarding the Fund’s joined-up whole portfolio approach.
He joined the Future Fund in October 2013, as Director, Alternatives, following a 10 year career in the hedge fund industry, and 4 years as Head of Investment Strategy at LUCRF Super.
Ben is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments.
Ben completed a 6 year undergraduate degree at the University of Melbourne majoring in behavioural finance, psychology and history, and has a Masters of Applied Finance.
MD, Capital Solutions, CDPQ
Richard Shin is Managing Director, Capital Solutions. Based in the New York office, he is responsible for all activities in the financial institutions industry. Mr. Shin has over 20 years of experience in the private equity, private credit, and special situations investment arenas. In addition, he has substantial governance and investment oversight experience.
Prior to joining CDPQ in 2020, he held investing positions at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB, now CPP Investments), Fortress Investment Group, GI Partners, Warburg Pincus, and Lazard Frères. He has led transactions across the entire industry, including investments in insurance, banking, consumer finance, real estate finance, commercial finance and specialty finance. Mr. Shin has acted as a lead director, director, board committee chair, board observer and credit steering committee member.
He holds a Bachelor of Science from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Sr MD & Chief Risk Officer, CPP Investments
As Chief Risk Officer, Priti leads the global risk management functions. This includes oversight of the Fund’s long-term strategy to incorporate risk perspectives into all investment processes to improve decision making. This also includes identifying and implementing critical research, standards and policies related to investment, climate, market, credit, enterprise, liquidity & leverage, and operational risks. She is the Chair of the Inclusion and Diversity Leadership Council.
Before this appointment she led the Capital Markets and Factor Investing department, which is invested globally across public equities, fixed income securities, currencies, commodities and derivatives. She was also previously Managing Director and Head of External Portfolio Management, responsible for managing a global portfolio of externally managed funds that complement and enhance the internal public market investment programs.
Prior to joining CPP Investments in 2008, Priti worked for over eight years in the financial services and telecommunication industries.
Priti holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management of the University of Toronto and an MS in Physics from the University of Waterloo.
She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Standards Board for Alternative Investments.
MD and Global Head of the Credit Research Group , PIMCO
Mr. Stracke is a managing director in the Newport Beach office and global head of the credit research group. The credit research group covers all levels of the debt capital structure for targeted industries, including investment grade and high yield bonds, bank debt, and convertibles. Mr. Stracke is senior portfolio manager and member of various investment committees across PIMCO’s alternative credit and private strategies platform. In addition to his portfolio management responsibilities, he sits on the firm’s Executive Committee.
Prior to joining PIMCO in 2008, he was a senior credit strategist at CreditSights and also held positions as head of Latin America fixed income strategy with Commerzbank Securities and head of Latin America local markets strategy with Deutsche Bank.
He has 25 years of investment experience and holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago. He is also a returned Peace Corps volunteer, having served as an agroforestry extension agent in Mauritania, West Africa.
SBAI Chair, Head of Investment Funds and External Management, CDPQ
Mario Therrien leads CDPQ’s investment funds activities. The teams he oversees invest in private investment funds and credit in private markets, as well as in venture capital in Québec and internationally. They are also responsible for external management in equity markets, as well as developing and managing strategic and institutional relationships. His mandate consists of adding value by building portfolios with the best external managers, while improving in-house management through the sharing of knowledge and expertise. He sits on the Investment-Risk Committee.
Prior to this role, Mr. Therrien was Senior Vice-President and Head of Strategic Partnerships, Developed Markets. He joined CDPQ in 1993 as an Analyst before taking on the role of Portfolio Manager in the group responsible for absolute return activities. Subsequently, he was mandated to develop external management activities in liquid-asset classes.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in Finance from Université de Sherbrooke. He has also completed the Canadian Securities Course given by the Canadian Securities Institute, and is a CFA charter holder.MD, Business Development, Verition Fund Management
Sapna Vir is a Managing Director in the Business Development group at Verition Fund Management, responsible for sourcing portfolio managers across all strategies in North America. Sapna is also the Vice Chair of the North American Committee of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments (SBAI).
Prior to joining Verition in 2022, Sapna was the Director of External Relationships at New Holland Capital (NHC) where she oversaw manager sourcing efforts, peer relationships, and business development. She has also previously held roles at Napier Park Global Capital (fka Citi Capital Advisors), within their Product Management team, and Morgan Stanley, in their Debt Capital Markets group specializing in structured solutions for insurance companies.
Sapna graduated from Georgetown University with a BSBA in Finance and International Business and received an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.