Hedge Fund Start-Up Conference 2023

Brad Briner joined Willett Advisors in 2012 and is the Co-Chief Investment Officer, where he is responsible for real assets and public markets investments, as well as the operations of the business. Willett manages the philanthropic and personal investment assets for Mike Bloomberg.

Before Willett, Mr. Briner held positions at Morgan Creek Capital, the UNC Management Company, ArcLight Capital and Goldman Sachs.

Mr. Briner graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead Scholar with a degree in economics with distinction. Mr. Briner also received an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

Elizabeth is a managing director and client investment strategist in the Client Solutions Group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. In her role, she advises institutional clients on their investment strategy and portfolio objectives, working alongside global client advisors and product strategists across public and private markets. Elizabeth joined Goldman Sachs in 2022 as a managing director.

Prior to joining the firm, Elizabeth was chief investment officer at the Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Hawaii. Before that, she served as a managing director in the Quantitative Strategies Group at the Maryland State Retirement Agency, where she was responsible for the agency’s absolute return portfolio and oversaw risk management. Earlier in her career, Elizabeth held leadership positions as an investor, economist, and consultant in asset management as well as fixed income trading.

Elizabeth serves on the Board of Directors of the Chartered Alternative Investment Association (CAIA). In addition, she serves on the board of the Hill School.

Elizabeth earned a BA in Politics and French from Washington and Lee University in 2004 and an MBA in Finance and Econometrics and Statistics from the University of Chicago in 2011. She is a charterholder of CAIA.

Michael Colman is a Sales Manager for Hedge funds across the Americas looking after the Bloomberg enterprise business. Prior to this Michael led teams in our Electronic Trading business. Before joining Bloomberg in 2011, he worked for five years at hedge funds as a Head Trader and five years as a trader at Goldman Sachs.

Brennan Diaz is the founder of Fernbridge Capital Management, an alternative long-only investment firm based in Los Angeles. Prior to founding Fernbridge, he was a portfolio manager at Junto Capital Management and Viking Global Investors in New York. Before Viking, Brennan worked as an analyst at Silver Point Capital and began his career as an analyst in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs. He received his BS in business administration from USC in 2006.

Bhakti Mirchandani is Managing director, Responsible Investing at Trinity Church Wall Street, a thriving Episcopal congregation in lower Manhattan. Mirchandani is also a contributing writer at the Milken Institute and Forbes.com; teaches an award-winning impact finance class that she pioneered in Columbia University’s Masters in Sustainability Management Program, as well as an impact investing course in Columbia Business School’s Executive Education Program; is a co-founder and steering committee member of Institutional Allocators for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; serves as an independent director of Live Oak Crestview Climate Acquisition Corp.; serves on the Board of Commissioners for the New York State Insurance Fund; and is a life member at the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, Mirchandani was managing director at FCLTGlobal, ESG advisor to Corbin Capital, an investment management strategist at One William Street Capital Management and Lehman Brothers, and a sustainable finance banker at Barclays Capital and Unitus Capital. She also spent 10 years pioneering microinsurance, microfinance securitization, and micropension. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, the Financial Times, Institutional Investor, CNBC, and at the G-20 and Davos. She holds a BA, MBA, and MPA from Harvard University and received the Dean’s Award from Harvard Business School. Most importantly, she is a proud mother of a spirited 4.5-year-old (#girlmom).

Hema Parmar is an investing reporter with Bloomberg News, where she focuses on hedge funds. Her stories can be found on the Bloomberg Terminal and Bloomberg.com. Hema also appears on Bloomberg TV and radio. She previously covered hedge funds, bankruptcies and emerging markets for the Bloomberg Brief newsletter. Prior to this, she produced Bloomberg TV’s European markets show ‘The Pulse’ which airs across Europe, Asia and the U.S.. Before joining Bloomberg, she spent more than two years covering the energy sector in Alberta, Canada and energy legislation in Washington, DC. Hema has a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. You can follow her on twitter at @parmarhema

Gaurav Patankar is an investment and fintech executive with a track record of leading and transforming investment organizations, portfolios and products building important institutional relationships globally. Over his 22-year career, Gaurav has invested and allocated capital globally and across multiple asset classes including equities, alternatives, fixed income, infrastructure and real/operating assets. Presently, he serves as the Global Head of Emerging Market Strategy, Alternatives & OCIO Solutions at Bloomberg Intelligence with a keen focus on building and triangulating Bloomberg’s value proposition within pensions, endowments, foundations, family offices and asset managers. Gaurav previously served as the OCIO of a multi-billion family office – Atharva A&C. Prior to his OCIO journey, Gaurav was a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Mellon Investment Management where he managed the global emerging markets research and portfolio teams across multiple strategies. He also led key strategic dialogues with UHNW, SWF and Endowment & Foundation clients as the thought leader on emerging markets.

Prior to Mellon, Gaurav was a Portfolio manager of Global absolute-return strategies at the Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co (Pension Plan) where he successfully turned around the firm’s alternative portfolio and built out the firm’s managed account platform. Before that, he served as a Vice President and Sector Head of Emerging-Markets and Global Financials at Millennium Management, LLC, as an equity research analyst at SuNova Capital and Citigroup Investment Research covering large and mid-cap banks.

Gaurav has earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Mumbai, an M.B.A. in Finance and Strategy from the State University of New York at Buffalo as a Berkshire-M&T Fellow. He also earned his Ph.D. in Social Economics and Governance in 2011.

Barry Ritholtz is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He founded Ritholtz Wealth Management and was chief executive and director of equity research at FusionIQ, a quantitative research firm. He is the author of “Bailout Nation.”

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Mike is a founder, Co-Chief Investment Officer, and member of the Management Committee for Woodline Partners.
Previously, Mike served as Healthcare Portfolio Manager for Citadel Global Equities since 2011. Prior to Citadel, he worked at Millennium Management as a Senior Therapeutics Analyst from 2008-2011.

Thomas Wagner is a Co-founder and Co-managing member at Knighthead Capital Management, LLC, an event-driven and deep value focused SEC registered investment advisor that specializes in investing in companies that need financial and operational restructuring. His deep financial experience also includes serving as Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, running the High Yield and Distressed Credit trading groups and co-managing the Capital Structure Franchise Trading desk. He also had roles at Credit Suisse First Boston and Ernst & Young, LLP. Mr. Wagner graduated with Beta Gamma Sigma honors from Columbia Business School and with a Bachelor of Science degree, in Accounting, from Villanova University. Mr. Wagner currently serves as the Board Chairman of Knighthead Annuity & Life Assurance Company, as the Vice Chairman of The Hertz Corporation, as a Board Member of Singer Vehicle Design, as a Board Member of the Navy SEAL Foundation, on the Board of Trustees of Villanova University and on the National Advisory Board for New York City based Youth Inc.

Ilana D. Weinstein is founder and CEO of The IDW Group LLC, a New York-based executive search firm focused on placing senior hedge fund and business professionals across the investment landscape. The firm has become a leading boutique for hedge fund managers, asset managers, private equity firms and family offices in search of top investment talent for their public and global investment initiatives. Weinstein previously worked at Goldman Sachs and The Boston Consulting Group. She is a frequent guest on Bloomberg and CNBC TV programs, discussing market trends and the hedge fund universe. Weinstein holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.