ALTSDC

September 29 – 30, 2025

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ALTSDC is an education-focused alternative investment event designed to bring the investor community together for a full day of dialogue and discussion on the most relevant topics facing investors and managers today. The forum’s content is developed through hundreds of meetings and is intended for the local community of investment leaders across Delaware, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Northern Virginia & Eastern Pennsylvania.

ALTSDC is developed and led by the CAIA Association and CFA Society Washington, DC. It is a hot spot for those seeking the very latest in alternative investment news and developments. ALTSDC is specifically designed to provide relevant, education-focused content for individuals who manage, advise, allocate to, or oversee alternative investments. With leading allocating and management firms, the agenda will include topics such as global asset allocation, risk management, private markets, real assets, alternative beta strategies, private equity, hedge funds, ESG, crypto, and more.

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OUR SPEAKERS

Speakers

Adela Skenderasi

Adela Skenderasi

Brown Advisory

Partner & Portfolio Manager

Adela is a Partner and Portfolio Manager for endowments and foundations at Brown Advisory. Her primary responsibility is developing and implementing investment solutions for endowment and foundation clients, while collaborating with and providing specific guidance to boards for their long-term investment objectives. Her passion is helping her clients achieve and support their mission by meeting their investment objectives.
Brian Swain

Brian Swain

Howard University

Deputy Chief Investment Officer

Mr. Swain is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer at Howard University. The Investment Office is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Endowment and Retirement Trust. Prior to joining the Howard University Investment Office, Mr. Swain was Senior Managing Director/PM of Tiburon Capital Management, an event fund with investments across the capital structure and was co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Quattro Global Capital, LLC and affiliates managing at its peak, $1.1 billion in assets. Mr. Swain began his alternatives career at The Palladin Group, a multi-strategy investment advisory firm holding the titles of Portfolio Manager- Special Situations, Head of Research and Senior Analyst. Mr. Swain was hired, after interning as an undergraduate, by Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company where he received credit training in their Privates division prior to launching a career in alternatives.
Chris Maxey

Chris Maxey

Wealthspire Advisors

Chief Market Strategist

Chris serves as Managing Director and Chief Market Strategist on the Investment Team. He joined the Wealthspire in 2018 to add depth to the internal investment research function, bringing expertise in portfolio construction, asset allocation, and money manager research and due diligence.

Previously working as a portfolio manager with both Steben & Company and Fortigent, he has extensive experience in manager due diligence and risk management, which he now utilizes to provide tailored investment strategies to meet a broad range of client needs.

Ciera Ashley

Ciera Ashley

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Director of Portfolio Strategy and Operations

Ciera focuses on total portfolio strategy including the foundation’s strategic asset allocation and rebalancing decisions. She also performs comprehensive research and analysis to inform hedging and other total portfolio investment decisions. Additionally, Ciera manages the investment team’s operations. From 2013 to 2016 and 2007 to 2009, Ciera held investment roles at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, including the director of portfolio strategy and operations. She also spent two years at the University of California Regents focusing on private equity and real assets investments for the university’s pension plan. Previously, Ciera was with L.E.K. Consulting, where she executed strategic market studies for private equity and health care clients.
Douglas Coté

Douglas Coté

MissionSquare Investments

Chief Investment Officer

Douglas Coté is the Chief Investment Officer for MissionSquare Investments and MissionSquare Retirement. In his role, Mr. Coté oversees MissionSquare’s investment strategy across all asset classes and subadvisors, manages in-house fund managers, and directs credit research. He leverages advanced financial technologies and data-driven insights to enhance portfolio performance and deliver exceptional value. Joining MissionSquare Retirement in 2025, Mr. Coté brings over 30 years of transformative experience in the investment industry. Before joining MissionSquare, Mr. Coté served as Emeric Capital’s CEO, providing financial advisors with muti-asset class portfolio construction consulting. Previously, he was the Chief Market Strategist at Voya Investment Management, representing the firm’s market perspectives to financial advisors and media outlets. Mr. Coté’s career is distinguished by his role as the Chief Investment Officer and founder of the Quant Market Neutral Fund at Schooner Investment Management Hedge Fund. His expertise in algorithmic trading and portfolio management has been instrumental in driving performance and innovation in investment strategies. Mr. Coté holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rhode Island and an MBA in Investment Finance from the University of Hartford. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the Hartford CFA Association.
Jeanne Shen

Jeanne Shen

GAVI Alliance

Chief Investment Officer

Jeanne is Chief Investment Officer of Gavi Alliance (“Gavi”), a global health alliance that improves access to new and under-used vaccines for children in low-income countries. Gavi’s global network of partners works together to vaccinate more than half of the world’s children against 19 infectious diseases, such as HPV, malaria and cholera. Jeanne also serves as a trustee for Noblis, an independent, non-profit organization that provides scientific and technical solutions to federal agencies, and for the District of Columbia Primary Care Association, a non-profit focused on health care equity and innovation

 

Jeffrey Nasser

Jeffrey Nasser

Strategic Investment Group

Deputy Chief Investment Officer

Jeff Nasser is a member of the Office of the CIO at Strategic Investment Group, assuming responsibility with the Co-Chief Investment Officers for all aspects of the firm’s investment process, portfolio construction, and implementation in client portfolios. Additionally, he focuses on manager sourcing, selection, and monitoring across private equity, venture capital, and real estate. Prior to joining Strategic, Jeff spent ten years at PricewaterhouseCoopers in its Financial Markets advisory practice, where he advised private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds, REITs, and banks. Before that, he was a manager at Alcatel-Lucent, where he worked in the finance organization, including the pension fund.
John Feketekuty

John Feketekuty

Montgomery County Employees’ Retirement System

Co-Chief Investment Officer

John C. Feketekuty is the Co-CIO at Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans (MCERP) and is a key decision maker within the Investment Committee regarding strategic asset allocation, investment strategy, and security selection. MCERP was listed in the CIO Power 100 List in 2018 & 2019. John currently oversees the private real asset and public fixed income portfolios.

Kristina Koutrakos

Kristina Koutrakos

Virginia Retirement System

Director of Portfolio Strategy

Kristina Koutrakos is the Director of Portfolio Strategies for the Virginia Retirement System. The VRS invests over $100 billion for public sector employees in the Commonwealth. Kristina is responsible for identifying and implementing cross-asset class investment ideas within the Plan’s portfolio. She manages global asset allocation and thematic strategies and is a member of the VRS Management Committee. Through her work, she interacts with asset managers, research firms, and investment companies around the world. Kristina has been an investor in the asset management industry for over twenty years. Prior to joining the VRS, she founded Kyria Capital Management to develop research and deploy capital to women-run alternative investment firms. Previously, she was a Managing Director and Investment Strategist for a multi-family office. Kristina began her career in fixed income portfolio management and was a portfolio manager at Western Asset and BlackRock.

Lorenzo Newsome

Lorenzo Newsome

Police and Fire Retirement System of the City of Detroit

Chief Investment Officer

Lorenzo Newsome is a seasoned investment executive with deep expertise in portfolio management, institutional asset allocation, and risk management. As Chief Investment Officer of the $2.8 billion Police and Fire Retirement System of the City of Detroit (PFRS), Lorenzo leads the development and execution of the fund’s investment strategy across both public and private markets. He is responsible for setting the overall investment policy, managing asset allocation, and overseeing all aspects of portfolio implementation and performance. Before joining PFRS in 2024, Lorenzo served as Managing Director and Fixed Income Portfolio Manager at Nuveen, a TIAA company. Throughout his career, he has held senior leadership roles including Chief Investment Officer, High Yield Portfolio Manager, Chief Investment Strategist, Director of Risk Management, and President. His experience spans diverse asset classes and investment strategies, consistently focused on delivering long-term value for institutional stakeholders.
Pascal Farahmand

Pascal Farahmand

International Monetary Fund

Senior Investment Officer, Investment Unit

Pascal is a Senior Investment Officer in the Investment Unit of the IMF. He works on a broad set of investment issues related to asset allocation, strategy, implementation and manager selection and oversight. He has been leading the efforts to introduce private investments in the Fund’s portfolios. Prior to joining the IMF in 2011, he was the Head of Foreign Reserve Management at the Bank of Canada for over a decade. In that capacity, he was responsible for all funding, investment and ALM activities. Prior to that role, he worked in financial sector research, market operations, monetary policy implementation, as well as treasury and debt management at the Bank of Canada.
Patricia Alejo

Patricia Alejo

InterAmerican Development Bank, Chapter Head Colombia, CAIA LatAm Chapter

Investment Officer

Patricia is Investment Officer at the Inter-American Development Bank -IDB- headquartered in Washington DC, responsible for managing the corporates portfolio, as well as leading the ESG implementation, among other Asset Management and Advisory projects of the bank. Previously, Patricia worked as Senior Investment Officer at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana for more than 10 years, accountable for asset allocation, manager selection, execution and monitoring of the university endowment portfolios. In addition, Patricia headed the ESG efforts of the endowment, developing practices and procedures included in the investments and due diligence processes.
Paul Colonna

Paul Colonna

Lockheed Martin Investment Management

President and Chief Investment Officer

Paul Colonna is President and Chief Investment Officer for Lockheed Investment Management Company and was appointed to this role in January of 2019. Paul manages over $80 billion of defined benefit and defined contribution plan assets of Lockheed Martin Corporation, globally and across all asset classes. Previously, Paul was Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for Fundamental Equities at State Street Global Advisors, where he managed over $30 billion in assets under management and led a team of 80 investment professionals. Prior to that, Paul was President and Chief Investment officer for Public Investments at GE Asset Management, where he managed more than $100 billion in assets across public fixed income and equities.
Robert Mileff

Robert Mileff

Pitcairn

Managing Director, Alternative Investments

Rob is responsible for leading and managing Pitcairn’s research team for alternative investment solutions, which includes overseeing manager selection to build a robust network for liquid and illiquid alternative investments. A driven finance professional with a deep understanding of alternative investment research, Rob is also responsible for educating clients about alternative investment strategies. Rob works in partnership with our relationship management team to enhance our clients’ investment experience and to build wider recognition of the firm’s investment capabilities. He serves on Pitcairn’s Investment Strategy and Due Diligence Committees.
Robin Clifford

Robin Clifford

New Jersey Division of Investments

Senior Investment Officer, Private Equity

Zach Ruchman

Zach Ruchman

HB Family Office

Director of Private Investments

In his role as Director of Private Investments, Zach leads the research and due diligence of new private market investment opportunities for the firm and is a member of the Private Debt & Equity Committee. Zach has a strong track record of working with a range of endowments, pensions, and family offices to build innovative private equity and venture capital portfolios. Before joining HB Family Office, Zach was a Senior Vice President at RockCreek and a Vice President at BlackRock, where he led direct co-investment transactions as well as manager research for both primary and secondary commitments in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He began his career as a consultant with Alvarez & Marsal. Zach earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, where he was a Jefferson Fellow. Zach lived in Amman, Jordan, for a year where he was a Fulbright Fellow at Jordan Applied University.
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Hamilton Hotel DC

1001 14th St NW
Washington, DC
United States, 20005
202-682-0111

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Key Discussion Topics

NEXT BEST MOVE IN ALTERNATIVES As the controversy around alternatives carries on, investors voice the opportunity in cash and fixed income investment strategies.

INSTITUTIONAL PORTFOLIO CONSTRUCTION Discussing hedge fund manager selection, addressing over-diversification mistakes and understanding both the art and science of developing a successful portfolio for pensions, endowments and foundations.

MACROECONOMICS & GLOBAL TRENDS Comparing and contrasting global macro conditions and investment performance.

GROWING OPPORTUNITIES IN PRIVATE DEBT Asset owners aim to get in on the opportunities in private debt and credit and are increasingly looking at impact investing as an alternative.

HEDGE FUND INVESTMENT STRATEGIES Creating a dialogue around the opportunities in this volatile market through credit investing, long/short equity, market neutral, global macro, convertible arbitrage and liquid alternatives.

PRIVATE WEALTH & HEDGE FUNDS As hedge funds continue to be important to family offices, wealth managers and private banks, investors will discuss the rise in their allocation.

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