9th Private Equity San Francisco Forum

Mr. Lawson is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of HGGC. Mr. Lawson has been involved in all phases of the firm’s development since its formation and directs the firm’s strategy and investment decisions, governance and investor relations. Since HGGC’s inception, Mr. Lawson has overseen over 700 completed transactions representing more than $80 billion in aggregate transaction value. Mr. Lawson also serves as a director, chairman emeritus or trustee on several philanthropic and cultural institutions including the Capital Impact Foundation, San Francisco Zoo, Wasatch Adaptive Sports and the Forever Young Foundation. Mr. Lawson received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and B.A. from Amherst College.

Rishi Kapoor is Investcorp’s Vice Chairman and Chief Investment Officer (CIO). He has been with the firm for over 30 years, having served as Investcorp’s Co-Chief Executive Officer from 2015 to 2024, and as Chief Financial Officer from 2003 to 2015. Rishi joined Investcorp in 1992 from Citigroup. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Rishi is a member of Duke University’s Middle East Regional Advisory Board, the Oxford Energy Policy Club, and His Majesty King Charles’ Sustainable Markets Initiative. Additionally, he sits on the Board of Directors for the National Bank of Bahrain, where he chairs the Risk & Compliance Committee. Rishi is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences and has been recognized by Forbes Middle East as one of the top 10 Indian executives in the region. Top CEO Middle East also named him one of the top CEOs in the GCC in 2018.

Yann Robard is Managing Partner of Dawson. Established in 2015, Dawson (formerly Whitehorse Liquidity Partners) is a leading global alternative asset manager focused on providing innovative structured solutions to the private markets. Dawson has US$20 billion of assets under management and over 200 employees. Since inception, the Firm has deployed over US$25 billion across more than 240 transactions. Prior to Dawson, Yann spent a cumulative 13 years at CPP Investment Board (“CPPIB”). Yann joined CPPIB in 2001 at the inception of its private equity investment program. He was Managing Director, Head of Secondaries and Co-Investments in 2015 when he left CPPIB to establish Dawson. Yann holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dalhousie University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”) Charterholder.

Adam Vigna is co-founder & Chief Investment Officer of Sagard since 2016. As the firm’s CIO, Adam is actively involved in all investment decisions made across the platform and is responsible for Sagard’s overall investment activities, including investment strategy, governance, and portfolio construction. Adam also serves as Chief Investment Officer of Sagard Credit Partners. Adam is a member of the Management Committee and is currently a director of Peak Achievement Athletics. He is based in Toronto, Canada. Prior to Sagard, Adam spent nearly a decade at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (“CPPIB”) where he was Managing Director and Global Head of CPPIB’s Principal Credit Investments Group (“PCI”) with approximately CA$20B of AUM. While at CPPIB, Adam was one of the founding members of CPPIB’s Principal Credit Investment Group and led CPPIB’s acquisition of Antares Capital in 2015. Adam holds a B.Comm. (Honours) degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Paul Lanna is a Partner at Coller Capital. He is responsible for origination and execution based in the United States. Prior to joining Coller Capital in 2010, Paul was a Vice President in the Investment Banking Group at EarlyBirdCapital in New York. Previously, he worked as an Associate in the TMT Investment Banking Group at Bear Stearns in New York. Paul has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Lafayette College, and an MBA from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.

Matt Hodan is a Partner on the Secondary team primarily focused on the origination, evaluation, and execution of secondary opportunities including partnership and GP-led transactions. Matt joined Lexington as an associate in 2011 from Y-Combinator, where he was an entrepreneur. Prior to that, he was an associate in private equity at Genstar Capital and an analyst in investment banking at J.P. Morgan. Matt graduated from Indiana University, Kelley School of Business with a BS in Finance.

Mr. Kettnich is a member of the private equity team, focusing on secondary investments. He is also involved in various portfolio management activities. Since StepStone’s inception, Mr. Kettnich has helped to build the Firm’s primary diligence and research platform, as well as its secondary investment business. He also spent time living in Beijing and London, where he focused on developing StepStone’s international business. Before joining StepStone in 2007, Mr. Kettnich was with PCG Capital Partners, the direct investment arm of Pacific Corporate Group, where he sourced and evaluated middle-market buyout and growth equity investments. Mr. Kettnich graduated summa cum laude with a BBA from the University of San Diego and is a CFA charterholder.

As Managing Director, Head of Alternative Investments, Stephen applies his investment acumen and experience to assess and develop new investment offerings based on clients’ investment goals, risk tolerance, and retirement needs. He joined The Mather Group through the acquisition of HC Financial Advisors in August 2022, where he operated as the Chief Investment Officer and a Principal. Prior to HC Financial Advisors, he was a Senior Analyst of Zacks Investment Research, Senior Equity Analyst of Manning & Napier, and Principal of Wells Capital Management. Stephen earned his MS in Business and Finance and BS in Business and Management from San Diego State University. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst® designation, and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional. Additionally, Stephen is Co-Chair of the Member Programming Advisory Council of the CFA Society of San Francisco.

Felix Lo is a Managing Director at Golden Gate Capital where he focuses on private equity investments in the Industrials sector.  He currently serves on the boards of Covia, Vantage, Brava Roof Tile, Iron Oak Energy, and Incora. He previously served on the boards of prior GGC investments, including DMC Power, Antylia Scientific, and Safety Technology Holdings.  Previously, Mr. Lo worked as an investment professional at Bain Capital and as a consultant at Bain & Company. Mr. Lo holds an AB in Public Policy from Brown University. Outside of work, he is an active volunteer at Brown, where he currently serves on the President's Advisory Council for Economics and as the co-chair of the Brown Annual Fund Leadership Council.

Jeff Mullen became a Partner and member of WestCap’s Investment Committee in June 2021. Before WestCap, Jeff was Treasurer of Airbnb, joining in 2016 as its first Treasurer and building its treasury and insurance solutions teams. Before joining Airbnb, he worked at Goldman Sachs for 16 years in a variety of roles, most recently as a Managing Director in its Investment Management Division. Jeff started his career as a corporate attorney at the law firm, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where he worked from 1995 to 2000. He currently serves on the board of directors HelpMeSee, Inc. and the Fabretto Children’s Foundation.

Kanu is a Partner at Khosla Ventures where she invests in enterprise applications and infrastructure that leverage advances in AI, as well as robotics and autonomous systems. She has led, and helps manage investments in companies including PolyAI, Kognitos, Moonhub, Regie, Zendar, Nomagic and Waabi among others. Kanu has more than 10 years of operating experience as a research scientist at Intel and Cadence, and founding / early engineer Heavy.ai (hardware-accelerated analytics solution), Spyglass (predictive analytics for design, acquired by Synposys) and Nascentric (fast-circuit simulation tool, acquired by Cadence). She was awarded the Nvidia Graduate Fellowship for her work in hardware acceleration. Kanu has co-authored three books; authored 35+ peer-reviewed publications; and holds a US patent. She obtained a Ph.D. and master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Texas A&M University and a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Delhi. Kanu also earned her MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was co-president of the annual Venture Capital and Private Equity Conference.