4th Private Equity Boston Forum

Joined Thomas H. Lee Partners in 1994. Mr. Sperling is Co-Chief Executive Officer and a Co-Chair of the firm’s Management committee of Thomas H. Lee Partners. Mr. Sperling's current and prior directorships include Thermo Fisher Scientific Corp., Agiliti, the Madison Square Garden Company, Experian, Warner Music Group, Houghton Mifflin Co., Fisher Scientific, Univision Communications, Inc., iHeartMedia, Inc., Front Line Management, The Learning Company, PriCellular Corp., ProcureNet, ProSiebenSat.1, Wyndham Hotels, Federal Street Acquisition Corp., and several other private companies. Prior to joining Thomas H. Lee Partners, Mr. Sperling was, for more than a decade, managing partner of the affiliate of Harvard Management Company that managed all alternative asset classes for Harvard University’s endowment fund. Before that he was a Senior Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Sperling is involved with a number of charitable and non-profit organizations. He is Chairman of Mass General Brigham, the Parent of the Harvard teaching hospitals, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women's Hospital as well as a number of leading specialty and community hospitals and physicians practice groups.  He is Chairman Emeritus of the CitiCenter for Performing Arts and Wang Theater. He is also a member of each of the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors, the Harvard University Committee on University Resources and the Harvard Business School's Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from Purdue University. He is married with four children.

Joelle Marquis is a visionary leader, entrepreneur, and advocate for purpose-driven success. As President of Arsenal Capital Partners, she has redefined human capital leadership in private equity, integrating industry, scientific, and technical expertise to drive transformational growth. Holding a Master of Science from American International College and a Bachelor of Science from Western New England College, Joelle combines strategic insight with a deep commitment to building businesses and communities that create lasting impact. Beyond private equity, she is a mentor, speaker, investor, and multi-passionate business owner who challenges conventional leadership—empowering others to lead with authenticity, intention, and purpose to create meaningful, lasting legacies.

Charles Cherington co-founded Ara in 2017, co-heads the firm alongside Troy Thacker, and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. He has more than 30 years of private equity experience in the industrial, energy and chemical industries in which he has executed well over 50 transactions. Prior to co-founding Ara, Charles founded Intervale Capital in 2006 after successfully managing two smaller private equity firms focused on industrial buyouts. Charles previously worked for Lochridge & Company, a strategy consulting firm. Prior to that, Charles worked for the Vietnam Fund in Hanoi and Saigon. After graduating from business school, Charles’ first job was with Credit Suisse, in municipal finance.

C.J. Brucato is the CEO of Abry Partners, one of the most experienced and successful sector-focused private equity firms investing in the middle market. C.J. joined Abry in 1996, when the firm was in its formative years, managing less than $500 million of AUM with a five-person investment team and a singular middle-market buyout strategy (Flagship). Today, he is responsible for overseeing a firm that has grown to manage over $16 billion of AUM with four active investment strategies. C.J. began his career in finance in 1995 as an investment banker specializing in media and communications. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (B.S.E.) in Civil Engineering and Operations Research from Princeton University.

Robert (Bobby) Campbell (New York) joined KKR in 2019 and is a Managing Director on the KKR Credit team, focused on providing principal investment and capital market solutions for financial sponsors and corporate clients across the capital structure. He currently Co-Heads the Private Credit and Capital Markets Sponsor Origination Team. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Campbell was at Goldman Sachs where he was most recently a senior member of the financial and strategic investor group. Prior to that role he was a member of the leveraged finance team, also at Goldman Sachs, specializing in Technology, Media and Telecom. Mr. Campbell holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from Vanderbilt University with a double major in Economics and Political Science.

Keirsten Lawton is Co-Head of North American Private Equity Research and a Partner at Cambridge Associates. Keirsten co-leads the firm’s US Private Equity Research team, which performs due diligence on investment opportunities in private equity and distressed markets. Her responsibilities include identifying, diligencing, and monitoring investment firms and their portfolio companies. Additionally, Keirsten is responsible for analyzing market conditions, tracking the industry, and speaks on these topics at industry conferences. Keirsten and her team advise the firm’s investment directors on manager and fund selection within the North American private equity universe. Keirsten is a member of the Private Growth Research Committee and Credit Committee at CA. Before joining Cambridge Associates in 2008, Keirsten was an investment banker with Lehman Brothers’ Technology Group in Menlo Park, California and Communications and Media Group in New York. Previously, she worked at Shott Capital Management, an investment management firm focused on emerging small capitalization technology and healthcare companies and private equity fund investing. She also was an analyst with the then $27 billion Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board. She began her career at Dartmouth College where she helped manage the endowment and was a member of the Council on Investor Responsibility.

Keirsten received her MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College. She is also a CFA® charterholder.

Adam Freedman joined HarbourVest in 2022 as Chief Compliance Officer and oversees all aspects of the Firm’s global compliance functions. Adam has more than 15 years of in-house legal and compliance experience. Prior to joining the Firm, Adam was the CCO and Associate General Counsel at Angelo, Gordon & Co, L.P. His prior experience also includes being an Executive Director in the Legal and Compliance division at Morgan Stanley. Adam received his BA from Yale, his law degree from Oxford, and his Master’s in Law from the University of Chicago.

Mrs. Gordon Webb joined Revelstoke Capital Partners in 2019 to start and lead the firm's value creation team called Portfolio Transformation Group. Today, PTG is 15 people across Strategy, Operations, Talent, CFO Services, Technology, Procurement, HR and Responsible Investment. Prior to Revelstoke, Mrs. Gordon Webb was a Principal at Boston Consulting Group, and was part of BCG's Payer, Provider and Services group, where she advised for-profit, regional and academic medical centers on strategic, operational and M&A issues. Prior to BCG, Mrs. Gordon Webb was an Associate in Credit Suisse's Healthcare Investment Banking team, and started her career as a Consultant at Booz & Company. Mrs. Gordon Webb graduated from Northwestern University and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Alexander is a Managing Director in Pantheon’s Global Secondaries Investment Team where he focuses on the analysis, evaluation and completion of secondary investment opportunities. Prior to joining Pantheon, Alexander worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Power & Renewables team. Alexander holds a BBA in Finance from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and is based in New York.

Vikram Mahidhar is a Private Equity Operating Partner for Apollo Global Management, Inc., where he leads Digital, Data and AI. He and his team are responsible for creating value through digital transformation across the portfolio including products, platforms, front and mid-office processes, data and analytics modernization, cloud modernization and AI strategy/implementation. Vikram is a board director at Cengage, Rackspace and 25Madision Evolve – an AI incubator. Recently, Vikram has been recognized by Data IQ as 2023 Top 100 Most Influential Leaders in Data. He has also received the AI 100 Award by MachineCon. He is currently an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at UMASS Amherst, College of Computer Science. He holds graduate degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, and undergraduate degree in engineering from University of Pune.

Julia joined Silversmith Capital Partners in 2023 as Operating Partner, Talent. At Silversmith, Julia collaborates closely with entrepreneurs and leaders across the firm’s portfolio to identify and recruit senior executives and board members and provide strategic support for the portfolio’s broader talent needs. As a seasoned talent executive, Julia brings extensive experience helping organizations accelerate their growth with high-impact executive talent. Most recently, she served as Senior Director, Executive Recruiting at Salesforce. In this role, Julia worked closely with the Salesforce executive team to identify, recruit and develop top talent for Salesforce as well as acquired companies Slack, Tableau and MuleSoft. Prior to Salesforce, Julia served in a leadership role at Heidrick & Struggles in Boston. As a member of the firm’s Global Technology & Services Practice, she focused on executing searches on behalf of various technology companies. Julia lives with her husband and their three young daughters in the Boston area. She enjoys spending her free time with her family.

Yash is a Managing Director in the GP Solutions and Secondaries practice at H.I.G. Capital, based in the firm’s New York office. He leads all aspects of the investment lifecycle, including sourcing, structuring, execution, and portfolio management.

Prior to joining H.I.G., Yash was a Managing Director, Partner, and Investment Committee member at Morgan Stanley’s Ashbridge team. With over 13 years of experience in the secondaries market, Yash has been a recognized thought leader in GP-led transactions and continuation vehicle structuring. His earlier career includes roles at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Credit Suisse.

Yash holds an MSc in Financial Economics from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, and a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Together with Jeffrey Gordon, George Cole leads the Riverside Strategic Capital Fund team in the underwriting, due diligence and structuring of portfolio company investments, as well as the development of the strategic direction of the fund. Prior to Riverside, Mr. Cole was a Co-Manager of the Structured Capital Funds at Veronis Suhler Stevenson. His earlier career includes investment experience as a Managing Director of First Union Securities and as an Assistant Vice President for Bank of the Southwest. He holds a BA from the University of Texas and an MBA from the University of Houston.

Aaron Miller is a Partner in Apollo’s Private Equity business and Chairman of Apollo Portfolio Performance Solutions (APPS). He supports our deal teams and the management of its funds’ portfolio companies to drive more successful investment outcomes and build stronger companies. Aaron has served on the board of several Apollo portfolio companies, including Avaya, McGraw-Hill Education and TechData Corporation. Prior to joining Apollo in 2019, Aaron was Chief Operating Officer of Catalina Marketing, where he was responsible for Innovation & Customer Delivery, which included Product, Technology, Analytics, Operations and Solutions in Europe, Japan and the US. Previously, he served as Operating Director at Berkshire Partners and was a Partner with Bain & Company where he held various leadership roles before that. Earlier in his career, Aaron also held key product and operations leadership roles with General Mills and Cereal Partners Worldwide, a joint venture between General Mills and Nestle, in the US and Latin America. Aaron received his MBA from Wharton and his BS in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University and is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese.

Boriana Karastoyanova is a Managing Director of Neuberger Berman and a member of the Secondary Private Equity Team. Prior to joining Neuberger Berman in 2019, Boriana was with Blackstone's Strategic Partners Fund Solutions, where she focused on originating, evaluating, structuring and negotiating secondary private equity transactions, co-investments and primary commitments. She was with Strategic Partners while it was in the Asset Management division of Credit Suisse. From 2005 to 2008, she led Strategic Partners' European operations out of London. Boriana began her career in Investment Banking at Citigroup. She is a graduate of Middlebury College.