11th Annual Private Equity New York Forum New York | May 15-16, 2023 Request Agenda

Deven Parekh, Managing Director, Insight Partners

Mr. Parekh is a Managing Director at Insight Partners. Since joining Insight in 2000, he has made more than 140 investments in enterprise software, data, and consumer internet businesses globally, including in North America, Europe, India, Southeast Asia, Israel, Africa, Latin America, and Australia. In addition to his work at Insight, Deven currently serves as a Board Member for the Council on Foreign Relations, NYU Langone, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Tisch New York MS Research Center. He was also confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on the Board of Directors for the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Prior to joining Insight, Deven was a Principal at Berenson Minella & Company, where he served on the M&A Committee. He also worked for Blackstone on M&A and other investment activities. Deven has a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Steve Pagliuca, Senior Advisor, Bain Capital

Mr. Pagliuca is a Senior Advisor at Bain Capital, a leading global investment firm based in Boston with approximately $160 billion in assets under management. He is a co-owner and Managing General Partner of the World Champion Boston Celtics and serves on the NBA Board of Governors. Steve is also co-owner and co-chairman of the Serie A professional football club, Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio. Mr. Pagliuca has been recognized for his many significant philanthropic efforts and contributions. He is the recipient of several awards for his contributions to leadership and commitment to numerous nonprofits in Boston and beyond.  Mr. Pagliuca is also a frequent contributor on television, radio and print media to provide commentary focusing on global economic issues. Mr. Pagliuca received a B.A. from Duke University in 1977 and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School in 1982.

Jeffrey Diehl, Managing Partner & Head of Investments, Adams Street Partners

Mr. Diehl is the Managing Partner and Head of Investments at Adams Street. He is responsible for the overall management of the firm and oversees the investment teams’ processes and strategies. Jeff joined Adams Street’s Growth Equity team in 2001 and focuses primarily on growth investments in application software, financial technology and consumer internet. Prior to joining Adams Street, he served as a Principal for The Parthenon Group, a Boston-based strategy consulting and principal investing firm with Bain Consulting roots. Jeff is Chairman of both Adams Street’s Portfolio Construction Committee and Executive Committee, and a member of the Growth Equity Investment Committee and New Product Committee. 

John Toomey, Managing Director, Executive Committee, HarbourVest Partners

Mr. Toomey is one of two members of the Firm’s Executive Management Committee, which serves as HarbourVest’s CEO; and is also a member of the Portfolio Construction Committee. He first joined the Firm in 1997, as a member of the direct investment team. He rejoined HarbourVest in 2001 after business school, and has focused on secondary investments since 2003. John was involved with the 2007 initial public offering of HarbourVest Private Equity Limited (HVPE) on Euronext Amsterdam and served as Chief Financial Officer from the IPO through September 2008. John received a BA (cum laude) in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University in 1995 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2001, where he was awarded the Loeb Fellowship for outstanding achievement in finance.

Rich Caputo, Chief Executive Partner, The Jordan Company

Rich Caputo is the Chief Executive Partner of TJC. He is also the Chairperson of the Partnership Board and Executive Committee, and a member of the Investment Committee. Rich joined TJC in 1990. Prior to TJC, Rich was a financial analyst in the High Yield Corporate Finance Group at Prudential-Bache. He serves and has served on the board of directors of several of the Firm’s portfolio companies. Rich is a Trustee of Brown University and a Director of the Caputo Foundation, the National Rowing Foundation and the Brown University Sports Foundation. Rich holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Economics and Business Economics from Brown University. 

Ian Charles, Founder & Managing Partner, Arctos Partners

Ian H. Charles is the Founder and Managing Partner at Arctos Partners. In addition to his investment responsibilities, Mr. Charles directs the Firm’s investment strategy, firm governance and investor relations.

Prior to the formation of Arctos Partners, Mr. Charles served as a member of the private equity and infrastructure investment committees and Partner at Landmark Partners. At Landmark, Mr. Charles helped design and execute the firm’s private equity strategy; helped build the firm’s quantitative research group; sourced and structured large, innovative liquidity transactions across the firm’s investment verticals; and helped create the firm’s innovative preferred equity investment strategy.

Prior to joining Landmark Partners, Mr. Charles was a co-founder of Cogent Partners, the first secondary market sell-side advisor. Cogent Partners, which was acquired by Greenhill & Co., is widely recognized for transforming the private equity secondary market by providing institutional-grade advisory services to sellers and providing a consistent source of deal flow for existing, new and non-traditional secondary buyers. At Cogent, Mr. Charles was responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the firm, sourcing and leading large secondary advisory mandates and creating the firm’s investment strategy and portfolio research business. 

Thompson Dean, Chairman and Co-Head of Investment Committee, Avista Capital Partners

Thompson Dean is the Chairman and Co-Head of Avista Capital Partners’ Investment Committee. He previously served as the Managing Partner and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Avista Capital Partners until transitioning to Chairman in 2022. Prior to co-founding Avista Capital Partners in 2005, Mr. Dean led DLJ Merchant Banking Partners for 10 years. Mr. Dean served as Managing Partner of DLJMB I, II and III and DLJ Growth Capital Partners until his departure in 2005 and was Chairman of their respective Investment Committees. Mr. Dean received a B.A. from the University of Virginia, where he was an Echols Scholar, and an M.B.A. with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. Mr. Dean currently serves as a Director of the Boards of Cooper Consumer Health, eMolecules, Probo Medical, Vision Healthcare and WellSpring Consumer Healthcare. He previously served on the Boards of Charles River Laboratories, ConvaTec Group (UK: CTEC), Fisher Scientific, Nycomed, Trimb, VWR, Acino, and Zest Dental Solutions, among others. He is Former Chairman of the Special Projects Committee of Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and served as a member of the College Foundation Board of the University of Virginia.   

Michael Zawadzki, Global Chief Investment Officer, Credit, Blackstone

Mr. Zawadzki is the Global Chief Investment Officer of Blackstone Credit. Mr. Zawadzki sits on the various investment committees of Blackstone Credit and also serves as a Portfolio Manager for the Blackstone Private Credit Fund (BCRED), Blackstone Green Private Credit Fund III (BGREEN III), and Energy Select Opportunities Funds I and II. Before joining Blackstone in 2006, Mr. Zawadzki was with Citigroup Private Equity. Before that, he worked in the investment banking division of Salomon Smith Barney. Mr. Zawadzki received a B.S. in Economics, magna cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Ben Dell, Managing Partner and Founder, Kimmeridge

Mr. Dell is a managing partner and founder of Kimmeridge, an energy private equity firm focused on investing in low-cost unconventional oil and gas assets in the US upstream energy sector. He is closely involved in the screening of new geological opportunities and in the negotiation and execution of investment strategies. Mr. Dell also serves as the Chairman and interim CEO of Civitas Resources, a Colorado energy leader formed through the merger of Bonanza Creek Energy and Extraction Oil & Gas. After closing in November, Civitas is now Colorado's first net-zero oil and gas producer on a scope 1 and 2 basis. Mr. Dell is a leading voice for change in the E&P sector, advocating for reform through direct investment & advisory, focused research, and thought leadership. Prior to founding Kimmeridge, Mr. Dell served as Co-Head of Energy Investments at AllianceBernstein and prior to that he was a Senior Equity Research Analyst for Oil and Gas E&P at Sanford Bernstein, where he was ranked first three times in the Institutional Investor Research Survey for coverage of E&Ps. Mr. Dell was also ranked for Natural Gas and for Oil Services and Equipment coverage. He was previously a member of British Petroleum's M&A and finance group. Mr. Dell received an undergraduate degree in Earth Sciences from St. Peter's College, Oxford. 

Kevin Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner, Paine Schwartz Partners

Mr. Schwartz leads Paine Schwartz Partners as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner. He is further the Chairman of Paine Schwartz Partners’ ESG Committee driving a truly differentiated approach to sustainable food chain investing with material emphasis on the development of positive impacts. He currently serves on the boards of Advanced Agrilytics, AgroFresh Solutions, Axiota, Hendrix Genetics, Lyons Magnus, SNFL Group, Suja, and Urban Farmer. He is also a board council member of the national non-profit Hope for the Warriors. Mr. Schwartz is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Bachelor of Science in Accountancy). 

Michael Barzyk, Managing Director and Global Head of Private Equity, Allstate Investments

Guilianna Ruiz, Partner, General Counsel, Trilantic Capital Partners

Ms. Ruiz is a Partner and the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Trilantic Capital Management L.P. (“Trilantic North America”), a middle-market private equity firm focused on a control and significant minority investments in North America within the Business Services, Consumer and Energy sectors. Giulianna is a member of Trilantic North America’s ESG committee which helps to develop and implement the firm’s ESG policies. Prior to joining Trilantic North America in 2014, Giulianna was an associate of the Private Funds Group of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where from 2012 to 2013 she was seconded to Trilantic North America and from 2006 to 2012, she advised a variety of investment funds, including buyout funds, hedge funds, seed capital funds, real asset funds, and fund of funds, as well as advising on investment management M&A transactions. Giulianna serves as a Board member of La Unidad Latina Foundation, and independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing Latino educational achievement, and is a member of the National Hispanic Bar Association, where she was a Deputy Regional President for Region II from 2018-2020. Giulianna holds a J.D., summa cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law and a B.A. from Columbia College, Columbia University and is admitted to the New York State Bar.

John Woyton, Head of Technology, H.I.G.

Mr. Woyton is Head of Technology Buyout a H.I.G. John was a partner at Advent International and led Advent's Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) sector team. John is a member of Chatham House and the Royal Economic Society, and is a trustee of Little Bleeders, a charity raising awareness for children with blood disorders. John received his BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Melissa Mounce Mithal, Managing Director, Leadership Talent & Diversity, GTCR

Mrs. Mounce Mithal joined GTCR in 2019 as a Managing Director, Leadership Talent & Diversity and manages the identification and recruitment of Leaders StrategyTM CEOs and management teams. Prior to joining GTCR, Melissa was the Principal of Human Capital at Baird Capital. She also has held business strategy and consulting roles at Motorola, E&Y and Capgemini and strategic human capital and talent management roles at PNC Bank, Aon and Abbott. Melissa earned a BA in international business from Illinois State University and an MBA from Northern Illinois University. She serves on the board of the Lyric Opera and is a member of The International Women’s Forum (Chicago Chapter).

Ajay Parkhe, Managing Director, Cinven

Mr. Parkhe is the leader and Managing Director in Cinven USA’s Operations group. He works closely with senior management of portfolio companies to improve strategic positioning, drive operational improvement, transform organizational cultures and create high performing global teams. He is also actively involved with Cinven’s investment teams to develop investment theses and identify target companies. Prior to Cinven, Ajay was a senior executive in the operations practice of KKR Capstone. He is a senior strategic and operational leader with a consistent record developing new businesses and turning around underperforming assets through innovative new product introductions, investments in technology, strategic planning, portfolio management and cultivating long term consultative customer relationships. Prior to his roles in private equity, he was a global senior leader at GE Healthcare for 14 years with full P&L accountability in businesses ranging from $100MM to $1B. His roles in GE included: Vice President & General Manager, Monitoring Solutions at GE Healthcare, where he had full P&L accountability for the global $1.1B patient monitoring business with 1,000 FTEs – leading a high-profile business turnaround by overhauling the old product portfolio, upgrading personnel, improving go-to-market capabilities and reducing cost to grow annual revenues by 9% and EBITDA by 1 pt.; General Manager, Primary Care Ultrasound living in Bangalore, India and Wuxi, China, where he built a new ultrasound business that focused on developing markets, raised external funding, built new teams, leveraged existing GE platforms and doubled the business in four years; General Manager, Anesthesia with full accountability for a $400MM global anesthesia business; and Global Pricing Executive where he built robust pricing capabilities across the $18B GE Healthcare business to reduce price erosion. Earlier in his career Ajay was an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company in their Pittsburgh office, and he started his career as a Research Scientist at PPG Industries. Ajay received his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business; his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering/Polymers from the University of Massachusetts; and his B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. 

Sanaz Raczynski, Head of Sustainability, Kohlberg & Co.

Ms. Raczynski is a Managing Director and Kohlberg’s Head of Sustainability. She is an active participant on Kohlberg’s investment team, reporting to Kohlberg’s Chief Investment Officer. She sets the sustainability strategy and drives the implementation of ESG best practices at Kohlberg. Sanaz also acts as a sustainability strategist and a resource for Kohlberg portfolio companies. Sanaz is an active contributor to industry-wide initiatives designed to promote the adoption of ESG best practices within the private equity industry.

Prior to joining Kohlberg, Sanaz was a managing director and head of sustainability for Nuveen Real Assets and Private Markets.

Sanaz received a M.Sc. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University, an M.A. from New York University and a B.A. from University of California at Los Angeles

Christopher Brockmeyer, Director of Employee Benefit Funds, The Broadway League

Christopher Brockmeyer has been the Director of Employee Benefit Funds for the Broadway League, the national trade association for the Broadway theatre industry, since 2007.  Mr. Brockmeyer serves as an employer-appointed trustee (in most cases as Co-Chair) on 11 multi-employer pension funds, 6 health funds and 5 annuity/401(k) funds with more than $8 Billion in assets, covering 125,000 current or future retirees and providing health care coverage for more than 25,000 employees (plus their dependents) in the entertainment industry.

Before arriving at the Broadway League, Mr. Brockmeyer was the Director of Labor Relations at Live Nation/Clear Channel Entertainment for 7 years, negotiating and administering all labor relations activities for the Company’s 100+ North American venues, its music promoting business, its theatre presenting operations and its role as a commercial theatre producer.  Previously, he spent nearly 8 years working for the performers’ unions, Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

Mr. Brockmeyer serves on the Board of Directors of the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP), a non-partisan organization based in Washington, DC dedicated to the advocacy of multiemployer plans through communication with government officials and members of Congress.  He is actively involved in Federal policy and regulatory matters impacting multiemployer retirement and health plans. Mr. Brockmeyer is a regular speaker at investment and employee benefits conferences and was honored by Institutional Investor magazine with its Taft-Hartley Plan of the Year award.  Mr. Brockmeyer also taught Labor Relations in the Performing Arts for 15 years at Brooklyn College’s MFA Performing Arts Management program.

In addition to his work in the entertainment industry, Mr. Brockmeyer served a four-year term as a Councilman for the Town of North Salem in Westchester County, New York and currently serves on North Salem’s Planning Board.  When not advocating on behalf of benefit fund participants, Chris may be found exploring the mountains, cliffs, lakes and streams of New York’s Adirondack Park.

Mr. Brockmeyer received his B.A. (Philosophy and History) from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his M.A. (Philosophy) from the New School in New York City.

Ania Labno, Director, Co-Head of Healthcare, KKR

Ms. Labno (New York) joined KKR Capstone in 2021, where she partners with the health care industry team to evaluate new investments and drive value creation efforts. Prior to joining KKR, Ms. Labno spent more than seven years at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Chicago, IL. She was most recently a managing director and partner at BCG, where she concentrated on healthcare strategy across all sectors with focus on payer/provider, HCIT and innovation. Earlier in her career, Ms. Labno was in product development at Archimedes/Kaiser Permanente and an associate equity research analyst at JMP Securities Group. She started her career as a researcher at UC Berkeley and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ms. Labno received her PhD in Biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley and her B.S. degree in Biology and Physics with a minor in Biomedical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Allison Spector, Head of ESG, One Rock Capital Partners

Ms. Spector is the Head of ESG of One Rock Capital Partners, LLC. Prior to joining One Rock, Ms. Spector was Director of Responsible Investing and Sustainability at Nuveen, where she focused on sustainability initiatives across Real Assets and Private Markets. Prior to Nuveen, Ms. Spector was a Senior Manager at The Global Impact Investing Network and a Director at Initiative for Global Development. Ms. Spector earned a B.A. in international studies from Emory University and an M.S. in sustainable development from the School of Oriental and Asian Studies at the University of London. She serves on the Novata ESG Advisory Council and on the board of the Fund for Education Abroad (FEA), and as a mentor in the Columbia's Women & Sustainability Mentorship Program. 

Blake Bennett, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Compliance Officer, Revelstoke Capital Management

Mr. Bennett is the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of Revelstoke Capital Partners. Prior to joining Revelstoke, Mr. Bennett was the Fund Accounting Manager of KSL Capital Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm where he was responsible for fund accounting, performance reporting and system implementations. Prior to KSL, Mr. Bennett was a Controller at Pershing Square Capital Management in New York for five years. Mr. Bennett began his career in public accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers before moving to Goldman Sachs where he worked for two years in their third-party fund administration group. Mr. Bennett holds a B.S. in Finance and M.S in Accountancy from Wake Forest University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Amisha Parekh , Managing Director, Global Head of ESG for Private Equity, Blackstone

Ms. Parekh leads ESG diligence, policy development and strategy and reporting for Blackstone’s Private Equity Group. Ms. Parekh joined Blackstone from Bloomberg LP, where she lead ESG data acquisition and curation efforts. Prior to Bloomberg, Ms. Parekh was a Senior Manager at Deloitte. She is the co-author of High Performance Hospitality: Sustainable Hotel Case Studies and was an Adjunct Professor of Business Strategy for Sustainability at Glasgow Caledonian New York College. 

David Chiang, Chief Investment Officer, Pritzker Family Foundations

David Chiang is the Chief Investment Officer of Pritzker Family Foundations and leads Ganesh Investments, which provides investment advisory services to the family offices of Penny Pritzker (PSP Partners), Tom Pritzker (TPO), Gigi Pritzker / Michael Pucker (DNS) and their foundations. Prior to joining Ganesh Investments in 2021, David was Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Idyllic Partners, an outsourced CIO firm. Previously, David served as Head of External Funds at Soros Fund Management, Managing Director at Wilshire Private Markets and also worked for GIC, Acon Investments, L Catterton and DLJ. David earned dual BA degrees in Business Economics and Psychology from Brown University and an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School Management. He currently serves on the Board of The Opportunity Network, a non-profit focused on helping underrepresented students gain access to high quality education and career opportunities. 

Kelly Pettit, Managing Director, Chief Compliance Officer & Associate General Counsel, General Atlantic

Ms. Pettit is Managing Director, Chief Compliance Officer, and Associate General Counsel at General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm with $73B in assets under management and 16 locations globally. Based in New York, she leads the firm’s investments funds practice, oversees the global regulatory compliance program, and assists with general corporate matters as part of the Legal & Compliance team. She also serves on the firm’s Operating Committee. Before joining General Atlantic in 2010, Ms. Pettit was an Associate at the New York law firm Hutner Klarish LLP. She earned a BA in Political Psychology from Lafayette College and a JD from Brooklyn Law School.

Andrew Roth, Director, Private Equity, Allianz Capital Partners

Mr. Roth joined Allianz Capital Partners in 2016 and is currently a Director focused on primary fund investments and co-investments across the United States and Canada. Prior to joining ACP, he held various private equity roles with the StepStone Group and Centerbridge Partners, and prior to that was an investment banking Analyst with the Royal Bank of Canada. Andrew received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Sherwyn Williams, Head of Information Technology and Cybersecurity, Siris Capital Group

Mr. Williams, CISSP, is the Head of Information Technology and Cybersecurity at Siris Capital Group, LLC. He has over 10+ years of experience in systems security, risk assessments, vulnerability management, and remediation while working with organizations of all sizes, from large to small and in multiple verticals, such as finance, education, and non-profit.

Cari Lodge, Managing Director, Commonfund Capital

Cari Lodge is a Managing Director of Commonfund Capital. She is Head of Secondaries and a member of the Investment Committee. Her responsibilities include oversight of due diligence, underwriting, manager selection and investment management for the firm’s private capital Primary, Secondary, Co-Investment and Distressed Capital programs. Prior to joining Commonfund Capital in 2013, Ms. Lodge was at Tulane University’s Investment Management Office where she was responsible for overseeing the private equity and private real assets investments for the $1 billion endowment. Prior to Tulane, she was at Credit Suisse Strategic Partners, Credit Suisse’s dedicated secondary private equity fund with over $11 billion in commitments and interests in over 1,300 funds. She was a member of the investment committee, comanaged the $750 million aged primary program, and closed over 115 secondary transactions and coinvestments for over $1.25 billion in total capital obligation. Cari worked with the team for twelve years since its founding in 2000, having started with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (which merged with Credit Suisse in 2000) as an Associate in Investment Banking. She is presently a member of the advisory board of several private capital limited partnerships. Ms. Lodge received an A.B. from Dartmouth College in both Economics and Government and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Raj Rupani, Head of US Tax & Transaction Support, Cinven

Raj is the Head of US Tax at Cinven, a European based private equity fund with offices in North America. In this role, Raj is responsible for the tax aspects involved in new investment structuring, fund and house structuring, carry and co-investment plans, due diligence, fundraising and reporting and compliance. Prior to joining Cinven, Raj was a Senior Manager in International Tax Services at Deloitte, providing tax advisory services on US inbound and outbound tax issues, including acquisitions, restructuring and new investments. Raj has an Masters in Business Taxation from the University of Southern California and a BSc in Accountancy and a BSC in Business Administration, Finance and Business Honors from California State University, Northridge.

Daniel Pietrzak, Co-Head of Private Credit, KKR

Mr. Pietrzak (New York) joined KKR in 2016 and is a Partner and serves as the Co-Head of Private Credit and a portfolio manager for KKR’s private credit funds and portfolios. Mr. Pietrzak is Chief Investment Officer of the KKR / FS Investments joint venture and Co-President and Chief Investment Officer for FS KKR Capital Corp. (FSK), which trades on the NYSE. He also serves of the board of directors of FSK and several KKR Credit portfolio companies, including Oodle Car Finance, Pepper and Toorak Capital Partners. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Pietrzak was a managing director and the co-head of Deutsche Bank’s structured finance business across the Americas and Europe. Previously, Mr. Pietrzak held various roles in the credit businesses of Societe Generale and CIBC World Markets. Mr. Pietrzak started his career at Price Waterhouse in New York. Mr. Pietrzak holds an M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Accounting from Lehigh University. Mr. Pietrzak serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Lehigh University College of Business, is a member of the Advisory Board of the Scholars of Finance and serves on the Board of Directors of First Tee – Metropolitan New York.