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Mark Anson is the Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chief Investment Officer for the Commonfund with $30 billion of AUM. He is also a Board member of the Commonfund and, as such, has full Fiduciary, Executive, and Investment authority. Previously, he was the CIO for the Bass Family Office and he was the President and Executive Director of Investment Services at Nuveen Investments, a full service asset management firm with over $220 billion in assets under management. Prior to Nuveen, Mark served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer for both Hermes Pension Management, a £65 billion asset management company, and for the British Telecom Pension Scheme, the largest fund in the UK with assets of £37 billion and the sole owner of Hermes. Prior to joining BTPS, he served as the Chief Investment Officer of the California Public Employees' Retirement System, the largest pension fund in the United States with over $250 billion in assets. Mark is the only person to serve on the CFA and CAIA Board of Governors. Currently, he sits on the Board and Investment Committee for the UAW Medical Benefits Trust, the Toigo Foundation, and the Northwestern University School of Law. Mark has published over 100 journal articles and 5 financial textbooks and has won three Best Paper Awards. He is the author of the Handbook of Alternative Assets, the textbook used for the CAIA certification program. Mark earned a B.A. in Economics and Chemistry from St. Olaf College, a J.D. from Northwestern Univ. School of Law, and a Masters and a Ph.D. in Finance from Columbia Univ. Graduate School of Business, all with honors. He is a member of the NY and IL Bar. In addition, Mark has won several awards for leadership in institutional asset management. Last, he has earned the CFA, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Global Management Accountant, and Certified Internal Auditor professional designations.

Cathleen M. Rittereiser leads Commonfund’s educational, market research and professional development activities as Executive Director of Commonfund Institute. She is the co-author of the books Foundation and Endowment Investing and Top Hedge Fund Investors: Stories, Strategies, and Advice. Prior to joining Commonfund, Cathleen was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Uncorrelated, LLC, a conference and thought leadership publishing platform for endowment, foundation and pension investors, and a frequent speaker and writer on the endowment model and Outsourced CIO (OCIO). Prior to Uncorrelated, she spearheaded an annual endowment and foundation conference as the Executive Director of Institutional Investor’s conference division, and held investor relations and marketing roles with leading financial services firms and hedge funds. She received an A.B. from Franklin & Marshall College, where she served on the investment committee, and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern School of Business.