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Nathan is a Principal at Shorooq Partners spearheading the firm’s venture debt practice. Based in Dubai, UAE, he is the Lead Manager for Nahda Fund, the MENAP region’s very first venture debt fund. A Yale University graduate and a Richard U. Light Fellow, Nathan was born in Korea and educated in the United States. Prior to joining Shorooq, he worked for the VC Team of Hanwha Asset Management, an $80bn AUM investment firm, as the Lead Manager for their AI Fund. During his tenure at Hanwha, Nathan also set up one of Southeast Asia’s first venture debt funds—an experience he is actively leveraging to build Nahda Fund in the Middle East. Nathan studied Economics and Art History at Yale University, earning a dual bachelor’s degree, as well as at Tsinghua University in Beijing and St John’ University in Paris. He has also served in the Republic of Korean Army’s counter-terrorism force and was discharged with honor after two years of service.

Steve Novakovic, CAIA, CFA is the Managing Director, CAIA Curriculum for CAIA Association. In this role, he is responsible for managing the CAIA Charter curriculum, ensuring the content remains relevant and reflects current trends in the institutional asset allocator space. He joined CAIA Association in 2022 and has been a Charterholder since 2011. Prior to CAIA Association, Steve was a faculty member at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY, where he taught a variety of finance courses including: Cryptocurrencies, Alternative Asset Management, and Wealth Management, among others. Before entering academia, he worked at his alma mater, Cornell University, (B.S. 2004, MPS 2006) in the Office of University Investments. In his time at Cornell University, Steve invested across a variety of asset classes for the $6 billion endowment. His twelve years at Cornell generated substantial insight into endowment management and fund investing across the alternatives and traditional landscape.