Event Profile

CAIA Rocky Mountain Chapter Launch

Date(s):
September 20, 2022
Note:
All times listed are in local time
Venue:
Denver Botanic Gardens
1007 York St
Denver, CO 80206 
Fee(s):
Free Event
Description:
 
 
 
Join CAIA's CEO Bill Kelly, EVP John Bowman, and CAIA Foundation President, Debbie McLean,
in Denver as we officially launch the Rocky Mountain CAIA Chapter.

The Rocky Mountain Chapter seeks to build a diverse and inclusive community of CAIA Members, Candidates, and industry professionals across seven western US states including Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. The Chapter will provide opportunities to network, share ideas, educate and promote the use of alternative investments to improve long-term outcomes for investors and society.

The launch event will feature two panel discussions from industry thought-leaders (more details below). After the panels conclude, come meet and mingle with other local Members and Candidates, CAIA staff, the Rocky Mountain Chapter Committee, and fellow alternative investment professionals. Drinks and light fare will be provided. This event is complimentary and open to all. Since we have limited capacity, we ask that you please register as early as possible to reserve your spot. We hope to see you there!  

The Chapter launch will also be live streamed on Zoom for our global network of Charterholders and partners. Please click here to register to attend virtually.

The first panel at the launch, The Democratization of Private Markets, will feature four local asset managers from Primark Capital, Flat Rock Global, Bow River Capital, and Ares Management Corporation. We will examine the growth in interval funds and the unique opportunity this fund structure provides to a wide range of investors.

The second panel, Investing in Progress, will examine how sustainable alternative investments can positively impact the environment, society, and corporate governance. We will feature 4 global thought leaders including Meketa Investment Group, Lazard Asset Management, Diligend, and ACA Group. The panelists will address how institutional clients are partnering with asset managers and software providers to align, evaluate, and improve sustainable investment goals.
 
Panel 1 (See bios and photos below)
Michael Bell
Managing Director, Primark Capital 
Robert Grunewald
Founder and CEO, Flat Rock Global
Brendan McCurdy
Managing Director, Wealth Management Solutions, Ares Management LLC
Mike Trihy, CFA, CAIA
Director and Portfolio Manager, Bow River Capital

Panel 2 (See bios and photos below)
Stephen McCourt, CFA
Managing Principal/Co-CEO, Meketa
Louise Verga, CAIA
Managing Director, Diligend
Robert Wall
Managing Director, ESG & Sustainability, Lazard Asset Management Limited (London)
Alyssa C. Briggs
Managing Director of Client Development, ESG Advisory, ACA Group

Agenda
5:00 - 5:45 PM Networking Reception *light fare and cocktails to be provided*
5:45 - 6:00 PM Welcome and Opening Remarks
6:00 - 6:45 PM Democratization of Private Markets
7:00 - 7:45 PM Investing in Progress
7:45 - 8:30 PM Closing Remarks and Reception

Registration Note
Registration for this event must be done in advance. Each attendee must be registered individually; adding a guest onto your registration will not be possible for this event. If you have questions or concerns regarding registration for this event, please contact CAIA Chapter Relations.

Location
Denver Botanic Gardens
Mitchell Hall
1007 York St
Denver, CO 80206

Thank you to our generous sponsors:

 

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Denver Botanic Gardens
Michael Bell
Organization: Primark Capital


Michael Bell is a Managing Director of Primark. Prior to Primark, Michael built, and was the CEO for a $12B RIA managing more than 30 investment strategies and a $10B liquid alternative mutual fund complex that launched more than 50 alternative funds. Most recently he purchased, grew and sold a family office-backed $6B RIA. Also, he specialized as a corporate finance attorney for Latham & Watkins and was a CPA for KPMG. He holds a BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia and a JD from West Virginia University.


Alyssa Briggs
Organization: ACA Group


Alyssa Briggs leads growth and client engagement for ACA’s ESG Advisory Practice. Previously, Alyssa was the co-head of ACA’s Private Markets Practice globally and based in San Francisco. In this growth and strategy role, she focused on driving internal and industry engagement and thought leadership among the PE, RE, VC, and PD community. From 2014-2019, she also provided regulatory compliance consulting to private markets advisers of all sizes, including drafting and implementing customized compliance programs, preparing firms for SEC registration, conducting mock SEC examinations and annual compliance reviews, and assisting clients during actual SEC examinations. Prior to ACA, she served in the SEC’s Office of Examinations for six years, based primarily in the DC headquarters. During her SEC tenure, she conducted and led examinations of numerous investment advisers and led rulemaking initiatives, thematic reviews, and risk-targeted sweeps for the Division of Investment Management and liaised with the Division of Enforcement on various referrals. Before the SEC, Alyssa worked in loan counseling and loss mitigation at GMAC Residential Capital, Inc. Alyssa earned her BA in Economics and Finance and her MBA from the University of Dallas.


Robert Grunewald
Organization: Flat Rock Global, LLC


Robert K. Grunewald most recently served as the President and Chief Investment Officer of Business Development Corp. of America (BDCA). During his tenure at BDCA, Mr. Grunewald grew the company from $2.5 million of assets under management to $2.5 billion. BDCA was one of the top performing non-traded BDCs during Mr. Grunewald’s tenure. Mr. Grunewald hired the investment and origination teams, established BDCA’s strategy, and chaired the investment committee. He also established the firm’s loan management systems as well as its policies and procedures. While at BDCA, Mr. Grunewald also founded Kahala Aviation, a mid-life aircraft leasing business and The AR Capital BDC Income Fund, the first open-end mutual fund dedicated to investing in the BDC sector. Mr. Grunewald has over 30 years of experience with middle market finance, BDCs and asset management. Within the finance industry, he has participated as a lender, investment banker, M&A advisor, private equity investor and hedge fund manager. As head of Financial Services M&A at NationsBank/Montgomery Securities from 1992 through 1997, Mr. Grunewald and his team completed numerous assignments for clients throughout the specialty finance industry. In 1997, Mr. Grunewald was recruited to lead the Specialty Finance Investment Banking Practice at what became Wachovia Securities. At Wachovia, Mr. Grunewald managed a number of high profile transactions, including initial public offerings and secondary offerings for some of the largest publicly-traded BDCs and finance companies including Capital Source, Ares Capital, American Capital Strategies, Allied Capital, and Gladstone Capital. In 2006, Mr. Grunewald joined American Capital Strategies (‘‘ACAS’’), which was one of the largest publicly-traded BDCs before it was sold to Ares Capital Corp. in 2017. As head of the Financial Services Investment Practice from 2006 through 2009, Mr. Grunewald and his team focused on investment activity in the specialty finance, insurance, and asset management sectors. In his three years at ACAS, Mr. Grunewald committed over $1 billion to debt and equity investments generating an average annual return of 9.6%. While at ACAS he founded two highly successful financial services companies: Core Financial Holdings, a diversified commercial finance company and asset based lender, and American Capital Agency Corporation (NASDAQ: ‘‘AGNC’’), a publicly traded mortgage REIT.


Stephen McCourt
Organization: Meketa Investment Group


Stephen works with clients in developing investment policy and strategy, evaluating and selecting investment managers, executing investment policy, and assisting with a wide variety of other investment functions. He serves as the co-CEO of Meketa Investment Group, directing the firm’s business strategy and execution. He joined Meketa in 1994 and also sits on the Board of Directors, the Diversity Leadership Committee, the Meketa Fiduciary Management Investment Committee and the Private Markets Policy Committee. Stephen received his BA at the University of Vermont, his ALM at Harvard University and is a CFA® Charterholder.


Brendan McCurdy
Organization: Ares Management Corporation


Mr. McCurdy is a Managing Director within Wealth Management Solutions, which oversees Ares' client management activities in the global wealth channel. Prior to joining Ares in 2022, Mr. McCurdy was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Partners Group in Denver, where he focused on building and managing private markets custom separate accounts and semi-liquid funds. Previously, Mr. McCurdy was the Head of International Portfolio Solutions and Head of International Product Strategy at Goldman Sachs in Chicago, New York and London. In addition, Mr. McCurdy was a Financial Advisor at Ameriprise Financial. Mr. McCurdy holds a B.A. from Hillsdale College in Finance and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.


Michael Trihy
Organization: Bow River Capital


Mike Trihy is a Director and Portfolio Manager at Bow River Capital, a Denver-based private markets investment management platform with over $2 billion in assets under management. In this role he is responsible for portfolio construction and investment research for the Bow River Capital Evergreen Fund, a perpetual vehicle aiming to provide institutional-quality private market access to a broader set of investors. Prior to joining Bow River Capital Mike was a Portfolio Manager at Partners Group, a Swiss-based global private markets manager. He was responsible for asset allocation across all registered funds and separate account mandates in the Americas, constructing custom multi-asset class portfolios with tailored risk/return profiles to meet specific client needs. Previously, Mike served as a Client Portfolio Manager at Red Rocks Capital, a Denver-based asset manager. Mike graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in Finance. He is a CFA and CAIA charterholder.


Louise Verga
Job Title: Managing Director, Head of Americas
Organization: Diligend, Inc.


Louise is an investment sector professional, with over 15 years’ experience gained across the buy and sell side technology space. As Managing Director of Diligend, an innovative digital due diligence platform, Louise works closely with clients in banks, family offices, hedge funds, asset managers, pensions and insurance companies to help them streamline and automate due diligence and monitoring data collection and analysis. Working internationally in the UK, Italy, Switzerland and the US gave Louise a solid view of the global fintech space and the criticality of sound data to maintain compliance and inform investment decision making.


Robert Wall
Organization: Lazard Asset Management


Robert Wall is the Head of Sustainable Private Infrastructure at Lazard Asset Management. He has more than 20 years of experience in growing private market investment portfolios, investing in infrastructure companies, and delivering engineering projects. Robert began working in the investment field in 2007, and prior to joining Lazard in 2021, he was a partner and member of the infrastructure investment committee in private markets at Federated Hermes. Previously, he was a founding member of the infrastructure investments team at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Robert has acted as a Non-Executive Director of operating companies and he began his career as a professional engineer. Robert has an MBA from Queen’s University and a BE in Civil Engineering from the University of Canterbury.