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Zack Ellison is the Managing General Partner and Chief Investment Officer at A.R.I. Venture Capital, based in Los Angeles, California. A.R.I. provides debt capital solutions to high growth start-ups backed by venture capital and led by world-class entrepreneurs. Mr. Ellison is responsible for the firm’s management and investment activities, including sourcing, due diligence, structuring and execution, and portfolio management. Previously, Mr. Ellison was Director, U.S. Fixed Income at Sun Life Investment Management, one of the world’s largest asset managers. At Sun Life, he was responsible for fixed income investing and contributed to the firm’s investment strategy and processes, portfolio construction and management, investment execution, and risk management practices. Prior to joining Sun Life, Mr. Ellison worked in Deutsche Bank’s Global Credit Trading division in New York, where he traded crossover-rated corporate bonds, credit default swaps (“CDS”), hybrid securities, and preferred stock. Preceding Deutsche Bank, and during the global financial crisis, he was an investment banker and leveraged loan analyst focused on the media and telecom sectors at Scotia Bank in New York. During this tumultuous period, Scotia Bank was one of the world’s top performing banks in terms of fewest loan losses. Mr. Ellison is a Chapter Executive (i.e. Board Member) of the CAIA Los Angeles Chapter and a Board Member of CFA Society of Los Angeles. He is the Chair of the CIO Advisory Council, Chair of the University Relations Committee, and a member of the Alternative Investments Advisory Council of CFA Society Los Angeles. Originally from Boston, Mr. Ellison earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College while majoring in Economics. He holds an MBA with concentrations in Analytic Finance and Economics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business along with an MS in Risk Management from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Additionally, he holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations and previously held FINRA Series 7, 55, and 63 licenses.

Emily Lehrer is Director of Operational Due Diligence at ICG Advisors, a $5 billion AUM investment consulting firm offering outsourced CIO services and proprietary multi-manager strategies to institutions and high net worth families. Her work focuses on third-party investment managers across hedge fund, private equity, private credit and venture strategies. Prior to coming to ICG in 2012, she was with Guggenheim Partners in a role similar to her current one. She holds a BA in History from Yale University and a MPP from the University of Chicago. Emily lives in Los Angeles with her family.

Mr. Low-Kum is a Consultant, Advisor, and Business Development professional in the alternative investments industry. He is currently an independent ODD consultant, and also associated with a few service providers in a consulting capacity. Desmond has more than 20 years of experience in the endowment funds investment and alternative investments industry, with focus primarily on evaluating the non-investment functions of investment managers whether hedge funds, venture capital, private equity, real estate, natural resources, long only public equities, or fixed income. Desmond was previously Director of Operational Risk Management and Compliance at the Stanford Management Company, which manages Stanford University's endowment. He headed up the Operational Due Diligence (ODD) team, and cultivated relationships with investment managers, limited partners, ODD peers, various service providers and other key professionals (attorneys, independent directors, and accountants). Previously, Desmond worked in public accounting for KPMG South Africa. In the USA, Desmond worked in internal audit for a Savings and Loan (FSB) and Mortgage Banking group, and then for the Stanford University Internal Audit and Institutional Compliance department. Desmond holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Business Administration from Rhodes University, and a Bachelor of Accounting Science (Hons) from the University of South Africa. He is a Chartered Accountant (SA), an Associate of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants, a Certified Information Systems Auditor, and a Certified Investments and Derivatives Auditor.

Peter is responsible for due diligence and manager research at ClearVest, and is a member of their Investment Committee.  Prior to joining ClearVest, he was a Managing Member at Inti Capital, LLC, an outsourced investments office. Previously, Peter served as Event Driven & L/S Equity Strategy Head at ACAM Advisors LLC, where he was responsible for monitoring, evaluating and approving managers in those strategies. He also served as a member of ACAM’s Investment and Research Committees.  Prior to ACAM, Peter was a Research Analyst at Weston Capital Asset Management, LLC incubator platform, responsible for sourcing and evaluating hedge fund managers for seed investment.  Prior roles while at Weston included serving as a Research Analyst for the fund of hedge funds, responsible for sourcing, investment and operational due diligence, as well as ongoing monitoring of hedge fund investments. He has also assisted with select capital raising efforts for the platforms. Peter received his Masters of Science, Investment Management, from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and Bachelor of Science, Finance from the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University.

Michelle Noyes joined AIMA in 2012 as Chief Operating Officer of AIMA's New York office, and became the Association's Head of Americas in 2017. Previously, she was Head of International Sales and Investor Relations for BRZ Investimentos, one of the largest independent asset managers in Brazil. While in Sao Paulo, she also served as the Brazil representative for AIMA and established the AIMA Brazil network. Michelle began her career in hedge funds as General Manager for a global conference organizer, where she launched and managed a portfolio of successful asset management and investment events. Michelle holds a B.A. and M.A. from New York University and is a CAIA Charterholder.

Julianne Recine is a director in the Alternative Advisory and Portfolio Valuation practice, based in New York. She has more than 25 years of financial and investment management experience. Julianne is responsible for providing support to endowments, foundations, public and private pensions, sovereign wealth funds and family offices seeking to build out, upgrade or optimize their operational due diligence process for various types of firms. These include hedge funds, fund of funds, managed accounts private equity funds, real estate and real asset fund investments. Julianne has extensive experience in building operational due diligence frameworks and operational platforms. She has worked with ESG platforms, investment vehicles and has managed account and seeding platforms. Additionally, she has provided consulting and oversight to early stage and emerging managers and has a great deal of experience with strategic acquisitions and implementing regulatory oversight programs. Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, Julianne was an executive director at JP Morgan Chase where she established the Americas Control Manager organization for the Securities Services business within the Corporate Investment Bank. She was also involved with establishing governance frameworks to ensure compliance with various banking regulations. Prior to joining JP Morgan, she was COO and Director of Operational Due Diligence at Sciens Investment Management where she was responsible for overseeing the due diligence, operations and marketing of Sciens’ liquid and real assets businesses. She joined Sciens from PineBridge Investments (formerly AIG Investments) where she was Head of Operational Due Diligence and responsible for building out the Operational Due Diligence infrastructure. Prior to joining PineBridge, she was Vice President of Investor Services at EnTrust Capital Inc. Julianne’s previous roles also include her stints at Goldman Sachs and Brown Brothers Harriman. She holds an MBA and bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus on international business from Iona College Hagan School of Business. Julianne is a member of 100 Women in Finance, The New York Hedge Fund Roundtable and the Women’s Association of Venture & Equity. She is also a board member of Belmont Community Day Care Center and a regional member of the National Organization of Italian American Women.