Jay R. Alicandri is one of the leaders of the Firm’s Permanent Capital practice and one of the heads of our Global Finance Practice. He represents asset managers, banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions in the private debt space, including Alliance Bernstein, Apollo, Ares Capital, Bain, Barings, BC Partners, Blue Torch, Crescent, FS Investments, Goldman Sachs, Golub Capital, GSO Blackstone, Hercules, ING Capital, KKR, Main Street Capital, Oak Hill, OFS Capital, PennantPark, Sierra, Varagon, and Voya.
Mr. Alicandri has been consistently recommended for Commercial Lending in The Legal 500 (U.S.), where clients say he is “a very facile leveraged finance lawyer who is appreciated by clients for his outstanding work ethic and strong command of legal as well as business facts.” In addition, he is regularly named a "Notable Practitioner" by IFLR1000 for banking in the United States and New York.
Mr. Avner joined Bain Capital Credit in 2006. He has been the Head of Bain Capital Credit Europe since 2009 and is a Managing Director in Distressed and Special Situations and a Credit Committee member based in Bain Capital Credit’s London office. Between 2006 and 2009, Mr. Avner was responsible for Bain Capital Credit's European Telecom and Media investments. Previously, Mr. Avner was a Manager at Bain & Company. In addition, he worked in operations and marketing roles at Comverse Technology and Creo/Scitex. Mr. Avner received an M.B.A. from INSEAD and a B.Sc. from Tel Aviv University.
Lauren Basmadjian is a Managing Director, Co-Head of Liquid Credit and Head of US Loans & Structured Credit within Carlyle’s Global Credit platform. She is based in New York and sits on the Investment Committees for all of Carlyle's US Loan and CLO investing activities.
Ms. Basmadjian joined the Carlyle Group in 2020 after 19 years at Octagon Credit Investors, where she was a Senior Portfolio Manager and member of the Investment Committee. Prior to becoming a Portfolio Manager, Ms. Basmadjian managed Octagon's workout efforts and also oversaw the leisure & entertainment, retail, consumer products, business services, food & beverage and technology industries. Before joining Octagon, Ms. Basmadjian worked in the Acquisition Finance Group at Chase Securities, Inc.
She graduated Cum Laude from the Stern School of Business at New York University with a B.S. in Finance and Economics.
Bill Bielefeld advises registered funds (including open-end funds and closed-end funds) and business development companies, their investment advisers and their boards of directors/trustees on a wide range of matters relating to the development and launch of new funds, fund reorganizations, acquisitions, and mergers, regulatory and compliance matters relating to existing funds, fund governance issues and SEC examinations.
Mr. Bielefeld also represents broker-dealers and has experience with the initial organization and registration of new broker-dealers as well as ongoing registration, compliance, supervision, licensing, sales practice, advertising and suitability matters. Mr. Bielefeld also assists broker-dealers in connection with SEC and FINRA examinations and enforcement actions.
Prior to joining Dechert, Mr. Bielefeld served as an attorney-advisor in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations.
Mr. Bielefeld has been recognized by The Legal 500 (US) in the area of financial services regulation.
Mr. Bloise joined the firm in 2003. Prior to joining Court Square, Mr. Bloise worked in technology investment banking at Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Bloise received his B.S.B.A., summa cum laude, from Washington University and his M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Mr. Bloise serves on the boards of Conterra Ultra Broadband, Momentum Telecom, Smart City, System1, Thrive Broadband and Virtium. He previously served on the boards of Ahead, DataBlue, Encompass Digital Media, Fibertech Networks, IWCO Direct, Mosaic Sales Solutions, nTelos, and SPS.
The results that Catherine (“Cathy”) Botticelli has achieved on behalf of clients have earned her recognition as a leading white collar attorney in The Legal 500 (U.S.) since 2009. In 2014, she was also noted for her securities and shareholder litigation practice. She has been listed as a leading attorney in The Best Lawyers in America since 2009 for her work in securities litigation and securities regulation. Clients have told reviewers that she provides “experienced, sage counsel” in defending governmental investigations. The Securities Docket named Ms. Botticelli to its "Enforcement 40 for 2017," which is Securities Docket's list of the 40 top securities enforcement defense attorneys in the country. In 2021, Ms. Botticelli was named by The Best Lawyers in America as “Lawyer of the Year” in Washington, DC for securities litigation. Ms. Botticelli also serves as Deputy Chair of the Talent at the firm and is a member of the firm’s Policy Committee. She formerly co-chaired the firm’s Securities Litigation Group.
Allan S. Brilliant, chair of the firm’s financial restructuring practice, represents bank groups, unsecured creditors’ and bondholder committees, acquirers, and debtors in large-scale restructurings and reorganizations and in non-judicial workouts throughout the United States. Mr. Brilliant also has significant experience advising bondholders on cross-border restructurings and reorganizations around the world, with an especially strong track record in Latin America.
He also has significant experience in bankruptcy litigation, particularly in fraudulent transfer and preference litigation, contested confirmation hearings, and bankruptcy appeals.
Mr. Brilliant has been consistently recognized as a leading lawyer for bankruptcy/restructuring by Chambers USA, a legal referral guide based on the opinions of peers and clients. In the 2017 edition of Chambers USA, he was noted as having an "encyclopedic knowledge of bankruptcy law" and was described as "a brilliant strategic thinker." He was also named a “Bankruptcy: MVP” by Law360 in 2012 and is listed in The Legal 500 (US) and The Best Lawyers in America as a leading restructuring attorney. In addition, Mr. Brilliant is recognized as Highly Regarded for restructuring and insolvency in the 2018 edition of the IFLR1000.
Scott is a Managing Director and helps to lead Stone Point Capital’s global private equity investments in asset management, consumer and corporate credit and outsourcing & technology. Scott serves on the board of a number of Stone Point’s credit asset management platforms, including Cross Ocean Partners, Eagle Point Credit Partners, Gordon Brothers and Tree Line Capital Partners.
In addition, Scott helps lead Stone Point’s credit platform and serves as the President of Stone Point Credit Corporation, a private business development corporation that was launched in 2020. Scott joined Stone Point in 2009 and has more than 15 years of experience in the private equity and investment banking industries. Scott holds a B.A. from Amherst College.
Adrienne Butler is a member of Barings’ U.S. High Yield Investments Group and is head of CLO Funds. She is also a member of the U.S. High Yield Investment Committee. She is responsible for new CLO marketing and formation as well as existing CLO portfolio management. Adrienne has worked in the industry since 1990 and her experience has encompassed sell-side relationship banking, media and telecom specialty lending, and CLO portfolio management. Prior to joining the firm in 2002, she was part of the acquisition of First Union Institutional Debt Management (“IDM”), where she was a senior analyst in IDM’s Loan Research Group. Before IDM, she was a vice president/relationship manager at First Union Corporation and worked in corporate banking at First Union National Bank of South Carolina. She also served as a loan officer at NationsBank. Adrienne holds a B.A. from Furman University and an M.B.A. from University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.
Mr. Byrne is the President of Benefit Street Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN). He also serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Business Development Corporation of America, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Benefit Street Partners Realty Trust, Inc. Mr. Byrne currently is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Broadtree Residential, Inc. and Broadstone Real Estate Access Fund (NASDAQ: BDREX). Prior to joining Benefit Street Partners, Mr. Byrne was Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc. He was also the Co-Head of Global Capital Markets at Deutsche Bank as well as a member of the Global Banking Executive Committee and the Global Markets Executive Committee. Before joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Byrne was Global Co-Head of the Leveraged Finance Group, and Global Head of Credit Research at Merrill Lynch & Co. He was also a perennially top-ranked credit analyst, principally in the Gaming, Lodging and Leisure sector. Mr. Byrne earned an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a B.A. from Binghamton University. Mr. Byrne is a member of the Board of Directors of Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN), and New York Road Runners. He is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of KASAI Elite Grappling Championships.
Vincent H. Cohen, Jr., a white collar lawyer, focuses his practice on high-stakes litigation on behalf of individuals and corporations. He is also a member of the firm’s Policy Committee, which consists of elected partners who oversee management of the firm worldwide. As an experienced trial lawyer and investigator, he represents clients in sensitive government and internal investigations, government enforcement matters, and complex civil and criminal litigation on a domestic and international scale.
Mr. Cohen is the former acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Prior to leading the largest U.S. Attorney’s Office in the nation, Mr. Cohen served as the Office’s Principal Assistant United States Attorney for five years. During his tenure, he oversaw the investigation and prosecution of cases involving a wide variety of federal crimes, including terrorism, financial and health care fraud, homicide, public corruption, money laundering, and cyber-security. He helped establish and expand the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Cyber Unit to prosecute cross border cyber-crimes such as cyber frauds committed against multinational corporations, and insider trading schemes that obtained confidential information through cyber breaches. Mr. Cohen’s experience as a federal prosecutor also includes work on high-profile national security trials, leading an internal task force committed to prosecuting federal public corruption matters, and working in partnership with federal and local law enforcement agencies to reduce violent crime in the District of Columbia.
The Managing Partner of Dechert's Singapore office, Dean Collins is recognized as one of the foremost private equity lawyers in Asia and worldwide, being named in the most recent "The Legal Power 30," Private Equity International's list of the thirty most influential private equity lawyers in the world. He is the only lawyer based in Southeast Asia and one of only two fund formation experts in Asia named to the list.
Mr. Collins has been recognized by Chambers Asia Pacific with a Band 1 ranking for fund formation work for each of the past eight years, noting that he is "an 'absolutely exceptional' private equity practitioner" who is "highly dedicated to his clients". Chambers also notes that clients praise his "very unique commercial perspective on legal fund formation work", his "very measured and thoughtful advice" and his "distinguished reputation" for being "very knowledgeable, especially in the private equity space". The most recent edition of Chambers notes that clients value his "in-depth knowledge" and "hands-on approach", with one client adding: "He gives us very tailored advice and tells us how we can achieve what we want to. He always gives very creative advice, which is what we value the most." He is listed as a leading lawyer in The International Who's Who of Private Fund Lawyers where he was described as "a 'sensational adviser' specializing in private equity fund formation and secondary transactions" and noting that he "has a strong client base and is technically excellent".
Chris Condelles is Head of Capital Markets and previously Investor Relations at FS Investments. In this role, he is expanding the reach of the firm’s growing suite of investment solutions by overseeing relationships with key stakeholders, working with the executive team to execute strategic transactions and business growth, and managing the nearly $14 billion in liabilities across the FS fund platform.
Mr. Condelles has substantial experience building profitable credit and financing solutions businesses that serve hedge funds, private equity firms, banks and insurance companies. Before joining FS Investments, he served 11 years at Credit Suisse, most recently as Head of U.S. Credit and Financing Solutions where he had direct responsibility over Structured Credit Trading, Credit Repo Trading, Credit Structuring, and Credit Asset Financing within the Americas. In addition to overseeing a team of trading, structuring, credit analyst and sales personnel, Chris was an Executive Committee member of and the Global Treasurer of Credit Suisse’s Global Credit Division and a member of the firm’s ISDA committee. Mr. Condelles has a noteworthy track record of leading and co-leading innovative transactions in the financial services industry, including the financial package for Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's $12 billion acquisition of Antares Capital from GE Capital.
Anne Cook is Assistant General Counsel at the Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ: PFG), headquartered in Des Moines, IA. She leads the legal team supporting Principal Real Estate Investors (“PrinREI”), Principal’s dedicated real estate investment group and a top 10 global real estate manager. Anne provides legal advice and counsel to PrinREI, with an emphasis on PrinREI’s private fund platform and structured finance investments. She is a member and Secretary of PrinREI’s Investment Committee. Prior to joining Principal in 2008, Anne was an associate in the transactional group of Bradshaw, Fowler, Proctor & Fairgrave, PC.
Anne received her JD from the University of Kansas School of Law, and BBA in Management from the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business.
Other language skills: Mandarin Chinese (conversational)
Mr. deVeer is a Director and Partner of Ares Management and Head of the Ares Credit Group. He serves on the Ares Executive Management Committee. He additionally serves as a Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ares Capital Corporation. Mr. deVeer is a member of the Ares Credit Group's U.S. Direct Lending and European Direct Lending Investment Committees. Prior to joining Ares in 2004, Mr. deVeer was a partner at RBC Capital Partners, a division of Royal Bank of Canada, which led the firm's middle market financing and principal investment business. Mr. deVeer joined RBC in October 2001 from Indosuez Capital, where he was Vice President in the Merchant Banking Group. Mr. deVeer has also worked at J.P. Morgan and Co., both in the Special Investment Group of J.P. Morgan Investment Management, Inc. and the Investment Banking Division of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. Mr. deVeer received a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.
James Doak is a Co-Head and Managing Director of Miller Buckfire. Mr. Doak's experience includes M&A, financing and restructuring transactions on behalf of the City of Detroit, the Mashantucket (Western) Pequot Tribal Nation, Broder Bros. Co., Magna Entertainment Corp., Standard Pacific Corp., Allied Holdings, Hines Horticulture, ITC^DeltaCom, Level 3 Communications, Kanebo Ltd., Burlington Industries, Horizon Natural Resources, CenterPoint Energy, Gilat Satellite Networks, Viatel and Allied Riser Communications. Mr. Doak has also represented creditor constituents in various restructuring transactions including Idearc, Wilton Brands Inc. and The Lenox Group and advised several non-disclosed sovereigns and municipalities.
Chris P. Duerden, a partner in Dechert's global finance practice, focuses his practice on securitization and capital markets transactions. Mr. Duerden leads Dechert’s Structured Credit and CLO team, which has not only been ranked one of the most active in the CLO market since it restarted but also one of the most distinguished in terms of industry awards for best CLO law firm.
Mr. Duerden has extensive experience with collateralized loan obligations, leveraged loan warehouse facilities and a variety of asset backed securities transactions. In particular, he has focused on transactions involving the middle market sector but also has significant experience with securitizations of trade receivables. He represents various underwriters, collateral managers and borrower and lenders in respect of term and revolving warehouse facilities.
Mr. Duerden is ranked as a leading securitization lawyer by Chambers USA. Mr. Duerden is cited as "very good at combining legal expertise with a commercial understanding of the market." Mr. Duerden is also recognized as a Rising Star for structured finance by Law360.
Afsar Farman-Farmaian is General Counsel, Senior Compliance Officer and a Managing Director of Varagon Capital Partners. Ms. Farman-Farmaian joined Varagon from AIG Investments, where she was responsible for the structuring, legal and regulatory aspects of various alternative investment strategies. She previously held senior investment and legal roles at PineBridge Investments. She began her career at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP. She earned an A.B. degree from Princeton University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Chris Field advises clients on a broad range of domestic and international private equity and corporate matters, including acquisitions, disposals, equity investments, initial public offerings (IPOs) and other equity capital markets transactions, as well as take privates and public M&A transactions. He has developed particular expertise in multi-jurisdictional corporate carve-outs. Mr. Field also advises clients in relation to Brexit planning. He is ranked and recommended in The Legal 500 UK for private equity transactions – high value deals, and is listed for his work involving private equity and M&A transactions by IFLR1000.
Mr. Field is a guest lecturer on private equity at the London Business School, has worked extensively on the training and mentoring of young lawyers and has been involved with Impetus - The Private Equity Foundation and its charities on various venture philanthropy matters, including being the recipient of their Transforming Lives pro bono award.
Tom J. Friedmann, managing partner of Dechert’s Boston office and co-chair of Dechert’s Global Corporate Finance and Capital Markets Practice, represents domestic and non-U.S. issuers and investment banks in public and private securities transactions. Mr. Friedmann also advises corporate clients on matters relating to securities law, corporate governance, and general corporate matters, including financial restructuring and securitization transactions.
Mr. Friedmann is also the co-head of Dechert's Permanent Capital Practice and regularly advises alternative asset managers in their efforts to access permanent capital through Business Development Companies (BDCs), closed-end funds and other vehicles. Having represented both issuers and underwriters on the organization and listings of numerous BDCs, Mr. Friedmann assists companies in navigating securities laws and sensitive disclosure matters under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. He is a frequent speaker and has been quoted in various media outlets regarding developments and trends affecting BDCs and other alternative investment vehicles, an area in which Dechert has been identified as a leader by The Legal 500, a leading legal directory. Mr. Friedmann also counsels public and privately held companies in the energy, hospitality and technology industries on a broad range of capital markets and financing transactions, including high-yield and investment-grade debt offerings, convertible and equity-linked securities and private financings. In addition, he advises on general corporate matters, such as corporate governance and board issues, compliance and disclosure matters, and periodic reporting.
Mr. Frisch is a Managing Director and Head of Fund Finance and Financial Sponsor Coverage in the Americas at ING Capital LLC in New York. In this role, Mr. Frisch is responsible for overseeing transaction origination and relationship management in the investment management industry, including alternative asset management firms and financial sponsors, publicly traded investment funds, and a variety of private investment vehicles. Mr. Frisch’s transaction experience ranges from leveraged finance and corporate valuation, to subscription facilities for private funds, and asset backed portfolio leverage transactions for public and private investment vehicles, including business development corporations and other permanent capital vehicles.
Ted Goldthorpe is a Partner and head of Credit for BC Partners. He joined in 2017. He is also a member of the Private Equity Investment Committee. Mr. Goldthorpe was most recently the President of Apollo Investment Corporation, Chief Investment Officer of Apollo Investment Management, and Senior Portfolio Manager, U.S. Opportunistic Credit. Mr. Goldthorpe joined Apollo in April 2012 and oversaw the Opportunistic Credit platform within Apollo aggregating over $20bn in Assets Under Management, which grew dramatically during his tenure. His most recent focus was on the Direct Origination business. He was named to the firmwide Senior Management Committee in 2014. Previously, Mr. Goldthorpe was employed by Goldman Sachs & Co. since 1999. He most recently ran the Bank Loan and Distressed Investing Desk and prior to that was a Managing Director in the Special Situations Group, running both their Middle Market Private Equity business and the Canadian business (CSSG). Prior to that, Mr. Goldthorpe worked in the High Yield Distressed business, the Merchant Banking Division and the Investment Banking Division. Mr. Goldthorpe has previously served on the boards of SPARTA Insurance Holdings, Inc., Flatiron Re, JHT Holdings, Baxa Healthcare, Shelter Bay, Fairway Energy, amongst others, and was a board observer for First Solar, amongst others. He currently serves on the board of Crescent Point Energy, BC Partners Lending Corporation, Mount Logan Capital and Portman Ridge Corporation. Mr. Goldthorpe received a B.A. in Commerce from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He is a frequent guest lecturer at leading Universities including Columbia, University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), University of Virginia, New York University, Queen's University, and Stanford University.
David Golub is President of Golub Capital, a market-leading, award-winning direct lender and credit asset manager, with over $35 billion of capital under management. Golub Capital partners with institutional investors and family offices offering tailored solutions for investors’ credit asset strategies.
Prior to joining Golub Capital in 2003, Mr. Golub was a Managing Director of Centre Partners, a leading middle market private equity firm, and of Corporate Partners, a Lazard-sponsored $1.5 billion private equity fund formed to acquire significant minority stakes in established companies.
Mr. Golub is a member of the Founder’s Council of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, where he was the first board Chairman and a long-time director. He is a member of the board of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association. Mr. Golub is a member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council. He is also a member of the Director’s Circle of the Association of Marshall Scholars. He previously served on the boards of the Hudson Guild and the World Policy Institute. Mr. Golub is on the board of directors of Burton Snowboards and has served on the boards of numerous public and private companies including Tyco Toys (NYSE) and Dollar Financial (NASDAQ).
Mr. Golub earned his AB degree magna cum laude in Government from Harvard College. He received an MPhil in International Relations from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was named an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Michael Guarnieri is a Managing Partner of Evolution Credit Partners. He has 34 years of experience in lending to leveraged companies, both private equity sponsor backed and corporate borrowers. Prior to founding the Evolution in 2018, Michael was at Harvard Management Company (HMC) where he worked alongside René Canezin, in building the Private Credit investment team and establishing a platform that leveraged HMC’s brand and private equity sponsor relationships.
Mr. Hobbs leads Oaktree’s North American Sourcing and Origination (S&O) group, which focuses on private credit sourcing and deal-origination for the firm’s U.S. Private Debt, Strategic Credit, Special Situations and Distressed Debt investment teams. Previously, he sourced and originated private debt opportunities across Oaktree’s credit strategies. Prior to joining Oaktree in 2013, Mr. Hobbs was an executive director at Natixis Securities focused on building the high yield sales and trading franchise. Prior thereto, he spent five years at Goldman Sachs as a vice president in leveraged finance origination and sales. Before joining Goldman Sachs in 2007, Mr. Hobbs was a director in Leveraged Finance at Deutsche Bank Securities, which he joined in 2000. Additional experience includes regional account management focused on fleet financing at GE Capital Corporation and controller for Leveraged Finance at Bank of America. Mr. Hobbs received his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. degree in accounting from Rutgers University.
Richard Horowitz has represented both registered investment companies, including open-end and closed-end funds, and private funds, such as hedge funds and private equity funds, for more than 20 years. He has particular experience with alternative strategy mutual funds, such as manager-of-manager funds, and closed-end funds of hedge funds and private equity funds.
Mr. Horowitz is the co-head of Dechert’s Permanent Capital Practice and regularly advises alternative asset managers in their efforts to access permanent capital through Business Development Companies (BDCs) and closed-end funds. He has obtained SEC co-investment exemptive relief for many BDC and closed-end fund clients and regularly advises on complex co-investment issues. He obtained a unique no action letter permitting the first (and only) master/feeder BDC structure. He is a frequent speaker at conferences regarding developments and trends affecting BDCs and other alternative investment vehicles.
Dwayne Hyzak has served as Main Street Capital’s Chief Executive Officer since November 2018 and as a member of Main Street’s Board of Directors since January 2018. Mr. Hyzak also serves as a member of Main Street’s investment and executive committees and also serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of MSC Income Fund, Inc., a business development company that is managed by a wholly owned Main Street portfolio company. Previously, he served as President (2015 until November 2018), Chief Operating Officer (2014 until November 2018), Chief Financial Officer (2011 until 2014) and Senior Managing Director since 2011. Mr. Hyzak has served in other senior executive positions at Main Street since prior to its IPO in 2007. From 2002, Mr. Hyzak has also served as a Senior Managing Director and in other executive positions of several Main Street predecessor funds and entities, which are now subsidiaries of ours. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Hyzak was a Director of Integration with Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE: PWR), which provides specialty contracting services to the power, natural gas and telecommunications industries, where he was principally focused on the company’s mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance activities. Prior to joining Quanta Services, Inc., Mr. Hyzak, a certified public accountant, was a Manager with Arthur Andersen in its Transaction Advisory Services group. Mr. Hyzak currently serves on the board of directors of Child Advocates, a non-profit organization that trains and supports advocates to serve the interests of abused or neglected children in the greater Houston area.
Jennifer Y. Ishiguro serves as Chief Legal Officer & Secretary of StepStone Group Inc. (Nasdaq: STEP), a global private markets investment firm with approximately $333 billion of total private markets allocations, including $80 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2020, and offices in 19 cities across North and South America, Europe and Asia. StepStone's clients include some of the world's largest public and private defined benefit and defined contribution pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies, as well as prominent endowments, foundations, family offices and private wealth clients. She is a member of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee and Responsible Investments Committee.
Kristine Jurczyk joined Vista Credit Partners in 2013. She helped found Vista Credit Partners and assists with managing the firm’s credit platform and its various funds.
Prior to joining Vista, Ms. Jurczyk served as a Team Leader at Antares Capital (Antares), the former middle-market sponsor finance platform of GE Capital and was previously at Merrill Lynch Capital prior to its acquisition by Antares. At Antares and Merrill Lynch Capital, she managed all facets of the deal process from origination, underwriting, and structuring, to portfolio management of leveraged cash flow loans across a diverse set of industries. Before her time at Merrill Lynch Capital, Ms. Jurczyk worked at Arthur Andersen in the Transaction Advisory Group, performing accounting and financial due diligence analysis on behalf of private equity firms. She has more than 20 years of leveraged buyout experience, representing the evaluation and execution of more than $30 billion in debt transactions.
Bruce Karpati joined KKR in 2014, is a Partner of the Firm, and serves as Global Chief Compliance Officer and Counsel. He serves on the Firm’s Risk & Operations Committee, is a member of the Firm’s Valuation Committee, chairs its Global Conflicts Committee, and co-chairs its Operational Oversight Committee. Prior to joining KKR, he was the Chief Compliance Officer of Prudential Investments, the mutual fund and distribution business of Prudential Financial. From 2000-2013, Mr. Karpati served in the Securities & Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division, including as National Chief of the SEC’s Asset Management Unit. Mr. Karpati co-founded the Unit where he supervised a staff of 75 attorneys, industry experts, and other professionals. In 2007, he founded the SEC’s Hedge Fund Working Group, a cross-office initiative to combat securities fraud in the hedge fund industry. Mr. Karpati is a board member and former chair of the National Society of Compliance Professionals, and also serves as an adjunct professor at Fordham University Law School. He began his career in private practice at Dechert LLP. Mr. Karpati earned his JD cum laude from the University at Buffalo Law School, and his Bachelor’s degree cum laude in International Relations from Tufts University.
Al is a Managing Director based in Chicago, focusing on full advisory services to depositories and specialty finance (BDCs), and is a member of the firm’s fairness opinion committee.
Al Laufenberg has represented numerous financial institutions (buy and sell side) as well as working with special committees for approximately 25 years. KBW/Stifel has become an BDC investment banking industry leader under Mr. Laufenberg’s leadership. Al has worked on successfully completing over 200 transactions exceeding $25 billion in transaction value for financial institutions over his 2 decades of investment banking experience. Mr. Laufenberg has worked with KBW/Stifel since the 2005 Stifel acquisition of the Legg Mason capital markets division. Earlier in his career, Al was an investment banker at EVEREN Securities and First Union (now known as Wells Fargo). Mr. Laufenberg has an B.B.A. Finance from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where he was a Kemper Scholar.
Jim A. Lebovitz is a partner in Dechert's corporate and securities group and a member of the firm's Policy Committee. He represents clients in securities transactions, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances and general corporate matters. He has extensive experience advising public and privately-held corporations in the life sciences, healthcare, financial and business services sectors, business development companies (BDCs) and other specialty finance companies, and investment banks in corporate transactions and financings.
Having previously worked in-house as general counsel of a publicly-traded company, Mr. Lebovitz brings a particularly strong commercial perspective when representing clients in transactions. In fact, Chambers USA, a referral guide to leading lawyers in the United States, which consistently recognizes Mr. Lebovitz as a leading lawyer for corporate/M&A and private equity as well as capital markets, described him as a "consummate professional," "collaborative, thoughtful, commercial lawyer" who “is down to earth and stands out as a leader" and “knows just how to get the deal done.” Mr. Lebovitz is also recognized as a leading lawyer for corporate law, securities law, mergers and acquisitions law, leveraged buyouts and private equity law, and biotechnology law in The Best Lawyers in America, is listed as a "Life Sciences Star" in LMG Life Sciences, and was recently named a "Highly regarded" lawyer for M&A in the IFLR1000. In addition, Mr. Lebovitz has also been recognized for his extensive capital markets: debt and equity offerings and mergers and acquisitions experience by The Legal 500 (U.S.), which has praised him for his “unique combination of nuts and bolts wisdom, as well as experienced counsel in complicated matters” and has described him as "exceptional."
Mr. Lebovitz is the chair of Dechert’s firm-wide lawyer hiring committee and previously served as partner responsible for associate development. From 2000 to 2005, he served as chair of the firm’s business and technology practice group.
Mr. Lebovitz joined Dechert in July 1999 as a partner in the Philadelphia office following three years as the general counsel of a national, publicly traded, physician practice management company.
Tricia Lee focuses her practice on the formation, structuring, and operation of private funds, and has represented private equity, real estate, credit, distressed, and other types of private funds. She regularly represents the so-called “mega funds” (vehicles raising pooled capital of US$5 billion or more), and her experience encompasses a full range of established sponsors as well as first-time fund launches. She also advises clients in connection with placement agent agreements, separately managed accounts, co-investments, and a host of other transactions, as well as counseling clients on general corporate matters, including transactional and governance issues. She has extensive experience negotiating, structuring and closing a wide variety of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic partnerships.
Eric Lloyd is Head of Private Assets where he is responsible for managing all aspects of Barings’ global private assets businesses, including real estate debt and equity, multi-asset, middle market direct lending, infrastructure debt, corporate private placements, private asset-backed securities, whole loan residential mortgages, private equity funds and co-investments and private equity real assets. He also oversees strategic relationship management, is a member of Barings’ Senior Leadership Team and serves as a Board member and Chief Executive Officer of Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE: BBDC). Eric is an Executive Sponsor of both the Veteran’s and the Out & Allies employee resource groups.
Eric has worked in the industry since 1990 and his experience has encompassed leadership positions in investment management, investment banking, leveraged finance and risk management. Prior to joining Barings in 2013, he served as Head of Market and Institutional Risk for Wells Fargo, was on Wells Fargo’s Management Committee and was a member of the Board of Directors of Wells Fargo Securities. Before the acquisition of Wachovia, Eric worked in Wachovia’s Global Markets Investment Banking division and served on the division’s Operating Committee, where he held various leadership positions, including Head of Wachovia’s Global Leveraged Finance Group.
David Miller is the Head of Private Credit & Equity and a member of the management committee at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2016 and has over 23 years of investing experience.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Miller was the Chief Executive Officer of Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp., a publicly traded real estate investment trust he co-founded in 2011 to capitalize on the significant dislocation in the residential housing market. Prior to Silver Bay, Mr. Miller was a Managing Director at Pine River Capital Management and Two Harbors Investment Corp. where he focused on investment strategy and new business development.
During the global financial crisis (2008 -2011), Mr. Miller served in various roles at the U.S. Department of Treasury, including as the Chief Investment Officer of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) where he created complex crisis response investment programs and managed the $700 billion portfolio. Prior to Treasury, Mr. Miller held various investment roles, including as a portfolio manager at HBK Investments and in the Special Situations Group at Goldman Sachs & Co., where he focused on opportunistic investments in public and private debt and equity.
Mr. Miller received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. magna cum laude in Economics from Dartmouth College where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Mr. Miller is responsible for overseeing Canyon’s European and Asian investment efforts and is Co-Head of Canyon’s CLO business. Before assuming his current responsibilities, Mr. Miller primarily focused on global distressed, high yield, and equity investments in the traditional media sector. Mr. Miller previously worked as an investor at the Capital Group Companies, a Los Angeles asset management firm, and Francisco Partners, a San Francisco based private equity firm. Mr. Miller began his career in the Technology Investment Banking group at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Miller graduated from Stanford University (B.S., Computer Science) and from the Wharton School (M.B.A).
Steve is Chief Executive Officer of Cliffwater and oversees all investment research as the firm's Chief Investment Officer. Prior to forming Cliffwater in 2004, Steve was a Senior Managing Director at Wilshire Associates. From 1990 to 2004, Steve led the Consulting division at Wilshire Associates and also started and built its asset management business using a 'manager of manager' investment approach, including private equity and hedge fund-of-fund portfolios. Steve started his career at Wells Fargo Investment Advisors, an early pioneer in index funds, where he developed and managed index funds and oversaw asset allocation.
Steve is recognized for his investment research. His articles have appeared in the Financial Analysts Journal, The Journal of Portfolio Management, and The Journal of Applied Corporate Finance on issues covering performance fees, currency hedging, gauging private equity performance, and corporate governance. His "firsts" include creating a "smart" index fund (1979); measuring the benefits of corporate governance and coining the term "CalPERS Effect" (1994); designing and implementing an institutional performance fee structure (1987); measuring the cost of "Buy High, Sell Low" in mutual fund cash flows (1995); creating State Pension Surveys on Funding (1991) and Performance (2012); and measuring the private-to-liquid alternatives performance discount (2013).
Mr. Nixon is Head of Strategic Investments for Cerberus. In his role, he focuses on investment opportunities with the potential to drive technological, security, and defense advancements across sectors and geographies.
For over a decade, Mr. Nixon has partnered with Cerberus and its affiliates across a diverse array of projects and investments. He has been a Managing Director with Cerberus’ industry-leading operations team, Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, and has served on the Board of Directors for several Cerberus portfolio companies, including most recently Navistar Defense, where he is Chairman, and Sparton Corporation.
Ana Carolina Oliveira heads ING’s Sustainable Finance team covering the Americas region. She works with ING's clients in providing structuring and advisory of sustainable finance solutions, to support them in accelerating their sustainability transition. Ana Carolina also plays an integral role in supporting ING’s Terra approach, a commitment to steer its €600 billion lending book in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement to keep global warming to well-below two degrees. Ana Carolina also represents ING in supporting industry discussions as a member of the Executive Committee of the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) and sustainable finance related working groups.
Ana Carolina has extensive experience in advising clients on capital structure and working capital optimization and previously has served as a director in ING’s Healthcare sector group where she covered US large multinationals and was one of the founders of ING global Healthcare platform. Prior to that she was a senior credit officer on the New York Credit Risk team beginning in 2012, after working four years at ING‘s Environmental and Social Risk team in Amsterdam, when she supported ING in steering the Equator Principles review. Before that, Ana Carolina worked in The Netherlands and in Brazil as a risk specialist at ABN AMRO Bank.
Omoz Osayimwese focuses his practice on matters relating to the formation and operation of private equity funds, other closed-end investment funds and alternative asset management businesses. Mr. Osayimwese leads Dechert’s U.S. private investment funds practice. Mr. Osayimwese also has substantial experience representing clients in the formation and operation of hedge funds and hybrid funds. Investment funds that Mr. Osayimwese has represented on formation matters cover a range of strategies, including buyouts, distressed debt, special opportunities, real estate, credit, structured products, shareholder activism, multi-strategy and insurance.
Mr. Osayimwese maintains a broad practice, also advising private equity firms and hedge fund managers on minority stakes acquisitions, spin-outs, joint ventures, restructurings and secondaries transactions; investors in the negotiation of seed-capital transactions; and sponsors in the structuring of complex carry-sharing arrangements among principals and employees. His writing on investment and funds management has appeared in publications, including Law360, LexisNexis and Private Funds Management.
Craig W. Packer is a Co-Founder of Owl Rock and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Owl Rock Capital Advisors. He serves as Chief Executive Officer of Owl Rock’s Business Development Companies, including Owl Rock Capital Corporation and Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp. Mr. Packer has a wide range of experience in leveraged finance and alternative investments, including leadership roles in investment banking, direct lending and private credit. Prior to founding Owl Rock, Mr. Packer was a Partner and Co-Head of Leveraged Finance in the Americas at Goldman Sachs & Co., where he served on the Firmwide Capital Committee. Mr. Packer joined Goldman Sachs & Co. as a Managing Director and Head of High Yield Capital Markets in 2006 and was named partner in 2008. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs & Co., Mr. Packer was the Global Head of High Yield Capital Markets at Credit Suisse First Boston, and before that he worked at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Mr. Packer serves as Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of Greenwich Academy, Co-Chair of the Honorary Board of Kids in Crisis, a nonprofit organization that serves children in Connecticut, and on the Advisory Board for the McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia. Mr. Packer earned a B.S. from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Daniel Pietrzak joined KKR in 2016 and is a Partner of KKR. Mr. Pietrzak is a portfolio manager for KKR's private credit funds and portfolios and a member of the Global Private Credit Investment Committee, Europe Direct Lending Investment Committee and KKR Credit Portfolio Management Committee. Mr. Pietrzak is Chief Investment Officer of the KKR / FS Investments joint venture and Co-President and Chief Investment Officer for each of the business development companies managed by the joint venture, including FS KKR Capital Corp., which trades on the NYSE. He also serves of the board of directors of several KKR Credit portfolio companies, including Home Partners of America, 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 and is a CPA. 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 Advisory Board for the Lehigh University Center of Financial Services.
Adam Plainer, co-chair of Dechert’s global financial restructuring group, represents leading accounting firms, UK clearing banks, U.S. investment banks, hedge funds, private equity firms and corporate boards of directors in large-scale, complex restructurings and reorganizations.
Mr. Plainer has extensive experiencing advising distressed investors, junior and senior lenders and top insolvency practitioners on a wide range of high-profile restructurings, including contingency planning and formal insolvencies. His representations include leading the team advising KPMG as joint administrators in the landmark case of MF Global UK’s special administration, which was highlighted as a top restructuring matter twice at the Legal Business Awards and The Lawyer Awards. In addition, Mr. Plainer is also highly experienced representing clients in distressed mergers and acquisitions matters.
Sengal Selassie is the CEO and Founder of Brightwood. Mr. Selassie has been involved in all phases of the firm’s development since its founding in 2010. He is a member of the Executive Committee and serves on the Investment Committee of all Brightwood Managed Funds. Mr. Selassie currently participates on the boards of many of Brightwood’s portfolio companies and has managed capital for hundreds of limited partners, including a number of prominent public, private and corporate pension plans, endowments, family offices, and high net worth individuals. Prior to forming Brightwood, Mr. Selassie led Cowen Capital Partners, LLC (“Cowen Capital”), where he served as managing partner from 2006 through 2009. Mr. Selassie joined Cowen Capital from SG Capital Partners LLC (“SG Capital”), Cowen Capital’s predecessor fund where he worked from 1998 through 2006. At SG Capital he was a Managing Director and served as group head starting in 2002. Prior to SG Capital, Mr. Selassie worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Morgan Stanley where he helped media and telecommunications companies execute strategic transactions. He began his career in the Corporate Finance Group of the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in 1990.
Education: A.B. in Economics, magna cum laude, Harvard College; M.B.A. and J.D., with honors, Harvard University.
Mikhaelle Schiappacasse's practice focuses on the structuring, establishment, management, marketing, and restructuring of fund platforms and investment funds, including hedge, debt, real estate, private equity and fund of funds, across a broad range of asset classes and fund domiciles. Ms. Schiappacasse also advises on the establishment of asset management businesses, including the drafting and negotiation of shareholders' agreements and limited liability partnership agreements. She also acts for investment funds and their managers on general corporate, regulatory and compliance matters. She is a member of Dechert LLP's Global ESG Working Group.
Guy F. Talarico is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Alaric Compliance Services LLC, one of the nation's leading regulatory compliance consulting firms and recipient of numerous industry awards. Established in 2004, Alaric Compliance provides consulting, technology solutions and other services, including independent Chief Compliance Officers, to funds, investment managers and broker/dealers registered with the SEC, NFA/CFTC and FINRA.
Mr. Talarico has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. His background includes serving as the CCO to numerous firms; the management of the JPMorgan-Chase Commercial Investment and Retirement Services Group (“CIRS”), a $45 billion asset management and services group; and client management of SEC-registered advisers within the Institutional Custody Division of Investors Bank & Trust Company.
Mr. Talarico is a frequent conference speaker and writer on compliance related matters and has served as an expert witness on regulatory matters. He served three terms in the New Jersey State Assembly and sponsored numerous laws for regulatory reforms of the insurance and banking industries. He is the sponsor of the "Justice for Victims Law" which eliminated the two-year statute of limitations in civil lawsuits for wrongful deaths. Mr. Talarico holds a BS ChE from Lehigh University, an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a JD from New York Law School. He is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey.
John M. Timperio, a partner in Dechert's global finance practice, has more than 25 years of experience working with some of the world's largest asset managers and investment banks on various types of structured finance solutions, including CLOs and structured loan facilities. Mr. Timperio leads Dechert’s Structured Credit and CLO team, which has not only been ranked one of the most active in the CLO market since it restarted but also one of the most distinguished in terms of industry awards for best CLO law firm. He is also actively involved in creating various permanent capital solutions for various of the firm's 50 plus asset manager clients who currently manage CLOs, including US and EU risk retention compliant structures.
Mr. Weisman joined Bain Capital in 2016. He is a Managing Director and the Firm’s Global Chief Compliance Officer and Senior Regulatory Counsel based in Bain Capital’s Boston office. Prior to joining Bain Capital, he was a Managing Director in the Financial Services Regulatory Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers and earlier served as an Assistant Director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
Ken E. Young, co-head of Dechert's private equity group, focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, with a particular emphasis on private equity and public company M&A, securities offerings of equity and debt, and general corporate matters. Mr. Young’s clients include private equity sponsors, strategic buyers and sellers in industry sectors such as technology, financial services, energy, and healthcare; investment banks; and commercial banks.
In particular, Mr. Young has decades of experience advising on domestic and cross-border transactions for private equity firms, such as Court Square Capital Partners, Blackstone, OEP, KKR and others, as well as their portfolio companies. His recent representation of Court Square Capital Partners in the US$2 billion sale of Rocket Software to Bain Capital Private Equity, following Court Square’s 2009 acquisition of a majority interest in Rocket and 15 add-on acquisitions, is a prime example of Dechert’s investment life cycle approach to private equity.