Speakers

Cliff Asness, Ph.D. is Founder, Managing Principal, and Chief Investment Officer at AQR Capital Management. He is an active researcher and has authored articles on a variety of financial topics for many publications, including The Journal of Portfolio Management, Financial Analysts Journal, The Journal of Finance and The Journal of Financial Economics. He has received five Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Awards from The Journal of Portfolio Management, in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2014 and 2015. Financial Analysts Journal has twice awarded him the Graham and Dodd Award for the year’s best paper, as well as a Graham and Dodd Excellence Award, the award for the best perspectives piece, and the Graham and Dodd Readers’ Choice Award. He has won the second prize of the Fama/DFA Prize for Capital Markets and Asset Pricing in the 2020 Journal of Financial Economics. In 2006, CFA Institute presented Cliff with the James R. Vertin Award, which is periodically given to individuals who have produced a body of research notable for its relevance and enduring value to investment professionals. Prior to co-founding AQR Capital Management, he was a Managing Director and Director of Quantitative Research for the Asset Management Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. He is on the editorial board of The Journal of Portfolio Management, the governing board of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Finance at NYU, the board of directors of the Q-Group, the board of the International Rescue Committee and the board of trustees of The National WWII Museum. Cliff received a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School and a B.S. in engineering from the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude in both. He received an M.B.A. with high honors and a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Chicago, where he was Eugene Fama’s student and teaching assistant for two years (so he still feels guilty when trying to beat the market).

Rob Barnard is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Black Maple Capital Management.  In this role, he manages the BMC Multi-Family Office investment activities, which include Black Maple Capital Partners LP, our captive hedge fund, a portfolio of direct private equity and credit investments, and a tactical portfolio of external alternative investments.  Prior to launching Black Maple, Rob was Principal and Deputy CIO for Stark Investments, a global multi-strategy alternative investment fund.  Over the course of more than twenty years with Stark, Rob managed portfolios and teams across a range of investment strategies, including credit & distressed, convertibles & other equity derivatives, event equity, non-prime RMBS, fundamental long/short equity, quantitative strategies, and reinsurance. Rob holds an Honors MBA (1993) and a BS with High Distinction (1990) from Indiana University.

Mr. Greg Lippmann is a Managing Founding Partner and the Chief Investment Officer of LibreMax. He is chairman of LibreMax’s Investment Committee, a non-voting member of its Risk Management and Valuation Committees, and a member of its ESG Committee. Prior to co-founding LibreMax, Mr. Lippmann was head of all non-agency RMBS, ABS and CDO trading globally at Deutsche Bank, where he led a team of 30 senior professionals in New York and London. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank in 2000, Mr. Lippmann was a Director and head of ABS/MBS Subordinate and CDO trading at Credit Suisse, which he joined in 1991. Mr. Lippmann graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991, magna cum laude, with a B.A. in Economics and a minor in English.

Ms. Holly H. MacDonald is Chief Investment Officer at Bessemer Trust. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the firm’s investment research, asset allocation, and portfolio management. She is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and Management Committee. Previously, she served as Chief Investment Strategist and led a regional team of client and wealth advisors.  Prior to joining Bessemer, Holly was Managing Director in Emerging Markets and Global Currency Strategy at J.P. Morgan, where she led investment strategy teams. She is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets. She also serves on the YAI, Inc. Board of Trustees and is a Trustee of the Estate and Property (TEP) of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.  Holly earned an M.B.A., with honors, from Columbia Business School and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Princeton University in philosophy with minors in finance and Spanish language and culture.

Saira Malik is Nuveen’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO). In this role, she drives weekly market and investment insights and delivers client asset allocation views from across the firm’s investment teams. Saira also leads the Global Investment Committee (GIC), bringing together Nuveen’s most senior investment leaders to deliver the best thinking and actionable portfolio allocation ideas for our clients across institutional and wealth channels. As Chair of the Equities Investment Council (EIC), she authors a monthly market commentary. Additionally, Saira is portfolio manager for $100+ billion in equity strategies. She also serves as the sole manager of a multi billion global equity portfolio. Since joining the firm in 2003, Saira has held a variety of positions. Prior to being named CIO, she was head of global equities portfolio management, and before that, head of global equities research. Previously, Saira was with JP Morgan Asset Management, where her roles included vice president/small cap growth portfolio manager and equity research analyst. Saira holds the CFA designation and graduated with a B.S. in Economics from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and an M.S. in Finance from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She frequently appears on financial news networks such as CNBC, Bloomberg and Fox Business. Saira was named one of the LinkedIn “Top Voices in Finance” and has been profiled in Kiplinger’s and Barron’s, which ranked her among the top 100 most influential women in U.S. finance.

As Chief Executive Officer, Maziar Minovi is responsible for directing firm strategy and leading oversight of research, sales, and operations teams across Eurasia Group’s global offices. Maziar has twenty-five years of experience investing in international and emerging markets. He was a senior member of the Investment Strategy Group at Goldman Sachs, where he identified investment opportunities in emerging markets—including in debt, equities, and currencies—as well as geopolitical and global policy issues with market impact. Prior to that, Maziar was the head of the Emerging Markets Group at MassMutual/Babson Capital Management. He has also worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Long Term Capital Management (LTCM), Putnam Investment Management, and the World Bank. Maziar holds a doctorate in international finance and economic development, a master of business administration, and a bachelor of business administration from George Washington University. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Maziar’s passion for international politics started involuntarily when the Iranian Revolution interrupted his teenage years.

Daleep Singh is the Chief Global Economist and Head of Global Macroeconomic Research at PGIM Fixed Income. Mr. Singh is responsible for oversight of the Firm’s Global Macroeconomic Research team, leading the formulation of the global macroeconomic outlook across developed and emerging economies, analyzing key structural shifts, and synthesizing the implications for global interest rate, currency, sovereign, and credit markets. He is a member of the senior investment team and provides thought leadership on global policy and macroeconomic trends. Prior to joining the Firm in 2022, Mr. Singh served as Deputy National Security Advisor for international economics and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council for the Biden Administration. In this capacity, he coordinated the Administration’s policymaking process for a range of issues at the intersection of economic policy and national security, including economic statecraft, supply chain resilience, innovation policy, infrastructure finance, digital assets, global health security, and climate finance. As the U.S. Sherpa to the G7 and G20, he also acted as President Biden’s representative in major international fora. Previously, Mr. Singh was an Executive Vice President and Head of the Markets Group at the New York Federal Reserve, where he led the implementation for most of the Fed’s emergency facilities launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier in his career, Singh served as an acting assistant secretary for financial markets at the Treasury Department during the Obama-Biden Administration, as well as a deputy assistant secretary for international affairs. Before and after his time in government roles, Mr. Singh held positions in the private sector and academia, including when he taught a popular graduate course on geoeconomic strategy. Mr. Singh earned a BA from Duke University and graduate degrees from MIT and Harvard University, with a focus on international economics. Additionally, Mr. Singh was named one of the 2022 Bloomberg 50, an annual list of innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders who have changed the global business landscape.

Michael Vranos is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ellington. Mr. Vranos founded Ellington in December of 1994 to capitalize on distressed conditions in the MBS derivatives market. Until December 1994, Mr. Vranos was the Senior Managing Director of Kidder Peabody in charge of
RMBS trading. With Mr. Vranos as head trader and senior manager, Kidder Peabody’s MBS department became a leader on Wall Street in CMO underwriting for each of the three years between 1991 and 1993. Mr. Vranos began his Wall Street career in 1983, after graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Harvard University. Mr. Vranos also devotes much of his time, energy, and resources to philanthropic causes, donating to worthy child advocacy, homeless relief, education, and medical research organizations across the country. A longtime director of Hedge Funds Care and recipient of the organization’s 2007 Lifetime
Award for Caring, he supports the group’s mission to prevent child abuse and provide assistance for families in need. In addition to Hedge Funds Care, Michael Vranos serves as a director of Harlem’s at-risk youth-focused educational organization Boys and Girls Harbor and sits on the boards of trustees of both the Waterside School and the Hopkins School. Mr. Vranos recently established a research fellowship to sponsor the ongoing work of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. He currently resides in Greenwich, Connecticut.