Alex earned her undergraduate degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She serves as a member of the Investment Committee for both The Madeira School in McLean, Virginia and the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation.

Samantha Foster is a Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager with responsibilities across alternative investments. Sam leads the firm’s efforts in developing and delivering strategic advice and investment management solutions in private markets. She manages private equity portfolios, ensuring alignment with investment objectives and strategies including performance, operations, and risk management.

Sam joined Russell Investments in 2022 from the University of Southern California (USC) endowment, where she spent 10 years as Managing Director in the Investment Office investing across public, hedge fund and private asset classes and had purview over asset allocation, operations, and risk management. Prior to USC, she was an Associate Director at Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company (PAAMCO), where she served as Chair of the Risk Management Committee and invested in hedge funds. She began her investment career as a research analyst with Bailard, Biehl & Kaiser. Sam is on the North American Committee of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments (SBAI).

Sam earned a B.S. from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Geeta Kapadia is the Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Fordham University, where she manages an endowment of $1 billion in assets and oversees all aspects of portfolio management. She joined Fordham in August 2022, following her role as Associate Treasurer of Investments at Yale New Haven Health System, where she led a team responsible for managing over $5 billion in assets.

Before her tenure at Yale New Haven, which began in 2009, Geeta worked as a senior consultant at Mercer in London and Edinburgh. She also served as the head of marketing at Capital Metrics in Pune, India. Geeta earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago and a Master of Science in Financial Markets from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is a CFA charterholder and currently serves as the board president of Chester County Family Academy, as well as a board member of the FINRA Investor Issues Committee.

Christine directs the development, implementation, and ongoing management of client-focused investment solutions at Strategic Investment Group. ​​Prior to joining Strategic, Christine served as Chief of Investments at the National Gallery of Art, where she oversaw asset allocation, risk management, investment strategy, and manager selection for the National Gallery’s $1.4 billion endowment portfolio. Prior to this, Christine was Managing Director at Avec Capital and served as Senior Investment Officer for Georgetown University’s Investment Office, where she managed Georgetown’s endowment and retirement plan. ​

​Christine is a member of the American Chemical Society Pension and Investment Committee and of the National 4-H Council Investment Subcommittee. She previously served as a trustee for Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans and Consolidated Retiree Health Benefits Trust and as a member of the YWCA National Capital Area Investment and Finance committees. She also has served in leadership roles for the Bucknell University Alumni Association Board of Directors and Bucknell Humanities Council. ​​Christine holds Master of Arts degrees in History and Russian and East European Studies from Georgetown University and a B.A. in International Relations and Russian Language from Bucknell University.

As Director and Chief Investment Officer, Shoaib Khan is responsible for the investments and overall operations of the New Jersey Division of Investment. The Division of Investment is responsible for the investment oversight of the State of New Jersey’s pension funds, directly managing assets of approximately $80 billion as of April 30, 2024 and supports the retirement plans of over 800,000 members. The Division of Investment also manages the State of New Jersey’s Cash Management Fund with assets of approximately $40 billion as of April 30, 2024.

Mr. Khan joined the Division of Investment in January 2021 as Deputy Director and Deputy Chief Investment Officer. In June 2021, he assumed the role of Acting Director and in May 2022, was sworn in as Director and Chief Investment Officer. Throughout his career, Mr. Khan has served in numerous senior management positions at both public and private investment institutions domestically and around the globe.

Prior to joining the Division of Investment, Mr. Khan served as a Senior Portfolio Manager at the Florida State Board of Administration in Tallahassee, Florida. He has also previously served as Global Head of Portfolio Management at Union Bancaire Privee (UBP) in Geneva, Switzerland and Strategy Head at J.P. Morgan Alternative Asset Management in New York. Mr. Khan holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from Florida International University and received a Masters of Accounting from Nova Southeastern University. He is a CFA Charterholder and a CPA.

Alena Kuprevich is a founding Partner of Disciplina.  Alena is responsible for sourcing, due diligence, portfolio construction and monitoring of all of the illiquid alternatives. Alena is also on the Investment Committee for Disciplina.  In addition, Alena is a lead contact for several of the firm’s endowment and pension clients.  Previously, she held the position of Managing Director of Private Investments at Vanderbilt University’s Office of Investments (2008 – 2013), which accounted for approximately 40% of the endowment portfolio. Prior to working at Vanderbilt, Alena worked with the FINRA (2007-2008) and Emory University (2001-2006) endowments. During her tenure at these organizations, Alena was responsible for multi-manager portfolios across several asset classes including Private Equity, Venture Capital, Energy, Real Estate, Hedge Funds and International Equities.  Over her career, she has committed over $1 billion of capital globally to private investment firms. Alena holds a Bachelor of Business degree and a M.B.A. from Emory University (2000 and 2005). Alena is invited as a frequent speaker at various industry conferences and has held numerous Investor Advisory seats for investment managers.  She was also recognized by Pensions & Investments for the 2024 list of Influential Women in Investing. Alena has been active with several non-profits and currently serves on the Board of the Sharon Education Foundation.

As Director, Equity Strategies Lead at University Pension Plan, Nirupa oversees the design and management of active equity strategies. She is responsible for manager research and due diligence across long-only and equity long-short strategies, as well as the long-term strategic direction of UPP’s active equity strategies.

Nirupa’s career spans Canada’s top pension plans, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and CPP Investments, as well as a prominent family office. Her experience encompasses diverse roles across private and public markets, building global systematic strategies, structuring hedge fund portfolios, supporting direct lending in Asia-Pacific, and has experience investing in early to late-stage private equity as well as public equity investment strategies.

Nirupa holds an Honours BA in Financial Mathematics with Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University. She is a member of the Investment Committee for the Pension Plan of the United Church of Canada and the Ontario Hospital Association. Outside of her professional pursuits, Nirupa enjoys spending time with her young family, and is a proud ambassador for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, an organization dear to her heart.

Kate is a seasoned Portfolio Manager, engaged community advocate and optimistic mother of three. At the intersection of those titles is a deep sense of awareness, purpose and the recognition that when we are living in alignment with our values, our actions have the potential for exponential impact. Kate is focused on innovating her slice of the financial industry with access to diverse talent. Kate is President of TSWII Capital Advisors and Portfolio Manager for both TSWII and TSWS focused on investments in hedge funds, venture capital, private equity and other alternative strategies.

Kate is a member of multiple industry groups and serves on the Editorial Committee of the Academy for Institutional Investors. She serves as an LPAC member of ReThink Food and Hannah Grey Ventures and is an Advisor for New Earth Ventures. Kate is a founding member of the Asteri Collective and an Anchor Partner in the Diverse Investing Collective. She serves on the Board of Trustees and Endowment Committee for Girls Preparatory School. Kate also serves on the Advisory Committee for OSI (Open Space Institute). Kate has received the CAIA designation. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999 and completed The Executive Program of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business in June 2004. Kate was a 2014 Diversity Leadership Fellow at the Riley Institute of Furman University. She often speaks and moderates at conferences and participates on committees advocating gender equality and conservation. Kate lives on a sea island outside of Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband and three children.

Rob Rahbari is a Senior Investment Officer and Assistant Treasurer at the University of Rochester, and co-founder of Allocator Collective (formerly known as Institutional Allocators for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IADEI). Prior to joining UR in 2013, Rob was a Vice President at JP Morgan (2010-2013); co-founder of RAS Capital Management, an India-focused fund of hedge funds (2006-2009); and a Director at Ferro Capital Management (2004-2006). Prior to Ferro Capital, Rob practiced law in the Investment Management groups at Skadden Arps and Weil Gotshal. Rob serves on the Investment Committees of the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Strong Museum, and Holy Childhood (Rochester). He holds a JD from the University of Chicago Law School (1996), and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan (1993).

Erik Serrano Berntsen is the CEO of Stable, responsible for defining and executing the firm’s investment strategy. With offices in New York, London, and Miami, Stable backs Founders of investment firms who appreciate that delivering extraordinary performance requires building a great organization. Stable’s track record of success is down to working with inspiring investors and business-builders across public and private markets. Prior to Stable, Erik was with Bain & Co., where he was part of the Private Equity Group (PEG). A believer in education as a tool for change, Erik supports initiatives such as the LSE Alternative Investment Conference, the largest student conference for alternatives globally, Girls Who Invest, and Girls Are Investors. Amongst other initiatives, Stable is a supporter of 100 Women in Finance and a Founding Partner of 10,000 Interns Foundation. Erik holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Keble College, University of Oxford and a Masters of Business Administration with honors and a Concentration in Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Kirk Sims heads TRS’ Emerging Manager Program. Since being established in 2005, TRS has committed $5.9 billion to one of the largest programs of its kind. An additional $4.6 billion has been invested directly with EM Program graduates. Each graduate was selected as a result of consistent outperformance among a group of more than 218 EM managers.

Sims joined the Teacher Retirement System of Texas on March 1, 2019. Before joining Texas Teachers, he was a Senior Investment Officer for the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Sims had oversight and management responsibility of TRS’s Emerging Manager Program, a $750 million evergreen pool of capital designed to identify and invest in emerging investment managers across all asset classes.

Prior, Sims worked at Prudential Retirement where he was responsible for a manager of manager’s retirement platform as well as an open architecture investment platform. He also has a background in asset management and has held various positions with both large and small asset managers.

Sims is a CFA charter holder and holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University in Washington, DC.

Sophia Tsai, CFA is the Chief Investment Officer of the Wallace Foundation, where she oversees the foundation’s investment portfolio and long-term investment strategy in support of its philanthropic mission.

Sophia has more than twenty-eight years of experience in asset allocation and manager selection across alternative and traditional asset classes, as well as direct and fund investing in North America and Asia.

Prior to joining the Wallace Foundation, Sophia served as Managing Director at Trinity Church Wall Street, where she helped oversee the investment management of the institution’s approximately $7 billion endowment, investing globally across public and private markets.

Before joining Trinity Church Wall Street in 2017, Sophia was Managing Director and Co-Head of Hedge Funds at State Street Global Advisors. She co-led the hedge fund program and was also responsible for private equity direct investments, co-investments, and fund investments for the GE Pension. Sophia joined State Street in 2016 through its acquisition of GE Asset Management.

Earlier in her career at GE, Sophia was based in the United States for eleven years and also held several roles across Asia from 1995 to 2005 within three GE Capital divisions, including GE Equity, GE Capital Asia Pacific’s M&A Group, and GE Capital Finance.

Sophia earned an MBA through the Kellogg School of Management and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She received a BBA in Accounting from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and is a CFA charterholder.