Board of Advisors
| Zubaid Ahmad | William Henry Hoefling | Robert H. Steers |
| Joseph V. Amato | Arlen H. Kantarian | Timothy P. Tassopoulos |
| William D. Anderson Jr. | Kenneth J. Kencel | Gil Tenzer |
| Dewey John Awad II | Gerard M. Kenny | John F. Vitalo |
| Joseph P. Baratta | Jonathan R. Lynch | Ming Yang |
| W. Robert Berkley Jr. | Herbert MacArthur | Carlos A. Zalles |
| Alison Lohrfink Blood | David McBride | |
| Lawrence R. Botel | Timothy B. McBride | |
| Mark J. Casella | Daniel M. McNamara | |
| Peter N. Crnkovich | Ellen M. Morrell | |
| Alberto E. de La Cruz | Paul Murphy | |
| William H. Diamond Jr. | Robert B. Nolan Jr. | |
| Paul Donlin | Geoffrey A. Oliver | |
| John J. (Hap) Fauth IV | Warren J. Olsen | |
| Michael R. Fisher | Patricia Mulvaney Pignataro | |
| Robert J. Flanagan | Wayne C. Plewniak | |
| Christopher P. Franco | Elaine N. Pochtar | |
| The Hon. Richard Fredericks | Peter Pritchard | |
| Saad R. Hariri | Michael Psaros | |
| Paul J. Hill | Ann Sarnoff |
A distinguished Board of Advisors guides Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
Zubaid Ahmad
Zubaid Ahmad is a vice chairman of Citi’s institutional clients group and a member of its senior strategic advisory group. His responsibilities include serving as global co-head of the public sector group, where he helps strategically deliver Citi’s product offerings, across banking, markets, and global transaction services, to the firm’s government clients, such as central banks and ministries of finance, among others, in more than 125 countries. He also serves as global head of sovereign wealth funds and government investment funds.
During his 25-year global corporate and investment banking experience, Zubaid has completed a large number of transactions, for both U.S. and emerging markets clients spanning mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, debt and equity capital markets, privatizations, and project financings. Zubaid’s client relationships have included leading corporations, as well as private equity and sovereign wealth funds.
Prior to joining Citi in June 2010, Zubaid served as a vice chairman and head of corporate finance – Americas for Standard Chartered Bank. Until June 2008, he held various senior positions at J.P. Morgan, including vice chairman and COO of Americas Investment Banking and vice chairman of the financial sponsors group, where he was responsible for a number of the firm’s relationships with leading global private equity firms. Previously, Zubaid served as a managing director in both the global corporate finance and leveraged finance groups of Credit Suisse, head of Wasserstein Perella Capital Markets, and a member of the investment banking department of Drexel Burnham & Lambert.
Zubaid received a BSBA from Georgetown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has also served on a number of private and public company boards over the years.
Joseph V. Amato
Joseph V. Amato is the president and CIO of Neuberger Berman Group LLC, an investment advisory firm with approximately $200 billion of assets under management. Amato also is a member of the firm’s board of directors. Prior to this role, he served as Lehman Brothers’ global head of asset management and head of its Neuberger Berman subsidiary. From 1996 through 2006, he held senior-level positions within Lehman Brothers’ capital markets business, serving as global head of equity research for the majority of that time. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Amato spent 10 years at Kidder Peabody, ultimately as head of high yield research.
Amato holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He is a member of the New York City board of advisors of Teach for America and a trustee of the Montclair Kimberley Academy, a New Jersey-based independent school.
William D. Anderson Jr.
Bill Anderson is a managing director in the mergers leadership group of Goldman, Sachs & Co. He advises companies worldwide in connection with M&A, special committee situations, corporate governance issues, and responding to hostile activity and shareholder activism.
Priviously, Anderson was a mergers and acquisitions attorney for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit; a certified public accountant for Coopers & Lybrand; and a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves.
He is a member of the board of advisors of the Institute for Law and Economics of the University of Pennsylvania, the New York Alumni Council of Georgetown Law School, the Boys Scouts of America (Westchester), and the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity Westchester.
Anderson holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and a J.D. from Georgetown Law School.
Dewey John Awad II
Dewey John Awad II is a managing director at Bain Capital LLC, focusing on software companies. He also is a managing director at Brookside Capital Management LLC.
Previously, Awad was the vice president of Internet infrastructure research at Soundview Technology. Earlier in his career, he also was director of applications and middleware consulting at Gartner Group and he has spent several years at Electronic Data Systems in the U.S. and Asia.
He holds a B.A. from Colgate University and an MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
Joseph P. Baratta
Joseph P. Baratta is a senior managing director in the corporate private equity group of the Blackstone Group L.P. He is the head of Blackstone’s private equity group in Europe and is based in London. He is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and is chairman of the European Investment Committee.
Baratta is responsible for Blackstone’s investments in Seaworld Parks and Entertainment, Merlin Entertainments Group, ICS Group, Tragus Group, Southern Cross Healthcare, Center Parcs, and Spirit Group, and was involved in the sourcing and execution of Blackstone’s investments in LiveWire, Universal Orlando, Houghton Mifflin, and Nycomed Pharmaceuticals.
Before joining Blackstone, Baratta was with Tinicum Inc. and McCown De Leeuw & Company. He began his career at Morgan Stanley in its mergers and acquisitions department.
Baratta received a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He serves as a director of Seaworld Parks and Entertainment, Merlin Entertainments Group, Center Parcs, ICS, and Tragus Group.
W. Robert Berkley Jr.
W. Robert Berkley Jr. is president and COO of the W.R. Berkley Corporation and vice chairman of Berkley International LLC. Berkley has held numerous positions since he joined the company in September 1997. Previously, he was employed in the corporate finance department of Merrill Lynch.
Berkley is a director of Associated Community Bancorp Inc. and its Connecticut Community Bank, N.A. subsidiary; Interlaken Capital Inc.; LD Realty Advisors LLC; NCCI Holdings Inc.; VaporStream Inc.; and W. R. Berkley Corporation Charitable Foundation. He also is a trustee of Greenwich Hospital.
He holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
Alison Lohrfink Blood
Lawrence R. Botel
Larry Botel has 25 years of experience as a real estate investor and investment manager, having overseen funds totalling more than $3 billion and negotiated and closed on properties and mortgage acquisitions worth more than $4 billion.
Botel is a co-founder and managing partner at JOSS Realty Partners. Previously, he served as the COO at Broadway Partners, ushering the company from a sole proprietorship to a full-service real estate investment company owning more than 3.6 million square feet of commercial office space.
Botel also was vice president and head of real estate at Fortress Investment Group/UBS Global Principal Group/BlackRock Capital Finance. Additionally, he has held positions at Mutual of New York Real Estate and Prudential Realty Group.
Botel received a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
Mark J. Casella
Mark J. Casella is a managing partner of PwC’s financial services practice. He also leads the firm’s alternative investments practice. With more than 30 years of experience, Casella serves as the engagement partner and business advisor to alternative investment fund clients, including investment partnerships, hedge and offshore funds, private equity funds, real estate funds, and their related investment advisors.
Casella has extensive experience working with a multitude of financial services organizations. In recent years his focus has been on banking, capital markets, and alternative investment clients. He also has broad experience serving brokerage firms, college and university endowments, investment banks, and commercial banks. Casella has led numerous advisory engagements on the valuation and operational issues associated with complex financial instruments and the review of internal controls.
Casella received a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and is a certified public accountant licensed in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
Peter N. Crnkovich
Peter N. Crnkovich is chairman of Morgan Stanley’s worldwide healthcare industry investment banking practice. Prior to assuming his current role, he was responsible for the firm’s healthcare mergers and acquisitions practice and covered U.S.-based healthcare companies.
Crnkovich has completed a multitude of pharmaceutical, medical technology, and biotechnology industry transactions, including Merck/Schering-Plough, Sanofi/Aventis, Glaxo/SmithKline, Pharmacia/Upjohn, Boston Scientific/Guidant, Bausch & Lomb/Warburg Pincus, Merck/Sirna, Novartis/Chiron, Johnson & Johnson/Centocor, and AHP/Genetics Institute.
Crnkovich holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Alberto E. de La Cruz
William H. Diamond Jr.
Paul Donlin
Paul Donlin is a general partner of Keltic Financial, a business finance company. He also is chairman of the board of Chimera, a NYSE-listed REIT, and is active in numerous private equity ventures.
Donlin spent more than 10 years in the securitization business, the majority of the time as the global head of securitization for Citigroup, from which he retired in 2007 after a 21-year career. Earlier in his career at Citicorp, Donlin created and managed the structured finance and advisory unit of Citicorp’s Private Bank. Prior to that, he was an assistant to the CFO of Citicorp, responsible for capital raising and acquisition and divestiture activities.
Donlin received a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from Harvard University. He also has degrees in international comparative business studies from Oxford Center for Management Studies and the Advanced Management Program at INSEAD. He is a graduate of The College for Financial Planning and previously has served on the advisory board for the financial management track at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Business.
John J. (Hap) Fauth IV
John J. (Hap) Fauth IV is chairman and director of Churchill Equity and president and CEO of Churchill Industries, which he founded in 1982.
Previously, Fauth served as executive vice president and COO for Waterways Transportation Inc., and as vice president and senior credit officer at Citicorp (USA), where he primarily was involved in corporate finance, investment banking, and corporate risk management.
Fauth earlier served as chairman of the McDonough School of Business board of advisors. He has served as a member of the school’s Dean Search Committee, the Third Century Campaign Steering Committee, the McDonough School of Business Campaign Steering Committee, as well as the 1789 Society. Fauth also served on the Presidential Search Committee in 2000-2001. In addition, he is a trustee at the University of St. Thomas and a former director of John G. Kinnard & Co. Investor Securities, Children’s Health Care, and Worthington Bancshares.
Fauth holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He continued his graduate studies at New York University.
Michael R. Fisher
Michael R. Fisher has served as President and CEO of Fisher Dynamics Corporation, a privately held innovation and vehicle manufacturing provider to the global automotive market, since 1980. In addition, he has been president of Fisher Dynamics International with locations in China, Delhi, Poland, Germany, and Mexico.
He has served on the boards of the Henry Ford Hospital Foundation, Michigan Cancer Research Fund, Young Presidents’ Organization, and Grosse Pointe Academy.
Fisher received a BSBA degree from Georgetown University School of Business and executive training from the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business.
Robert J. Flanagan
Robert J. Flanagan is executive vice president of Clark Enterprises Inc. (CEI), a Bethesda, MD holding company that is the ownership, investment, and asset management arm of CEI-related entities. CEI is one of the largest privately held companies in the Washington area, with interests in construction, real estate and private equities.
Flanagan oversees the acquisition, management, and development of investment opportunities and serves as managing director of CNF Investments LLC, CEI’s private equity division. He serves on the boards of Clark Construction Group LLC, Eagle Oil & Gas Co., ILD Corp, MonosolRX, OfficeArrow, Sagent Pharmaceuticals, and Svelte Medical Systems. He also served as chairman of the board of directors of Martek BioSciences Corp. from 2007 to 2011.
Flanagan formerly was the treasurer, secretary, and board member of Baltimore Orioles Inc., and began his career in Washington with Arthur Andersen’s audit division.
A certified public accountant, Flanagan received a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and a master’s degree in taxation from the American University School of Business. He is a member of Washington’s Federal City Council, the Economic Club of Washington, and Catholic Charities Foundation.
Christopher P. Franco
Christopher Franco is a founding partner of Rock Point Capital and a member of its executive committee. He is the managing partner of the company’s principal office in Greenwich, Conn.
For the past decade, Franco has been the CEO or managing principal of several investment companies and family offices responsible for more than $1 billion of investments in public and private equity securities, debt instruments, and alternative investments.
Previously, Franco was the founder and managing principal of a Greenwich-based private investment firm with substantial holdings in securities and real estate. Presently, Franco is the founder and principal shareholder of a real estate project investment company that is creating the premier four-season resort in the eastern United States.
He has served on the boards of several public and private corporations, as well as on the fiduciary or advisory boards of several non-profit corporations, including the Greenwich Point Conservancy and the Bruce Museum, both based in Greenwich, Conn.
Franco holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and a J.D. from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.
The Hon. Richard Fredericks
Ambassador Richard Fredericks spent nearly 30 years in the brokerage industry, specializing in investment research analysis and investment banking, with a specific focus in the field of commercial banking and finance. He is a managing director of Main Management, a money management firm that invests exclusively in exchange traded funds.
Fredericks began his career with Dean Witter as a securities analyst and later joined Shuman, Agnew and Company as a partner in the same capacity. In 1977, he joined Montgomery Securities (now Banc of America Securities) as a partner and later became Senior Managing Director in Investment Research covering the banking and financial service area. For 17 consecutive years, Mr. Fredericks was chosen by Institutional Investor Magazine as an “All-American” Research Analyst covering the commercial banking industry. In 1995, Fredericks formally changed roles to oversee the firm's investment banking effort for the financial industry in the areas of commercial banking, thrifts, and financial technology. In that position, he played a leading advisory/managerial role in numerous merger and acquisition transactions, many of which were the largest ever completed at the time.
Previously, he worked at Banc of America Securities (formerly Montgomery Securities), initially as a partner and later as senior managing director in investment research, covering the banking and financial service area. In 1995, he formally changed roles to oversee and head the firm’s investment banking effort for the financial industry in the areas of commercial banking, thrifts, and financial technology. In that position, he played a leading advisory or managerial role in numerous merger and acquisition transactions, many of which were the largest ever completed at the time.
Fredericks currently serves on the boards of the Janus Corporation, Library of Congress Trust Fund, Chambers & Chambers Wine Merchants, Community Bancorp LLC, Financial Technology Ventures, and the Swiss–American Chamber of Commerce in Switzerland. He also serves on the Board of Regents of Georgetown University and as a grower for Turley Wine Cellars.
Fredericks served as U.S. Ambassador to both Switzerland and Liechtenstein from 1999 to 2001.
He has previously served on the boards of Bancorp Hawaii and its main subsidiary, Bank of Hawaii; the Chiron Corporation; and the international advisory board of Komatsu. He has served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Weston Presidio, a Regent of St. Ignatius College Preparatory School, and a trustee for The Town School for Boys.
Fredericks holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from Columbia University.
Saad R. Hariri
Saad Hariri is the former prime minister of Lebanon and the leader of the Future Movement. He entered the political domain in 2005 following the assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rafik B. Hariri. Since taking over the reins of the Future Movement, Hariri has pursued his father’s vision of a free, democratic, and modern country.
Prior to politics, Hariri held several high-level roles in business as chairman of the executive committee of Oger Telecom, one of the largest companies in the Middle East, which pursues telecommunication interests in the Middle East and Africa and is involved in construction projects in Saudi Arabia, as well as in other parts of the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the United States.
Hariri also was the chairman of Omnia Holdings, and a board member of Oger International, Entreprise de Travaux Internationaux, Saudi Investment Bank, Saudi Research and Marketing Group, and Future Television.
He holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
Paul J. Hill
Paul J. Hill is president of The Hill Companies, founded in 1903. Through Harvard Developments Inc., A Hill Company, it operates in the areas of real estate, insurance, broadcasting, oil and gas, manufacturing, and technology in Canada and the United States.
Hill is chairman of Urban Forest Recyclers Inc., Western Surety Company, and Harvard Developments Inc., and is vice chairman of Harvard Energy. He previously was chairman of Crown Life and Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust, and has served on the board of several organizations, including the Investment Dealers Association, Canada Trust Bank, North Canadian Oils, Shopping.com, U.S. Forest Industries, and Environmental Support Solutions.
He is actively involved in public policy through his board participation in The C.D. Howe Institute, The Fraser Institute, The Conference Board of Canada, and The Canadian Council of Chief Executives. He also serves on the advisory board of the Richard Ivey School of Business (London, Ontario, Canada) and The Paul J. Hill School of Business, University of Regina, and is a founding board member of the Asia Pacific Foundation.
In addition, Hill is a member of the World Presidents’ Organization and is on the International Board of the Chief Executive Organization.
He holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, London, Ontario, Canada.
William Henry Hoefling
Arlen H. Kantarian
Arlen Kantarian is CEO of the Kantarian Sports Group. He has a broad background with industry leaders in the sports and entertainment business including positions as CEO of Professional Tennis for the United States Tennis Association, president and CEO of Radio City Music Hall, and vice president of marketing at the National Football League. In addition, he has held senior-level marketing positions with Pepsi-Cola and Colgate-Palmolive.
During his nine years at the USTA, Kantarian’s vision for merging sports and entertainment led to a doubling of revenues, new innovations for the sport, and a transformation of the U.S. Open into the highest attended and most profitable sporting event in the world.
While CEO of Radio City, Kantarian transformed Radio City Music Hall into a premier, live entertainment company, tripling the company’s earnings and making Radio City the No. 1 grossing theatre in the nation. While vice president of marketing at National Football League Properties, Kantarian oversaw the marketing, promotion, and sponsorship for the NFL and the Super Bowl, and is credited with doubling league-wide sponsorship revenues.
Kantarian is the recipient of the Dick Schapp Lifetime Achievement in Sports Award, and was named to BusinessWeek’s “100 Most Influential People in Sports.” He currently serves on the board of directors for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the board of advisors for the New York University Robert Tisch School of Sports and Hospitality Management.
Kantarian hold a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business.
Kenneth J. Kencel
Kenneth Kencel is the founder, president, and CEO of Churchill Financial Group LLC.
Previously, he served as head of leveraged finance for Royal Bank of Canada and head of Indosuez Capital, a middle market merchant banking and asset management business.
During his 25-year career, Kencel has had a broad range of experience in middle market leveraged finance, having been a founder of the high-yield finance businesses at both Chase Securities and SBC Warburg (now UBS).
He holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and a J.D. from Northwestern University.
Gerard M. Kenny
Gerry Kenny is the COO and president of Palladian Development, a company that focuses on five-star mixed use developments around the world and has active projects in the United States and Europe. Mandarin Oriental Tower Chicago and Mandarin Oriental Tuscany are two such projects under development.
Thirty-five years ago, Kenny started working alongside his father, learning the family construction business at Kenny Construction Company (KCC). Today, Kenny’s management team has turned a well-respected regional company into a multi-national construction company. A few major projects include Chicago’s Midway Airport, the Blue Line and Green Line transportation systems, and the Soldier Field rehabilitation project for the Chicago Bears.
He served as executive vice president and COO of KCC from 1972 until 1990 and then as president until 2005.
Kenny holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Jonathan R. Lynch
Jonathan R. Lynch is a managing director in the New York office of CCMP Capital and a member of the firm’s investment committee. He also is head of investor relations.
Prior to founding CCMP Capital, Lynch and his partners managed JP Morgan Partners, the private equity operation of JP Morgan. He has been responsible for the firm’s investments in 1-800-Flowers.com, American Floral Services, ARAMARK Corporation, Centennial Security, Crosstown Traders, Masada Security, Pinnacle Foods Group, Premier Systems, Sentry Security, Quiznos Sub, and Vitamin Shoppe Industries.
Before joining CCMP in 1992, Lynch was a member of the mergers and acquisitions department of Prudential Securities.
He holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Herbert MacArthur
Herbert MacArthur is senior vice president and a member of the financial services market team at Booz Allen Hamilton. He leads the firm’s support to the U.S. Department of Treasury and his team delivers a broad range of technology, analytics, operations, strategy, and organization services that support the evolving mission of Treasury, its bureaus, and various departmental offices.
MacArthur’s background is a combination of domestic, international, government, and commercial experience. His areas of expertise include strategic planning, business process reengineering, and change and financial management.
Before joining Booz Allen, he served at American Management Systems Inc. as a senior business analyst and finance manager and helped established its European business.
MacArthur serves as a national board member of the nonprofit organization Rebuilding Together and as a member of the College of William and Mary Business Partners Council.
He holds an MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
David McBride
Timothy B. McBride
Timothy B. McBride is a principal, chairman, and CFO of McBride Enterprises of Northern New Jersey, an established commercial and residential real estate development and construction enterprise founded by his grandfather in 1898. Working with family members and outside advisers, McBride managed succession of the business and the transformation of its commercial and industrial portfolio into a publicly traded real estate investment trust known as Keystone Property Trust until its sale to Prologis in 2004.
McBride also serves as the independent trustee for an institutional-sized, multigenerational trust of an unrelated family, sharing fiduciary and wealth management responsibilities with a private trust company. This activity includes formulation of an asset allocation program and execution of a manager selection process designed to fulfill the near- and long-term requirements of the trust and its beneficiaries, as well as general oversight of the trust enterprise.
McBride served on the Georgetown University’s board of regents between 1995 and 2001 and was a leader in both the Law Center Campaign and the University’s Third Century Campaign. He teaches real estate finance on the McDonough School of Business’s adjunct faculty.
McBride holds a J.D. and a Masters of Law in Taxation from Georgetown University’s Law Center, and is a member of the bars of New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
Daniel M. McNamara
Daniel McNamara is head of the financial institutions group and real estate at Nomura, a Japanese financial holding company.
McNamara previously served at Citigroup in a variety of roles. Most recently, he was co-head of global investment banking, Asia-Pacific, where he played an active role in providing strategic direction for businesses including financial institutions, real estate, sovereign wealth funds, and private equity. He also was co-head of global insurance and asset management and international head of financial institutions investment banking for Citigroup, based in New York.
Before joining Citigroup, McNamara worked at Smith Barney and Prudential Bache.
He holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
Ellen M. Morrell
Ellen M. Morrell is vice president and associate broker with Washington Fine Properties. For the past four years, The Wall Street Journal has named Morell and her partner one of the top 50 U.S. residential brokerage teams.
Early in her career, Morrell co-founded the business program at Marymount College in Virginia and at Mount Vernon College, where she also chaired its business faculty. She served as assistant to the dean of the McDonough School of Business and taught marketing until 1981. During her tenure, she helped establish Georgetown’s MBA program and began the Executive-in-Residence Program that brings industry leaders to campus.
Morrell holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an M.S.Ed. from Virginia Tech.
Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy is a partner at Sentinel Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on buying controlling interests in lower middle market companies throughout the United States. He is the chairman of the board of North American Rescue and is a director of Inscape Publishing, Interim Healthcare, and Trussbilt. He previously served as chairman of ReachOut Healthcare America and Metro Dentalcare and as a director of Castle Dental Centers and Fasloc.
Before joining Sentinel, Murphy was a director at Dilmun Investments, the U.S. private equity affiliate of Bahrain International Bank. While at Dilmun, Murphy focused on originating, structuring, and executing private equity investments in lower middle market companies. He has been associated with several successful companies as an investor or director, including Sarah Michaels Inc., Thompson Products Inc., Avenues Coffee Company, and Springfield Service Corporation.
Previously, Murphy was a vice president in the financial buyers group at NationsBanc Capital Markets, where he focused on providing debt and equity financing for leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations. Prior to that, he was an associate in the merchant banking group of Chase Manhattan Bank, where he focused on private equity and subordinated debt investments in lower middle market companies.
He holds a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He spent five years as an artillery officer in the U.S. Army where he attained the rank of captain.
Robert B. Nolan Jr.
Robert Nolan is the managing partner of Halyard Capital and chairs the investment committee for its two private equity funds. He represents Halyard on the board of directors of Engauge, HCPro Inc., Education Dynamics, and Women’s Marketing Inc., and previously sat on the board of directors of American Consolidated Media, Inflow, North Dakota Holdings, and Tranzact.
Nolan was CEO of the BMO Private Equity Group for six years and oversaw the investment of approximately $1 billion across multiple private equity funds. Previously he was managing director and head of media and telecommunications investment banking at CIBC World Markets. Prior to CIBC, Nolan was managing director and telecommunications group head at UBS Securities. He also worked for nine years at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the telecommunications, media, and technology group.
Nolan has served on the Georgetown University’s Board of Regents since 2009. He also was head of the Deerfield Academy Annual Fund in 2009 and co-head of its Senior Class gift committee in 2010.
He holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and a J.D. from Fordham University. He is a member of the New York and Washington, D.C., Bar Associations.
Geoffrey A. Oliver
Jeff Oliver is the founder and CEO of Hilltop Advisors LLC (since 2005), a financial services consulting and accounting advisory firm; Hilltop Government Solutions LLC (since 2009), a government contracting firm; and is a co-founder and partner of Numbers LLC (since 2007), a full-service accounting and tax firm.
Oliver started his career at KPMG LLP where he built and managed several large national audit and consulting practices at KPMG and BearingPoint for over 28 years. His expertise is in banking, lending, loan servicing, real estate, and mortgage capital markets.
Oliver is a professor of corporate finance at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. He is the president of the Lightning Soccer Club and a board member and treasurer of the Arlington Soccer Association. He previously served as the CFO of the Fairfax Symphony.
Oliver received a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and his certifications include CPA in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Certified Financial Forensics expert, and Certified Mortgage Banker.
Warren J. Olsen
Warren J. Olsen is the co-founder, vice chairman, and CIO of First Western Trust Bank and is responsible for the overall development of the firm’s investment strategy.
Previously, Olsen was president and CEO of IBJ Whitehall Asset Management Group and, before that, he was president of Morgan Stanley Asset Management’s global fund business, which he founded after joining Morgan Stanley & Co. in 1988.
Olsen was the president of several of the earliest funds to invest in the emerging markets, including The Malaysia Fund, The Thai Fund, The Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund, The Turkish Investment Fund, and The Latin American Discovery Fund. He also was the president and/or a director of funds designed to be sold to European, Asian, and Japanese investors.
Olsen serves as an independent director and chairman of the audit committee for each of the AETOS Capital Multi-Strategy Arbitrage Fund, the AETOS Capital Distressed Investment Strategies Fund, the AETOS Capital Long/Short Strategies Fund, and the AETOS Capital Market Neutral Strategies Fund.
Olsen is an attorney and certified public accountant. He serves as chairman of the board of Colorado Public Radio.
He holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and a J.D. from Villanova University.
Patricia Mulvaney Pignataro
Wayne C. Plewniak
Wayne C. Plewniak is managing director of Gabelli Fixed Income, a wholly owned subsidiary of GAMCO Investors Inc. He also is part of the GAMCO Global Convertible Securities Fund team.
Previously, Plewniak served as a managing director and senior portfolio manager at Lehman Brothers/Neuberger Berman following Neuberger’s acquisition of Lipper & Company in 2002. He was responsible for the creation and management of Lipper & Company’s high-yield management from its inception in 1991.
Plewniak began his career at General Motors Corporation and also has worked with Goldome FSB, Paribas North America, and Bell Atlantic Capital.
He holds a B.S. from Rochester Institute of Technology and an MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
Elaine N. Pochtar
Elaine Pochtar is an executive director in Morgan Stanley’s institutional fixed income department. She has spent her 30-year career in the firm’s municipal bond department.
She received a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Peter Pritchard
Michael Psaros
Michael Psaros is a co-founder and managing partner of KPS Capital Partners LP, the manager of the KPS Special Situations Funds, a family of private equity funds with more than $2.6 billion of committed capital. KPS creates new companies to buy businesses or assets in connection with restructurings, turnarounds, bankruptcies, and other special situations.
Psaros has served on the board of directors of more than 20 companies and is the acting chairman of the board of Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton Holdings Inc., HHI Holdings Inc., and Global Brass and Copper Inc.
He received a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and attended Sofia University in Tokyo, Japan.
Ann Sarnoff
Ann Sarnoff is COO at BBC Worldwide America where she is responsible for driving growth and profits across the company’s U.S. businesses. She oversees advertising and affiliate sales for the cable channel BBC America as well as digital assets, including digital syndication and BBC.com. She also supervises ancillary businesses in the United States, including TV sales and co-productions, home entertainment, and licensing.
Prior to the BBC, Sarnoff was president of Dow Jones Ventures and senior vice president of strategy for Dow Jones. In this role, she was responsible for leveraging the company’s assets to create new businesses, as well as corporate strategy and business development. Sarnoff launched The Wall Street Journal executive conference business, a career site for financial professionals called FINS.com, and brought together the print and online classified businesses.
Sarnoff previously worked at Viacom for 10 years. As Nickelodeon’s executive vice president for consumer products and business development, she built Nickelodeon consumer products into a multibillion dollar revenue business at retail, which included toys, publishing, home video, video games, apparel, and more. She also led the teams that developed new cable channels TV Land and Noggin. Subsequently, she became COO for VH1 and CMT where, in addition to strategic planning and business operations, she oversaw digital channels, websites, radio, audio, and video products.
Following Viacom, Sarnoff was COO for the Women’s National Basketball Association, where she ran the league’s business operations, player personnel, and programs.
She holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Robert H. Steers
Robert Steers is co-chairman and co-CEO of Cohen & Steers Inc. Established in 1986, the firm is a leading global investment manager specializing in real estate investment securities, listed infrastructure, large cap value, and preferred-stock portfolios. It also offers alternative investment strategies such as hedged real estate securities portfolios and private real estate multimanager strategies. The firm serves institutional and individual investors through a wide range of institutional separate accounts, open-end funds, and closed-end funds. Based in New York City, Cohen & Steers also has offices in Seattle, Brussels, London, and Hong Kong.
Previously, Steers was a senior vice president and CIO of National Securities and Research Corporation, where he chaired both the investment policy and the stock selection committees. In 1985, while at National Securities, he organized and launched the nation’s first real estate securities mutual fund.
Steers also was a securities analyst and vice president/portfolio manager of Citibank’s Emerging Growth Stock Fund.
Steers holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from The George Washington University.
Timothy P. Tassopoulos
Tim Tassopoulos is senior vice president of operations at Chick-fil-A and is responsible for coordinating the activities of field operations, operations services, training and development, human resources, purchasing, and distribution.
Tassopoulos began his career at Chick-fil-A in 1977 as a restaurant team member and joined the home office staff as a business consultant in 1983. In 1985, he was given the development responsibilities of the free-standing unit concept. Tassopoulos had several roles in operations and was appointed to the executive committee in 1996. Three years later he was assigned to his current position, senior vice president of operations.
Tassopoulos serves on the board of trustees of Oglethorpe University. He is a member of the board of trustees for Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, and also is a member of the advisory board of the Atlanta Area Council for the Boy Scouts of America. In addition, he serves on the board of Growing Leaders. He attends Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church where he teaches Sunday School to high school students.
Tassopoulos received a B.A. in history and political science from Oglethorpe University and an MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
Gil Tenzer
Gil Tenzer is the director of real estate and a founding member of Contrarian, a Greenwich, Conn.-based institutional money management firm specializing in distressed corporate and real estate debt investing.
Since Contrarian’s formation in 1995, Tenzer has been responsible for sourcing, managing, and coordinating the disposition of the firm’s real estate investments as well as having an active role in the firm’s corporate investments.
Previously, he was a senior analyst and co-head of the high-yield real estate group at Oppenheimer & Co. He also was responsible for the analysis, financing, acquisition, disposition, restructuring, and asset management of a nationwide portfolio for investor Arthur G. Cohen in the real estate, lodging, restaurant, aviation, and manufacturing industries.
Tenzer received a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.
John F. Vitalo
John Vitalo is the CEO of Barclays Bank PLC in the Middle East and North Africa, comprising Barclays Capital, Barclays Wealth, and Barclays Corporate. He is based in Dubai.
He previously was CEO of Absa Capital, Barclays Capital’s affiliate in South Africa and also was responsible Absa Wealth’s South African operations. He was appointed CEO for Barclays investment banking and investment management in the Middle East in May 2009.
Prior to moving to Absa Capital, Vitalo was based in London as a managing director and COO of Barclays Capital’s rates businesses, covering fixed income derivatives and government bond trading, foreign exchange, commodities, money markets, equity-linked products, emerging markets, and collateralised finance. Before that, he was COO of emerging markets.
Vitalo has previously worked for Credit Suisse First Boston, in mergers and acquisition at Gleacher & Co., and in private equity at Morgan Stanley, all in New York.
He holds a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Ming Yang
Ming Yang is CEO and director of BJB Career Education Company Ltd. Yang was named one of the “20 Most Influential People in China’s Software Industry” by Programmer, a Chinese IT magazine.
Previously, Yang was the general manager of the electronic publications department of Beida Founder, a Chinese IT enterprise.
Carlos A. Zalles
Carlos Zalles is the founder, CEO, and CIO of LW Investment Management, a specialized Registered Investment Advisor that manages funds, with strong focus towards emerging markets natural resources.
Previously, Zalles was founder and CEO of LW Securities, a Latin American-based boutique investment bank formed in 1995 under the name Andino Capital Markets. At ACM, Zalles had direct responsibility over asset management, trading, and distribution activities.
Previously, Zalles was a founding partner of VestcorPartners, where he developed and managed the trading and brokerage services of the firm throughout Latin America. He also has worked at Bank of America, where he was VP and senior credit officer for Mexico and Venezuela, responsible for local corporate banking relationships and the Distressed Asset Group.
He started his career at American Security Bank in Washington, D.C., where he ultimately became vice president and head of Latin America.
Zalles received a BSBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
