2020 Refinitiv LPC Middle Market and Large Corporate Loans Virtual Conference

Gus Atiyah is an Industry Leader in the Private Capital Industry Group and a partner in the Finance practice.

He focuses his practice on all aspects of private finance transactions, including leveraged financing transactions ranging from syndicated senior facilities, second-lien facilities, leveraged buyouts and debt restructurings to recapitalizations and debt investments. He also assists equity and debt funds in raising fund-level financings.

Gus represents private equity sponsors, financial institutions, hedge funds, debt funds, sovereign wealth funds, and public and private companies, and his clients include New Mountain Capital, Symphony Technology Group, Vector Capital, Mubadala, Fidelity Investments, CVS Health, and Legg Mason.

As Head of Analysis at Refinitiv LPC, Ioana Barza writes and presents frequently on corporate credit markets with a special focus on loan capital markets to the banking, regulatory, corporate borrower, institutional investor, and private equity communities. In addition, Ms. Barza conducts interviews with market leaders for Reuters Insider.

Ms. Barza has been with Refinitiv LPC since 1999. She provides insight and analysis related to the global credit markets and co-moderates roundtable discussions among leading buyside and sellside representatives focused in the U.S. on investment grade lending, leveraged finance, CLOs, middle market lending, and the broader European loan market.

Prior to joining Refinitiv LPC, Ms. Barza focused on environmental finance initiatives with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of International Activities. She has also worked at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in Washington, DC, evaluating the economic and environmental impacts of proposed overseas investments. Ms. Barza has a BA in environmental sciences and international relations from Northwestern University and a graduate degree in economics from the George Washington University.

Frances Beyers, Head of Market Analysis, has been with Refinitiv LPC since 2009. Fran writes and presents frequently on the state of the loan market with a special focus on middle market and leveraged lending. Fran creates new analysis for LoanConnector and Gold Sheets Weekly and is the lead analyst for publications such as Gold Sheets Middle Market and LPC’s MM Weekly. Fran is also responsible for business development initiatives including building out LPC’s product offerings and analyzing potential strategic opportunities.

Prior to joining LPC, Fran worked at Churchill Financial where she focused on middle market leveraged financings for private equity portfolio companies. Fran began her career at J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. where she held various roles including Ratings and Capital Structure Advisory and Credit Portfolio Management. Within Ratings Advisory, Fran advised both investment grade and leveraged issuers with regards to their ratings for strategic transactions such as LBO and M&A financings. In Credit Portfolio Management, Fran managed exposure to a portfolio of investment grade and high yield companies within the oil and gas sector.

Fran received her B.S.B.A. from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis.

David Brooke is a senior correspondent at Refinitiv LPC. Since 2017, he has covered both European and US middle market lending for Refinitiv. He covers all aspects of the market, including but not limited to deal news, fundraising, asset management and BDCs.

Previously, he was a reporter at Private Debt Investor based in London. He has also worked as a legal news and sports reporter.

David obtained a M.A in English Literature from the University of Manchester and has a B.A from Salford University.

Mr. Bock is Chief Financial Officer of Barings BDC, Inc. and a Managing Director in Barings Global Private Finance Group. Prior to joining Barings in July 2018, Mr. Bock was a Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Wells Fargo Securities specializing in Business Development Companies (BDCs). He has actively followed the BDC space since 2006 and was the chief author of a leading BDC quarterly research publication: the BDC Scorecard. His research is often cited by The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and other prominent financial publications.

Prior to Wells Fargo, Jonathan followed the specialty finance space at Stifel Nicolaus & Company and A.G. Edwards Inc. Prior to entering sell-side research in 2006, Jonathan was an equity portfolio manager/analyst at Busey Wealth Management in Champaign, Illinois.

Jonathan holds a BS in finance from the University of Illinois College of Business and is a CFA charterholder.

Michael is a partner in the Finance practice. Michael has over 25 years of experience in the U.S. leveraged finance market, representing leading investment and commercial banks, alternative capital providers and other financial institutions in bank financing and debt capital markets transactions.

He has extensive experience in public and private leveraged and investment grade acquisition finance (including bridge financings), refinancings and recapitalizations, second-lien and asset-based lending. Michael also advises on securities, capital markets, bank finance, and corporate transactions representing corporations and financial institutions in bank financings, public and private offerings and high-yield debt offerings.

Maria Dikeos is a Director of Analysis and Head of Global Loan Contributions at Loan Pricing Corporation (LPC) and is based New York. Maria runs a team of analysts in the US, Europe and Asia who cover data collection and analysis of the regional loan markets.

Maria’s focus is primary market analytics including the production of league tables, time series and industry analysis, as well as the enhancement of data collection and expansion of product offerings. Maria is a contributor to a number of LPC’s publications, including Gold Sheets and Loanly Planet in addition to contributing to a number of third party publications.

She is a moderator on LPC’s roundtables covering a range of loan market issues including the investment grade, leveraged and asset based loan markets.

Maria has been with LPC since 2001; prior to that, she worked at a major investment bank.

Maria has a B.A. from Wellesley College and Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University and the University of Geneva.

Ian Fowler is Co-Head of Barings’ Global Private Finance Group, a member of the group’s North American Private Finance Investment Committee and President of Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE: BBDC). He is responsible for leading a team that originates, underwrites and manages global private finance investments. Ian has worked in the industry since 1988 and his experience has encompassed middle market commercial finance, including originating, underwriting and managing senior secured loans, mezzanine and co-investment transactions.

Prior to joining the firm in 2012, he was a Senior Managing Director with Harbour Group and co-founded Freeport Financial LLC where he was a member of the Executive Credit Committee and responsible for all business development and capital market initiatives. While at Freeport, he helped build the company into one of the top 5 non-bank affiliated middle market Sponsor finance companies in the U.S. Before Freeport, Ian was Managing Director and Global Group Leader for GE Capital's Global Sponsor Finance Group. Prior to GE Capital, Ian held various leveraged finance and investment positions with NationsBank and Mellon Bank.

Ian holds a B.A. (Honors) from the University of Western Ontario and is a member of the CFA Institute.

Erica Frontiero is a Managing Director with Carlyle Global Credit and the Head of Capital Markets. Ms. Frontiero is based in New York.

Prior to joining Carlyle in 2016, Ms. Frontiero spent 12 years with Antares/GE Capital in Capital Markets, structuring, syndicating, and trading leveraged loans, across a wide spectrum of industries to investors, including, banks, hedge funds, pension funds and other financial institutions. She began her professional career at Bank of America Securities (Bank of America Merrill Lynch) in leveraged finance, in New York and London.

Ms. Frontiero is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Dress for Success Worldwide and a member of the 2016 class of WomeninPower.org, an executive fellowship program created by the 92Y in Manhattan. Ms. Frontiero is also one of the founding members of the creative advisory board for Orchid Worldwide, a boutique, sales, marketing and travel company, and a member of the inaugural class of Pipeline Angels, which aims to increase the number of women angel investors and social entrepreneurs in the United States.

Ms. Frontiero also serves as a mentor within Parity Partners’ P3 program, focused on advancing women through strategic leadership development and community building, and as a member of the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN), an alliance of senior women leaders in private equity. She is a member of the Governance Board of the Wall Street Woman’s Alliance, an inter-firm network dedicated to promoting women to C-suite roles in the financial services industry, and a member of the Board of Directors of the LSTA (Loan Syndications and Trading Association), the leading advocate for the U.S. syndicated loan market.

Ms. Frontiero received a BA in economics with a minor in politics from Wake Forest University.
Ms. Frontiero holds Series 7 and 63 licenses.

James Hussney is a Managing Director in the Loan Syndicate, Sales & Research group of Debt Capital Markets. He executes across the credit spectrum underwriting and distributing first and second-lien loans for Investment Grade and Leveraged issuers. Additionally, he develops and maintains relationships with pro rata and institutional investors for the execution of syndicated loans from underwriting distribution risk, through primary syndication and allocation.

Mr. Hussney has been with KeyBanc Capital Markets since 2001, through Key’s integration of McDonald Investments. Prior to joining Debt Capital Markets, Mr. Hussney has worked throughout the KeyBanc Capital Markets Organization with a middle market credit and investment banking focus.

He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.

Sonali Jindal is a member of the Firm’s Debt Finance Group. She represents private equity funds and their portfolio companies in connection with complex secured and unsecured financing transactions, including leveraged buyouts, bank/bridge commitments, first and second lien financings, mezzanine financings, subordinated loans, cross border facilities and ABL facilities.

Sonali was recognized in the 2017–2020 editions of Chambers USA, receiving praise as someone who "advises major private equity houses and their portfolio companies on refinancings and acquisition financings,” with clients describing her as “an expert in the field, with vast experience and knowledge of the subject matter."

Tomasz Kulawik is a partner in the Finance practice in New York and Washington, D.C. and focuses on leveraged finance, including acquisition financings, asset based lending, refinancings and restructurings.

He is also experienced in structured finance and investment grade finance.

Dan is a Partner and serves as a member of the Investment Committee for Comvest’s direct lending strategy. He is responsible for originating, structuring, and managing investments.

Prior to joining Comvest, Dan was a Senior Director with Dymas Capital Management, where he served on the Investment Committee and was instrumental in the formation and growth of the firm from its start-up phase to an established middle-market finance company. He has served as a Managing Director at Square 1 Bank and Kugman Partners, and as an investment banker at Salomon Smith Barney. Prior to getting his MBA, Dan began his career with Arthur Andersen and Heller Financial’s Corporate Finance Group.

Mr. Easterly graduated from California State University, Fresno with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, magna cum laude. Mr. Easterly’s depth of experience investing in a variety of distressed and special situations transactions as well as his extensive knowledge of the business and operations of TSSP provides the Board with valuable insight and expertise.

Dan received an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.

Eric Muller shares portfolio management responsibilities for private lending investments.

Prior to joining OHA, Mr. Muller worked in Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division, where he was a Partner in the Private Credit Group, responsible for leading its private senior lending business in North America and managing vehicles that invested across the spectrum of the credit market. While at Goldman, Mr. Muller served on various divisional and firmwide investment and risk committees. He previously worked as a private equity investor for the Cypress Group.

Mr. Muller is Co-Chairman of the Board of Trustees for StreetSquash, an after-school youth enrichment program. Additionally, he serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Boston University Questrom School of Business and the Investment Committee for the Boston University Endowment. He earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A., summa cum laude, salutatorian, from Boston University.

Sage Nakamura is a Managing Vice President with Capital One Bank; he leads the Capital Markets Financing Group, which includes Loan Syndications, Sales/Trading, High Yield, and Equity. The team supports debt and equity capital markets opportunities across the commercial bank, which includes both C&I and Real Estate transactions. He joined Capital One in 2015, after 14 years in capital markets loan sales, syndicate, and structuring roles at GE Capital, most recently as the head of healthcare capital markets. Sage joined GE Capital in 2001 to develop their loan syndications, sales and trading function.

Sage entered Summit Bank’s (now part of Bank of America) management training program in 1995 and held various corporate loan underwriting and origination positions through 2001.

He graduated from Skidmore College, where he majored in economics and business, and received his MBA from Seton Hall University.

David Nemecek is a corporate partner resident in the Los Angeles office and the New York office. Dave's practice focuses on representing private equity sponsors, portfolio companies, hedge funds, asset managers and alternative capital sources in complex financing transactions, including leveraged buyouts, liability management transactions, recapitalizations, restructurings and other special situation transactions.

Dave is rated as “Band 1” by Chambers USA, which has recognized him as a leading lawyer in banking and finance since 2014.

The National Law Journal named Dave to its 2019 list of “Finance, Banking & Capital Markets Trailblazers,” for his work on behalf of such clients as Neiman Marcus and PetSmart. The Legal 500 U.S. praised Dave as being "thorough, knowledgeable, responsive and deal oriented," and the IFLR1000 noted him as “Highly Regarded.” Dave is designated a “Super Lawyer” by Southern California Super Lawyers. In 2017, he was named one of the “Top 40 Under 40” lawyers for the State of California by the Daily Journal.

Dave has negotiated and closed transactions in a diverse group of industries, including retail, restaurant, apparel, energy, healthcare, media, software, cosmetics, specialty finance and biotechnology. His transactions span the capital structure and vary in size from multi-billion dollar transactions to middle market and lower middle market transactions.

Daniel Pietrzak (New York) 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.

Robyn E. Roof joined KeyBanc Capital Markets, Loan Syndications in January 2011 in Loan Syndicate after a 25+ year career at Banc of America Securities and Bank of America. Robyn is currently the Head of Loan Syndicate, Sales and Research and is responsible for bridging the underwriting and approval of loan distribution from its origination in Debt Capital Markets through to the primary and secondary execution in Loan Sales and Trading. Her group’s focus is to synthesize market transaction and investor information to provide leading edge advice and execution capabilities for KeyBank’s issuing clients and providing quality assets for KeyBank’s investing clients.

Ms. Roof brings 20+ years of Debt Capital Markets product experience where she was primarily focused on Middle Market and Middle Market Leverage Finance transactions including general capital raises, leveraged buyouts, acquisition financing and restructuring advice. Prior to the joining the Loan Syndicate function, Ms. Roof covered both bank and institutional investors in Loan Sales and Trading and was instrumental in building out middle market distribution capabilities for her predecessor firm. She has dedicated the majority of her career providing advice to middle market clients and private equity investors specializing in the middle market space having started her career as a client manager.

Ms. Roof graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Administrative Management and currently resides in New York.

Thomas Stein is Head of Private Debt in the Americas, based in Denver. He is a member of the Global Direct Debt Investment Committee and has 27 years of industry experience.

Prior to joining Partners Group, he worked at Guggenheim, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.

He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in Illinois, USA and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Santa Clara, California, USA.

Mr. Van Dussen joined Golub Capital in 2010 and is a Managing Director and Head of the Capital Markets business for Middle Market Lending. He is responsible for structuring, pricing and syndicating transactions for the Firm.

Prior to joining Golub Capital, Mr. Van Dussen was a Managing Director and Head of Loan Sales for CIT Group. Before that, he was a Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets for FirstLight Financial Corporation. Prior to this position, Mr. Van Dussen worked at GE Capital, where he focused on middle market structuring, syndication and loan sales.

Mr. Van Dussen earned his BA degree cum laude in Finance from Michigan State University. He received an MBA from Columbia Business School.

SoVonna has more than 25 years of experience in the Financial Services / Investment Banking industry. She has spent over 21 years at Credit Suisse in a variety of leading businesses within High-Yield Capital Markets, Investment Grade Capital Markets, Loan Syndications and Corporate Banking.

She is a Managing Director and currently runs the Acquisition Bridge Financing business at the firm. Her primary job is underwriting, structuring and risk managing the bridge loan portfolio for large cap corporates and top tier private equity firms. She has executed thousands of financing commitments that provide bridge capital for strategic acquisitions and event-driven financings. She is also an active and engaged member of the firm’s recruitment, retention and diversity initiatives. She serves as a board member and co-Chair of the Strategic Initiatives Committee for a non-profit organization providing services in post-secondary prep, advocacy and self-agency to NYC public high school youth.

Prior to coming to CS, SoVonna worked for J.P. Morgan, Citicorp, and Lexis/Nexis. She holds a B.A. in Marketing and Communications from Ball State University in Indiana. SoVonna is married with two children living at the Jersey Shore.

Mr. Gross is a co-founder and co-managing partner of the Solar Capital Partners, LLC. He is chairman of the board of directors and co-chief executive officer of Solar Capital Ltd. (and previously its predecessor entity Solar Capital LLC), Solar Senior Capital Ltd. and SCP Private Credit Income BDC LLC.

From February 2004 through February 2006, Mr. Gross was the president and chief executive officer of Apollo Investment Corporation, a publicly traded BDC that he founded, and he also served as chairman of the board of directors and investment committee from February 2004 to July 2006. Mr. Gross was also the managing partner of Apollo Investment Management, L.P., the investment adviser to Apollo Investment Corporation.

From 1990 to February 2006, Mr. Gross was a senior partner at Apollo Management, L.P., a leading private equity firm which he founded in 1990 with five other colleagues. During his tenure there, Mr. Gross was a member of an investment committee that was responsible for overseeing investments. In addition, from 2003 to February 2006, Mr. Gross was the managing partner of Apollo Distressed Investment Fund, an investment fund he founded to invest principally in non-control oriented distressed debt and other investment securities of leveraged companies. Prior to his time at Apollo Management, L.P., Mr. Gross was employed by Drexel Burnham Lambert Incorporated.

Mr. Gross holds a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of Michigan and an M.M. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Peter Hall is a Managing Director and Head of the Investment Grade Syndicated Finance Group at Bank of America since 2006. Peter is involved with the structuring, underwriting and syndicating of Investment Grade transactions involving senior bank debt and bridge financings for Bank of America’s clients across the Americas and the EMEA region.

Peter has been with Bank of America for 31 years in various capacities. He has spent over 15 years in Syndicated Finance focusing on all aspects including Leveraged Finance, Financial Sponsors, Middle Market, Asset Based, Financial Institutions and now Investment Grade. Prior to that, he was a banker for 9 years in New York.

Peter holds a BA degree in Economics from SUNY at Stony Brook and an MBA in Banking and Finance from Hofstra University.

Steve is Chief Executive Officer of Cliffwater LLC 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).

Steve is best known for his research on Asset Allocation and Portfolio Construction, covering over 30 years of annual long term expected returns and risk across asset classes. At Cliffwater, he has led research on the components of hedge fund return and risk and proper construction of a portfolio of hedge funds.

Jerry co-founded Horizon Technology Finance Corporation and is its President and serves on the Board of Directors. Jerry co-founded our Advisor in 2003 and is its President and also serves as a member of its investment committee. Jerry has over 40 years of diversified lending experience including more than 20 years in venture lending.

From 2000 to 2003, Jerry was Senior Vice President in charge of business development of GATX Ventures, Inc., the venture lending subsidiary of GATX Corporation. From 1996 to 2000, Jerry was Senior Vice President of Transamerica Business Credit, where he co-founded and was the senior executive in charge of business development of Transamerica Technology Finance, its venture lending business. From 1993 to 1996, Jerry served as a Vice President with Financing for Science International, Inc., a publicly traded venture financing and healthcare leasing company. Prior to 1993, Jerry founded and served as President of Venture Leasing and Capital.

Jerry attended Northeastern University, Rutgers University and the University of Phoenix, completed a commercial credit training program with Shawmut Bank and has taken executive courses at Harvard Business School.

Jeffrey is Co-Head of Debt Capital Markets in New York covering the Americas. He joined MUFG in 2012 and is responsible for the origination and distribution of Fixed Income and Loan products for the bank’s corporate, commercial, financial institutions and financial sponsor clients.

Prior to joining MUFG, Jeffrey was a Managing Director of Debt Capital Markets and Global Head of Loan Syndications at Natixis Capital Markets for nearly 5 years. Prior to that, Jeffrey spent over 20 years at Citigroup where he was a Managing Director of Global Fixed Income in New York, London, and Los Angeles with various positions specializing in syndicated finance and leveraged capital. Earlier experience includes positions with Chase Manhattan Bank. Jeffrey has over 25 years of banking experience.

Jeffrey holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Southern California and a BA in Economics and International Business from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jeff holds Series 7, 24, 63, 79 FINRA licenses/certifications.

Ross Leff is a corporate partner in Kirkland’s New York office with expertise in a broad range of capital markets issues. His practice is primarily focused on public and private debt and equity offerings, including high yield and investment grade debt issuances, public equity offerings, PIPEs and other private placements. Ross also advises U.S. and international companies with respect to corporate and securities law matters, including corporate governance and SEC and stock exchange disclosure, reporting and compliance obligations. In addition to leading capital markets transactions, Ross frequently teams with other Kirkland partners on complex M&A transactions.

Ross represents clients across many industries—including consumer, financials, healthcare, industrials, real estate and technology—who rely on him for practical solutions grounded in sound legal and business judgment to their most challenging matters.

Ross received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and his B.A. from Columbia College.

Tom Hou is a Managing Director and Head of Bank Loan Capital Markets at HSBC in the US. Tom has been with HSBC since 2014 and leads the structuring and syndicated loan efforts for both investment grade and non-investment grade transactions executed in the pro-rata bank market.

Prior to joining HSBC, Tom spent 7 years at Barclays/Lehman as a Managing Director in Loan Capital Markets and High Grade Loan Syndicate originating, structuring, pricing and syndicating investment grade general corporate and acquisition financings. Tom previously spent 15 years at JPMorgan in syndicated and leveraged finance, credit, portfolio and investment banking coverage.

Tom holds a BA degree in Economics from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Brad Dyslin joined Aflac in June 2012 as the managing director and global head of credit for Aflac Global Investments. He was promoted to senior managing director in 2016. He assumed the additional responsibilities as head of strategic investment opportunities and co-head of external manager platform in 2017.

In his roles, Dyslin is responsible for leading the Global Credit team, directing portfolio management, research and investment recommendations for credit-related assets that comprise the core of Aflac’s global portfolio. He is also responsible for researching and overseeing strategic investment opportunities to enhance portfolio strategies and supplement Aflac Global Investment’s business model. As co-head of external manager platform, he shares global responsibility for the development and management of third-party asset investment firms managing assets on behalf of Aflac’s investment portfolio in both the U.S. and Japan.

Prior to joining Aflac, he served as senior vice president, head of research and portfolio manager for Hartford Investment Management. Prior to joining Hartford, he was director of U.S. Credit Research for Deutsche Asset Management in New York. His other experience includes more than a decade of progressively responsible investment positions with the Principal Financial Group.

Brad earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration and economics from Morningside College and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in finance from the University of Iowa. He is also a chartered financial analyst.

Sheila Finnerty is the Executive Managing Director and Head of Strategic Initiatives for Liberty Mutual Investments (LMI). She is a member of the firm’s Internal Investment Committee and Leadership Team.

Sheila joined LMI as Head of Leveraged Finance in 2005, with 17 years of experience in leveraged finance. For 11 years, Sheila led LMI’s team investing in high yield bonds, leveraged loans and direct lending. In 2016, Sheila became the Head of Credit Strategies, a new business within LMI that leveraged the firm’s credit underwriting capabilities investing in both public and private credit markets.

Prior to joining Liberty Mutual, Sheila was employed by Morgan Stanley from 1993 to 2005. Originally a member of the High Yield Investment Team, in 1997 she became Portfolio Manager and Head of the Senior Loan Team. Sheila was named a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley in 2003 and returned to the High Yield Investment Team as Head of Morgan Stanley’s Global High Yield Team. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Sheila held positions at Presidential Life Insurance Company and Bernstein Macaulay Inc.

Sheila received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Management from Manhattanville College and her Masters in Business Administration from New York University. She also holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst.

Megan Austin Karlen is a Partner who leads the Capital Markets function for Francisco Partners.

Prior to joining Francisco Partners in 2016, Megan was the Vice President of Business Development at Radius Intelligence, a leading provider of predictive marketing software to enterprises. Megan was also the Vice President of Business Development at CardSpring, a payments infrastructure company that added application capabilities to credit cards and was acquired by Twitter. Prior to CardSpring, Megan was a Vice President at Castle Harlan where she focused on private equity investments in the telecommunications, distribution and consumer sectors.

She also worked at Gleacher Mezzanine, investing mezzanine capital in sponsor-backed transactions. Megan began her career as an investment banking analyst in the Mergers and Acquisitions group at Morgan Stanley.

Colin joined HGGC in 2018 and leads the Firm’s Debt Capital Markets team. Colin is responsible for managing all portfolio company financing activities, including original buyouts, recapitalizations, acquisitions and refinancings. Colin is also responsible for developing and managing the Firm’s lending relationships.

Since joining HGGC, Colin has been instrumental in arranging, negotiating and executing the debt financings for recapitalizations of Integrity, Idera, HelpSystems and Davies, buyouts of Beauty Industry Group, Monotype and PCF Insurance and various other M&A financings and portfolio company transactions and amendments.

Prior to joining HGGC, Colin was a Director in the Leveraged Finance Group at Deutsche Bank, where he worked for more than eight years. Previously, Colin worked at Wachovia Corporation as a Senior Financial Analyst. Colin received his M.B.A. from the University of Virginia and his B.A. in Economics from Wake Forest University.

Erwin Mock is a Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets at Thoma Bravo. Based in San Francisco, he joined the firm in 2015 and oversees Thoma Bravo’s capital markets activities related to new investments and existing portfolio companies. Additionally, Erwin is responsible for managing and helping grow the firm’s relationships with investment banks, direct lenders and debt / equity investors.

Prior to Thoma Bravo, he served as a Managing Director at UBS Investment Bank in the leveraged finance group. Prior to that role, he had several leveraged finance and restructuring advisory roles at RBC, UBS and Credit Suisse / DLJ.

Erwin graduated from Stanford University with a BA degree in Economics.

Kevin Sofield joined Vista in 2013. As Vista’s Head of Capital Markets, he is responsible for the team that manages all portfolio company financing activities, from original buyout to recapitalization, and including acquisition and refinancing activities.

Prior to joining Vista, Mr. Sofield spent over a decade in the Leveraged Finance group at Goldman, Sachs & Co., culminating in his role as Managing Director and Head of West Region Leveraged Finance. In this role, he advised corporate and sponsor clients on all manners of financing, including asset-based loans, traditional bank loans, institutional loans, high yield bonds and hybrid structures. Mr. Sofield began his career as an Officer in the United States Navy.

Mr. Sofield received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and a M.B.A. from the University of Maryland. In addition to his work at Vista, Mr. Sofield serves as a Board Member of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation of Tampa, Florida.

Spencer Stenmark runs Debt Capital Markets for TPG and has been with the firm since 2011. He is responsible for acquisition financings, portfolio company capital structure management, and general liability management within the portfolio.

Spencer has an A.B. from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Prior to TPG, he was a leveraged finance banker at J.P. Morgan.

Ms. Shah is a Director in Houlihan Lokey’s Capital Markets Group. Her primary responsibilities include working with the firm’s clients to raise debt and equity capital to support refinancings, recapitalizations, restructurings, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and growth capital initiatives, as well as advising companies on a wide range of capital structure matters. Ms. Shah is based in the firm’s New York office.

Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, Ms. Shah was at BMO Capital Markets, where she was a senior member of the Debt Capital Markets Group, focused on sourcing, structuring, and executing both public and private leverage loan and high-yield transactions in a variety of industries, including but not limited to healthcare and energy. Prior to joining BMO Capital Markets, Ms. Shah was a Vice President at CIBC World Markets/Oppenheimer, where she focused on structuring and executing leverage finance transactions for leading financial sponsors.

Earlier, Ms. Shah was at Wells Fargo, where she focused on providing asset-based loans for middle-market companies. She began her career at Deutsche Bank in the Financial Sponsors Group.

Ms. Shah holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and minors in Economics and Art History from the University of Southern California.

Doug Tapley (San Francisco) joined KKR in 2006 and is a Managing Director of KKR, focusing on both private debt origination and capital markets solutions for financial sponsors and corporate clients.

Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Tapley was a vice president at GE Capital where he underwrote and led debt transactions for sponsored buyouts in the media, communications, and healthcare sectors. Previously, Mr. Tapley worked as a management consultant in the telecommunications and technology sectors.

Mr. Tapley holds an M.B.A. from Yale University, a B.A. from Rice University and is a C.F.A. charterholder.

Becky Kuntz is a Managing Director and Head of the Commercial Banking Syndications Team. The team is responsible for the organization, structuring and execution of loan financings for middle market and mid-cap companies in the US and Canada.

Becky has in excess of 25 years of experience in investment and corporate banking. She has focused on all aspects of loan syndications, from investment grade corporate issuers through the leverage spectrum to highly levered transactions across all industries. Her banking career started at Continental Bank in Chicago.

She is a graduate of Smith College and holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Mr. Rosen is a Partner in the Ares Private Equity Group, where he focuses on special opportunities investing and serves as a member of the Ares Private Equity Group's Special Opportunities Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Ares in 2018, Mr. Rosen was a Partner and Director of Research at Archview Investment Group, where he focused on distressed and high yield investments in both in the U.S. and internationally. Prior to Archview, Mr. Rosen was a Vice President at Citigroup, where he was a founding member of the Citibank Global Special Situations Group focused on U.S. distressed debt, stressed credit, and value equity investment strategies. In addition, Mr. Rosen was a member of Citigroup's Asset-Based Finance group, where he focused on structuring senior secured debt financings for non-investment grade corporate borrowers.

Mr. Rosen holds a B.S., summa cum laude, from New York University's Stern School of Business in Finance and Information Systems where he received the Valedictorian Award.

Michael Masters is a Managing Director in Leverage Loan Syndicate at Barclays. Mr. Masters is responsible for the firm’s underwriting and syndication of Middle Market leveraged loans.

With over 21 years of industry experience, Mr. Masters joined Barclays in 2006 from The Bank of New York, where he originated and structured loans in the Media and Telecommunications industries.

Mr. Masters received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Depaul University.

Michael S. Rudnick is a Vice President on Brookfield’s Special Investments Team, which focuses on providing strategic capital solutions across a variety of sectors.

Prior to joining Brookfield, Mr. Rudnick worked as an investment professional and deal lawyer at a credit fund, where he focused on workouts and process-driven strategies. Mr. Rudnick began his career as a restructuring associate with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where he primarily advised creditor groups and investment managers in connection with bankruptcies, restructurings and special situations investments.

Mr. Rudnick earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and History from Emory University and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Kevin Lawi is Senior Director, Credit Investments at the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).

He joined PSP Investments in February 2016 to help develop the organization’s presence as a credit investor in the US market through its US affiliate, PSP Investments USA. The Credit Investments group focuses on direct, non-investment-grade credit investment solutions, in both private and public markets. The team has invested over CAD$13 billion in more than 100 transactions globally since the inception of the asset class in 2015.

Kevin has over 15 years of leveraged finance and capital markets experience. Prior to joining PSP Investments, he spent over 7 years in the leveraged finance group at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and started his career at JPMorgan.

Kevin holds a JD/MBA from Duke University and graduated from Columbia College.

Geoffrey Berg, CFA is the RSIC Chief Investment Officer. The RSIC manages and invests the assets for the South Carolina Retirement System, a $32 billion defined benefit pension plan serving approximately 600,000 participants.

Mr. Berg joined the RSIC in July 2008 and has served in various director positions since early 2009.

Mr. Berg earned a BA from Georgetown University and an MBA from the University of Iowa. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Society of South Carolina.

Stephen Wollman is a Managing Director and Head of North American Structuring at Deutsche Bank. His responsibilities span a number of asset classes including Credit, Rates, Foreign Exchange and fund derivatives.

He has spent most of his tenure at DB building out principal lending businesses with an emphasis on private credit, infrastructure, and hard asset lending, as well as providing bespoke financing solutions for alternative investment funds.

Mr. Wollman has also worked at Royal Bank of Scotland and began his career at Morgan Stanley where he structured and traded exotic credit derivatives.

Mr. Wollman holds a BA in Computer Science from Harvard College.