New York Forum 2024

Ms. Benza serves as Investment Manager for the General Electric Pension focused on the private markets. She previously worked for Abbott Capital, where she was most recently a Principal and a member of the Investment Committee. Before joining Abbott, she was a Vice President with DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, an Associate with THL Partners, and a Mergers & Acquisitions Analyst with Merrill Lynch. Ms. Benza received a B.S. in Finance and Accounting from NYU Stern and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Thomas Cockburn is Senior Director, Corporate Credit at CDPQ. Mr. Cockburn has responsibility over origination and execution of private credit opportunities in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, he is engaged in the development and monitoring of the private debt investment strategy and portfolio.

Before joining CDPQ, Mr. Cockburn worked for Power Corporation of Canada, a diversified holding company with a focus on financial services, where he was responsible for mergers & acquisitions as well as corporate finance activities for the holding’s portfolio companies. Prior to this, he spent 8 years at GE Capital, successively in real estate M&A and in leveraged finance roles. During his tenure at the company, he was involved in the creation of Mubadala GE Capital, a structured finance joint venture between Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala and GE Capital. He later joined Mubadala GE Capital’s investments team as a Vice-President and was responsible for executing leveraged and structured finance transactions in the U.S. and Europe. Prior to his time at GE Capital, he started his career in investment banking at Desjardins Securities.

Mr. Cockburn holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and a Master of Science - Finance, both from HEC Montréal.

Anna Dayn is a Managing Director and US head of New End, a family-office-anchored strategic advisory and capital formation firm in private markets. At New End, Anna partners and invests in high-growth companies, sponsors and investment platforms to provide business development and access to institutional capital.

Anna has over 20 years' experience in funding, designing and implementing private equity investment programs. Before New End, Anna established the North American platform of XTP, a leading cost analysis platform serving institutional investors. Anna previously served as the head of Private Equity at Cardano, a UK pension consultancy, where she oversaw a private equity program spanning $2bn of invested capital. Prior to that, Anna worked at Capital Dynamics and NM Rothschild.

Anna has served on the limited partner advisory boards of several private equity funds across North America and Europe, is a published author, media commentator, and a frequently featured speaker at investment industry conferences. She sits on the Executive Board of WAVE, the Women’s Association for Venture and Equity, and serves on the New York Steering Committee for PEWIN, the Private Equity Women’s Investor Network.
Anna received an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA in Economics from the College of Arts and Sciences, both at the University of Pennsylvania.

New End is a global institution that underwrites and invests principal capital in the opportunities originated by the team. Core activities extend to private equity, private debt, and real assets. New End partners and invests alongside asset managers, providing valuable support on strategic initiatives, including new step-out offerings and capital raising. New End has helped launch numerous first-time teams and supports emerging and established managers with capital formation and business development.

New End is headquartered in London with offices in New York, Montreal, Zurich, Paris, and Milan.

Cathy DiSalvo joined CalSTRS in Fixed Income in 2008. She spent the first ten years of her time in Fixed Income focused on the internal credit desk. For the last six years she has been leading the external manager team focusing on both public (high yield, core plus and bank loans) and private debt (direct lending).

Mr. Griffin founded MGG Investment Group and is the Managing Partner, CEO and CIO of the firm. In this capacity, Mr. Griffin is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the firm, including the investment process from origination through portfolio monitoring as well as the strategic vision for the firm.

Mr. Griffin has experience in every industry and has been investing across the capital structure for multiple decades and through several financial cycles at all times with a focus on premium risk adjusted returns. Post investment, he remains active on numerous boards of directors, currently including KLDiscovery, (NYSE: KLDI), XL Fleet (NYSE: XL), Tastes on the Fly, and GenCanna Acquisition Corp.

Prior to launching MGG, Mr. Griffin was a Managing Director with Highbridge Principal Strategies (now HPS Partners), where he was a senior member of the Specialty Lending Platform and a member of the Highbridge Credit Committee. In addition, Mr. Griffin was part of Fortress Investment Group in charge of originating and underwriting investment opportunities for the Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund. His experience also includes the Head of Private Investing for Octavian Funds, American Capital, (one of the first publicly traded BDC’s), and at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin’s Investment Banking Division.

The M&A Advisor in May 2015 named Mr. Griffin a winner of its 40 Under 40 Emerging Leaders Award. The Hedge Fund Journal, in association with Ernst & Young, in December 2016 named Mr. Griffin one of 50 “Tomorrow’s Titans.”

Mr. Griffin earned his BSBA in Finance from Georgetown University and currently sits on the McDonough School of Business Board of Advisors.

Since joining 17Capital in 2019, Greg Hardiman has sourced, led and/or executed investments representing over $3 billion in capital, spanning NAV loans and preferred equity. During his time at the firm, Hardiman has helped lead the development of 17Capital’s management company financing offering, providing private equity sponsors with solutions to drive franchise growth. He is also an active contributor to the firm’s capital raising efforts. He works closely alongside 17Capital’s recently expanded investor relations and investment teams to source deal opportunities and build out the firm’s relationships with top US investors and managers. Greg holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Villanova University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Vincent Indelicato is the Global Co-Head of Restructuring and a Partner in the Corporate Department of Proskauer Rose LLP, an international law firm.

Over the last decade, Vincent has played a lead role on some of the most significant corporate reorganization cases in the United States, including Caesars Entertainment, Westinghouse Electric, MF Global and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He currently serves as lead restructuring counsel to the National Basketball Association and thirteen of its member teams in the high-profile chapter 11 cases of Diamond Sports, a multi-billion dollar subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, and actively represents some of the largest private credit managers in the world, including, Apollo, Ares, Benefit Street, Blue Owl and KKR.

Matt Lisonbee joined CalSTRS in 2012 and is an Associate Portfolio Manager on the Innovative Strategies team. Matt has underwritten, managed, and/or overseen a variety of strategies including investments in public equity, private equity, risk parity, commodities, and private credit. Beginning in 2017, Matt’s primary focus has been private credit including investments in direct lending, asset-backed leasing, and specialty finance. Matt holds a BS from Brigham Young University and an MSBA from California State University, Sacramento. He is a CFA charterholder, CAIA charterholder, and a CPA.

Amir Madden is Senior Portfolio Manager on the Alternative Credits team at APG Asset Management US. He has over 25 years of investment experience. Amir is currently responsible for the selection and monitoring of external managers with a focus on the US markets. Before joining APG US, Amir Madden was a Portfolio Manager and Investment Committee Member at GAM USA working on the Alternative Investments Solutions (AIS) team. His responsibilities include overseeing private credit, event driven and US equity investments and managing both diversified and strategy focused portfolios for clients. Prior to joining GAM in August 2002, he spent two years at JP Morgan Private Bank in the multi-manager investment advisory group performing manager due diligence, having previously worked at Jennison Associates LLC. Amir Madden holds an MBA in Banking and Finance from Hofstra University and a BBA in International Finance and Marketing from the University of Miami. He is based in New York.

APG is one of the largest pension services providers in the Netherlands. APG manages €569 (year-end 2023) on behalf of Dutch pension fund clients, investing globally in the public and private markets. As a long-term investor, APG aims to achieve both financial and societal returns for the funds served so that their 4.6 million participants can enjoy a good pension in a livable world. APG has offices in Amsterdam, Heerlen, and Brussels, and asset management subsidiaries in New York (APG US), Hong Kong and Singapore (APG Asia).

Kevin Magid is President of Audax Private Debt, a leading debt capital partner based in New York. He joined Audax Group in 2000 and established and has led Audax Private Debt since its inception. Kevin is responsible for overseeing all facets of Audax’ debt business, including origination, underwriting, and portfolio management as well as setting the business’ strategic direction. For over 37 years, Kevin has invested in or raised senior debt, high yield debt, junior debt and equity financing for companies and private equity sponsors in a wide range of industries.

Prior to joining Audax Private Debt, Kevin spent over 13 years as a leveraged finance professional and served as a Managing Director in the Leveraged Finance/Merchant Banking Group of CIBC World Markets Corp. Kevin started his career at Drexel Burnham Lambert, and also worked at Wasserstein Perella and Kidder Peabody, principally in a leveraged finance role.

Kevin received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University.

Rich is an editorial leader with more than 25 years of experience in financial journalism. In his role at PEI Group, he leads the editorial teams for a group that includes Private Equity International, Buyouts, PE Hub, Venture Capital Journal, Private Funds CFO and Regulatory Compliance Watch. Previously he was Editorial Director for Banking & Capital Markets at Arizent, where he oversaw editorial at American Banker, The Bond Buyer and Mergers & Acquisitions, among other titles. Earlier, he was a reporter and editor at Reuters in New York, eventually leading the service’s Wall Street desk. Prior to journalism, Rich worked in the Valuation Group at Deloitte. He lives in Montclair, N.J., with his wife, daughters and pandemic-adopted puppy.

Michael M. Mezzacappa is the co-head of Proskauer’s Private Credit Group and a member of the Corporate Department. His practice focuses on representing agents, lenders and borrowers in a variety of complex financings and credit arrangements, including acquisition financings (sponsor-led and strategic acquisitions and "going private" transactions, to name a few), dividend recapitalization financings, asset¬ based loans, cash flow loans, special situations loans, DIP loans, bridge financings and cross-border and multi-currency loans. He has extensive experience representing agents and lenders in multi-tiered financing facilities, second-lien and unitranche loan facilities (including "B" loans and other "last out" structures), mezzanine and subordinated debt facilities, distressed debt facilities and intercreditor and subordination agreements. Michael also advises on distressed investing, debt restructuring and workouts.

Michelle Noyes joined AIMA in 2012 as Chief Operating Officer of AIMA's New York office and became the Association’s Head of Americas in December 2017.

Prior to AIMA, Michelle was Head of International Sales and Investor Relations for BRZ Investimentos, one of the largest independent asset managers in Brazil. While in Sao Paulo, she also served as the Brazil representative for AIMA and established the AIMA Brazil network. Michelle began her career in hedge funds as General Manager for a global conference organizer, where she launched and managed a portfolio of successful asset management and investment events. Michelle holds a B.A. and M.A. from New York University and is a CAIA Charterholder.

Lori Pomerantz is a Managing Director and the Global Head of Business Development for Private Credit, based in New York. She has been with Partners Group since 2023 and has 21 years of industry experience. Before joining Partners Group, Lori spent eight years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, most recently as a Managing Director leading the Corporate Credit Lead Portfolio Management team and the commercial efforts for the broadly syndicated loan, high yield and opportunistic credit strategies. Prior to this role, she spearheaded long-only fixed income manager selection within Goldman’s Alternative Investments and Manager Selection (AIMS) business and spent 12 years as a high yield and broadly syndicated loan credit analyst at BNP Paribas, Macquarie Capital, Citigroup and Lehman Brothers. Lori earned a BBA, with a dual concentration in Finance and Accounting, from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Doug Porter joined Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MainePERS) in 2012 and is a Managing Director and Head of Alternative Credit. Doug is responsible for the Alternative Credit portfolio design and implementation of making private credit fund investments and co-investments across the direct lending, infrastructure debt, commercial real estate debt, asset-based lending, and specialty finance sectors. Prior to joining MainePERS, Doug worked for three years in portfolio management at Acadia Trust. He holds a B.S. from the College of Charleston Honors College and an M.B.A. from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson. He is also a CFA Charterholder.

Bill leads the investment, portfolio construction, and fundraising efforts of the Private Credit Team, and manages key relationships with general partners in North America and Europe.

Prior to joining Adams Street, Bill was head of the US Private Debt Group (at the time the Mezzanine Debt Group) at Oaktree Capital Management. In this role he developed the strategy, managed the team, and approved the investments. In conjunction with Oaktree’s in-house marketing team, Bill led the fundraising effort for each of the three funds for which he was responsible.

Prior to Oaktree, Bill worked at J.P. Morgan, where he was the Co-Head of both the Leveraged Finance Origination Team and the High Yield Capital Markets Group. Bill previously worked at NationsBank as head of the high yield business where he was responsible for the High Yield Origination Team, the High Yield Capital Markets Group, Private Placements, and NationsBridge (the banks bridge loan unit). Bill commenced his career at Bear Stearns.

Bill is Chair of the Adams Street Partners Private Credit Investment Committee and a member of the Executive Committee.

Archit joined IMCO in 2021 and is a Portfolio Manager within Global Credit. Archit has over 8 years of credit experience investing across leveraged loans, private debt, high yield bonds, and investment grade. Prior to joining IMCO, Archit worked as a Senior Principal in the private debt team at British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) where he was responsible for underwriting and executing leveraged loan transactions. Archit holds an MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business, BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University, and is a CFA Charterholder.

Matt Stoeckle is a member of the Liberty Mutual Investments (LMI) Capital Solutions team. Capital Solutions invests across the private credit spectrum in direct transactions and through partnerships with a focus on niche opportunities that take advantage of both illiquidity and complexity premia throughout market cycles. Matt is responsible for manager and direct investment sourcing, underwriting and portfolio management. He joined LMI in 2013 as an Associate on the Opportunistic Investments team and in 2016 joined the newly formed private credit initiative.

Prior to joining LMI, Matt was an Associate with Avante Mezzanine Partners and began his career as a financial institutions investment banker with Wachovia Securities.

Matt received his BS in Economics and BA in Business Administration with a Finance concentration from Elon University and his MBA from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business

Andy has been with PEI Group since 2003, working on a number of titles including as Editor of Private Equity International and Senior Editor of Infrastructure Investor. Since H2 2015, he took over responsibility for Real Estate Capital and, in the first half of 2016, became Editor of Private Debt Investor. He is a regular writer for the magazines and websites and has also often contributed to our events as a panel moderator. Prior to joining PEI, Andy had senior roles at venture capital portal Venturedome.com and at Thomson Financial. Andy was voted State Street’s Alternatives Journalist of the Year in 2022.

Gabriel Yomi Dabiri leads Polsinelli’s national Private Credit and Cross-Border Finance practice. Gabriel also serves as Office Managing Partner of Polsinelli’s New York office.

Gabriel advises lenders, private equity sponsors and corporate borrowers on senior, mezzanine and subordinated loans, unitranche facilities, first lien/second lien facilities, and cash flow, ABL, subscription line and capital call facilities. Gabriel also negotiates complex intercreditor and subordination arrangements on behalf of his clients and supports clients on various debt restructurings and bankruptcies, including negotiating debtor-in-possession facilities and advising clients in connection with sovereign-debt crises. He leverages his market expertise in both “buy-and-hold” credit strategies and broadly syndicated finance transactions to guide clients on a variety of deals, from the routine to cutting edge.

Gabriel is dual-qualified, admitted to practice law as an attorney in New York and as a solicitor in England and Wales, and has deep and extensive experience supporting clients on sophisticated cross-border deals.

Prior to joining Polsinelli, Gabriel worked for a Magic Circle law firm in London, Singapore and New York, advising clients on domestic and cross-border capital markets and banking and finance transactions, and for leading global law firms in Manhattan, advising premier international financial institutions and corporate borrowers on upper middle and middle market leveraged finance deals.

Mr. Leger is responsible for managing all of MGG’s sales and marketing related efforts.

Prior to joining MGG, Mr. Leger was Head of Strategic Planning and Client Services at Akre Capital Management in Virginia where he helped grow the then 24 year old firm’s private partnership and mutual fund assets from $2 billion in 2013 to approximately $14 billion in 2019. Previously, he worked as Managing Director, Head of Marketing at Geosphere Capital, a $1.4 billion hedge fund based in New York City. Prior to that, he worked in a similar capacity at Steel Partners, a $5 billion global activist manager. Mr. Leger began his career in asset management at BRI Partners, a venture capital firm and joint venture with Mesirow Financial, that seeded hedge funds, helping grow their collective assets to in excess of $5 billion.

Mr. Leger received his doctorate in political philosophy and international relations from The University of Notre Dame in Indiana and his BA from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

Based in London, Luis Mayans is Partner and Deputy Head, Private Debt for Europe. In collaboration with CDPQ’s investment teams, he develops high-quality strategic partnerships with key market participants to support the implementation of the organization’s European corporate credit strategy.

Mr. Mayans has over 20 years of experience in the European financial sector. He joined CDPQ in September 2017 as Partner, Private Debt – Europe. Previously, he was a Managing Director at Avenue Capital Group in London, where he played a key role in the firm’s direct lending strategy, including portfolio construction and monitoring. Prior to that, he worked for over a decade in the leveraged finance unit of GE Capital, building his international expertise through senior roles held in its London, Paris and Madrid offices.

He holds a Master’s in Economics and Business Administration from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and is a Certified European Financial Analyst (CEFA).

Ms. Thew joined Golub Capital in 2020 and is the Head of Marketing. She is responsible for planning and executing marketing and communications programs to grow revenue, increase market share and enhance the Firm’s brand. Prior to joining Golub Capital, Ms. Thew was Director of Business Development at Inherent Group, an ESG-focused alternative investment manager, where she was responsible for fundraising, marketing, investor relations, communications and branding. Prior to this position, she worked at Highfields Capital as Director of Investor Relations, where she built and maintained relationships for the firm’s $12+ billion hedge fund and communicated the firm’s investment philosophy, process and portfolio positioning to investors and prospects. She also helped craft communications to investors and media. Prior to that, Ms. Thew was Executive Producer of the Halftime Report on CNBC, where she managed the show’s production team and was responsible for the show’s content, production and brand across TV, web and social media. Ms. Thew earned her AB in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. She received an MSJ in Broadcast Journalism, with a specialization in Reporting Business and Economics, from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Andy has been with PEI Group since 2003, working on a number of titles including as Editor of Private Equity International and Senior Editor of Infrastructure Investor. Since H2 2015, he took over responsibility for Real Estate Capital and, in the first half of 2016, became Editor of Private Debt Investor. He is a regular writer for the magazines and websites and has also often contributed to our events as a panel moderator. Prior to joining PEI, Andy had senior roles at venture capital portal Venturedome.com and at Thomson Financial. Andy was voted State Street’s Alternatives Journalist of the Year in 2022.

Barry Wilson is Managing Director at FIRSTavenue and leads our North American private credit origination and distribution efforts. Barry founded Wilson Capital Advisors a leading fund advisory and capital formation firm in 2017 globally raising over $2.5B for his clients. Prior to Wilson Capital Advisors, Barry worked with both Antares Capital pre-, during and post-acquisition by CPPIB and with GE Capital in their Strategic Investor Program units. Barry previously worked with leading alternative and institutional asset management platforms including Blue Mountain Capital, and PIMCO in varied investor development, trading, portfolio management and allocations roles in both structured and private credit. Barry has over 36 years of investing and leveraged finance experience and was money-center bank trained at JPMorgan.

Barry is a Board member of the Savannah Repertory Theatre. Barry holds a BBA in Finance and an BA in Political Science from Southern Methodist University, where he was a University Scholar.

FIRSTavenue is a leading independent global placement agent and fundraising advisory firm specialising in private credit, real assets, private equity and associated capital solutions. With over 50 professionals servicing both fund managers and investors from offices in London, New York, Hamburg and Hong Kong. In addition, FIRSTavenue offers a Capital Solutions Group that focuses specifically on emerging private credit and private infrastructure secondaries markets. The dedicated group builds on FIRSTavenue’s deep experience in private credit and private infrastructure by focusing specifically on the secondaries markets within these asset classes.