Michael Blake is a proud native of The Bronx and is the youngest son of Jamaican immigrants. Mama Hilary is a licensed home health aide and retired 40-year manufacturer and his late Father Headly was an 1199SEIU maintenance supervisor at St. Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx. Michael served as an Assembly Member of the 79th District in The Bronx, New York from 2014 to 2020. Blake's signature legislation led to Small, Minority and Women owned Business Enterprises with less than 300 employees who contract with New York state being paid in 15 days instead of 30. He was a lead Co-Sponsor on the five-year extension of the statewide M.W.B.E. program. Blake created the first and only statewide My Brother's Keeper education program in the U.S. and co-led the effort to Raise The Age of criminal responsibility so that 16- and 17-year-olds are not tried as adults in criminal court. Blake secured funding for lead remediation in New York City public housing and co-lead the Diversity in Medicine initiative. Blake served as a Vice Chair at Large of the Democratic National Committee from 2017 to 2021. Michael served in the Obama-Biden White House coordinating outreach to the African American, Minority and Women Business Enterprises and state and county elected official communities, where he created the Urban Entrepreneurship Summit series and co-led the Interagency Federal Procurement working group dedicated to increasing procurement spend to Minority and Women Business Enterprises. Blake worked on President Obama's campaigns, starting in Iowa in 2007 and ending as the national deputy director of Operation Vote for the 2012 re-election. Blake is a Five Year Term Member fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow, iVOTE board member, a 2016 Resident fellow at the Harvard's Institute of Politics and was an advisory board member for the My Brother's Keeper Alliance. Michael is a proud alum of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and Brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., 100 Black Men and Prince Hall Freemasonry. A licensed minister in the United Methodist Church and African Methodist Episcopal church, Michael loves the Yankees, College Football, Live Music and Oxtail with Rice and Peas.

Angela Dorn is the Global Director of Operations and Legal at Teach for All. Angela has worked in the nonprofit sector for twenty years, focusing on nonprofits that provide economic opportunity to people through education and access to resources. As a nonprofit executive, Angela has founded nonprofits, created and implemented strategies for scale, and has led initiatives for fairness and equity in the workplace. Angela served as CLO, COO, and founding member of the national nonprofit Single Stop, which provided access to benefits and education to hundreds of thousands of households nationwide. In addition, she served as the Interim Executive Director of Public Allies in New York and as COO and General Counsel of Youth INC, a New York City-based nonprofit. Angela worked with a colleague to create BlackHer, an online media platform for and about Black women. Angela has written articles for Fortune, Forbes, BlackHer and other media outlets, and has spoken bout DEIB, law and other topics on local and national news programs.

‍Dimia Fogam is a Director, Client & Product Solutions at CVC Capital, a leading European private equity firm where she sits on the firm's U.S.Diversity and Philanthropy Committees. Previously she was in the Financial Institutions Group at Goldman Sachs where she covered FinTech, Asset Management and Market Structure firms. Prior to joining Goldman she was an Assistant Vice President in the legal department of Barclays where she advised businesses across the bank on interpretation and implementation of federal law and regulation, particularly the Volcker Rule. She started her career as an attorney at Weil Gotshal & Manges where she represented financial institutions in matters before regulators and advised clients on the Dodd-Frank Act, the Bank Holding Company Act and Basel III.Dimia has a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a Robertson Scholar, a J.D. from Columbia Law School and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School. She is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations

Stratton Heath is the Capital Markets Partner at Oak Hill Capital Partners where he is a member of the firm’s Investment and Valuation Committees and has worked since 2002. During most of Mr. Heath tenure at Oak Hill, he also served as the CFO of Keystone Group, L.P., the holding company for Oak Hill’s founder. Previously, Mr. Heath had a 15-year career with The Bank of New York that included founding and managing a sponsor coverage business, and a private equity and mezzanine principal investment business. Mr. Heath earned an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he received the Award for Excellence, and a BS from the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business, where he currently serves on the Board of Alumni and Friends. He is also a member of the Investment Policy Committee of the CU Foundation. Mr. Heath is also a Board Member of YOUTH, Inc.

Doug Kaden is a Managing Partner of SDC Capital Partners, a global digital infrastructure investment firm. Prior to joining SDC, Doug co-founded Varagon Capital Partners, a middle market credit platform that grew over five years to 65 employees and $10 billion of assets under management. From 1997 to 1999 and 2001 to 2016, Doug was at Oak Hill Capital. At various times Doug led or co-led Oak Hill’s Technology, Financial Services, and Aerospace sectors. He was a Partner, a member of the Executive and Investment Committees as well as a founding member of the ESG Committee. Prior to joining Oak Hill in 1997, Doug worked for James D. Wolfensohn, Inc. Doug earned an A.B. degree from Harvard University, an M. Phil from Cambridge University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Doug serves on the Youth INC Board of Directors and as co-chair of the nominating and strategic planning committees.

Recognized by AdWeek as one of the Top 50 Most Indispensable Marketing, Media and Tech Executives, Katie Klumper is a celebrated entrepreneur and expert in the field of marketing. A bold visionary, Katie founded Black Glass in 2019, anticipating the growing demands facing CMOs. Which now 3 years later is awarded as Fact Companies Most Innovative Company. Parallel to that, launched Smaak, a flavor-forward hot sauce leading the food category. As a serial entrepreneur, she executes and builds businesses as her superpower and wants to spread the passion and learning to even more female entrepreneurs. She’s rapidly grown the business since then, working with some of the most recognizable brands, including Goldman Sachs, GM and Walmart. Offering consultancy, advisory and community, Black Glass has emerged as a true challenger brand to Deloitte, McKinsey and Accenture. Recognizing that a CMO’s needs extend beyond simply the confines of the marketing department, Katie also co-founded and built out Black Glass extension CMO House – a unique executive membership platform. Today, CMO House has nearly 40 active members, among which are some of the world’s most innovative and transformational CMOs, from brands including Peloton, Pepsi and the NHL. Black Glass is the first and only consulting-led business in the portfolio of IPG (NYSE: IPG) – the world’s 5th largest holding company. Within this $9B business, Katie lends an entrepreneur’s mindset, creating new revenue streams, expanding new categories and leading product and service development to meet the needs of a changing consumer base. Prior to launching Black Glass, Katie built an impressive breadth of experience across marketing, advertising, technology and finance over nearly two decades. She previously served as a Partner at Deloitte, where she opened the New York City creative agency Deloitte Digital & Heat and served as a marketing subject matter expert. For seven years, she was at KBS, where she worked her way up from Account Director to President, overseeing the agency’s 450 people and eight departments. Prior to KBS, Katie worked at Cossette, MacLaren McCann and Grey Worldwide. Throughout her career, she has earned a reputation as a consumer centric marketer that delivers business results with strategic vision, innovative capabilities, and seamless execution. Her contributions to the space during that time have been celebrated with award recognition, including being named amongst the Top 40 Under 40 for Direct Marketing News, She Runs It Mother of the Year, AWNY Game Changer and BCIT Distinguished Alumni. As she actively helps CMOs redefine their value proposition in the market and expands her own business, Katie is leading brands into a more inclusive and impactful future, fostering collaboration, communication and connection in the marketing community and paving the way for the next generation of female leaders. A Vancouver native and mother of two, Katie explores innovation outside of Black Glass as well. In addition to serving as an advisor to female-founded VC fund Hannah Grey, she recently launched her own hot sauce business, Smaak, Inc.

Steve Lipin is chairman and chief executive officer of Gladstone Place Partners and a trusted advisor in the field of strategic, financial and corporate governance communications. Steve has spent over 30 years at the intersection of the corporate world, Wall Street and the media as a leading financial journalist and top communications strategist to C-Suites, boards of directors and chief communications officers. Steve started Gladstone Place Partners in 2017 after 16 years at Brunswick Group, where he was U.S. Senior Partner. Steve was instrumental in incorporating digital and social media into financial communications such as M&A and activist defense campaigns. At Gladstone Place Partners, Steve has worked on assignments such as The Walt Disney Company’s proposed acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets, corporate restructurings at GE, Andeavor’s sale to Marathon Petroleum, as well as other transactions and assignments. Steve has worked on many landmark M&A deals such as InBev’s acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, AB InBev’s acquisitions of Grupo Modelo and of SAB Miller, Pfizer’s acquisition of Wyeth, the combination of Kraft and Heinz, Air Liquide’s purchase of Airgas, Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood, Burger King’s combination with Tim Horton’s, American Airlines’ sale to US Airways and many others. He has also advised many companies on shareholder activist defense, including Heinz, PepsiCo, eBay, Yahoo!, Macy’s, AIG, Freeport McMoRan and Arconic, among others. He has worked on many crises situations, executive leadership changes and cyber breaches. Before Brunswick, Steve was Finance Editor for The Wall Street Journal, supervising the paper’s coverage of mergers, commercial banking, private equity and corporate finance. He also launched the Deals and Dealmakers column, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and won an Overseas Press Club award. He joined the Journal in 1991 after cutting his teeth at Institutional Investor and American Banker. Steve has written on the need for clarity in financial communications and occasionally tweets about his Mets and Jets (@StevenLipin). He also enjoys speaking at colleges, universities, M&A and governance conferences. Born in New York City, Steve graduated from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He is a board member of Student Sponsor Partners, the Knight Bagehot Fellowship In Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia Journalism School, the Columbia Journalism Review and of Youth Inc. He is married with three children and lives in New York City.

Mr. McCann is a managing director and co-portfolio manager of Oaktree’s Infrastructure Investing strategy, specializing in the transportation sector. He joined Oaktree in 2014 from Highstar Capital with over 19 years of experience in infrastructure, private equity, investment banking and finance. During his tenure at Highstar, Mr. McCann helped lead the firm’s first airport investment, London City Airport, and led the first major public-private partnership (“PPP”) for an U.S. airport, the 40-year lease of the Luis Munoz Marin Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Prior to joining Highstar in 2009, Mr. McCann helped build Morgan Stanley's infrastructure effort in Europe and North America. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he was part of the team that established the infrastructure investment banking practice at Goldman Sachs. Over his career, Mr. McCann has advised multiple government agencies (both in the U.S. and internationally) on Public-Private Partnerships (“PPP”) across the transportation sector. He currently serves on the boards of directors of the Ports America Companies, LoneStar Airport Holdings LLC and CrowdVision Ltd. He previously served on the board of Aerostar Airport Holdings. Mr. McCann holds a B.A. degree in finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago

Robert H. McCooey, Jr. joined The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (NASDAQ) in December 2006. As Senior Vice President of New Listings and Capital Markets, Mr. McCooey has a dual role managing NASDAQ’s efforts in attracting new issuers, including IPOs and exchange switches as well as leading the Capital Markets Group efforts to engage private equity firms, investment banks and institutional investors on key NASDAQ issues, initiatives and services. Formed in 2006, the Capital Markets Group is the first centralized group at NASDAQ that examines customer needs across all business units and works to further NASDAQ’s mission among private equity, investment banks and institutional investors, aiming to enhance their experience with NASDAQ and supporting their business goals and growth plans. Prior to joining NASDAQ, Mr. McCooey served as the Chief Executive Officer of The Griswold Company, an agency he founded in 1988 which served prominent and developing buy-side institutions. He also served on the New York Stock Exchange Board of Executives from 2003 – 2006 and was a New York Stock Exchange Floor Official for eight terms. Mr. McCooey served on the NYSE’s Group Market Performance Committee and was chairman of the NYSE’s Technology and Planning Oversight Committee. In addition, he served on the Board of the NYSE Foundation, which he joined in 2003; the board of the Securities Industry Automation Corporation (SIAC), the technology subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange; and on the Committee for Review, part of NYSE Regulation. Mr. McCooey has been a regular guest on CNBC and has often been quoted in national news publications regarding stock market activity. He is a director of Iona Preparatory School, as well as St. Vincent’s Hospital in Westchester, NY. Mr. McCooey attended the College of Holy Cross and resides in Rye, NY. Bob is a member of the Youth INC Board of Directors and has graciously helped facilitate Youth INC Trading Day for Kids with Canaccord Genuity at the NASDAQ Closing Bell.

Ms. Miller is a senior financial executive with over 38 years of diverse experience in global credit risk, loan underwriting and capital markets. Ms. Miller is currently a Managing Director and the Global Head of Loan Syndications for Scotia Bank based in New York. In her role as Global Head of Loan Syndications, she manages a team responsible for structuring and underwriting senior debt and bridge capital for a vast array of clients around the globe. Her teams in New York, Toronto, London, Mexico City, Hong Kong and Singapore has underwritten transactions totaling over $75 billion over the last 3 years. Her leadership role is evident in the role she has on Scotia’s US Executive Committee, which is responsible for strategy, governance and corporate culture. Her broad leadership role also includes her role as Co Head of the US Diversity & Inclusion Council and a member of the US Deal Review Forum. She has served on Scotia’s Global Diversity & Inclusion Steering Committee and was the US Executive Champion for the establishment of Employee Resource Groups. She is also active in non- profits, including the Lewis and Clark Board of Trustees (2004-2020), Chair of the Lewis and Clark Investment Committee (2014-2016), Chair of the LC Divestment Committee (2017), Member of the Finance Committee, Women’s Forum NY, Youth Inc. Board of Directors, Former Board Member of Planned Parenthood of NJ and the Loan Sales and Trading Association. She was Co-Chairperson of the Euromoney Latin American Syndicated Loan Conference and a speaker at numerous events including Youth Inc.’s State of the Market Conference and the Wall Street Women’s Forum. Ms. Miller’s career in banking began with Continental Bank, and then she moved to Harris Bank/Bank of Montreal in Chicago as VP of the Asia Pacific Group. Ms. Miller had various roles at TD Bank – including Global Head of Loan Syndications. She also served as Managing Director and Co-Head of Loan Capital Markets for Merrill Lynch & Co in New York. Ms. Miller received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lewis & Clark College. She went on to Columbia University earning a Masters Degree in International Affairs/International Business.

Tom Nakashian is the Co-Head of Financial Sponsors at TD Securities. He joined TD in 2021 and is based in New York. Tom has over 20 years of experience and has advised on many capital markets and advisory transactions across sectors. Prior to joining TD, Tom was a Managing Director in the Financial Sponsors Group at Wells Fargo. Prior to Wells Fargo, Tom worked as an investment professional at EG Capital Group, a middle market, consumer- and retail-focused private equity firm, during which time he sat on the board of Water Pik. Tom joined EG Capital from Credit Suisse, where he transitioned his career from Engineering to Wall Street as an investment banker on the Financial Sponsors/Leveraged Finance team. Tom earned a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from The Cooper Union and an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business (Langone Program), where he graduated as a Stern Scholar and Beta Gamma Sigma. Tom is active in the community and is a director on the Youth INC and Trail Blazers Camps boards. Trail Blazers, one of the 80 non-profits that Youth INC partners with, is dedicated to sending children to outdoor sleepaway camp and after school programs.

Mike oversees the Global Client Group at Nuveen. He is responsible for deploying Nuveen’s insights, capabilities and solutions to best serve our Wealth and Institutional clients, growing our revenue through new business opportunities, and deepening the value and breadth of our current relationships. He is a member of the firm’s Executive Leadership Team, which provides leadership across Nuveen’s asset management business. Previously, he was head of global product responsible for driving a consistent, global viewpoint and strategy across all asset classes, product creation and management, and helped build and grow Nuveen’s closed end fund and alternative investment businesses. Before joining the firm in 2015, he spent five years at UBS Wealth Management, where he was a member of the Executive Committee responsible for investment advisory programs and manager research, planning, funds, alternative investments, insurance and the UBS Trust Company. Before that, he spent 15 years at Merrill Lynch as a senior executive leading a number of capital market and investment advisory businesses focused on the wealth management channel. Mike graduated with a B.S. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the New York University Stern School of Business.

Daniel Pine is Managing Principal at CS Capital. Mr. Pine worked for the previous 10 years as a Managing Director at Marathon Asset Management, LP, a global alternative investment manager headquartered in New York with approximately $13 billion under management. At Marathon, he handled many of the firm's long term and private equity investments, including the structuring, development and asset management of transactions in real estate development and other industries. Mr. Pine also currently serves on and has served on the boards of multiple large development and other companies. He continues to serve as a Senior Advisor to Marathon. Prior to joining Marathon, Mr. Pine worked at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP where he provided advice to domestic and foreign companies, private equity firms, hedge funds and investment banks in merger, acquisition, financing and reorganization transactions. Mr. Pine graduated from Emory University with a Bachelor of Business Administration (1995) and received his Juris Doctorate from UCLA School of Law (1998). He is a member of the New York State Bar. Mr. Pine is also involved in multiple charities, including the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance, one of the foremost charities involved in the fight against Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, and the Bowery Mission.

Ken Prince joined Advent in 2016. In his role, he helps lead the firm’s capital markets activities, including new acquisition financings, for Advent’s portfolio companies. He is also responsible for managing and helping to grow the firm’s relationships with investment banks, direct lenders, and investors. Prior to joining Advent, Ken was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs in the Leverage Finance Group, where he covered the Natural Resources and Industrial sectors for both corporate and private equity transactions. He previously worked at Bank of America, focusing on high yield exchange offers, restructuring and refinancing transactions across a variety of sectors. Ken graduated from The University of Virginia, with a BS in Commerce from The McIntire School of Commerce and a BA in Economics from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Wray is the Founder and Chief Executive of Clear Heights Capital, a private investment firm committed to helping companies realize their growth and development objectives. Wray is deeply involved in building and leading businesses to source, structure, finance and make private investments as well as helping companies, organizations and executives realize their growth and development objectives. With nearly three decades of experience as a CIO, investment lead and lead director, Wray has firsthand knowledge of investment firm leadership, private investing and company value creation. Wray has also been at the forefront of proactive ESG principals putting people first in private investing as well as applying data & technology to innovate private investing. Prior to founding Clear Heights, Wray was Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer - Private Investments at Two Sigma Investments. Wray architected and led the firm’s private equity (Sightway Capital), venture capital (Two Sigma Ventures) and impact (Two Sigma Impact) investment businesses as Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer of TSPI, LP and Chair & Venture Partner of TSV. Before Two Sigma, Wray was a Senior Managing Director with Marathon Asset Management, where he was a senior member of the investment team, developed the firm’s private equity investment activities and played a role in many new business opportunities and capital formation initiatives for the firm. Prior to joining Marathon, Wray evaluated and executed management buyout transactions as a Director with Fox Paine & Co. and as a Principal at Dubilier & Co. Wray began his career in the financial analyst program at Chemical Bank (today, J.P. Morgan) as an Associate in the Acquisition Finance Group. Wray has been involved in ~290 transactions, add-on acquisitions, realizations, corporate financings, fundraisings and other principal transactions with aggregate consideration in excess of $32bn, including direct private equity, venture and 3rd-party managed fund investments representing more than $2.8bn in invested capital. Wray has been a part of driving shareholder value creation and corporate growth as member of boards and committees of more than 30 companies and investment funds. Wray is committed to giving back to the community, serving as Co-Chair of the Board of Youth, INC, as a grant monitor and event committee chair for Hour Children, as an Associate of the Harvard College Fund and previously as the founding President of the Saint Stephen of Hungary School Foundation. Wray earned an A.B. from Harvard University and lives in NYC with his wife Melissa and their 3 children, Thompson, Greyson and Gemma.

Karen Beldy Torborg is the global practice leader of Marsh’s PEMA Services Practice. The practice provides expert risk management advice to financial sponsors and strategic investors, including forecasting costs and risks, structuring group purchasing programs, and developing solutions to resolve complex deal issues. Karen has 21 years of experience in the insurance industry and began her career as a commercial underwriter for Chubb. In 1993, Karen joined Marsh’s Casualty Practice where she was responsible for consulting with large corporate clients. Karen joined the PEMA Practice in 1995, where she was responsible for providing advice to some of Marsh’s largest private equity clients. She took on the responsibility for overseeing its global operations in 2003 and assumed her current role in 2005. Karen serves on the Youth INC Board of Directors and serves as a BridgeFund Grant Monitor for nonprofit partner GallopNYC.