Boston Data Day for Investors

Speakers

• 

  Emilie Abate

  SEC

  Branch Chief, Event and Emerging Risks Examination Team

  Emilie Abate is a Branch Chief with the Event and Emerging Risks Examination Team (EERT) at the SEC. EERT was recently established to proactively engage with financial firms about emerging issues and current market events and quickly mobilize to provide expertise and resources when critical matters arise. Prior to becoming Branch Chief, Emilie was an inaugural member and Senior Securities Compliance Examiner with EERT where she conducted incident response and addressed emerging risks impacting firms across the industry. Emilie joined the SEC in 2015, previously serving as a Senior Securities Compliance Examiner within the Investment Adviser/Investment Company Examination Program in both the Chicago and Miami Regional Offices where she led and conducted complex examinations of private funds, investment advisers, and investment companies.

  Previously, Emilie was a Senior Auditor with Ernst & Young’s Global Asset Management Practice where she led global teams to perform financial statement audits of investment advisers and private funds, with a focus on hedge, private equity, and venture capital funds.

  Emilie is a graduate of the Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business where she earned a B.S. in Commerce with a major in Accounting.

• 

  Sheedsa Ali

  PineBridge Investments

  Managing Director, Portfolio Manager and Head of Quantitative Equity

  Ms. Ali heads quantitative equity research efforts and has portfolio management responsibilities for Research Enhanced Strategies. Ms. Ali has been with the firm since 2005 as a Quantitative Researcher responsible for building, testing, and implementing the research-enhanced platform by quantifying the firm’s equity investment philosophy and research. She is also a key contributor to our firmwide Listed Equity Allocation calls and our cross-asset class forum, Investment Strategy Meetings. Previously, she was a consultant for the Financial Models Company working on equity and fixed income attribution models. She completed graduate coursework as part of the Master of Science in computational finance at Carnegie Mellon University and has Master of Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Ms. Ali holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science from St. Francis College in India and an MBA from the University of Hyderabad. Ms. Ali has been a quant conference speaker and is member of client advisory board for MSCI Barra. She is a CFA charterholder.

• 

  Mac Ahsler

  Neudata

  Head of Account Management (New York)

  Mac is Head of Account Management at Neudata. He leads customer success strategy and is responsible for supporting existing client relationships. Mac’s professional background spans the investment management and data solutions verticals, with nine years of account management experience at AllianceBernstein and PitchBook Data.

  Mac holds a B.A. in Economics from Lafayette College and is currently pursuing an M.B.A. from the NYU Stern School of Business.

• 

  Frank Bell

  Snowflake SME

  President

  A 4 time Snowflake Data Superhero, one of 72 worldwide, Frank is President at Snowflake Solutions, a division of ITS, and Data Thought Leader at IT Strategists and Snoptimizer™. Frank sold his original consulting services company to Fairway Technologies which was acquired by Accenture in 2019.  Frank is also the author of the Snowflake Essentials book. Expert in creating data-driven businesses in the cloud, his work with Snowflake focuses on empowering businesses with their data. Frank has a BSEE from Stevens Institute of Technology and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.

• 

  Tim Bryant

  Integrated Quantitative Investments

  Partner in Research

  Tim has over 5 years of experience in quantitative research. He joined Integrated Quantitative Investments as a partner in research.
  

   

  Prior to IQI, Tim was an associate quantitative researcher on the Strategic Alpha Research

  team at Man Numeric.

   

  Tim’s research spanned a wide range of topics. At Man Numeric, he used NLP topic modeling algorithms on broker reports to create alpha signals and risk models and build ESG-specific sentiment models, deep-learning machine learning models, and sector timing models. He further analyzed several alternative datasets to forecast company fundamentals and augment low coverage signals. Tim also built tools to understand and visualize factor payoffs which are used by the research team at Man Numeric.

   

  Prior to Man Numeric, Tim was a teaching fellow at Harvard University in applied quantitative finance and interned at Susquehanna International Group and at WorldQuant LLC.

   

  Tim has a BA in Mathematics and secondary in Computer Science from Harvard University.
• 

  Stephen D. Coyle

  PwC US

  Partner, Deal Analytics Leader

  Stephen is a Partner in PwC’s Deals practice based in Boston and leads our global alliance with Palantir as well as leading our US Deal Analytics practice.

• 

  Donald D’Amico

  Neudata

  General Counsel

  Don is the General Counsel of Neudata. In addition to managing the company's legal affairs, Don leads the review of the compliance and regulatory aspects of new datasets and assists with product development. He previously served as Legal Counsel at Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, where he onboarded third party research providers and conducted related due diligence. Don started his career as a research analyst on a merger arbitrage trading desk.

  Don holds a JD from the Fordham University School of Law and a BA from Washington University in St. Louis. He has received CIPP/E and CIPP/US certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

• 

  Kristina Fan

  7 Chord

  Co-Founder & CEO

  Kristina Fan is the Co-Founder and CEO of 7 Chord, an enterprise AI start-up in NYC.

  7 Chord is a maker of #BondDroid AI, a real-time dynamic pricing engine that helps buyers and sellers make informed profit-maximizing decisions by providing them with highly accurate market-relevant prices.

  7 Chord is an alumnus of Barclays Accelerator, powered by TechStars, Class of 2017, and a data provider to FintechSandbox. 7 Chord was named one of the "Most Promising Fintech Companies to Watch" by Harrington Starr in 2022 and 2019 and won a prestigious "Excellence in AI" award from Markets Media in 2019. It was Benzinga Fintech Listmaker in the "Best in AI" category in 2020 and 2019.

  Before 7 Chord, she spent 20+ years in credit trading and market structure roles, most recently at BlackRock and JP Morgan. I started my career at Bear, Stearns with my first project related to the immediate aftermath of Long-Term Capital Management's collapse. The role of my senior colleagues was detailed in the famous book by Roger Lowenstein, "When Genius Failed," a cautionary tale to any data scientist who assumes that the future will look just like the past.

  I currently serve on the advisory board of the Markets Media Women in Finance Award and support women in finance and STEM in any way I can. In 2017 I myself was a recipient of the Excellence in Trading Platforms WIF award.

  I have a BA in Economics (Honors) from NYU and Finance from the London School of Economics.

  I was born in the former USSR and moved to the US after witnessing the country's economic collapse and hyperinflation in the mid 90ies.

• 

  Silvestre A. Fontes

  SEC

  Regional Director

  Mr. Fontes was named Regional Director of the SEC’s Boston Office in January 2023. In this role, he leads a staff of more than 180 attorneys, accountants, investigators, securities compliance examiners, and other personnel involved in the prosecution of enforcement actions and performance of compliance examinations across Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island.

  Mr. Fontes returned to the SEC after a prior 13-year stint in the Boston Regional Office’s enforcement program, ascending to the role of Assistant Regional Director before leaving the agency in 2011. Mr. Fontes worked on
  many high-profile investigations and litigation matters, and he served as the first supervisor of the Market Abuse Unit within the Boston office.

  Prior to his current role as SEC Regional Director, Mr. Fontes spent four years as Chief Compliance Officer of Bracebridge Capital LLC, a Boston-based adviser of private funds, where he led a team of professionals responsible for managing the firm’s regulatory compliance program. He also previously served as Chief Compliance Officer of several Wellington Management Company regulated entities and was a Director in the Financial Services Regulatory Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Earlier in his career, Mr. Fontes was an associate at Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP and Ropes & Gray LLP and clerked for the Hon. Norma L. Shapiro of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Boston College, a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, and a law degree cum laude from the University of
  Pennsylvania, where he was an editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.

• 

  Tom Grant

  Apptopia

  Director of Equity Research

  Tom is Director of Equity Research at Apptopia. Tom leads the company's research effort, using Apptopia's mobile intelligence to uncover trends about companies that can be turned into investable decisions. Tom provides the link between the raw data and the customer's investment process. Tom has 15 years of experience investing across global equity markets, with unique expertise in small cap emerging markets stocks. Tom has covered all regions and sectors, performing rigorous fundamental analysis at the country, industry, and company levels.  Most recently, Tom was a Senior Research Analyst at Copper Rock Capital Partners.

• 

  Dan Herr

  Acqwired

  Founder & CEO

  Dan is a PE & VC-tech SaaS founder and private equity sourcing professional with more than 10 years of experience in LMM proprietary sourcing with nearly $1B in proprietary individually-sourced closed-won TEV to his name in the last 6 years. Prior to founding his proprietary sourcing software business Acqwired (www.acqwired.co), Dan led sourcing at Serent Capital in San Francisco & Austin as player-coach, where over his tenure he built a data-forward approach to sourcing, and grew the sourcing function (BD & marketing) from 4 to 13 individuals, tripling annual capital deployment, proprietarily deploying substantially all of Serent fund III ($550M) and fund IV ($750M) in high-growth recurring revenue B2B SaaS businesses throughout the US and Canada. Prior to that Dan built up a buyside deal origination practice, supporting hundreds of PE firms with platform & addon acquisition searches. Dan received his B.S. in Engineering from Cornell University, and his MBA from the University of Nevada.

  linkedin.com/in/danielherr

• 

  William J. Kelly, CAIA

  CAIA Association

  Chief Executive Officer

  William (Bill) J. Kelly, CAIA is the President & CEO of the CAIA Association. Bill has been a frequent industry speaker, writer, and commentator on alternative investment topics around the world since taking the leadership role at the CAIA Association in January, 2014. Previously, Bill was the CEO of Boston Partners and one of seven founding partners of the predecessor firm, Boston Partners Asset Management which, prior to a majority interest being sold to Robeco Group in Rotterdam in 2002, was an employee-owned firm. Bill’s career in the institutional asset management space spans over 30 years where he gained extensive managerial experience through successive CFO, COO and CEO roles. In addition to his current role, Bill is a tireless advocate for shareholder protection and investor education and is currently the Chairman and lead independent director for the Boston Partners Trust Company. He has previously served as an independent director and audit committee chair for ’40 Act Mutual Funds and other financial services firms. He is also currently an Advisory Board Member of the Certified Investment Fund Director Institute which strives to bring the highest levels of professionalism and governance to independent fund directors around the world. A member of the board of the CAIA Association, Bill also represents CAIA in similar capacities via their global partnerships with other associations and global regulators. Bill began his career as an accountant with PwC and is a designated Audit Committee Financial Expert in accordance with SEC rules. Follow Bill Kelly on Twitter @CAIA_BillKelly

• 

  Minkyu Kim

  State Street Global Advisors

  Head of Data and Analytics - Active Quantitative Equity (AQE)

  Minkyu is Head of Data and Analytics in the Active Quantitative Equity (AQE) team at State Street Global Advisors. He spearheads efforts to utilize new data and modeling techniques in AQE's investment process while leading the evolution of AQE's proprietary computing infrastructure. Previously, he was a Senior Quantitative Research Analyst and continues to be a leading contributor to AQE research alongside the Head of Quantitative Research. Minkyu earned a Ph.D. and an S.M. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a minor in Finance from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Seoul National University.

• 

  Kyle Kirwan

  Bigeye

  Co-founder & CEO

  Kyle Kirwan is the co-founder and CEO of Bigeye, the data observability company. Before starting Bigeye, Kyle led the development of Uber's internal data operations tools: a data catalog, data lineage collector, data pipeline testing, and incident management tools. He enjoys hiking and tiki bars

• 

  Kelly Koscuiszka

  Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP

  Partner

  Kelly Koscuiszka, Partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel, advises private funds on regulatory and compliance matters, with a particular focus on the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and works closely with clients undergoing SEC examinations. Kelly also advises clients on privacy and data security as well as the challenges presented by new technologies and alternative data. Kelly regularly leads training sessions for clients, including on topics such as alternative data, insider trading and best practices for electronic communications and technology usage. When necessary, she represents clients in regulatory investigations and enforcement actions by the SEC, DOJ and FINRA as well as in complex civil litigation matters.

  Kelly received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A. from Rutgers University.

• 

  Tom Liu

  Advent International

  Head of Data Science

  Tom is the Head of Data Science at Advent International. With past work experience in investment banking, private equity, hedge fund, and data science roles, he brings expertise in integrating AI / ML driven conclusions with traditional fundamental processes, particularly with alternative datasets. Most recently, Tom was the Head of Quantamental (Quantitative + Fundamental) Research at Melius Research, a data driven research firm based in New York City. Before Melius, he was a senior investment analyst at Hudson Way Capital, a long / short equity fund focused on long-term concentrated positions. Prior to that, Tom worked for over two years as an investment associate in private equity (with stints at IndUS Growth Partners and HarbourVest Partners), focusing on healthcare, industrials, and retail companies. Tom holds a BS in Finance from Carnegie Mellon University and enjoys playing no-limit poker as well as web-scraping car prices for fun in his spare time.

• 

  George D. Mussalli

  PanAgora Asset Management

  Managing Director & Chief Investment Officer, Equity Investments

  Mr. Mussalli is Managing Director, Head of Equity Research, and Chief Investment Officer of Equity Investments at PanAgora. He is responsible for the oversight of the firm’s Dynamic and Stock Selector Equity strategies, as well as the Equity Trading & Implementation, Data Science, and Portfolio Strategy teams. He is also a member of the firm’s Investment, Operating, Risk, and Directors’ Committees.

  As the Chief Investment Officer of Equity Investments, Mr. Mussalli directs innovative equity research used in the development of models implemented in PanAgora’s equity strategies. Mr. Mussalli’s current focus is centered on combining fundamental and quant investing using big data. As a leader in the field, he was appointed to the Editorial Board for The Journal of Financial Data Science as well as the AI and Data Science in Trading Advisory Board.

  Prior to becoming Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Equity Investments, Mr. Mussalli served as Head of PanAgora’s Stock Selector strategies. His work focuses on combining fundamental insights with sophisticated quantitative techniques to develop proprietary models designed to analyze companies across many dimensions. In addition to overseeing the management of the firm’s Stock Selector strategies, he has significantly contributed to the proprietary pool of equity research leveraged across the entire firm during his tenure.

  Before joining PanAgora, he was a Portfolio Manager on the Putnam Investments Structured Equity team, where he was responsible for Structured Equity portfolios. He contributed to quantitative research and analysis that supported all equity strategies, including International and Global strategies.

  Prior to joining Putnam, Mr. Mussalli worked as a Senior Investment Analyst at John Hancock Funds.

• 

  Adam Nahari

  Berkshire Partners

  Data Science and Analytics

  Adam leads Berkshire Partners’ innovative data science group. In this capacity, Adam harnesses alternative data in public and private equity investing and drives data related initiatives across the investment lifecycle: algorithmic sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio company value creation.

  Prior to joining Berkshire, Adam worked as a Research Scientist at Harvard Medical School’s Predictive Medicine Group. In this role, he developed advanced predictive models in Medicine and Pharma. Previously, Adam worked as a Data Scientist across multiple industries, leveraging advanced computational methods and Machine Learning techniques to inform strategic direction, design and implement innovative, data-driven processes and systems, and improve performance.

  Adam is a MIT System Design and Management Fellow. He received a B.A. from
  Harvard University and an M.S. from MIT.

• 

  Brian Peltonen

  Fidelity Management & Research Company

  Director of Data Analytics

  Brian Peltonen is the Director of Data Analytics at Fidelity Management & Research Company (FMR Co.). His team is responsible for identifying alternative data sets and using AI to derive investment insights for Fidelity’s equity division. Prior to his current role, Brian worked in fundamental equity research as a member of the energy sector team. Before Fidelity, Brian worked as a programmer in the video game industry and as a consultant building AI models for corporate and governmental clients.

• 

  Adam Storch

  SEC

  Associate Director & Event and Emerging Risks Examinations Team Lead

  Adam leads the SEC’s newly established Event and Emerging Risks Examinations Team (EERT) in the Division of Examinations. EERT is a new office established to proactively engage with financial firms about emerging threats and current market events and quickly mobilize to provide expertise and resources when critical matters arise. EERT helps to ensure, through examinations and other firm engagement and monitoring activities that firms are better prepared to address exigent threats, incidents, and emerging risks. EERT will also provide expertise and support in response to significant market events that could have a systemic impact or that place investor assets at risk, such as exchange outages, liquidity events, and cyber-security or operational resiliency concerns. EERT also focuses on published exam priorities, which includes examinations of new and emerging technologies, including the use of Alternative Data. Previously Adam served as Senior Advisor to the Director of the Division where he focused on risk, strategy and innovation. Earlier, Adam served as the Commission’s first-ever Managing Executive and Chief Operating Officer of the Division of Enforcement, where he was instrumental in the Division’s most significant restructuring in the Division’s history. Adam has also held several key executive roles in the private sector, including Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer of Legal and Compliance at Marsh & McLennan Companies and Vice President of the Business Intelligence Group at Goldman Sachs. Adam is a graduate of the NYU Stern School of Business and SUNY Buffalo.

• 

  Raymond Tan

  SEC

  Assistant Regional Director

  Ray is an Assistant Regional Director at the SEC’s Boston Regional Office.  He leads a team of examiners and exam managers overseeing examinations of investment advisers, investment companies, broker-dealers, transfer agents, and municipal advisors in the New England region.  Prior to this role, he was an examiner and exam manager in the Boston office.  Ray is a graduate of Suffolk University, where he earned an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in Finance.

• 

  Aris Tentes

  Morgan Stanley

  Executive Director

  Aris Tentes is an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley and a member of the Quantitative Investment Strategies (QIS) Research team, based in New York. His research focuses on the development of quantitative signals and portfolio construction approaches, specializing in the cash equity space. Before joining Morgan Stanley, he worked as a quantitative researcher at Deutsche Bank after starting his career in finance at Goldman Sachs in London. Aris earned his PhD at New York University in 2014.

• 

  Lauren Woodfin

  Neudata

  Analyst

  Lauren is a recent graduate from University College London, with a Msc in Global Migration. Prior to this she attained her undergraduate degree at the University of Leeds in English and Film Studies with a research focus on postcolonial texts. As demonstrated through her studies, Lauren has an interest in literature and climate governance from a migration perspective, which she continues to explore in her spare time. Her previous work experience is in assisting the implementation of online events at Oxford University Press.

• 

  Yosef Zweibach

  Walleye Capital

  Chief Operating Officer of Quantitative Strategies

  Mr. Zweibach Joined Walleye Capital in 2022 as Chief Operating Officer of Quantitative Strategies, where he is responsible for business development, driving new avenues for growth and innovation, managing external relationships, onboarding portfolio managers, and operations of the quant business.

  Before joining Walleye Capital, Mr. Zweibach was Head of Business Strategy & Investor Relations at Panagora Asset Management where he was responsible for the oversight of the firms PR, marketing, product development, and M&A. Prior to Panagora, he was Global Head of Quant Sales at Barclays Capital where he built one of Wall Street’s premier quant sales teams. He showcased Barclays’ quant research to global quant clients and help cross-sell Barclays products. Prior to joining Barclays, Mr. Zweibach served as a paratrooper in the Israeli Defense Forces.

  Yosef is a board member of the Society of Quantitative Analysts.

  Mr. Zweibach graduated magna cum laude from Boston University with a B.A. in Management Studies.

• 

  Saif Zia

  Neudata

  Business Development Manager

  Saif is Business Development Manager for the Buyside in London. Prior to joining Neudata, Saif worked in Private Equity bringing vendor offerings to the investor community. Formerly an institutional equity research salesperson Saif has over 6 years of Capital Markets and Private Markets experience. Saif has held various positions with Barclays and more recently, Preqin.