MFA Ops: Data, Tech and AI 2024 - Speakers
October 23, 2024
Conference
PwC
New York, NY
Sudhir Anantharaman
Chief Information Security Officer
AQR Capital Management
Sudhir Anantharaman is the Chief Information Security Officer of AQR Capital Management, LLC, and oversees the information and cyber security function globally. Prior to AQR, he was a Director at Booz Allen Hamilton in that firm’s Financial Services Practice. Sudhir earned a B.S. in Engineering at the University of Illinois, a M.S. in Engineering at the University of Michigan, and an M.B.A. in Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Chris Beels
Co-Chief Technology Officer
GoldenTree Asset Management
Chris Beels is Co-CTO of GoldenTree Asset Management and manages Applications and Data for the firm. Chris joined GoldenTree in 2011 and has led the Data Warehousing, Regulatory Reporting, and other data-centric initiatives at the firm. He has been at GoldenTree since 2011. Chris is an active member of the AITEC group of Asset Management technology executives and a regular judge of the HFM Hedge Fund Technology Awards.
Chris has over 20 years of experience in managing financial systems and IT teams. Prior to GoldenTree, he was a Director in the Fixed Income Systems group at Millennium Management and one of the founding employees of RiskMetrics. Chris holds a BA in Economics from Stanford University and is a CFA Charterholder.
Brian Daly
Partner
Akin
Brian advises fund managers on regulatory, compliance and operational matters. He has extensive experience helping clients navigate their regulatory compliance obligations under the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA). Brian also regularly represents clients in regulatory examinations, enforcement actions, trading inquiries and in seeking no-action or similar relief. Having spent nearly a decade in-house as general counsel and chief compliance officer at several global investment management firms, Brian is well versed in the wide range of legal and business challenges facing investment advisers, commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisors.
Brian is a recognized leader in advising alternative investment fund managers on regulatory and compliance matters. Chambers Global and Chambers USA list Brian as a “leading individual” in investment funds. Brian is a member of the Managed Funds Association’s Outside Counsel Forum and its CTA/CPO Forum and of the Alternative Investment Management Association’s CFTC Working Group.
Pete Driscoll
Former Director, Division of Examinations at U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Partner, National Quality Organization, PwC
Pete Driscoll joined PwC in the National Quality Organization (NQO) in Washington, DC in September 2021. Although Pete is based in the NQO, he serves clients in the Financial Services Sector.
As a partner, Pete brings to clients his vast expertise at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including examinations of investment advisers, private funds, mutual funds, broker-dealers, and other market intermediaries. He also adds expertise in operational excellence, as he teams with others throughout NQO and the Firm to promote standardization, centralization, and automation of aspects of PwC’s broker-dealer audit and attestation work.
Prior to joining PwC, Pete was the Director of the Division of Examinations (formerly the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations) at the SEC, where he led a team of over 1,000 accountants, attorneys, securities compliance examiners, and quantitative analysts responsible for overseeing SEC-registered participants in the financial markets. Pete spent approximately 20 years at the SEC gaining key exposure to market events and related risks, while establishing relationships and credibility at the SEC and across the marketplace, including with members of the compliance, risk, legal and accounting professions.
Pete holds a J.D. and a B.S. in Business Administration with a major in Accounting from St. Louis University. Pete is licensed to practice as a CPA and attorney in the state of Missouri.
Caitlin Farrell-Starbuck
Chief Compliance Officer
ExodusPoint Capital Management LLP
Caitlin Farrell-Starbuck is the Global Chief Compliance Officer and a member of the Management Committee at ExodusPoint Capital Management LLP. Caitlin joined ExodusPoint in 2018. Prior to joining ExodusPoint, she was the Global Head of Compliance for AHL Partners, LLP for Man Group plc based in London. Prior to joining Man Group in 2015, Caitlin was the Head of Research and Trading Compliance for Two Sigma Investments, LLC in New York. Caitlin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from American University.
Barry Fitzgerald
Co-Head of Front-Office Engineering
Man Group
Adam S. Goldberg
Team Lead, Financial Services & Insurance
OpenAI
Adam Goldberg is the Team Lead of Financial Services & Insurance at OpenAI, based in New York City. With over 25 years of experience, Adam has held senior sales and go-to-market roles at companies like Microsoft, Pivotal, and Cisco. Adam joined OpenAI as the 1st salesperson and a founding member of OpenAI’s GTM team. Adam has played a pivotal role in shaping AI strategies for financial institutions, insurance companies and Fortune 500 companies overall.
Rich Itri
Chief Innovation Officer
ECI
Rich Itri is the Chief Innovation Officer at ECI. Rich has more than 22 years of IT executive experience, spending his entire career managing IT within the financial services industry. Prior to joining ECI, Rich was Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer for PJT Partners, a boutique investment bank, Principal and Chief Information Officer for Sky Road and held Chief Information Officer positions at Arrowhawk Capital Partners and Arbalet Capital Partners. Over the years, Rich has developed and managed innovative, business aligned platforms, that drive revenue and operational efficiencies. Rich holds positions on several Advisory Boards and volunteers his time to help non-profits leverage technology.
Kelly Koscuiszka
Partner
Schulte Roth & Zabel
Kelly Koscuiszka serves as co-chair of the Investment Management Regulatory & Compliance Group, where she advises private funds on regulatory and compliance matters, particularly the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Kelly supports clients undergoing SEC examinations, including by handling deficiency letters and enforcement referrals and also uses that experience to assist clients with exam preparedness. Kelly specializes in the intersection of regulation and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, alternative data, web scraping and electronic communications. She also advises clients on data privacy and cybersecurity. Kelly regularly conducts client training sessions and is a sought-after presenter at leading industry conferences. Kelly is admitted to the Bar in New York and has Court Admissions in the US Supreme Court; the US District Court of New Jersey; and the US District Courts in Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.
Kelly received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A. from Rutgers University.
Courtney B. Posner
Partner, Investment Management
Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Courtney Posner has over 17 years of experience in fund formation and structuring, regulatory compliance, and operational best practices in the investmentmanagement industry. She advises fund managers on investment management, corporate, compliance, and securities law matters arising throughout the entirecycle of acquiring, monitoring, restructuring and divesting private equity fund interests through primary and secondary transactions.
Well-known in the industry as a trusted advisor to multi-billion-dollar fund managers, Courtney has a strong track record of establishing partnerships withbusiness leaders and successfully achieving their objectives. Committed to providing exceptional client service, she gives investors, firms, and fund managersthorough, thoughtful commercial advice, with a consistently positive attitude.
Prior to joining Lowenstein, Courtney served for over a dozen years as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Echo Street Capital Management, afirm with over $16 billion AUM at its peak. There she worked closely with every business department, including portfolio management, trading, investor relationsand marketing, finance, human resources, and information technology. She managed all legal activities and compliance matters, including those related to thefirm’s portfolio holdings, federal securities laws, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the Investment Company Act of 1940, employment law and litigation.Courtney oversaw all fundraising activities, counseled on all regulatory compliance and contractual compliance obligations, led the firm’s compliance programand trainings, and prepared all regulatory filings. She also led the negotiation and legal due diligence process for the firm’s private investments, including equityinvestments in late-stage growth companies.
Courtney’s experience also includes serving as Senior Vice President/Associate General Counsel at PineBridge Investments, where she counseled the privatefunds group on alternative investment strategies and fundraising efforts.
Upon earning her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, Courtney practiced in the Private Investment Funds Group at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP.
Matt Rathbun
Chief Security Officer
Two Sigma
Matt Rathbun is Chief Security Officer at Two Sigma. In his role, he is responsible for securing Two Sigma’s systems, data, and intellectual property against theft, alteration, and destruction/denial by external adversaries and insider threats.
Prior to Two Sigma, Matt was the Chief Security Officer of Azure Global at Microsoft. Matt was responsible for the information security, compliance, architecture, and security related customer promises for Microsoft Azure.
With over 20 years of diverse professional experience as an executive, security analyst, information technology manager and systems engineer. Matt is an expert in information security management, multiple compliance frameworks, and general business unit management.
Amanda Stent
Head of AI Strategy & Research, Office of the CTO
Bloomberg
Amanda Stent is the head of AI Strategy & Research in the Office of the CTO at Bloomberg. They have worked in several roles in industry and academia. Most recently, they served as inaugural director of the Davis Institute for AI at Colby College from 2021-2024. From 2016-2021, they served as NLP Architect in Bloomberg’s Office of the CTO, a role in which they helped the company achieve and maintain technical excellence and broad applicability of NLP solutions, as well as architected and coordinated the development of new Bloomberg Terminal-based and Enterprise product offerings that use NLP.
They previously held positions as Director, Research and Principal Research Scientist at Yahoo, as Principal Member of the Technical Staff at AT&T Labs — Research, and as associate professor in the Computer Science Department at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. Amanda holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Rochester, has authored or co-authored over 100 papers on natural language processing, and is co-inventor on over 35 patents.
Noah Theran
Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Head of Global External Affairs
MFA
Noah Theran is MFA’s Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Head of Global External Affairs.
Noah joined MFA after six years at Internet Association, a national trade association representing more than 40 of the world’s top internet companies, where he oversaw global communications, creative, marketing, events, and grassroots. In this role, he helped grow Internet Association from a startup into a respected voice on tech policy issues.Prior to Internet Association, Noah was Director of Communications at the American Investment Council, the trade association representing the interests of the world’s largest private equity firms. There, his team earned a PRSA Silver Anvil Award of Excellence, Reputation/Brand Management for their campaign to help the private equity industry manage the spotlight of the 2012 presidential election.
Noah also worked at Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications in Washington, where he developed and executed communications strategies for a diverse set of clients with broad reputation, image, and crisis management challenges.
Noah earned his B.S. from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
Gavin Vallance
Chief information Security Officer
Viking Global Investors
