Annie Belanger
CO-FOUNDER | Abundance Collective
Annie has lived many lives, from her tenure in the hedge fund world as a Female Founder and angel investor, to her most important role, the mother of 3 children.
She previously worked in finance at Conquest Capital, a CTA hedge fund, and at the Park Hill Group, a division of Blackstone where she was overseeing the marketing of third-party managers in the alternative space. During her time at those firms, Annie realized many women lack the knowledge and familiarity to understand various financial maneuvers.
Since then, Annie has adopted this simple philosophy: women should be pilots, not passengers, in their financial decisions. In that spirit, she founded the Abundance Collective to empower women to become better investors through education.
Jade Chatham
CO-FOUNDER | Abundance Collective
Jade Chatham's work at CSALT focuses on building a more inclusive economy and supporting world positive solutions. She offers advising to investors also doing this work through allocating capital within their own values aligned investment strategy. Jade is not an RIA and does not give direct investment advice. Her advisory services are focused on supporting the individual or organization in refining their investment thesis through personal reflection and a better understanding of access paths to investment advisors, organizations, fund managers, education and communities that support them on their investment journey. Jade also advises to a limited number of early-stage, purpose-driven companies with diverse founding teams.
Jade co-founded and managed Chatham Law Group, a boutique entertainment firm, with her husband Chris Chatham prior to its exit to Manatt. During this time they facilitated high profile influencer, movie and television talent invest in early stage companies and co-found businesses.
Prior to this Jade worked in feature film editing for over a decade, creating and managing digital workflow for directors including George Clooney, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Stephen Soderbergh. She has additionally designed and executed several residential and commercial real estate projects. She serves on the boards of Inspired Education and Canyon Elementary School. Born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children. She holds a B.A. from Princeton University.
Neha Kumar
Investor | Entrepreneur | Advisor
Neha is currently the Co-founder and COO at Full Glass Wine, a DtC wine company. Neha was previously Co-Founder of New Money Ventures where she was Managing Director of its venture fund. Before, Neha was COO/CFO at Create & Cultivate, where she led a successful exit. She is also a professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Supriya Barta
PARTNER | BEL AIR INVESTMENT ADVISORS
Supriya joined Bel Air Investment Advisors LLC in 2015. She delivers the firm’s wealth management capabilities and resources to high-net-worth individuals and families. With over 20 years of experience in wealth management, Supriya previously worked at J.P. Morgan, Sterling Stamos and Goldman Sachs.
Supriya grew up in Santa Monica. She went to Harvard-Westlake School, received a Bachelor of Science from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley (with Honors), and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with a Certificate from the Public Management Program. She holds FINRA Series 7,9,10, and 63 licenses.
Ashley Bleckner
PRIVATE WEALTH INVESTOR | ELLEVEST
Ashley is based in Southern California. A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) professional, she’s been in the financial services industry for over a decade since obtaining her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics. “Women are unique in so many ways that aren’t accounted for in traditional financial planning or investment management,” she says. “So it’s time. It’s been time. And Ellevest is at the frontline of that pivotal switch.” She spends her time actively involved in the community serving as the chair of SheVest for UCI’s Center for Investment and Wealth Management, which focuses on financial literacy for underrepresented groups. Ashley also is the chair of the TLD committee for her local Alzheimer’s Association chapter.
Julia Boorstin
SENIOR MEDIA & TECH CORRESPONDENT | CNBC
Julia Boorstin is CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech Correspondent based at the network’s Los Angeles Bureau. She covers media with a special focus on the intersection of media and technology. Boorstin also plays a key role in CNBC’s bi-coastal tech-focused program “TechCheck” (M-F, 11 AM-12 PM ET/8 AM-9 AM PT), delivering reporting, analysis, and interviews around streaming, social, and the convergence of media and technology. She joined CNBC in May 2006 as a general assignment reporter and in 2007, moved to Los Angeles to cover media.
In 2013, Boorstin created and launched the CNBC Disruptor 50, an annual list she oversees, highlighting the private companies transforming the economy and challenging companies in established industries. Additionally, she reported a documentary on the future of television for the network, “Stay Tuned…The Future of TV.” She also helped launch CNBC’s ‘Closing the Gap’ initiative covering the people and companies closing gender gaps, and leads CNBC’s coverage of studies on this topic. She is currently writing a book called, “WHEN WOMEN LEAD: What they achieve, Why they succeed, and How we can learn from them,” about female founders that Simon & Schuster’s Avid Reader imprint is publishing in October 2022.
Boorstin joined CNBC from Fortune magazine where she was a business writer and reporter since 2000. During that time, she was also a contributor to “Street Life,” a live market wrap-up segment on CNN Headline News.
In 2003, 2004 and 2006, The Journalist and Financial Reporting newsletter named Boorstin to the “TJFR 30 under 30” list of the most promising business journalists under 30 years old. She has also worked for the State Department’s delegation to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and for Vice President Gore’s domestic policy office.
She graduated with honors from Princeton University with a B.A. in history. She was also an editor of The Daily Princetonian.
Carol Cheng-Mayer
INVESTOR
Carol has spent over 25 years in finance, including Bel Air Investment Advisors in Los Angeles and several banks in New York and Hong Kong.
She currently focuses on investing in women-founded companies while also serving on the advisory board for Women’s Entrepreneurship Day’s Los Angeles chapter. Her investment time is energetically committed to helping other women advance their financial paths.
Carol was a founding board member for the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation and was on the Board of Los Angeles Advisors for The Asia Society. In her capacity as a mother, she has spent much time shepherding a group of young men through the work of Plastic Oceans to teach the skills of public awareness and fundraising. In 2016, Carol was recognized for her work in the community by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), as she was a recipient of the Deborah Award. She Is currently on the Advisory Board for the Climate Emergency Fund.
Carol has a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University-Stern School of Business.
Jesse Draper
FOUNDER | HALOGEN VENTURES
The founding partner of Halogen Ventures focused on early-stage investing in consumer technology companies led by female and co-ed teams. Draper is a 4th generation venture capitalist and the creator and host of Emmy-nominated television series, The Valley Girl Show. She is a fierce advocate for investing in women and the opportunity to use technology and innovation to solve some of the biggest issues facing women and families today.
Holly Framstead
GLOBAL PRODUCT STRATEGY | CAPITAL GROUP
Holly Framsted is a seasoned investment professional who has dedicated her career to modernizing the way individuals and financial advisors access investment solutions, primarily through the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) vehicle. She spent 15 years at BlackRock managing index equity iShares ETFs, and later designing, launching and commercializing new ETFs. She joined Capital Group in 2021 to lead their entrance into the active ETF market. She now oversees Global Product Strategy and Development at the firm. Holly holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a CFA Charterholder. She is based in Los Angeles, where she resides with her husband and 2 young daughters.
Tom Henske
INVESTOR, AUTHOR | “IT MAKES TOTAL CENTS”
Tom Henske has been a leader in the financial industry for nearly three decades.
Tom started his career in financial planning in 1994, withCowan Financial Group. Shortly thereafter, he started his own company, HenskeAdvisors. In 2003, they were acquired by National Financial Partners (merging them into Lenox Advisors) which went public shortly thereafter. Tom remained an equity partner until 2020 when he retired to focus solely on matters of life insurance and building Total Cents. Professional designations: CFP®, ChFC, CLU, CTS, CFS, CLTC, CES
Michel Narganes
PARTNER | MANATT
Michel Narganes is a partner in Manatt’s San Francisco office. She has guided venture-backed startups and other, established clients—including various technology companies, media and gaming ventures, financial institutions, health care companies and others—through licensing, technology and commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), financing matters, and developer and publisher agreements for more than 15 years. Michel also works with disruptors in the growing cryptocurrency space with respect to blockchain-based technologies and transactions in the Web3 ecosystem. She was an early mover in this area, representing the platform that facilitated the highly publicized sale of an American digital artist’s nonfungible token (NFT) artwork in the first digital auction held by one of the largest global auction houses. She is sought after for her business-minded counsel on the convergence of cryptocurrency with other emerging industries, including the rise of tokenization in gaming and transactions in the nascent metaverse. Before joining Manatt, Michel served as in-house counsel at a large technology company, where she played a key role in the growth of global strategic partnerships, M&A and corporate compliance operations. Michel is also an entrepreneur, having founded her own legal services firm, providing her firsthand experience tackling the gamut of challenges emerging companies face throughout their life cycles.
Kate Nevin
PRESIDENT | TSWII CAPITAL ADVISORS
Kate is President of TSWII Capital Advisors and Portfolio Manager for both TSWII and TSWS focused on investments in hedge funds, venture capital and other alternative strategies. Her career has spanned more than two decades, beginning as an analyst in New York City in the early 2000’s with Lehman Brothers. After marrying and relocating to Charleston, SC, Kate joined TSW where she has been actively managing portfolios for over twenty years.
She is a member of 100 Women in Finance and PEWIN. Kate currently serves on the LP Advisory Committee for Hannah Grey Ventures, is a member of the Nexus Impact Society, a founding member of Asteri Collective, and is currently serving on the Editorial Committee of the Academy of Institutional Investors. She is Founder + Board Chair Emeritus of Enough Pie, a non-profit in Charleston, SC.
Kate has received the CAIA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst) designation. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999 and completed The Executive Program of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business in June 2004. Kate was a 2014 Diversity Leadership Fellow at the Riley Institute of Furman University.
Kate often speaks and moderates at conferences, has presented at TEDx and participates on committees advocating gender equality and conservation. She lives on a sea island outside of Charleston, SC with her husband and three children.
Kimmy Scotti
FOUNDING & MANAGING PARTNER | NEON
Kimmy Scotti is the Founding and Managing Partner of Neon, an early stage venture capital firm investing in best-in-class entrepreneurs innovating at the intersection of healthcare and consumer to envision a better future and change the world.
Kimmy’s first entrepreneurial venture was at 15, when she landed her personal jewelry line at Bloomingdale's. After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology, she worked as the Executive Director of Business Development & Operations at a New York Family Office, where she incubated and invested in many businesses, including ScriptRelief (exited 2015) a multi billion-dollar healthcare platform that helped over 10 million individuals access affordable prescriptions.
As a founding partner at 8VC, a technology and life sciences investment firm with over $7B in AUM, Kimmy invested in category-defining companies, including Blink Health, Maven, Oula, Hill House Home and Seed. Alongside a board-certified Harvard dermatologist, Kimmy co-founded science-backed, sustainably-driven skincare line Fig.1 in 2021.
She lives in New York City with her husband and twin boys.
Avani Patel
CO-FOUNDING & MANAGING PARTNER | EMBER FUND
Avani is a Managing Partner, overseeing the activities of advisory and the Ember Fund. She has years of experience in the startup world in various capacities including as a founder, advisor, mentor and investor. She recently served as Head of the Harvard Business School Startup Studio. In her work with Ember, Harvard Business School and other organizations, Avani has advised over five hundred entrepreneurs. Prior to Ember Co., Avani had a career as a corporate attorney with Arent Fox LLP and Brown Rudnick where she worked on multi-billion dollar mergers. She also founded a men's and women's contemporary clothing label when she was in law school. She holds an MBA from Columbia University, a JD from The Northwestern University School of Law and a BA from Loyola University. Avani volunteers as Co-Leader, Entrepreneurs-In-Training, Barnard College & Girls Scouts.
Carmen Palafox
FOUNDING PARTNER | 2045 CAPITAL
Carmen Palafox is a seasoned venture capitalist with over two decades of experience in finance and a proven track record of investing across diverse industries, including climate tech, fintech, health tech, and consumer. As the Founding Partner at 2045 Ventures, she spearheads investments in early stage technology startups, fostering inclusive and equitable opportunities within the venture capital landscape.
Prior to venture capital, Carmen held the position of Vice President at Dimensional Fund Advisors. Her expertise extends beyond the financial sector, as she currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at USC Marshall, teaching venture capital to aspiring entrepreneurs and investment professionals.
Carmen holds an MBA from Berkeley-Haas, an MA in sports management from USF, and a BA in economics from USC.
Dulari Amin
FOUNDING PARTNER | SYNERGY VENTURES
Dulari is an Executive, Entrepreneur, Investor. She co-Founded Phenomenon, grew it to $100M+ revenue. She is the founder of Mothership, a Venture Studio that invests in and helps scale high-growth companie in healthcare and CPG. She is the Vice-Chair of Board at Woodbury University, and has been a Judge for EY “Entrepreneur of the Year” for Los Angeles. She has been recognized by Ad Age, Inc. 500, LA Business Journal, The House of Representative.
Alicia Hanf
CEO & MANAGING PARTNER | DEAR MAMA VENTURES
Alicia Hanf, is the founder and Managing Director of Dear Mama Ventures and a partner of Quantus Group, Family Office. Alicia is a Military Veteran, entrepreneur and investor with over 7 year’s experience helping Fortune 500 companies, celebrities and athletes invest in breakthrough founders and ideas. Alicia is on a mission to empower underrepresented founders, and has demonstrated this through collaborating with organizations like LG, launching the Bunker Labs' LA chapter and designing curriculum used by founder programs across the globe.
Anna-Marie Wascher
CEO & FOUNDER| YVESBLUE
Anna-Marie founded Flat World Partners in 2015 after working at Accenture and Cantor Fitzgerald where she saw an unmet need for impact advisory services in the financial market. Anna-Marie also founded impact reporting and analytics platform, YvesBlue, a sister company of FWP. She has worked as a member of investment teams for several family offices and investment firms in the US and Europe with over fifteen years’ experience evaluating investment opportunities in venture and hedge funds. She has served as a venture partner to Aera, an advisor for NYU Summer Launchpad , Cornell Technion and an advisor to TechStars Food to Fork Incubator. In 2009 Anna-Marie left Accenture to co-found Malaika For Life, a non-profit based in Tanzania focused on women’s development and malaria.
Kerry Rupp
GENERAL PARTNER | TRUE WEALTH VENTURES
Kerry Rupp is a General Partner at True Wealth Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund investing in women-led businesses improving environmental and/or human health. She is also a nationally-certified instructor for the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, helping university-based teams to commercialize their science and technology research. She is an active startup coach who is asked to judge at startup competitions nationwide and is a frequent speaker on entrepreneurship, innovation and early-stage investing. She serves as a mentor at Capital Factory, on the Advisory Panel of the Texas Health Catalyst program at Dell Medical School, and on the Founding Steering Committee for Beam, an organization focused women entrepreneurs. She is also a board director for Vidafuel, re-Harvest, Rosy, and Founding and a board observer for BrainCheck and Atlantic Sea Farms, all True Wealth Ventures’ portfolio companies.
Sara Brand
FOUNDING GENERAL PARTNER | TRUE WEALTH VENTURES
Sara Brand is the Founding General Partner of True Wealth Ventures, an early-stage VC fund investing in women-led businesses improving environmental and/or human health. She is also the co-founder of (512) Brewing, the largest draught-only, self-distributing microbrewery in the U.S. before COVID. Sara was previously in venture capital and management consulting in the Bay Area as well as in a variety of strategic and operational roles in large tech companies. Sara holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in green design and manufacturing from UC Berkeley and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from UT Austin.
Deborah Draeger
SENIOR DIRECTOR | S&P DOW JONES INDICES
Deborah is Senior Director for the Southern Region of the Wealth Management Channel Management team at S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI). She is responsible for educating investment professionals on benefits and strategies for index-based investing. Her role entails presenting index education at educational forums, on webinars, and partner-sponsored events, as well as direct communication and delivery of S&P DJI research and content.
Elizabeth E. Rahn
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & BANKER | J.P. MORGAN PRIVATE BANK
Elizabeth Rahn is an Executive Director and Banker in the Los Angeles office of J.P. Morgan Private Bank. Liz advises a select group of highly successful entrepreneurs, real estate investors, C-suite executives and professionals in the media and entertainment industry. Clients value her collaborative and strategic mindset, and the steady guidance she provides across market cycles and life events.
Jane Leung
MANAGING DIRECTOR, INVESTMENT SPECIALIST | J.P. MORGAN PRIVATE BANK
Jane Leung is a Managing Director and Investment Specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. Jane advises some of the firm’s largest and most prominent clients in their pursuit of opportunities across multiple asset classes and markets. She draws on decades of institutional money management experience to formulate bespoke and actionable portfolio strategies that help optimize performance across complex balance sheets.
Megan L. Jones
PARTNER AT PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN LLP
Megan L. Jones is a tax attorney specializing in advising entities, family offices, and individuals on complex domestic and international planning matters, including income and estate tax planning. With a strong corporate background, she provides expertise in startup and entity formation, investment structuring, and the acquisition, disposition, and restructuring of businesses, corporations, and partnerships, offering comprehensive solutions for multijurisdictional tax and corporate planning.
Ruth Shaber, MD
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT | TARA HEALTH FOUNDATION
Ruth Shaber, MD, is a changemaker and innovator, moving from a robust career as an OBGYN and senior executive at Kaiser Permanente to empowering women across finance and healthcare. Currently, she is the founder and president of Tara Health Foundation, a philanthropic investment group that uses evidence-informed programs to promote women's well-being and opportunities. She is also the co-founder and board chair of Rhia Ventures, a collective of foundations and investors committed to bringing new types of capital to the reproductive health field.
Her recently published book, The XX Edge: Unlocking Higher Returns and Lower Risk, serves as the basis for her new initiative — The Diverse Investing Collective — which aims to increase the assets managed by gender-diverse and racially-diverse teams to 33 percent by 2033.
Sydney Kend
PRODUCT MANAGER | GOLDMAN SACHS
Sydney Kend is a product manager at Goldman Sachs, specializing in RIA Custody for alternative investments and structured products. Prior to her role in financial services, she was a consultant at Accenture specializing in supply chain and energy. She holds a BS and BA from the University of California Berkeley and the Haas School of Business. Beyond her professional life, Sydney is training for her second marathon, serves on the ‘NEXT for Autism’ board, and holds a WSET sommelier license.
Elizabeth Blankenship-Singh
INVESTOR | OVERLAY CAPITAL
Elizabeth Blankenship-Singh is a climate tech investor and former entrepreneur focused on decarbonizing the built environment—an industry responsible for 42% of global carbon emissions. At Overlay Capital, she leads investments across three venture strategies: a flagship fund-of-funds, a direct early-stage vehicle (Overlay Build), and a co-investment strategy alongside top-tier firms. Her work spans next-gen materials, construction tech, and real asset decarbonization.
Elizabeth began her career in luxury fashion before pivoting to climate-focused entrepreneurship and venture capital. A graduate of UVA Darden, she brings a founder-first lens to venture and is passionate about making the private markets more equitable for women—both founders and funders.
Stephanie Withers
PARTNER | BEL AIR INVESTMENT ADVISORS
Stephanie Withers joined Bel Air Investment Advisors LLC in 2015 to build the firm’s wealth management business in San Francisco. Stephanie is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. She has over 20 years investment experience, all based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to Bel Air, Stephanie served as an Executive Director in J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank, responsible for strategic asset allocation decisions and the implementation of investment solutions for clients.
Prior to J.P. Morgan, she spent seven years in the investment research department at Goldman Sachs covering the software and media sectors. Earlier in her career, she worked as an Associate at Cambridge Associates, an investment banking analyst at Robertson Stephens, and an “extern” in Lima, Peru with TechnoServe, an NGO helping to lift enterprising people in the developing world out of poverty. Stephanie was raised in the Boston area, attended Phillips Academy Andover and the University of Pennsylvania. Stephanie is a CFA charter holder and a member of both the CFA Institute and San Francisco Analyst Society. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, son and two daughters. She serves on the board at Burke’s, an all-girls K-8 school in San Francisco.
Eva Yazhari
MANAGING PARTNER | BEYOND CAPITAL VENTURES
Eva Yazhari is a seasoned venture capital investor, conscious leader, author, and the Managing Partner of Beyond Capital Ventures, an early-stage impact venture capital fund offering a diversified portfolio of early-stage purpose-driven companies in "need-to-have" sectors in emerging markets with a top quintile track record. Previously, Eva was Vice President at EnTrust Capital Inc. Her team invested over $5 billion into top hedge funds. She specialized in due diligence, underlying fund portfolio analysis and management, and shareholder activism.
Eva is an active investor and is pioneering equity and power transformation in venture capital at Beyond Capital Ventures, giving ownership to every founder in the portfolio. Eva serves on corporate boards including Viebeg Medical, CarePoint, multiple observer seats along with the Barnard Athena Center Leadership Council. Eva is also the co-host of the Beyond Capital Podcast, founder of The Conscious Investor online magazine, and author of ‘The Good Your Money Can Do.’
Kerry Ugarte
WEALTH ADVISOR | J.P. MORGAN PRIVATE BANK
Kerry Ugarte is a Wealth Advisor at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Central Texas. With experience as an estate attorney and business consultant, she helps executives, business owners and their families manage their wealth to achieve the future they envision.
Kerry sees herself as a shepherd for her clients’ lifetime and legacy objectives. This means playing a central role in their team of legal and financial professionals, and maintaining close, long-term relationships to help them stay on track as their situations and goals evolve. In particular, her clients appreciate Kerry’s ability to translate complex estate planning procedures and wealth transfer strategies into language they can easily understand and act on with confidence. A successful professional, engaged community member and mother of three herself, Kerry has a deep respect for family and an intuitive understanding of her clients’ desire to make a lasting impact with their wealth.
Kerry joined J.P. Morgan Private Bank in 2014. Prior to that, she practiced law as a trusts and estates attorney in Austin. Kerry has undergraduate degrees in Plan II and Business Honors from The University of Texas, where she also earned her M.B.A. and law degree. She is board certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Brittany Morisson
FOUNDER | B. SPOKE ADVISORY
Brittany Morisson is the founder of B. Spoke Advisory, a philanthropic advisory firm with a clear mission: to foster big-hearted, connected communities through strategic philanthropic engagement. Her clients consist of nonprofits, corporations, individuals, and family offices. Through partnership with B. Spoke, Brittany helps bring intention, thoughtfulness, and applied purpose to the forefront of giving back. She is a proven fundraiser, advocate, storyteller, innovator, and strategic growth + marketing expert with a passion for inspiring the next generation of philanthropists through education and skill building.
Brittany’s goal is to empower everyone to be both competent and confident in their philanthropic endeavors.
Brittany believes in the power of bigheartedness - a commitment to generosity, kindness, and compassion. Those who are bighearted strive to make a meaningful difference, offering kindness without expecting anything in return, and showing deep care for both people and causes. This principle guides her in everything she does and is reflected in her work through B. Spoke.
Steph Wagner
NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF WOMEN & WEALTH | NORTHERN TRUST
Steph Wagner is a nationally recognized thought leader in women’s wealth and financial empowerment. Her passion for this work is deeply personal. Her own journey—from private equity executive to stay-at-home mom, to single mother facing financial uncertainty, to successful businesswoman—fuels her mission to help women take control of their wealth and build lives they love. Today, she serves as National Director of Women & Wealth at Northern Trust, where she leads the firm’s advisory practice for women and its Elevating Women platform—a national program focused on building financial confidence and helping women use their wealth to create meaningful impact in their families, businesses, and communities.
Prior to joining Northern Trust, Steph spent years advising high-net-worth women navigating major life transitions such as divorce and widowhood. She also built a national consulting practice for wealth management firms seeking to better serve female clients and founded WomenWealthyWise, a platform dedicated to advancing financial literacy and empowerment for women. Earlier in her career, she was Vice President at Gemini Investors, a Boston-based private equity firm.
A frequent media contributor, Steph’s insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Entrepreneur, Barron’s, Bloomberg, CNBC, MarketWatch, Kiplinger, Yahoo Finance, and more. She is also the author of a new book, Fly! A Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom and Building a Life You Love
Steph lives just outside of Austin, Texas, and is the proud mom of three grown sons. When she’s not working or writing, you’ll likely find her cycling, hiking, on her yoga mat, or chasing after her beloved dogs.
Kris Paaso
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT| NORTHERN TRUST’S MENLO PARK OFFICE
Senior Vice President, Senior Portfolio Manager
Kris is a Senior Investment Portfolio Manager based in Northern Trust’s Menlo Park office. She works with business owners, corporate executives, private equity professionals and other successful families providing comprehensive and holistic investment advice. She joined Northern Trust in 2022 and has over 25 years of portfolio management experience.
Prior to joining Northern Trust, Kris worked for the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health (LPFCH) in Palo Alto, California as a writer and then data analyst. LPFCH raises over $100mm annually to support child and maternal health. Before her role with the Foundation, Kris was a Senior Investment Strategist at Wells Fargo, where she managed diversified investment portfolios for high net-worth individuals.
Kris received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and a Master’s Degree in Sociology from Stanford University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. While at the Farm, she played volleyball and was a member of Stanford’s first national championship team. As an encore athletic career, she competed in Master’s running and has held age-group American records in the 1500m, mile, and 3k runs.
Kris also has been a volunteer at several equine-facilitated therapy programs and Second Harvest of Silicon Valley.
Judy Portnoy
PARTNER| PORTNOY & STENMARK LLP
As a native Angelino, Judy has honed her expertise at some of the most prestigious firms in trust and estate law. Before co-founding Portnoy & Stenmark LLP, she held senior positions at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, and practiced at Venable LLP and McDermott, Will & Emery LLP.
Judy earned her J.D. from Cardozo School of Law (Order of the Coif) and a Masters of Law in Taxation from NYU School of Law. Her extensive background enables her to address even the most complex challenges with clarity and care. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three children, traveling, and exploring the outdoors.
Andrea Propp
CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER | ICECAP GROUP
Andrea Propp is the Chief Strategy Officer, Head of Fund Management, and member of the Investment Committee at IceCap Group. IceCap is a Family Office backed New York–based private lender that has originated $3.8 Billion across 4,300+ private residential real estate loans since its inception in 2017. Specializing in Residential Transition Loans, or RTLs, the firm serves borrowers that rehabilitate smaller multifamily properties and expand the more affordable workforce housing supply. Andrea built and now oversees IceCap’s loan fund platform (approx. $140M raised to date) and has launched multiple vehicles that have targeted and delivered mid-teens, net-of-fees performance over the past 5+ years. In her role as CSO, Andrea also identifies strategic partnerships and investment opportunities for the family while managing relationships with all the family office and HNW partners they deploy capital with.
Andrea’s earlier roles span business development and fundraising for multi-billion-dollar commodity and structured-credit hedge funds, Jamison Capital and LibreMax, after beginning her career on the commodities trading floor at Goldman Sachs in 2010. Beyond IceCap, she is a backcountry snowboarder, a singer, and an active investor/advisor to a personal portfolio of private companies and funds aligned with a profit-with-purpose ethos. She is based in Austin and splits her time in New York. Originally hailing from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Andrea holds a BComm in Energy Management from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary.
Analise Roland
CEO and CO-FOUNDER | ANURA CAPITAL LLC
Analise Roland is an impact entrepreneur with a track record of growing companies in greenfield spaces. With a background in Neuroscience from Brown University and over a decade of experience working with regenerative farmers, capital partners, and impact frameworks, Analise operates at the confluence of impact and capital. Passionate about the transition from an extractive economy to a regenerative one, Analise has dedicated the bulk of her career to launching companies and products operating from the soil up. From working with major CPG companies developing products to running a tech company redesigning how small-scale farmers connect directly with buyers to speaking as an advocate for regenerative farming practices and ranchers for over ten years, Analise has been working at the intersection of regenerative capital, agriculture, and systems design for over a decade.
She is currently the co-founder and CEO of Anura Capital, an impact real estate investment firm focused on supporting the transition from an extractive economy to a regenerative one - without sacrificing capital returns. She lives between Malibu and Montana.
Kelly Freis
CEO and CO-FOUNDER | INTERNATIONAL GROWTH CAPITAL
Kelly Freis is the Founder & CEO of International Growth Capital (IGC), a multi-platform investment and advisory firm focused on real estate, private credit, education, and innovation-driven industries. With more than two decades of experience, Kelly has led or advised on over $1.5 billion in sponsored real estate projects and hundreds of millions in private debt and equity transactions.
Through IGC and its affiliated platforms, she works with developers, family offices, and international investors to structure capital solutions, navigate U.S. market entry, and execute complex development strategies. Her work emphasizes disciplined execution, ecosystem thinking, and measurable community impact—linking capital, education, and opportunity creation.
Kelly is a frequent speaker on real estate, capital formation, and women’s leadership, and is known for building values-aligned partnerships that drive both financial performance and long-term societal benefit.
Cinthia Murphy
DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH | VETTAFI
Cinthia Murphy is the Director of Research at VettaFi, specializing in ETFs. Prior to joining the firm, Cinthia was Head of Research at Tidal Financial Group, following over a decade at ETF.com, where she was a lead financial journalist and editor covering the ETF market. Cinthia's career also includes time at the Chicago Board of Trade, where she covered commodities futures markets from the trading floor, as well as time covering the Brazilian equity market.
Cinthia splits her time between Chicago and the Bay Area with her husband, Steve, and their dog, Harry. Their two daughters, Gabriela (23) and Helena (21), are in the Midwest working and completing college, so the Murphys are living their best empty-nesting life.
Julie Wroblewski
CO-FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER | MAGNIFY VENTURES
Julie Wroblewski is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Magnify Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital fund. Magnify Ventures invests in early-stage technology companies in the Care Economy, Family Technology, and Aging & Longevity. The firm focuses on software and AI, and invests across healthcare, consumer technology, and enterprise.
Before launching Magnify, Julie spent over a decade as an investor and advisor with institutional-scale family offices and mission-focused organizations, including launching and leading the venture capital investment portfolio and strategy at Pivotal Ventures. In her roles, Julie has invested in pre-revenue startups, category-defining companies, and industry-leading venture capital firms, and she's built partnerships across sectors to seed innovation in overlooked markets. She is a frequent speaker on venture capital and startups, a Kauffman Fellow, and a member of All Raise.
Bobbi Dunphy
BOARD TRUSTEE | PIVOTAL GROWTH TRUST
Bobbi Dunphy is an Australian social entrepreneur, angel investor and mentor living in San Francisco who has worked at the nexus of water, food, energy, climate, health and financial security for the past 25 years. As a Founding Member & Strategic Director of the Global Peace Index published by The Economist annually since 2009, Bobbi worked closely with Heads of State, Nobel Peace Laureates, CEOs of Fortune 100 companies, renowned humanitarians & celebrities. These deepening relationships continue to play a role in her on-going work of finding practical, resilient solutions to some of the most intractable issues facing humanity today. She recently compiled a comprehensive report on Post Harvest Food Loss in Emerging Economies and its relationship to Food Security & was named one of 50 Global Achievers by the Australian Government for her outstanding work in the water security sector.
Bobbi loves to connect people and ideas and is focused on bringing resources and knowhow to mission-driven companies solving big global challenges including beneficial AI and breakthrough therapies. She is deeply involved in the impact investment, Family Office and philanthropic sectors globally & works as a philanthropic advisor to a number of Principals and Next Gen members of Family Offices. Bobbi sits on a number of Boards/Advisory Boards including the Center for Environmental Health. She is a senior advisor to Nexus Global & led the inaugural Nexus delegation to Burning Man where, as part of the overall program, she co-convened the first ever Impact Investment/New Economy workshop held there. A climate finance specialist, she co-led the Nexus investor delegations to both President Macron’s One Planet summit in Paris in December 2017 and Governor Jerry Brown’s Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco in September 2018. She was also on the Organizing Committee for the Inaugural Stanford Family Office conference that took place in June 2021 and spoke on the climate panel at this held in September of 2022.
Bobbi is keenly focused on how we transform financial markets for the betterment of people and the planet. She is a strategic advisor to Ethic, a member of the Navigation Council of the Global Warming Mitigation Project and is a founding member of the Silicon Valley Blockchain Society. She is also a Senior Advisor to Legacy Global Donor Advised Fund Sponsor Platform and a Board Trustee for Pivotal Growth Trust, a financial instrument for effective philanthropy.
Cheryl Kellond
FOUNDER & CEO | PLAY MONEY
Cheryl Kellond is a 3x founder, 3x Ironman, 4x mom, and an internet OG known for blending straight talk with deep insight on the future of early-stage investing.
As an operator, she has shipped more than $750 million in Version 1 products; as a founder, she has raised nearly $20 million from tier-one VCs and was an early pioneer in raising funds on Kickstarter and AngelList. As an Angel Investor, she’s a loud and proud “baby check writer” with more than 50 companies in her personal portfolio.
Cheryl’s current company, Play Money, is a deal-flow discovery and engagement platform that onboards the next generation of Angels with an experience that makes investing feel like social shopping.
Cheryl’s work has been featured in Fast Company and The Wall Street Journal. Cheryl earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago and an MBA from MIT Sloan. She likes her whiskey neat and has been a Colorado Buffaloes superfan since Coach Prime came to town.