Mr. Arnesen leads the firm’s Portfolio and Asset Management group and Acquisitions for the East Coast, based in New York.

Prior to joining Rockwood, Mr. Arnesen held senior roles in both acquisitions and asset management. Mr. Arnesen was most recently a Managing Director of Acquisitions in North America at JER Partners as well as interim head of Asset Management for JER’s European funds, where he leveraged his earlier experience of workouts and restructuring on numerous troubled assets. Prior to JER, he was a Managing Director and co-Head of US Acquisitions at Starwood Capital Group Global LLC. Before joining Starwood, he was a Principal at JPMorgan Partners FKA Chase Capital Partners and a senior officer in the Real Estate Workout Group of Chemical Bank/Chase Manhattan Bank for 11 years.

Mr. Arnesen is a member of the NY State Bar Association, the ULI and the ICSC and has spoken on numerous real estate panels. Mr. Arnesen received his B.A. from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from Washington and Lee University.

 

Mr. Barger comes to the LACERA Board of Investments with over 25 years of experience as a lawyer, investor, financial entrepreneur, and public servant. He has expertise in the fields of investment banking, asset management, private equity, and reinsurance. He has direct professional investment experience with traditional and non-traditional asset classes including equities, fixed income, real estate, venture capital and private equity. He also has expertise on matters of corporate governance for closely held and public companies.
Some of his notable business activities have included:

• NorthernCross Partners; Los Angeles
• Council of Institutional Investors, Director; Washington, D.C.
• Latin American Reinsurance Company/XL Reinsurance Company, Co-Founder, Managing Director, and General Counsel; Bogota/Buenos Aires/Rio de Janeiro/Bermuda/Switzerland
• Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB), Special Assistant to Executive Director during George H.W. Bush administration; Washington, D.C.
• Bankers Trust, N.A.; New York
• Citibank, N.A.; New York, London
• Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton; Los Angeles
• Federal District Court - Central District, Law Clerk and Extern to the Honorable Richard Gadbois; Los Angeles
• MSc. (Economics/Finance), London School of Economics, 1986
• J.D., University of California, Hastings College of Law, 1984
• BA, Cum Laude (History/Philosophy), Ohio Wesleyan University, 1979
• Member: California State Bar and American Bar Associations
• Eagle Scout
• Assistant Scout Master, Boy Scouts of America, Troop 355; San Gabriel Valley Council (1-19-11)

 

Mark Barnhill manages functions connected to capital raising, fund administration, investor relations and corporate and external affairs for Platinum Equity and Platinum Equity Capital Partners.

Mr. Barnhill is responsible for strategic planning and administration of the firm’s private equity fund vehicles. He leads Platinum’s capital raising activities and is its senior relationship manager with investors, who comprise a diverse cross-section of public and private pension funds, financial institutions, foundations and family offices in North America, Europe and Asia.

He is responsible for working with the firm’s M&A&O teams on the capital structure and drawdown of investment capital for individual transactions. He also oversees functions related to quarterly and annual reporting and audit, compliance with contractual and regulatory matters related to the funds, and coordination with the funds’ Limited Partner Advisory Committees.

In addition to his fund responsibilities, Mr. Barnhill holds leadership functions connected to strategic planning, recruiting and retention, transaction sourcing, corporate communications and external affairs for Platinum Equity and its operating companies.

Mr. Barnhill was formerly a Senior Partner at Fleishman-Hillard Inc., where he directed the firm’s corporate practice in Los Angeles and managed both domestic and international accounts. Before that he was a senior executive at the Los Angeles Daily News, where he served as assistant managing editor, city editor and Washington bureau chief. He also spearheaded development of the newspaper’s interactive business and first online site.

Mr. Barnhill is a former adjunct professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication, where he taught graduate and undergraduate journalism courses.

 

Claudia Baron originally joined PPM in 1993 where she was responsible for all investment systems for PPM as well as coordinating information sharing and reporting with the parent company in London.  In 1995, Claudia began working for the leveraged finance group and later the private equity group underwriting both debt and equity investments.  In 1999, Claudia left PPM to pursue operational roles including CFO of a technology company and CEO/GM of a winery in Northern California.  In 2008, Claudia rejoined PPM as a partner in PPM’s Private Equity asset class, focusing on the Private Equity Fund of Funds portfolio.

Claudia received her MBA, Finance/MIS, from the University of Illinois in 1989, and graduated with a BA, Political Science and Economics, from the University of Michigan in 1987.

 

Jennifer Bellah Maguire is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Los Angeles office and is co-chair to the firm's Investment Fund Group.  She was a law clerk for the Honorable Mary M. Schroeder of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.  She holds a bachelor of arts from Bryn Mawr College, magna cum laude, and studied for one year at Sorbonne University in Paris, France.  Ms. Bellah Maguire graduated from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and served as an Associate Editor for the California Law Review. 

Ms. Bellah Maguire's practice focuses on private equity fund formation as well as investments, mergers and acquisitions, including public company transactions and divestitures.  Currently and for the past several years, Chambers and Partners has recognized her as a leading lawyer nationwide in the areas of Private Equity: Fund Formation and Buyouts and in California in the area of Corporate M&A: Private Equity.  International Financial Law Review named her as a Leading Lawyer in US Private Equity 2006 through 2008 and 2010.  The Los Angeles Business Journal also named Ms. Bellah Maguire among "The Best of the Bar" for Corporate Transactions in 2007.  Recently, Ms. Bellah Maguire was selected among the nation's leading attorneys for the Securities Law category in the 2011 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. 

Ms. Bellah Maguire has represented a number of groups in raising leveraged buy-out, venture and other funds, and has been active in recent transactions involving the transfer of management of existing private equity funds.

Ms. Bellah Maguire speaks frequently on corporate and securities topics.  Ms. Bellah Maguire is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Otis School of Design and a founding member of the Board of the Los Angeles Ballet.

 

Jonathan Bloch has over 15 years of experience in venture capital, private equity and alternative investments focused on large institutional investors specializing in operations, sophisticated fund formation issues and legal and regulatory compliance. Most recently, he was the founder and Senior Managing Director of a large fund-of-funds firm (over $700 million in investments), which was targeted at venture capital, growth equity, medium-size buyout funds and cleantech investing.

At the firm where Jonathan served as acting general counsel, he reviewed and negotiated limited partnership agreements and side letters for over 30 partnerships. He has extensive experience managing both general and limited partner relationships, and deep knowledge of public pension funds, institutional markets and private equity as an alternative asset class. While at the firm, he oversaw all legal issues and acted as the Chief Compliance Officer for an SEC-registered investment advisor.

Jonathan has raised capital for technology, real estate and telecommunication companies, manufacturing facilities and Internet distribution centers. He won the RFP and successfully developed and built the amusement park on the Santa Monica Pier. He has negotiated many financing transactions, served on numerous boards of directors of public and private companies, taken several companies public through the IPO process and directly interacted with many state public pension funds.

Prior to joining Manatt, the fund-of-funds firm which Jonathan co-founded was sold to a major international investment bank.

EDUCATION

University of San Diego School of Law, 1979.
University of California at Berkeley, 1975.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Milken Institute Global Conference, "Investing in Green Energy," April 2009.

Milken Institute Global Conference, "Investing in the Future: Accelerating the Clean-Tech Revolution," April 2008.

IBF Venture Capital Conference, "L.P. Perspectives in Investing in Venture Capital".

 

Mr. Chen is an executive vice president in the Newport Beach office and a portfolio manager focusing on real estate, including commercial mortgage-backed securities. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2010, he was with private equity real estate firm JER Partners for 11 years, most recently as managing director and a member of the firm's investment committee. Mr. Chen previously held positions in the investment banking division of Banc of America Securities and the sales and trading division of Morgan Stanley. He has 15 years of investment experience and holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Georgetown University.

 

Brian Deagon is a business and technology journalist for Investor’s Business Daily who covers a wide range of subjects around the massive field of information technology. Current areas of coverage include the tech economy, business startups and venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, digital Hollywood, social networking fields, wireless technology, data storage and the commercial space industry.

His career in journalism began with a four-year stint as a photo-journalist in the U.S. Army, including the famed 82nd Airborne Division. Deagon has also worked for the Los Angeles Business Journal and various technology trade publications. He has a B.A. in journalism from California State University, Northridge and is a lifelong resident of Los Angeles.

 

Mr. Deb is a Co-founder and the Managing Partner of Francisco Partners Management LLC, and a former director of AMI Semiconductor (AMIS), CBA Group, Legerity, MagnaChip, Metrologic, NPTest/Credence (CMOS), Numonyx, SMART Modular Technologies (SMOD), Ultra Clean Technology (UCTT), Conexant (CNXT), Globespan, and ON Semiconductor (ONNN). Prior to founding Francisco Partners in August 1999, Mr. Deb was a principal with Texas Pacific Group. Earlier in his career, Mr. Deb was director of semiconductor banking at Robertson Stephens & Company and a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Education:

• M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business
• B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from University of California, Berkeley - Regents Scholar

Accomplishments:

• Founded Francisco Partners in August 1999 (Company has raised US $7 billion since inception and made more than 50 acquisitions in the technology sector)
• Has run FP since 2005
• Board Member:  Stanford Business School Management Board, Crystal Springs Uplands School, UCSF Foundation

 

Matthew Garff is a Managing Director and heads the Los Angeles office for Sun Capital Partners.  He joined Sun Capital as an Associate in 2001.  During his time at Sun Capital, Matthew has acquired controlling interests in businesses within a variety of industries & using multiple structures.  Matthew’s experience with manufacturing companies includes businesses in the food, metals, textiles, building products and electronics industries.  His retail experience includes businesses in apparel, work uniforms, auto parts & fast food. 

Prior to joining Sun Capital Partners in 2001, Matthew worked for The Carlyle Group in Washington, DC.  Prior to Carlyle, he was with KSL Fairways, an affiliate of KKR which specialized in acquiring golf courses.  Mr. Garff received a B.S. from the University of Utah and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. 

 

Frederick Gortner is a principal and managing director of Paladin Realty Partners LLC, a private real estate investment firm that has acquired over $6 billion of properties in the United States and Latin America on behalf of public and corporate pension funds, foundations, endowments and high net-worth investors.  Mr. Gortner has been with the company since it was founded in 1995 in partnership with former U.S. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon.  He is involved in many facets of the firm’s operations, including portfolio management, strategic planning, capital raising and operations.  During his tenure at Paladin Realty, Mr. Gortner has been responsible for managing a number of the firm’s investments, and for raising and structuring its various investment funds with institutional investors totaling over $1.5 billion of equity.  He serves on Paladin’s investment committee.

Mr. Gortner has a broad background in real estate investment, development and finance that spans more than 25 years.  Prior to joining Paladin Realty, he was a principal with the Tucker Investment Group, Inc., a Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm, where he managed the redevelopment of several commercial projects in the cities of Santa Monica and Burbank.  Mr. Gortner was also a founding partner of Enterprise Management, Inc., a real estate management company, where he co-led the firm’s construction business and directed the redevelopment of a number of residential properties in Los Angeles.  He previously worked at Chemical Bank (now JP Morgan Chase) in New York where he structured financing for national real estate clients. 

Mr. Gortner has been an active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA), the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), the Inter-American Dialogue, INREV, and other industry organizations.  He has been a regular guest lecturer at USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate on the topic of real estate joint ventures.  He has also served on the boards of several civic organizations and spearheaded a number of public-private initiatives relating to business improvement districts, transportation management and zoning code reform.  He is a past director of the education foundation benefiting his local school district and has been actively involved with The Fulfillment Fund, an educational outreach and mentoring program helping disadvantaged youth.  Mr. Gortner holds a California real estate broker’s license and several NASD securities licenses. 

Mr. Gortner graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor’s degree concentrating in Economics and Liberal Arts studies, and from The Anderson School of Management at UCLA with a Masters in Business Administration.  While at Anderson, he was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma national scholastic honor society and was awarded the Wittenberg-Livingston Academic Fellowship for academic achievement in real estate studies.

He and his wife, Cindi, and their three children live in Thousand Oaks, California.

 

Mattias is a partner in the Los Angeles office of PwC’s Transaction Services group.  He specializes in providing acquisition advice to private equity funds.  During his 13 years with Transaction Services Mattias has advised clients on deals ranging from less than $10 million to $15 billion in deal size.  Mattias has extensive experience leading large complex US and multinational due diligence engagements, including management of due diligence teams from many different functional areas. 

Throughout his career Mattias has assisted both private equity and strategic clients with transactions in a wide variety of industries.  He has assisted his clients in the deal process from initial valuation of a potential transaction, performance of due diligence, negotiation of the purchase agreement, development of transition service agreements and processes, as well as resolution of purchase price adjustment disputes. 

Mattias spent several years in our audit practice before joining our Transaction Services group.  Prior to relocating to our Los Angeles practice in 2006, Mattias was based in our Boston, MA and Stockholm, Sweden offices.  Mattias is a California CPA and a Swedish Authorized Public Accountant (inactive).  Mattias is also a board member of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce and a frequent speaker on various acquisition and divestiture related topics.

 

Mr. Honour is a member of Gores' investment committee and is responsible for originating and structuring transactions, and overseeing portfolio company exits. Prior to joining Gores, Mr. Honour led a career as an investment banker with a focus on private equity related transactions. From 2001 to 2002, Mr. Honour served as a Managing Director at UBS Warburg, where he was a financial sponsor coverage banker and oversaw the Transaction Development Group at UBS Warburg. Prior to joining UBS Warburg, Mr. Honour was an investment banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette ('DLJ'), where he executed a variety of mergers and acquisitions, high-yield financings, equity offerings and restructurings. Mr. Honour also served as a Vice President at DLJ Merchant Banking from 1995 to 1997. Prior to joining DLJ, Mr. Honour served as an analyst at Trammell Crow. Mr. Honour currently serves on the Boards of Directors of RealDolmen, First Communications and Westwood One. Mr. Honour earned a B.S. in Business Administration and a B.A. in Economics, cum laude, from Pepperdine University and an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Kash Hussain is a senior audit manager based in the Beverly Hills office of Rothstein Kass and has over 14 years of experience in the audit and accounting profession serving a diverse array of publicly held and private companies. Kash has recently joined Beverly Hills office of Rothstein Kass to assist with the expansion of the commercial audit practice.

Kash began his career with Arthur Andersen and built a strong experience in managing and leading complex SEC audit engagements including those in manufacturing, food & beverage, commercial, industrial, energy and real estate industries. Subsequent to closure of Arthur Andersen, Kash continued with KPMG as a senior manager in the audit services handling both private and public companies audits and mostly focusing on real estate, food & beverage and entertainment industries. Most recently, Kash has spent last few years establishing and managing the quality control and national office function for a top ten accounting firm, Reznick Group, based on the East Coast.  Kash is a certified public accountant in Maryland and Georgia and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Kash has also taught accounting and auditing at both undergraduate and graduate level and is an author of several technical accounting and auditing white papers.  At KPMG he was the national instructor of retail industry updates and trained managers across the Firm. At Reznick Group, he developed and implemented accounting and auditing practices and policies performed firm-wide  .  He has also been a lead speaker on several accounting and auditing issues for his prior firms.

Kash has received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting and a Master of Arts degree in Accounting from the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. 

 

Ms. Johnson-Miller is a Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Relativity Capital LLC, a private equity fund that invests in both distressed and healthy middle market companies. Ms. Johnson-Miller is responsible for sourcing, structuring and negotiating transactions. Ms. Johnson-Miller also serves on the Board of Directors of portfolio companies and works with portfolio company management teams to create shareholder value.

Ms. Johnson-Miller has been an active investor in the private equity marketplace for more than 17 years. From 1993 to 2003, Ms. Johnson-Miller was a Managing Director at Cerberus Capital Management, LLC, where she was responsible for investing in both private equity and trading platforms. In 1995, while at Cerberus, Ms. Johnson-Miller also founded JJM, LLC (“JJM”), a certified women and minority owned private equity fund focused on distressed middle market investments in the manufacturing, automotive and related industries. JJM successfully exited these investments in less than 3.5 years.

Ms. Johnson-Miller also worked as a Vice President with ING Bank’s Corporate Restructuring Group and she began her career at Citicorp's Leveraged Capital Finance Group.

Ms. Johnson-Miller has served on the Corporate Board of Directors of twelve companies and currently serves on the Board of Directors of two privately held companies. She also serves as on the non-for profit boards of LaRabida Hospital in Chicago, Il and In-Motion in New York. Ms. Johnson-Miller is a 2007 Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.

Ms. Johnson-Miller received her B.A. from the University of Denver in 1987.

 

Mark S. Karlan has 25 years of experience in the commercial real estate investment and management business. Mr. Karlan joined CB Richard Ellis Investors in February 2006 as an Executive Managing Director and is a member of the firm’s global Executive Committee and various Investment Committees. He is President of the Strategic Partners Asia value added investment fund series and leads the fund’s dedicated investment team with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore.

Previously, Mr. Karlan was the President, CEO, founder and a member of the board of directors of Imperial Credit Commercial Mortgage Investment Corp., a publicly traded REIT that invested in both commercial real estate and commercial property loans in the U.S. and Europe. He began his career at JMB Realty Corporation where he was a Senior Vice President and partner and led the acquisition of the Cadillac Fairview Company, one of the largest real estate firms in North America. Mr. Karlan has acquired more than 100 commercial properties with a gross asset value exceeding $8 billion on behalf of institutional and other investors.

Mr. Karlan earned M.B.A., Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Harvard University with honors, received a John Harvard Scholarship for academic achievement of the highest distinction andwas a winner of the Williston contract negotiation competition.

 

Mike is a Partner at Shamrock Capital Advisors and has 10 years of media, entertainment, and communications investment experience.  Mike currently serves as a director of INgrooves, Media Storm and Harlem Globetrotters International. Previously, he served on the board of Modern Luxury Media.  Mike is also on the leadership council for the Los Angeles Posse Foundation and was a board member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Notre Dame Alumni Association and co-founder of the Southern California Association of Private Equity Investors. Prior to joining Shamrock in 2000, Mike was an investment banker at the mergers and acquisitions boutique, Putnam Lovell Securities.

Mike graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and earned an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management as a Venture Fellow.

 

Hanson Li is currently Managing Director at The Hina Group, one of the largest merchant banks focusing on China with 50 professionals on the ground in China.  With offices in China, US, and Singapore, Hina has been variously recognized as the Best Boutique M&A Bank, Best Private Equity Firm, and Best Cross-border Investment Bank in China.  As head of Hina’s US office, Mr. Li leads the firm’s international investment banking practice and also participates in Hina’s China focused private equity funds.  In investment banking, he assists global corporations with their cross-Pacific M&A projects.  Mr. Li also works with leading Chinese companies in raising capital and in exploring M&A opportunities outside of China.  For Hina Private Equity Fund, Mr. Li focuses on rising consumerism in China and its impact on companies both within China and outside of China.

Outside of The Hina Group, Mr. Li serves as Board Director for Association of Asian American Investment Managers (AAAIM), a non-profit organization that encourages and fosters business ties among Asian-led and managed investment firms, and takes a deep interest in mentoring Asian American students who intend to create a career in finance.  He also serves as Board Director of Asia America MultiTechnology Association, a 30 year old non-profit organization that serves the technology community around the Pacific Rim.

Mr. Li previously held management roles at Capital One, a Fortune 500 financial services company, and EqualFooting, a technology company funded by NEA, FBR, Yahoo!, Nextel, and Textron.  Mr. Li also served as Vice President of Business Development for GlobalLogic, a leading IT outsourcing company.  Mr. Li also worked at Mercer Management Consulting and Cagan McAfee Capital Partners, a private equity firm focusing on technology and clean-tech growth companies.

Mr. Li earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.  He was named a Siebel Scholar in recognition as one of the top 5 graduates in his class where he also graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar.  He also earned a BA (Human Biology) and MA (Sociology/Organizational Behavior) from Stanford University.  Originally from Hong Kong, Mr. Li grew up in Hong Kong, Taiwan, New York, and Malaysia and now makes his home in San Francisco with his wife and two children.  He is fluent in both Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese.

 

Jim Loss is co-leader of the Bingham’s Private Equity Practice Group. He has more than 25 years of experience in mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, venture capital financings, public offerings and private placements. Jim has represented both strategic and financial buyers and sellers in a wide range of transactions across many industry groups and has extensive experience in corporate “carve-out” transactions.

After graduating from Yale Law School in 1980, Jim studied law in Germany under a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service from 1980 to 1981, and served as a law clerk to the Hon. Malcolm M. Lucas, United States District Judge for the Central District of California, from 1981 to 1983. Jim joined the Los Angeles-based law firm of Riordan & McKinzie in 1983. Riordan & McKinzie merged with Bingham McCutchen in 2003.

Jim is a graduate of Yale Law School and Princeton University.

 

Robert L. Morse Jr. is a Partner of Oak Hill Capital Partners and has been with the firm since 2001. He is responsible for originating, structuring, and managing investments in the Technology group. Prior to joining Oak Hill, he worked at GCC Investments, a growth private equity firm, as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley Capital Partners and at Loudcloud, Inc., an internet infrastructure provider. Mr. Morse earned a B.S.E. degree, summa cum laude, in Civil Engineering and Operations Research from Princeton University and a M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

 

Mr. Murray joined the Praedium Group in 2003 as a senior professional responsible for investments in the Western region of the United States.  His responsibilities include acquisitions, asset management, financings and dispositions of real property and loans.  He is also charged with managing the firm’s Los Angeles office.  Since joining the Praedium Group, Mr. Murray has completed over $1.0 billion of real estate transactions across a diverse group of asset types.  He is actively involved in the firm’s asset management discipline and oversight of its junior professionals.  Prior to joining the Praedium Group, Mr. Murray spent nine years in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group of Salomon Smith Barney.  During his tenure at Salomon, he focused on capital raising, M&A and strategic advisory to REITs and private owners of real estate.  He was also instrumental in establishing Salomon’s European real estate investment banking platform.  Mr. Murray holds a B.A. in English from Holy Cross.

 

Peter joined LGP in 1997.

Previously Peter was a Managing Director and Co-Head of DLJ's Los Angeles Investment Banking Division, which he joined in 1990, and where he worked extensively with LGP, assuming the role of its lead investment banker in 1995.

During his time at DLJ, Peter helped to build the Los Angeles investment banking office to the largest regional presence in the nation with over 100 professionals and acted as advisor to entities such as adidas AG, the Government of Mexico, Saatchi & Saatchi PLC, Televisa S.A. and Orion Pictures.

Prior to DLJ, Peter had been a First Vice President in corporate finance at Drexel, Burnham, Lambert from 1986 to 1990, a Vice President at Prudential Securities, Inc. from 1982 to 1986 and an Associate at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company.

Peter presently serves on the Board of Directors of AerSale Holdings, Inc., AsianMedia Group, LLC, Aspen Dental Management, Inc., Motorsport Aftermarket Group, and Scitor Corporation.

Peter has served on the Board of Directors of FTD Group, Inc., Liberty Group Publishing, Inc., VCA Antech, Inc., Wavetek Corporation, White Cap Industries, LLC, Activision, Inc., and the Supervisory Board of adidas AG.

In addition, Peter serves as a trustee of Cornell University and as a member of the Investment Committee for its endowment. He is also a member of the Loyola High School Investment Committee and is a former Eagle Scout.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics and Finance from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

 

As managing partner of Rustic Canyon, Nate combines a decade of experience as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and strategic advisor with a keen interest in what’s next to help emerging companies create breakthrough products, services and value. Some of his most recent investments include Gaikai, Savings.com, Deca and Docstoc.

Before joining Rustic Canyon, Nate managed investments and advisory work for Professor Clayton Christensen at the Harvard Business School. Previously, Nate co-founded an Internet infrastructure company and helped launch two other early web companies. Nate began his career with the Boston Consulting Group as a consultant to technology firms on business and product strategy.

Education: Nate earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School and holds MSE and BSE degrees from The University of Michigan College of Engineering, where he was an Entrepreneurial Fellow in the Engineering Global Leadership Honors Program.

 

Jessica Reed Saouaf is a Managing Director at Hall Capital Partners LLC and Head of the Private Equity group. The firm's Private Equity program covers buyout, growth, distressed, credit, venture capital, and other private equity strategies on a global basis.

Ms. Reed Saouaf joined the firm in 1999 and has held a number of positions, among them Vice President and Head of the Equity Strategies group, where she focused on public equity and equity hedge fund investments, Head of Distressed, where she focused on distressed investment strategies in the private and public markets, Research Associate, and Research Analyst. Ms. Reed Saouaf took a sabbatical to earn her M.B.A. at which time she also interned at Buena Vista Fund Management.

Ms. Reed Saouaf serves on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center and the Advisory Boards of Aberdare Ventures I, II, and III, Asia Environmental Partners, Freestyle Capital Fund I, Gemini Israel IV and V, GP Capital Partners V, JC Flowers I and III, Khosla Ventures III and Khosla Ventures Seed, Longreach Capital I, New Horizon Capital III, Oak Hill Capital Partners, and Qiming I, II and III.
Ms. Reed Saouaf graduated cum laude from Wellesley College with a B.A. in Economics and Psychology. She earned an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

 

Ms. Ruddick joined Pathway in 1996 and is a director in the California office. She is responsible for investment analysis and due diligence, negotiating and reviewing investment vehicle documents, maintaining Pathway’s various databases, investment monitoring, performance analysis, client reporting, and client servicing. Additionally, Ms. Ruddick is on the advisory boards of several private equity partnerships.

Ms. Ruddick received her BA in economics, with a minor in business management, from the University of California, Irvine, and earned her MBA from the Anderson School at the University of California, Los Angeles.

 

Mr. Ryland is a Managing Director focused on the firm’s middle market strategy, Silver Lake Sumeru. He has in-depth experience with investments, financings, mergers and acquisitions in the technology sector. Mr. Ryland joined Silver Lake in 2007 from Shah Capital Partners where he served as a Senior Partner. Before joining Shah Capital, he was a Managing Director at Lehman Brothers and head of Global Technology Investment Banking. Prior to Lehman Brothers, he was an investment banker at Robertson Stephens covering the technology sector and also worked in the firm’s Venture Capital funds where he analyzed and executed venture capital investments. Mr. Ryland is a director on the boards of AVI-SPL, Inc., Locaweb and Power-One, Inc. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and Public Policy Studies from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business.

 

Mr. Sinnott is chief executive officer of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors and is co-managing partner of the firm’s energy private equity activities, which include the origination and execution of private investments in the oil and gas, oil field services and infrastructure industries. Mr. Sinnott is a director of several energy companies including Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., a large publicly traded MLP. He also is a member of the board of visitors of UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and Board of Overseers (Athletics) for the University of Pennsylvania.
 
Mr. Sinnott earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia in 1971 and an M.B.A. in Finance from the Harvard Business School in 1976, after serving three years aboard the U.S.S. Forrestal as a lieutenant j.g.

 

Peter Sotoloff is a Managing Director of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies and is a founding Member.  He is based in New York.

Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Sotoloff was a Principal at Tribeca Associates, an institutionally capitalized owner, operator and developer in New York City. Mr. Sotoloff oversaw the acquisition, financing and development of large scale office, lodging, for-sale residential and mixed-use assets and portfolios.

Prior to that, Mr. Sotoloff oversaw US financing, nonperforming loan acquisition and global currency and interest rate risk management strategies for the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds, a series of global opportunity funds. In addition, Mr. Sotoloff was involved with the management of the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Special Situations Fund investment program.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Sotoloff was with Goldman Sachs’ Whitehall Funds, a global real estate opportunity fund sponsor.

Mr. Sotoloff has been involved in analyzing and structuring acquisitions and financing for numerous real estate investments across all property types and geographies.

Mr. Sotoloff graduated with highest honors from the Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania with a BS in Finance with concentrations in Finance, Real Estate Finance and
Management, and completed the International Business Strategies Program at the London School of Economics.

Mr. Sotoloff is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York, the Urban Land Institute, the CRE Finance Council and the International Council of Shopping Centers.

 

Mr. Spasov is a Partner at Marlin and his primary responsibilities include deal origination, deal qualification, transaction structuring, pursuing strategic initiatives for the firm and investor relations. Prior to joining Marlin, Mr. Spasov was at Northrop Grumman Corporation where he was a Senior Investments Specialist of the Investment and Trust Department, which manages over $30 billion in assets. While at Northrop Grumman, Mr. Spasov was primarily focused on private equity and real estate fund investing, including strategic and tactical planning, conducting due diligence, serving as a voting member for the approval of new investments and portfolio management. Mr. Spasov earned a B.A. in Economics-Accounting from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Mr. Spasov currently serves as President of the Southern California Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association.

 

As the leader of the Southern California asset management tax practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Mr. Sutton provides services to a wide range of traditional and non-traditional real estate and investment management clients including Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT’s), real estate opportunity funds, sovereign wealth funds, homebuilders, developers, hotel operators and foreign owners of real estate.  Mr. Sutton has consulted with real estate clients on numerous tax issues, including initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, cross-border investments, construction and development issues, structured partnership transactions and corporate joint ventures, REIT qualification and initial public offerings, unrelated business taxable income (UBTI) consulting for tax-exempt organizations, involuntary conversions, like-kind exchanges and troubled debt workouts. 

Representative transactions include:

• Sale of Centro Properties Group to Blackstone LP ($9.4 billion)
• Spin-off by Sun Healthcare Group Inc. of Sabra Healthcare REIT Inc. into a separately traded public REIT ($700 million)
• Strategic joint ventures between The Macerich Company and various institutional investors ($1.3 billion)
• Refinancing and debt stabilization plan for Centro Properties Group ($3.4 billion)
• Acquisition of NewPlan Excel Realty Trust by Centro Properties Group ($6.2 billion)
• Acquisition of Heritage Property Investment Trust by Centro Properties Group ($3.2 billion)
• Acquisition of Wilmorite Properties by The Macerich Company ($2.33 billion)
• Acquisition of Westcor Realty by The Macerich Company ($1.5 billion)
• Acquisition of PriceLegacy by Kimco/DRA ($1.2 billion)
• Initial Public Offering / Private Letter Ruling for Extra Space Storage Inc. ($300 million)
• Initial Public Offering of Las Vegas Sands Corp. ($700 million)
• Acquisition of Kramont Realty by Centro Properties Group ($1.2 billion)
• Acquisition of certain M&H properties by Centro Properties Group ($500 million)
• Acquisition of National Golf Properties by affiliates of Goldman, Sachs and Starwood Capital ($1 billion)

Publications

Mr. Sutton’s is a frequent author and his publications include "Real Estate Tax Update" in the February 2006, April 2006, June 2006, August 2006, April 2007, October 2007, December 2007, February 2008, April 2008, June 2008, August 2008, and October 2008  issues of the Journal of Real Estate Finance; “Tax Update: Tax Developments of Interest to the Real Estate Industry” in the October 2005 issue of the Journal of Real Estate Finance; “Australia/US Cross Border Real Estate Investments” in the July 2005 issue of Global Real Estate Now; “New IRS Guidance Addresses Undivided Fractional Interests” in the May 2002 issue of Real Estate Forum; “Estate Tax Legislation Takes Full Effect in 2010” in the July 2001 issue of Real Estate Forum, and “Guidance Coming for Reverse Like-Kind Deals" in the April 2000 issue of Real Estate Forum.

Professional and Business History

PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, 1996-present
Private Industry, 1995-1996
Public Accounting, emphasis in Real Estate Consulting, 1987-1995

Education

B.S., Business Administration, California State University, Fresno
M.S., Taxation, Golden Gate University, San Francisco

 

J. Douglas Tapley joined KKR in 2006 and brings more than ten years of investment experience to his position KKR Asset Management. Previously Mr. Tapley was a Vice President at GE Capital where he underwrote and led debt transactions for sponsored buyouts in the media, communications, and healthcare sectors. Prior to his tenure with GE Capital, Mr. Tapley worked at Cambridge Strategic Management Group where he focused on investment strategy and business plan due diligence for the telecommunications industry. Mr. Tapley holds a B.A. from Rice University, an M.B.A. from Yale University, and is a C.F.A. charterholder.