Mitchell Blutt

Chief Executive Officer

Consonance Capital

Dr. Mitchell Blutt is the CEO of Consonance Capital, a health care focused investment firm.  He is the former Executive Partner of J.P. Morgan Partners, from which he retired in March of 2004. Dr. Blutt participated in the general management of JP Morgan Partners, as well as having specific responsibility for overseeing the Global Life Sciences and Health Care Infrastructure Group and certain other investment focus areas. He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, in the Department of Medicine at Weill Medical College and the Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University.

Dr. Blutt completed his BA and MD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.  He received his MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania through the Clinical Scholars Fellowship sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  He completed his medical residence at the New York Hospital/Cornell Medical School.  He was one of the first employees of Chemical Venture Partners (1986), the predecessor to Chase Capital Partners, which became J.P Morgan Partners.

Dr. Blutt formerly served on numerous boards of directors, including Cardinal Health, Fisher Scientific, DJ Orthopedics, General Medical, Hanger Orthopedic Group, Thermoscan, and Somerset Pharmaceuticals.    He also formerly served on the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, The Brearley School, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, and the National Venture Capital Association.  He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Penn Medicine, the Health System of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Blutt founded Consonance Capital in 2004. 

William Browder

Chief Executive Officer

Hermitage Capital Management

William Browder is the Founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, a leading global asset management firm with over $3 billion under management. After eleven years of investing exclusively in Russia, Mr. Browder launched Hermitage Global, a deep-value activist fund focusing on the Middle East and other emerging markets in April 2007. The firm’s Russian product, the Hermitage Fund, was named “2005 Fund of the Year” by EuroHedge (Emerging Markets Equities category) and has also been ranked among the best emerging market and global hedge funds by agencies including Nelson’s, Lipper and Micropal.

Mr. Browder started Hermitage Capital Management in 1996 in partnership with the late Edmond Safra. Under Mr. Browder’s leadership, the Hermitage Fund has produced total shareholder returns of over 2,400%. The Fund was named 2005 “Fund of the Year” (Emerging Market Equities) by EuroHedge and has also been ranked as the world’s best performing emerging markets fund over a five-year period by Nelson’s (1996-2001).

Mr. Browder is a leading global shareholder rights activist and an outspoken fighter for better corporate governance at Russian and other emerging markets companies. He and Hermitage have been credited with a number of breakthroughs in improving corporate standards at major Russian companies, including Gazprom, Sberbank and Unified Energy Systems. He also spearheaded radical changes in Russian corporate law, including the creation of pre-emptive rights for all minority shareholders in Russian companies and the introduction of cumulative voting for director elections.

Mr. Browder was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2005 and is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He received a 2004 Industry Achievement Award by Global Fund Analysis and was named a 2005 “Person to Watch” by the Financial News. He serves as Chairman of the Russia Task Force for the Institute of International Finance and is a member of the OECD/World Bank Roundtable on Corporate Governance in Russia.

Prior to starting Hermitage, Mr. Browder was Vice President at Salomon Brothers where he managed the firm’s proprietary investments in Russia. He received an MBA from Stanford Business School and a BA in Economics with honors from the University of Chicago.

John H. Burbank III

Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer

Passport Capital

• Founded Passport Capital LLC in 2000. Sole Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer.

• 1999 - 2000 Equity Analyst for JMG Triton Offshore, Ltd.* a $1.0 billion market neutral arbitrage fund.  Ranked by Hedge Fund Research Inc. as the top performing market neutral fund from 1997-2001 with assets over $250M).

• 1996 – 1998 Director of Research for ValueVest Management, a $150 million long/short global value fund.

• 1993 – 1995 Various management positions in start-up companies, active as a private investor.

John Burbank is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Passport Capital, LLC, a San Francisco based, global hedge fund.  The firm manages approximately $2.3 billion in assets.  Passport’s investment process uses a combination of macroeconomic analysis to develop major themes and rigorous fundamental research on individual companies to create global portfolios.  The investment team focuses on the following industry sectors: Basic Materials, Energy, India, Global Capital Markets, Internet/Technology, Global Consumer, Healthcare/Biotechnology and Subprime Mortgage CDS.  Mr. Burbank has over a decade of experience investing in global equity markets.  Prior to founding the firm in 2000, he was a consultant to JMG Triton Offshore, Ltd.  From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Burbank was the director of research at ValueVest Management.  He holds a B.A. degree from Duke University and earned an M.B.A. degree from the Stanford Business School.

Jesse Eisinger

Former Senior Writer

Condé Nast Portfolio

Jesse Eisinger is the Former Wall Street editor of Conde Nast Portfolio covering finance and the author of the magazine’s “Wall Street” column. In a November 2007 cover story “Wall Street Requiem,” he predicted the demise of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. Prior to joining Portfolio, he worked at The Wall Street Journal in New York and London for almost seven years.  He initiated three columns on the financial world for the paper, including the weekly “Long & Short” and the daily “Ahead of the Tape.”
 
While working in London, Eisinger won a Business Journalist of the Year Award in 2003 for his investigation of accounting irregularities at the Irish drugmaker Elan. Eisinger has also covered biotechnology and pharmaceuticals for TheStreet.com and Dow Jones Newswires.
 
He holds a B.A. from Columbia College and lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the journalist Sarah Ellison.

Kevin Ferro

Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer

Ferro Capital LLC

Kevin Ferro is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of alternative investment management firm Ferro Capital LLC.  Prior to forming Ferro Capital in 2001, Mr. Ferro was the Global Head of Alternative Investment Strategies for Commerzbank AG, one of Germany’s largest listed banks, where he managed a series of multi-manager alternative investment programs for the bank and its clients.  While at Commerzbank from 1998-2001, Mr. Ferro and his team created and managed the innovative COMAS Series for German investors, including “COMAS I”, widely regarded as the first “hedge fund certificate” in Germany.  Prior to Commerzbank, Mr. Ferro was responsible for hedge fund multi-manager products at hedge fund D. E. Shaw & Co. LP (1994-1998).  Mr. Ferro is the chairman of the board of directors of Arisaph Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an emerging drug discovery and design biopharmaceutical company, and was a member of the board of directors of Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc. until its acquisition by Abbott Laboratories in 2006.  Mr. Ferro also serves as principal and Chief Investment Officer of Oikos Advisors, LLC as well as being a Managing Director of Vatera Capital LLC, a private equity firm focusing in the healthcare arena.  Mr. Ferro has been a featured speaker at many financial conferences and has appeared numerous times as a guest speaker on CNBC's European Closing Bell, CNBC’s Squawk Box, and n-tv television programs.  Mr. Ferro received his A.B. with honors from Harvard University.

Paul Glazer

President

Glazer Capital, LLC

Paul J. Glazer founded Glazer Capital, LLC in 1999 and serves as its President and Chief Investment Officer.  Glazer Capital, LLC is a recognized leader in low-risk merger arbitrage investing.

Prior to starting Glazer Capital, LLC, Mr. Glazer worked in Institutional Sales and Trading for a total of nine years at Jeffries & Company, Oscar Gruss & Son and Bear Stearns & Co.  At Bear Stearns & Co., where he was a Vice-President, Mr. Glazer headed institutional option sales for the Western Region of the U.S. and he was also active in when-issued securities, risk arbitrage and other types of equity arbitrage. His clients included many well known hedge funds, RIAs, and private investment funds of family foundations. While at Oscar Gruss & Son, he covered the proprietary risk arbitrage desks of some of Wall Street's largest brokerage firms.

Mr. Glazer holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics with majors in Finance and Accounting from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Karsch
Founder
Karsch Capital Management

Michael A. Karsch is the founder and portfolio manager of Karsch Capital Management, LP (“KCM”), a global long/short equity hedge fund manager located in New York City.  Mr. Karsch founded KCM in July of 2000 and has consistently generated positive annual net returns since inception.  The firm currently manages approximately $3.4 billion in assets for six investment funds and several separately managed accounts.  The investment objective of KCM is to achieve high risk-adjusted returns by investing, on the long and the short sides, in mid-cap and large-cap companies primarily in North America and other developed economies.   

Mr. Karsch employs a rigorous research driven process which is implemented by the firm’s 21 research and trading professionals. The cornerstones of Mr. Karsch’s investment philosophy include an “industry before company” approach to investing and “the life cycle of investing” in which the analysis of a company’s evolution through stages of the life cycle is used to determine a comfortable entry point for investing.   

Mr. Karsch also believes that there are three primary drivers of stock prices: (i) the direction of the overall stock market; (ii) both the short-term and the long-term potential of the industry in which a specific company operates; and (iii) the current performance and future prospects of a specific company itself.

Prior to founding KCM, Mr. Karsch worked at Soros Fund Management LLC as a Managing Director.  From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Karsch was one of four investment professionals at Chieftain Capital Management.  From 1991 to 1993, he was an investment banking analyst at Wasserstein Perella & Co.  Mr. Karsch graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. from Tufts University in 1990.  He obtained his Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1991.  Mr. Karsch obtained his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1995.

Donald Lindsey

Chief Investment Officer

The George Washington University Investment Office

Donald W. Lindsey joined The George Washington University in April 2003 as Chief Investment Officer responsible for management of the University’s $1.1 billion endowment.  He also is a Professional Lecturer of Finance in the GW School of Business and teaches Applied Portfolio Management in the MBA program.  Prior to joining GWU, he established the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM) in May 2000 and served as its first President and Chief Executive Officer.  UTAM was established to manage the University of Toronto’s CAD$ 4.0 billion in endowment and pension assets.  He began his career with the University of Virginia Investment Management Company in 1987, where he served initially as Investment Analyst and proceeded to become Assistant Director of Investments, Senior Investment Officer and Director. He has taught in the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.  In addition, he has appeared several times as a guest on Toronto-based Report on Business Television.  He holds the CFA designation, and has also taught CFA exam preparation and other courses in Croatia, Romania, Japan, South Africa, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland and has served on the CFA Institute Council of Examiners. He is a member of the Investment Advisory Committee of the Virginia Retirement System and serves as a board member of the Washington Society of Investment Analysts.  Mr. Lindsey holds a BA in Political Science from Virginia Tech and an MBA from James Madison University.  

Jeff Marwil

Partner

Proskauer Rose LLP

Jeff Marwil is a partner in Proskauer’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group. During his 22 years of experience in the bankruptcy, workout and corporate restructuring area, he has developed a reputation for providing sophisticated strategic advice to upper-tier companies in distress and for solving challenging legal and business issues.

Currently, Jeff is devoting significant attention to hedge funds in distress, including hedge fund restructurings, wind-downs and liquidations. He represents the hedge funds, the managers/ advisers, and sophisticated fund-of-fund and pension plan investors in hedge fund restructurings, wind-downs and complex litigation matters. Jeff currently serves as lead fund counsel for a complex of several alternative strategy funds completing a wind down and liquidation in the midst of the current unprecedented market conditions. He also represents a large group of investors in certain Madoff “feeder funds” where he is seeking authority for investors to control the funds’ portfolio wind downs and the funds’ liquidation. He currently serves as the Sole Managing Member of the Bayou Group of hedge funds, and is pursuing, in its Chapter 11 cases, fraudulent conveyance recoveries from Ponzi scheme recipients for the benefit of defrauded investors. There are other matters, including complex hedge fund litigation, in which Jeff is involved. He also recently represented some of the largest investor creditors in the attempted restructuring, and now wind-down, of a multibillion dollar onshore and offshore affiliated group of multistrategy hedge funds.

Jeff also has long-term and extensive experience representing public and private companies (in and out of court) in restructuring complex capital structures and reorganizing their financial affairs and business operations. Jeff has an in-depth understanding of the roles and responsibilities of officers and directors of both publicly traded and privately held companies, and regularly is retained to provide advice on issues of fiduciary duty related to companies in distress, their creditors and their shareholders.

In addition to counseling clients through workouts, restructurings and reorganizations, Jeff has represented companies, private equity funds, hedge funds and other investment groups in the purchase and sale of distressed companies, debt and assets. He has assisted numerous clients, both on the sell side and the buy side, with structuring and consummating complex transactions. He also has represented senior secured lenders and official committees in major workouts, restructurings and reorganizations.

Jeff is recognized nationally as an independent fiduciary, handling investigations of fraud and pursuing recoveries for investors and other victims of fraud. In addition to his role in the Bayou matter, he serves as the Securities Exchange Commission-selected and Southern District of Indiana-appointed Conservator and Receiver for the Church Extension of the Church of God and United Management Services.

Harvey R. Miller

Partner

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

Harvey R. Miller, born New York City, March 1, 1933; admitted to bar, 1959, New York.  Admitted:  United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Ninth Circuits; United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; New York State.  Education: Brooklyn College (A.B., 1954); Columbia University (LL.B., 1959). 

Harvey R. Miller currently is a Senior Partner in the New York City based international law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP where he had been a member of the Firm’s Management Committee for over 25 years and created and developed the Firm’s Business Finance & Restructuring Department specializing in reorganizing distressed business entities and representing creditors, investors and purchasers of distressed businesses and assets.  From September, 2002 to March, 2007, he was a Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Greenhill & Co., LLC, an international investment banking firm.  Adjunct Associate Professor of Law 1974-76, and Adjunct Professor of Law 1976 to present, New York University Law School; Visiting Lecturer, Yale Law School, 1983-84; Lecturer in Law 2000 to present, Columbia University School of Law; Member, Board of Visitors Columbia University School of Law through 2002; Member, Dean’s Council Columbia University School of Law 2003-present; Member, National Bankruptcy Conference; Fellow, American College of Bankruptcy; Fellow of the American Bar Foundation; Trustee, Committee on Economic Development; also serves on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Opera.   Frequent lecturer at continuing legal education and economic conferences.

Recipient of:  2005 Distinguished Service Award, American College of Bankruptcy; 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award, Emory University School of Law; 2001 Medal for Excellence, Columbia University School of Law Association.

Richard Peterson

Managing Director
MarketPsy Capital LLC

Richard L. Peterson MD is the Managing Director of MarketPsy Capital LLC, a psychology-based asset management firm.  Additionally, through MarketPsych Partners he trains financial professionals to use psychological insights in their daily work, both with clients and in the markets.  Dr. Peterson’s financial psychology research has been published in leading academic journals, textbooks, and profiled in the financial media including CNBC, NPR, and the Wall Street Journal.  His book, Inside the Investor’s Brain (Wiley, 2007), was praised as “outstanding” by Barrons and a “Best Investing Read of 2007” by Kiplinger’s.  Dr. Peterson earned cum laude degrees in Electrical Engineering (BS), Arts (BA), and Medicine (MD) from the University of Texas.  He performed post-graduate neuroeconomics research at Stanford University and is Board-certified in psychiatry.  He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters.

Mary Pilon

Reporter

The Wall Street Journal - Dow Jones

Mary Pilon joined The Wall Street Journal as a reporter in June 2008. She's worked to cover various aspects of the financial crisis, trading floors, personal finance and investing. She's the founding writer of The Wallet, the Journal's personal finance and investing blog. Prior to working at the Journal, Mary has worked at USA Today, New York Magazine, The Register-Guard and reported from Spain, Russia and China. She is an honors graduate of New York University.

Jenny Strasburg

Staff Writer

The Wall Street Journal

Jenny Strasburg is a staff writer with The Wall Street Journal, where she is part of the Money & Investing section. She focuses on hedge funds and their intersection with Wall Street firms, big banks and investors both public and private. Previously she was a reporter with Bloomberg News in New York, covering similar terrain. Before that, she completed the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University, a year-long study program within the Graduate School of Business, which followed five years as a business reporter with the San Francisco Chronicle and former San Francisco Examiner covering everything from real estate to technology to private equity. She started her career at newspapers in Texas after growing up in Albuquerque.

Douglas Teitelbaum
Managing Principal
Bay Harbour Management

Doug is the managing principal of Bay Harbour Management, LC, an SEC registered Investment Advisor that specializes in investments in securities of distressed companies, special situations equities and in buying and fixing distressed companies. Doug’s experience in the distressed securities markets began in the late 1980s and he has been an active participant since. Notable investments for Bay Harbour include the restructuring of NextWave Telecom, the purchase, turn around and sale of both Barneys New York and Telcove, a telecom competitor (formerly Adelphia Business Solutions).  Bay Harbour together with partners Robert Earl and Starwood Hotels, purchased the former Aladdin, a 2600 room, 115m square foot casino on the Las Vegas strip which recently reopened as the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino after a $250 million redevelopment.  He holds an un-restricted gaming license in the State of Nevada.

Doug’s outside interests include political, medical and cultural interests, with significant support historically for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund and the Harris Obesity Prevention Effort. Doug previously served as the Treasurer of the American Jewish Congress. Doug won Tony and Drama Desk awards as a producer of 2002 Best Musical Thoroughly Modern Millie and was the 2000 recipient of the AJC’s Isaiah Award for community leadership.

John Trammell

President

Cadogan Management, LLC

John Trammell, works together with Stuart Leaf, Cadogan's Chief Executive Officer, to manage and oversee the firm's business.  Mr. Trammell joined Cadogan in September 2007, bringing with him a global perspective from his diverse experiences in investing, institutional sales, operations and research.  Prior to joining Cadogan, he spent seven years at Investor Select Advisors, an independent fund of funds.  Most recently, Mr. Trammell served as Chief Executive Officer of Investor Select Advisors, overseeing the strategic planning and day-to-day business functions, including linking together the research, sales, administrative and legal aspects of the company.  He helped to build up the global institutional business initiative, specifically with Japanese and other large global institutions and distributors.  Mr. Trammell joined Investor Select Advisors from Argonaut Capital Management in New York, where he was Chief Operating Officer.  Prior to Argonaut, he held several management positions with A. Gary Shilling and Co., a New Jersey-based economic consulting and investment advisory firm, and was a Managing Partner with Securities Research Inc., a securities brokerage firm.  Mr. Trammell began his career with the Hudson Institute, a New York-based think tank, where he served as a primary economic research assistant to Herman Kahn, a noted strategist.  Mr. Trammell received a BA in History and Economics from DePauw University and studied at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.

Victoria Vysotina
Associate Director
The Rockefeller Foundation

Prior to joining the Rockefeller Foundation as the Associate Director for hedge funds, Victoria was with HSBC’s Alternative Investment Group where she was as a Senior Research Analyst and a member of the Investment Committee. Prior to that, she was with Morgan Stanley, EIM, CSFB, and Merrill Lynch.  Victoria earned her Ph.D. in mathematics from Emory University.