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Steps to setting up a hedge fund in the United States – Speakers & Panellists

Bios of the speakers and panellists at Hedgeweek’s summit in New York looking at the steps involved in setting up a hedge fund in the USA…


Ron Geffner, Partner, Sadis & Goldberg

Ron Geffner is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and also oversees the Financial Services Group. He regularly structures, organises and counsels private investment vehicles, investment advisory organisations, broker-dealers, commodity pool operators and other investment fiduciaries. Ron also routinely counsels clients in connection with regulatory investigations and actions. His broad background with federal and state securities laws and the rules, regulations and customary practices of the SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Commodities Futures Trading Commission and various other regulatory bodies enables him to provide strategic guidance to a diverse clientele. 

Ariane West, Partner, Walkers Global

Ariane West is a Partner in the corporate and finance practice at Taylors, a full service law firm which works in exclusive association with Walkers and provides advice on all aspects of Bermuda law. Ariane advises Bermuda-based and international clients on a range of corporate and transactional matters, with a focus on structured risk products, including insurance linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bonds, private equity and investment funds. Prior to returning to Bermuda, Ariane was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs in New York and a member of the bank’s Structured Products Trading Group. 

Jeffrey Rosenthal, Partner, Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP

Jeffrey Rosenthal, CPA, CGMA, is the Partner-In-Charge of Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP’s Financial Services Practice. Jeffrey specialises in providing accounting, tax, and business advice to a wide array of financial services entities including broker/dealers, investment partnerships (domestic and offshore), funds-of- funds, mutual funds, private equity funds, and investment advisors. He has extensive experience advising newly formed entities and assisting with start-up considerations. 

Jason Cholewa, VP Business Development, ALPS Alternative Investment Services LLP

Jason Cholewa joined ALPS in 2004. As a Vice President, Jason heads up business development for ALPS Alternative Investment Services on the East Coast. Prior to his current role, Jason was instrumental in opening ALPS’ Boston office where he was responsible for overseeing all administration services and operations on the East Coast for hedge fund, fund of fund, and private equity fund clients. 

Kenneth Turchin, VP, Alternative Investment Products, SS&C 

Kenneth Turchin joined SS&C in May 2007 and has over 20 years experience in alternative investments and fund administration services. Prior, he was a manager with KPMG LLP. He specialised in providing assurance and business advisory services to mutual funds, domestic and offshore hedge funds, commodity pools, private equity funds, venture capital funds, funds-of- funds, and the advisors that manage these vehicles. 

Frank Napolitani, Director, EisnerAmper LLP

Frank Napolitani is a director and national head of business development of the financial services practice at EisnerAmper LLP in New York. Frank has enjoyed a successful 19-year career with a diverse background having worked at a fund of funds, family office and prime broker covering hedge funds. 

Maura Harris, Head of Operational Due Diligence, Bostwick Capital 

Maura Harris is a thought leaderin operational due diligence with experience that includes overseeing
the function at a leading global multi-manager organisation. She has designed, implemented and managed ODD programs for over 10 years. Today, she brings 25 years of experience in accounting, operations and due diligence to Bostwick Capital. 

Michael Merrigan, Founder, Shadmoor Advisors

Prior to founding Shadmoor in March 2014, Michael Merrigan was a Managing Director at Gottex Fund Management, a fund of hedge funds with assets under management exceeding $5bn, and a member of Gottex’s Investment Committee. As Global Head of Operational Due Diligence at Gottex, Michael led a team that conducted the operational due diligence on over 150 hedge funds. 

William Jones, Co-Founder & Senior Partner, ManagementPlus Group

William Jones is the founder of ManagementPlus Group which provides directorship and management company services from Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, Singapore, New
York and Geneva. William has 24 years’ experience in the hedge fund industry and has held senior positions with Goldman Sachs Asset Management International and Bank of Bermuda/HSBC. 

David Nissenbaum, Senior Partner, Schulte Roth & Zabel

David Nissenbaum is co-head of Schulte Roth & Zabel’s Investment Management Group and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. David advises on fund structuring, fundraising, management company partnerships, compensation plans, succession plans, seed and strategic investments and spinoffs of investment teams. His work includes counselling clients on finding practical solutions to regulatory and compliance requirements, including the Volcker Rule, and managing conflicts of interest with an emphasis on reducing legal risk to the business. 

Michael Ruggeri, Partner, PwC 

Mike Ruggeri is a partner in PwC’s Alternative Investment Funds practice who recently returned to the firm. While away from the firm, Mike was a Managing Director at Siguler Guff & Company, an approximately $11bn alternative asset manager, and served as the firm’s Chief Financial Officer. Mike specialises in serving clients in the alternative investment industry where he has been the global engagement partner covering numerous multi-billion dollar hedge fund and private equity fund clients. Mike also provides audit, accounting and consulting services to a variety of clients within the asset management business and leads business development efforts focused on alternative asset management clients for PwC. 

Maxine Alexis, Head of Dedicated Managed Account Structuring at HedgeMark Advisors LLC

Maxine oversees all matters relating to the structuring, legal documentation and regulatory support of institutional investor hedge fund managed accounts at HedgeMark, a subsidiary of BNY Mellon. Maxine has 18 years of experience in structuring hedge funds, having previously worked as a senior legal counsel at Deutsche Bank for 10 years and prior to that as an associated at Sidley Austin LLP. 

Gary Berger, Partner, KPMG 

Gary Berger is an audit partner at KPMG. Based in the Firm’s New York office, he is extensively involved in the Firm’s Financial Services practice and has over 25 years of experience serving domestic and offshore hedge funds, private equity funds and fund of funds. He provides advice on fund start up issues including organisational structure, economic and tax issues and general business consultation. Gary’s recent experience includes serving as a senior vice president at
a large global administrator. Gary is a frequent speaker at financial services conferences and seminars. 

Ryan Rosen, Associate Director, PAAMCO

Ryan Rosen, CFA, is a member of the Portfolio Solutions Group, focusing on custom client portfolios and portfolio construction. He also focuses on research, due diligence, and risk monitoring across a number of PAAMCO hedge fund strategies, and he works on the development and implementation of new business initiatives for the firm. Prior to joining PAAMCO, Ryan was a supervisor in the research department at William O’Neil & Co. 

David Meneret, Chief Investment Officer, Mill Hill Capital

Prior to establishing Mill Hill Capital in 2015 and launching the Mill Hill Credit Opportunities, David was a Senior Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager in charge of Securitized Debt and Corporate Financials Trading at Macquarie’s Credit Nexus Fund from 2012 to 2015. He was Head of Securitized Debt Trading at Macquarie’s Credit Principal Trading division from late 2008 to early 2012. Prior to this he was a senior trader on the Structured Products Proprietary Trading Desk at UBS. 

Jack Seibald, Managing Director, Global Co-Head of Prime Brokerage, Cowen Prime Services 

Jack Seibald has accumulated a broad range of experience in the investment business since joining the industry 34 years ago. After starting his career in investment research he became a partner in a boutique brokerage that offered trade execution and back office support services to institutional investors and hedge funds. He subsequently co-founded and operated an investment management firm that managed several long/short equity hedge funds and separately managed accounts for institutional investors, funds of funds, family offices, and high net worth individuals. In 2005 he and his partner returned all assets to investors and refocused their efforts on providing the prime brokerage offering. After growing that business under the Concept Capital brand for a decade, Cowen acquired it in 2015. 

Sean Inggs, Fund Director, IMS 

Sean Inggs is a resident in the Cayman Islands and is a qualified Attorney with a background in corporate and investment funds and holds the Accredited Director qualification. Sean is a Professional Director in the Cayman Islands registered pursuant to the Directors Registration and Licensing Law 2014 and serves as an independent director on a range of corporate boards including: investment fund structures; investment holding companies; operating companies and their subsidiaries; licensed investment manager companies; real estate investment companies. 

Jorge Hendrickson, SVP, Head of Sales, Opus Fund Services

Jorge Hendrickson is based in the New York office. Prior to joining Opus in February 2013, he worked in Prime Brokerage Sales and Capital Introductions at Concept Capital Markets (now Cowen Prime Services) starting in 2010. From 2009-2010 Jorge worked at Bay Head Capital allocating seed capital, managed accounts and infrastructure services to launch managers. Prior to this, he also held a variety of operational, trading and marketing roles at Intrepid Capital Management and Bridgewater Associates. 

Yohan Kim, President & COO, RFA 

Yohan Kim is an IT veteran with more than 15 years of experience working in the financial industry. As RFA’s President and COO, Yohan ensures that the vision of the firm is supported with a proper foundation of controls, strategy, and efficiency. Prior to his current role, he served as the Systems Engineer for several top hedge funds and managed Systems Engineering and Service Desk teams. 

Christopher Riccardi, Partner, Seward & Kissel

Christopher Riccardi joined Seward & Kissel in 2000 and has been a partner in the Investment Management Group since 2010. Christopher works with sponsors and managers of various private investment funds and other pooled investment vehicles, including private equity funds, hedge funds, funds of funds, commodity pools, and various hybrid funds. In particular, Christopher focuses on fund formation and structuring, the offering of interests by private investment funds, and the negotiation and documentation of such investments. 

Thomas Walek, Founder & Managing Partner, Peaks Strategies

Thomas Walek is an award-winning pioneer in financial and capital markets communications and founded Walek & Associates in 1998. Tom began his career as a financial journalist covering the global development and expansion of derivatives and capital markets from the trading floors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Tom is a member of The National Press Club in Washington, DC, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) and the University of Colorado College of Media, Communications and Information Advisory Board. He served on AIMA’s Communications and Global Communications committees from 2006-2014. He served on the Managed Funds Association Communications Advisory Forum. 

Eli Combs, Founder, Axis Global Advisory

Eli Combs has over 20 years’ experience in the investment management business. Prior to founding Axis, Eli was a founding partner of MeehanCombs where he sourced and closed all of the investment capital as the President, COO and CCO. He was also a member of the Investment Committee and the only internal board member. Prior to this, Eli was a founding member of Alden Global Capital. 

Scott Froehlich, Head of Hedge Fund Origination, Eaton Partners 

Scott Froehlich leads Eaton’s Public Markets Origination effort where he focuses on sourcing, building and strengthening Eaton’s relationships with top Hedge Fund and Long Only managers. He has 20 years of financial services experience, eight of which have been spent directly allocating to hedge funds and marketing single strategy hedge fund products. 

Kyle Dunn, Founder, Meyler Capital 

In forming Meyler Capital, Kyle Dunn set out to change how asset managers, companies and individuals think about marketing, and how placement agents perceive the process. Prior to founding Meyler Capital, Kyle acted as the Director of Business Development for Playground, the EVP of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, the EVP of Blueprint Global Marketing, and the VP of Investor Relations for Second City Capital. 

James Williams, Managing Editor, GFM

James joined GFM in 2010 where he reports on key developments spanning fund performance and strategy, legal and regulatory issues, technology and risk management. In addition, James has contributed articles on the hedge fund industry to the FT, Dow Jones Financial News and Citywire Global as well as writing white papers for SEI and Misys on technology and operational developments. 

Meghan McAlpine, Director of Strategy & Product Marketing, Intralinks

Meghan McAlpine is responsible for the go-to-market strategy and driving the growth of Intralinks’ Alternative Investments solution. Prior to joining Intralinks, Meghan worked in the Private Fund Group at Credit Suisse. While at Credit Suisse, she raised capital from institutional and high net worth investors for domestic and international private equity firms. 
 

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