Harvard Law School Association of New York City

Marketing Alternative Investments – An LP Perspective (in-person)

Join Hemali Dassani and Nandu Kuppuswamy, CFA, co-authors of the book, “Marketing Alternative Investments – A Comprehensive Guide to Fundraising and IR for Private Equity and Hedge Funds”, for an insightful panel discussion featuring prominent investors in the realm of alternative investments.

Our distinguished panelists, limited partners (LPs) include:
Deepika Sharma, CFA, Global Head of Manager Selection at BlackRock
Cari Lodge, Managing Director, Head of Secondaries at CF Private Equity
Sona Menon, Partner, Outsourced Chief Investment Officer & Head of Pension Practice NA at Cambridge Associates

Hemali and Nandu, the authors themselves, will lead this thought-provoking conversation and delve into the latest trends, formidable hurdles, and innovative strategies in the ever-evolving landscape of hedge fund and PE marketing. In addition to gaining valuable insights on manager selection and their investment criteria from these seasoned experts who oversee billions in institutional assets, we will explore critical questions such as the pivotal role of asset gathering in driving success for alternative investment firms and comprehending the expectations and frustrations of LPs for managers to succeed in the marketing of their funds. The panel will explore challenges and best practices of both established and emerging managers from the LP perspective.

Join us for an evening of thoughtful discussion, networking, and the chance to broaden your horizons in the world of alternative investments.

6:00 pm Check-In; Event from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
FOR SECURITY REASONS, NO WALK-INS ARE PERMITTED

Pre-registration is required and will close at Noon on Monday, November 6th, 2023.

BIOS

Speaker

Deepika Sharma

Global Head of Manager Selection, BlackRock

Deepika (Dee) Sharma is the Global Head of Manager Selection for the Multi-Manager Platform at BlackRock. In this role, she is responsible for building multi-manager portfolios for the global Outsourced CIO (OCIO) business, across public and private market strategies as part of Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions (MASS). The Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions (MASS) team is the investment group at the heart of BlackRock’s portfolio construction, asset allocation, and active management ecosystem. MASS draws on the full toolkit of BlackRock’s investment capabilities to deliver precise investment outcomes and cutting-edge alpha insights.

Deepika has spent over 15 years in portfolio management and multi-asset investing roles, with publications in the Journal of Investing, ACM AI in Finance and Beta Investment Strategies. Previously, Dee led product research and innovation focused on factors and fixed income and was responsible for proprietary systematic research to execute on client opportunities.

Prior to joining BlackRock, she was a Portfolio Manager and Director of Investment Research at Astor Investment Management, a $2bn asset management firm, where she built a multi-alternative strategy awarded with Refinitiv Lipper awards for outstanding performance. She previously worked within the Fixed Income Proprietary Trading group at Nomura and began her career as an analyst on the structured credit desk at Lehman Brothers.

Deepika most recently served as Chair of Board of Directors at CFA Society New York, the largest of the 142+ societies that comprise CFA Institute worldwide with over 10,000 members. She is also a member of the Milken Institute, Bretton Woods Committee and the Economic Club of New York. Deepika holds a Masters in International Finance at Columbia University.

Speaker

Cari Lodge

Managing Director and Head of Secondaries at CF Private Equity

Cari Lodge is Head of Secondaries, a member of the Investment Committee and Senior Executive Group of CF Private Equity. She oversees the origination, evaluation, structuring and negotiation of secondaries transactions as well as the portfolio construction, monitoring and fundraising of the firm’s secondary funds. Additionally, Cari contributes to the firm’s buyout, growth equity, venture capital, and real assets and sustainability strategies. Cari has over 22 years of secondaries experience and has closed over 375 secondary transactions for approximately $2.8 billion in total exposure. She began her career at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (which merged with Credit Suisse in 2000) as an Associate in Investment Banking. She spent 12 years with Credit Suisse’s Secondary Team, Strategic Partners, since its founding in 2000, and served as a member of the Investment Committee. Prior to joining CF Private Equity, Cari was at Tulane University’s Investment Management Office where she was responsible for overseeing the private equity and private real assets investments for the endowment. She is presently a member of the advisory board of several private equity limited partnerships. Cari is also a member of the Investment Committee of her alma mater, The Hotchkiss School. In 2022, she was recognized by PEI as one of the top ten women of influence in private markets. Cari received an A.B. from Dartmouth College in both Economics and Government and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Speaker

Sona Menon

Partner and the Head of the North American Pension Practice at Cambridge Associates

Sona Menon is a Partner and the Head of the North American Pension Practice at Cambridge Associates.

Sona has been with Cambridge Associates since 2001 and brings more than 25 years of investment industry experience to her clients. Sona serves as an Outsourced CIO for a variety of institutional investors, including public, union, and non-profit plan sponsors; healthcare institutions; and other investors with multi-asset pools.

Sona is a frequent author and contributor to the firm’s thought leadership on key investment topics impacting the institutional investment landscape. She also regularly speaks at conferences across the industry and is widely quoted in the investment press. Sona serves on several firmwide councils and steering committees, including the Global Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Council, CA’s 401K Committee, Digital Strategy Committee, and the Diverse Manager Council Executive Committee.

Sona began her career at Cambridge Associates building portfolios for institutional investors across the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and the Middle East. Before joining Cambridge Associates, she worked at JP Morgan in the sovereign risk research department, as well as on the emerging markets sales and foreign exchange trading desks.

Sona received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BA in Government from Cornell University. She is fluent in Spanish, Hindi, and Gujarati.

Moderator

Nandu Kuppuswamy

Founder and Managing Partner of Ambrosian Sun Advisors

Nandu Kuppuswamy, CFA, is an investment management professional with expertise as both an asset allocator and an investor relations professional. His career and professional experience spans investor relations, fundraising, asset allocation, due diligence, operations, analytics, research, and strategy. He has a track record of raising funds from institutional investors as well as HNIs. Currently, Kuppuswamy is the founder and Managing Partner of Ambrosian Sun Advisors, an advisor to alternative fund managers. Previously, he has managed investor relations and fundraising for several PE and hedge funds. Earlier, he was an asset allocator at Spider Management (University of Richmond’s endowment) and managed credit risk for an $8 billion amortizing portfolio at CapitalOne. Nandu is a CFA Charterholder. He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology – Madras and has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad. He is a member of the CFA Society Stamford and a Board Member for the Global Organization for the People of Indian Origin (GOPIO-CT).

Moderator

Hemali Dassani, MBA 1999

Managing Director, CapLink Securities

Hemali Dassani, MBA 1999, is an experienced fundraiser and investor relations professional within the alternative investments space and is currently a placement agent at CapLink Securities and consultant to multiple Private Equity funds. Hemali was previously Director of Investor Relations for Argand Partners and Castle Harlan, middle market private equity funds. Hemali was also a Managing Director with Old City Investment Partners, a multi-family office dedicated to finding high quality investments for the firm’s clientele of family office investors. Ms. Dassani has an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University. She was President of the Harvard Business School Club of Greater New York and currently sits on the Board of the Club. Ms. Dassani is a published author of “Marketing Alternative Investments: A Comprehensive Guide to Fundraising and Investor Relations for Private Equity and Hedge Funds” (https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Alternative-Investments-Comprehensive-Fundraising/dp/1264627645). The book was released by McGraw Hill in October, 2022 and had been the #1 New Release in PE/VC, #6 in all of finance and utilized in a course at HBS.

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