PANEL SPEAKERS AND MODERATORS
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CHRISTINA LEE
Managing Director
Oaktree Capital Management
Ms. Lee is a managing director and assistant portfolio manager for Oaktree’s U.S. Private Debt strategy. She joined the team in 2009 and is primarily responsible for originating, underwriting and executing new investment opportunities. Ms. Lee sources new opportunities from financial sponsors and intermediaries in New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. In addition, she is responsible for monitoring existing portfolio investments until fully realized. Prior to joining Oaktree, Ms. Lee spent nearly two years as an analyst in the Leveraged Finance group at Citi. She received a B.S. degree in commerce with concentrations in finance and international business from the University of Virginia.
Impact / ESG
MONICA BRAND ENGEL
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Quona Capital
Monica Brand Engel is co-founder and Managing Partner at Quona, where she leads Quona's Africa, MENA and Cross-Border investment strategy.
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Monica is an investor and entrepreneur, having launched a number of investment vehicles and products aimed at broadening financial inclusion. Monica spent her formative years in Silicon Valley, where she helped launch a $50 million multi-bank lending intermediary to finance small businesses. Monica also worked at Calvert Ventures and Anthuri Ventures—early-stage equity vehicles based in Bethesda, Maryland and Cape Town, respectively. While living in South Africa, Monica founded Anthuri Catalysts to prepare early-stage companies for investment.
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Monica then joined Accion to set up and run a product innovation group and worked in Mexico with Gentera (née Compartamos) Bank, the largest microfinance institution in Latin America, which went public in 2007 (NSDQ: GENTERA:MM). She was the founding managing director of Accion’s Frontier Investments Group, the predecessor to Quona Capital.
Monica holds an MBA and MA Ed from Stanford University and a BA in economics with honors from Williams College. She serves on the boards of Khazna, Wasoko, Capiter, Verto, GloboKasNet, and Zoona, and is a founding member of the GPCA Impact Council. Previously, she served on the boards of Gentera (née Compartamos) Bank (IPO), Azimo (sold to Papaya), Shubham Housing (sold to Premji Invest), Yoco, Tiaxa (sold to BeMobi), Paralife, and Pay Rent Builds Credit (acquired by MicroBilt) and chaired the Investor Representative Committee of LeapFrog Investments, the world’s first microinsurance fund.
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She’s half Peruvian and blessed with a fantastic husband and twins.
LP Perspectives
AMANDA UGARTE
Managing Director
Lazard
Amanda is a Managing Director in the Private Capital Advisory Group based in New York. She is an experienced banker with deep knowledge in structuring and executing a broad spectrum of strategic GP-led secondary transactions.
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Prior to joining Lazard, Ms. Ugarte was a Managing Director at PJT Partners in the Park Hill secondary advisory group, which she joined in 2015, initially in the M&A business. Previously, she worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley since 2004. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Psychology from Wellesley College and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.
Private Equity
MIRIAM RAFIQI
Managing Director
HIG
Miriam is a Managing Director in the infrastructure team and is based in H.I.G. Capital’s New York office. Previously, she spent nine years as a member of the H.I.G. Middle Market Buyout fund, where she focused on the Industrial sector.
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Miriam is responsible for all aspects of the investment process including origination, transaction structuring, financing, and execution of post-closing growth strategies and represents.
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Prior to joining H.I.G., Miriam worked in private equity at DLJ Merchant Banking Partners. Miriam began her career in the Energy Investment Banking group at Credit Suisse.
Miriam earned her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and her undergraduate degree from the George Washington University.
Public Equity
SARA CARTER
Portfolio Manager
Viking
Sara Carter is a Portfolio Manager responsible for identifying and researching investment ideas in the Healthcare sector for the public equity team. Sara joined Viking in 2012 as a summer intern and rejoined full-time in 2013. Prior to joining Viking, she was an Analyst in GCP Capital, where she evaluated and executed private equity investments and an Investment Banking Analyst at Greenhill & Co.
Sara received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in biomedical engineering and economics with the highest distinction from the University of Virginia.
Venture Capital
ELLIE WHEELER
Partner
Greycroft
Ellie joined Greycroft in 2011 and is based in New York City. She leads the digital health team and invests across consumer and enterprise models within the sector.
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Ellie’s active investments include Baublebar, Blinkist, Boost Insurance, Boulder Care, Cuyana, Eden Health, Elevate, Expel, Extra, Firstleaf, Hubble Contacts, Octave, Parade, and Thirty Madison. Her notable exits include NuORDER (acquired by Lightspeed), Flashpoint (acquired by Audax), Nom Nom (acquired by Mars), ELOQUII (acquired by Walmart), Cotopaxi (interest sold to Bain Capital), and HealthReveal (acquired by Accolade).
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Prior to Greycroft, Ellie evaluated investment opportunities at Lowercase Capital. Ellie also worked at Cisco in corporate development doing acquisitions, investments, and strategy. While at Cisco, she was involved in multiple acquisitions and investments, including PostPath, Jabber, Xobni, and Tandberg. She began her career in growth capital private equity at Summit Partners in Boston.
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Ellie holds a BA in Psychology magna cum laude from Georgetown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.