AIC CONVERSATIONS
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, AIC will not pursue its flag-ship physical conference and alternatively execute a webinar series named ‘AIC Conversations'. This series comprises a sequence of interviews and discussions with founders and executives in the alternative investments industry. All the interviews will be accessible on AIC’s social media channels and the profiles below.
AIC Conversations seeks to act as a learning platform for students and young professionals interested in learning from the brightest individuals in the alternative investment industry. By clicking on each profile viewers have the ability to read more about the speakers background and watch the respective interviews.
This year, AIC has already invited a wide variety of speakers ranging from private equity titans to chief executives of notable hedge funds, as new speakers are confirmed they will be added to the list below, providing anyone the opportunity to submit questions via the link on their profile.
Hover over any of the speakers' photo to learn more!
Marco De Benedetti
The Carlyle Group
Marco Benedetti is a Managing Director and co-head of Carlyle's European Buyout Group, one of the largest private equity funds globally. He is focused on telecommunications and the brand consumer goods sector. He is well known for making his own success in the buyout business instead of joining his family empire.
Rick Caruso
Caruso
Rick J. Caruso is a renowned business innovator, dedicated civic leader and actively involved philanthropist. As its founder and Chief Executive Officer, he has developed Caruso to be one of the largest and most admired privately held real estate companies in the United States.
Kurt Björklund
Permira
Kurt Bjorklund is the Co-Managing Partner at Permira, a London-based private equity firm with €30bn in assets under management. The Permira Funds have made over 250 private equity investments in five key sectors: Consumer, Financial services, Healthcare, Industrial Tech & Services and Technology.
Helen Steers
Pantheon
Helen Steers is a Partner in Pantheon’s European Investment Team and Pantheon’s senior manager for Pantheon International Plc. Prior to joining Pantheon, Ms. Steers worked for Russell Investments, where she was Managing Director with overall responsibility for private equity in Europe.
Bill Cornog
KKR
William L. Cornog, aka Bill, is a partner at KKR, an American global investment firm with $148 billion under management. Mr. Cornog currently serves as Global Head of KKR Capstone, KKR's internal operations team.
Michael Kim
MBK Partners
Michael ByungJu Kim is a Partner and a co-founder of MBK Partners, the largest independent North Asian private equity firm. Often dubbed the "Godfather of Asian private equity" or the “Quiet Rainmaker”, Mr. Kim is a veteran buy-out investor with over 30 years of experience in the industry.
Vindi Banga
Clayton Dubilier & Rice
Vindi Banga is the partner at Clayton Dubilier & Rice ("CD&R") where he covers the Business Services Consumer and Retail sectors of the firm. Mr. Banga is also the senior independent non-executive director on the board of GlaxoSmithKline plc.
André Esteves
BTG Pactual
Andre Esteves is the Senior Partner at BTG Pactual, a dominant investment bank in Latin America with c. $90.8 Billion under management. Mr. Esteves is a prominent Brazilian businessman with and an estimated net worth of $4.4 Billion.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Roivant Sciences
Vivek Ramaswamy is the founder and CEO of the pharmaceutical company Roivant sciences, a healthcare company focused on applying technology to drug development. He is regarded as being one of the most renowned entrepreneurs in the biotechnology sector.
Gary Cohn
IBM
Gary Cohn is the Vice-Chairman of IBM, former President, Chief Operating Officer and Global Head of Securities at Goldman Sachs and former Director of the National Economic Council.
Douglas Leone
Sequoia Capital
Douglas Leone is an American venture capitalist and Managing Partner of Sequoia Capital. In 2017, Forbes named him a top-10 investor in the US technology industry.
Carson Block
Muddy Waters Capital
Carson Block is the Founder, CEO, and CIO of Muddy Waters, one of America's most well-known activist short-seller firms. In 2011, Block was ranked as one of the 50 Most Influential Thinker by Bloomberg Markets.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Blackstone
Stephen Schwarzman is the Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone, one of the world’s leading investment firms with $584 billion Assets Under Management. He was named one of Forbes’ Top 50 “World’s Most Powerful People” in 2018 and Forbes’ most influential person in finance in 2016.
Kerry Baldwin
IQ Capital
Kerry Baldwin is the Founder and Managing Partner of IQ Capital and Chair of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA).
Paul Marshall
Marshall Wace
Sir Paul Marshall is the Co-Founder and Chairman of $48 billion AUM Marshall Wace, one of the world’s largest hedge funds. He is also a significant benefactor to LSE and has been an active political donor to both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.
Daniel S. Loeb
Third Point Investment Management
Daniel S. Loeb is the Founder, CEO and CIO of $17 billion AUM NYC based hedge fund Third Point Investment Management. He is one of the most prominent investors in the world and a pioneer in the activist investing space.
Sam Zell
Equity Group Investments
Sam Zell is the Founder and Chairman of Chicago based private investment firm, Equity Group Investment. He is regarded as the forefather of modern real estate investment trusts and was one of the first to pioneer the private investment space.
Jacob Grossman
Citadel
Jacob Grossman is Head of the Citadel Associate Program and is responsible for leading training and development efforts for Associate-level equities talent at Citadel.
Joana Rocha Scaff
Neuberger Berman
Joanna Rocha Scaff is the Managing Direct and Head of Europe Private Equity of Neuberger Berman, an investment management company that has over $374 billion in AUM, where over $90 billion is invested in private equity. She is one of the top 50 most influential people in private equity across Europe.
Camille Samuels
Venrock
Camille Samuels is as a partner at Venrock, a leading Technology and Healthcare Venture Capital Fund with offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, and Boston, Massachusetts.
Hussein Kanji
Hoxton Ventures
Hussein is a partner at Hoxton Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on investing in tech companies in early and lead seed rounds.
Teun Johnston
Man GLG
Teun Johnston is the CEO of $27.3 billion AUM Man GLG and a member of the Man Group Executive Committee. Prior to this, Mr Johnston served as the Head of Investments at Oakley Capital where he ran the multi-manager business.
Adam Fisher
Commonwealth Asset Management
Adam is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of the CWAM Platform. Over the last 18 years, Adam has built and successfully led numerous investment management practices across both public and private markets.
Dennis Hong
ShawSpring Partners
Dennis Hong is the Founder & CEO of ShawSpring Partners, a Boston-based investment firm. Mr. Hong grew the firms assets under management from $11.5 million in 2014 to over $1.5 billion in less than seven years.
Orlando Bravo
Thoma Bravo
Orlando Bravo is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Thoma Bravo, a private equity investment firm that specialises in software and tech-enabled service sectors. Mr. Bravo began his career at Morgan Stanley, before joining Thoma Bravo’s predecessor firm, Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, Inc. (TCEP).
Victor Khosla
Strategic Value Partners (“SVPGlobal”)
Victor Khosla is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer at Strategic Value Partners ("SVP Global"), a global investment firm focused on distressed debt and private equity opportunities with $10 Billion in assets under management.
David Allen
AlbaCore Capital Group
David Allen is the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of AlbaCore Capital Group, one of Europe's leading alternative investment managers with expertise in credit strategies. In 2020, AlbaCore's recently launched Collaterized Debt Obligation strategy ranked #1 in Europe.
Jim Momtazee
Patient Square Capital
Jim Momtazee is the Founder and Managing Partner of Patient Square Capital, a healthcare investment firm based in Menlo Park, California. Mr. Momtazee formerly led KKR’s Americas Health Care Team for over 10 years.
J. Christopher Flowers
J.C. Flowers & Co.
James Christopher Flowers is the Founder, Managing Director and CEO of J.C. Flowers & Co., a private equity firm with $6 billion in AUM and has made over $16 billion in investments since its launch in 1998. He is personally estimated to have a net worth of $2 billion.
Frank Slootman
Snowflake
Frank Slootman is the Chairman and CEO of Snowflake, a cloud-based data-warehousing company founded in 2012. Mr Slootman delivered the company to the public markets as the biggest software IPO ever.
Brigitte Posch
Apollo Global Management
Brigitte Posch is a Partner and Global Head of Emerging Market Debt at Apollo Global Management, based in London. She has over 20 years of experience within the Emerging Market Debt space.
Mercedes Bent
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Mercedes Bent is an investor at Lightspeed, a global venture capital firm focusing on investments in the enterprise technology, consumer, and health sectors. Mercedes is part of the consumer investing team, and is primarily focused on edtech/future of work, fintech, and consumer products.
Lydia Jett
Softbank Vision Fund
Lydia Jett is a Partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, the world's largest technology-focused investment fund. As the second woman to join the group, Ms. Jett has a wealth of experience in leading and managing global investments in consumer internet and e-commerce companies.
Ben Melkman
Light Sky Macro
Ben Melkman is the founder and chief investment officer of Light Sky Macro, a US based private hedge fund with $2.11bn in assets under management. Light Sky Macro follows a global macro strategy.
Edgar Bronfman Jr.
Accretive LLC
Edgar Bronfman Jr. is a Managing Partner of Accretive LLC and the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Music, one of the world’s largest music companies. He is also the current Chairman of Endeavour, an international non-profit organization that seeks to support entrepreneurs.
Jeremy Grantham
Grantham, Mayo & van Otterloo (GMO)
Jeremy Grantham is the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Strategist of Grantham, Mayo & van Otterloo (GMO), a Boston based asset management firm with $118 billion AUM. Mr. Grantham is widely considered to be one of the most influential investors of all time.
Jim Breyer
Breyer Capital
Jim Breyer is the founder and CEO of venture capital firm Breyer Capital, and has been a key investor in some of the most transformative business in the world, including Facebook, Marvel Entertainment, and Spotify.
Thomas Tull
Tulco
Thomas Tull is the founder, Chairman and CEO of Tulco, which helps companies unlock rapid, sustainable growth through the application of advanced data science. Mr. Tull is known for founding Legendary Entertainment in 2004, one of the most successful film production company in Hollywood.
Guy Spier
Aquamarine Fund
Guy Spier is a Zurich-based investor. He is the author of ‘The Education of a Value Investor’, which has sold over 50,000 copies and has been translated into more than 9 langugages. Spier is the manager of the Aquamarine Fund, a value-oriented investment fund that manages over $350 million.
Jonathan M. Nelson
Providence Equity Partners
Jonathan M. Nelson is the founder and CEO of Providence Equity Partners, a global media, communications, education and technology-focused private equity firm with $49 billion in AUM. He is a renowned businessman famous for pioneering the sector-focused private equity approach.
Dr Robert Frey
FQS Capital Partners
Dr. Robert Frey is the Chief Investment Officer at FQS and is a member of the Investment Committee which invest in alternative investment managers. He was also previously a Managing Director of Rennaissance Technologies.
Mattias Feiff
Procuritas
Mattias Feiff is Co-Managing Partner at Procuritas, the Chairman of Byens Bilpleje and Werksta, and a board member of Cutters and Pierce.
Urs Wietlisbach
Partners Group
Urs Wietlisbach is the Co-Founder of Partners Group, a Swiss private equity firm with $94 billion in assets under management. Partners Group is the second largest publicly-traded private market firm, after Blackstone.