Richard Byrne is the president of Benefit Street Partners and serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Franklin BSP Lending Corporation, Franklin BSP Capital Corporation, Franklin BSP Realty Trust and Benefit Street Partners Multifamily Trust. Prior to joining Benefit Street Partners, Mr. Byrne was chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank Securities. He was also the co-head of Global Capital Markets at Deutsche Bank. He is a member of several boards, including Wynn Resorts. Mr. Byrne earned an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a BA from Binghamton University.
Victoria Chant is a managing director in Blackstone Credit (BXC). Ms. Chant is involved in the financing efforts within the Capital Formation team that creates structured solutions. Before joining Blackstone in 2022, Ms. Chant was a managing director at Citi in the Financing & Securitization group, responsible for the Credit Financing business. Ms. Chant spent 17 years at Citi, having started on the TRS desk. Ms. Chant graduated from the University of Waterloo with a B.Math in Pure Mathematics / Finance and is a CFA Charterholder.
Alex Chi is Americas co-head of private credit within Goldman Sachs Asset Management and co-chief executive officer and co-president of Goldman Sachs BDC. He is a member of the Asset Management Private Credit Investment Committee and BDC Investment Committee. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs Asset Management, he worked in the Financial and Strategic Investors Group (FSIG), Leveraged Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Finance and Debt Capital Markets Groups within the Investment Banking Division. Alex earned a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Patrick Frisch is a managing director and head of financial institutions at ING in the Americas, where he oversees ING’s global relationship management of U.S.-based financial institutions, including banks, insurance companies and asset managers, including financial sponsors and direct lenders. Mr. Frisch’s transaction experience ranges from leveraged finance and corporate valuation to capital call (subscription) financing for private funds, and structured asset backed transactions for public and private investment vehicles. Mr. Frisch is a CFA Charterholder. He received his B.S. in Economics and his M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Golub was previously managing director of Centre Partners, a leading private equity firm, and managing director of Corporate Partners, a US$1.5 billion private equity fund affiliated with Lazard. He is a member of the Director’s Circle of the Association of Marshall Scholars, sits on the board of directors of Burton Snowboards and has served on the boards of numerous public and private companies. Mr. Golub earned his AB degree in Government from Harvard College.
Mr. Holsinger is a partner, portfolio manager and co-head of alternative credit in the Ares Credit Group. Mr. Holsinger is also a member of the Group's Alternative Credit Executive and Investment Committees. Prior to joining Ares in 2019, Mr. Holsinger was a partner at Fortress Investment Group in the Credit Group, where he served on the management committee and the investment committee for the credit funds. He currently serves on several corporate boards and advisory groups. Mr. Holsinger holds a B.A. from California State Fullerton in Business Management and Administration.
Harley Lank is president of the Fidelity Investments High Income and Alternatives division where he oversees portfolio management, research, trading, investment services and special situations teams that support the high yield, leveraged loan, emerging market debt, real estate debt businesses and credit-oriented products in the alternatives space, including direct lending. Mr. Lank is also the portfolio manager of the Fidelity Distressed Opportunities Fund I and various other portfolios marketed globally. Mr. Lank earned his B.A. from Syracuse University and his M.B.A from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Al Laufenberg advises public and privately-owned depository and business development companies on a wide range of alternatives. Mr. Laufenberg has represented numerous depository institutions in whole bank mergers (buy side and sell side) as well as working for special committees. With over 25 years of investment banking experience, he has advised clients on over 300 transactions exceeding US$70 billion in value. He is also a member of the firm’s fairness opinion committee. Prior to joining KBW/Stifel, Mr. Laufenberg was a vice president in the financial institutions group at First Union Securities (now Wells Fargo).
Cass joined Microsoft's Office of Responsible AI in 2022, where she leads on AI regulation. Cass previously spent 10 years at Google exploring socio-technical challenges as the legal lead for Jigsaw and helping build breakthrough technology as a product counsel at X. She teaches media law and business law at universities in Australia and New York.
Craig W. Packer is a co-president and a senior managing director of Blue Owl, a publicly traded alternative asset manager. Prior to founding Owl Rock, Craig was a partner and co-head of leveraged finance in the Americas at Goldman Sachs. Craig serves as treasurer of the board of trustees of Greenwich Academy, and co-chair of the honorary board of Kids in Crisis, a nonprofit organization that serves children in Connecticut. Craig earned a B.S. from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Ms. Parekh is a managing director at HPS Investment Partners, portfolio manager of HLEND and co-head of North American Core Senior Lending. Prior to joining HPS in 2020, Ms. Parekh spent over 12 years as a partner at The Carlyle Group where she was a founding member of the direct lending platform, served as head of origination for illiquid credit and was a member of the direct lending investment committee. Ms. Parekh holds a BS in Finance and Information Systems from the NYU Stern School of Business.
Daniel Pietrzak is a partner, Global Head of private credit and a portfolio manager for KKR’s private credit funds and portfolios. Mr. Pietrzak is the co-president and chief investment officer for FS KKR Capital Corp. He serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Lehigh University College of Business, is a member of the advisory board of the scholars of finance and serves on the board of directors of First Tee – Metropolitan New York. He holds an M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Accounting from Lehigh.
Ms. Pope is a managing director within Oaktree’s Global Private Debt strategy where she focuses on public and direct lending investments across a variety of industries and is a member of its ESG committee. She previously worked in the restructuring advisory group at Lazard Frères and practiced law at Kirkland & Ellis, where she worked as an associate in the restructuring and corporate mergers and acquisitions groups. Ms. Pope received her M.B.A from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated as a Juris Doctor from the School of Law at Duke University.
Phillip Titolo is head of direct private investments and portfolio manager, alternatives – investment management at MassMutual Life Insurance, focusing on strategic asset allocation and external investment relationships across asset classes. Mr. Titolo was previously at Hartford Investment Management (The Hartford) and was jointly responsible for managing US$2.3 billion in hedge fund/alternative investments. He serves on several advisory boards in the private equity and corporate pension plan industries. Mr. Titolo graduated from the University of Connecticut with a JD and M.B.A and earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston College.
Daniel Wolf oversees all aspects of the strategic planning and operations of Cerberus Business Finance including, among other activities, private equity sponsor relationships, portfolio construction, loan origination, loan underwriting and portfolio management. He also sits on several Cerberus investment and advisory committees. Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Wolf was senior vice president for business development and a member of the credit committee at Congress Financial Corporation where he was active in loan origination. Mr. Wolf is a graduate of Drew University and received an M.B.A. from Columbia University.
Jay R. Alicandri is the co-chair of Dechert’s global finance practice and one of the leaders of the firm’s permanent capital and private credit practice. He represents asset managers, banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions in the private credit space. Mr. Alicandri is recognized as a leading lawyer for Banking & Finance by Chambers USA, a legal directory based on the opinions of clients and peers. He is also a thought leader and regularly speaks on a wide variety of topics related to asset finance, private credit, and middle market lending.
Gus Black is the co-chair of Dechert's global financial services group and a member of the policy committee. He focuses his practice on investment funds, establishing and restructuring international asset management businesses, corporate and commercial transactions in the asset management sector and general UK financial services regulation. Regarding private fund formation, Mr. Black has advised sponsors and cornerstone investors on the structuring, re- structuring, formation and investment of numerous funds and other co-investment structures ranging widely in size, strategy and focus. He is named in the Financial News’ top 20 most influential legal services list in 2021.
Thomas J. Friedmann is co-head of Dechert’s permanent capital group and a member of Dechert’s policy committee. He represents domestic and non-U.S. issuers and investment banks in public and private securities transactions. Mr. Friedmann also advises corporate clients on matters relating to securities law, corporate governance and board issues, and other general corporate matters such as compliance and disclosure matters, periodic reporting, financial restructuring and securitization transactions. He is a frequent speaker and has been quoted in various media outlets regarding developments and trends affecting BDCs and other alternative investment vehicles.
Allison M. Fumai focuses her practice on the representation of registered investment companies and their investment advisers. She regularly advises mutual funds, closed-end funds and exchange-traded funds and their investment advisers on issues relating to the development and launch of new funds, ongoing compliance and regulatory matters, mergers, liquidations and restructuring of funds. Ms. Fumai also has extensive experience advising issuers and underwriters on initial public offerings and rights offerings for closed-end funds. She has particular expertise with exchange-traded funds and represents a significant number of exchange-traded fund sponsors and exchange-traded funds in connection with their exemptive relief, launch of unique products and other issues relating to exchange-traded funds.
Omoz Osayimwese leads Dechert’s U.S. private investment funds practice, focusing his practice on matters relating to the formation and operation of private equity funds, other closed-end investment funds and alternative asset management businesses. Mr. Osayimwese also has substantial experience representing clients in the formation and operation of hedge funds and hybrid funds. Mr. Osayimwese has represented investment funds on formation matters covering a range of strategies, including buyouts, distressed debt, special situations, real estate, credit and structured products, among others. Mr. Osayimwese has been recognized in The Legal 500 (US) for private equity funds.
John M. Timperio leads Dechert’s structured credit and CLO team and is a member of the firm’s policy committee. He has more than 25 years of experience working with some of the world's largest asset managers and investment banks on various types of structured finance solutions, including CLOs and structured loan facilities. Mr. Timperio is recognized by Law360 as a 2020 MVP of the Year for structured finance and ranked as a leading lawyer for securitization and CLOs by Chambers. He is a frequent author and speaker on the topic of CLOs and risk retention.