Fund Finance Association

David Cunn

Vice Chairman

J.P. Morgan Private Bank

Pratap Dasgupta

Senior Managing Director & Global Head Fund Finance

Macquarie Group

Vicky Du

Global Head, Fund Finance

Standard Chartered

Brandon Feitelson

Team Leader, Structured Finance

City National Bank

Jocelyn Hirsch

Partner

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Jocelyn Hirsch

Partner | Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Jocelyn Hirsch is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP whose practice focuses primarily on the representation of private equity sponsors and corporate borrowers in complex financing transactions, including leveraged buyouts, cross border facilities, asset based facilities and sponsor capital call/subscription and NAV facilities. Her experience in private equity covers multiple sectors including real estate, energy, infrastructure, secondary and financial services funds with aggregate funds raised totaling tens of billions of dollars. Jocelyn's client list spans the globe and includes Warburg Pincus, Vista Equity Partners, Ares, Golub Capital, HGGC, LS Power, TPG, JPM Infrastructure, Summit Partners and GTCR, among others.

Jocelyn is nationally regarded as a leading voice in the fund facility market and represents many of the world’s preeminent private equity, debt and related investment funds in complex and bespoke fund financings. She is routinely called upon to speak on fund finance topics.

Jesse Hurley

Head of Global Fund Banking

Silicon Valley Bank

Jesse Hurley

Head of Global Fund Banking | Silicon Valley Bank

As head of Silicon Valley Bank’s Global Fund Banking Practice, Jesse Hurley oversees the company’s banking relationships with more than 2,200 private equity and venture capital firms globally. Leveraging SVB’s unique platform and unparalleled expertise as a result of lending to Firms for more than 3 decades, SVB’s Global Fund Banking group offers holistic and flexible solutions for firms including innovative liquidity and fund-level debt solutions. These products include capital call facilities, Fund guaranteed loans to portfolio companies, NAV based facilities, management company working capital lines and GP commitment financing.

Previously, Jesse spent three years in SVB’s Mezzanine Finance group, lending subordinated debt to innovation companies.

Jesse holds an MBA from Babson College and a BA from Colby College. He lives in the Boston area and when not working with firms, he can be found sailing, running and spending as much time as possible skiing the icy slopes of the East Coast with his family.

Ann Richardson Knox

Global Head | Fund Finance

Mayer Brown

Ann Richardson Knox

Global Head | Fund Finance | Mayer Brown

Ann Richardson Knox is the office practice leader of the New York Banking & Finance practice and is the Global Head of Mayer Brown’s Fund Finance team. Ann has spent over 20 years structuring complex financings to US and global private funds, sponsors and portfolio companies and has represented both financial institutions and funds. Ann’s vast experience encompasses financings at every level of the capital stack and every phase of a fund’s existence.

Ann represents major domestic and foreign investment and commercial banks as lead agent and arranger in connection with subscription credit facilities and net asset value facilities. She has been lead counsel on many of the largest and complex such facilities to funds sponsored by the world’s preeminent fund sponsors and led the first ESG subscription credit facility in the US market. Ann’s practice also includes structuring novel solutions to provide leverage on fund portfolio assets, including private equity limited partnership interests, real estate, infrastructure, debt and portfolio companies. Notably, Ann led the first such portfolio leveraging financings to secondary funds more than fifteen years ago.

Ann has been involved with the Fund Finance Association and Women in Fund Finance industry groups since their inception and has been recognized by the industry as the 2021 recipient of the Fund Finance Association’s “Woman in Fund Finance Award”. She has also been named a 2020 “Woman Worth Watching” by Profiles in Diversity Magazine.

Micaela Mastrogiannis

KKR & Co. Inc

Wesley Misson

Head of Fund Finance, U.S.; Co-Chair Finance Group

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Wesley Misson

Head of Fund Finance, U.S.; Co-Chair Finance Group | Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Wes Misson is Head of Fund Finance in the U.S. and co-chair of Cadwalader’s Finance Group. He leads the largest and most experienced team in the U.S. market, which collectively with Cadwalader’s UK Fund Finance practice represents credit providers on Subscription Credit Facilities, NAV-Facilities, Hybrids, Pref Equity Structures, GP Financings, Venture Debt and Capital Relief and Risk Transfer Trades for private equity, real estate and other investment funds of all sizes and vintages sponsored by many of the world’s preeminent fund sponsors. Wes has represented financial institutions as lenders and lead agents in hundreds of Subscription Credit Facilities, Hybrid Facilities, NAV Facilities and other types of fund financings during the course of his career. His experience also encompasses being a market leader on ESG facilities while serving on the firm’s ESG Task Force and being a problem solver for more than a decade-plus working with fund-related borrowers on the negotiation of third-party investor documents with institutional, high net worth and sovereign wealth investors.

Wes was featured in the Financial Times North America Innovative Lawyers 2021 Report in the “Sustainability” category for his representations on nine environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related fund facilities in the U.S., including his work advising Bank of America on a $4.1 billion ESG-linked credit facility tied to Board diversity for funds managed by The Carlyle Group.

Wes has served as lead counsel on many of the largest and most sophisticated fund financings ever consummated. Over the past two years alone, he has advised more than 35 banks as lead or syndicate lender in transactions valued in excess of $75 billion in terms of lender commitments.

Beyond his client work, Wes is very active in broader industry initiatives, as a prolific author and educator on fund finance, including as a regular contributor to the firm’s weekly newsletter, Fund Finance Friday, and as a year-round speaker at and participant in related events, including as part of the Fund Finance Association (FFA), the industry’s main networking association. He is also deeply involved in charitable work as chairman of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, and enjoys spending time with his family.

Wes has a J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tom Nowak

Managing Director

BofA Securities, Inc.

Tom Nowak

Managing Director | BofA Securities, Inc.

Thomas (Tom) Nowak is a Managing Director in BofA Securities, Inc.’s market leading Syndicated Finance group. He is responsible for managing the Loan Syndicate and Distribution efforts supporting Subscription Finance clients across the bank. Clients include private equity opportunity funds, hedge funds, buy-out funds, credit funds, real estate funds, infrastructure and secondaries funds, as well as public pension plans and institutionally-sponsored entities.

Mr. Nowak has over 24 years of experience in structuring, syndicating and executing debt transactions across all levels of the capital structure. Prior to assuming his current role, he worked in investment banking as well as financial and economic consulting.

Tom holds Series 7, 24 and 63 licenses and is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (BBA in Finance) and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (MBA in Finance and Accounting).

Michael O’Connor

Partner

Conyers

Simon Raftopoulos,

Corporate Practice Group Head

Appleby

Simon Raftopoulos,

Corporate Practice Group Head | Appleby

Simon Raftopoulos is the Local Corporate Practice Group Head in the Cayman Islands and a member of the Corporate Finance and Private Equity teams.

He represents clients in a wide variety of corporate finance transactions, specialising in fund finance and private equity, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, initial and secondary public offerings and private placements of equity and debt securities. Simon also represents clients on large private equity transactions and his team has a deep PE formation and transactional presence in Cayman.

Simon has consistently been ranked since 2012 and is highly rated globally across the leading legal directories. He is currently recognised by Who´s Who Legal 2021 as one of the world´s leading banking and M&A lawyers, a ´market leader´ in IFLR1000’s 2020 rankings as well as ranked as a 2020 ‘leading individual’ in Legal 500. Chambers Global reported that clients laud him for his skills and describe him as “commercial and practical [with] a good group of lawyers around him” and a “brilliant lawyer, with excellent and creative ideas for complex issues”.

Simon holds the Securities Institute International Capital Markets Qualification and participates regularly at conferences and seminars, providing commentary to international and local media. He has been a contributing author to the Global Legal Insights Fund Finance publication since its inception.

In the Cayman Islands, Simon has also undertaken pro bono work for over a decade and is a recipient of the Lee Friedman award for his service to the Family Crisis Centre and the community.

Joe Rocco

Managing Director

Blackstone

Joe Rocco

Managing Director | Blackstone

Joseph Rocco is a Managing Director in Blackstone Treasury and is involved in credit and risk management initiatives for Blackstone’s Treasury operations, including risk assessment for the firm’s cash management and investment strategies. He works closely with counterparts from throughout the firm and its funds on funding initiatives and FX hedging and trading strategies. Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Rocco worked at Moody’s Investors Service covering residential mortgage and asset-backed securities where his primary responsibilities included rating surveillance, methodology development and sector commentary. Mr. Rocco holds an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a BS in Finance from Fordham University.

Michele Simons

Managing Director

Wells Fargo Bank

Michele Simons

Managing Director | Wells Fargo Bank

‌Michele Simons is a Managing Director in the Subscription Finance Group / Financial Institutions Group, a division of Wells Fargo Corporate & Investment Banking. Ms. Simons is Co-Head of US Originations for Subscription Finance Group providing lending facilities to private equity style funds. Michele oversees team origination, structuring, and execution of these facilities for the clients of Wells Fargo. Previously, Ms. Simons was Head of Subscription Finance and ABF Loan Syndications, providing dedicated distribution capabilities and supporting origination efforts across the Subscription Finance Group as well as the Asset-Backed Finance platform.

Michele, currently serves on the steering committee for the Corporate and Investment Banking Women GoFar Network and is also a member of the US Committee of the Women In Fund Finance. Michele lives in New York with her husband.

Jan Sysel

Partner

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

Jan Sysel

Partner | Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

Jan Sysel is a partner in the Corporate Department and the Finance Practice, resident in New York.

Mr. Sysel represents sponsors, borrowers, arrangers and lenders on a wide variety of financing transactions primarily in connection with fund formation, as well as leveraged acquisitions, spinoffs, recapitalizations and restructurings, across a broad range of industries. He has extensive experience in structuring, negotiating, documenting and executing complex financings, including syndicated senior facilities, mezzanine facilities and private debt placements. His work includes unsecured and secured first and second lien facilities, both cashflow-based and asset-based, with particular focus on fund subscription facilities and other types of investment fund leverage.

Mr. Sysel serves as a member of the Fund Finance Association (FFA) US Advisory Council, frequently speaks at FFA and other industry conferences, and is a mentor on the FFA's NextGen platform supporting junior market participants.

Mr. Sysel previously worked on secondment at Goldman Sachs, where he advised on loan transactions for private wealth management clientele. Prior to joining Fried Frank, he practiced corporate law in the Czech Republic for several years and served in the Czech Army as a staff attorney at the Litigation Department of the Czech Ministry of Defense.

Matt Taber

Partner

Harneys

Matt Taber

Partner | Harneys

Matt Taber is a partner in our Cayman office and is a well-known specialist in Cayman Islands investment funds, fund finance, regulation and cryptoassets. He has advised many of the world’s leading asset managers in 15 years of practice in the Cayman Islands. In addition, Matt is a specialist in acting for banks that operate in the fund or subscription finance space.

Prior to joining Harneys, Matt worked for other leading firms in the Cayman Islands. Before coming to the Cayman Islands, he was a corporate and M&A lawyer in London for seven years.

Matt is a member of the board of the Cayman Islands chapter of AIMA and was previously the secretary of the Blockchain Association of the Cayman Islands. He regularly participates in Government and legislative and regulatory industry working groups.

Albert Tan

Partner | Co-Chair of Fund Finance Practice Group

Haynes Boone

Albert Tan

Partner | Co-Chair of Fund Finance Practice Group | Haynes Boone

Albert Tan is a Partner and Co-Head of Fund Financing with Haynes and Boone, LLP. Additionally, he serves as a member of the firm’s (i) 5-person Appointments Committee, which appoints and oversees the firm’s strategic leadership and management roles, (ii) Board of Directors, (iii) Partners Compensation Committee and (iv) Strategic Growth Committee.

During Albert’s career at the firm, he has represented investment and commercial banks, as agents and arrangers in more than $120 billion of subscription secured credit facilities to Asia, US, Europe, Latin America and global real estate, infrastructure, debt, buyout and energy private equity funds, including to some of the first real estate private equity funds in Japan, Greater China, Singapore and Korea. During the global financial crises, Albert was one of few fund finance attorneys who represented lenders in the successful enforcement of subscription financing defaults against PE funds and their investors. From 1997 to 2000, while on a secondment from Haynes and Boone, Albert was based in Hong Kong and served as Chief Counsel of Greater China for Caltex Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ChevronTexaco, overseeing all legal affairs for Greater China.

Albert has made presentations and published articles sponsored by PERE – Asia, Japan and North America, PEI-COO & CFO Forum, PEI-Global Alternative Investment Forum, Institutional Real Estate, Inc., Institutional Investing in Infrastructure (i3), PrivCap, Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business and The University of Texas School of Law; and within the Fund Finance Association, he served as a Co-Chair of Asia Pacific Fund Finance Symposium (2017-2020) and Rising Stars Selection Committee (2020), and is currently serving as a member of the Diversity Committee, Marketing Committee, APAC Executive Committee, and US Advisory Council.

The National Law Journal selected him to its inaugural 35-person list of “Finance, Banking and Capital Markets Trailblazers” in 2019, and Euromoney Expert Guides and Euromoney Institutional Investor 2012, listed him as a “Leading Practitioner” in its Guide to Leading Practitioners: International Private Equity, United States. In recognition of Albert’s efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and provide innovative, consistent and proactive client service, The Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) in 2021 recognized Albert with its “MCCA Rainmakers Award” and The State Bar of Texas’s Asian Pacific Interest Section in 2015 recognized Albert with its “Justice Wellington Chew Award,” for the outstanding achievements, commitment, and leadership of a lawyer who has paved the way for the advancement of other Asian Pacific American attorneys and made substantial and lasting contributions to the APA legal profession, as well as the broader APA community.

Albert received his BA from San Diego State University and his JD and LLM from Southern Methodist University and Georgetown University; and speaks Chinese (Mandarin)

Peter Vermette

Managing Director

Goldman Sachs

Peter Vermette

Managing Director | Goldman Sachs

Peter is a managing director in the Alternatives Capital Markets & Strategy Group (ACMS) with Goldman Sachs Asset Management and is responsible for global fund financing for the private side of Asset Management.

He is also responsible for the hedging strategy in Asset Management private as well as debt capital markets activity for the Infrastructure Investment Group.

Previously, he worked in the Real Estate Principal Investment Area (REPIA) of MBD in London from. Earlier, Peter worked in REPIA in New York. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1998 as an analyst and was named managing director in 2010.

Prior to joining the firm, Peter worked at Bankers Trust in New York.

Peter earned a BS in Finance from Bryant College in 1997.

David Wasserman

Managing Director

Morgan Stanley

Steve Willman

Managing Director and the Treasurer

TPG

Steve Willman

Managing Director and the Treasurer | TPG

STEVE WILLMANN TPG Global, LLC Mr. Willmann is a Managing Director at TPG. He and his team are responsible for financing and capital markets activity of the firm and its funds, structured financing solutions for investment vehicles, rating agency relationships, foreign exchange risk management and hedging transactions, counterparty risk management, and general bank and lender relationship management. Prior to joining TPG in 2007, Mr. Willmann was a Vice President at JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he spent eight years in corporate and investment banking roles in New York, Dallas and Atlanta. Mr. Willmann graduated from Texas Tech University and the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, and he currently serves on the Board of Trustees, and heads the finance committee, for Trinity Valley School in Fort Worth, Texas.

US Advisory Committee

David Cunn

Vice Chairman

Pratap Dasgupta

Senior Managing Director & Global Head Fund Finance

Vicky Du

Global Head, Fund Finance

Brandon Feitelson

Team Leader, Structured Finance

Jocelyn Hirsch

Partner

Jesse Hurley

Head of Global Fund Banking

Ann Richardson Knox

Global Head | Fund Finance

Micaela Mastrogiannis

Wesley Misson

Head of Fund Finance, U.S.; Co-Chair Finance Group

Tom Nowak

Managing Director

Michael O’Connor

Partner

Simon Raftopoulos,

Corporate Practice Group Head

Joe Rocco

Managing Director

Michele Simons

Managing Director

Jan Sysel

Partner

Matt Taber

Partner

Albert Tan

Partner | Co-Chair of Fund Finance Practice Group

Peter Vermette

Managing Director

David Wasserman

Managing Director

Steve Willman

Managing Director and the Treasurer