Keynote | Deciphering Geopolitical Tides for Strategic Country Risk Management
Vance Serchuk
Managing Director, KKR
Managing Director, KKR
Vance Serchuk (New York) joined KKR in 2013 and is the Executive Director of the KKR Global Institute, responsible for geopolitical analysis, and a member of the KKR Industrials industry team, focused on defense, aerospace, and industrial technology. Mr. Serchuk has been involved in KKR's investments in Hensoldt AG, United Group (SBB/Telemach) and Novaria Group, where he serves on the Board of Directors. He is a member of the Advisory Board to Söderberg & Partners, the Swedish asset and wealth management firm. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Serchuk served as the senior national security advisor to Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and a professional staff member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. In this capacity, Mr. Serchuk worked on a range of international security issues, including Iran and Russia sanctions legislation, Indo-Pacific strategy, and the war on terror. A former monthly columnist for the Washington Post, Mr. Serchuk's writings have also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, and Politico. Mr. Serchuk is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, holds a JD from Yale Law School, and was a Fulbright scholar in the Russian Federation. A native of New York State, Mr. Serchuk is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, DC. He is a trustee of the American University of Iraq Suleimani in Iraqi Kurdistan and serves on the board of the Afghan Future Fund and the Orianne Society. He is a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Fireside Chat | From Niche to Norm: Crypto's Institutional Transformation
Vadim Khramov
Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Edge Capital Investment Management LLC
Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Edge Capital Investment Management LLC
Vadim Khramov, Ph.D is Founder and CIO of Edge Capital Management, a global hedge fund specializing in digital assets with a focus on DeFi and venture capital. Prior to starting Edge Capital, he was a leading member of the investment team at a macro hedge fund, Trend Capital. Prior to that he led FI/FX strategy team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London and was Advisor to the Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC.
Vadim has authored several academic publications in macroeconomics, and has been a frequent speaker and contributor at CNBC, CNN, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other financial media channels. Vadim holds a Ph.D in Economics from UCLA.
Fireside Chat | Shaping the Future of Talent in Hedge Funds
Paritosh Singh
Head of Business Development, Americas, Millennium Management
Head of Business Development, Americas, Millennium Management
Paritosh Singh is Head of Business Development, Americas and responsible for overseeing a team who sources and selects new portfolio managers and investment professionals in the Americas.
Prior to joining Millennium in 2008, Paritosh was a Vice President at Guggenheim Advisors, where he was responsible for quantitative research and risk management. He began his career as an Associate at Applied Decision Analysis, where he focused on quantitative research.
Paritosh received a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and was a graduate research assistant at Princeton Material Institute at Princeton University.
Fireside Chat | Innovating Wellness: A Conversation with Dr. Amy Kruse
Amy Kruse
General Partner & Chief Investment Officer, Satori Neuro Management LLC
General Partner & Chief Investment Officer, Satori Neuro Management LLC
Dr. Amy Kruse is the chief investment officer of Satori Neuro, a stage-agnostic fund focused on mental health, neurotechnology, and human flourishing. Amy leverages her decades of experience as a neuroscientist, her prior roles as an operator and a government program manager, and her network of key relationships to discover transformational companies addressing the largest mental health, brain health, and wellness challenges and opportunities. She also draws on her expertise to support Satori Neuro’s portfolio companies as they evaluate and overcome scientific and implementation challenges, with a specific emphasis on deploying complex technology into real-world environments.
Prior to leading Satori Neuro, Amy was a General Partner at Prime Movers Lab, where she led the fund’s life sciences investments in human augmentation and longevity. She serves on the boards of six Prime Movers Lab portfolio companies: Cognixion, Paradromics, Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals, Attune Neurosciences, Morphoceuticals, and Dimension Inx. She serves on the board of Satori Neuro portfolio company TARA Mind and is a Board Observer to Satori Neuro portfolio companies Apollo Neuro and Feel Therapeutics.
Amy is member of the External Oversight Committee for the NIH Blueprint MedTech program, an advisor to the BrainMind ecosystem, an advisor to the Capital Factory in Texas, and a mentor to the OneMind Accelerator. She is a frequent contributor to defense panels and advisory boards for organizations including DARPA, the National Academies, and the Defense Science Board. She is also the author of numerous scientific papers, chapters, and articles.
Amy earned a Bachelor of Science in Cell and Structural Biology and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship.
Mads Thamsborg
Managing Partner, CEO and CIO, Nyhavn Capital
Strategy: Equity | Short-Seller
Managing Partner, CEO and CIO, Nyhavn Capital
Mads was a senior partner and head of the short team at Bodenholm Capital, an L/S equity fund he joined at launch, where he was also heavily involved in business development and risk management. Before Bodenholm, Mads was a senior analyst at Talisman Global Asset Management, and at start-up L/S equity fund, Lancaster Investment Management. He started his career at the long-only activist fund Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe, which was foundational in his understanding of how companies create (and destroy) value.
Derek Stroke
Co-Founder & COO, Equanimity Advisors LLC
Strategy: Commodities | Energy Trader
Co-Founder & COO, Equanimity Advisors LLC
Derek Stroke is the Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Equanimity Advisors, a position he has held since 2020. Prior to that, he spent several years in the energy trading industry, serving as the Founder and Head of Research at BMG Energy Trading from 2015 to 2019. His earlier career included stints as a natural gas options trader at Dixie AM (2014-2015), an energy options broker at SCB Derivatives LLC (2012-2014), and an energy options broker at GFI Group Inc. (2006-2012). Stroke holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Davidson College.
Roger Hagborg
Partner and Head of Polaris Public Equity, Polaris
Partner and Head of Polaris Public Equity, Polaris
Roger joined Polaris in 2020. Prior to joining Polaris, Roger was at Triton Advisers from 2009-2019 working as a Portfolio Manager in Triton Value Fund. Other previous work experiences include Portfolio Manager at SEB and part of team when Christer Gardell and Lars Förberg founded Cevian Capital in 2002. M.Sc. from Stockholm School of Economics including MBA studies at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Ryan Bendixen
Co-Founder | Co-CIO, Peak53 Partners LP
Strategy: Credit | Structured Credit
Co-Founder | Co-CIO, Peak53 Partners LP
Before co-founding Peak53, Mr. Bendixen started Alta Peaks Capital Management, LLC where he served as CIO. There, he was responsible for Portfolio and Risk Management across a broad spectrum of sectors – public/private equity, real estate, VC, and fixed income. Before starting Alta Peaks, Mr. Bendixen was a Partner at Halcyon Asset-Backed Advisors LP (Bardin Hill) from 2008 until 2017. There, he worked directly with the founding partners managing the day-to-day aspects of portfolio and risk management, and helped oversee its growth from $400mm to $2.7bb (peak). The portfolio’s broad mandate consisted of Non-Agency RMBS, CMBS, CLO, Structured Munis, and Consumer ABS. The fund earned various accolades over multiple years including Absolute Return Awards nomination, Barron’s Best 100 Hedge Funds, and Bloomberg 100 Top-Performing Large Hedge Funds. Mr. Bendixen also led the buildout of the CMBS investment platform, negotiated term leverage facilities, and met with institutional investors regularly. Before Halcyon, Mr. Bendixen worked as an Associate on the CMBS trading desk at JPMorgan. During this time, JPMorgan was consistently ranked in the top three in the U.S. CMBS Bookrunner League Tables for a total issuance of over $75 billion. Additionally, Mr. Bendixen worked with the trading desk and loan syndication to help manage a substantial portfolio of whole loans. Mr. Bendixen began his career with Deloitte as part of its Securitized Products Group focusing on CMBS, Agency, and Non-Agency RMBS. He graduated with a B.S. in Finance from Colorado State University where he was a member of a prestigious, student-led endowment fund and various honors programs. Mr. Bendixen earned his CFA Charter in 2010.
09:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Keynote | Deciphering Geopolitical Tides for Strategic Country Risk Management
Gain an unfair advantage in today's turbulent markets by joining geopolitical guru Vance Serchuk for an exclusive master class on navigating the global power chessboard. The KKR executive will deliver an insider's tour of the intensifying superpower rivalries reshaping the world order, from the U.S.-China showdown to conflicts roiling Europe and the Middle East. Most importantly, you'll learn practical strategies to integrate Serchuk's cutting-edge geopolitical intelligence into your investment process and capital allocation decisions. Don't miss this unique opportunity to stay ahead of systemic risks and spot high-upside opportunities in an era of escalating geopolitical disruption.
Managing Director, KKR
Vance Serchuk (New York) joined KKR in 2013 and is the Executive Director of the KKR Global Institute, responsible for geopolitical analysis, and a member of the KKR Industrials industry team, focused on defense, aerospace, and industrial technology. Mr. Serchuk has been involved in KKR's investments in Hensoldt AG, United Group (SBB/Telemach) and Novaria Group, where he serves on the Board of Directors. He is a member of the Advisory Board to Söderberg & Partners, the Swedish asset and wealth management firm. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Serchuk served as the senior national security advisor to Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and a professional staff member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. In this capacity, Mr. Serchuk worked on a range of international security issues, including Iran and Russia sanctions legislation, Indo-Pacific strategy, and the war on terror. A former monthly columnist for the Washington Post, Mr. Serchuk's writings have also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, and Politico. Mr. Serchuk is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, holds a JD from Yale Law School, and was a Fulbright scholar in the Russian Federation. A native of New York State, Mr. Serchuk is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, DC. He is a trustee of the American University of Iraq Suleimani in Iraqi Kurdistan and serves on the board of the Afghan Future Fund and the Orianne Society. He is a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
The firm's short-focused, low-net strategy has been developed over nearly a decade to take advantage of inefficiencies on the short side. This allows them to understand when they get paid on positions and construct a portfolio with highly idiosyncratic returns. They achieve this by i) focusing on companies away from the shorting crowd with attractive asymmetry, (ii) determining the quality of the thesis through forensic accounting analysis with fundamental deterioration, and (iii) deciding the best execution by assessing timing and sizing through detailed trigger and risk management processes. The long side is focused on hedging short risk to create a low-net portfolio, using internal risk systems to develop a structured and actively managed long portfolio primarily comprised of broad indices while capitalizing on a few select ideas from the shorting process.
Managing Partner, CEO and CIO, Nyhavn Capital
Mads was a senior partner and head of the short team at Bodenholm Capital, an L/S equity fund he joined at launch, where he was also heavily involved in business development and risk management. Before Bodenholm, Mads was a senior analyst at Talisman Global Asset Management, and at start-up L/S equity fund, Lancaster Investment Management. He started his career at the long-only activist fund Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe, which was foundational in his understanding of how companies create (and destroy) value.
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
The Polaris Public Equity strategy presents an active investment approach in listed Nordic small and mid-cap companies, with a core focus on delivering a private equity style of engagement and value creation. The strategy boasts over 25 years of experience in the market, underpinned by a strong track record, including a deal-by-deal average Gross MOIC of 3.4x across 36 realized investments. This hands-on investment methodology involves a portfolio of 7-10 active holdings with a concentrated value and long-only alpha focus in well-known sectors.
Partner and Head of Polaris Public Equity, Polaris
Roger joined Polaris in 2020. Prior to joining Polaris, Roger was at Triton Advisers from 2009-2019 working as a Portfolio Manager in Triton Value Fund. Other previous work experiences include Portfolio Manager at SEB and part of team when Christer Gardell and Lars Förberg founded Cevian Capital in 2002. M.Sc. from Stockholm School of Economics including MBA studies at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
12:15 p.m. – 01:00 p.m.
Fireside Chat | Shaping the Future of Talent in Hedge Funds
Join us for an informative webinar featuring Paritosh Sing from multi-strategy investment firm Millennium Partners. Singh will discuss key trends impacting the talent landscape at hedge funds and share insights from Millennium's approach to attracting, developing and retaining top professionals. He'll cover strategies for fostering a culture of excellence and creating an environment where diverse investment teams can collaborate effectively. Singh will also explore how hedge funds can adapt their talent models to keep pace with our rapidly evolving industry. This webinar provides a forward-looking perspective on critical workforce issues facing hedge fund managers.
Managing Director, Thalēs
David Modiano is a Managing Director of Capital Strategies at Thalēs Capital Partners. Most recently, David was a Partner and Head of Business Development at Mill Hill Capital, a New York-based credit hedge fund launched in 2016. Prior to that, David spent ten years sourcing, seeding, onboarding and growing early-stage hedge funds as second in command of the seeding team at Investcorp and Lyxor Asset Management. During his time at Investcorp and Lyxor Asset Management, David has personally reviewed, met with or performed in-depth diligence on nearly 1,500 hedge fund managers as a senior investment professional. David negotiated and closed sixteen hedge fund seed deals and drove manager growth.
Head of Business Development, Americas, Millennium Management
Paritosh Singh is Head of Business Development, Americas and responsible for overseeing a team who sources and selects new portfolio managers and investment professionals in the Americas.
Prior to joining Millennium in 2008, Paritosh was a Vice President at Guggenheim Advisors, where he was responsible for quantitative research and risk management. He began his career as an Associate at Applied Decision Analysis, where he focused on quantitative research.
Paritosh received a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and was a graduate research assistant at Princeton Material Institute at Princeton University.
01:00 p.m. – 01:45 p.m.
Fireside Chat | Innovating Wellness: A Conversation with Dr. Amy Kruse
Learn all about the rapidly growing mental health venture capital space in this informative fireside chat with Dr. Kruse, an experienced investor specializing in mental health technologies. Dr. Kruse will discuss investment philosophies, share promising sectors and innovations on her firm's radar, and provide a balanced perspective on assessing risks and opportunities in this field. She'll also emphasize best practices for nurturing portfolio companies and the importance of diversity in driving innovation. Attendees will learn about strategies for staying ahead of emerging trends and hear Dr. Kruse's reflections on critical career lessons. This educational session is ideal for those interested in the future of mental health investing.
Partner, President, Thalēs
Edouard Robbes is a Partner at Thalēs where he leads the firm's manager sourcing, capital introduction, and capital raising efforts. Before Thalēs, Edouard held a similar position at Société Générale in New York. Prior to this, he was a hedge fund analyst and portfolio manager at AXA Investment Managers and began his career in 2002 as a hedge fund analyst at SG Asset Management. Edouard received a B.S. in Economics and a M.S. in Finance from Université Paris-Dauphine, France.
General Partner & Chief Investment Officer, Satori Neuro Management LLC
Dr. Amy Kruse is the chief investment officer of Satori Neuro, a stage-agnostic fund focused on mental health, neurotechnology, and human flourishing. Amy leverages her decades of experience as a neuroscientist, her prior roles as an operator and a government program manager, and her network of key relationships to discover transformational companies addressing the largest mental health, brain health, and wellness challenges and opportunities. She also draws on her expertise to support Satori Neuro’s portfolio companies as they evaluate and overcome scientific and implementation challenges, with a specific emphasis on deploying complex technology into real-world environments.
Prior to leading Satori Neuro, Amy was a General Partner at Prime Movers Lab, where she led the fund’s life sciences investments in human augmentation and longevity. She serves on the boards of six Prime Movers Lab portfolio companies: Cognixion, Paradromics, Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals, Attune Neurosciences, Morphoceuticals, and Dimension Inx. She serves on the board of Satori Neuro portfolio company TARA Mind and is a Board Observer to Satori Neuro portfolio companies Apollo Neuro and Feel Therapeutics.
Amy is member of the External Oversight Committee for the NIH Blueprint MedTech program, an advisor to the BrainMind ecosystem, an advisor to the Capital Factory in Texas, and a mentor to the OneMind Accelerator. She is a frequent contributor to defense panels and advisory boards for organizations including DARPA, the National Academies, and the Defense Science Board. She is also the author of numerous scientific papers, chapters, and articles.
Amy earned a Bachelor of Science in Cell and Structural Biology and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship.
02:00 p.m. – 02:30 p.m.
The Peak53 Structured Opportunities Fund, LP (the “Fund”) focuses on a broad range of structured products including Agency and Non-Agency RMBS and CMBS. The Fund seeks to generate superior risk-adjusted returns over credit cycles through high cash flow generation and capital appreciation while adhering to a strict risk management framework. The Fund employs a differentiated strategy built around a core portfolio augmented by active trading and special situations.
Co-Founder | Co-CIO, Peak53 Partners LP
Before co-founding Peak53, Mr. Bendixen started Alta Peaks Capital Management, LLC where he served as CIO. There, he was responsible for Portfolio and Risk Management across a broad spectrum of sectors – public/private equity, real estate, VC, and fixed income. Before starting Alta Peaks, Mr. Bendixen was a Partner at Halcyon Asset-Backed Advisors LP (Bardin Hill) from 2008 until 2017. There, he worked directly with the founding partners managing the day-to-day aspects of portfolio and risk management, and helped oversee its growth from $400mm to $2.7bb (peak). The portfolio’s broad mandate consisted of Non-Agency RMBS, CMBS, CLO, Structured Munis, and Consumer ABS. The fund earned various accolades over multiple years including Absolute Return Awards nomination, Barron’s Best 100 Hedge Funds, and Bloomberg 100 Top-Performing Large Hedge Funds. Mr. Bendixen also led the buildout of the CMBS investment platform, negotiated term leverage facilities, and met with institutional investors regularly. Before Halcyon, Mr. Bendixen worked as an Associate on the CMBS trading desk at JPMorgan. During this time, JPMorgan was consistently ranked in the top three in the U.S. CMBS Bookrunner League Tables for a total issuance of over $75 billion. Additionally, Mr. Bendixen worked with the trading desk and loan syndication to help manage a substantial portfolio of whole loans. Mr. Bendixen began his career with Deloitte as part of its Securitized Products Group focusing on CMBS, Agency, and Non-Agency RMBS. He graduated with a B.S. in Finance from Colorado State University where he was a member of a prestigious, student-led endowment fund and various honors programs. Mr. Bendixen earned his CFA Charter in 2010.
03:30 p.m. – 04:00 p.m.
The strategy focuses on relative value opportunities in the volatility surface of natural gas markets and combines market-making with a speculative component. Equanimity begins with natural gas options market-making in the OTC market, where the advisor is routinely one of the most significant participants by volume. This activity provides unique insights into market positioning that other participants may not be able to recognize. This informational edge, combined with quantitative analysis of historical option pricing data and fundamental models, drives the speculative component of the strategy.
Co-Founder & COO, Equanimity Advisors LLC
Derek Stroke is the Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Equanimity Advisors, a position he has held since 2020. Prior to that, he spent several years in the energy trading industry, serving as the Founder and Head of Research at BMG Energy Trading from 2015 to 2019. His earlier career included stints as a natural gas options trader at Dixie AM (2014-2015), an energy options broker at SCB Derivatives LLC (2012-2014), and an energy options broker at GFI Group Inc. (2006-2012). Stroke holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Davidson College.
04:15 p.m. – 05:00 p.m.
Uncover valuable insights into the evolving crypto landscape for institutional investors in this informative fireside chat led by Vadim Khramov. He will provide a balanced, educational overview of the current state of crypto markets and adoption by institutional players, highlighting recent infrastructure developments to meet their stringent requirements. Khramov will cover opportunities, risks, regulatory considerations, custody solutions and risk management practices institutions must evaluate for crypto exposure. Attendees will get an objective update on this rapidly changing space and its evolution to support large investor involvement.
Partner, President, Thalēs
Edouard Robbes is a Partner at Thalēs where he leads the firm's manager sourcing, capital introduction, and capital raising efforts. Before Thalēs, Edouard held a similar position at Société Générale in New York. Prior to this, he was a hedge fund analyst and portfolio manager at AXA Investment Managers and began his career in 2002 as a hedge fund analyst at SG Asset Management. Edouard received a B.S. in Economics and a M.S. in Finance from Université Paris-Dauphine, France.
Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Edge Capital Investment Management LLC
Vadim Khramov, Ph.D is Founder and CIO of Edge Capital Management, a global hedge fund specializing in digital assets with a focus on DeFi and venture capital. Prior to starting Edge Capital, he was a leading member of the investment team at a macro hedge fund, Trend Capital. Prior to that he led FI/FX strategy team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London and was Advisor to the Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC.
Vadim has authored several academic publications in macroeconomics, and has been a frequent speaker and contributor at CNBC, CNN, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other financial media channels. Vadim holds a Ph.D in Economics from UCLA.