About Us

companies to shape their strategic direction.

Mel was Director of Institutional North America at Investec Asset Management, a specialist provider of active traditional and alternative investments in frontier, emerging, and developed global markets. Prior to joining Investec Asset Management, Mel was at Artio Global Investors where he was a Senior Vice President of Global Distribution and served on the Executive Management Committee. During his tenure at Artio, AUM grew from $800 million to a peak of $78 billion ultimately resulting in an IPO and listing on the NYSE. Mel was also a portfolio manager at Wells Capital Management and an equity salesman at Shearson Lehman Brothers. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and received an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA. Mel also attended IMD, Global Leadership Program in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is a member of the Los Angeles Society of Financial Analysts. Mel is on the board and investment committees of California Community Foundation, YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles, and South Central Scholarship Foundation. He is also on the finance committee at Bel-Air Country Club and a former board member of the Toigo Foundation.

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company.

Brett is a 30-year veteran of the asset management industry including stints as Deputy CIO and Head of Global Equities at Artio Global Investors/Julius Baer Investment Management; Head of Private Client Investment Management for JP Morgan Singapore and Head of Global Equity for Bankers Trust International Private Bank. Earlier in his career, Brett was an analyst with Irwin Management Company where he was responsible for the selection and evaluation of external managers and for financial oversight of Venture Capital investments. He has appeared numerous times on CNBC, Bloomberg and Fox Business News as well as having been quoted in The Wall Street Journal. He has also served as a guest lecturer at Yale University. Brett received his BA in economics from the University of Virginia and his MBA from The Darden Graduate School of Business and serves on the Board of Managers for the University of Virginia Alumni Association.

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Capital Management LLP. Previous to this he served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Artio Global Investors (formerly known as Julius Baer Investment Management) from 1995 to 2013, during which it was one of the fastest growing asset management companies. From 1990 to 1995, he was Head of Global Fixed Income at Bankers Trust Company. Prior to this, 1988 to 1990, Mr. Pell held a senior position at Mitchell Hutchins as head of corporate bonds and mortgage backed securities. Mr. Pell is on the Board of Hudson Link, a prison education charity. Mr. Pell received his BA in history from University of California, Berkeley and his MBA in Finance from New York University.

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instruments aggregating over $22 billion as well as operating experience. Henry served as a Managing Director at Vintage Fund Management and a Principal at William E. Simon & Sons, where he was responsible for all aspects of the private equity investment activities. Henry has served as the Chairman of the Board, on the Board of Directors, led the business review operating committees as well as head of Nominating, Audit, Compensation and Special Committees for multiple companies. Henry also served as President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Leeward Islands Lottery Holding Company. Henry graduated with a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. He serves or has previously served on several not for profit Boards including Stanford Haas Center National Advisory Board, Stanford Athletic Board, Sound Body Sound Mind, EXPO Center and The Riordan Program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Henry has been a featured speaker at Stanford University, Harvard Business School and UCLA Anderson School of Management. He was recently named as one of the 100 Points of Impact; UCLA Anderson Alumni Making a Difference and Inspiring Others at the school’s 75th anniversary. Mr. Brandon participated on two NCAA national championship tennis teams while at Stanford.

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responsibilities include investor relations support, limited partner communications, institutional fundraising and marketing activities for the firm.

Hien is a 19-year veteran of the asset management industry and is one of the founding members of Nile Capital Group. Prior to joining Nile, she spent a year and a half with Investec Asset Management where she was a manager on the North American Institutional distribution team and responsible for landing some key accounts in the western region. Previous to this, from 2001 to 2012, Ms. Nguyen was with Artio Global Investors as an Associate Director of Institutional Investments where she assisted in raising $25 billion in assets. From 1997 to 2001, she was with Prime Performance, Inc., as a senior account manager. She started her career with Great West Life & Annuity from 1995 to 1997 as a marketing associate. Ms. Nguyen received her BA in International Business & Marketing from University of Colorado.

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management industry. He was most recently the Executive Director, Risk Management at Indus Capital, a long/short equity fund. Previously, he was the Head of Risk Management at Artio Global Management, which he joined in 2004. For the four years prior, Prasad was a Senior Vice President for Quantitative Analysis and Risk Management at Jennison Associates. His professional experience also includes three years as a Managing Director for Quantitative Analysis and Risk Management at Prudential Investments; three years as Director of Risk Management for Nomura Securities International; and, a year as a Senior Associate at Smith Breeden Associates Inc. For the previous nine years, Prasad was an Assistant Professor of Finance at Indiana University in Bloomington. Prasad received his Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Michigan as well as a Master of Science in Statistics and Operations Research from Bowling Green University and a Bachelor of Statistics in Mathematics and Statistics from Indian Statistical Institute.

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organizational development. Ms. Lawrence’s client list includes such companies as Warner Bros, Viacom, Jet Propulsion Lab/NASA, HBO, and News Corp. Most recently, Tracy led the Los Angeles Consumer industry practice at Russell Reynolds Associates, where she handled senior-level management and board searches and led broad scale executive assessment initiatives across the spectrum of industries. As a member of Russell Reynolds’ Diversity Practice, she also consulted with corporations to diversify their boardrooms and senior management teams. She is a veteran of the cable television industry, having served as General Manager of FoxFamily Channel. Prior to this, she was Vice President of Affiliate Marketing for Nickelodeon Networks, where she oversaw marketing initiatives for Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, TV Land, and Noggin. Previous to this, she was Director of Marketing for MTV Networks. Ms. Lawrence began her career in brand management at Kraft and later worked as a Category Manager at Nestle Brands. Throughout her career, Tracy has been committed to diversity. She served on the industry-wide diversity committee for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA); was the Founder and Board Chair of Digital Diversity Network and earned two Mark Awards for excellence in advertising and a BDA award for creative innovation. Ms. Lawrence was also a recipient of NAMIC’s Winston Tony Cox Executive Achievement Award and the NCTA’s Vanguard Award for Young Leadership, the highest level of distinction given by this organization. In addition, she has been a member of the Aspen Institute’s Forum on Communications and Society. Ms. Lawrence earned her BA in Economics from Stanford University and her MBA from Harvard Business School.

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and former CEO of Progress Investment Management Company, a San Francisco-based manager of managers, focusing on emerging firms (small, minority and women-owned investment companies). Since its inception in 1990, Progress Investment Management has funded more than 125 emerging firms across a broad range of public security asset classes. Progress currently manages more than $8.8 billion in assets for some of the world’s largest public and corporate pension funds. After a management-led buyout, the company is 100% owned by its employees. Mr. Cazenave was appointed by President Carter to serve as Regional Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), and he also has served as Director of Business Development for the State of California and as a Principal Consultant to the State Assembly Office of Research. Today, he serves on advisory boards of Evolution Real Estate Partners, Vicente Capital Partners, the UCLA Anderson’s Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos, California. In addition to serving as an advisor, he also volunteers at San Quentin State Prison and acts as a prostate cancer peer support counselor at University of California San Francisco Medical Center. Mr. Cazenave received the 8th Annual NY NASP Foundation Wall Street Hall of Fame Award in February 2006 and the NASP Travers Bell Award in 2011. In 2012 he was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Natural and Social Sciences by California State University, Los Angeles. And in November 2013, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the National Association of Investment Companies, an association representing the interests of minority-owned investment firms. Mr. Cazenave holds the Series 7 and 24 securities licenses with FINRA. He received his B.A. in political science from California State University, Los Angeles, and completed Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business Executive Program for Smaller Companies.

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member and strategic advisor to growth companies and companies in transition. Prior to founding Riverford, Mr. Reinfrank was a co-founder and a Managing General Partner of Clarity Partners L.P., an $800 million private equity firm focused on media and communications, and a co-founder of Clarity China, L.P., a $220 million private equity partnership with investments in Greater China. Before Clarity, he was a co-founder and a Managing General Partner of Rader Reinfrank & Co., a private equity fund. His prior experience includes roles as an executive, investor, and advisor across a wide range of industries for the Roy E. Disney and Marvin Davis families. Mr. Reinfrank is a member of the board of directors of Apollo Investment Corporation, a registered investment company and publicly-traded financial services company (Nasdaq: AINV). He is the chair of its audit committee and a member of its nominating and governance committee, and compensation committee. Mr. Reinfrank is the governance committee chair for Parker Drilling Company (NYSE: PKD) and its former lead presiding director, compensation chair and audit committee member. Mr. Reinfrank meets the requirements of a Sarbanes-Oxley audit committee financial expert pursuant to item 407(d)(5)(ii) of Regulation S-K and he is FINRA licensed for Series 7, 62 and Series 63. Mr. Reinfrank is also a Senior Advisor to Pall Mall Capital, Ltd. (London), and Transnational Capital Corporation (NYC). Mr. Reinfrank was previously a director of WebTV Networks (acquired by Microsoft), Trillium Digital Systems (acquired by Intel), Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT), Enterra Corporation (NYSE: EN), CRC-Evans Pipeline, Impremedia LLC, Base Entertainment LLC, Naylor LLC, Crescent Entertainment, LLC and Central Soya, Inc. He earned his BA in Economics from Stanford and his MBA in Finance & Accounting from the Anderson School at UCLA.

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