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Laurel Bennion
Portfolio Manager, Zions First National Bank
Laurel Bennion is a Portfolio Manager with the Commercial Real Estate Banking Group at Zions Bank. Her career at Zions started in 2020 when she was an intern in the Real Estate Banking Group. After graduating from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in finance, Laurel joined Zions' Banker Development Program in June 2021, during which she learned foundational principles of credit underwriting and completed a 4-month rotation in Commercial & Industrial Banking. Laurel rejoined REBG in March 2022 as a Portfolio Manager. She now underwrites and manages a loan portfolio with a balance of $500MM, servicing multiple publicly traded clients as well as local developers. She is a member of CREW UT and serves on their 2023 Scholarship Gala Committee. Laurel enjoys skiing, hiking, and living an active life. She has a passion for teaching and coaching, in 2021 and 2022 she was a volunteer track coach at her local junior high school and helped students learn to high jump and long jump. Most recently she has coached a team of 5th and 6th grade volleyball players.
Sydnie Keddington
Seed Investor, KickStart
Sydnie Keddington is an early-stage investor with Kickstart, Utah’s most active seed-stage firm. She has led 10 investments within the Kickstart portfolio to date, and serves as a board member / observer for 8 companies spanning across Enterprise and SMB SaaS, health tech, EdTech, and music tech. She maintains a broad industry focus while owning the firm’s investment strategy in Arizona and New Mexico, in addition to close involvement with Utah- and Colorado-based companies. Central to Sydnie’s mission as an investment professional is empowering female founders and the next generation of entrepreneurs, as evidenced through her community involvement. When not in the office, she can be found with her guitar on stage, or in the mountains with her partner Weston and their Black Lab and Rhodesian Ridgeback.
Rachel Metcalf
Investment Analyst, The Larry H. Miller Company
Rachel Metcalf is an Investment Analyst at The Larry H. Miller Company, where her primary role is to help make investment decisions for a portion of the capital for both the company and the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation across various asset classes, including private equity and venture capital. Prior to joining The Larry H. Miller Company, Rachel worked at Goldman Sachs in the Alternative Investments & Manager Selection Group, focusing on private equity. Rachel's interest in investing was fostered during her time as a student member of Campus Founders Fund and University Growth Fund. At Campus Founders Fund, Rachel learned from the expertise of early-stage investors at Kickstart Fund as she helped find student founders and led due diligence to evaluate the potential investment merit of those students' businesses. At University Growth Fund, Rachel led student deal teams in due diligence on potential investments and value-add projects, playing a key role in decisions regarding capital deployment for a $32M venture capital fund. Rachel received her B.S. from Brigham Young University with a degree in Finance.
Ly Nguyen
Associate, Goldman Sachs
Ly Nguyen is an Associate on Client Communications Team within Private Wealth Management Operations in Asset and Wealth Management Division at Goldman Sachs. Ly started at Goldman Sachs SLC as a Campus Hire in 2020 and has been at the firm for over 3 years. In her day to day job at GS, she focuses delivering excellent digital experiences to the firm’s High Net Worth Individual Clients. Ly was born and raised in Vietnam and moved to the US in High School. She graduated from Arizona State with a degree in Industrial Engineering.
Wiktoria O’Hare
Lead, Addepar
Wiktoria (pronounced Victoria) O'Hare is currently a Lead at Addepar, a wealth management platform, where her team ingests clients’ financial data and creates the models within the software used for analysis and reporting. Prior to becoming a lead, she was a Solutions Consultant herself building those models. Before pivoting into financial technology, Wiktoria started her career in finance in New York City where she spent time in equity analysis, investor relations, wealth management, and capital markets. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Biology at Westminster University and, in her free time, can be found hiking or skiing with her family.
Lejla Subasic
Assistant Vice President, Manager, Wealth Management, Morgan Stanley
Lejla Subasic is the manager of the Secondary Transaction team in Utah for Morgan Stanley at Work Global Equity Solutions. The primary focus of the team is to deliver ultra-high net worth client-focused services and aide in the sale/purchase of private shares. Lejla is very passionate about solving complex problems and implementing improved processes and controls, which went hand-in-hand when she helped launch the Secondary Transaction team from the ground up in 2022. Lejla joined Morgan Stanley in 2021, while she previously worked at Domo Technologies and Goldman Sachs. Lejla is deeply committed to promote diversity and an inclusive culture across the workplace. To that end, she is the co-chair of the First Generation Employee Network in which she stood up in 2023. Lejla received her Master’s degree in Information Systems from the University of Utah, along with her B.S. in Information Systems as well. In her free time she enjoys hiking, camping, off-roading, and snowboarding.
Andrea Verkic-Pranic
Executive Director | Head of Gain Loss, Stock Plan and Retirement Tax Reporting, Morgan Stanley
Andrea Verkic-Pranic, an Executive Director in Wealth Management Operations, is Head of Gain Loss, Stock Plan and Retirement Tax Reporting and Head of the Morgan Stanley Global Center in Salt Lake. Andrea joined Morgan Stanley in 2007 upon earning a B.A. in International Business from Westminster University. She has over 15 years of industry experience in highly regulated functions and has led several of industry’s largest tax system transformations. As Head of the Salt Lake Global Center, Andrea drives the Firm’s strategy and operations for its 1,700 employees in the valley. She is particularly excited about the unique opportunity to join talent and cultures across local Morgan Stanley, E*TRADE and Morgan Stanley@Work teams, all of which have had a longstanding presence and positive impact on Utah’s economy and community. Andrea represents Morgan Stanley on the Advisory Board of EDCUtah and partners to drive the financial industry agenda. Andrea resides in Salt Lake with her husband and two sons, Alexander and Sebastian, and can be found cheering at soccer and tennis fields along the valley.
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