Adriana Ballard
Portfolio Manager, Employees Retirement System of Texas
Ms. Ballard is a Private Equity Portfolio Manager at Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS), a public pension fund with $29 billion in assets under management, and has been with ERS for the last 13 years. Previously, she worked at Goldman Sachs as a Senior Client Analyst for Private Wealth Management, serving Latin American clients on a variety of investment strategies including Alternative Assets. Ms. Ballard began her career at Citibank Worldwide Security Services implementing custody and institutional services to international investors. She has a Bachelor of Science from Universidad de Los Andes (Bogota), a PgDip for Universidad del Rosario (Bogota) in International Business and a MBA from IE Business School.
Michelle Davidson, CAIA
Co-Head, Advisory Americas, Aksia
Michelle is Co-Head of Advisory, Americas and has over 34 years of financial services experience, with more than 28 years focused exclusively on private equity. She oversees the firm’s North America Advisory team alongside Matt Mullarkey. As Co-Head of Advisory Americas, Michelle works with clients to develop program governance, provide strategy allocation and portfolio construction advice and support the ongoing management of their alternative investment programs. Michelle has extensive experience in all aspects of private equity investment, including portfolio management, strategic program development, and being a member of various partnership-advisory committees. Prior to Aksia’s acquisition of TorreyCove Capital Partners, Michelle was a co-founder of TorreyCove Capital Partners, where she worked in a similar capacity and managed the firm’s client advisory activities. Prior to that, Michelle was a Managing Director at Pacific Corporate Group. During her twelve-year tenure she was strategically involved in the construction of CalPERS’s first private equity program, including both partnership and direct investments, and represented Pacific Corporate Group on the Private Equity Steering Committee for the UN Principles for Responsible Investment. Michelle graduated with honors from San Diego State University with a BS in Business Administration and holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a CPA (inactive) and earned the CAIA designation.
Sharmila Kassam
Executive Director, AIF Institute
Sharmila Kassam serves as Executive Director of the AIF Institute. Shar is an institutional investor who most recently managed the $30 billion Texas Employees Retirement System (Texas ERS) as Deputy Chief Investment Officer. She managed investments across asset classes, the internal investment team and public equity external managers. She was responsible for overseeing and analyzing asset allocation, risk management, pursuing new initiatives, new investment structures and developing best practices. She worked through various aspects of developing Texas ERS’ alternatives investment program both executing investments and managing the portfolios. She also reviewed investment products and advised on the $3 billion Texa$aver 401(k)/457 Plan. She is a nationally recognized leader in the pension industry and sought out globally as a speaker. Shar is an ILPA Policy Advisor and Instructor and faculty member for the National Institute for Public Finance Certificate in Public Treasury Management (CPTM) program. Before joining Texas ERS, she spent 15 years in the venture capital and technology industry working in financial, legal, operational and management roles. Shar holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting (with honors) and a J.D. degree, both from The University of Texas. She is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in Texas and licensed to practice law in California and Texas.
Dulari Pancholi, CFA, CAIA
Principal, Director of Credit and Multi-Asset, NEPC, LLC
Dulari’s investment career began in 2000 and she joined NEPC in 2006. Dulari is involved in NEPC’s hedge fund research and due diligence activities, in addition to providing consulting services for the non-traditional asset classes of NEPC’s various clients. Dulari is the Co-Head of NEPC’s Impact Investing Committee. Dulari is also frequent speaker at industry conferences on the topic of Impact Investing. Prior to joining NEPC in August of 2006, Dulari was Vice President of Operations of the Hedge Fund at Venus Capital Management. As Vice President, Dulari was independently responsible for all of the investment operations activity for two funds under management. Her responsibilities included: representing the fund for all operational due diligence conducted by institutional investors, monitoring the portfolio, and assisting the fund manager on risk management for structured products. Prior to that, Dulari was employed as a Research Associate at the Center for International Securities and Derivatives Market (CISDM). As a Research Associate, Dulari's responsibilities included understanding various databases, statistical models, software and analytical tools used for efficient financial analysis. While at CISDM, Dulari authored and co-authored several research papers, one of which was published in the Journal of Alternative Investments in the Spring of 2004. Prior to CISDM, she worked for Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company in Mumbai, India. Her responsibilities included auditing cash flows and summarizing fund movements for fund managers. Dulari received her M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and holds L.L.B. and B.S. degrees from the University of Mumbai. Dulari has attained both of the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations. She is also a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society.
Kristin Mott
Founder & Managing Partner, Amberlake Capital
Kristin Mott is a twenty-year veteran in the alternatives space having served institutional investors across hedge fund, private equity, real asset, real estate, credit and hybrid investments. Kristin is Founder and Managing Partner of Amberlake Capital, an outsourced marketing and investor relations partner to emerging and established investment managers in real asset, infrastructure and credit strategies. Kristin is a frequent speaker at industry events including Kayo Conferences, CFA Society, Markets Medi. She was recognized with the “Excellence in Private Equity” Award from Markets Media. She is a leader of numerous industry organizations including Women in Real Assets and Infrastructure and 100 Women in Finance, where she leads the Senior Private Equity and Real Assets initiative and serves as a member of the Advisory Council. Kristin is a mother of two girls and an elected member of the town council (RTM) in Westport, CT. She is a graduate of the School of Journalism at the University of Minnesota.
