AGENDA
April 11, 2023 NYC
9am Breakfast
9:45am Welcome from Barclays RISE and Next Generation Leaders
Katy Tian | Founder & CEO, NextGen Leader group | Executive Director, AltaCap (SFO)
10am Keynote: Unlocking Creativity and Innovation:
The Power of Design Thinking
Dr. Joann Halpern | Director, HPI New York | Professor, New York University
10:35am Crypto and Digital Assets
Moderator: Jasmine Jia | Recharge Capital
Jerald David | President | Arca Capital Management
Rene van Kesteren | CEO | SwapGlobal
11:10am Keynote: Family Office Investment Strategies
Marty Secada | Founder| IVYFON Network
11:25am Keynote: Next Generation Entrepreneurship
Tracy McWilliams | CEO | Inspire Global Single Family Office & Inspire Global Ventures
11:40am Panel: The Future of Wealth Technology and AI
Moderated by Bo Zhang | Portfolio Manager | Morgan Stanley
Tirto Adji | Managing Partner | Samudra Pacific Capital
Julia Valentine | Managing Partner | AlphaMille
Gaurav Mehta | Deutsche Bank | Financial Technology
Samrah Kazmi | Chief Innovation Officer | RESRG
12:15pm Lunch and Music
Qianci Liu | Director | Paulus Hook Music Foundation
1pm Panel: Real Estate Investment Strategies
Moderated by Brinkley Skye | Partner, Rishon Capital Partners LLC | Executive Director, Asset Development Corp. SFO | Family Office & Commercial Investments
Kamil Homsi | Founder and CEO | GRC Investment Group-Dubai (SFO) | Global Realty Capital-New York
David Du | President | Tianqing Real Estate Development
Thomas J.A. Haug | CEO, Managing Member | Aspen Tree Advisory
1:40pm The Fusion of Music & Fashion
Charles Jenkins | Positive Air
2:15pm Panel: Navigating the Job Market: Tackling Challenges and Uncovering New Opportunities
Moderated by Mike Blogna | CEO | Trusted Human Capital
Netta Jenkins | CEO | Aerodei
Deborah McLean | President, CAIA Foundation | Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion| DEI Thought Leader
Matthew Sawyer | Columbia and NYU Professor
2:45pm Panel: Global Financial Prospects: An Outlook on International Investment Trends
Moderated by Victoria Liedl | Head of Innovation & Technology | Austrian Trade Commission
Grace Cassab | Family Office Investment Strategies | Axios Family Office
Brad Blazar | Founder | 5 Star Capital
Saji Salam | Managing Partner | Careventures Capital
Hon. Mark B. Jackson | Honorary Consul General of Japan
3:15pm Panel: Empowering Success: The Competitiveness of
Professional Women in Today's Market
Moderated by Kathy Murray | Douglas Elliman
Holly Nelson | Co-owner | Total Warrior Combat MMA
Larisa Miller | President & CEO | Phoenix Global
Phoebe Van Tran | CEO | Infinity Capital Lending
Jane Ge | Managing Partner | Vectors Capital
3:50pm Fireside Chat:
Katy Tian | Founder & CEO, NextGen Leader Group | Executive Director, AltaCap (SFO)
Julia Valentine | Board Member | NextGen Leader Group
4pm Showcasing Excellence: Gold Award Roadshow of the Varsity Technology Competition
Moderated by Daniel Meador | Opal Group
Roadshows:
DAWANG | Parsons School of Design
Stackdin | Columbia University
Ragene | Columbia University & Carnegie Mellon University Team
4:30pm Keynote: The Future of NFT
Rob Montgomery| CEO | Resonate Capital
4:40 Panel: Revealing the Secrets: Investment Strategies
by Family Office Next Generation
Moderated by Brittini Flatley | CEO & Principal | G Carter Group International
Katy Tian | CIO | NLG Capital
Winnie Peng | Asset and Wealth Management | Goldman Sachs
Grace King | Asset and Wealth Management | Morgan Stanley
Wendy Diamond | CEO | Board Member | Investor | Founder LDP Ventures, Women's Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO)
Mark Sanor | CEO & Founder | 360 One Firm
5:15pm The Visionary Art
Stone Chun Shi | Visionary Artist & Founder | Stonecube art association
5:30pm Closing Remarks
Katy Tian | Founder & CEO, NextGen Leader Group | Executive Director, AltaCap (SFO)
6pm Cocktails
April Speakers
Larisa B. Miller | CEO | Phoenix Global, LLC
Larisa B. Miller CEO, Phoenix Global, LLC Larisa is CEO of Phoenix Global, LLC, headquartered in Miami, Florida and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Phoenix Global is a global consulting firm specializing in defense strategy, technology, transportation, agriculture/agritech, international municipal and governmental consulting; ESG/sustainability and business expansion, growth, and development strategies. Additionally, Larisa is vice president of STP Capital Partners, specializing in the development of large-scale technology parks in strategic global markets, and President of Keystone Farm Future. Larisa sits on several executive and non-profit boards around the world, prioritizing global collaboration and knowledge-sharing as the foundation of the business model of the future. Larisa has been named one of the World’s Top 100 People in Finance by Top 100 Magazine; one of the 10 Most Influential Business Leaders of 2021 by Exeleon Magazine; 100 Global Women of Excellence by Sovereign Magazine, Top 10 Most Influential Friends of Africa by For Business in Africa Magazine, and the 2022 Personality of the Year by Powerhouse Magazine.
Dr. Joann Halpern | Director, Hasso Plattner Institute, New York | Adjunct professor of International Education, New York University
Design Thinking
Dr. Joann Halpern is a Design Thinking coach and conducts Design Thinking and Designing Your Life workshops throughout the world. Prior to joining HPI, she was the founding director of the German Center for Research and Innovation, New York. In addition to teaching and administrative assignments at universities in the United States and Germany, Dr. Halpern co-founded Knowledge Transfer Beyond Boundaries, an NGO with projects in Cameroon, Nigeria, Yemen, and Antigua. She received her B.A. from Dartmouth College, her M.A. from Harvard University, and her Ph.D. from New York University. She is a recipient of the Harvard University Award for Distinction in Teaching as well as scholarships from the Fulbright Association, German Academic Exchange Service, Robert Bosch Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Halpern serves on the advisory boards of the German Center for Research and Innovation, Technical University of Dortmund, University Alliance Ruhr, and the External Advisory Board of the Tandon Institute for Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship.
Dr. Charles Jenkins | Singer, Songwriter, Film and Fashion Executive
Dr. Charles Jenkins is widely known for his innovative leadership, and diverse service as an influential renaissance man. For 20 years Jenkins served as the senior pastor of the historic Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago where he also sat on countless boards at the city and state level. He was also a pivotal leader in the passing of Chicago’s Big Box Ordinance which led to Walmart and Target Stores arriving in Chicago leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue annually. He was also involved in Uber’s arrival in Chicago, leading to thousands of jobs and dynamic revenue for the city.
He has received countless awards and citations for his service including being inducted into Morehouse College’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Scholars. He is a recipient of BET Networks ICON Man of Change Award, Black Enterprise Magazine’s Urban Business Game Changer Award, and Illinois’ Gift of Hope Lifesaving Partner Award for leading thousands of African Americans to become organ donors, and inspiring a nationwide campaign saving countless lives. Jenkins is a film executive, and celebrated songwriter, and record label owner with 18 Billboard #1 honors, 9 Stellar Gospel Music Awards, Grammy recognition, a Soul Train Music Award nomination, and recently he received his 10th BMI Top Songwriter Award. Additionally, he closed 2022 with the #1 song of the year on Billboard for most Gospel Airplay.
The success in the music industry led to successful concert touring opportunities, which spun a booming merchandising business. This turn of events, combined with the advice of a leading world renown fashion executive led to the founding of Positive Air. Positive Air is a luxury lifestyle brand with an atelier in Paris, France with pop-ups due this fall.
Jenkins is married to Dr. Tara Rawls Jenkins and has 3 beautiful children Princess, Paris, and Charles III.
Jerald David | President | Arca Labs
Crypto and Digital Assets
Jerald is President of Arca Labs. He leads the innovation division responsible for creating registered digital securities, tokenized funds, and blockchain-based initiatives in partnership with financial companies. Jerald has spent the past decade working in FinTech and digital assets, and he has over 20 years of executive team experience for Fortune 500 and startup exchanges including CME, NYMEX, GreenX, and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME). As one of the first employees at GreenX and DME, he helped build two successful global exchanges. Jerald holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Business with a minor in Government from Franklin and Marshall College.
Rene Van Kesteren | CEO | SwapGlobal
Crypto and Digital Assets
Rene is CEO for SwapGlobal, a startup crypto swap dealer working towards being CFTC-registered. Prior to SwapGlobal, Rene was the General Manager of Institutions at BlockFi, Inc. where he built the institutional lending and trading businesses; he was responsible for most of BlockFi’s revenues. In 2017, he started at BlockFi as an advisor to the CEO. Prior to BlockFi, Rene was a Managing Director in Equity Markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he started as a vice president in 2004. Rene built the equity structured lending platform at BAML, including risk and regulatory compliance frameworks. He completed the MBA/MBI program from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Netherlands and Columbia Business School. He also holds an MSc in Computer Science from Leiden University, Netherlands.
Jasmine Jia | Partner Digital Assets | Recharge Capital
Crypto and Digital Assets
Jasmine Jia is a Partner at Recharge Capital leading the digital assets investment strategy. Previously, Jasmine oversaw the business development, strategic planning, and operations of the investment products business unit at BlockFi. Prior to joining BlockFi, Jasmine had over ten years of experience at EY working with registered and unregistered funds, insurance companies, and banks in audit and advisory capacities. Her experience included assisting alternative fund managers in launching their first crypto investment funds. Jasmine is a Wharton MBA and leads the Wharton Digital Assets Club. She is also a CPA with a master’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in finance.
Brinkley Skye | Partner, Rishon Capital Partners LLC | Executive Director,
Asset Development Corp. SFODirect Investments
Brinkley Skye is an Executive Director of a SFO. The SFO focus has been in technology and real estate investing since 1974. Rishon Capital Partners, where Brinkley is a Partner, was also founded by the SFO focusing on capital allocation. Brinkley’s independent entrepreneurial niche and experience is with direct opportunities as an equity partner, LP, GP or strategic partner, concentrating my practice on equity, allocation, acquisitions, joint ventures and alternative investments, including real estate development projects, limited partner investments across the investment strategy spectrum, equity co-investments into early stage tech, AI, SaaS, Security, healthcare, blockchain, fintech, and digital assets, (crypto, tokenization, mining, and commodities. Experienced in the market, Brinkley interfaces in off-market commercial property investments and other private early-stage technology opportunities of impact. She also engages with multiple generations of HNW, multifamily offices, SFO, and developers, providing value, knowledge, connection, and integrity. Started this career path within the real estate market 13 years ago with a NY Family Office, real estate owners/operators.
Brinkley supports philanthropic efforts for clean water, safety and entrepreneurial achievement for women and children, Child Liberation Foundation (Child Trafficking), volunteering for various charities and she has a huge passion for mind, body, and health. Brinkley has many years of experience assisting and producing high profile and private events.
Tracy McWilliams | CEO | Inspire Global Ventures
Entrepreneurship
Tracy McWilliams is a co-founder of the Digital Evolution Institute. Tracy McWilliams is an investor and Board member to teams, technologies and firms that disrupt their industries. She is the founder, investor and CEO of Inspire Global Ventures and founder of Jaspy, a disruptive infrastructure and alternatives technology platform. She bridges her experience as an investment banker with managing her family office, a passion for entrepreneurship, knowledge of government entities, and advocacy of technologies that inspire breakthrough problem-solving.
Samrah Kazmi | Chief Innovation Officer | RESRG
Providing capital solutions to real estate developers and investors
Samrah Kazmi is the founder of “Women In Sustainable Innovation”, a global community enabling female-founded ventures in sustainability. In the past, Samrah ran PSE&G’s Renewable Energy Loan program which structured utility scale solar projects in excess of 500MW. She is also the Chief Innovation Officer at RESRG, an ESG Risk advisory. She is an award-winning Risk Executive and a globally ranked RegTech Influencer, and recipient of NYC’s Inspiring Fintech Female award.
Phoebe Van Tran | Co-founder and CEO | Infinity Capital Lending
Providing capital solutions to real estate developers and investors
Phoebe Van Tran is the coauthor of the #1 Amazon best selling book, “Powerful Female Immigrants.” She has extensive experience in mortgage lending industry and real estate sale/investments with total 8,800 mortgage transactions and $890 million in funding volume. Infinity Capital Lending provides capital advisory services, private structured capital solutions to real estate developers and investors backed by private high net worth investors from both domestic and international capital sources.
Phoebe currently serves as a Luxury Committee board member of the VNARP (Vietnamese National Association of Real Estate Professionals), and the founder of the charity Sky9 Foundation- Love without Borders. Her recent designated NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) license and her deep passion for entrepreneurship enable her to better serve the entrepreneur and investor communities.
Katy Tian | Founder & CEO, Nextgen Leader Group | Executive Director, Single Family Office, Alta
Impact on the Next Generation
Katy received her Executive Education from Harvard University and her BBA with honors at Lubin school of business at Pace University. She received her business administration and management diploma at the University of Cambridge. Katy has been the Executive Director at one of the most prominent Single Family Offices in Asia with AUM in excess of US$10b and has served a CIO role at a Multi Family office. She founded and built Nextgen Leader Group, the world's Nextgen Leader community, which combines Ivy League schools, well-known family offices, entrepreneurial chief executives, private equity, venture capital, and investment funds with offices in New York, Beijing, Singapore, and London.
Paul Kang | CEO, Alta Companies | Single Family Office
Impact on the Next Generation
Paul received his AB in mathematics from Harvard University and his MBA from Stanford University and began his 30-year investment and merger advisory career at Goldman Sachs in New York. He also built Alta Capital, a cross-border merchant bank with offices in New York, Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London and San Francisco. He began his career as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati.
Paul’s non-profit board involvements have included the Curtis Institute, Fisheries Enhancement, Council of Korean Americans, Ashoka, Stanford Club of Korea, Harvard Club of NY.
Grace Cassab | Founder & CEO, Cassab Global Trading | Asset Manager, Axios Family Office
Facilitate connections between international trading partners to better our food system through fair trade, sustainability, transparency, responsibility and quality
Ms. Cassab is the Founder and CEO of Cassab Global Trading LLC, a South Florida based company. She is also the Asset manager at Axios Family Office LLC, focused on projects around building our future food system.
Grace's mission is to facilitate connections between international trading partners to better our food system through fair trade, sustainability, transparency, responsibility and quality. She is passionate about establishing collaborations with organizations and individuals who are creating a better future through food. Grace creates opportunities through economic integration between the United States and Mexico.
Victoria Liedl | Head of Innovation & Technology | Austrian Trade Commission
Innovation & Technology
Victoria Liedl gathered working experience at major Austrian and international banks before coming to New York in 2019 to work at a startup in the field of multilingual meetings. Victoria is part of the Advantage Austria New York/the Austrian Trade Commission team since August 2021 and covers the following industries: startups, fintech, creative industries and innovation.
She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management & Entrepreneurship from the University of Applied Sciences for Management & Communication in Vienna and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Queen Mary University in London.
Dr. Saji Salam| Managing Partner | Careventures Capital
Digital health, farming, real estate
Dr. Saji Salam is the founder of Careventures Capital, a physician centric private equity firm focused on commercial real estate and farming with over $ 100 million assets under management. Prior to this role, Dr.Salam held leadership roles at Accenture, Deloitte Consulting and other multinational consulting firms advising Fortune 500 clients in the healthcare sector in North America and Europe. Saji is a serial entrepreneur with startups and angel investments in diverse sectors such as digital health, visual media, farming, retail and artificial intelligence in several countries.
Dr.Salam, a registered physician, earned his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from University of Liverpool, UK and holds an executive certificate in Business Strategy and Innovation from MIT Sloan School of Business. As an industry thought leader, Saji has presented at several healthcare finance and technology conferences in US and abroad. Current areas of interest include farming and real estate development initiatives globally.
Brad Blazar | Founder | 5 Star Capital
Formerly the CEO of a small oil company, Brad Blazar is a highly sought-after speaker on the subject of raising capital, syndications and launching funds. Having raised more than $2 Billion dollars, today he mentors others around the world as part of a global coaching business on how to raise funds from high-net-worth investors to build, buy, and scale a business - or fund a special project like real estate. Having worked alongside many large real estate syndicators and top financial services firms he is considered an expert on raising private money.
With an extensive network of family offices, advisory firms and broker/dealers, he has closed the largest multi-million dollar transactions for multiple leading real estate firms like $9M, $7.5M, and $5M for SmartStop Self Storage, a national operator of self-storage assets in addition to $11M for USAllianz.
Recently recognized on meritorious honor for entrepreneurship and philanthropy, Brad was recently knighted in a royal investiture ceremony alongside other notable entrepreneurs like Toni Braxton, Paula Abdul, Ray Parker, Jr and public figures and now uses his noble title to bring awareness to the fight against cancer.
Gaurav Mehta | Deutsche Bank | Financial Technology
Gaurav Mehta joined Deutsche Bank in 2021 with 10+ years of investment banking experience, including at Credit Suisse and UBS. He focuses on the FinTech sector, covering payments and financial software industries, and advising clients execute on key strategic and financial transactions. Over the years, Gaurav has developed deep expertise in advising global clients on M&A, IPOs and other capital raising activities. Gaurav has led executions of several financial transactions, totaling more than $100 billion in value. Gaurav received MBA in Finance, with honors from NYU Stern School of Business and graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
Hon. Mark B. Jackson | Honorary Consul General of Japan
Serial Entrepreneur, Diplomat, Chairman, Community Leader, and Family Man
Mr. Jackson is a direct maternal 14th-generation descendant of England’s King Henry VIII and was named Honorary Consul General of Japan in 2014. A true serial entrepreneur with a successful track record since 1991, Mr. Jackson is the Principal at The Gateway Mayfair Group, a $3MM global consulting/trading firm, and co-founder and former managing member of RJ Medical, a medical supply company specializing in PPE. Mr. Jackson is the Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and CEO of Moreson Conferencing, a $7MM teleconferencing service established in 1996. Mr. Jackson is Chairman of the Alabama Advisory Board Citizens Trust Bank, which has $600MM AUM and Clarity Global Health Systems.
Mr. Jackson has received numerous awards from organizations recognizing his contributions to the local and global community. Internationally, he has served as a board member of The British American Business Group, The National Library for the Blind in England, The Irish Cultural Society, and The Japan-America Society of Alabama. He is a Global Advisor to The Global Chamber of Commerce and The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition member. Mr. Jackson delivered the 2018 keynote address at The United Nations World Cities Day Conference in Liverpool, England. Presently, Mr. Jackson is the Chairman and CEO of a new secured global video conferencing product built to compete with current industry titans.
Kathy Murray | Douglas Elliman
Kathy Murray has been working with family offices and prominent families in New York City for the past fifteen years. A global broker with a strong local presence, Kathy is recognized as one of the top 5 highest grossing teams on the Upper West Side and one of the Top 50 Brokers in New York City. Having represented buyers and sellers in well over $1 Billion of sold real estate, Kathy is the ‘go to’ broker for some of the city's top real estate developers. Kathy has presented new developments to overseas investors in Asia and coordinated presentations in countries in South America including Brazil. Some of the city’s most prominent real estate developers have listed their developments with Kathy. Notable publications frequently rely on Kathy for her unique expertise.
A native New Yorker who grew up in a real estate family, Kathy got a taste for deal making at a young age, when she began buying, renovating and flipping apartments while still in her twenties. Moving into brokerage over 15 years ago, she was one of the first agents to start using video for her property profiles, a cutting edge marketing innovation that allowed her to thrive in the otherwise challenging market of 2008. After more than a decade as a broker, Kathy’s greatest pride – beyond her numerous awards – is the fact that many of her original clients continue to buy and resell with her. They accept nothing short of her personal touch and excellent attention to detail.
Jane Ge | Managing Partner | Vectors Capital
Jane Ge is the managing partner of Vectors Capital. Jane is a climate veteran who brings a decade of expertise in the climate space. Launched in 2022, Vectors Capital is a world leading expert fund that invests in early stage technologies addressing climate change. Prior to launching the fund, Jane worked in Lawrence Berkeley National Lab on Department of Energy led climate policy research and implementation, specializing in public-private partnership and climate technology innovation. Jane also worked at UC Berkeley on deeptech commercialization, while investing/consulting for climate related startup deals for venture capital funds and a renewable energy corporate venture.
Holly Nelson | Chief Executive Officer, TruthMap, Inc. | Co-owner & VP, TWC MMA
Holly Nelson is a behavioral scientist, entrepreneur, and humanitarian who started her first business as a private consultant in 2016. Holly’s parents worked as medical missionaries in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where she spent her time as a translator between medical staff and patients and running the surgical operatives. She launched multiple businesses focused on self-discovery, including a Ketamine Telehealth company, Lucidelix, and co-founded Truthmap, a mental health app. Holly is also the Owner and Executive Creative Director of Total Warrior Combat (TWC MMA), an MMA fight league that she acquired in 2022 to destigmatize mental health support for men and veterans. The acquisition made her 1 of less than 3 women in the world to own a co-ed MMA fight league.She also founded a non-profit called TruthMapVets to raise funds for mental health support. Holly is a public speaker, coach, consultant, writer, and women’s empowerment advocate, with a B.S. in Biology from Palm Beach Atlantic University.