AltsOps 2023

Muhammad is a Founder of Akram | Assurance, Advisory & Tax Firm and leads the firm's Alternative Investment practice. Muhammad specializes in providing accounting, tax, and business advice to a wide array of financial services entities, investment partnerships (domestic and offshore), funds-of-funds, digital asset funds, real estate funds, private equity funds, and investment advisors. He has experience advising newly formed entities and assisting with start-up considerations, such as form of practice, structure of agreements, compensation arrangements, compliance, and regulatory matters.

Lance started his career with Timber Hill, making markets in equities and index options at the American Stock Exchange. Through a JBO with Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, he became a partner in El Lobo Trading Group. He continued options trading on the floor through 2004, and then joined Shoreline Trading Group in New York, as head of business development and prime brokerage sales. Lance left in 2007 to became a founding partner of Saratoga Prime Services. In 2009, Lance Baraker was hired to build TradeStation Prime Services from scratch. He joined Celadon Financial Group, where he was a partner and Head of Prime Brokerage Services. He then spent five years in an institutional sales role for Weeden Prime Services. Lance is currently CEO of Positive Gamma. Lance graduated in 1993 from Lehigh University with a B.S. in Finance and received his MBA and Certificate in International Business from Fordham University in 1997 and has passed FINRA Exams 3,7,30, & 63.

Michael Brice is the Founder and President of BW Cyber, as well as the Lead for the firm’s Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) service offering. In this capacity, he is in constant demand for various CLevel and related strategic engagements that vary from in-person Private Equity Portfolio offsites speaking engagement focusing on critical CEO and CFO cybersecurity risks, to long-term vCISO outsourcing for highly regulated financial services organizations that do not possess in-house cyber competency.

Michael also maintains strong professional relationships with multiple commercial, financial, and governmental organizations – the most notable of which is his personal relationship with senior special agents from the FBI’s financial cyber division in New York City. In this capacity, he has presented in-tandem with the FBI on multiple public and private executive panels and related speaking events. Relatedly, as the Lead for the firm’s Financial Digital Forensics and Incident Response services, he maintains an on-going relationship with the FBI in which he can immediately involve highly specialized government assistance for critical client cyber incident/breach activities that are time-sensitive or highly impactful from a financial perspective (e.g., wire fraud, critical data loss, or ransomware).

Thomas has spent 20yrs working on both the Buy & Sell side, been involved with the launch of multiple Hedge funds and ETF’s and implemented technology and infrastructure enhancements at every step. Beginning his career in the back office at Deutsche Bank he worked his way onto the Oil Trading Desk where, whilst responsible for trading across the barrel, he oversaw the implementation of new trading technologies and derivative instruments. After a brief sabbatical setting up the infrastructure for a Bio-Technology start-up, Thomas returned to the Buy-side at City Financial, a $4.5Bn Multi-Manager, co-ordinating across multiple trading teams and assisting in the deployment of capital in novel trading strategies. Now at Truss Edge Thomas is responsible for business development, implementing their bespoke outsourced technology and operations platform for emerging and established Hedge fund and ETF managers.

Mr. Carballo’s mandate is to develop business nationwide. Glen focuses primarily on the fund industry, banking Hedge Funds, Private Equity, Venture Capital and Family Office. Glen Carballo can create memorable client experiences and build core deposit banking relationships With 20+ years of experience working with commercial & private clients, Mr. Carballo seeks to deliver an unmatched banking relationship with Valley's National Deposit Group by leveraging his firm, network and skill to ensure his clients have the banking resources to conduct business in an efficient manner.

Trent founded Forester Capital LLC in 1999. He has 32 years of experience in the finance industry, including 24 years in hedge funds. He was previously an associate director at hedge fund Tiger Management. He was a portfolio manager at Nelson Capital Management, a Palo Alto firm, and also worked at Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette. Trent is a Chartered Financial Analyst and was selected to the Beta Gamma Sigma National Honor Society. He has a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Duke University and an MBA in management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Ryan is an experienced Treasury Management Professional with 20+ years of working in the financial services industry. He is skilled in Business Relationship Management, Commercial Banking, Working Capital Analysis, and Strategy. Ryan is also a strong consultant and thought provoker holding an M.B.A. with a focus in Business Management, from Centenary University. Ryan now leads a team of Treasury Solutions Sales professionals at Valley Bank located in New York City where he can reach more clients than before on the topics of Cash Flow and Fraud Mitigation tactics.

David Gingeleskie is an industry veteran with over 20 years of cross asset sales experience at large financial firms. After serving in leadership roles at the large banks, he pivoted to work with a Silicon Valley based alternative data provider called Second Measure. When Second Measure was acquired by Bloomberg, he worked on the integration group before leaving to join a private equity backed SAAS Fintech called TSI. There, he ran North American sales and drove a 200% increase in annual bookings. He is currently the Head of Business Development for the Outsourced Trading Team at StoneX, where he is helping to expand the footprint of Wall Street’s premier OST offering.

Prior to joining Investcorp in 2014, Jonathan worked at FRM Investments LLC, a division of Man Group Plc, where he spent six years and was most recently the Deputy Head of Business Risk. Prior to this he was a Senior Associate at Ernst and Young for four years where he qualified as CPA in the State of New York. His license is currently inactive. Jonathan holds a Master of Science in Accountancy and a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

Steve Kahn joined Talpion Fund Management in April 2010 to build the platform for the eventual launch of their hedge fund in 2011. Talpion subsequently decided to close the fund, preferring to actively manage its own assets internally. Aside from its public liquid investments, the single-family office allocates to hedge funds and private equity. Steve’s current role includes managing operations, accounting, IT, HR, compliance and performing ODD. He is also responsible for managing all the vendor relationships of the firm.

His experience working with Hedge Funds started in 2000 at DLJ/Pershing, holding various positions until eventually being responsible for its Prime Brokerage operations. In 2003 he moved to Barclays Capital to manage the Equity Prime Brokerage operations group. He later joined Carlyle Blue-Wave in 2007, a multi-strategy start-up hedge fund in New York and later joined Raptor Capital Management, a hedge fund spin-out from under Tudor Management.

Steve graduated Emory University in 1989 with a BBA in Management and received his MBA in Finance from Emory’s Business School in 1993.

Anthony Mascia is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Essential Fund Services International, LLC (“EFSI”), a leading fund administration and investor services provider. Anthony oversees EFSI’s business development and marketing strategy. He began his professional career in 1999 as a trader and member of the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT). While at NYBOT and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), he co-founded a NFA-regulated brokerage business that consisted of national and international clients and was responsible for developing a division specializing in food and fiber commodities on the NYBOT exchange until it went fully electronic in 2008, growing revenues for this division by more than 250% annualized in the first 3 years and more than 30% a year thereafter. Anthony developed a reputation for effective risk management strategies, the formulation of market positioning strategies, as well as communicating incisive market commentary to clients and providing consistent and valued advisory services. After leaving the floor in 2008, Anthony went on to build a guaranteed independent brokerage firm focused on investing in alternative strategies through an affiliation with MF Global until 2011. Since 2008, Anthony has raised more than $100 million in assets for managed futures trading programs. Anthony is currently a Principal & Partner of a New York-based commodity trading advisor, providing consulting services and assistance with discretionary investment and marketing strategies. He currently resides in Westchester County with his wife and children where he is an avid winemaker and musician; he is a graduate of Fordham University.

Brian F. Moss, CFA, Founder and CEO of Soaring Capital Management, LLC has over 30 years of experience working in professional investing, risk management and in alternative investments. He has worked with some of the largest investment banks such as the predecessor to UBS and a group that spun-off from JP Morgan. Additionally, Mr. Moss has worked with prominent US families including an investment firm that is now owned by the Forbes family. Through the years, he has helped bring unique investment and hedging opportunities to his clients. Mr. Moss has a passion for investing and for helping investors plan, manage and grow their wealth and achieve their goals. Mr. Moss started Soaring Capital in after having tremendous success managing his family wealth. Gaining invaluable experience from over thirty years of working on Wall Street, he believed that technologies, techniques, methods and offerings used in institutional money management could be applied to private wealth management for individuals, business owners and entities. After being an insider to nearly all facets of Wall Street including research, strategy, risk management, trading, fixed income, equity, credit, structured finance, derivatives, buy-side, sell-side, fundamental and quantitative investing, alternative investments, private equity, corporate boards, activist investing, and environmental governance and social investing, Mr. Moss developed a unique perspective, view and knowledge of the markets, investor behaviors and investor psychology. This exposure allowed him to make better and more informed decisions. Today, Soaring Capital applies this experience and knowledge to manage a wide range of investments and is in constant pursuit of ways to profit, generate income, hedge and help individuals plan their financial futures. While some investments are mainstream, the firm differentiates itself by allocating and using non-traditional investments. The firm looks for places where capital is scarce and where it can command a premium. Mr. Moss holds an honors degree in economics from Union College where he was inducted into the Omnicron Delta Epsilon Economics Honors Society. He later went on to complete a rigorous three-year course of study to obtain the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation from the CFA Institute. He is an active member of the CFA Society of Stamford, CT. Mr. Moss is a proud and active volunteer of the non-profit charity Person-to-Person which was started after the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to assist those impacted by poverty and injustice. Mr. Moss currently lives in Darien, Connecticut just outside of New York City with his wife, two children and their Australian labradoodle puppy. When he is not following the markets and looking for investment opportunities, he loves to support his children at their sports events (ice hockey and swimming), travel, hike, play ice hockey and read. He has lived in Europe and traveled extensively across the world including over 50 countries and 5 continents.

Simon represents alternative investment funds, including hedge, private equity and venture capital funds and their sponsors, managers and investors in a broad range of matters relating to their structuring, formation, corporate governance, operations and regulatory compliance. His clients include SEC and state registered investment advisers, commodity pool operators, broker dealers, and managers based in foreign jurisdictions. Simon is also counsel to a wide range of companies, advisors, funds and issuers in the cryptocurrency space. Having launched in excess of 300 funds since 2011, he represents funds pursuing a diverse range of liquid and illiquid strategies including cryptocurrency/digital asset, global macro, real estate, micro-cap, forex, futures, statistical arbitrage, multi-strategy, emerging market, sector focused, volatility arbitrage, fixed income, cash advance, real estate tax lien, distressed company, as well as start-up company investments. Simon has broad experience representing issuers in private public offerings under Reg. D and Reg. A including initial coin offerings and other pre-sale token allocations. Simon also advises as to issues related to fund advertising and general solicitation, preparation of policies and procedures manuals, response to SEC and CFTC audits and general corporate and securities matters and routinely advises on legal issues arising under the Investment Advisers Act, the Investment Company Act, the Securities Act, the Securities Exchange Act, the Commodity Exchange Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Simon is the former Chairman of the Hedge Fund Association’s government lobbying committee. He is an honors graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law and has practiced corporate and securities law since 1999.

Brian Tsai was the COO/CFO for multi-billion dollar hedge fund firms before going to work for himself as an outsourced CFO. For 17 years, Brian was the COO/CFO at a $3.5bn multi-strat, a $6bn PE, and a $450mn healthcare fund. While his portfolio managers were shorting broker dealers in 2007, he suggested and transferred $1bn of assets to Northern Trust. Brian began his career in portfolio management at JP Morgan Private Bank. He is a graduate of Duke (BS, BA), Johns Hopkins (MA), and Fordham University (MS in Taxation). Brian is also a pilot, and his colleagues prefer to fly together on business trips.