4th Private Equity Chicago Forum

Christopher Zook is the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Investment Officer of CAZ Investments. He has more than 30 years of experience investing in both traditional and alternative asset classes. Christopher recently co-authored “The Holy Grail of Investing,” with Tony Robbins, which became a #1 New York Times Bestseller. Christopher was honored with the Texas Alternative Investments Association’s (TAIA) Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contribution and sustained support of the industry in Texas. He is a regular contributor to major media outlets, including CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg. Prior to starting CAZ Investments in 2001, Christopher served in senior leadership positions with Oppenheimer, Prudential Securities, Lehman Brothers, and Paine Webber. Christopher is actively involved in public policy and frequently serves as a resource to state and local officials. In 2019, Christopher was appointed by the Governor to serve on the State of Texas Pension Review Board, where he chairs the Investment Committee. He also recently served two terms as a member of the Greater Houston Partnership’s Executive Committee and is a past President of the “C” Club of Houston. Christopher is a graduate of Texas Tech University where he was honored as a Distinguished Alumni. A lifelong Houstonian, he is a former Vice-Chairman of the Deacons and serves on the Finance Committee at Second Baptist Church. He has held leadership positions on a variety of charitable boards, including his current role on the board of Elizabeth Ruth’s Home, an organization helping adults with autism. Christopher previously served as President of the Board of Trustees of Avondale House and President of The Children’s Fund. He is a proud father to Christopher, Jr. (and daughter-in-law, Cecelia Zook, and grandson “Tripp”) and husband to his high school sweetheart, Lisa. 

Brad Dorchinecz is the Managing Director of the Private Equity Group for 50 South Capital, a group he co-founded in 2000. He oversees all aspects of the investment process for primary, secondary and direct co-investments. This includes sourcing and analyzing venture capital, buyout and credit investment opportunities in the United States, Europe and Asia. He is responsible for fundraising, asset allocation and portfolio management activities for the Private Equity Group. He is a member of the Private Equity Investment Committee and the 50 South Capital Investment Committee. Additionally, Brad is a member of the 50 South Capital Giving Council as well as the 50 South Capital Diversity Council.

Brad was previously an investment professional at Mercantile Capital Partners, a venture capital and growth equity fund located in Northbrook, Illinois. Prior to Mercantile, he spent five years at Heller Financial, a middle-market commercial finance company which was later acquired by General Electric. At Heller, he was an Assistant Vice President in the Corporate Finance Group, Heller Business Credit, and Heller’s Workout Group. He began his career in Heller’s Finance Management Development Program.

Brad is a member of the Illinois Venture Capital Association and sits on several fund advisory boards. He currently serves on the Governing Board of Girls on the Run-Chicago. Brad graduated with High Honors from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with a degree in finance and received his MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Chris Gaffney is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Great Hill Partners, where he is responsible for investment policy, investor relations and the general management of the firm. Chris is also a member of the firm’s executive and investment committees. Throughout the course of his over 37-year career in private equity, Chris has participated in investments covering a range of industries, including software, robotics and AI, information services, e-commerce, consumer and online services, financial technology, digital publishing, among others. Chris has served on over 50 boards from early-stage companies to publicly traded businesses with multiple investments grown from seed stage to unicorn status.

Mr. Gau is President and Head of Operations for Pritzker Private Capital. David joined PPC in 2014 and previously served as Chief Operating Officer, an Operating Partner and Co Co-Head of the Manufactured Products sector team. David works with Aurorium, Bardstown Bourbon Company, C.H. Guenther & Son, HeartLand, Highline Warren, Monogram Foods, PathGroup, Plaskolite, PLZ, ProAmpac, and Technimark. David joined PPC after a 30 30-year career building and operating multi multi-national organizations. Prior to PPC, he served as CEO of Intersystems, a manufacturer of material handling equipment for agricultural and industri- al applications. Prior to Intersystems, he served as EVP of Global Commercial Operations and Group President of Industrial Fluid Power for Gates Corp. Prior to Gates Corp., he served as President of Air System Components, a division of Tomkins. David received his B.S. from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Drew Oetting is co-founder and President of 8VC. 8VC is a venture capital business focused on investments and ground-up company building across software, health delivery, logistics, biotechnology, and defense. 8VC has invested over $5B across hundreds of companies including Palantir, Guardant Health, Resilience, Anduril, Oculus, The Boring Company, Asana, Cityblock Health, Joby Aviation, Orca Bio and Deliverr. He began his career as chief of staff to Joe Lonsdale (co-founder of 8VC, Palantir, Addepar and OpenGov). Drew serves on the Competitiveness Council for Cerberus Capital Management. Outside of business Drew is involved in numerous philanthropic efforts including Cicero Institute, University of Austin, Andy Roddick Foundation, WeAreThorn and Stand Together. Drew is a trustee for the Claremont McKenna College Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and principal sponsor for IowaHealthyKids. Drew has degrees in mathematics and economics from Claremont McKenna College where he sang acapella and played varsity golf. He lives in Austin, Texas and is originally from Iowa City, Iowa. 

Mr. Kazarian partners with his partners at CPF and the founders and leaders at CPF s port- folio companies to deliver on their vision of improving healthcare through smart business that supports providers as they deliver premium, personalized patient care. Prior to Co Co-Founding CPF Kazarian was a member of the Founding Team at R1 R1-RCM. During his ten- ure at R1, the company grew to more than $1.2B in IPO value in just six years. During his tenure at R1 Kazarian served in various C C-Suite roles including Chief People Officer, Gen- eral Counsel and Executive leader of its physician advisory services business where he was instrumental in driving a 650% increase in annual revenue. While Kazarian has a proven track record of value creation for growth businesses, Kazarian s passion is patient centered, innovative care. He is a driven advocate for CPF s mission to disrupt the healthcare industry with an innovative healthcare delivery model. He was previously a partner at Pedersen and Houpt in Chicago where he spent 16 years representing mid mid-sized growth companies.

John Hatherly founded Wynnchurch Capital in 1999. Prior to Wynnchurch, he enjoyed a twelve-year career as a senior executive at GE Capital’s Merchant Banking Group. Before GE Capital, John spent three years in banking with the First National Bank of Chicago and BankOne. John has played a lead role in more than 250 investments totaling over $15 billion over his 30-plus-year investment career, including acquisitions, buyouts, recapitalizations, project financing and leasing.

Alex is a member of the Co-Investments Team with a specific focus on leveraged buyout co-investments. In this role he sources, screens, executes, monitors, and coordinates the exit of leveraged buyout co-investments.

Prior to joining Adams Street, he was a Principal at Baird Capital, a global private equity firm, where his responsibilities included investment thesis development, growth and later-stage investment sourcing, execution, portfolio management, and exiting investments. Prior to Baird Capital, he held positions with Willis Stein & Partners and Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.

Alex is a member of Adams Street’s Co-Investment Committee, Impact Investment Committee and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. He is also a board member of the Illinois Venture Capital Association.

Boriana Karastoyanova is a Managing Director of Neuberger Berman and a member of the Secondary Private Equity Team. Prior to joining Neuberger Berman in 2019, Boriana was with Blackstone's Strategic Partners Fund Solutions, where she focused on originating, evaluating, structuring and negotiating secondary private equity transactions, co-investments and primary commitments. She was with Strategic Partners while it was in the Asset Management division of Credit Suisse. From 2005 to 2008, she led Strategic Partners' European operations out of London. Boriana began her career in Investment Banking at Citigroup. She is a graduate of Middlebury College.

Carol Schleif is the Chief Market Strategist for BMO Private Wealth, the North American Wealth Management Business of BMO Financial Group. In this role, Carol leads several key initiatives aimed at amplifying BMOPW’s research and investment expertise, including authoring the firm’s Weekly Strategy Perspectives. Decades in the industry as a strategist, thought leader and portfolio manager position Carol as a sought-after speaker, writer and media commentator. Carol is a member of key asset allocation, strategy and governance working groups from across the bank as well as leading the Senior Investment Advisory Council. Carol is an active member and contributor to BMO’s Women & Wealth group. Prior to her current role, Carol was the Chief Investment Officer for BMO Family Office, the Ultra High Net Worth money management group within BMO Private Wealth. As CIO, Carol led a team of 35 front line investment professionals, managed portfolios, and oversaw development and compliance activities for the team. Prior to BMO, Carol spent over 25 years in the HNW and UHNW space of Wells Fargo, managing portfolios and client relationships, leading teams and participating in research, strategy and portfolio construction. Prior to that, Carol spent a decade on the sell side as a Market Strategist, Senior Research Analyst and Director of Fundamental Research. Carol serves on the joint board of trustees for the College of St. Benedict & St. John’s University where she chairs CSB’s investment committee. She earned her MBA from Hamline University and undergraduate degrees in both business administration and equestrian science from William Woods College, where she graduated salutatorian and summa cum laude. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) and has also earned the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA).

Mitchell Hollin is a partner at LLR Partners, a private equity firm with more than $7 billion raised across seven funds. Founded in 1999, LLR is a flexible provider of equity capital for growth, recapitalizations and buyouts. Prior to joining LLR in 2000, Mitchell co-founded and served as Managing Director of Advanta Partners, a private equity firm focused on the financial services industry. His experience with private equity began while an Associate with Patricof and Co. Ventures, now Apax Partners. At LLR, Mitchell has led a range of investments in fintech, financial services and software businesses. His current investments include Celero Commerce, DaySmart, ParkHub, Soltis and YCharts. His previous investments include Archer, CompoSecure, CyberShift, Fleet One, Healthcare Finance Group, Heartland Payment Systems, JGWPT Holdings, Midigator, PCS Retirement, Princeton Softech, Prophet 21, Revitas, Sterling Trading Tech and Ultimus Fund Solutions. Mitchell served on the Board of Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY) beginning in 2001 and later became Lead Director. Following the sale of Heartland to Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) in 2015, Mitchell served on the Board of Global Payments until its merger with TSYS (NYSE: TSS) in 2019, which formed one of the leading worldwide providers of payment technology services and software. Mitchell earned a B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Simon Oak is a Managing Director on the Secondary team primarily focused on the origination, evaluation, and execution of secondary opportunities including partnership and GP-led transactions.

Simon joined Lexington in 2006 as an associate on the CIP team and rejoined as a member of the secondary team in 2010 after business school. Prior to that, he was an analyst in investment banking at Credit Suisse. Simon graduated from McGill University with a BCom in Finance and from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with an MBA. 

Bon is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and has been with Adams Street Partners and its predecessor organizations since 1980. He was instrumental in the development of Adams Street’s private equity investment strategies, fund management, and investor relations. He is sought out by private equity firms, consultants, and investors for advice and recommendations on a variety of private equity topics. Throughout his career, Bon has been a guest lecturer to business schools, Wall Street firms, private equity conferences, and industry trade associations about various investment topics and strategies. He was a member of the CFA Institute Committee (formerly AIMR – the Association for Investment Management and Research), which made recommendations concerning standards for reporting performance in private equity. Bon was a contributor to the ICFA’s first book on the subject of private market investments, Investing in Venture Capital (1988). He also sits on the advisory boards of New Enterprise Associates and Madison Dearborn Partners. Bon is Chairman of the Adams Street Partners Board of Directors. He is a member of the Board of Trustees, and former Chairman and current member of the Investment Committee at Northwestern University. He is also a member of the Kellogg Graduate School of Management Dean’s Advisory Council. Bon is a member of the CFA Institute, the CFA Society of Chicago Leadership Council, and Chairman of the Board of the Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Bon is former Director of the National Venture Capital Association, and former Chairman of the Board of the Chicago History Museum, where he remains as a Trustee.