Women on Wall Street

Joyce Chang is Chair of Global Research for J.P. Morgan’s Corporate and Investment Bank, a global leader in Banking, Markets and Investor Services. J.P. Morgan’s Global Research professionals study all sectors in which the firm does business, including equities, fixed income, currency and commodities, emerging markets, derivatives and structured finance. The Global Research team has been named the top global research firm for 2020 by Institutional Investor. 

Joyce was most recently Global Head of Research, a role she held for more than five years (2014-2019). She was previously Global Head of Fixed Income Research and began her career as an Emerging Markets Strategist. From 1997 through 2012, Joyce held top rankings in Institutional Investor surveys for Emerging Markets research, earning 25 #1 individual rankings. In 2014, she was inducted into the Fixed Income Analyst Society Hall of Fame. 

Joyce was a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch and Salomon Brothers prior to joining J.P. Morgan Chase in 1999. She serves on the Board of Directors of the German Marshall Fund, Trickle Up and Girls Inc. and on the external advisory board for the Center of Financial Stability. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Inter-American Dialogue. She is the Senior Sponsor for J.P. Morgan’s Corporate and Investment Bank Women on the Move Network, the network for employees of Asian heritage (AsPIRE) and Nonprofit Board Service. She has been named as one of Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance by American Banker since 2012 and was included in Barron’s 2020 and 2021 lists of the 100 Most Influential Women in Finance. 

Joyce holds an M.P.A. from Princeton and serves on its External Advisory Council for the Center for Public Policy, and has a B.A. from Columbia from where she was awarded the John Jay award for professional achievement and serves on its Board of Visitors

Neesa Patel Sood is a partner in the Asset Management Department. She counsels registered funds and their independent board members, as well as investment advisers, across a wide range of regulatory, transactional and compliance matters. She regularly provides advice regarding the structuring, launch and operation of registered funds and fund governance. Additionally, she advises on the full range of issues facing funds, their boards and advisers, such as compliance, disclosure and activist matters as well as fund restructurings and merger and acquisition transactions.

Chambers USA (2022) recognizes Neesa as an Up and Coming Practitioner in the area of Registered Funds (Nationwide), where she is commended by clients for “always looking for ways to strengthen our processes while giving suggestions to solve problems.”

In The Legal 500 U.S. (2021) she is praised by clients for her continuing "to stand out in her understanding of investment company regulations and industry practices.”

Neesa was recognized as a Rising Star at the Fund Intelligence 2021 Mutual Fund Industry and ETF Awards, which spotlight fund management professionals and firms for their leadership, governance and contributions to the industry.

Joan Kerecz is currently a Vice President at Barclays Capital Inc. (“Barclays”) and supports the municipal finance department, which involves financing cities, states, non-for profits and public-private partnerships, amongst other work, and currently sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at Barclays. She graduated from Johns Hopkins in 2009 and from Duke Law School in 2013.

Natalie A. Grigg is the Department Chair of the firm’s Default Servicing Department, overseeing staff and attorneys, while ensuring compliance with state and federal laws and regulations. Ms. Grigg represents lenders, investors, and services in residential mortgage foreclosures, bankruptcy actions, evictions, and related litigation throughout New York State.

Prior to joining Woods Oviatt, Ms. Grigg represented creditors and servicers in contested matters in Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings throughout New York State. She has extensive experience with litigated matters within bankruptcy and foreclosure proceedings as well as commercial litigation.

Zoe Rosenthal is currently a Vice President in Oaktree’s Middle-Market Finance group.  Prior to joining Oaktree in 2019, Ms. Rosenthal spent three years at Goldman Sachs, most recently as an investment banking associate in Leveraged Finance and previously, as an analyst in the Industrials Group.  She received a B.A. in Statistics from Harvard University.  Ms. Rosenthal was born and raised in New York City and continues to reside in New York City today.

Nikisha Alcindor is a strategic management leader with expertise in organizational change, investing, and fundraising. She is Managing Director at Riverside Management Group and previously worked at Apax Partners, Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Goldman Sachs, and Columbia University. As the former Executive Director and Developer of the Columbia Girls in STEM Initiative, Nikisha is passionate about leveraging her background in science and academia to transformative change in STEM. She is the President and Founder of the STEM Educational Institute. A nonprofit that gives underrepresented high school students the technological skills needed to enter today’s workforce while building generational wealth. In partnership with several firms, the program serves as the diverse talent pipeline for organizations. 

Nikisha is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Business - Strategic Management at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY), Baruch College - Zicklin School of Business. Her research examines the failure rates of Mergers & Acquisitions by using artificial intelligence and machine learning. She is a CUNY Graduate Center Fellow and the Provost Enhancement Fellow. Nikisha has taught a master class at Columbia Business School and done several guest lectures at Columbia University. Currently, she teaches Business Policy at Baruch College. She is the 2021 Dean Huss Teaching Award recipient and a 2021 Harvard Rising Scholars Conference Presenter. Nikisha is a Board member of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. Nikisha holds a BA in Chemistry from Emory University and an MBA from Columbia Business School as a Leon Cooperman Scholar. 

Isabel Valcarcel is a Vice President at Barclays Capital Inc. (“Barclays”) and supports the Global Market Shock (GMS) – Counterparty Credit Risk team. She oversees various models and processes to calculate stressed losses of Counterparty and Wholesale credit risk portfolios under the Internal and Federal Reserve Bank Stress Tests. An avid believer in paying it forward, Isabel enjoys empowering urban high school students and women by sharing her personal career trajectories and providing assistance with preparing for job interviews, networking events, or their first day of work. As a New Jersey native, Isabel received her MBA in Finance and Human Resources from Saint Peter’s University and B.Sc. in International Business from New Jersey City University. She resides in Union City, New Jersey with her two free-spirited boys and husband. 

Sophia Agathis is an associate in the Corporate Finance Group. Sophia’s practice focuses on the representation of U.S. and international lenders and borrowers in connection with secured loans and other financing transactions. Sophia’s experience in general corporate work includes matters ranging from the organization and formation of various joint ventures and other business entities, mergers and acquisitions, and registered and unregistered securities transactions.

Sophia received a B.A. from Swarthmore College and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

Celeste Jackson is a Senior Associate in the Banking Group at Linklaters LLP - and is based in the New York office. Celeste represents leading financial institutions and other lenders, arrangers, agents and borrowers in a broad range of domestic and cross-border finance transactions. She has experience with various transactions including: term, revolving and margin facilities, acquisition financings, receivables financings, exit financings and other transactions. Celeste is the former co-chair of Linklaters’ Black Affinity Network. Celeste received her B.A. from Duke University and her J.D. from Duke University School of Law, where she was the Managing Editor of the Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy.

I help clients with financial markets legal, regulatory, compliance, and policy advice to navigate the fast-changing financial markets and fintech regulatorylandscapes.

Maggie advises clients on a wide array of regulatory, policy, compliance, and enforcement matters concerning derivatives, securities, blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital assets, and environmental-social-governance (ESG) issues. Maggie has more than 15 years of legal and policy experience advising on financial institutions and financial markets, as well as years of senior-level government experience working for and with U.S. and international financial markets or prudential regulators.

Maggie also served as senior policy advisor and the director of International Engagement, Financial Markets Group, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Before joining the Federal Reserve, she worked at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), where she held multiple roles, including as senior counsel to the chairman. At the CFTC, she advised on legal and policy matters as well as enforcement actions touching a wide range of issues: designated contract markets, derivatives clearing organizations, swap execution facilities, broker-dealers, asset managers, fintech, cryptocurrencies, and Dodd-Frank Act rules. She served as a deputy to the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), and represented the CFTC in various international forums, including at the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). She also later served on the CFTC's Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC).

Before her government service, Maggie worked for several years as a litigator for global law firms in Washington, D.C. She represented large banks, hedge funds, financial services providers, energy companies, and/or their executives in complex civil litigation, including trials and appeals, as well as in internal and government investigations and enforcement proceedings. Maggie was an officer at McGonigle, P.C., before the firm combined with Davis Wright Tremaine.

Alexandra Lebenthal is a Senior Advisor in the Financial Sponsors Group at Houlihan Lokey where she leads an initiative focused on female led and founded companies.  Prior to joining Houlihan in August 2020, she was the CEO of Lebenthal Holdings, a diversified financial services firm that included the nation’s largest woman-owned broker dealer. Coming from a storied Wall Street family, her grandparents, Louis and Sayra Lebenthal, founded Lebenthal & Co., Inc, a municipal bond specialist, in 1925.  Her father, Jim Lebenthal, created a mass market for municipal bonds, and was known as the spokesman for the industry. 

After starting her career at Kidder Peabody, Ms. Lebenthal joined Lebenthal in 1988 and became President and CEO in 1995 at the age of 31. She was also President of Lebenthal Funds, overseeing the firm’s mutual and money market funds. After successfully diversifying the firm beyond municipal bonds, Alexandra engineered its sale in 2001 to The Advest Group, remaining at the firm until it was subsequently sold to Merrill Lynch in 2005. During that time, in addition to managing Lebenthal, she also ran marketing and municipal capital markets for the parent company. She started anew in 2007, building Lebenthal Holdings into an asset management, wealth management and capital markets boutique. Lebenthal was the number one woman-owned firm in debt and equity capital markets from 2012-2016.

A passionate supporter of women in business, Ms. Lebenthal was named one of the top 50 Women in Wealth Management by Wealth Manager Magazine, as well as Private Asset Management. She has also been named to the Crain’s New York Top Women-Owned Businesses and the Crain’s Fastest 50 Growing Businesses in New York. 

Ms. Lebenthal has extensive public and private board experience. She currently is a board member of  Graf Acquisition Corp. IV, and an advisory board member for Interprice Technologies.  She is as a former board member and Treasurer of the Securities Industry Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). She is a member of C200, the leading organization for female businesswomen.  

Ms. Lebenthal is the Co-founder of “The Women’s Executive Circle,” and “Women On Wall Street”, which cultivates high-profile Jewish women under the auspices of United Jewish Appeal. She is also a spokesperson for Insightec Targeted Ultrasound, a ground-breaking procedure for Essential Tremor she underwent in 2016.

Ms. Lebenthal’s first novel, “The Recessionistas,” a thriller set in Manhattan during the financial crisis, was published in August 2010.

A graduate of Princeton University with an A.B. in history, Ms. Lebenthal lives in New York City with her family.

JamiLynn is a Director on the Equity Finance team at Wells Fargo Securities. She joined Wells Fargo in 2019 and her primary responsibilities are prime brokerage business development and relationship management for alternative asset managers. She also drives the sales strategy for ’40 Act mutual funds.  JamiLynn leads Wells Fargo’s WomenGoFar Network in New York and sits on the network’s leadership committee. 

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, JamiLynn was a part Societe Generale’s Platform Sales team covering real money managers and delivering the full platform to clients, including prime brokerage and derivatives clearing. JamiLynn started her career with BNY Mellon Pershing, spending over a decade with the firm in variety of roles from their Corporate Training Program to client service to sales/relationship management. She co-founded and led the firm’s Connect Program, a next generation affinity group focused on millennial/Gen-Z recruitment and retention.  

JamiLynn co-founded and is the Director of Fund Development for The Zippy Fund, a 501c-3 non-profit, focused on supporting pediatric cancer patients and their families. 

JamiLynn earned a BA from Elon University.

Lisa is a Managing Director with Providence Equity and PSG, where she focuses on business development activities. Previously, she was a Managing Director at CVC Capital Partners, where she was responsible for managing the firm’s North American investor relations and fundraising efforts. Before CVC, Lisa worked at Merrill Lynch, first in the Mergers & Acquisitions group in New York and then in the Private Equity Funds Group in London, where she was responsible for the origination and distribution of alternative asset class funds in Europe. Lisa started her career as a management consultant with A.T. Kearney, where she worked across North America and South Korea. She received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University.

Jessica Taub Rosenberg is a leading trial lawyer in the employment field having represented employers and prominent senior executives for over a decade in employment-related litigation before federal and state courts, administrative agencies and arbitration panels. Jessica regularly defends claims of discrimination, retaliation and harassment; disputes involving the enforcement of employment contracts and non-competition covenants; and tort claims such as fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference and defamation. Jessica also conducts internal investigations on employee misconduct in the workplace.

Jessica routinely advises clients on employment policies and practices and conducts employee trainings. In 2020, she began advising clients on Covidrelated employment issues, from mandating tests and vaccines in the workplace to mitigating litigation risk arising from Covid.

Jessica was named a 2021 Notable Woman in Law by Crain’s New York Business and named one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading U.S. EmploymentLawyers. She was shortlisted by Euromoney as Best in Labor and Employment for its 2020 Women in Business Law Americas Awards and as a 2019 Labor & Employment New York Attorney of the Year. In 2019, she was awarded the Burton Award for excellence in Legal Writing. Jessica was recognized as a New York “Labor & Employment Star” by Benchmark Litigation, as well as included in Benchmark Litigation’s Under 40 Hot List. She was shortlisted as a 2019 Rising Star in Labor & Employment for Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Rising Stars Awards. Jessica was also named a 2019 Woman Worth Watching by Diversity Journal and recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star in the area of Employment & Labor.

Jamie Kocis advises securitization participants in both warehouse securitization facilities and term securitizations across all esoteric asset classes. She serves as deal counsel in market-leading transactions involving new and emerging asset classes, including in the solar asset and commercial PACE (property assessed clean energy) space.

Jamie represents issuers, underwriters, borrowers, lenders and service providers in structured finance transactions involving a variety of asset classes, including timeshare loans, solar assets, commercial PACE assets, structured settlements, lottery receivables, equipment leases, auto loans, consumer loans, small business loans, collateralized debt obligations, commercial mortgage loans, marketplace lending, distressed assets, government contract receivables, student loans, and trademark and licensing rights. She also counsels investment funds in their participation in tender option bond programs.

Jamie is co-chair of Kramer Levin’s Women’s Initiative Committee and is a member of the firm’s Attorneys of Color Affinity Group.

Marija Pecar is a partner in Paul Hastings’ Financial Restructuring group, and a member of the firm’s Global Finance practice. Marija is dual-qualified to practice both New York and English Law.  Her client base spans the finance industry, and includes leading investment and commercial banks, hedge funds, private equity sponsors, alternative asset managers, private credit providers, CLO managers, and BDCs.  She also regularly advises corporates operating in a broad range of industries and sectors in connection with raising capital in the capital markets and private credit sector, including clients in energy, industrials, healthcare, infrastructure, retail, technology and logistics.

Amy S. Leder serves as the executive partner of Holland & Knight's New York office and as co-leader of the firm's Corporate, M&A and Securities Practice Group in the Northeast region. Ms. Leder advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, strategic alliances, capital-raising transactions and general corporate matters. She handles transactions such as the representation of underwriters and issuers in public offerings of equity and debt, divestitures, strategic investments and joint ventures. Ms. Leder works with clients ranging from financial institutions and startups to U.S. and international public companies.

Clara Pang is an M&A Partner at Linklaters LLP and is based in the New York office. Clara has experience advising on cross-border and domestic transactions, including auctions, mergers, equity and asset sales, as well as on general corporate governance and securities matters. Her domestic and international practice spans a number of sectors, including financial services, energy and industrials & manufacturing. Clara was recently named a “Rising Star” for Mergers & Acquisitions in the United States by Euromoney in 2022 and was also listed as an “Emerging Leader” for Mergers & Acquisitions by the M&A Advisor in 2022. In addition, Clara serves as a mentor in Linklaters’ U.S. Women’s Network and is also a sponsor in Linklaters’ career development program for underrepresented ethnic minority colleagues. Clara holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Megan Penick is a partner in Michelman & Robinson’s New York office and the firm’s Public Securities Chair. A general corporate and securities lawyer and business and corporate governance consultant, Megan brings nearly 20 years of experience to her practice and is sought after for her work guiding private companies through the process of going public.

Megan is known for helping public companies meet their SEC filing and disclosure requirements. In addition, she represents issuers and underwriters in the sale of equity and debt securities, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance matters.

Megan’s practice includes working with entrepreneurs, start-ups, small-cap and mid-sized ventures as outside general counsel, assisting these clients in all aspects of their corporate legal development. In this capacity, she handles a range of transactions, including those involving initial public offerings and uplisting issues (whether to NASDAQ or NYSE), as well as Regulation A+ offerings, the preparation and filing of quarterly and annual reports, proxy statements, current reports on Form 8-K, and registration statements.

Yumi Koh is a Vice President and Banker in the Atlanta office of J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank. She is responsible for delivering the firm’s investing, wealth transfer, credit and philanthropic services to high-net- worth clients in the Southeast. Ms. Koh joined J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank in 2018 and has over twenty-five years experience advising and investing in public/private companies globally.

Previous to J.P. Morgan, Ms. Koh was a Global Investment Analyst at hedge funds StoneWork Capital and Tiger Asia. She formerly was a Senior Analyst/Fund Manager at Bessemer Trust in New York and London. Prior to joining the buyside in 2002, Ms. Koh was a sell-side Equity Research Analyst at Morgan Stanley and an investment banking Associate in the Global Mergers & Acquisitions division of J.P. Morgan. She has served on the boards of Integrity Square (boutique investment bank with a venture capital arm) and financial technology startup IRAmarket. Ms. Koh graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Art History from Columbia College, Columbia University, and a MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. She is a licensed securities professional (Series 7, 63) and an employee of both J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

Ms.Koh is Co-Captain of Sustainable Investments for J.P. Morgan Private Bank Southeast Region. She also serves as Co-Chair of the South Region Mentorship Committee of the Asian Leadership Forum for JPM Asset & Wealth Management. Ms. Koh is a member of the Corporate Leadership Council of Fernbank Museum of Natural History and is an active alumnus of Wharton and Columbia. She is proficient in French and Korean.

Veronica Relea has significant experience representing project developers and lenders in highly structured and complex finance transactions in the U.S. and Latin America.

Veronica represents commercial and investment banks, sponsors, developers, and private equity firms in connection with the development, construction, operation, and financing of energy, oil and gas, and infrastructure projects. She also has extensive experience in leveraged finance transactions, including acquisition financings, asset-based facilities, private equity transactions, mezzanine facilities, and cross-border financings.

Veronica has developed a robust Latin America practice, advising clients on a range of complex finance transactions. Her seasoned guidance on banking and finance matters has earned recognition from Latinvex annually since 2017 as one of Latin America’s top 100 female lawyers.

A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Veronica is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Portuguese and French.

Marina Severinovsky is the Head of Sustainability, North America, and leads the sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration for Schroders investments in North America. She collaborates with senior managers on market strategy, client communications, product development, sales, and investor management.

Marina was previously the Investment Director for North America for the Quantitative Equity Products (QEP) team from 2020 and was responsible for communicating QEP’s investment policy and strategy with clients, as well as business management in the Americas.

Prior to joining the QEP team, Marina was an Investment Strategist from 2016 to 2019, working in partnership with Hartford Funds to represent Schroders strategies to financial advisors and intermediaries across all client channels, primarily in the Central US region.

Marina was an Alternatives Specialist at Schroders from 2010 to 2016, which involved supporting the development of Schroders’ Alternatives business in the Americas. Her product management activities covered multiple strategies, including Commodities, Absolute Return Emerging Market Debt and Insurance Linked Securities.

Marina joined Schroders in 2010 and is based in New York. Prior to joining Schroders, she was an Associate in Investment Banking at Citi Capital Markets and Banking from 2008 to 2010, which involved supporting buy- and sell-side mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt transactions, and fairness opinions for a broad range of corporate clients in the Healthcare and Tech, Media & Telecom coverage groups. She was a Consultant and Client Relationship Manager at Digital Mandate, LLC from 2005 to 2007, which involved providing legal technology, process consulting, and technology optimization solutions to large law firms and corporate legal departments. She was an Analyst at Chicago Partners, LLC from 2004 to 2005, which involved finance, economics and accounting consulting, in the context of litigation and regulatory review activities. Marina brings 18 years of professional experience to her role at Schroders, including economic analysis, research, and financial modeling, as well as product development, strategy, and client relationship management. She is conversationally fluent in Russian.

Emilie’s education began at The College of William and Mary, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a dual degree in History and Psychology. She then took her academic pursuit to Columbia University, where she received her master’s degree in American Studies.  Through a highly competitive research grant awarded through the MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, Emilie completed her PhD in Sociology from Boston College.

An eternal lover of learning, Emilie believed her professional future lay within the neatly organized library rows and late-night research cafes nestled throughout academia, but in 2014, she traded her quiet classrooms for the action of Wall Street.

Emilie joined Goldman Sachs as an Associate, hunting for strategic investments to improve Goldman’s ability to compete and win within the fast-paced financial technology ecosystem. She was then recruited by Archetype Solutions Group to take over the helm of Beneration, a financial technology company with a decade of losses, and as Interim CEO. Emilie turned the company profitable within a year’s time.  She was then quickly hired as a Senior Manager at Bridgewater Associates where she led the organizational, analytics and research team. 

In January 2022, Emilie founded Advocate Disability, a new technology platform that helps people with disabilities get government support. Additionally, Emilie is a Venture Partner at Gaingels, where she sits on the investment committee of several funds. In that role, Emilie has directed over 250 investments in companies from Pre-Seed through Pre-IPO.

Emilie, her wife Nicole, their three children and their two golden retrievers currently reside in Westchester, NY and Pinehurst, NC. 

Lindsay is a partner in the firm’s New Ventures practice and chair of the Fund Formation practice group. She advises entrepreneurs, investors and fund managers on venture capital and startup matters, fund formation, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and federal and state securities filings. Prior to joining Thompson Hine, Lindsay served as a managing partner and chief legal counsel at a Midwest venture capital firm and as Chief Investment Officer and managing partner of a venture development organization in New York.  She simultaneously ran her own practice representing emerging and diverse venture fund managers across the country. Lindsay teaches “Venture Capital and Dealmaking” at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and is an international speaker on topics of women and diversity and inclusion in finance and venture capital.

Airi Hammalov is a partner in the New York office of Baker McKenzie and a member of the Firm's Transactions practice. Prior to joining the Firm, Airi practiced at top international firms in Europe. Airi's practice focuses on M&A and private equity, particularly cross-border transactions and Nordic related tech deals. She has extensive experience representing domestic and multinational corporations, private equity sponsors, portfolio companies and financial institutions on their most complex acquisitions, strategic investments, joint ventures, leveraged buy-outs and corporate matters. Airi has advised on large transactions across many industries and verticals, including technology and particularly gaming.

Li Wang focuses her practice on transactional matters including mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions in the healthcare industry as well as healthcare regulatory and compliance matters, including fraud and abuse, corporate practice of medicine and Medicare and Medicaid enrollment. Li also has significant experience advising on regulatory matters related to HIPAA, health information privacy and security, genetic privacy, data subject consent requirements and research compliance.

Li’s pro bono practice includes working with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles to resolve landlord-tenant disputes; the Los Angeles Superior Court Resource Center for Self-Represented Litigants assisting pro se litigants with family matters; and the Alliance for Children’s Rights assisting petitioners secure guardianship of minors.

While in law school, Li was a senior editor for the UCLA Law Review and deputy chief managing editor for the Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs.

Rachel Gartner has extensive experience providing strategic advice on food, dietary supplements, cosmetics and other FDA-regulated products as well as related advertising and intellectual property matters to major corporations, mid-size companies, startups, and other publicly traded and privately held businesses. Rachel collaborates with companies at every step of the product-development process to evaluate ingredients, formulations, and assess potential risks based on current and emerging FDA policy.

Rachel’s clients develop, manufacture and market a broad range of products, including food, beverages, nutritional supplements, cosmetics and consumer products. She routinely counsels companies with FDA-regulated products as they navigate product classification, market-entry and claims substantiation. Rachel regularly advises on best practices for advertising and marketing including social media-based, influencer engagements, and product testimonials. Rachel’s experience, knowledge and perspective on the entire product life cycle enable her to deliver valuable, practical insights that account for clients’ unique objectives and tolerance for risk.

When product complaints, commercial disputes and regulatory challenges arise, Rachel is a strong advocate for her clients’ interests. She regularly responds to governmental inquiries and competitor challenges on behalf of her clients and works with McDermott litigators to address disputes arising under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, Lanham Act and similar legislation and regulations.

Rachel works with food and health and wellness companies to ensure compliance with relevant federal and state marketing and advertising regulations, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) standards for substantiating marketing claims, and requirements of the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau.

Anmay Dittman, Director, is a senior investment professional and portfolio manager in the Renewable Power Group at BlackRock, which currently manages over $9 billion for investment in global climate infrastructure across 6 funds and 270 renewable power projects and is actively investing worldwide.  Anmay is responsible for leading investment and strategy execution, developing and structuring new products, negotiating deal documentation, supervising due diligence, and advising on investment and divestiture strategy, portfolio optimization and asset management.  Anmay is also a senior advisor to the BAI Sustainable Investing team, which is a dedicated team who works across the platform to develop and implement the group’s strategies on sustainable investing and ESG integration.  Prior to her current position, Anmay was Head of Strategic Execution for the BlackRock Real Assets business, where she led the development, management and execution of strategic initiatives for the platform.

Ms. Ahern is Chief Financial Officer for PineBridge Investments responsible for planning, auditing, accounting for, controlling and reporting on the firm’s finances. Ms. Ahern is also responsible for overseeing the firm’s risk governance structure including setting risk parameters to meet internal and regulatory risk reporting guidelines for PineBridge’s global locations. She has over 30 years in the investment management industry, including 10 years of CFO experience with alternative and long only funds. Most recently Ms. Ahern served as an Independent Trustee for the Advisor Inner Circle Trust, a $60 Billion 1940 Investment Trust, as well as an independent director on various alternative funds. Ms. Ahern served as the CFO for Soros Fund Management from 2007-2015, where she managed the Treasury, Operations, Fund Administration and Management Company finances, chaired the Valuation Committee and was a member of the Management, Capital Allocation and Risk, Brokerage and Retirement Committees. Prior to that role, she was Vice President of Capital Markets Accounting for Freddie Mac, and also held senior positions at Lord, Abbett & Co., Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Ms. Ahern is a CPA and received an MBA in Finance and International Business from the Stern School of Business at New York, University and a BS in Accounting from Manhattan College.

Michelle is a Managing Director responsible for Gatewood's fundraising and marketing initiatives, as well as assisting in business development and transaction origination. Michelle has deep fundraising experience, with a particular focus on raising capital on behalf of specialized and emerging alternative investment managers. Prior to joining Gatewood, Michelle was with Cebile Capital, a global placement agent and secondaries advisory firm, where she led Cebile’s North American distribution and fundraising efforts for lower mid-market and emerging managers. Prior to Cebile Capital, she worked at VCP Advisors, a boutique placement agent where she was instrumental in building and strengthening the firm's North American distribution network, as well as managing and closing fundraises across multiple specialist private equity strategies. Before joining VCP, Michelle worked in leveraged finance at Jefferies in New York and Mizuho Bank in London, where she conducted credit analysis and underwrote financing commitments for leveraged buyout transactions across Europe and North America. Michelle graduated from the London School of Economics with an LLB in Law and with a MSc in Comparative Political Science.

Elena Hera is an associate in Goodwin’s REITs, Public Company Advisory and Capital Markets practices. Ms. Hera focuses on SEC reporting and corporate governance, initial public offerings, registered equity and debt offerings, private placements, and debt tender and exchange offers.

Ms. Hera serves as ongoing corporate and securities counsel for several public companies (with a focus on real estate investment trusts), and has represented issuers and investment banks in connection with initial public offerings, registered equity and debt offerings, private placements, and debt tender and exchange offers.