Thematic Investing: Digital Commerce and Digital Payment and Cryptocurrencies – May 11

Adam Siegel

CEO and Co-Founder

Recurate

Adam Siegel is the Co-Founder & CEO of Recurate, a branded resale service that works with over 25 fashion brands, including Frye, Outerknown, Steve Madden, Mara Hoffman, La Ligne, and more.  He was formerly the SVP of Innovation & Sustainability at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, where he facilitated collaborations on many pressing industry challenges, including the circular economy.  He loves his young sons, Joe and Jake, and all things outdoors.

Alison Williams

Senior Global Banks and Asset Manager Analyst

Bloomberg Intelligence

Alison Williams specializes in North American banks and specialty finance as well as global investment banks and asset managers. Prior to joining Bloomberg Intelligence, Ms. Williams was a portfolio manager and analyst for Morgan Stanley Investment Management, spent several years working as an equity research analyst covering financial services at UBS, as well as the predecessor firm PaineWebber. She is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA).

Anurag Rana

Senior Technology Analyst

Bloomberg

Anurag Rana is a senior technology analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, a unique research platform that provides context on industries, companies, and government policy, available on the Bloomberg Professional Service at BI . Mr. Rana specializes in global Technology Services (IT Services, Data Processors & Information Services) and Software.

Bill Thayer

CEO and Co-Founder

Fillogic

Bill Thayer is Fillogic's Co-founder and CEO. He has over 30 years of experience in retail logistics, ecommerce, technology, store operations, and consulting. Bill started his career in the Buyer Training Program at Macy's, moved to Loehmann's (a $500M retailer) where he ran the Company as COO / CIO. Bill worked again with Macy's to help design and set-up the Macy's Backstage logistics network. Through 2020, Bill was the CLO of Century 21 Stores (an $800M retailer). He has worked with companies like Barneys, the Hearst Corporation, and SDI Systems, a logistics automation manufacturer. During these 30 years, Bill noticed a major gap in the logistics capabilities supporting physical retail locations. He identified a need for an alternative logistics network, converting underutilized space in shopping malls into micro-distribution capacity in the last mile. Using these locations as logistics nodes, the Fillogic team has developed proprietary technology and solutions that create a connected, efficient, B2B logistics network.

Brett Tejpaul

Head of Institutional Sales, Trading, Custody, and Prime

Coinbase

As an experienced business builder and innovator in Financial Services, Brett has accelerated revenue growth with institutional clients and mobilize FinTech companies. At Coinbase, Brett is making connections between finance 1.0 and the crypto economy. Coinbase is focused on the continued institutionalization of crypto. This includes continuing to expand the institutional client base, building out the Sales team, introducing new features and services that institutional investors expect, and continuing to educate the institutional community about crypto as an asset class and its role within a diversified portfolio.

Caitlin Strandberg

Partner

Lerer Hippeau

Caitlin Strandberg is a Partner at Lerer Hippeau. She joined from FirstMark, an early-stage venture firm based in NYC, where she was a Vice President. She previously worked on the investment team at Flybridge Capital partners and at two startups, LearnVest (acquired by Northwestern Mutual) and Behance (acquired by Adobe). Caitlin is a graduate of Cornell University, where she majored in History. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Chris Giancarlo

Former Chairman

Commodity Futures Trading

Dubbed “CryptoDad” for his celebrated call on the US Congress to respect a new generation’s interest in cryptocurrency, the Honorable J. Christopher Giancarlo served as 13th Chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Considered one of “the most influential individuals in financial regulation” Giancarlo also served as a member of the US Financial Stability Oversight Committee, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, and the Executive Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions. Giancarlo is the author of “CryptoDad – The Fight for the Future of Money” (Wiley 2021), an account of his oversight of the world’s first regulated market for Bitcoin derivatives and the coming transformation of financial services, including the most valuable thing of all: money. Giancarlo is Senior Counsel to the international law firm, Willkie Farr & Gallagher. He is also a board director, advisor and angel investor in numerous technology and financial services companies. In addition, Giancarlo is a co-founder of the Digital Dollar Project, a not-for-profit initiative to advance exploration of a US Central Bank Digital Currency

Evan Psaropolous

CFO

Voyager

As the Chief Financial Officer, Evan Psaropoulos leads the finance, accounting, and treasury functions for Voyager. Evan joined the Company in September 2020, bringing more than 20 years of experience across a diverse background including finance, strategy, investment banking, and accounting. Evan began his career in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP where he was a Manager in the audit practice. He then transitioned to investment banking, performing M&A and corporate finance advisory at Credit Suisse in the Technology, Media and Telecom Group, where he was a Vice President. Evan has also held several senior finance leadership roles across both public and private companies. He earned his B.S.B.A. in Accountancy from John Carroll University and M.B.A. from Cornell University at the Johnson Graduate School of Management. He is also a CPA.

Gaurav Gollerkeri

Head of Payments

BlockFi

Gaurav Gollerkeri is the General Manager, Payments at BlockFi and is based in San Francisco. He is responsible for the commercialization and growth of payments products at BlockFi, including the BlockFi Bitcoin rewards credit card. Prior to joining BlockFi in 2021, Gaurav was at Visa for the last decade. Most recently, he was the Head of Visa Direct for North America, where his team led the commercialization of Visa's real-time payments platform. Gaurav also worked in Visa's US Credit Product organization, where his team launched Visa Infinite in the US. Prior to Visa, Gaurav was a management consultant for many years, advising banks and financial institution strategy and risk management. Under his tenure, BlockFi has launched the world’s first crypto rewards credit card - the BlockFi Visa Signature Rewards Credit Card in July 2021 and now has over 75K cardholders and have issued 235+ bitcoin in rewards ($11M USD as of December 10, 2021 when rewards were issued) to clients.

Harley Finkelstein

President

Shopify

Harley Finkelstein is an entrepreneur, lawyer, and the President of Shopify. He founded his first company at age 17 while a student at McGill. Harley completed his law degree as well as his MBA at the University of Ottawa, where he co-founded the JD/MBA Student Society and the Canadian MBA Oath. Harley is an Advisor to Felicis Ventures, and one of the “Dragons” on CBC’s Next Gen Den. He received the Canadian Angel Investor of the Year Award, Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, Fortune’s 40 Under 40, and was inducted into the Order of Ottawa. From 2014 to 2017 Harley was on the Board of the C100, and from 2017 to 2020 he was on to the Board of Directors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Harley starred on Discovery Channel’s I Quit, a television series about hopeful entrepreneurs who decide to quit their 9-5 jobs to focus full-time on their side hustles.

Hester Peirce

Commisioner

SEC

Hester M. Peirce was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was sworn in on January 11, 2018. Prior to joining the SEC, Commissioner Peirce conducted research on the regulation of financial markets at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She was a Senior Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where she advised Ranking Member Richard Shelby and other members of the Committee on securities issues. Commissioner Peirce served as counsel to SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins. She also worked as a Staff Attorney in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. Commissioner Peirce was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) and clerked for Judge Roger Andewelt on the Court of Federal Claims. Commissioner Peirce earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Case Western Reserve University and her JD from Yale Law School.

Jason Bornstein

Principal

Forerunner

Jason roots for the underdog, for those punching above their weight with original thought, independence and a drive to persist in the face of uncertainty. A St. Louis native with suburban roots, Jason developed a curiosity and global appetite for learning early on that would ultimately shape his approach to venture capital. As a Principal at Forerunner, Jason works with startup founders across categories who are moving the needle toward good. His passion for early-stage investing is driven by a genuine interest in people and a forward-looking view on their emerging needs and evolving expectations. An avid researcher, Jason believes the most successful entrepreneurs are unafraid to ask questions and challenge their thinking in the pursuit to find answers. Prior to Forerunner, Jason was an early employee at Bonobos, one of Forerunner’s earliest investments, where he was a key member of the team that built one of the first digitally-native D2C brands. Jason received an MBA from Stanford GSB in 2018 and graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Communication Studies in 2009.

Jennifer Hyman

CEO

Rent the Runway

Jennifer Hyman is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rent the Runway, a company that is disrupting the trillion-dollar fashion industry and changing the way women get dressed through the Closet in the Cloud, the world’s first and largest shared designer closet. In her role, Jennifer sets the strategic priorities and leads the company in growing all areas of the business, including marketing, technology, merchandising, supply chain and data science. She co-founded Rent the Runway in 2009 and its mission has been the same ever since: to power women to feel their best every day. The brand now offers women the ability to subscribe, rent items a-la-carte and shop resale from nearly 800 designer partners, driven by a two-sided discovery engine that connects deeply engaged customers and differentiated brand partners on a powerful platform built around its brand, data, logistics and technology. Jennifer serves on the Board of Directors of The Estée Lauder Companies and Zalando, and also is a Founding Member of the NYSE Board Advisory Council, a Member of the Women.nyc Advisory Board and a Member of the Launch with GS Advisory Council for Goldman Sachs. She received her BA from Harvard University cum laude and MBA from Harvard Business School and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughters Aurora and Selene.

James Seyffart

ETF Research Analyst

Bloomberg Intelligence

James Seyffart is a research analyst within Bloomberg Intelligence (Bloomberg LP's Research Department), focusing on the broader asset management industry with specialized expertise in the coverage of ETFs, Mutual Funds, Hedge Funds. To a lesser extent he has experience working with colleagues in the research of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. This overlap gives him particular expertise in the area of cryptocurrency funds.

Jordan Jewell

Director of Merchant Growth Strategy

VTEXX

Jordan Jewell is Director of Merchant Growth Strategy and Analyst in Residence at VTEX, where he advises B2C and B2B merchants on how to grow their online sales. Before joining VTEX, he was an industry analyst at International Data Corporation (IDC). At IDC, Jordan launched and ran the Digital Commerce research practice, where he analyzed technology markets, including digital commerce platforms, product information management, order management, and digital marketplaces. He authored studies including IDC MarketScape evaluations on B2B, B2C, and headless commerce. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, TechTarget, Adweek, and more.

Julie Chariell

Senior Equity Analyst, Fintech and Payments

Bloomberg Intelligence

Julie is a Senior Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, a unit of Bloomberg L.P., covering the Fintech and Payments sector. Her research spans global fintech companies including Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Square. She is responsible for financial analysis of major corporations in the sector, as well as industry analysis that identifies key trends, interprets timely data points and tracks relative valuation.

Julie has spent nearly 10 years at Bloomberg, first as a Financial Products manager, and later as Director of Research for the Government and Litigation team, which she introduced at Bloomberg Intelligence. Before taking over Fintech coverage, she initiated dedicated coverage of Latin America equities for BI, with a focus on consumer companies in Brazil, Mexico and Chile.

Prior to joining the firm, Julie was a Vice-President at Morgan Stanley, where she worked as an equity research analyst for 10 years (1998-2008), most recently as head of the IT Services equity research team. From there, Julie took on a role building and managing a start-up business that provided Washington data and analysis to Wall Street, leading to a similar role at Bloomberg in 2011.

Julie holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, and a BSc in Finance from Rutgers College. She is also President of the Englewood Cliffs Education Foundation.

Kalpesh Kapadia

CEO & Co-Founder

Deserve

Kalpesh Kapadia’s career spans 25+ years in the US and Asia, primarily in technology and finance. He came to the US over 25 years ago as a young student and struggled to establish his credit profile. In 2013, Kalpesh co-founded Deserve, a Cloud based, API centric software platform that enables a delightful digital/mobile cardholder experience for consumers and Modern card program management for partners supported by a full suite of reward, reporting, analytics, and customer service. Prior to co-founding Deserve he was one of the foremost analyst/investors in Wall Street’s tech sector. In 2004 he was ranked the #1 analyst in the US across all sectors by the venerable Wall Street Journal. In 2005 he founded Equanum Capital and successfully managed it through 2012. In ’07 and ’09, Equanum Funds were one of the best managed global equity funds in Barrons.com and Asiahedge rankings. He earned an MBA from Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University where he serves on the alumni board and as a proud member of W.L. Mellon Society. He also holds an MS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from New Jersey Institute of Technology. His personal and charitable interests focus on empowerment and upliftment through higher education. Kalpesh is a member/supporter of organizations such as Cato Institute, Santa Fe Institute, Foundation for Excellence, Indiaspora and American Himalayan Foundation. He is also a member of Bay Area chapters of Commonwealth Club and the Churchill Club.

Mark Monaco

Head of Enterprise Payments

Bank of America

MARK C. MONACO is head of Enterprise Payments for Bank of America. In his role, Mark is responsible for defining the bank’s payment strategy and driving the evolution and implementation of payment initiatives across the organization. Mark manages payment network partnerships, payments innovation and initiatives and Merchant Services. Mark is also a member of the management committee team. Mark represents Bank of America as Chairman on the board of directors of the Payments Company of The Clearing House. He also is on the boards of directors of Akoya and Early Warning, and the executive committee of card policy council of the American Bankers Association. Mark has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, spanning investment banking, private equity and payments. Mark began his career in financial services with Credit Suisse First Boston. At CSFB, Mark was in the financial institutions group within the investment banking department and later served as Director of Finance and Corporate Development for the firm. Subsequently, he joined the firm’s private equity affiliate, Windward Capital Partners, leading investments in financial and business services, including serving as Chairman of the Board of Retriever Payment Systems, Inc. Additionally, Mark was head of Principal Investments for Brooklyn NY Holdings, LLC. Prior to joining Bank of America, Mark was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for iPayment Holdings, Inc. Mark earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his undergraduate degree from Harvard University.

Michael Novogratz

CEO

Galaxy Digital

Mike McGlone

Senior Market Strategist

Bloomberg

Mike McGlone is a senior commodity strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence, a unique research platform that provides context on industries, companies, and government policy, available on the Bloomberg Professional service at BI GO . Mr. McGlone specializes in the broad investible commodity and crypto markets, authoring the monthly Bloomberg Commodity Outlook and Bloomberg Crypto Outlook.

Mr. McGlone joined Bloomberg in 2016 with over 25 years of futures and commodity trading and investing experience, beginning at the Chicago Board of Trade. Prior to joining Bloomberg, he was a head of U.S. research at ETF Securities. Prior to ETF Securities, Mr. McGlone headed the commodity business at S&P Indices. His previous roles included head of futures research at ABN Amro and VP research, analyst, trader, sales at Aubrey G. Lanston / IBJ Futures.

Mr. McGlone has an MBA from DePaul University in Chicago and bachelor’s of science and arts degrees from Illinois State University. He is a CFA Charter holder and has earned a Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designation.

Nathan Dean

Senior Analyst — Government and Financial Services

Bloomberg Intelligence

Nathan Dean is a government analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence specializes in capital markets, covering Congress and regulatory agencies including the SEC, CFTC and Federal Reserve. Before joining Bloomberg, Nathan worked in the government affairs departments for CME Group (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) and Bank of America, where he focused on the regulatory implementation of Dodd-Frank and Congressional attempts to amend the Act. He also served as an expert for legislators, policymakers and regulators on the impact of government policy on the financial services industry. Prior to working in government affairs, he led a team of structured finance managers focusing on collateralized loan obligations in Europe and the U.S. for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Nathan was also a management consultant for a boutique consulting firm, serving Fortune 500 clients. Nathan has a bachelor’s of science degree in Management from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Stephen Erlich

CEO

Voyager Digital

Stephen Ehrlich is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Voyager Digital Ltd., one of the fastest-growing, publicly traded cryptocurrency marketplace in the US. Founded in 2018 to bring choice, transparency, and cost efficiency to the marketplace. Voyager offers a secure way to trade over 85 different cryptocurrency assets using its easy-to-use mobile application and earn rewards up to 12% annually on more than 35 cryptocurrencies. Through its subsidiary Coinify ApS, Voyager provides cryptocurrency payment solutions for both consumers and merchants around the globe. Previously, Stephen was Chief Executive Officer at E*TRADE Professional Trading LLC., where he led eight mergers and acquisitions over seven years, including the management buyout of the Lightspeed division in July 2006, making him Chief Executive Officer of Lightspeed Financial, LLC. Stephen is founder of the Hockey in Norwalk Foundation, a non-profit that created opportunities in hockey for 300 young players and was awarded by the NY Rangers. He graduated from Franklin & Marshall College with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.