State Comptroller DiNapoli Releases Municipal & School Audits
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced the following local government audits were issued.
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NY State Comptroller Announces Appointment of Emerging Managers Director
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced the appointment of Sylvester (Sly) McClearn as director of the New York State Common Retirement Fund’s (Fund) Emerging Manager Program. He was appointed Interim Director of the Program in February 2023.
Founder's Panel
Moderated by Anastasia Titarchuk, CIO & Deputy Comptroller of the NYS Common Retirement Fund, this panel will feature a dynamic and candid conversation with founders across asset classes who have launched their first funds.
Lisa Melchoir
Vertu Capital Partners
Kerstin Dittmar
L2 Point Management
Jennifer Keith
Ethos Real Estate Partners
David Perez
Avance Investment Management
About the Panelists
- Lisa Melchoir, Vertu Capital Partners
Lisa Melchior is the Founder and Managing Partner of Vertu Capital. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Vertu Capital is a private equity firm that invests in high potential global technology companies, with a focus on software and software enabled businesses. Vertu’s mission is to partner with management teams of market leading and scaling companies to accelerate and support the next stage in their growth journey. Vertu’s team brings decades of domain experience, best practices, actionable value creation strategies and a deep network to its portfolio investments. Vertu has offices in Toronto and Montreal.
- Kerstin Dittmar, L2 Point Management
Kerstin Dittmar is the founder and Managing Partner of L2 Point Management, a Latina-owned manager focused on structured equity solutions for late-stage growth companies. L2 Point targets investments intended to provide “growth-equity-like” returns at a portfolio level, with significantly lower volatility of outcomes, while addressing a risk reward gap left in between credit and equity funds. L2 Point has approximately $400 million in AUM and has completed over $300 million of transactions since launching in 2019. Ms. Dittmar previously led the structured equity strategy for TPG Sixth Street Partners, a $70+ billion AUM special situations platform. Prior to TSSP, Ms. Dittmar worked in the Americas Special Situations Group at Goldman Sachs.
- Jennifer Keith, Ethos Real Estate Partners
Jennifer Keith is a Managing Partner with Ethos Real Estate and is responsible for investment strategy and execution. Jennifer’s career includes investment banking, private equity, distressed debt and public-private partnership experience. She also brings to Ethos a deep expertise in California public policy, land use, affordable housing and building political, community and financial stakeholder consensus.
Jennifer holds a Master of Real Estate Development from the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and German Literature from the University of Virginia. Jennifer is active in a number of leadership positions including Vice Chair of the ULI Public Private Partnership Council, Co-Chair of the LA Business Council Housing and Transportation Committee and member of the board of Coro Southern California and Mercy Housing California. Jennifer was also recently re-appointed by the California State Insurance Commissioner to serve as Vice Chair of the California Organized Investment Network (COIN) Advisory Board as an expert practitioner in the affordable housing space.
- David Perez, Avance Investment Management
David Perez is a Co-founder and a Managing Partner of Avance Investment Management, LLC. Prior to founding Avance, Mr. Perez was the President and COO of Palladium Equity Partners. Prior to Palladium, Mr. Perez had several senior private equity roles, including Principal of General Atlantic Partners and Atlas Venture and Senior Associate of Chase Capital Partners. Mr. Perez started his career with James D. Wolfensohn and Co, focused on mergers and acquisitions.
Mr. Perez earned his B.S. in Systems Engineering from Dresden University of Technology, a M. Eng. in Engineering Management from Cornell University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Mr. Perez is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Co-Chair of the Harvard University Cuba Studies Advisory Group, President of the Board of Trustees of Trinity School in New York City, and a longstanding board member and former President of the Board of Ballet Hispánico. He also served as Chairman of the Board of the NAIC. Mr. Perez lives in New York with his wife and three children.
Contracts by the Numbers 2023 Chart Update
Post-Conference Connections
EMC Letters of Support
EMC - Orlando Bravo Bio
Orlando Bravo is a Founder and Managing Partner of Thoma Bravo. He led Thoma Bravo’s early entry into software buyouts and built the firm into one of the largest software investors in the world. Today, Orlando directs the firm’s strategy and investment decisions in accordance with its principles of partnership, innovation and performance.
Orlando has overseen over 455 software and technology acquisitions conducted by the firm, representing more than $255 billion in enterprise value. Forbes named him “Wall Street’s best dealmaker” in 2019, and he was dubbed “Private equity’s king of SaaS” by the Financial Times in 2021.
Orlando was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Brown University in 1992, and earned a JD from Stanford Law School and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1998.
He is the Founder and Chairman of the Bravo Family Foundation, which aims to provide young adults in Puerto Rico with access to opportunity. In 2019, Mr. Bravo committed $100 million to the Foundation’s Rising Entrepreneurs Program (REP) with the goal of fostering entrepreneurship on the island. In addition, he has been personally involved in responding to the hurricanes that have devastated communities across Puerto Rico, providing an additional $20 million in funding for humanitarian and relief efforts following Hurricanes Maria (2017) and Fiona (2022).
The Orlando Bravo Center for Economics Research at Brown University supports innovative research, training and collaborative projects for faculty and students in the Department of Economics. At Stanford Law School, Orlando created the Bravo Family Public Interest Post-Graduate Fellowship Fund to support students seeking full-time employment in public interest.
Orlando’s philanthropic interests also include causes in healthcare. He endowed faculty scholar and fellow positions at Stanford University’s Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research and supports a wide range of medical research. He is a member of the Board of Trustees at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Orlando is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Corporation of Brown University.
EM Detailed Schedule
| 8:00–9:30 | Registration | Lobby |
Continental Breakfast | Second Floor | |
| 9:30–10:30 | Welcome & Opening Remarks Sylvester McClearn | Second Floor |
Keynote Address Thomas P. DiNapoli | ||
CIO Remarks Anastasia Titarchuk | ||
Guest Speaker Orlando Bravo | ||
| 10:30–10:45 | Break | |
| 10:45–11:00 | Sustainable Investments & Climate Solutions (SICS) Presentation Andrew Siwo – SICS Director | Second Floor |
| 11:00–12:15 | Founder's Discussion Founder’s Perspective: The Challenges and Opportunities in Launching a First-Time Fund Moderator: Anastasia Titarchuk CIO & Deputy Comptroller Lisa Melchoir – Vertu Capital Partners Kerstin Dittmar – L2 Point Management Jennifer Keith – Ethos Real Estate Partners David Perez – Avance Investment Management | Second Floor |
| 12:15–1:30 | Lunch & Open Networking | Second Floor |
| 1:30–2:45 | Asset Class Breakouts & Networking | First Floor |
Public Equity Introductory Remarks Presenters
| Room 1A | |
Fixed Income & Credit/Opportunistic Introductory Remarks Presenters
| Room 1B | |
Private Equity Introductory Remarks Presenters
| Room 2A | |
Real Estate & Real Assets Introductory Remarks Presenters
| Room 2B | |
Legal Panel Joyce Abernethy, General Counsel | Room 2C | |
| 2:45–4:00 | Comptroller's Dessert Reception & Open Networking | First Floor |
Migrant Tracker - Charts (January 2024)
State Contract and Payment Actions in December
In December, the Office of the State Comptroller approved 2,332 contracts for state agencies and public authorities valued at $75.6 billion and approved nearly 1.8 million payments worth more than $15.6 billion. The office rejected 212 contracts and related transactions valued at $15.4 billion and nearly 1,800 payments valued at nearly $12.6 million, primarily for mistakes, insufficient support for charges, and improper payments. More information on these contracts and payments is available at Open Book New York.