26th Annual Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference at HBS - | Advent International | 8 February 2020 | Spangler Center, Boston, USA, 117 Western Ave, Boston, MA 02163, USA

26th Annual Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference at HBS - “The HBS Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference continues to be one of the most reputable and prominent events at the business school level,” said Tony James, Executive Vice Chairman of The Blackstone Group. “I am excited to be speaking at this noteworthy event which brings together some of the most talented and respected alternative investment professionals. I look forward to exchanging views on the private equity and venture capital industries.”

“We are very pleased to have once again the distinct opportunity and pleasure of hosting the VCPE Conference,” said John Dionne, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. “The conference has continued to evolve and attract very highly regarded participants and attendees, which is a credit to the past and present members of HBS’ highly regarded Venture Capital and Private Equity Club. We are thrilled to once again welcome to campus some of the brightest minds in the alternative investing space and facilitate robust debate.”

“Having been fortunate enough to be a graduate of Harvard Business School, I have seen firsthand how this conference continues to reinvent itself and offer unique keynotes and panels that are relevant to both the current and future states of the global alternative investment space,” said Jim Breyer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Breyer Capital. “The VCPE team spends an extraordinary amount of time and effort to put together a thoughtful and quality agenda that provides attendees with key takeaways that they can apply to their respective careers and personal ambitions. In addition to providing my thoughts and insights as an early-stage investor, I am eager to hear the views of other participants, scholars, and students, and look forward to another successful event.”

“Since the first Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference over a quarter of a century ago, the goal has been to facilitate career and networking opportunities that provide benefits not only to MBA students, but also to participants and outside attendees,” said Sophie Bai, Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2020 and co-chair of the Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference. “In continuing this significant initiative, we are fortunate that so many well-respected investors have agreed to lend their time to lead and engage in thoughtful and interactive discussions. We sincerely thank all of the keynote speakers, panelists, moderators, sponsors, attendees and volunteers who truly make this event so special each and every year.”

Several new panel topics will be introduced this year, including panels on Frontier Technologies, First Time Funds, Mobility, and Investing in China. Also on the agenda are many of last year’s popular topics, including panels on the State of PE, State of VC, Technology, Healthcare, Consumer, and more. More than 300 senior professionals from leading private equity and venture capital firms from around the country will participate in the conference. The conference team is delighted and humbled to already have confirmed an exceptional roster of speakers, including:

2020 Speakers

Hamilton E. James
Executive Vice Chairman, Blackstone

Karen Gordon Mills
Senior Fellow, Harvard Business School

Tricia Glynn
Managing Director, Advent International

Jon McNeill
Advisory Partner, Advent International

Jim Breyer
Founder & CEO, Breyer Capital

Josh Lerner
Professor, Harvard Business School

Dayna Grayson
Co-Founder, General Partner, Construct Capital

PRIVATE EQUITLY PANELS:

Barry Volpert
Co-Founder & CEO, Crestview Partners

Scott Sperling
Co-President, THL Partners

Frank Dunlevy
Counselor to the CEO, Presiden, Vice President of Investment Funds, USDFC

Brian J. Conway
Chairman, Managing Partner, TA Associates

Lori Whelan, Co-Founder & CFO, Silversmith Capital Partners

MODERATED BY:

Neal Reenan, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis

CONSUMER PANEL:

Alex Mehfar
Partner, AEA Investors

Adam Nebesar
Managing Director, Bain Capital

Jeff Case
Managing Director, Advent International

Farah Khan
Partner, L. Catterton

Mark Schwartz
CEO, Palladin Consumer Retail Partners

MODERATED BY:
Amber Banks, Partner, Fried Frank

ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE PANEL:

Richard Hoskins
Managing Director, The Carlyle Group

Edward Herring
Founding Partner, Tailwater Capital

Charlie Leykum
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, CSL Capital

Paul Loyd
Investor, former Chairman, CEO, The R&B Falcon Corporation

MODERATED BY:
Sergio Urias, Co-Chair of the Private Equity Practice, Covington & Burling

HEALTHCARE PANEL:

John Weber
Managing Partner, Court Square Capital Partners

Carmine Petrone
Partner , Advent International

Constantine Mihas
Managing Director, GTCR

Andrew Kaplan
Principal, Bain Capital

MODERATED BY:

Jonathan Kim
Partner, Dechert LLP

TECHNOLOGY PANEL:

Greg Williams
Managing Director, Accel-KKR

Richard Wells
Managing Director, Insight Partners

Darren Abrahamson
Managing Director, Bain Capital Tech Opportunities

Umang Kajaria
Partner, Apax Partners

Brian Chang
Managing Director, Warburg Pincus

MODERATED BY:

Jeff Vogel
Managing Director, Head of the Software Strategy Group, EY-Parthenon

FIRST TIME FUNDS PANEL:

Shaia Hosseinzadeh
Managing Partner, OnyxPoint Global Management

Hollie Haynes
Founder & Managing Partner, Luminate Capital Partners

Jesse Draper
Founding Partner, Halogen Ventures

Devin Mathews
Partner, ParkerGale Capital

MODERATED BY:

Bill Sturman
Partner, Covington & Burling

DISTRESSED & SPECIAL SITUATION PANEL:

Michael Carruthers
Managing Director, GSO Capital

Michael Gatto
Partner, Silver Point Capital

Ted Burdick
Managing Director, SVPGlobal

Patrick Cook
Managing Director, Baupost

Greg Olafson
Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

MODERATED BY:

Ranesh Ramanathan
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis

PORTFOLIO COMPANIES PANEL

James Ho
Partner, AEA Investors

Jeremy Andrus
CEO, Traeger Grills

Grant Palmer
Partner, Trilantic Capital Partners

Tim Kelleher
CEO, Taymax

Young Lee
Managing Director, Audax Private Equity

Geoff Ligibel
CEO, 42 North Dental

MODERATED BY:

Noah Seton
Senior Partner, ROI Consultancy Services

PREFFERRED, MINORITY, GROWTH INVESTMENTS LUNCH PANEL:
Azra Kanji
Managing Director, Abry Partners

Michelle Noon
Managing Partner, Co-Founder, Clearhaven Partners

MODERATED BY:

Matthew D. Cohn
Kirkland & Ellis

VENTURE CAPITAL PANELS:
State of VC Panel

Alex Taussig
General Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners

Rick Lewis
General Partner, U.S. Venture Partners

Payal Agrawal Divakaran
Partner, 406 Ventures

MODERATED BY:

Greg Stento, Head of Investments, HarbourVest Partners

CHINA PANEL:

Yu Long
MD, Betelsmann China

Gang Qin
Partner, lighthouse Capital Management

Wendy Yu
Founder, MD from Yu Holdings

Wen Zhou
Co founder, CEO of Philip Lim

MODERATED BY:

Yudan Zhang
Partner, EY

SEED FUND PANEL:

Rob Go
Co-Founder & Partner, NextView Ventures

Billy Draper
Partner, Draper Associates

Lily Lyman
Principal, Underscore VC

Samuel Clemens
Partner, Accomplice VC

Sarah Hodges
Partner, Pillar VC

MODERATED BY:

Brandon Farwell
Partner, Xfund

FRONTIER TECHNOLOGIES PANEL:

Adam Draper
Co-Founder & Managing Director, Boost VC

Dr. Chris Boshuizen
Operating Partner, Data Collective VC

Sana Fathima
Investment Manager, Lockheed Martin Ventures

Coppelia Marincovic
Investment Manager, Solvay Ventures

Brandon Reeves
Principal, Lux Capital

MODERATED BY:

Martin Sinozich
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCE PANEL:
Sara Nayeem
Partner, New Enterprise Associates

Camille Samuels
Partner, Venrock

Carl Gordon
Managing Partner, OrbiMed Advisors

Stephen Bloch
Partner, Canaan Partners

MODERATED BY:

Brian Quinn
Vice President, EY-Parthenon

FOOD INNOVATION PANEL:

Lisa Feria
CEO, Stray Dog Capital

Gareth Asten
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Acre Venture Partners

Seth Bannon
Founding Partner, Fifty Years

John Giannuzzi
Founder, Managing Partner, Sherbrooke Capital

Ron Meeusen, PhD
Managing Partner, Cultivian Sandbox Ventures

MODERATED BY:

John Giannuzzi
Founder & Managing Partner, Sherbrooke Capital

MOBILITY PANEL:

Reilly Brennan
Founding General Partner, Trucks Venture Capital

Bennett Cohen
Partner, Piva

Susan Choe
Founder & Managing Partner, Katalyst Ventures

Robin Li
Principal, GGV Capital

MODERATED BY:

Augustin K. Wegscheider
Partner, Boston Consulting Group

2020 Sponsors

PLATINUM:
• EY
• Kirkland & Ellis

SAPPHIRE:
• Convington
• Fried Frank
• Roi Rocket

GOLD:
• Dechert
• Boston Consulting Group
• Back Bay

SILVER:
• First Republic Bank
• Alphasights
• RSM
• Ropes & Gray
• Choate
• Russel Research
• Preqin