Speaker

Jason Howard

Managing Director, Private Equity Investments, GCM Grosvenor

Mr. Howard is co-head of the firm’s private equity diverse manager practice and also serves on the ESG Committee and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. He focuses on client portfolio management and private equity fund investments and co-investments. Prior to joining GCM Grosvenor, Mr. Howard was an Associate in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Howard was also a Manager of Deal Analysis at Walt Disney Pictures and Television and a consultant for Turner Broadcasting. He began his career in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Howard graduated with high honors from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University with his Bachelor of Business Administration. Mr. Howard currently serves as a member of the board of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and he recently completed a nine-year term on The Salvation Army’s National Advisory Board.

Speaker

Katherine Jollon Colsher

CEO, Girls Who Invest

Katherine Jollon Colsher is the CEO of Girls Who Invest, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing gender diversity and inclusion in investment management with a focus on growing the pipeline of women in frontline investing positions.

Before joining Girls Who Invest, Katherine was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and the National Director of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, the firm’s largest-ever philanthropic initiative to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing access to education, capital, and business support services. Prior, Katherine was the Director of Organizational Development and Effectiveness at ONE, an advocacy organization co-founded by Bono and other activists to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, and a Manager in the government practice at Accenture. She currently serves on the board of the Center for American Entrepreneurship.

Katherine earned a BA in English, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Richmond. She is also a graduate of the 2016 Presidential Leadership Scholars Program.

Speaker

Nerissa Johnson

Director of Engagement, Toigo Foundation

Nerissa Johnson joined Toigo in 2003; she currently serves as Director of Engagement. A member of the Foundation’s management team, Nerissa is focused on connecting future and current supporters to the Toigo programs, services, and events that will transform their organization and highlight their commitment to inclusion. Before joining Toigo, Nerissa worked as an administrator in the special education sector. Prior to that, she was the Development and Marketing Coordinator at the UCLA Alumni Association and a property manager at Spieker Properties. Nerissa completed her undergraduate studies at UCLA.

Hemali Dassani (MBA ’99) is an experienced fundraiser and investor relations professional within the alternative investments space and is currently a placement agent and consultant to multiple Private Equity funds. Hemali was previously Director of Investor Relations for Argand Partners and Castle Harlan, middle market private equity funds. Hemali was also a Managing Director with Old City Investment Partners, a multi-family office dedicated to finding high quality investments for the firm’s clientele of family office investors. Ms. Dassani has an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University. She was President of the Harvard Business School Club of Greater New York and currently sits on the Board of the Club and Chair’s its racial equity task force. Previously she sat on the Board of Governors for the Harvard Business School Real Estate Alumni Association and the Steering Committee for the Harvard Business School Alumni Angels Association.