Speaker

Cari Lodge

Managing Director Commonfund Capital, Inc.

Cari Lodge is Head of Secondaries and a member of the Investment Committee. Her responsibilities include oversight of due diligence, underwriting, manager selection and investment management for the firm’s private capital Primary, Secondary, Co-Investment and Distressed Capital programs. Prior to joining Commonfund Capital, Cari was at Tulane University’s Investment Management Office where she was responsible for overseeing the private equity and private real assets investments for the $1 billion endowment. Prior to Tulane, she was at Credit Suisse Strategic Partners, Credit Suisse’s dedicated secondary private equity fund with over $11 billion in commitments and interests in over 1,300 funds. Cari was a member of the investment committee, co-managed the $750 million aged primary program, and closed over 115 secondary transactions and co-investments for over $1.25 billion in total capital obligation. She worked with the team for twelve years since its founding in 2000, having started with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (which merged with Credit Suisse in 2000) as an Associate in Investment Banking. Cari is presently a member of the advisory board of several private capital limited partnerships. Cari is also a member of the Investment Committee of her alma mater, The Hotchkiss School. She received an A.B. from Dartmouth College in both Economics and Government and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Speaker

Gerald Cooper, MBA '02

Partner, Campbell Lutyens

Gerald joined Campbell Lutyens in 2016 and is head of the firm’s secondary advisory practice in North America.

During his time with Campbell Lutyens, he has built the North America secondaries team to become one of the largest and most respected in the industry. He has also led a number of major secondary mandates for blue chip US institutional investors as well as for leading GPs on the creation of continuation funds. Gerald has advised on over $20 billion worth of secondary transactions including both LP focused and GP-led mandates.

Prior to joining Campbell Lutyens, Gerald spent 12 years at UBS advising on secondary transactions, most recently as Global Co-head of Secondary Advisory in the Private Funds Group in New York. Before specializing in the secondary market, Gerald worked at Advantage Capital Partners focusing on direct investments in the Midwest and Southeast parts of the US, having previously worked in corporate finance and equity capital markets at Deutsche Bank and Bankers Trust Company in New York and Hong Kong.

Gerald graduated magna cum laude from Bryant University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.

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.