Michael has been with Grant Thornton for over 14 years. He has been an audit partner for 9 years, and has served as the National Asset Management sector leader for approximately 4 years. Michael has over 19 years of experience in public accounting, and extensive expertise working with private and public companies. He oversees asset management industry strategy and business development in the firm’s primary US markets, including New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Florida, Dallas, and Philadelphia. Michael is a critical resource for the firm, and is recognized as an industry expert for accounting, auditing, financial reporting, internal control, risk management, regulatory, and operational issues impacting alternative investments. His former and current clients include hedge funds, fund of funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, clearing and introducing brokers, mutual funds, exchanged-trade funds (ETFs), unit investment trusts (UITs), public global diversified holding companies, registered investment advisors and other alternative investment vehicles.

As an Assistant Chief Accountant within the Division of Investment Management at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Meghan assists the Chief Accountant in interpreting new accounting regulations and directing the financial reporting and accounting practices of investment companies in compliance with the federal securities laws. As part of this role, Meghan works closely with SEC staff, both within the Division of IM and across other Divisions within the Commission, as well as investors, registrants, and auditors. Prior to joining the SEC, Meghan was a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young LLP in the audit practice where she primarily served mutual funds, business development companies, private credit funds, hedge funds, and real estate investment trusts. In addition, she also worked in the firm’s national office on a variety of investment management industry projects, technical inquiries, and firm publications. Meghan is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Meghan has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Jay is a Tax Managing Director in Grant Thornton’s Asset Management Tax practice. He has over 18 years of experience focusing on the alternative investment funds space. Jay specializes in the taxation of hedge funds, private equity and venture capital funds, fund of funds and works with clients in various strategies ranging from long-short equity, credit focused structures, commercial lending, multi-strategy platforms to hybrid fund of funds. Jay works closely with clients regarding tax planning and compliance, including fund formation, annual tax reporting and guidance on manoeuvring among local, state, U.S. federal and international tax rules. Immediately prior to coming over to Grant Thornton, Jay was in Deloitte’s Asset Management tax practice for over a decade where he specialized in the taxation of financial products and partnership taxation. Jay is a certified public accountant licensed in the State of New Jersey and is a federally licensed Enrolled Agent.

Grant Smith is a managing director in the partnership taxation group at Grant Thornton. Grant has more than twenty four years of experience in the field of taxation, both in private industry and public accounting. His focus has been federal tax compliance and consulting for hedge funds, including their related management companies, as well as security transaction analysis. Grant also has experience with private equity funds, mutual funds and other similar investment vehicles. Grant also has experience with tax provision review and state, local and international income tax compliance.

Noam Hirschberger has more than 20 years of experience in providing valuation services. Noam has extensive experience working with private equity and private debt funds, providing valuations of portfolios consisting of numerous types of financial instruments. He advises Chief Financial Officers at private and public companies on financial reporting matters, such as purchase price allocations, goodwill impairment, and equity compensation. Noam has also collaborated with attorneys to provide estate planning solutions for numerous founders and executives at various types of funds. In addition, he has testified as an expert witness on various valuation matters. Noam founded the complex financial instruments group at the Firm. The team consists of specialists with expertise and knowledge of the capital markets and quantitative credentials, such as the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Financial Risk Management (FRM) and Master of Business Administration (MBA). Their analyses often require advanced financial modelling techniques, such as Monte Carlo simulations and lattice models. The analyses have been used for financial reporting purposes and been reviewed and accepted by the “Big Four” and numerous national accounting firms.

Dr. Ma is a Managing Director and Global Head of Houlihan Lokey’s Portfolio Valuation and Fund Advisory Services practice. She works primarily with private equity funds, hedge funds, venture funds, business development companies, and corporate clients. Dr. Ma has extensive experience in valuing illiquid and complex securities across capital structures, industries, and geographies. She advises senior fund management in establishing best-in-class valuation policies and procedures. Dr. Ma is based in the firm’s New York office. Dr. Ma has extensive training, academic expertise, and trading experience in commodities, derivatives, securities, foreign exchange, fixed incomes, structured transactions, hedging strategies, and risk management issues. She has served as a consulting and testifying expert for the SEC on various fund- and valuation-related matters. Dr. Ma is a member of Houlihan Lokey’s Management Committee; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council; and Technical Standards Committee. Externally, she is on the board of Managed Funds Association and the International Valuation Standards Council. Dr. Ma is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and also holds the designation of CFA and obtained her CPA license (now inactive) in the state of Colorado. She was featured in The Hedge Fund Journal’s “50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds 2020.” Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, Dr. Ma was a Partner at Ernst & Young, directing various high-profile hedge fund restructuring assignments. She also worked as a derivatives trader for a global commodity house and an adjunct professor at Columbia Graduate School of Business. Dr. Ma holds a B.S. in Accounting from Indiana University and a Ph.D. in Finance from Columbia University. She has published numerous articles on valuation, derivatives, and risk management and co-authored a college textbook on derivatives. Dr. Ma is a frequent speaker in industry conferences and is a board member of PENCIL, a New York City-based charity connecting underserved public school students to business community.

Andrew is the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of Gatewood, a firm focused on investments in emerging managers pursuing alternative investment strategies. Prior to this role, he was a Director at Duff & Phelps in their Alternative Asset Advisory practice. Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, Andrew was a Vice President at CCMP Capital Advisors, a middle-market buyout and growth equity investor and spinout from JPMorgan Partners’ (JPMorgan Chase’s heritage alternative asset arm). He began his career as an Analyst at JPMorgan Chase. Andrew graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in Economics and Computer and Information Science.

Rafael Beck is based at Integrated Solutions’℠ Boca Raton, Florida office. Among his responsibilities, Rafael coordinates and supervises a specialized team of CPAs, portfolio accountants and bookkeepers who handle the financial activities and reporting of the firm’s asset management, broker-dealer and outsourced accounting clients. He has extensive experience serving domestic and offshore hedge funds, private equity funds, funds of funds and broker-dealers. He provides advice on fund start- up issues including organizational structure, economic issues and general business consultation. Rafael also leads the firm’s financial statements preparation group, as well as manages key client relationships. Prior to joining the firm, Rafael was at Ernst & Young, as a supervising senior accountant, where his work concentrated on audits of asset management clients. Previously, he was a senior hedge fund accountant at International Fund Services (N.A.) L.L.C., a fund services company providing accounting and administration services to asset management clients. Rafael started his professional career at Rothstein, Kass & Company P.C., CPAs, specializing in audit and tax compliance engagements for hedge fund and broker-dealer clients. Rafael received a B.B.A in Accounting from Pace University in 2000. He is a Certified Public Accountant and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and serves as a member of the Investment Management, Stock Brokerage and Digital Assets Committees of the New York State Society of CPAs (NYSSCPA). He also holds the Series 7 and Series 27 licenses.

As a Family Wealth Director and Financial Advisor, John collaborates with high-net-worth families to develop customized wealth management plans to address their concerns. This includes intergenerational wealth transfer, investment management, liabilities management, and philanthropy. John has spent his entire career of over 25 years with Morgan Stanley. He has advanced professional credentials including the Family Wealth Director title, the Alternative Investments Director title, and the Certified Financial Planner™ designation, which is recognized as one of the industry’s standards of excellence for competent and ethical financial planning. John was also included in the 2024 Forbes Best- In-State-Wealth Management Teams list, and is frequently asked to speak to other Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors on issues specific to ultra-high-net-worth families. John graduated with a B.A. in economics from the College of the Holy Cross and earned his M.B.A. from Northeastern University. A former Division I college baseball player, he is an active member of Holy Cross’ career mentoring program, a class representative for the Delbarton School Alumni Association, a member of Mensa, and supports several volunteering efforts through his church. John, his wife, and their two children live in Mount Sinai, NY.

Valerie Wong Fountain is a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, and she is based in the firm’s New York office. Valerie serves as Head of Family Office Resources Platform & Partner Management, which includes responsibility for Trust Services, Signature Access and Single Family Office Advisory. Prior to her current role, Valerie served as Co-Head of Private Capital Markets, a dedicated platform within the Global Capital Markets division of the Institutional Securities Group that is focused on raising capital for corporations in private market transactions. Valerie partnered closely with the Investment Banking Division to advise companies across multiple sectors on all matters related to their private funding goals. She also managed the private syndicate, connecting institutional pools of capital with high-quality issuers on a global basis. Previously, she served as Chief of Staff to James Gorman, Morgan Stanley’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. She was responsible for managing the Office of the Chairman and CEO and broader Firm management staff; liaising with senior executives, coverage officers, and clients on behalf of the Chairman and CEO; driving key strategic projects and initiatives; and covering key clients across geographies as a firm relationship manager. She started her career in the Institutional Equity Division, where she traded a range of Delta One products including Exchange-Traded Products, Index and Custom Basket Total Return Equity Swaps, Futures, and Program Baskets. Valerie serves on the First Tee of Metropolitan New York Executive Committee and Board of Directors, Morgan Stanley Foundation Board of Trustees and the Penn Golf Alumni Board. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee for the Firm’s Multicultural Client Strategy Team. In addition, she completed a two-year term as Morgan Stanley’s Corporate Leader for the Council on Foreign Relations. Valerie earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude and as a University and Joseph Wharton Scholar. She was also a Division I athlete, competing as a three-year letterwinner on the Women’s Varsity Golf Team. As an amateur golfer, she won the Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association Better Ball Championship in 2019 and 2018. Valerie was recently presented with Asia Society’s 2022 APA Driver for Diversity Award. In 2021, Valerie received the Trailblazer Award from Ascend. In 2020, Valerie was honored as one of the top 100 Most Impactful Asians (A100) in culture by Gold House. In 2014, she was recognized as one of the top 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business by the Asian American Business Development Center and was awarded Most Influential APIA New Yorker by the National Association of Asian American Professionals New York. Valerie also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Brian Mulley is responsible for the construction and management of multi-asset class and specialized portfolios for Ultra High New Worth (UHNW) clients & Single Family Offices. He and his team manage customized portfolios on a fully discretionary basis. Brian focuses on investment strategy selection and tactical investment allocations on behalf of clients. In addition, he and the team analyze existing client portfolios using a holistic approach encompassing philanthropic, tax, trust & estate planning considerations. Prior to this role, Brian acted as an investment officer for Morgan Stanley’s Firm Discretionary models and the Pathway Mutual Funds. He also served at head of the Portfolio Construction Group in Morgan Stanley’s Private Wealth Management division. Brian was also a member of the Quantitative Strategies and Analysis Group where he built analytic models designed to measure and forecast risk. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2005, Brian worked at State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), constructing customized passive equity and fixed income benchmark portfolios incorporating hedged currency overlays for institutional clients. He also worked as an analyst at Pioneer Investments and as an analyst in the performance and analytics department at Putnam Investments. Brian earned his B.S. in business administration with a concentration in finance from University of Massachusetts at Lowell in 2001. He is Series 7, Series 24 and Series 66 licensed. He is also a member of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell Young Alumni Council. Brian resides in New York City and enjoys motorsport club racing, fantasy football and running.

John is a Managing Director, Financial Advisor and Family Wealth Director who has spent more than 28 years with Morgan Stanley. He helps successful families organize, prioritize, and simplify their financial complexities. John brings extensive knowledge in a number of areas that are important to ultra-high-networth families, including estate planning strategies, traditional and alternative investments, risk and liquidity management, and philanthropy. He has significant experience investing in a wide variety of asset classes. The Family Wealth Director title is a distinction that about5% of the firm's Financial Advisors have earned. As of December 2023, as a Family Wealth Director, John has advanced training in addressing concerns unique to ultra high net worth families. John and the team work with a broad range of services that are reserved for some of Morgan Stanley's most important private wealth clients. John earned the Certified Investment Management Analyst® designation from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Lloyd Harbor, Long Island, where he is active in the swimming, biking, and running communities. John is a former IRONMAN distance triathlete and still swims, bikes and runs with competitive teams. He volunteers as an executive committee member for Swim Across America, which has raised more than $80 million for cancer research. He personally raises funds by swimming across the Long Island Sound every summer.

Chris has over 25 years of experience including as Legal Counsel and CCO for RIA of multibillion dollar fund-of-hedge funds business. Most recently Chris was Managing Director at Kroll (formerly Duff & Phelps). Throughout his career Chris has worked closely with investment advisory clients on matters such as: establishing compliance and operations infrastructures, identifying and addressing risks and conflicts, operational due diligence, mock regulatory examinations, and preparing for and navigating regulatory examinations. He is a frequent lecturer and speaker on panels on all matters related to GRC. Chris has a BS, and MBA from American University, and JD from St. Thomas University School of Law.

Richard D. Marshall, Esq. is a Partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. He focuses his practice on the representation of financial institutions and employees subjected to investigations by the SEC, the Department of Justice, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and state securities regulators. He also counsels broker-dealers, investment companies, and investment advisors on regulatory issues, particularly relating to SEC and FINRA regulations. He also frequently counsels clients on compliance and risk management issues and the handling of inspections. He provides extensive advice regarding the possible impacts of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and related regulatory rulings, as well as time-sensitive guidance on securities trading, ownership reporting, and other investment regulations to a broad range of clients.

Markus is the national leader of Grant Thornton's Blockchain, web3 & Digital Assets Industry Practice and is the leader of the Northeast Financial Institutions Practice. He is also an SEC and IFRS specialist. Markus has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and in public accounting. Markus has led audit and advisory projects for a variety of multinational digital asset companies such as cryptocurrency exchanges, trading desks, digital asset custodians, wallet companies and payment processors for over 9 years. As Industry Leader Markus has authored and developed our firm’s audit methodology and helped build our Blockchain technology center of excellence. Additionally, he leads audits of both public and private financial services organizations ranging from large multinational financial institutions to broker dealers and fintechs. He also leads internal audit and other risk management engagements as well as consulting projects on loan reviews, operational process reviews, post-merger integration, due diligence and asset securitization. Other areas of expertise include capital raises and IPOs. He also works and assists other offices with IFRS audits, reviews and conversions. He works with a variety of digital asset companies, banks, fintechs, securities and commodities broker dealers, REITs, BDCs, private equity groups, finance and investment companies. His clients include companies with multistate and multinational operations. Prior to joining Grant Thornton , Markus worked for Deloitte and RSM. He began his career in Europe with an affiliate of DZ BANK AG – one of Europe’s leading financial organizations. 10/18/24

He is a partner in the Financial Services Office Audit practice in San Francisco, where he began by serving asset management clients such as hedge funds, private equity and venture capital firms. Over the last eight years, David has developed an expertise in audit and compliance procedures as they relate to funds, exchanges, custodians, miners/validators, issuers and other ecosystem participants in the Digital Asset industry. David leads the Digital Asset Research Center, a team within EY dedicated to supporting Assurance, Tax, and Consulting engagements. As resources with specialized knowledge, this team leverages a technical understanding of fungible and nonfungible tokens, as well as the underlying distributed ledger technologies to service the blockchain and Digital Asset ecosystem. David works with clients holding and transacting in Digital Assets to carry out financial statement audits, internal audits, audit readiness, AUPs, transactions, SOC reporting, forensic and related services. David regularly works with regulators in jurisdictions across the globe and key industry groups to share knowledge and develop best practices concerning accounting treatment, auditing strategies, and valuation of Digital Assets. David researches issues and changes impacting digital asset protocols and their potential effects to clients' businesses and works with relevant EY teams to understand potential regulatory impacts. Before working in industry, he received his PhD from the University of California, Davis in Philosophy with a focus in Cognitive Science, teaching courses such as Minds, Brains, and Computers. David also taught for Santa Clara University and the University of San Francisco, where he received his Bachelors in Accounting. David is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the state of California.

Trent is a Managing Director and is responsible for developing investment opportunities, conducting due diligence, arranging debt financing for portfolio investments, structuring investments, and monitoring portfolio companies. Since joining VSS in 1999, he has been active in the Firm's investments in Access Intelligence LLC, Centroid, Coretelligent, GreenSlate, Hanley Wood, Mediatel (Yellow Brick Road), MetSchools, Pepcom, QuadraNet, Really Great Reading, Southern Theatres, TMP Worldwide (now Radancy), Tranzact, and Vault.com. Trent is currently a member of the Board of Managers of the following VSS portfolio companies: Centroid and GreenSlate. In addition, he is a board observer of Coretelligent. He previously served on the boards of Access Intelligence, Coretelligent, Quadranet, Radancy, Really Great Reading, Southern Theatres, Tranzact, and Vault. Prior to attending business school, Trent was an Analyst and Associate in the Media & Entertainment Investment Banking Group of First Union Securities (now Wells Fargo Securities), where he was involved in structuring and underwriting syndicated leveraged loans and high yield issuances for several VSS portfolio companies, including Rifkin Acquisition Partners, Canon Communications, Centaur Communications, and The Official Information Company. Trent serves on the board of directors and Treasurer for the New York State Ski Racing Association and as an Alpine Ski Racing Coach for Windham Mountain. He previously served as a Trustee and member of the investment committee for the Hunter College Foundation and as a Trustee and Chairman of the board of trustees of Bronx Charter School for the Arts. Trent holds an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an AB in History and French from Duke University.

Paul Marino is the head of the Corporate and Mergers & Acquisitions group, and co chair of the Financial Services group. Paul focuses his practice in matters concerning financial services, corporate law and corporate finance. Paul provides counsel in the areas of private equity funds and mergers and acquisitions for private equity firms and public and private companies and private equity fund and hedge fund formation. Paul works on a variety of M&A transactions, including leveraged acquisitions, divestitures of business divisions, going-private transactions, and other strategic acquisitions and dispositions, in the following industries: manufacturing, telecommunications, consumer products, hospitality, healthcare, and technology, among others. His practice also includes joint ventures and general company representation matters. Paul has represented national and multinational corporations, ranging from telecoms to tech companies, as well as real estate syndication and financial investors and investment advisors. He has also negotiated and structured a number of U.S. domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures. As of 10/18/24

Eric Gelb, CPA, is a Senior Managing Director in Financial Services with PKF O’Connor Davies Advisory, LLC. His clients include private equity and hedge funds, RIAs and family offices. Eric’s practice includes fractional CFO to private equity funds; transaction and M&A advisory, and quality of earnings due diligence relating to structured credit. He has advised the Board of Directors for a leading RIA. In addition to 20+ years’ experience in public accounting, he was a Vice President with Citibank and JP Morgan Chase for a total of 15 years where he focused on equipment leasing, securitization and asset-based lending. Eric is a graduate of The Wharton School of Economics where he majored in Accounting and Finance; and the Columbia Business School where he completed his MBA in Finance and Marketing. As of 10/18/24

Alex focuses on clients in the financial services industry, including mutual funds, interval funds, business development companies, private equity and venture capital funds. He has extensive experience with both AICPA and PCAOB auditing standards and SEC reporting requirements. From 2020 to 2023, Alex served as an Assistant Chief Accountant at the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. While at the SEC, he contributed significantly to the development of recommendations for policies aimed at ensuring the full and fair disclosure of financial information by investment companies. He also provided valuable insights into interpretations of rules relating to the form and content of financial statements, and actively participated in establishing uniform standards of auditing and accounting practices within the investment companies sector.

Rich has over 25 years of experience with accounting, auditing and regulatory topics relevant to the investment management industry, including hedge funds, private equity and venture capital funds, funds of funds, registered investment companies, business development companies, and investment advisors. Rich is a member of KPMG’s Department of Professional Practice in New York City. Rich provides technical consultations for complex accounting and auditing matters, assesses the impact of new and emerging professional guidance relevant to the investment management industry, and contributes to industry publications. Rich’s areas of focus include the application of specialized investment company accounting, presentation and disclosure guidance, different types of fund structures and operations, and industry-specific regulatory updates. Prior to joining KPMG, Rich was a senior director in the quality control department for a national accounting firm.

Rian is an accounting resident in EY’s Professional Practice Group covering ASC 946 topics and has served clients in the alternative investments space, including private equity funds, venture capital funds, fund-of-funds, business development companies, and management companies. Rian holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame; a Master of Letters in Philosophy from the University of St. Andrews; and a Masters in Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a certified public accountant in California and a member of the AICPA.