Ziad Sarkis serves as the Director of Financial Research at the Wharton School’s Harris Family Alternative Investments Program, the global hub for research on allocators, private capital funds, and hedge funds at the University of Pennsylvania. In his role, Ziad focuses on manager research and allocator coverage. He actively builds relationships with allocators (LPs) and private capital funds (GPs) and represents the University of Pennsylvania at alternative investment conferences worldwide, where he shares his insights as a speaker, panelist, or moderator. Ziad also teaches executive education classes at Wharton, concentrating on topics relevant to LPs and GPs. These classes attract C-level executives and investment professionals seeking to deepen their understanding of fund allocations and investment strategies around alternative investments, amongst other subjects. Ziad develops content for these courses. Outside academia, Ziad contributes to advisory boards and provides consulting services to LPs and GPs in investment and fundraising through his work at Ariska Capital. He previously held investment and advisory roles at companies such as Zouk Capital, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Deloitte, where he offered guidance on M&A transactions and fund investments in the US and EMEA regions. Ziad is a certified public accountant in the US and holds an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, coupled with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Arizona State University. Ziad is fluent in Arabic, French, and English and applies a global perspective to his work.

Niraj Agarwal is the Head of Real Assets at the c. $90 billion New Jersey Division of Investment and also serves on the pension fund’s Asset Allocation committee. Niraj runs investment programs focused on private equity across infrastructure, real estate, natural resources, agriculture and other real assets, and invests via commingled funds, co-investments/secondaries and programmatic separate accounts. He serves on a number of Boards and is responsible for launching investments into Infrastructure and Energy Transition/Renewables for the pension which account for over $1.5 billion of new capital deployment. Prior to NJ, Niraj was a Portfolio Manager in the Real Assets team at the c. $500 billion CalPERS pension, where he built the infrastructure portfolio from c. $2 billion to c. $6 billion via directs, funds, co-investments and separate accounts, and also built the renewables investment program to c. 2GW of operating wind and solar. Prior to CalPERS, Niraj was an investment banker in NY where he closed over $13 billion of transactions across sectors.

Joseph A. Smith represents private equity fund sponsors in connection with fund formation, the acquisition of portfolio investments and the implementation of exit strategies. In this capacity, Joe advises clients on securities, governance, compliance, operational and structural issues. He has extensive regulatory expertise, and wide-ranging experience with all alternative asset classes, including LBO funds, venture capital and later-stage growth equity funds, energy and infrastructure funds, credit funds, real estate funds and joint ventures, fund restructurings and other complex secondary transactions, including GP-led recapitalizations and the disposition of large institutional portfolios. Joe has also represented many fund managers in connection with stakes deals, spin-offs and consolidations.

In addition to domestic representations, Joe has advised private equity clients in connection with the acquisition and structuring of portfolio investments throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia. His representation of asset managers in the real estate sector includes advice concerning REIT offerings and privatizations, partnership roll-ups and cross-border investments. Joe’s clients include American Postal Infrastructure Partners, ARCIS Group, Coller Capital, General Electric Pension Trust, Harbert Management Corporation, Hemisfério Sul Investimentos, Investors Diversified Realty, Kotak Mahindra Group, LCN Capital Partners, Lumina Capital Management, Mauá Capital, Prime Group Holdings, Royalton Partners, SSGA Funds Management, VCFA Group, Vortus Investments and Westport Capital Partners. Joe is a frequent speaker at industry events, is widely published and has been recognized as a leading practitioner by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Banking, Finance and Transactional Law Lawyers, The Legal 500 US and New York Super Lawyers. Most recently, Joe was quoted by Private Equity International in the article “LPAs: Finding the Right Balance” and by Private Funds Management in the article “Ringing the Changes.” Joe co-authored the “United States Fundraising” chapter in The Private Equity Review (Law Business Research Ltd.) and he contributed to the Fund Formation and Incentives Report (Private Equity International in association with SRZ).

Mina Pacheco Nazemi is the Head of the Diversified Alternative Equity team and serves on both the investment committee. She is also responsible for originating, underwriting and monitoring GP relationships, direct/co-investments, and continuation vehicle opportunities for private equity and real assets. Mina has worked in the industry since 1998 with experience as a General Partner and Limited Partner investor in private markets and focused on underwriting direct/co-investment opportunities. Prior to joining the firm in 2017, Mina held several leadership and investment positions including Co-Founder and Partner at Aldea Capital Partners and Partner and Investment Committee Member at GCM Grosvenor Customized Fund Investment Group (formerly Credit Suisse CFIG). She is an alumna of Sponsors for Education Opportunity (SEO) and Robert Toigo Foundation. She also is a board member of the Pan American Development Fund and serves on the investment committee for the City of Hope and Cal State Los Angeles. Additionally, Mina is a current Finance Fellow for The Aspen Institute. Mina holds a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Economics and Political Science from Stanford University and her Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.