Leadership & Mission

Jeffrey Armbrister is an executive with more than 25 years of transaction-based investing and operational experience. He is the Chief Financial Officer of Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ: HLNE), a global private markets investment management firm.

Armbrister previously served as the company’s Global Head of Direct Equity Investments, where he was responsible for direction and oversight of the firm’s direct equity and co-investment platform. His role included service on the boards of directors of companies in which Hamilton Lane invested on behalf of clients.

Prior to joining Hamilton Lane, Armbrister served as Managing Director for Versa Capital Management, where he focused on making control-oriented, special situations, debt and equity investments in middle market companies across a variety of industries. While at Versa, he participated in all major investment functions, providing oversight for certain finance-related operational activities, including financial analysis and reporting and cash flow management for several portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Versa, Armbrister was an Equity Research analyst at Oppenheimer + Close. He has also held private equity, venture capital, corporate development, and investment banking positions at Berwind Financial Group, Redleaf Group, ICG Commerce, and Wheat First Butcher Singer, respectively. He currently serves on the board of directors or similar bodies of several charitable organizations. Armbrister received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Virginia.

Lindy Benton-Moreno, an accomplished leader and sought-after speaker, has devoted her 30-year healthcare IT career to advancing technology and inspiring leaders. As an Executive Board Chair of Vyne, Benton-Moreno fueled the growth of a small dental company by establishing a thriving medical division.

She was named by Health Data Management among the “Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT” and recognized on Becker’s “Women Power Players Health IT” list. As a Fellow at the Health Information and Management Systems Society, she engages with executive councils across health-related committees and industry associations.

With a Master of Science from Florida State University, Benton-Moreno became a Distinguished Alumnus in Business and Industry, serving on the university’s National Board of Directors as the university Alumni Association’s National Director. Prior to entering healthcare IT, she pioneered the mainstreaming of 100+ children with disabilities into Florida’s public schools and the sponsoring of scholarships for first-generation college students, an initiative close to her heart.

Joram Borenstein (CISSP, CISA) is General Manager of Microsoft’s Commercial Solutions Area CTO team and was previously General Manager of their Cybersecurity Solutions Group. Formerly, he was VP of Partners and Marketing for NICE Actimize, the world’s leading provider of financial crime and compliance solutions. Before that, Joram worked at RSA Security, Unicorn Solutions (acquired by IBM) and VCIX in a variety of leadership roles, and has acquired and integrated multiple start-ups into multiple companies. He also served on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Secure Payments Task Force; the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) Fintech Advisory Panel; the World Economic Forum’s initiative on Incentivizing Secure and Responsible Innovation; and as a Founding Mentor at Smarter In The City. Joram has instructed financial regulators from the FDIC, OCC, OTS, Federal Reserve, and NCUA and has spoken at dozens of industry events including Gartner’s IAM Conference, RSA Conference, the CSA/ENISA Conference, NACHA Payments, the Association for Finance Professionals, Money 20/20, the American Bankers Association and more. He has been quoted widely in the media on topics such as cybersecurity, consumer identity protection, risk management and compliance, and his comments have appeared in publications such as the Harvard Business Review, USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, American Banker Magazine, SC Magazine and elsewhere. Joram currently serves on the Board of Directors at CyberMaxx and Authomize, and is an Advisor to Element. He previously was an Advisor to Kognos (acquired by Devo) and Conjur (acquired by CyberArk).

Connie Collingsworth is an experienced board member with expertise in governance, risk management, executive compensation, and complex investments for publicly traded companies, private companies, and private equity funds. Her board experience includes leadership positions on public and private company boards as well as charitable organizations.

Collingsworth’s current board roles include Banner Corporation (NASDAQ: BANR) and Axxes Capital. She also serves as a Board Advisor to European private equity fund Planet First Partners, a Business Advisory Board Member to biotech company Ocugen (NASDAQ: OCGN), and a Strategic Advisor to venture fund LoudCapital.

Collingsworth is the former Chief Operating Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private foundation in the world with over $65 billion in assets, distributing over $8.3 billion annually. During her 22-year tenure, she was responsible for managing and scaling the foundation’s business operations globally. She also served as Chief Legal Officer, advising Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett on governance, including creating the foundation’s Governing Board. She was the architect of the foundation’s IP philosophy and led the foundation’s work in collaborating with for-profit companies, including big pharma and companies in the biotech and ed-tech sectors.

Collingsworth holds a Master of Laws in International Business Studies from the University of Exeter, England, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Nebraska, and a Bachelor of Arts from Andrews University.

Ann Dugan founded the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh, which she led for nearly 30 years, while also serving as the Assistant Dean for the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. Her efforts in creating one of the first university-based programs that understood all sustaining family businesses start with an entrepreneur earned her recognition as a leader in the field and the prestigious EY Regional Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2009. Ms. Dugan orchestrated her own successful succession in 2014 but continues to work with families of wealth in all the complex pathways of their lives. Through the years, she has helped many families in the startup and growth of their philanthropic initiatives and has served as the first non-family member of three private family foundations. Currently she is a board member of Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania. Ms. Dugan and her husband reside in Pittsburgh, PA and Key West, FL. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where she received her B.S. and M.B.A. degrees. Currently, Ms. Dugan leads her own private professional practice and is partnering with Waldron Private Wealth in the Family Enterprise and Business Advisory Services department.

Julius Green (CPA, JD) is a retired tax partner with Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP, one of the ten largest accounting firms where he served in a number of leadership roles. Partners also elected Julius to the Firm’s Board of Directors in August 2017. Prior to his 17 years as a partner with Baker Tilly, Julius spent 11 years with two Big Four accounting firms and 12 years with two major universities. In total, Julius has more than thirty years of experience working with or advising tax-exempt organizations.

Upon retirement, Julius has accepted a role as a part time Business Fellow with the Villanova School of Business Department of Accountancy. He also joined the Board of Trustees for Benefits Data Trust and has continued his work on the Board of Trustees for the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants Foundation.

Julius earned his Juris Doctorate from The George Washington University National Law Center and both his MBA with a Finance concentration and Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Baltimore.

Eileen R. Heisman, ACFRE is a nationally recognized expert on charitable and planned giving. Eileen has been interviewed about philanthropy and donor-advised funds on CNBC, PBS, NPR, CNN International and Bloomberg TV, and by nearly every national newspaper and major trade publication, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, CBS MarketWatch, Financial Advisor, and Investment News. She has been named ten times by NonProfit Times as one of their Power and Influence Top 50, an annual listing of the 50 most influential executives in the philanthropic sector, most recently in 2023. She is currently listed as one of ONE HUNDRED’s top influencers in philanthropy and is the recipient of a 2019 Carnegie Mellon University Alumni Achievement Award. At the invitation of the Chinese government, Eileen spoke to their emerging nonprofit sector about American philanthropy. She was the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP)’s 2014 Outstanding Fundraising Professional, the highest award granted by AFP to recognize effective, creative and stimulating leadership, and the practice and promotion of ethical fundraising. She was also among the first fundraising professionals to earn the distinguished ACFRE certification. 

Eileen currently teaches a graduate course in philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice and is also a member of the faculty at LEADERSHIP Philadelphia. She is on the Governance Committee for the Nonprofit Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. She is a periodic lecturer for the Nonprofit Board Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Eileen is a lecturer and member of the National Advisory Board at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and serves on Carnegie Mellon University’s Dietrich College Board of Advisors (formerly College of Humanities and Social Science). She served as founding chair of Culture Works Philadelphia for seven years. 

Eileen received a master’s degree in Social Work with a concentration in Social Program Evaluation from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree with honors in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University.  She is a member of the third Wharton Fellows Class at the University of Pennsylvania and completed the Executive Program for Philanthropy Leaders at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. 

Stephen Hopkins is the Chairman of the Board of Ballentine Partners, a client-centric investment and wealth management firm. He has more than 30 years of leadership and hands-on experience in global asset management. Mr. Hopkins has held corporate executive-level positions at several firms including Roundtable Investment Partners, Citigroup Asset Management, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He is currently an independent director of Fund Evaluation Group and Vice Chair of the Gilmanton Conservation Commission. Mr. Hopkins graduated from the University of Rhode Island. He and his wife reside in Gilmanton, NH.

Dirk Jungé is retired from his former role as Executive Chairman of Pitcairn Company, a recognized global leader in the specialized multi-family office marketplace. Until recently, he also served as Chief Executive Officer of Pitcairn. He has been an innovator and leader in the family office for over 30 years. A fourth generation member of the Pitcairn family, he has served in numerous capacities including investments, marketing and client services. He was instrumental in re-establishing the firm as a multi-family office offering in 1987, and in 2008 led Pitcairn’s pioneering transition to a 100% open architecture investment platform. Mr. Jungé is a consultant, author and frequent speaker at conferences and seminars on issues related to the financial services industry, family office, family governance and succession planning. He contributed a chapter for the Handbook of Family Business and Family Business Consultation: A Global Perspective, which explores the role of the multi-family office in a changing global economy. His article, “From family business conflict to family connectedness” appeared in Family Business Magazine. Widely recognized for his involvement in social and community affairs, Mr. Jungé sits on a variety of philanthropic and corporate boards. Mr. Jungé received a B.S. in Economics and Finance from Lehigh University and holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst.

Lisa Pattis is President of Next Chapter Holdings which manages investments for the Pattis family and The Pattis Family Foundation by investing globally in a diversified range of assets. Previously, Pattis was General Counsel of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: WTFC) and a partner at Sidley Austin, LLP for 17 years where she specialized in corporate governance, securities law, and strategic counseling for major publicly traded and privately held companies, as well as select families.

Pattis has been repeatedly recognized for her leadership, named to Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40, selected as a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow and honored for her work as a top general counsel. Lisa serves as a trustee of The Newberry Library, the Foundation Board of Children’s Home & Aid Society and previously served as board chair of Women Employed.

Pattis earned her Juris Doctorate from Northwestern University, a Master of Arts from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University.

Eric Reeves heads the private capital investment strategy at Duchossois Capital Management and is responsible for sourcing, executing and managing investments across a variety of asset classes. He also serves as General Counsel, Chief Administrative Officer and Secretary to the Board of Directors for The Duchossois Group (TDG). Prior, he served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary to The Chamberlain Group, a TDG company.

Eric was previously a partner in the Corporate Department of McDermott Will & Emery. There he advised publicly traded and privately held companies in corporate borrowing and lending, mergers and acquisitions transactions and general corporate governance matters.

Eric is a member of Investment Committees for Chicago Ventures and the Irving Harris Foundation and serves on the Board of Advisors for Heard Capital. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Duchossois family’s privately held trust company, Travers Trust Company. Eric is a Trustee of Rush University Medical Center.

Eric received a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from The Ohio State University.

Diana Sands has over 30 years of business experience across multiple industries and disciplines including six years in the C-suite. She currently serves on the boards of AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU), and Vmo Aircraft Leasing, a private company backed by Ares Management Corporation. She was previously on the boards of PDC Energy, Inc. and SP Plus Corporation, both public companies until they were acquired in value-enhancing transactions. Diana previously worked at the Boeing Company where she was an executive officer and Senior Vice President, Office of Internal Governance and Administration. Reporting to the CEO and to the audit committee, Diana oversaw a diverse team including internal audit, ethics & investigations, compliance risk management, security, and internal services. Diana also held senior finance roles at Boeing including corporate controller, head of investor relations, and head of financial planning & analysis. She is dedicated to philanthropic efforts serving on the board of Start Early, a champion for quality early learning. Diana has an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, and a BBA from the University of Michigan Ross Business School.

Paul Schreiber, a long-time partner at global law firm Shearman & Sterling and now Of Counsel with the firm, has focused his practice in the asset management area for over 30 years. He has a broad background in corporate finance, securities and futures regulations and has written and lectured extensively on the Investment Company Act of 1940, ERISA, securities and other financial issues. He has been named in Best Lawyers in America Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World and U.S. Legal 500. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the International Bar Association. He is a graduate of City College of New York (B.S.) and New York University School of Law (J.D. and L.L.M.).

Manish Shah is a Chief Transformation Officer at ServiceNow with global management experience in information technology. He helps customers drive digital transformation to create sustainable value and enable organizational change management with the Now Platform. Manish serves on the board of Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ:ROCK). He is a Nashville Health Care Council (NHCC) Fellow and was named a ComputerWorld Top 100 IT Leader. Prior to joining ServiceNow, he held leadership positions at Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH), Advocate Aurora Health Care (previously Aurora Health Care), Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), and Caremark. Manish is a compassionate leader and natural changemaker who deeply understands the interconnectedness of technology and the human experience.

Warren Thaler is a private investor and former President of Gund Investment Corporation, where he managed the investment capital of Gordon Gund and his family for 27 years. Impressed by the potential of Align Technology’s “Invisalign,” he was an early investor in the company and served on its board for 19 years while investing for the Gund family in other early-stage public and privately held healthcare companies.

Thaler’s nonprofit work has included serving as an officer on the board of the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), where he helped conceptualize and chair the organization’s venture philanthropy initiative, The Retinal Degeneration Fund, which invests in early-stage companies working in the field of retinal degeneration. Thaler also served on the Board of Directors of the Cleveland Cavaliers and represented the franchise as its Alternate Governor at meetings of the National Basketball Association’s Board of Governors.

Warren holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Princeton University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He rowed on the lightweight crew team at Princeton and was on a boat that won the Eastern Sprints in 1981.

Tamara Watts is an attorney with 25 years’ experience advising tax-exempt organizations on a wide range of legal issues, as both in-house and outside counsel. Watts currently acts as Vice President, Legal and General Counsel for The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. Previously, she was a Managing Deputy Director within the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation legal team, primarily supporting teams within the Global Health and Global Development Divisions and Finance.

Watts is also a former partner and Co-Practice Group Lead of the K&L Gates, Tax-Exempt Organizations Practice Group and served as Co-Chair of the International Philanthropy Subcommittee of the Tax Section of the American Bar Association for more than a decade.

She has spoken frequently on a variety of legal topics relevant to tax-exempt organizations’ domestic and global philanthropic activities. Watts received her Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Stanford University and her Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School.

David Wezdenko is the Co-Founder and current Chief Executive Officer of Blue Leaf Ventures, a micro venture capital firm. At the core of its mission, Blue Leaf Ventures is committed to investing in and advising early-stage organizations poised to solve significant problems that have the potential to make a difference in the lives of individuals. The firm’s portfolio predominantly focuses on the financial, education, and life science sectors.

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Additional roles include being an independent trustee for the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company family of mutual funds, trustee for the National Philanthropic Trust, Governing Board member of Nova Southeastern University’s H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, and board director and treasurer for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul of Palm Beach County.

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David has over 35 years of operations, technology, finance, and business transformation experience within the financial services industry. He has held C-suite and senior roles in asset management, wealth management, and investment banking at JP Morgan, Evercore, and Fidelity Investments. David is a Boston College alumnus, holding a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.
David has a passion and commitment to mentoring and education, especially for underserved communities through his leadership and engagement in numerous non-profit organizations. He is the founder of UFlourish and actively supports the Women’s Business Development Council of Connecticut, Breakthrough NY, Catholic Charities of Palm Beach, and Off the Streets Bridgeport.

Suzanne Yoon is a recognized private equity investment executive with over 25 years of experience investing in and advising middle market companies. Throughout her career she has led, sourced and closed over $3B of middle market deals and advised on global restructurings totaling over $10B in asset value.

Suzanne currently serves as Founder and Managing Partner of Kinzie Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. She launched Kinzie in 2017 as part of her long-standing vision to advance the use of technology and innovation to help companies unlock value. In 2020, Kinzie was recognized by the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN) as the North American Female Founded Firm of the Year. Prior to Kinzie, Suzanne held executive positions with Versa Capital Management, CIT Group and LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO.

As an active member of the business and civic communities and a champion for diversity initiatives, she serves on several private company and philanthropic boards including the Chicago Bears’ first-ever Women’s Advisory Board, Chicago’s John G. Shedd Aquarium, the University of Iowa Center for Advancement, The Economic Club of Chicago and the Chicago Public Library Foundation. She also serves on the Steering Committee for PEWIN and is active with the Women’s Association of Venture & Equity (WAVE). Suzanne has earned extensive professional accolades from many organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, Mergers & Acquisitions and Chicago United.

A Chicago native, Suzanne lives in the city with her husband and three children. She earned her B.A. in Economics from the University of Iowa and is an Executive Scholar of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.