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Senior Investment Professionals
Mark Yusko
President and Chief Investment Officer
Prior to forming Morgan Creek, Mr. Yusko was President, Chief Investment Officer and Founder of UNC Management Company, the Endowment investment office for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from 1998 to 2004. Throughout his tenure, he directly oversaw strategic and tactical asset allocation recommendations to the Investment Fund Board, investment manager selection, manager performance evaluation, spending policy management and performance reporting. Total assets under management were $1.5 billion ($1.2 billion in endowment assets and $300 million in working capital). Until 1998, Mr. Yusko was the Senior Investment Director for the University of Notre Dame Investment Office where he joined as the Assistant Investment Officer in October of 1993. He worked with the Chief Investment Officer in all aspects of Endowment Management. Mark received his Bachelor of Science Degree, with Honors, in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance from the University of Chicago.
Mike Hennessy
Managing Director, Investments
Prior to joining Morgan Creek in 2004, Mr. Hennessy was Vice President and a founding member of UNC Management Company. Primary areas of responsibility included domestic equity, international and emerging markets equity, opportunistic equity, absolute return, fixed income and enhanced fixed income. Mr. Hennessy also assisted in developing overall investment objectives as well as strategic and tactical asset allocation for the funds. Mr. Hennessy was responsible for monitoring individual managers and overall portfolio performance, as well as risk management. Prior to joining UNC in 1999, Mr. Hennessy was an Investment Director at Duke Management Company (Duke University) where he assisted in the management of $3 billion of various University-related investment pools. Mr. Hennessy received his Masters of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and he also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Philosophy, Psychology and Mathematics from the College of William and Mary.
Brad Briner
Principal
Bradford B. Briner is a Principal on the Private Investments team. Mr. Briner joined Morgan Creek full time in May 2006, and has been a consultant to the firm since November 2004. Mr. Briner was a founding member of the UNC Management Company where he served as an Associate in the Private Investment Division. During his tenure at UNC Management Company, he was involved in making over $700 million of private asset investments in over 100 funds across venture capital, buyouts, real estate and energy. He managed the investment strategy and manager selection process for the real estate and energy portfolios. Mr. Briner also founded and directed the UNC Co-Investment Fund, in which he initiated and managed a $12 million private investments fund alongside existing private assets investment managers. Prior to joining Morgan Creek, he worked at ArcLight Capital Partners. Mr. Briner received his BA in Economics, with distinction, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar and his MBA, with distinction, from the Harvard Business School.
Robert Durden
Vice President, Private Investments
Prior to joining Morgan Creek, Robert was with Western Asset Management, a $600+ billion fixed income asset manager wholly-owned by Legg Mason Inc. Robert helped create and lead the firm’s Corporate Strategy Group, focusing on potential acquisitions, international expansion, and new product development. Before joining Western Asset, Robert was a Senior Investment Analyst with Ritchie Capital Management, where he executed and managed private investments for the firm’s Opportunistic and Energy strategies. Previously, Robert was an Investment Banking Analyst with Merrill Lynch in the firm’s Middle Market Mergers & Acquisitions group. Robert received his MBA from the University of Chicago with Honors and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics, magna cum laude, from Princeton University.
Nirav Kachalia
Managing Director
Nirav Kachalia is a Managing Director of Investments at Morgan Creek. Mr. Kachalia joined Morgan Creek in December 2004. Mr. Kachalia was co-founder and Vice President for Strategy for HiFusion, an education technology company. Mr. Kachalia assisted in all start-up activities including raising over $16 million and growing the company to over 150 employees before negotiating a successful sale to a joint venture corporation established by Sylvan Learning Systems and Aether Systems in 2001. Prior to starting HiFusion, Mr. Kachalia was an Associate at Winslow Partners, the personal investment vehicle for Kenneth Brody, a former Management Committee member of Goldman, Sachs. He joined Winslow in 1998 where he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating and negotiating investment opportunities within early stage and late stage private equity. Prior to joining Winslow Partners, Mr. Kachalia was an Investment Banking Analyst at Morgan Stanley in the health care group from 1996-1998, where he analyzed and executed strategic corporate finance alternatives for both small and large capitalization companies. Prior to joining Morgan Creek, he worked at Wyper Capital a long/short hedge fund. Mr. Kachalia sits on four advisory boards. Mr. Kachalia received his Bachelor of Science in Biology and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
David Kim
Managing Director
David joined Morgan Creek in August 2005. Since 2002, David was a Managing Director and a member of the Investment Committee at Glenwood Capital Investments, the $5 billion fund of hedge funds operation owned by the Man Group. In addition to his portfolio management responsibilities, he was the Head of Sourcing for Glenwood’s portfolios. From 1998 to 2002, David was the Head of Due Diligence at SNS Partners, the hedge fund joint venture between Banco Santander and the Notz Stucki Group. During his tenure, he specialized in equity long/short and arbitrage/relative value strategies. While attending business school, David was a Summer Associate in Asian high yield trading and debt capital markets at Peregrine Investments both in New York and Hong Kong. David started his career as an Analyst in fixed income sales, trading and research at Lehman Brothers. David received his Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude, from Bates College, Masters in Business Administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and also completed the General Course at the London School of Economics.
Mark Morris
Principal
Mark joined Morgan Creek in August of 2007. Previously, he was at Ritchie Capital Management from 2000-2007. Mark was a Managing Director and headed Ritchie’s Multi-Manager Group from 2004-2007. He was responsible for portfolio construction and management, risk management, and operational oversight for the Group, which manages Ritchie’s hedge fund investments. During his time at Ritchie, Mark gained broad alternatives experience through several other roles. He joined Ritchie to develop and trade a long/short equities strategy, and served, from 2001-2003, as Director of Fundamental Research. He became a member of both the Allocation Committee and the Investment Committee of the firm in 2005, and the Executive Leadership Team in 2006. He also served on the boards of Royal Palm Insurance, Major League Gaming, Aviir, Inc., and Foundation Energy, Ltd. Earlier in his career, Mark was Vice President, Long/Short Equities for Citadel Investment Group, where he co-managed a long/short equity strategy. Mark earned an MBA with High Honors from the University of Chicago, focused in Finance and Accounting. He earned his undergraduate degree with Distinction from Stanford University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
James Spencer
Principal
Prior to joining Morgan Creek, Jamey Spencer was a Vice President at The Riverside Company, where he was responsible for evaluating and executing leveraged buyout opportunities and served on the board of directors of several portfolio companies. Prior to joining Riverside, Mr. Spencer was an MBA Student Intern in the Corporate Strategy & Planning/Strategic Investments group at Sun Microsystems, where he was responsible for evaluating and executing early-stage venture capital opportunities. Previously, Mr. Spencer was an Investment Banking Analyst at J.P. Morgan in the Global Energy Corporate Finance/Mergers & Acquisitions group, where he advised on domestic and cross-border sell-side and buy-side assignments, and equity and debt financings. Mr. Spencer received his Bachelor of Science in Business, magna cum laude, from Wake Forest University and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, where he was a Robert A. Toigo fellow.
Josh Tilley
Vice President
Josh Tilley joined Morgan Creek in 2004. Mr. Tilley's primary responsibilities at Morgan Creek include manager due diligence and selection, topical research and general portfolio analysis across a number of different asset classes and sub-strategies. Prior to joining Morgan Creek in 2004, Josh served as an Associate in the Public Investments Division at UNC Management Company. Mr. Tilley functioned in various capacities, including research and due diligence that contributed to individual manager selection, overall portfolio strategy and tactical asset allocation decisions. Prior to joining UNC in 2003, Josh was an analyst at Lehman Brothers where he worked to complete transactions totaling in excess of $6 billion across Lehman's multiple product lines. Josh received his Bachelor of Science Degree, with distinction, in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jason Zhang
Managing Director
Prior to joining Morgan Creek, Jason was with the Stanford Management Company from 2004 to 2007, where as the Managing Director of Asian Investments, Jason spearheaded SMC's investment activities in Asia, especially the emerging markets of China and India across asset classes, investing in both Funds and direct investments. Jason also worked for the Procter & Gamble company from 1996 to 2002, as a technology leader in the company's new ventures group where he oversaw the development of P&G's global engineering initiatives and spent 2 years each in North America, Europe and China. Jason received his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University School of Engineering and BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley. Jason is a native of China and is fluent in Mandarin.
Senior Business Team & Operations Professionals
Carolyn Anderson
Principal, Relationship Management
Carolyn is a Principal focused on new business development and relationship management for families, individuals and their foundations. Prior to joining Morgan Creek in 2008, Carolyn was a Managing Director at U.S. Trust for 10 years, representing their Multi-Family Office group. She advised clients with assets exceeding $50 million on comprehensive and integrated wealth management solutions. Before joining U.S. Trust in 1997, Carolyn advised ultra-high-net-worth clients on fixed income strategies at Meredith, Martin and Kaye, and prior to that she was the Director of Marketing for a tactical equity boutique. Carolyn graduated from Converse College in South Carolina, majoring in Marketing and Economics. She also completed the U.S. Trust Stanford Executive program.
Neil (“Dutch”) Kuyper
Managing Director, Finance & Chief Operating Officer
Dutch Kuyper is a Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Kuyper joined Morgan Creek in 2004. Mr. Kuyper's experience includes positions in the investment management, management consulting, venture capital and public accounting industries. Prior to joining Morgan Creek, Mr. Kuyper served for eight years as Vice President of Finance and Controller for Wellington Management Company, one of the largest independent investment management firms in the world with nearly $500 billion in assets under management. Mr. Kuyper's responsibilities included US and International Financial Accounting and Reporting, Budgeting, Planning and Analysis, Tax Services and Compliance. Prior to joining Wellington Management in 1997, Mr. Kuyper was a Manager with The Boston Consulting Group for three years. Previously, Mr. Kuyper was employed by Coopers & Lybrand where he worked as an auditor and consultant when he passed the CPA exam. Mr. Kuyper received his Masters of Business Administration from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. He also completed post-graduate studies at the London School of Economics. Mr. Kuyper received his Bachelor of the Arts in Economics from Occidental College.
Dennis Miner
Managing Director
Dennis Miner is a Managing Director and focuses on relationship management. Prior to forming Morgan Creek, Mr. Miner had over 17 years of experience serving the investment needs of wealthy individuals and family groups, including 9 years at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ). As a director in the CSFB Private Client Group, Mr. Miner was responsible for over 60 relationships with clients having a net worth in excess of $100 million each. Mr. Miner was a leader in building DLJ's hedge fund, private equity and structured debt investment effort. Also, he was involved in the creation of DLJ's first exchange fund and other hedging strategies for diversifying concentrated low basis stock. Mr. Miner holds a Bachelor of Arts, with honors, in Finance from the University of Massachusetts.
Jonathan D. Moll, CFA
Director of Institutional Sales
Mr. Moll oversees Morgan Creek’s institutional marketing, consultant relations, and client service teams. Prior to joining Morgan Creek, Mr. Moll was a Managing Director at MBIA Asset Management where he led the firm’s advisory asset management division. Prior to his experience at MBIA, Mr. Moll was an Executive Vice President at Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), where he was a senior member of the firm's management team. At PIMCO, Mr. Moll managed a marketing and client service team that was responsible for approximately $50 billion in assets. In this role, he and his team sold and serviced a wide range of investment strategies across all major asset classes. Mr. Moll graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree from Gettysburg College and earned a master's degree from Carnegie Mellon University where he graduated with distinction. He holds his Series 3, 6, 22, 26, and 63 licenses from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) through the CFA Institute.
Jim Patrick
Vice President, Relationship Management
Prior to joining Morgan Creek, Jim served the investment needs of wealthy individuals, foundations, endowments, including 3 years with Lehman Brothers and 5 years with Credit Suisse in their private banks. Jim focused his efforts primarily in the Southeast working with approximately 40 high net worth relationships. Jim received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration as well as his Masters of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Wendy Ruggiero
Assistant Treasurer
Wendy joined Morgan Creek in June of 2007 and oversees the financial operations of the management company. She has over thirteen years of experience in public accounting, specifically in the area of tax. Previously, she was at Blackman & Sloop, CPAs, P.A. in Chapel Hill, North Carolina for over eight years where her role was Tax Manager. Wendy received her BS in Accounting from Lehigh University. She is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of North Carolina and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (“AICPA”) and the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants (“NCACPA”).
Andrea Szigethy
Principal, Director of Client Service
Andrea joined Morgan Creek in January of 2006. Prior to joining, Mrs. Szigethy was the President of NMS Management, Inc., an educational investment conference company providing unbiased forums for endowments, foundations, family office executives and high net worth individuals. Mrs. Szigethy's core responsibilities at NMS consisted of conference production, research and development, sales, marketing and relationship management. Mrs. Szigethy received her BA Degree with a dual concentration in Business Administration and Psychology from the State University of New York at Albany and continuing credits towards a Masters Degree in Social Work from Adelphi University.
Nick Taylor
Corporate Controller
As Corporate Controller, Nick is primarily responsible for corporate accounting and reporting at Morgan Creek. Prior to joining Morgan Creek in March 2008, Nick worked for over ten years at Wellington Management Company, LLP, one of the largest private institutional asset managers. Most recently, Nick served as Director of Financial Control and Vice President, where he led the formation and operation of a financial control and risk function. Prior to that, Nick formed and managed Wellington Management’s International Accounting group, where, as International Controller and Vice President, he was responsible for financial accounting, financial and regulatory reporting. In this role, he worked extensively across the firm to support the financial, operational, regulatory, compliance and tax aspects of the firm’s US and international affiliates. Prior to joining Wellington Management, Nick worked for four years for Price Waterhouse in their audit practice in both Boston, Massachusetts and London, England. He is a certified public accountant and member of the Institute of Internal Auditors and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He received his MS/MBA in Accounting from Northeastern University, and has Bachelor of Arts with honors from the University of East Anglia, UK. Prior to relocating to Chapel Hill, Nick served on the Finance Committee for the Town of Rowley, Massachusetts for five years and was the founding Treasurer and Board Member of the Triton Education Foundation, Inc.
Mark Vannoy
Director of Fund Administration
Mr. Vannoy joined Morgan Creek in January 2006 and oversees the financial operations of the fund of funds products. Prior to joining Morgan Creek, Mr. Vannoy's career consisted of five years with Ernst & young and KPMG in both the United States and Cayman Islands with a primary focus on offshore captive insurance, venture capital, and early state start-ups. Mr. Vannoy also spent time with Progress Energy and Nortel Networks. Mr. Vannoy received his BS in Accounting and a Masters in Accounting from North Carolina State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of North Carolina and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants ( "AICPA") and the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants ( "NCACPA").
Bill Watts
Director, Regulatory Affairs
Bill Watts joined Morgan Creek in October of 2005. Prior to joining, Mr. Watts was a staff attorney with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement. While at the SEC, Mr. Watts investigated violations of the federal securities law ranging from market manipulation to insider trading. He joined the Commission as part of the Advanced Commitment Honors Program as a staff attorney. Mr. Watts received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation.
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