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Senior Investment Professionals
Mark W. Yusko
Chief Executive Officer 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
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
Managing Director
Bradford B. Briner joined Morgan Creek in 2004 and is a Managing Director on the Private Investments team. Previously, Mr. Briner was a founding member of the UNC Management Company where he served as an Associate in the Private Investment Division. In addition to his tenure at UNC Management Company, Mr. Briner worked with ArcLight Capital Partners, an energy focused private equity firm. Over the course of his ten years in making private investments, Mr. Briner has been responsible for committing over $3.5 billion to over 200 distinct private investment funds and co-investments. He currently serves on the advisory board of a number of funds, including ArcLight Capital Partners, DaVinci Japan Real Estate Partners, Natural Gas Partners, Sentient Global Resources, and WestView 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.
Sam DeRosa-Farag
Managing Director, Portfolio Strategist
Sam DeRosa-Farag joined Morgan Creek in March of 2009 as a Managing Director, Portfolio Strategist on the Investment Team. Mr. DeRosa-Farag brings 20 plus years of experience working as a strategist in the leveraged finance market and will be primarily responsible for leading Morgan Creek’s efforts in the credit sectors. Mr. DeRosa-Farag is an accomplished contributing author to many industry books and journals. Some of his most well known writings can be found in “The Handbook of Loan Syndications & Trading”, 2006; “High-Yield Bonds: Market Structure, Portfolio Management, and Credit Risk Modeling, 1999; as well as the June 1999 edition of The Journal of Fixed Income entitled, “Default Rates in the High Yield Market”. In addition, he has been a guest lecturer at many educational investment conferences around the globe.
Prior to joining Morgan Creek, Mr. DeRosa-Farag was President of Ore Hill Partners LLC where he was a member of the Investment Committee. While at Ore Hill, Mr. DeRosa-Farag was primarily responsible for new initiatives including structured products and risk management. Prior to joining Ore Hill, Mr. DeRosa-Farag was a Managing Director of the Global Leveraged Finance Strategy and Portfolio Products Group and Co-Head of the High Yield Research Department of Credit Suisse. He joined the firm from Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, which the firm acquired in November 2000, where he was a Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income Research. Prior to joining DLJ in 1997, Mr. DeRosa-Farag was head of High Yield Portfolio and Strategic Research at Chase Securities. He also developed and managed the High Yield Quantitative & Portfolio Strategies Group at CS First Boston, where he was employed for nine years. Mr. DeRosa-Farag was a member of the Institutional Investor “All-American Fixed Income Research Team” for 13 consecutive years from 1993 through 2006. Mr. DeRosa-Farag received a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Boston University and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Cairo University.
Robert Durden
Director, Private Assets
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.
Larissa Herczeg
Director, Real Assets
Prior to joining Morgan Creek in January of 2010, Larissa Herczeg was with Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors, responsible for sourcing and conducting due diligence on private real estate fund investments primarily in the Americas. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, Ms. Herczeg was employed with the Credit Suisse Customized Fund Investment Group (CFIG). While at CFIG, Ms. Herczeg was responsible for sourcing, conducting due diligence on, and monitoring the real estate portfolio of global direct and indirect real estate investments, and was also involved in relationship management and business and product development for private equity and real estate clients. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Ms. Herczeg was an associate in the corporate finance group of the global law firm Clifford Chance US LLP from 2000 to 2005. Ms. Herczeg received a B.A. with honors in Government and Economics from the University of Notre Dame, a Master's degree with honors in International Affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and a Juris Doctor degree with honors from Columbia University Law School. Ms. Herczeg is a member of PREA, a co-founder of New York Women in Real Estate, a mentor for the Toigo Foundation, a member of the National Association of Securities Professionals and has served as a guest professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
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 at SNS Partners Inc. 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
Managing Director
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.
Josh Tilley
Principal
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.
Frank Wang
Director, Private Assets
Frank Wang joined Morgan Creek in 2009. Previously, he was at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers where he focused on early to growth stage investments and portfolio management in digital, green tech and consumer segments in Shanghai. Prior to working for Kleiner Perkins, Mr. Wang worked for CDH Investments in Beijing. At CDH he focused on media, e-commerce and consumer sectors, sourcing deals and leading them to final execution. He also previously worked for PayPal and launched the PayPal China site. Mr. Wang earned a Master of Business Administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he focused on Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital. He earned an MS in Computer Science from the College of William and Mary and his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Randolph-Macon College.
David Welp
Director, Private Assets
Prior to joining Morgan Creek, David Welp was an investment team member of Lehman Brothers Private Fund Investment Group where he covered private equity fund of funds investments. His responsibilities included due diligence on buyout, growth equity, venture capital and turnaround fund managers in North America and Asia. During 2007, he spearheaded the team’s research and fund of funds investment activity in the Asia Pacific region. Prior to Lehman Brothers, Mr. Welp worked with several venture capital firms and technology companies located in Texas. Mr. Welp received his Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin with a concentration in Private Equity and Finance.
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
Anna Bickley
Vice President, Client Service
Anna Bickley is a Vice President of client service at Morgan Creek Capital Management. Prior to joining Morgan Creek in 2006, Ms. Bickley was an associate at Lehman Brothers in the Capital Introductions team. Primary responsibilities included building relationships with institutional investors and introducing Lehman’s prime brokerage hedge fund relationships to new sources of capital. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers in 2004, Ms. Bickley was an analyst on Deutsche Bank’s prime brokerage sales desk, where she assisted the sales team in marketing efforts, internal reporting needs and coordination with the capital introductions team. Ms. Bickley received a BA degree in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Peter S. Gutrich
Managing Director
Mr. Gutrich leads global business development, international strategy and works with the CIO on Special Situations. Currently Mr. Gutrich is also serving in an interim capacity in providing oversight and support to the senior staff of the Operations Group. Mr. Gutrich was previously with Vintage Partners Holdings, a firm he co-founded in 1996 with a particular international focus on alternative investments. Mr. Gutrich’s responsibilities included, at various times, managing the firm’s proprietary investments, advisory and fundraising activities over the ensuing twelve years. Additionally, Mr. Gutrich had a particular focus on, and responsibility for, the markets of Mexico and Russia for extended periods of time. Prior to co-founding Vintage, Mr. Gutrich was with UNIFUND SA, a Geneva based organization with an investment footprint that encompassed global asset allocation to outside funds as well as direct long/short and private investment activities from its offices globally. Mr. Gutrich had also previously been with a Chicago Board of Trade futures firm and various family real estate investment vehicles. Mr. Gutrich holds a BA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.
Eileen Kotecki
Managing Director
Prior to joining Morgan Creek in 2009, Ms. Kotecki founded Juniper Capital, a placement firm that raises capital in the alternative space including private equity, venture and hedge fund strategies. While at Juniper Capital, Ms. Kotecki raised over $3 billion in assets and had focused on the emerging manager space since 2002. Ms. Kotecki also serves on the board of High Water Women. High Water Women's mission is to provide constructive avenues for senior women in the hedge fund industry and their friends and colleagues to support philanthropies and volunteer endeavor that better the lives of women and children. She also sits on the board of Synapse, which assists women from impoverished countries in gaining market access for their products. Ms. Kotecki has also been a political fundraiser and served as the National Finance Director of the Gore Presidential campaign. Ms. Kotecki holds Series 7, Series 24 and 63 securities licenses.
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 Investor Relations
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
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
Andrea Szigethy joined Morgan Creek in 2006. Prior to joining Morgan Creek, Ms. 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. Ms. Szigethy spent six years at NMS in positions of increasing responsibility, concluding in her role as President of the firm. She managed all aspects of conference production, research and development, sales, marketing and relationship management. Prior to NMS, Ms. Szigethy had six years of conference management to include supervision and development across marketing and operations functions in multiple market sectors. Ms. Szigethy received her Bachelor of Arts Degree with a dual concentration in Business Administration and Psychology from the State University of New York at Albany and continuing credits towards a Master of Arts 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 & Chief Compliance Officer
Mr. Watts joined Morgan Creek in 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 potential violations of the federal securities law ranging from market manipulation to insider trading. 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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