Pete Ort is the Co-Founder and Managing Member of CurAlea Associates LLC, an award winning firm providing customized risk solutions to traditional and alternative asset managers and an Operating Advisor of Long Arc Capital. CurAlea provides software and consulting services across risk, portfolio construction, and asset allocation. Since inception in 2010, CurAlea has worked with over 30 asset managers, and current clients manage over $50 billion.

Prior to CurAlea, Pete was a Managing Director at Karsch Capital, a $3 billion hedge fund. Pete was also a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and was co-head of the Investment Management Division’s Hedge Fund Strategies Group (HFS). During the period of Pete’s leadership, HFS managed $25 billion and achieved record annual revenues in excess of $300 million. Pete joined Goldman Sachs in 1996 and worked in the Investment Banking Division’s Financial Institutions Group in New York and Tokyo, and in the Investment Management Division’s Private Equity Group. He was also the Head of Business Development at Smartleaf.

Pete was a Fulbright Scholar in Japan, grew up speaking Czech, and also speaks some German, Japanese, French, Spanish, and Italian. Pete is a member of the New York and New Jersey State Bars and is a member of the board or advisory board of Ample, CarForce, Smartleaf, and MapText. He enjoys fundraising for local charities by competing in triathlons and other races with his children, and is Treasurer of the Fulbright Association of New Jersey.

Pete earned a B.S. from Duke University and J.D. and M.B.A from New York University.

Curtis Gardner is a founding principal of Jackson Square Properties, LLC, a private real estate investment company founded in 2004. Jackson Square (through affiliated entities) owns and operates 19,000 apartment homes in the western United States. With over 34 years in the multifamily industry, Curtis is a recognized leader. He worked first as a broker specializing in the sale of institutional quality apartment properties, where he was consistently ranked as a top producer, and then as a principal acquiring multifamily properties for his own portfolio. He was a Partner at Arroyo and Coates, Inc., and then owned the California franchise of Apartment Reality Advisors (ARA). ARA was sold to Newmark in 2016 and Curtis remains a shareholder in NMRK. Curtis currently serves on the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area and the First Tee of San Francisco.

Curtis graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Political Science.

Marc Dupaquier is a French-American business Angel with a specific focus on B2B Artificial Intelligence Software companies.

Marc is an investor in three AI companies, including Cartesiam, the Global Leader of Artificial Intelligence at the Edge (Machine Learning running on Microcontrollers). Additionally he has recently taken executive responsibility as the Managing Director for Cartesiam overseeing US development and relations with VCs and strategic Partners.

Prior to his current role, Marc was a Senior Executive with IBM where he was part of the IBM PT (Top 50 Senior Executives) for 8 years and IBM IVT (Top 300 Executives) for 17 years. During his tenure at IBM he led multi Billion $ businesses including the $13B Business Partner Group, the iconic AS/400 & Mid Market Divisions and headed Marketing and Strategy for the Hardware and Software Groups. During his role as Head of Marketing and Strategy for the Hardware and Software Group, Marc led a Team that executed 12 acquisitions and oversaw the “post Jeopardy” launch of the IBM Watson AI Business Unit.

Kevin Callahan is the Executive Chairman of Renaissance Alliance and an Operating Advisor of Long Arc Capital.

Before joining Renaissance Alliance, Kevin served on the Operating Committee at Marsh, Inc. as Head of Global Sales for the Risk Solutions and Specialty Market business segment. He also worked as a Business Partner with Accenture in the Management Consulting group, focusing on the Insurance Industry. Prior to that, Kevin held the position of CEO of several Insurance Industry companies, including Affirmative Insurance Holdings, Inc., a company providing personal auto insurance in the non-standard customer segment and operating over 250 agencies in ten states and Allianz Global Risks US Insurance Holdings, Inc. Kevin began his career with The First National Bank of Chicago, worked at Goldman Sachs for nine years where he led the derivatives business, established Goldman’s presence in the insurance-linked securities business and developed their reinsurance capabilities. After that, Kevin was a senior executive with Aon Corp., establishing Aon Capital Markets and Aon Financial Products, working closely with Aon Re Worldwide and helping transform Aon’s U.S. retail brokerage business in 2001-2002.

Kevin graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration majoring in Finance and Philosophy.

Raj Bhattacharyya has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry across trading and capital markets. Raj spent 17 years at Deutsche Bank, in both New York and London, in various senior roles. Most recently, he was the head of the Foreign Exchange Franchise in the Americas, as well as the head of the Emerging Markets business in the Americas. Previously, while based in London, he ran Capital Markets and Treasury Solutions for Western Europe, which covered all European corporations and financial institutions for their financing, risk management and treasury needs. Prior to that, he ran Debt Capital Markets and Corporate Risk Solutions in North America. Raj also spent 5 years at Merrill Lynch in derivatives, and 3 years at Goldman Sachs in Quantitative Research. Raj is also an active investor and mentor to early-stage companies, primarily in the financial technology space.

Raj serves on the Board of Directors of Robertson Stephens and Strive for College, a non-profit which connects aspiring college students with free, one-on-one, online mentoring through the entire college admissions and financial aid application process. He also sits on the Dean’s Advisory Council at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University.

Raj earned his BA in Computer Science and Engineering from Harvard University.