YJP's 40 under 40

Aaron Weitman is the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of CastleKnight Management LP, an event driven and special situations hedge fund that invests across capital structures of all sizes. Prior to founding CastleKnight, Mr. Weitman spent over 15 years at Appaloosa LP, rising to the title of Senior Partner. As a Senior Partner, Mr. Weitman consistently invested over $1B of assets in the portfolio across equity and credit. Mr. Weitman has invested across all sectors, with a focus on several of them for over a decade, including: industrials, housing, chemicals and consumer products.

Mr. Weitman holds a B.S. with University Honors in Business Administration (Finance concentration) and a minor in Computational Finance from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of multiple charity and foundation investment committees, including Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Metrowest NJ (one of the largest in New Jersey) and Boystown Jerusalem Foundation of America. Mr. Weitman also participates in significant outside charitable and Pro-Israel endeavors.

Adam Ezra is the founder and CEO of Zip Co US (previously QuadPay), a leader in the installment lending category. Zip Co is a public company listed on the ASX, operational in 13 markets and employing over 1,500 globally. Prior to Zip, Adam had founded multiple consumer businesses and spent a number of years working in the investment banking and private equity industry with Macquarie Bank and Illyria respectively.

Adam holds a B.S. in Business Information Technology from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

Mr. Parker has been investing in technology equities for over 10 years. Mr. Parker serves as the Chief Investment Officer for Center Lake where he is responsible for all investment decisions. Prior to forming Center Lake in 2014, Mr, Parker was a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Point State Capital which he joined at its inception. While at Point State, Mr. Parker was responsible for the firm's exposure and investments in the technology sector. Prior to that, Mr. Parker worked at Duquesne Capital Management where he served as a Senior Analyst focused on technology investments. Prior to joining Duquesne, Mr. Parker was a Senior Analyst at Force Capital Management. Mr. Parker holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of Business.

As the Director of Real Estate for Green Holland Management, Adan is focused on the sale and capitalization of all property typesincluding industrial, office, multifamily, mixed-use and developmentthroughout New York City and nationally. His current responsibilities involve business development and acquisition sourcing, helping clients strategically solve problems within their portfolios as well as developing plans for their assets.

During the course of his career Mr. Elias Kornfeld has completed or participated in over $600 million worth of investment sales transactions. Prior to joining Green Holland, Adan was Vice President of Meridian Investment Sales where he focused on sales and financing within the greater New York City area. Earlier, Mr. Elias Kornfeld was a member of Colliers International’s New York Capital Markets & Investment Services team, led by Richard Baxter, Yoron Cohen and Scott Latham, where he focused primarily on the sale of institutional assets in the office, industrial and development sectors in Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs.

Mr. Elias Kornfeld holds a B.B.A. from Florida International University where he attended the Honors College.He is also a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and sits on the events committee for American Friends of Rabin Medical Center.

Before becoming the CEO and Founder of Present, a new funded startup creating the bridge between the metaverse and physical experiences, with the first, at-home holographic display and game console. Adi was the co-founder and CEO of RealFace, a startup company specializing in mobile authentication products using revolutionary face recognition and liveness algorithms. RealFace was acquired in 2017 by Apple. In the years before founding Realface, Adi was the VP of Marketing and Business Development at Syneron Beauty and was part of the founding team within Syneron Medical (Nasdaq: ELOS) to open the Home-Use device unit, that later was acquired by Unilever.

Adi is a marketing executive that started her career in brand management at Procter & Gamble. She holds an MBA from Columbia University and a B.Sc. in Computer Science (graduate of the Zell entrepreneurship program) from IDC Herzliya and was also the captain of the IDC Chess team.

Forbes Next 1000 List-Maker, Ali Kaminetsky of Modern Picnic, disrupted the cooler industry in 2018 when she created a lunch box created for the cosmopolitan working woman. The chic, functional, sustainable, vegan leather lunch box has been celebrated by over 200 media outlets, including Forbes, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Oprah, The Today Show and more. Since its launch, Modern Picnic has grown into a multi-million dollar business with roots in charity, women’s empowerment, and their commitment to creating innovative, multifunctional products.

Ali Kaminetsky’s commitment to women is shown and strengthened by Modern Picnic’s carefully selected advisors, investors, employees and ambassadors. Most notably, these advisors and investors include Alexandra Wilson (Co-Founder Gilt and Glamquad), Michelle Grant (Founder, Lively), Monica Royer (Founder, Monica + Andy), Adam Schoenberg (Co-Founder, Hook & Albert), Michael Cline (Founder, Fandango), and NJ Falk (Manager Partner, APL).

Modern Picnic is also backed by strategic brand partners such as American Express, Martha Stewart, S’well and Hungryroot. With a shared mission to build products people love, Modern Picnic and these brands partnered to create community-first programs that provided education and/or social support. In 2019, Modern Picnic launched its brand ambassador program that now includes over 500 diverse and successful women across the country, and has become a powerful mentorship community led by Ali.

Ali Kaminetsky’s vision has catapulted Modern Picnic into the bold and dynamic organization it is today. Ali belongs on the Forbes Under 30 list because of her commitment to impacting the community and creating products for women, made by women.

Amanda Zuckerman wasn't an ordinary college student. After facing the challenges of trying to shop for her own college dorm room decor prior to her freshman year, Amanda sought out to change the experience. While double majoring in Graphic Design and Marketing at Washington University in St. Louis, she rallied her friends to create Dormify, which at the time was a dorm-focused blog and brand ambassador community. What Amanda didn't realize was this was just the beginning of the story.

Post-college, Amanda took the feedback from her peers via her blog and her personal experience and with the help of her entrepreneurial mother, Karen Zuckerman, evolved Dormify into what it is today, a highly successful, direct-to-consumer, one-stop-shop for home decor for college students and teens.

Amanda was named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2018 and since officially launching in 2013, the mother-daughter duo have successfully turned their idea into a bonafide, GenZ focused lifestyle brand with a cult following.

Andrea Himmel grew up in NYC and attended Horace Mann from ages 3-18, graduating within the top 5% of her class. A nationally-top-ranked junior competitive tennis player, she decided to attend the University of Pennsylvania instead of pursuing a professional tennis career. Ms. Himmel studied real estate within the Joseph Wharton Scholars program, Wharton’s undergraduate honors program for the top 5% of the student body.

In 2018, Ms. Himmel joined the firm that her mother cofounded in 1979, Himmel + Meringoff Properties (“HMP”), a long-term oriented, vertically-integrated real estate firm that owns a large portfolio of office buildings in Manhattan and industrial warehouses in the boroughs of NYC and is committed to the long-term ownership and hands-on operation of office buildings in Manhattan and industrial warehouses in the boroughs.

Andrew is the founder of Lion Cub Development. An investment company that focuses on residential and commercial value add opportunities in New York City. Lion Cub has acquired over 20MM worth of property in its first year of existence. Prior to founding Lion Cub, Andrew was a principal at Aryeh Realty, a 3rd generation family office that owns and manages a portfolio of residential properties in Manhattan. Andrew received a Bachelor’s degree from Babson College and an MS in Real Estate Development at NYU Schack. He is also the founder of the Little Champions Foundation, a charity foundation that he started in 2013 that focuses on raising money for underprivileged kids.

Benjamin Friedman has extensive experience in public and private financial markets, specializing in high yield and distressed investments across sectors and products. He is a Managing Director at Friedman Capital, a family owned investment firm, where he leads the public markets investing practice. He is also the President/CFO and member of the Board of Directors of BOA Acquisition Corp (NYSE: BOAS), a $230 million Prop-Tech SPAC. Prior to this, he was a Director and Senior Trader at Citigroup Global Markets leading the high-yield Energy and Utility trading franchise. Previously, he served as a Portfolio Manager at CQS, UK LLP, where he managed US credit hedge fund investments as well as a dedicated long-only high-yield credit book. He began his career at Bank of America Merrill Lynch on the leveraged finance trading desk. Mr Friedman was named to Forbes “Top 30 under 30” in 2017 and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011, graduating Magna Cum Laude.

After graduating from Boston University, Blake started her career as a publicist at a leading fashion & lifestyle PR firm in New York City. While living in NYC, Blake was introduced to her now husband and business partner, Wayne. While wedding planning, Blake hunted for the perfect accessories for all of the wedding events and quickly noticed a gap in the market. Frustrated by the lack of options, she wore what she had and got to thinking… how could she impact and change this market? Blake quickly took action and on their honeymoon, Blake and Wayne put their business plan together. Eight months later, in 2018, Vivrelle was born. Vivrelle is a first-of-its-kind membership club that provides access to a shared closet of coveted designer handbags, jewelry and diamonds for a monthly membership fee. Vivrelle makes luxury accessories fun, flexible, affordable, and sustainable, and provides members with the ability to borrow items with no return date. In a fresh take on the try-before-you-buy model, Vivrelle members are also able to purchase items they love from Vivrelle’s closet at exclusive members-only discounted prices. Encompassing the true meaning of a membership club, Vivrelle offers exclusive club perks, further transforming the way consumers experience luxury in everyday life.

Dalia Strum is the Founder of RethinkConnect, an agency that focuses on experiential storytelling through digital as well as in-person strategies. She is a globally recognized Marketer & Innovator who embraces non-traditional education while working with professionals to focus on creativity and external innovation

Dalia has spent the majority of her career working with a number of top tier brands including Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Pepsico, Mondelez, Burberry, etc. Most recently her company RethinkConnect partnered with the Wharton Business School and Ralph Lauren to host an Ideathon focused on Rethinking Retail.

Dalia’s podcast, Motivated, along with co-host Pablo Henderson, VP of Marketing for Equinox hotels, features thought leaders and industry experts who discuss shifting mindsets and how to keep themselves as well as others motivated. She also focuses on speaking engagements and workshops with the senior management of luxury brands around the globe.

Dan Reich is the Co-Founder and CEO of Troops, a venture-backed technology company that makes business software human by connecting back office Systems of Record with the new Systems of Engagement, like Slack and Microsoft Teams. Troops is working with hundreds of companies and has raised about $22 million in venture capital from First Round Capital, Felicis Ventures, Slack and others. He is also the Co-Founder and President of TULA, a health and beauty business that has created the world's first probiotic-based line of skincare products and is backed by LCatteron. He has been involved with companies that have raised over $100 million in venture capital and have exited for over $1 billion in mergers and acquisitions. Prior to Troops, Dan started a software company called Spinback which he sold to Buddy Media, and then to Salesforce.com for about $850mm. He has a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a contributing writer for Forbes, TechCrunch, Harvard Business Review and has been named Silicon Alley Top 100 by Business Insider.

David Gelbard is the Founder and CEO of Parachute Health, LLC, an innovative platform that allows healthcare providers to order products and services online with a patient's insurance card. Mr. Gelbard founded Parachute Health after seeing first-hand the impact of poorly coordinated care and its contribution to negative outcomes for patients. Since Parachute Health's inception a few years ago, the platform is supporting millions of patients annually, and has expanded across 40,000+ facilities across the US.

Prior to Parachute, Mr. Gelbard worked as an investment professional at Falcon Investments, a $2.8 billion special situations investment fund, which he joined in 2012. Mr. Gelbard was also responsible for capital raising, deal sourcing, and serving as an Advisory Board member to select portfolio companies such as Protect America, MSX International, Jobson Healthcare, and ecoATM during his time at Falcon. Previously, Mr. Gelbard worked as an Associate at Staple Street Capital and an Investment Banking Analyst at Credit Suisse in New York. He received a B.B.A. in Finance with Honors from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in 2009.David is the Founder and President of Achievement Through Athletics (ATA), which is a charity that promotes education through after-school sports programs, which has grown since its inception in 2010. Prior to ATA, David spent a year in the Americorps working inside schools in East Harlem, NY, which was the catalyst for ATA.

Drew Popkin is the Founder & Principal of Highpoint Property Group. He was previously the Head of Acquisitions & Development at Naftali Group.

Highpoint Property Group is a real estate developer, operator, owner, and manager based in New York City with a primary focus on residential and mixed-use assets throughout the Metropolitan New York and Tri-State areas. Since launching their platform in January 2017, Highpoint has developed or repositioned over $300 million worth of New York City real estate. They have deep joint venture partnerships with institutional investors, high net worth individuals, and family offices as well as established, long-term relationships with many major lending institutions.

Eli Simon is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Investments at Simon Property Group and the CEO of Simon Property Group Acquisition Holdings, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Simon Property Group. He is responsible for implementing the company’s ongoing investment strategy, including focus on new business sourcing, strategic corporate investments, and the execution of real estate transactions.

Before joining the Company, Simon was the Principal and Head of North American Lodging at Och-Ziff Capital Management and Och-Ziff Real Estate, where he oversaw all lodging related investments, including asset and portfolio acquisitions, operating company investments, and lending opportunities.

Simon attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his Bachelor's in Economics and his Master's in Business Administration.

Eva brings a unique skill set of over 18 years of domestic and international banking and finance experience to her financial planning practice.

She is passionate about educating individuals, families, and businesses to help achieve their personal savings and investment goals. She strongly believes that financial literacy is essential to help people make more informed decisions and take ownership of their financial success.

Eva's journey with money and business started at very young age. Both of her parents were successful real estate entrepreneurs who inspired and educated her on how to invest and build successful businesses.

Eva is a native of Poland who migrated to New York City in 2001. She has a passion for world travel and adventure and so far has visited 43 countries and speaks 3 languages.

Harrison Abramowitz serves as a Managing Director in the New York office of Newmark, where he specializes in the representation of both owners and tenants in retail leasing transactions.

Mr. Abramowitz received Newmark’s NYC Director of the Year Award in 2019. He has also been one of Newmark’s Rising Stars every year since 2016, and he was elected national president of the group by his peers in 2016/2017.

Mr. Abramowitz graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in public relations from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) and a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

Hilary Matt is an interior designer based in New York City, specializing in residential and commercial interiors. Hilary and her team create an individualized design for each project and leads their clients through the design process seamlessly. Function and comfort are the most important things to Hilary when designing a space, as well as a timeless design.

Hilary’s current and past projects include homes in New York City, The Hamptons, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, D.C., Chicago, Connecticut and New Jersey. Hilary’s work has been featured in leading design and lifestyle publications including: Architectural Digest, Modern Luxury & Home & Gardens.

Jason Cohen is the CEO and Co-Founder of MyBundle.TV

Prior to starting MyBundle.TV, Jason was a Portfolio Manager at Buckingham Capital Management, where he researched and invested in the Media/Telecom Sector with a special focus on how streaming TV was disrupting the traditional ecosystem. Jason not only believed consumers would benefit from the increasing choice afforded by streaming, but that a new golden age of broadband providers was around the corner due to the separation of broadband and video delivery.

However, with all that choice came new challenges and Jason started MyBundle.TV to help simplify streaming for consumers, streaming services and broadband providers.

A Forbes recognized Top Next-Gen and Best-in-State Wealth Advisor, Jason brings a client-centric, customized approach to wealth and investment management. Having received the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA institute and a certificate in Applied Behavioral Finance from the Investment Management Consultants Association, Jason focuses his investment efforts at the intersection of sound decision making and portfolio construction.

Jason joined Stifel in 2015 as part of its acquisition of Barclays Wealth and Investment Management, Americas. Prior to joining the team in late 2013, he was a Senior Consultant in Barclays’ Portfolio Consulting Group developing customized investment strategies including strategic and tactical asset allocation, manager selection, and portfolio implementation. Before this, he worked in the Investment Strategy Group at Neuberger Berman Trust Company, where he developed investment strategies for high-net-worth investors and small-to mid-sized institutions. And prior to that, he was an Associate at Lehman Brothers Trust Company. Jason was named to Forbes’ America’s Top Next Generation Wealth Advisors list for 2017-2021* and Forbes’ America’s Best-In-State Wealth Advisors list for 2022**.

He graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Broadcast Journalism.

Jeanne Casey is the Global Head of PropTech and Innovation at Nuveen, and leads investments and insights in PropTech for the firm. Previously, Jeanne was a Principal at MetaProp, a leading PropTech venture capital firm based in New York. Prior to joining MetaProp, Jeanne was a founding team member and Vice President at Digital Alpha where she worked on the launch, fundraising, and deployment of a $300 million growth equity fund focused on digital infrastructure. She has previous experience with
Cisco and Morgan Stanley, and holds a MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA with honors from Johns Hopkins University.

Jenny is co-founder of Four Acres Venture Capital. She is also Managing Partner of Supernode Ventures. Prior to Supernode, Jenny worked at Eniac Ventures, where she focused primarily on seed stage investments in mobile-first technology, including enterprise and consumer-facing applications and platforms, in addition to devices, such as smartphones, tablets, wearables, drones, robots, and IoT. Jenny also spent time in an operational role at Minibar Delivery, an e-commerce startup, focusing on data analytics and business development. She worked as a financial professional at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Management Division.

Jenny was selected as “Venture Capital’s 40 Under 40 Rising Stars" in Venture Capital Journal.

She serves as an advisor to Mount Sinai Innovation Partners and is a member of Wharton Private Equity & Venture Capital Alumni Association. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Business School. Jenny was born and raised in New York City.

Josh Orbach is the Co-Founder and COO of Swag.com, a 2 year in a row Inc. 500 “Fastest Growing Private Companies in America”. Swag.com is leading innovation in the promotional products industry with technology enabling companies to seamlessly buy and distribute quality Swag.

Josh is originally a New Yorker but now resides in Florida as a proud husband and father of 3 beautiful children.

Justin is the founder & CEO of Doris Dev, the product development service company based in New York and Hong Kong that's lead design, development & supply chain management for many category defining consumer product brands over the past 5 years. Justin has helped bring hundreds of new products to market. From Doris Dev, Justin has helped to incubate & lead multiple companies including Canopy (the beauty & wellness brand that introduced an award winning humidifier for healthy skin) and Factored Quality (a software platform for quality control management & testing for physical product brands). Justin graduated with a civil & environmental engineering degree from Princeton University.

Lisa Eryn Silverman is the founder of TheseFineWalls, an online art gallery. TheseFineWalls was founded in 2014 and quickly made its mark as a resource for interior designers, collectors, and individuals to view and acquire limited edition photographs for decorating spaces.

After graduating from the Boston University School of Management, Lisa went on to study interior design at Parsons School of Design and photography at the International Center for Photography before working in the fashion industry full-time. In her career as a fashion photography producer for Michael Kors, Lisa was exposed to the private portfolios of some of the world’s most esteemed photographers, whose photos lay dormant unless published in the glossy pages of a magazine. Recognizing the power of those images as worthy of a frame and wall, Lisa founded TheseFineWalls in order to re-present fashion, beauty, and other editorial-styled images as decorative art for interior settings.

Today, the online gallery represents the photographs of over a dozen contemporary photographers whose work can be found in museums and publications worldwide, including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, amongst others, and connects buyers looking to decorate spaces with the works. In addition to curating and promoting the works of today’s emerging and established creatives, Lisa spends time developing her own career as a photographer and is featured as one of the artists in the gallery.

Lisa is committed to giving back and is actively involved in Supplies for Success, a non-profit organization that provides backpacks filled with school supplies and art carekits for underprivileged children in the United States. With each sale on TheseFineWalls, a carekit is donated to a child in need.

Lisa is also a mother to three young boys.

Max was born and raised in New York City, as a child he attended Ramaz day school on the upper east side, a modern orthodox Jewish private school. He then graduated summa cum laude from Northeastern University where he gained a degree in entrepreneurship, finance and sustainable business practices. He then started his career in banking at a hedge fund in New York City, Max then realized trading equities on a desk wasn’t his passion as the culture did not really align with his own. Max then moved on to working at a liquid metal battery start-up in Cambridge, MA; incepted by an MIT materials science professor. The batteries are used for grid scale energy storage, where Max assisted with acquiring new clients for trials. While working at AMBRI Max was able to work along side the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, one of the companies main investors. He then moved back to New York where he worked for Joy Construction on the real estate development team. At that point he knew he had to branch off to work for himself and pursue his dream of being an entrepreneur. His father, Asher moved to America from Israel and built his business from the ground up, Max always aspired to follow in his foot steps. Max was always extremally health conscious and captivated by using food as medicine. Growing up in New York he always had a tough time finding what he was looking for and generally elected to make these healing dishes at home. Max quickly became enamored by smoothie bowls as their where endless mixes and blends he could make to target specific health benefits. Max began to notice that their was a gap in the New York market and took the opportunity to build his own functional food café – Loco Coco. He then traveled to Europe, North Africa, Los Angeles and other coastal cities in the U.S. to explore local juice cultures. “I came back to New York and was trying to find a place that predominantly made smoothie bowls and there was no such thing.... I saw a gap in the market,” he explained. The fruits of his labor is Loco Coco, which opened its first location in 2017 at 835 Lexington Avenue, near 64th Street. The literal translation of the moniker is “crazy coconut.” At the store, the coconut represents Alcobi’s commitment to sustainability, as his smoothie bowls are served in refurbished coconut shells from sustainable farms in Taiwan and Bangladesh. Max has grown the chain to three locations in New York and one opening in Venice, Los Angeles in the coming months. Loco Coco has four more locations slated to open in NYC by q’2 2022. Additionally – Loco Coco is in talks with international operators to bring the concept to Japan and China. By way of working in the health and wellness sphere Max opened a venture fund where they invest in like minded brands and concepts around the globe from epigenetic hair testing companies to cannabis brands. Max is always looking at new opportunities while managing his portfolio. Alcobi aspires to open 50 locations by the end of 2024 across the continental US.

Melanie Fox is an acclaimed dialect coach and accent reduction specialist who helps non-native English speakers articulate clear business English.

Melanie works with executives, staff, and rising stars in entertainment/sports to overcome their difficulties and fears, as they interact, interview, network, or deliver presentations in English. She can coach clients from any world language, but has particular experience coaching speakers of Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese as well as accented English (regional variations of American or British English).

Ms. Fox holds a Master's of Linguistics from Georgetown University and has 15+ years of experience in the language education and professional development industries. She offers private and semi-private dialect coaching (including accent reduction) for executives, performers, and other professionals.

Michael is an innovative food entrepreneur and chef, dynamic in approach to food solutions, and is incredibly passionate about working with kids and millennials to fulfill a vision to drive healthy and sustainable change in the food industry.

Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Michael is a two-time alumnus of Johnson & Wales University (JWU), having completed degrees in Culinary Arts & Food Service Management and Entrepreneurship. Currently holding over 20 different food safety certifications, he has continued honing his expertise through education in food safety and regulatory compliance, food sustainability, commercial food brand development and marketing, and enterprise software solutions for commercial food organizations.

While completing his education at JWU, Michael founded Global Food Solutions, which develops food products and brands for the foodservice and school foodservice industries, and LineCor Distribution Solutions, which provides scalable third-party logistics and distribution services. Michael recently launched the LVYN Angel Fund, a private venture investing in social impact business models.

Michael's expertise in developing food products to meet and exceed rigorous United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation standards have led him to work with some of North America's largest food manufacturers and agricultural providers. His work focuses on developing healthy, sustainable food products for the foodservice industry aimed at supporting local producers to maintain fresh, nutritious foods; while also remaining dedicated to community-building through local business and school support in regions his companies operate.

Through this work, Michael has developed and launched over seven category-specific brands and more than 400 products in the foodservice and school food service industries. Michael's companies products span the fresh, frozen, shelf-stable, and packaged goods categories. The result is feeding tens of millions of students in schools per year while also providing meals to those in need through government assistance programs, healthcare operations, and the United States Military.

Michael is an outspoken supporter of providing meals to school kids across the United States and is actively involved with various childhood hunger organizations, supporting No Kid Hungry and BESTRONG, a national nonprofit aimed at bullying resiliency.

Michael was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Food and Drink category and was also one of thirty distinguished chefs and food experts invited to the National Peanut Council's Millennial Food Summit and the National Peanut Council's Harvest Summit. His company, Global Food Solutions, was also named to the Inc 5000 list for fastest-growing private companies in America.

While Mike Aber was working in a US-based think tank in China collecting information via on the ground informal interviews, he found his passion in obtaining hard to get information. Mike then worked as an investigator in New York, working on projects in connection with supply chain security matters, private equity deals, litigation cases, corporate contests, and human intelligence inquiries. In Mike’s most recent position, he co-headed the private equity due diligence practice at an investigations firm based out of Washington, DC.

Mike received his M.A. in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University SAIS. He received a B.A. from the University of Colorado.

Omri is CoFounder and COO of fintech & proptech company Obligo. Born and raised in Israel, Omri earned a double BSC in Electric Engineering and Physics and served in an elite cyber intelligence unit in the IDF. With experience gained developing software for both Google and Facebook, Omri joined forces with his brother Roey and moved to New York to found Obligo. Obligo is a financial technology company that builds trust between renters and landlords, eliminating the need for security deposits and making the move-in process as simple as checking in to a hotel. Obligo has raised over $50m in the last year and today operates in 25 states. Here in NY, Obligo is partnered with owners and operators such as Stuytown, Stonehenge, Rudin, Common, Olshan, Adam America and more.

You’ve seen her work across FOX, The CW, Snap, Turner, Hulu, and more. Rachel Herskovitz is Vice President, Content Partnerships of iHeart Media. From the idea through to the execution, Ms. Herskovitz is a seasoned executive who is able to conceptualize, sell, negotiate, and execute partnerships all while producing revenue and results.

Ms. Herskovitz has overseen the growth of her division through the sales of originals, creation of a content slate, First Look deals, and digital video revenue strategy. Her accolades can be seen through the long term partnerships she has fostered and retained, awards won, and EP credits on her work.

Ms. Herskovitz has spent her career driving innovation across a diverse group of brands including P&G, Sprint, and Microsoft.

Rachie was born and raised in New York City. She has always been surrounded by jewels and watched how her mother ran her own successful jewelry company for twenty years. Over the past few years, the market has become inflated and expensive, making it inaccessible for many. Rachie was inspired by the 'Warby Parker' approach and decided to create a line of fine jewelry (yes it is all real!) that is gorgeous, fun, timeless, rich, colorful, chic, relatable, sparkly and most of all accessible to everyone! We pride ourselves on being great gift givers so we want your gift buying and receiving experience to be the best possible. From the price to the packaging, we have got you covered! So for all of you jewelry lovers, cringe no more because Rachie Shnay is your go to, one stop shop for all things glitter. Whether you are looking for the perfect gift for a little lady, a friend, loved one, for yourself or for your mama, Rachie Shnay has it all.

Sarah Jancot is the Investment Manager in charge of direct real estate investments in US Logistics at Norges Bank Investment Management (Norway’s oil fund). Sarah’s primary responsibilities include spearheading the transaction process for acquisitions and dispositions, managing the relationship with joint venture partner and external asset manager, and monitoring operational performance for the 80m SF portfolio. Prior to her transfer to the US, Sarah served in the fund’s London office with a special focus on Paris market (primarily office and retail transactions). She began her career in 2012 in Paris within the real estate arm of BNP Paribas.

During her career Sarah Jancot has completed and participated in over 50 transactions ($5bn+) across office, retail and logistics sectors and across different geographies (Europe and US). She has lived and worked in Paris, London and New-York, and built a strong international mindset and global perspective to real estate investing.

Sarah Jancot holds a Master in Management from ESSEC Business School, France and will attend the Executive Program in Management from Columbia in 2022. She is a member of the RICS since 2014.

Sonia Mosseri was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Her love of denim began at a very young age. Her father, Charles, gave her a pair of Levi's he had worn all-throughout highschool and college; stained with ink from organic chemistry class, faded, ripped and patched by his mother. When his family was expelled from Egypt in the 60's because they were Jewish, they settled in New York with very little means. Charles was given a few dollars and told to buy a pair of jeans that would last many years. "Size up!"
Sonia's mother, Renée, has always been an artist and writer. In the 1980's she hand-painted clothing for boutiques in downtown Manhattan.

Sonia studied Philosophy and Fine Art at Brooklyn College. She worked as a design assistant for Rosie Assoulin and partnership manager for Lainy Hedaya. She also co-designed costumes for a feature film. In 2018, she recognized an opportunity in the denim market and began research in development for what would become Still Here. In 2019, she launched her denim line with Barney's, followed by Net-A-Porter, Bergdorf Goodman and Farfetch. Still Here is now available in over 150 countries and has attracted the likes of celebrities Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber and Chiara Ferragni.

Today, Sonia Mosseri is Creative Director of Still Here. She runs the business alongside her husband, Maurice. They have a baby girl named Joyce and just opened their first store in NoLIta, NYC.

Sophie Kahn is originally from Amsterdam but came state-side to study Finance at Princeton. Since then, she's been a consultant at BCG New York, Director of Strategy at Marc Jacobs, and currently Founder and Co-CEO of the direct-to-consumer fine jewelry company Aurate. Aurate has disrupted the traditional jewelry landscape by offering sustainable, fairly priced, real gold designs made for the modern woman. The brand counts Kerry Washington amongst its fans (she's an investor) and has raised $15M+ to date.

William Gutterman joined Global Infrastructure Partners in 2013 and is an investment Principal, focused on originating, evaluating and executing investments in the electricity sector (power, utilities, renewables and energy transition). He has worked on GIP’s investments in Guacolda, Competitive Power Ventures and Clearway Energy. In 2022, he helped lead GIP’s New York Bight Offshore Wind investment, representing GIP’s first investment in the growing US Offshore Wind sector, a critical sector in advancing federal decarbonization initiatives. Prior to joining GIP, Mr. Gutterman was an Analyst at Citigroup. Mr. Gutterman holds a B.A. in History and Economics from the University of Miami.

Zach Greene serves as Assistant General Counsel at Acadia Realty Trust, an equity real estate investment trust. Before joining Acadia, Zach worked as an associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP in the firm’s Real Estate department.

Zach received his B.A. from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Zachary Weiner is the Co-Founder and President of Overtime, the leading brand for the next generation of sports fans, with over 65 million social media fans and followers, driving an average of over 2 billion video views each month.

He also co-created OTE (Overtime Elite), the transformative sports league that offers the world’s most talented basketball players a better pathway to becoming professional athletes. He currently serves on the board of directors.

Weiner is a recipient of the following accolades:
• Forbes’ “30 Under 30”
• Sports Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40”
• Leaders In Sports’ “40 Under 40”

Prior to founding Overtime, Weiner was the CEO and Founder of The Sports Quotient which he started at the University of Pennsylvania. He was also a 3x Ivy League Chess Champion.

Weiner graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics.

Zohar Dayan is the Founder and CEO of Wibbitz, a video creation software company that was recently acquired by Vimeo. Wibbitz makes video creation software that empowers businesses to easily create engaging videos for marketing and corporate communications. Vimeo is the world’s leading all-in-one video platform for businesses. In addition to continuing to lead Wibbitz, Zohar also serves as SVP of Product and leads the Video Creation and Editing division at Vimeo.

Prior to being acquired by Vimeo, Wibbitz had raised $45 million in venture capital and has been powering video creation and editing for some of the largest brands in the world including Bloomberg, Hubspot, Verizon and Samsung. Wibbitz was selected for the Deloitte Fast 500 as one of the top ten fastest growing companies in the U.S for 2019 and for the Inc. 5000 list in 2020.

Over the past decade Zohar has conducted a variety of speaking engagements at events and conferences like SXSW, TEDx The Mobile World Congress and VivaTech. He has contributed to Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine and has been named as one of Israel’s 30 under 30 by The Marker, Israel’s leading financial media company.

Zohar has been building technology companies since he was a teenager and graduated from the IDC Reichman University in Israel where he now serves on the alumni board.

Felicia Madison had a childhood dream of becoming a Broadway dancer. Her parents had other plans... which is why she was pre-med in college!

Felicia graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in biological basis of behavior and a minor in marketing. (She jokes that she's only qualified to sell drugs!)

Felicia is the founder of Laughing Affairs which produces a daytime lunch show, “Laughercise - Come Laugh Your Ass Off,” Comedy for a Cause, and private events for corporations and individuals. Felicia is the Talent Booker and New Talent Director at West Side Comedy Club in New York City where she books all shows and produces two new talent shows a month called F Comedy Club and HinJews.

Felicia curates comedians for her new talent shows and helps to develop and nurture young talent through her daytime mic program, workshops and seminars also at West Side Comedy Club.

Funny Business, a Panel Discussion created and moderated by Felicia, provides a forum for female comedians to hear from female executives in the comedy world. Her first event at the Friars Club was a huge success and due to popular demand she is planning to produce a few panels a year.

Felicia performs on stages throughout NYC. In addition to live appearances, you can tune in weekly to her podcast "MT Nesters.” Felicia is also working on a pilot about her life in the comedy world and revamping her one-woman show “The Miserable Mrs. Madison.”