Education

Alison Cross

Partner, Clark Hill Strasburger

Ms. Cross works with both lenders and borrowers in commercial finance transactions. Focused primarily in the areas of commercial and industrial lending, real estate lending, and health care lending, Ms. Cross documents loans secured by a variety of collateral, including real property, equipment, inventory, securities accounts and other assets. She has experience with loan workouts and restructurings, as well as foreclosure of commercial real estate, oil and gas interests and aircraft.

Alison is on the Board of Directors for the Texas Association of Bank Counsel and is the Immediate Past Co-Chair of StrasburgerBOLD – Dallas, the firm’s strategy to promote women within the firm, the legal profession, and Dallas’ business community.

Lisa Halustick

Senior Counsel & Vice President, Energy Finance Group, Comerica Bank

Lisa Halustick is a Vice President and Senior Counsel to the Energy Finance Group at Comerica Bank in Dallas.

Ms. Halustick is an investment management attorney with over 20 years’ experience on Wall Street having worked with both traditional and alternative asset managers. She was a Managing Director and Associate General Counsel at Millennium Partners, L.P., a prominent multi-strategy hedge fund headquartered in New York. She has worked as an associate attorney in New York at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP and Dewey Ballantine LLP. Ms. Halustick is admitted to practice law in Texas, New York and Florida. She received a BA in Foreign Area Studies—Russia from Barnard College, an MA in Russian Studies from Harvard University, and a JD from Columbia Law School.

Previously, she served as a pro-bono attorney with Legal Services of New York City’s Bankruptcy Assistance Project, a board member of Barnard Business and Professional Women, a member of the Grants Advisory Committee of the New York Women’s Foundation, and a member of the Associates Committee of Harvard University’s Graduate School Fund. In addition to serving as a member of the Education Committee of Texas Wall Street Women, Ms. Halustick is a member of the Harvard College Alumni Interviewing Committee in Dallas.

Ashleigh B. White, CPA
Audit Senior Manager, KPMG
Chairman Education Committee, Dallas

Ashleigh White is a Senior Manager in the Asset Management practice of KPMG. Mrs. White began her career with Rothstein Kass in 2009 where she worked with various domestic and offshore clients within the alternative investment industry, including hedge funds, fund of funds, private equity funds and management companies.  She joined KPMG as part of the Rothstein Kass acquisition in 2014 and maintains her previous responsibilities.

Mrs. White received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University and a Master of Science in Accounting from The University of Texas at Arlington. Mrs. White is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA), Texas Hedge Fund Association (THFA) and Texas Young Professionals – Dallas Chapter (TYP).

Mrs. White serves as the Treasurer for the THFA and has acted as a formal mentor to high school girls through the Foundation for the Education of Young Woman’s mentorship program.

Networking

Kristen M. Binkley

Vice President, BlackRock

Kristen is a Market Leader, working with Registered Investment Advisors throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2015, she was part of Lord Abbett where she was a Regional Manager with the Advisor Services Group responsible for working with financial advisors, investment advisors, and wealth managers throughout northeastern Texas.

Ms. Binkley has more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry and earned a BS in business administration from the State University of New York at Albany in 2000.

Abigail Floyd

Assistant Vice President, Frost Bank

Abigail Floyd is an Assistant Vice President on the middle market lending team at Frost Bank. Based in Frost’s Dallas office, she began her career with the firm in 2013 as an analyst and now manages the UHNW and Family Office relationships for the Bank. Abigail also has experience and success in servicing local private equity and alternative asset firms.

Abigail received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Mays School of Business at Texas A&M University, where she was a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Society.

She currently serves on the Great Investors Best Ideas Host Committee, is a member of the Texas Hedge Fund Association and Portfolios with Purpose.

Madeline Frizell

Director, Institutional Marketing at Highland Capital Management in Dallas

Madeline Frizell is a Director, Institutional Marketing at Highland Capital Management in Dallas, Texas. Prior to joining Highland in May 2018, she was a member of Jefferies’ Capital Intelligence team, where she provided business consulting and capital introduction services to hedge fund clients and institutional investors in Texas and the Southwest region. Madeline is on the TXWSW Networking Committee connecting women in finance in the Texas area. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and is originally from Colorado. Madeline holds Series 7 and Series 63 securities licenses.

Shule Han

Senior Manager, Ernst & Young LLP

Shule Han is a senior manager in EY’s Financial Services Asset Management team.   She has been working on accounting firms for over 8 years.

She has extensive experience in the private equity and venture capital industry providing tax compliance services in conjunction with client specific investment strategies, researching and creating effective solutions.

Shule has worked with various private equity and venture capital funds to ensure tax efficient structuring.  She has managed numerous client engagements relating to Tax Compliance, State and Local tax planning, and Management Company Tax Provisions.

Shule also has extensive experience in the Oil and Gas industry and a wide range of entity structures.

She received her Masters of Science in Accounting from the May School of Business at Texas A&M University.

Jordan Kragen

Analyst, Sendero

Jordan Kragen is a Management Consulting Analyst with Sendero. She began her career in 2013 as an Associate and has experience as a Project Manager, PMO Analyst, and Business Analyst on various projects. She has worked on multiple companies in the retail, energy, utilities, and chemical manufacturing industries, focusing on PMO, project management, system implementation, strategic sourcing, and change management.

Jordan received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. She currently serves on Leadership Council as the Underwriting Chair for the Junior League of Dallas and as a member of the Southern Methodist University Young Alumni Board.

Martha Nelson

Senior Associate, Andersen Tax

Martha Nelson has over 2 1/2 years of experience in public accounting. Since joining Andersen Tax in May 2016, she has worked closely with teams in its Private Client Services group to provide comprehensive tax planning solutions to high net worth individual, closely-held business, and family office clients.

Martha’s contributions to the firm include preparing content for the Andersen Tax quarterly newsletter and conducting local office trainings. Additionally, she has assisted with cost segregation studies to provide accelerated depreciation deductions to clients with real estate holdings.

Before joining Andersen Tax, Martha worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in its Publicly Traded Partnerships (PTP) tax group, having previously interned with the Policy Administration/Title department at New York Life Insurance Company.

Phoebe C. Park

Banker, J.P. Morgan
Chairman Networking Committee,  Dallas

Phoebe C. Park is a Banker at J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank, where she focuses on advising wealthy families and individuals. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan in 2014, she was an Associate in the Audit Practice of Dallas-based accounting firm Wagner, Eubank and Nichols, where she primarily focused on audit engagements for middle market private companies. She holds her CPA license in the State of Texas.

Phoebe received her Masters of Science in Accounting from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, where she was a member of the Student Leadership Group and the Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Society. She also received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and minor in Advertising at Southern Methodist University.

Phoebe currently serves as the Networking Committee Chair for Texas Wall Street Women and is actively involved in the Young Professionals in Finance mentoring program at the Boys & Girls Club of Dallas.

Yola R. Portnoy

Director, Telos Capital Advisors

Yola is a 15-year veteran of Wall Street and her experience spans a full range of investment banking activities, including both capital markets and M&A advisory. She spent her first eight years in New York City working for major global investment banks in various capacities in fixed income and equity areas. After relocating to Dallas, she joined a boutique investment bank providing M&A and private placement services to financial institutions.

Yola is experienced at working in cross-functional teams with clients and their advisors to devise an optimal and cohesive capital raise or transaction structure and strategy. She is an outstanding communicator and able to execute in demanding environments.

Yola lives in Dallas with her husband Scott, two children and a Goldendoodle. She is a member of Texas Wall Street Women, and the DFW Chapter of the Ellevate Global Women Network. Yola is a FINRA registered representative holding Series 7, 63, and 79 designations. She is fluent in Polish.

Anar Shah

Managing Director, Prescott Group

Anar Shah joined Prescott Group as Managing Director in 2017 and is responsible for capital raising, investor relations and management of the Prescott sales and marketing team.  Anar brings over 18 years of institutional business development experience to Prescott which includes sales, marketing and product management. Prior to joining Prescott, Anar was a Senior Vice President in the Alternative Investments Sales team at the Citi Private Bank in New York. In this role, she collectively raised over $2.1B in capital for third party Private Equity, Real Estate, and Hedge Funds through institutional and high net worth clients.  Throughout her career at Citigroup, Waterstreet Investment Consultants, Morgan Stanley and AIM Management Group, Anar has developed a successful track record of directing and executing investment strategies and increasing year-over-year sales revenue targets. Her network in the investment management sector is diverse, which includes high-net worth individuals, pension funds, corporations, foundations, endowments, and hedge funds. Anar holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Louisiana State University.

Hiral Shah, CFA

Director, Grant Thornton LLP

Hiral Shah is a Director for Grant Thornton’s Valuation Services Group in Dallas.  Hiral performs financial valuations for business enterprises, private equity and various types of intangible assets for public and privately-held business.   She provides a range of valuation and financial advisory services for financial reporting, estate and gift tax planning, tax reporting and other strategic purposes.

Hiral has provided valuation consulting services for small private to large publicly traded companies in various industries.  Her valuation career spans over 12 years.  Prior to joining Grant Thornton in 2016, Hiral worked as a Senior Manager with Duff & Phelps, a global valuation consulting firm.  Prior to her time with Duff & Phelps, she has worked with Healthcare Appraisers, a boutique healthcare consulting firm and prior to that with CBIZ Valuation Group, a national independent valuation firm.  Hiral holds a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from University of Texas, Arlington and a Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Science from University of Mumbai.

Meredith Zevallos, CFP®

Client Advisor, J.P. Morgan Private Bank

In her role as a Client Advisor, Meredith works closely with individuals and their families to assist them in achieving their current and future financial objectives.  Her background in financial planning allows her to deliver comprehensive wealth planning solutions tailored to address each client’s individual priorities.

Meredith has always held a keen interest in finance and began her career working in the real estate principal investing groups at both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.  She has also served as head of Business Development for Matador Capital, a Latin American hedge fund based in Dallas.  Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Meredith worked as a Wealth Planner for UBS Texas Private Wealth.  She attended the University of Texas at Austin, earning a BBA in Business Honors and Finance.

Philanthropy

Maegan Anders

Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, Bowie Capital Management LLC

Ms. Anders has 20 years of experience in various aspects of private investment partnerships including formation, accounting, tax, operations and compliance.  She currently serves as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer at Bowie Capital Management LLC.  Bowie Capital Management LLC provides investment advisory and management services to high net worth individuals and institutional investors through a combination of an investment fund and separately managed accounts.  Prior to joining Bowie Capital, she was a Managing Director at Blue River Partners, helping clients launch new funds and serving as their outsourced CFO/COO.  Her career also includes serving in role of CFO/CCO of Fountainhead Partners, advisor to two hedge funds Durango Partners LP and Phoenix-Durango Partners LP. She began her career at Q Investments on their Financial Controls team.  Ms. Anders earned her Bachelor in Business Administration in Finance from Abilene Christian University.

Rianna Carter

Audit Associate, BKD
Co-Chairman Philanthropy Committee, Dallas

Rianna Carter is an Audit Associate for BKD, LLP, a national, middle-market public accounting firm. Rianna serves as the engagement in-charge for clients from various industries. Her primary focus involves audits for private equity funds and privately owned oil & gas companies. She graduated from Southern Methodist University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Oklahoma City University with a Master of Science in Accounting.

Ali Daubert

Consulting Manager, Montgomery Coscia Greilich LLP

Ali is a Consulting Manager at Montgomery Coscia Greilich LLP, a full service middle market public accounting firm. Ali’s primary disciplines include strategy and management consulting, key account development and management, and transactional services – specifically mergers & acquisitions, integration planning and execution, post-close support as well as strategic and operational planning for small & medium size businesses. Ali also focuses on identifying and serving private equity firms and their portfolio companies. Prior to joining MCG, Ali was an investment professional at Rubicon Technology Partners in Menlo Park, California, where she spent three years completing private equity transactions, collaborating closely with management teams on operational initiatives, and actively participating as a board observer on several investments. Ali began her career at PwC in audit and was also a manager in Grant Thornton’s Transaction Advisory Services group.

Ali received her B.B.A. magna cum laude in Accounting and a Masters of Accountancy degree from Baylor University. She is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the State of Texas and is a member of the AICPA.

Julia Geiger

Senior Associate, Constellation Advisers

Julia is currently a Senior Associate at Constellation Advisers, a full service investment management consultancy, where she is in charge of all new client onboarding’s and project management. Prior to joining Constellation, Julia was a Fund Controller at Standish Management where she managed the accounting and investor relations for various private equity and venture capital firms. Prior to Standish, Julia started her career in Public Accounting as an Auditor at Deloitte & Touche, LLP, where she gained experience working on several different clients, including large publicly traded corporations, smaller privately-held companies, and government work.

In her current and past roles, Julia has always actively participated in recruiting for the firm, as well as holding various leadership and networking roles. Julia graduated from Southern Methodist University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Master of Science in Accounting and was appointed to the Student Leadership Group for the MSA program.

Lauren Hein

Regional Director at Global X ETFs

Lauren is a Regional Director at Global X ETFs where she is responsible for leading the firm’s distribution efforts across all channels in Texas and the surrounding states. Previously, she worked at State Street Global Advisors, where she spent two years as a Vice President working with a broad range of financial professionals. Her engagement included aiding in business development and providing education around the ETF industry, as well as working to develop strategic relationships. Ms. Hein began her career at First Trust Advisors, where she was deeply involved in developing and maintaining relationships with financial professionals. She received her BA in Economics from Wheaton College.

Lakshmi Jayanthi

Senior Associate, Ernst & Young

Lakshmi Jayanthi is a senior associate in the Financial Services Tax practice of EY. She began working at EY in 2014, starting in the Washington, D.C. office and has recently relocated to Dallas. She practices international tax, specializing in information reporting, tax withholding and tax controversy including FATCA, CRS, Form 1099 and Form 1042-S reporting.

Lakshmi’s clients include large financial institutions, private equity and hedge fund entities and multi-national corporations.

Lakshmi is admitted to practice law in Virginia. She received her BS in Marketing from George Mason University and her law degree from Valparaiso University.

Brianna Letzelter

Director of Investor Relations, Baymark Partners

Co-Chairman Philanthropy Committee, Dallas

Brianna Letzelter is the Director of Investor Relations at Baymark Partners, a growth-equity private equity firm. She focuses on raising capital from high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and institutions for private equity deals.  Prior to Baymark Partners, Brianna was Vice President of Capital Introduction at Cowen Group in Dallas, TX.  She provided clients with additional resources for their sales and marketing strategy and assisted managers in raising capital from investors such as family offices, fund of funds, wealth advisors, foundations, endowments and emerging manager platforms.

Previously, Brianna served as Director of Operations and Business Development for Park City Capital, a long/short equity hedge fund based in Dallas.

Prior to Park City Capital, she spent 3 years in New York City as an Operations Analyst for Highbridge Capital Management, a $25 billion alternative management investment firm founded in 1992.

In 2010, Brianna received her B.A. in Finance from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

Ms. Letzelter is active in the Dallas community. She is on the Texas Hedge Fund Association committee and a member of Young Texans Against Cancer (YTAC).

Katie Marshall

Vice President, Business Development Officer for PNC Business Credit

Katie Marshall is Vice President, Business Development Officer for PNC Business Credit, PNC’s senior secured lending group. She is responsible for identifying and executing on lending opportunities with existing and prospective clients in North Texas and Oklahoma. Katie has been with PNC Business Credit since graduating from the University of Pittsburgh in 2006 and has held many different roles within the organization since joining in June 2007, including collateral, credit and origination based roles. Katie graduated with Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree, majoring in Finance and Accounting and minoring in French.

Outside of PNC, Katie is involved with many different professional and non-profit organizations. She currently serves as a board member for the DFW Chapter of the TMA, co-chairing the University Relations committee. Additionally, Katie serves on the Women’s and Young Professionals’ Committees of the DFW ACG and on the Philanthropy Committee of Texas Wall Street Women’s Dallas chapter. Katie is a supporter of the arts and enjoys traveling, running and reading in her spare time.

Rebecca Montes

Client Specialist, Edge Capital Partners

Rebecca Montes is a Client Specialist, for Edge Capital Partners. Rebecca works with Portfolio Managers and Senior Investment Advisers to meet clients’ daily needs. Rebecca previously worked as an Investment Analyst in San Antonio, Texas and is a CFA Level II Candidate. She is born and raised from El Paso, Texas and attended St. Mary’s University in San Antonio where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Finance. In addition to her involvement in Texas Wall Street Women, Rebecca actively encourages women to pursue careers in finance through her volunteer work with CFA Dallas/Fort Worth.

Tiffany Ramirez

Chief Operating Officer – Renner Capital Partners LLC

Tiffany Ramirez is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for Renner Capital Partners LLC (“Renner”), a global long/short equity hedge fund manager. Renner launched its flagship fund in May 2017.

Ms. Ramirez has nearly fifteen years of investment industry experience spanning hedge funds, private equity funds, RIAs, and wealth managers. Her expertise includes legal and compliance, accounting and operations, and investor relations and marketing.

Prior to joining RGT, Ms. Ramirez worked with an independent consulting firm that provides compliance consulting services to investment advisers, hedge funds, and private equity managers across the country. She worked with clients to design, update, and restructure operations and compliance programs uniquely tailored to each firm. Ms. Ramirez advised firms with regard to fund structure and entity formation, corporate governance, operational efficiencies, service provider selection, and the expectations of institutional investors.

Ms. Ramirez was previously the Chief Compliance Officer of global private equity firm, Kildare Partners (“Kildare”), founded by international financier Ellis Short. Kildare has offices in Dallas, London, and Dublin and organizes institutional capital to invest in distressed real estate, principally in Western Europe.

From 2006 to 2013, Ms. Ramirez was the Chief Compliance Officer and Director of Operations for Paradigm Advisors, LLC, a long/short equity hedge fund manager with a 20+ year history and peak assets under management of $450 million. Previously, Ms. Ramirez worked in mergers and acquisitions for Dallas-based TRT Holdings, a privately-owned diversified holding company. Ms. Ramirez began her investment career at Carlson Capital, LP, an alternative asset management firm that manages over $22 billion across multiple hedge fund products.

Ms. Ramirez received her B.A. in English from The University of Texas at Dallas (2004), where she is currently an MBA candidate.

Ms. Ramirez is active in the Dallas investment community. She is a member of several professional organizations, including The Texas Hedge Fund Association, The DFW Compliance Roundtable, The National Society of Compliance Professionals, and Texas Wall Street Women. She currently serves on the board of Texas Wall Street Women.

Sufiana Tian

Riveron Consulting

Sufiana has over 21 years of experience serving as strategic business partner taking Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer roles with responsibilities for publicly listed and privately held companies with global operations, head of financial reporting and analysis for investment banking with over $250 billion assets under management, accounting and business advisory services such as mergers, acquisitions, and divestiture, deal structures, business improvements, SOX compliance, SEC reporting, IFRS conversion for life and general insurance, consumer lending, private equity, registered investment companies, consumer products, technology, and energy. She is a Certified Public Accountant, and also holds a Chartered Global Management Accountant Certification.