Brittain Ezzes
Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst, Cramer Rosenthal McGlynn
Brittain Ezzes is a Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst at Cramer Rosenthal McGlynn, a leading value equity manager with approximately $6 billion in assets under management. She is Co-Portfolio Manager on the CRM Small/Mid Cap Value and CRM Mid Cap Value strategies, which have over $2 billion in combined assets. In addition to her portfolio management responsibilities, her research work focuses on industrials and materials companies. Brittain has over 20 years of experience in the investment industry including both public and private equities. Prior to Cramer Rosenthal McGlynn, she was an Analyst and Managing Director with MissionPoint Capital and Iridian Asset Management, respectively. Brittain has additional experience as an Associate at the merchant banking fund SG Capital Partners and as a Business Analyst with Price Waterhouse, LLP. She graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a BA in International Relations and Russian Studies.
Jennifer Ralph Oppold
Founder and Portfolio Manager, Alpine Peaks Capital
Prior to founding Alpine Peaks Capital in 2017, Jennifer spent the previous ten years at Select Equity Group, L.P., a fundamentally-focused equity hedge fund and long only manager based in New York, with assets under management in excess of $20 billion . She worked from 2007 to 2017 on the firm’s domestic equity strategies. At the time of her departure in 2017, Jennifer served as the sole associate portfolio manager of the firm’s flagship hedge fund strategy SEG Partners (the firm’s U.S. long/short strategy) in addition to her responsibilities as a senior analyst for Select’s small and mid-cap long only strategy. During her tenure, Jennifer focused on the short selling process and helped design and implement formal risk and portfolio analytics for the firm.
Jennifer began her career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in its New York office from 2001 to 2003, advising multi-national corporations across industries on global strategy and operational efficiencies. From 2003-2007, Jennifer studied at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, from which she earned a joint JD cum laude and MBA in 2007. Jennifer received an AB cum laude in International Relations from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 2001.
Béatrice Philippe
President and Chief Investment Officer, FOURPOINTS Asset Management
Béatrice Philippe is President and Chief Investment Officer of FOURPOINTS Asset Management, founded in 1931 by her grandfather, Raymond Philippe, with offices in New York and Paris. Mme. Philippe worked in investment management in London, New York, and Paris for five years before joining the family business in 1973. Since 1981, when she assumed leadership of the business, Béatrice has been responsible for investing in global equities in long-only strategies for high net worth clients with the long-term goal of capital preservation and appreciation. The firm’s specialty is U.S and European equities. Mme. Philippe currently serves as a member of the Investment Advisory Committee for the Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation. Béatrice is president of the not-for-profit Philippe Foundation, which supports the exchange of doctors and scientists to promote more collaborative medical research between France and the United States. She is also a Councilor of the French American Chamber of Commerce. She has been a member of the Council of The Rockefeller University since 1986.
Mme. Philippe received an MBA in Finance from HECJF, Paris in 1969 and attended Stanford’s Graduate School of Business Investment Management Program in the summer of 1975. She was a member of the French Society of Financial Analysts ("S.F.A.F.") from 1976 to 2012. Béatrice received the Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite from the French government in 1998 and the prestigious Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d'honneur in 2013.
Avery Marie Sheffield
Managing Partner, VantageWay Capital
Avery founded VantageWay Capital, a long-short value-focused equity focused hedge fund based in New York in 2018. Prior to VantageWay, Avery spent over six years at Brandywine Global Investment Management, a value-oriented investment management firm based in Philadelphia with $70B+ in assets under management. At Brandywine, Avery was the Portfolio Manager of the 30th St. Fund, a fundamental value long/short equity fund, from 2015 to 2018, and a Senior Equity Analyst on the Classic Large Cap Value team from 2011 to 2018. Avery invested across sectors, focusing on finding out-of-consensus investment opportunities with a solid margin of safety. Previously, Avery was a member of the #1 ranked Hardlines Retail equity research team at Sanford Bernstein from 2008 to 2011. Earlier in her career, Avery built market and industry research skills through her positions in the wireless industry in Silicon Valley and developed expertise evaluating management teams while working in retained executive search.
Outside of work, Avery is passionate about improving the efficacy of our healthcare system, improving educational opportunities for youth, and spending time with her husband and four young children. Avery graduated from Pomona College summa cum laude with a degree in Neuroscience and from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her MBA as a Palmer Scholar.
Leslie Picker
Reporter, CNBC
Leslie Picker joined CNBC in February 2017 as a reporter covering hedge funds, private equity and asset management. She is based at CNBC Global Headquarters, and her reporting appears on television and CNBC's digital platforms.
Picker has interviewed some of the most prominent investors on CNBC, including Citadel's Ken Griffin, Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn, Omega Advisors' Leon Cooperman and Pershing Square's Bill Ackman. Her investigation into Puerto Rico's debt crisis won a Society for Advanced Business Editing and Writing (SABEW) award and was a finalist for a Gerald Loeb Award in 2018.
Previously, Picker was a reporter at The New York Times where she covered deals. Her beat encompassed mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, venture capital, private equity, restructuring and shareholder activism. Prior to The New York Times, Picker was a reporter at Bloomberg News where she reported on initial public offerings. There, she also contributed to Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg Radio. Prior to becoming a reporter, Picker was a segment producer for Bloomberg Television. She began her career as a booker at Fox Business Network.
Picker graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, earning a bachelor's degree in political science. She also earned a master's in journalism from Columbia University, graduating with honors, and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business, with a concentration in finance.
