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Elise O'Brien
Director, Peakline Partners
Elise Ablin O’Brien is a Director at Peakline Partners. She manages Peakline Partners’ platform for private credit investing in external funds, co-investments, and related opportunities, in partnership with leading third-party, private asset managers. Prior to joining Peakline Partners, Elise held various corporate underwriting and business development roles in BMO’s Commercial Bank after completing the bank’s commercial analyst development program. Elise earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Spanish from Rollins College. She currently resides in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood with her husband, Pat, and their miniature dachshund, Birdie.
Stephanie Pries
Founder & Managing Member, Endowment Legal Services (ELS)
Stephanie Pries is the founder and managing member of Endowment Legal Services (ELS), the first fractional in-house counsel providing senior investment legal expertise to public and private universities, healthcare systems, and other institutional investors across the United States with $1B+ in AUM. What only the largest endowments have in-house, Stephanie makes available to everyone else. Today, her clients collectively manage over $50B in AUM, and she's closed more than 1,100 deals — and counting. Before founding ELS, Stephanie served 18 years as Director of Investment Legal & Compliance at the University of Notre Dame Investment Office, where she helped grow the endowment from $5B to $22B. She also taught investment management law at Notre Dame Law School. She began her legal career as a corporate and securities lawyer at two prominent Silicon Valley law firms, then spent five years as Vice President & Senior Legal Counsel at the Managed Funds Association (MFA) in Washington, D.C., representing the hedge fund industry on legal and policy matters. Stephanie holds degrees from Princeton University (B.A.), Stanford University (M.A.), and Santa Clara University School of Law (J.D.), where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. A dedicated advocate for education, she serves on the Board of Our Sunday Visitor and actively volunteers with Princeton University alumni initiatives. Stephanie lives in South Bend, Indiana, with her husband, Dr. Michael Pries, professor of economics at Notre Dame. They have two sons, both Princeton graduates.
Kathleen Vogelsang, CFA
Co-Chief Executive Officer & Co-Chief Investment Officer & Co-Founder, Bostwick Investment Consulting
Kathleen Vogelsang, CFA, is the co-chief executive officer, co-Chief Investment Officer and co-founder of Bostwick Investment Consulting, a family office and investment consulting firm. She has 30 years of experience in investment management in endowment, family office and high net worth investment management. For the last twenty years, Kathleen has served as the Chief Investment Officer at Van Andel Institute, a biomedical research institute. In this role, Vogelsang was responsible for the investment management of the Institute’s $2 billion endowment. She joined VAI in June 2005 and subsequently built and established the Institute’s Investment Office. Prior to joining VAI, Vogelsang served as Vice President/Senior Portfolio Manager in the Wealth Management Group at Fifth Third Bank, managing the investments portfolios for the bank’s highest net worth clients. She previously spent six years serving as the Director of Investments for JVA Enterprises, a family office where she developed the organization’s investment office and managed the fixed income portfolio. She serves on the Board of Gift of Life Michigan and Grand Valley State Foundation Executive Committee. Kathleen is currently a member of the investment committees for Grand Valley State University’s Endowment Fund, Council of Michigan Foundations, Frey Foundation, Steelcase Foundation and the Van Andel Institute. In 2016, Crain’s Detroit named Vogelsang one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Michigan, and in 2020, they named her one of their Notable Women in Finance in Michigan. In 2026, Kathleen was named the Brilliance Woman of the Year by West Michigan Woman and received the Legacy Award from Gift of Life Michigan. Vogelsang graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Master of Business Administration as well as a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute.
Paige Canavan, CAIA
Senior Investment Manager, Opto Investments
Paige Canavan is a Senior Investment Manager at Opto Investments, where she leads the firm's investment pipeline across private equity, private credit, real estate, real assets, and venture capital, from sourcing and initial screening through full underwriting and Investment Committee approval. She manages a team of analysts, instilling the rigor and discipline of an institutional due diligence process, and serves as a key voice in client and prospect engagement, speaking to Opto's investment approach, as well as deal sourcing, portfolio construction, and working directly with clients. Paige brings more than a decade of institutional investment experience to Opto, having spent nine years at Simon Quick Advisors, where she rose to Vice President, Investments. There, she led due diligence spanning public and private markets, managed a portfolio of approved investment relationships, and was a regular presenter to the firm's Investment Committee. A published thought leader, she authored a 2023 white paper on the opportunity set in secondaries and directed the investment and operational strategy of $200M+ internal fund-of-funds vehicles. Paige holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation, and earned her B.S. in Finance, cum laude, from Fairfield University, with additional study at the London School of Economics.
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