Roberto Mendoza has led a distinguished career as a financial services industry executive and as a board member and advisor to some of the world’s leading corporations, including serving 10 years as Vice Chairman of the Board and Member of the Executive Committee of JP Morgan where he worked for 30 years and led the M&A, Capital Markets and Private Equity businesses.  He subsequently co-founded a risk management firm and continued working as an advisory banker for select clients.

Currently, Mr. Mendoza serves on the Boards of RFHL. . He has also served as a board member of XL Capital (Chairman), Egg (Chairman), ACE, Alicorp, Banesto, Baosteel Metal, BOC Group, Continental Airlines, Manpower, Mid Ocean, Partner Re, Prudential, Reuters, the Travelers Group, Vitro, and Western Union. Mr. Mendoza also served as President of the Chatham House Foundation and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  Mr. Mendoza earned a B.A. in history from Yale University and an M.B.A. (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School.

Julie Castro Abrams is an expert in board governance and building diverse boards that are a strategic advantage. She is an experienced non profit CEO and entrepreneur and through her consulting practice she supports leaders to build high-performance boards, break through performance for the leaders and high performing multicultural teams. She is the CEO of How Women Lead, a network of over 16,000 women dedicated to promoting diverse women’s voices and propelling women’s leadership forward as well as the Managing Partner of How Women Invest, the country’s largest venture fund focused exclusively on women founders.

An active investor and advisor to start-ups, Ms. Abrams also sits on the advisory boards of the fin-tech start-up LENDonate, The New Search Collaborative and is the Governance Chair for the Women’s Funding Network, a network of women’s foundations across the globe. She has previously led the board of multiple nonprofit organizations located throughout the country, including Board Director for the National Council of La Raza, Governance Chair for the Association for Enterprise Opportunity and Board Chair of Cypress String Quartet.

Christine S. Battist is an accomplished global financial executive with over 30 years of experience including establishing finance infrastructure and leading transformational growth through IPO, mergers and acquisitions and capital market transactions along with leading investor relations. She held Chief Financial Officer roles at Avison Young and at Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp. (NYSE: SBY).  Prior to this, she was Managing Director at Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE: TWO). Earlier in her career she held various financial roles at The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS), a Fortune 500 agribusiness company including leading investor relations. Ms. Battist holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from St. Norbert College and is a Certified Public Accountant in Texas. Christine currently serves as an Independent Director for Capital Southwest Corporation (NASDAQ: CSWC) and as a Board Director for Girl Scouts of River Valleys.

Sophie Bonvin has over 30 years experience in the financial industry.  She is a partner and CEO of EUROCAPITAL advisors (Switzerland), a multi family office for 20 years.  She is the founder of THE COLLECTOR, a fashion and luxury brand based in Switzerland. Previously she had a 14-year career with Switzerland's UBS AG bank, in Private Banking, with an international experience; in the US  with the Miami branch, Representative and Associate Director at the bank's Lima offices and 4 years in the Geneva headquarters, as Director responsible for the Chile, Peru and Bolivia markets. Ms. Bonvin holds a Masters Degree in Banking from Association of Swiss Banks. She also holds a BA degree from Switzerland's Sion School of Business. She completed her higher education studies in Paris' INSEAD and Singapore.

Gretchen Larsen Idsinga brings 35 years of leadership as a highly analytic growth and operating executive in aerospace, technology, and professional services firms and career as a US Air Force officer.  Female military veterans number only half of one percent of the US population, with Ms. Idsinga in the even smaller subset to have transferred their skills into the C-suite.  Engaged with the technology innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem, she is experienced in evaluating talent, viability, and market potential of start-ups as well as corporate M&A targets.  Ms. Idsinga sits on the Board of the National Defense Industrial Association which represents 1,600 corporate and 65,000 individual members.  Previously Chair of the National Council for Women in Defense, she also spent four years on the Advisory Council of STEM for Her, which brings educational programs to junior and high school girls.  A graduate of the US Air Force Academy, Ms. Idsinga holds two Master’s degrees and an advanced executive certificate from the MIT Sloan School of Management.  She is currently completing her Juris Doctor.

Raquel Lizarraga is a Paris-based investor rela6ons professional with 18 years of experience in senior investor relations roles in the U.S. (at PepsiCo), and as head of IR at three mid-cap companies in France (Apax/Altamir, Abivax, and Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits).

Prior to her career in IR, Raquel was part of the Latin America Strategy team at PepsiCo. Before joining PepsiCo, she was a sell-side equity analyst covering Latin American beverage stocks at BBVA
Securities, and Latin American bank stocks at Flemings (acquired by Chase in 2000).
Since 2021, in addition to IR consul6ng, Raquel has been advising U.S. and European companies on their sustainability communication strategies and has structured and/or written a dozen sustainability reports for listed companies.
Raquel holds a B.A. in Literature and Latin American Studies from Barnard College (Columbia University), and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Kristina Montague is Managing Partner of the JumpFund, an early-stage fund with a mission to engage more women in angel investing and increase access to capital for female founders across the Southeast US.  She is also a partner in Next Wave Impact Fund, which invests in impact ventures through a gender lens.  Ms. Montague serves on the boards of the Angel Capital Association, UT Chattanooga Rollins College of Business, Footprint Foundation, and Teach For America Nashville/Chattanooga. She is also the author of the forthcoming book Jump In: The Story of the JumpFund and Growing Women’s Capital. Her personal philosophy for both investing and philanthropy is: "Invest in the change you want to see in the world."

As CEO of Banríon Capital Management Shana Orczyk Sissel helps independent advisors navigate the complex world of alternative investing, bridging the gap between public and private alternative investment opportunities. Additionally, she assists clients with alternative investment education, investment platform development, alternatives in portfolio construction and developing best practice in alternative investment due diligence. In this role, Ms. Sissel assisted in the launch of Armada ETF Advisors, and served as a key advisor in the firm’s recent launch of its first ETF product, the Home Appreciation U.S. REIT ETF (HAUS).

Shana has over two decades of experience in the investment management industry. In her prior role as Director of Investments at Cope Corrales, she led the firm’s Alternative Investment Platform, sourcing, conducting due diligence and implementing private investments, venture, and alternative deals. These ranged from illiquid, less-liquid and fully liquid assets. As Chief Investment Officer at Spotlight Asset Group, Shana was responsible for managing the firm’s $500 Million portfolio, including leading the Spotlight Investment Committee, assisting in the management of the firm’s proprietary Buy-Write portfolio, and developing a comprehensive Alternative Investment solution for firm clients. Shana also brings a vast background in market research and security analysis through various roles held at Orion Advisor Solutions, Ariel Investments, Fidelity Investments, Mercer Investments, Peak Financial Management, and Russell Investments.

Shana is a sought-after speaker & media contributor, appearing frequently at industry events and on major financial news outlets like CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business Network and the Schwab Network. Shana earned her nickname as “Queen of Alternatives” from her industry peers and wears the “crown” with great pride.

Shana has maintained fierce, outspoken advocacy for her fellow women in finance for the duration of her career — acting as a mentor for many other young women navigating the battlefield of a male-dominated industry. Having overcome many obstacles to achieve success in her own career, she leverages her personal social media following to speak out for the recognition and support of women in her field. As a member of Women in ETFs, Shana serves as co-chair of the Women in ETFs Speakers’ Bureau with the goal of improving public representation of females in industry-oriented events and conferences, as well as in financial media.

Shana has been recognized as a thought leader in wealth management and for her advocacy for women in the industry. She was named a Rising Star by RIA Intel in 2023. Other awards she has received include the 2021 Alpha Chi Omega Real Strong Woman of Distinction, 2020 Evanston Magazine Woman of the Year and 2020 Citywire USA Women Driving Change in Manager Research & Investment Due Diligence.

Shana earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst before receiving her Master of Business Administration Degree from Bentley University’s McCallum School of Business. She is a proud holder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.

Lucia Skwarek has nearly 40 years of frontline experience in financial markets.  Most recently, she was responsible for Union Bank of Switzerland’s relationships with many of their largest private clients and their advisors, assisting families with over $100 mm in net worth to navigate the challenges of great wealth.  Previous to UBS, Ms. Skwarek advised on asset allocations for large endowments and foundations, as well as managed the public equity portfolio for a large family office. After managing UBS Latin American Equity Group for four years, she founded and ran her own emerging market hedge fund for 4 years. Previous to UBS, Ms. Skwarek spent 14 years at JP Morgan in a variety of roles, managing emerging markets fixed income, equity, and propriety trading desks, as well as investment banking in Mexico City.  She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a BA in Rhetoric. She is fluent in Spanish.  She is most proud of her philanthropic efforts, donating 65 acres to the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance which has been transformed into the Gutierrez Family Forest, a public nature preserve in upstate New York.  

Amy Solas has over 35 years of experience in financial communications, marketing, and strategy consulting. She is the founder of Solas Communications, which helps alternative investment managers and growing companies create clear, concise, and persuasive messages and materials that further their strategic objectives.

Prior to launching Solas Communications, Ms. Solas was a vice president in both Latin America Investment Banking and Corporate Communication at J.P. Morgan. Previously, Amy was with the financial communications consultancy Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart (now Ogilvy Public Relations) in New York and London. She began her career at The New York Times.

Ms. Solas has been a judge for double-bottom-line business plan competitions and was a contributor to the book Generating and Sustaining Nonprofit Earned Income (Jossey-Bass). She co-founded and co-leads her block organization and has served on several nonprofit boards. A native New Yorker, Ms. Solas graduated from Hunter College High School. She holds a BA cum laude from Georgetown University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.