Experience Stern | The Stern Executive Board

Dietrich Becker is a Founding Partner and President of Perella Weinberg Partners. He earned a law degree from Cologne University and an MBA from NYU Stern. Dietrich is an M&A specialist with an almost 30-year focus on complex European and cross-border public market M&A transactions, raid and activist defense and strategic transformation of manufacturing companies. Prior to co-founding Perella Weinberg Partners in 2006, Dietrich co-headed Global Industrial investment banking at Morgan Stanley.

William R. Berkley is the founder of W. R. Berkley Corporation, a property-casualty insurance holding company. He has been a member of the NYU Board of Trustees since 1995 and was elected chair in 2015. He serves on the NYU Langone Health Board of Trustees, NYU Stern Executive Board, and NYU President’s Global Council. He also served on the board at Georgetown University, where he established the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.

Dr. Tania Ahuja is founder and CEO of Nobias, a data-driven solution to the challenges of internet misinformation. She is a former director of Citigroup and sits on the board of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center of Advanced Study of India (CASI) and the Salome Chamber Orchestra. Tania holds a PhD in Finance from NYU Stern. She has a BS in Statistics and an MS in Operations Research.

Tony Alvarez II co-founded Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), the leading independent global professional services firm with over 4,000 professionals worldwide specializing in corporate restructuring, performance improvement, and business advisory services. Prior to A&M, Tony spent 12 years at Coopers & Lybrand, where he was a Partner. Tony is a board member of the Cancer Research Institute. Tony earned his BS in business at De La Salle University in the Philippines and his MBA at NYU Stern.

Thor Björgólfsson is chairman of Novator Partners, LLP, a London-based private equity fund, and a self-styled “adventure capitalist.” He was Iceland’s first billionaire, having made his first fortune with Bravo Brewery in St. Petersburg, and he earned his finance degree at NYU Stern. Thor continues to be an active investor in emerging economies and in cutting-edge sustainability initiatives. His book, "Billions to Bust and Back", was published in 2014.

Ronald Blaylock is founder and managing partner of GenNx360 Capital Partners. Prior to launching GenNx360, Ronald founded Blaylock & Co., a top investment banking firm. Ronald has been named one of the Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street by Black Enterprise Magazine and Man of the Year by the Covenant House. He is a member of the Carnegie Hall Board of Trustees and a director of W.R. Berkley, CarMax, Pfizer and The Mebane Foundation of North Carolina.

Elliott Bross is the CEO and a member of the board of Planigrupo LATAM. He joined Planigrupo in 1998 and took the company public in 2016. Previously, he was a manager at NM Rothschild’s and Sons (Mexico). He also participated in the restructuring and sale of Mexican banks. Elliott has a BA from Tufts University and an MBA from the NYU Stern. He taught International Finance at ITAM, served on Stern’s Real Estate Advisory Board, and is a member of the Advisory Board of JES holdings.

Daniel is the co-founder and managing partner of Mahanusa Capital. Previously, he was an investment banker for Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan. Daniel is a board member of Blue Bird Tbk and the Board of Advisors of Gobi Ventures, Antler and Systemiq. He is a member of the Young Presidents Organization and the Harvard Business School Global Advisory Council. He holds a BBA from University of Iowa and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Daniel and his wife Tiara are proud NYU Stern parents.

Based in Taiwan, Mr. Chen is a highly-regarded corporate figure in the local community with many years of experience in technology, financial services, insurance and transportation sectors. Mr. Chen currently holds the position of Chairman in Eyon Holding Group, a private holding entity which is the leading shareholder of Wan Hai Lines, Taian Insurance and Shih Lin Paper, etc. He is the Vice-Chairman of Taian Insurance Co. and Taiwan Air Cargo Terminal.

Jerry Cohen is a senior advisor with Tishman Speyer Properties, a longstanding real estate development firm in the U.S. Jerry has received several distinguished awards in the real estate industry and has held leadership and board roles at the New York Yankees Global Enterprises, the New Jersey Nets, the Circle Repertory Theatre, and the Manhattan Theatre Club. Prior to completing his undergraduate and MBA degrees at NYU Stern, Jerry served in the armed forces with the U.S. Infantry in Iceland.

Pamela Craig is the chair of the Audit Committee of Merck’s board of directors and a member of the board of directors at Progressive Insurance and Corning. She chairs the Technology Committee at Progressive. She worked 34 years at Accenture, spending the last seven years as CFO. Pamela has served on numerous boards and has global experience in the information technology and services industry.

Christina Dennis began her career at Merrill Lynch, where she spent more than a decade in trading and sales. She went on to become a Founding Partner and Head of Trading at Palantir Capital, a technology hedge fund. She has since founded and is CEO of the Christina Dennis Foundation and is a private investor. Christina earned a BS from NYU Stern and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. She also serves as a Trustee of the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League and the Town of Palm Beach United Way.

Elizabeth Elting, founder and CEO of the Elizabeth Elting Foundation, is an entrepreneur, business leader, linguaphile, philanthropist, feminist, and mother. She started TransPerfect out of an NYU dorm room and, as co-CEO, grew the business into the world’s largest language solutions company. Elizabeth has been recognized as a NOW “Woman of Power & Influence,” American Express’ and Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Woman of the Year,” and one of Forbes’ “Richest Self-Made Women.”

Vicki Fuller is founder and CEO of VLF Development LLC, a strategic consultancy executing institutional advisory assignments. Vicki had a decorated four-decade career in financial services culminating with serving as Chief Investment Officer of New York State Common Retirement Fund. She is a director of Blackstone Credit, Fidelity Investments, Gusto, and Treliant, and a member of Ariel Alternatives Advisory Board. Vicki has an MBA from University of Chicago and a BSBA from Roosevelt University.

Chris is a vice chairman of the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs, with over 30 years advising corporate clients around the world. Prior to joining Goldman, he was a vice chairman of Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan. Chris lives in Manhattan with his wife and three children.

Alan serves as chief audit executive and head of the Internal Audit Group at American Express and is a member of American Express’ Executive Committee. Previously, Alan led the company’s Global Business Services and its internal strategy and transformation group. Alan serves on the boards of Brooklyn Community Services, The League Education and Treatment Center, and the New York Leadership Council of the Nature Conservancy. Alan was Chair of the Alumni Council for NYU Stern from 2018 to 2022.

Dr. Nomi Ghez is co-founding partner of Circle Financial Group, an integrated wealth management company. Nomi is a retired Goldman Sachs partner, who served most recently as a senior banker in the consumer sector of the Mergers and Strategic Advisory Division of the bank. Before that, Nomi was a top-rated Institutional Investor research analyst at Goldman. Nomi has served on numerous boards and consults on challenges related to consumer product companies as well as investment management.

David is a co-founder of Tidal Partners, a next-generation M&A strategic advisory firm. He has 25 years of investment banking experience, representing clients on many of the largest and most transformative transactions in the Technology Sector. David is Chairman of Penn National Gaming and a former board member of New Group and Playwrights Horizons, Metropolitan Council, Four Freedoms Conservancy, and Phillips Brooks School in Menlo Park, CA. He received a BS and an MBA from NYU Stern.

Susan is a senior executive with deep experience creating value for global brands such as Audible, J. K. Rowling’s Pottermore, Sony, bareMinerals and Nickelodeon. She earned an MBA from NYU Stern and the Australian Graduate School of Management, and a BA from the College of the Holy Cross and University of London. She serves on the boards of BRIC Arts & Media, the NYU Alumni Association, and the NYU Stern Executive Board, overseeing a scholarship that is now part of the NYU Breakthrough Program.

Jack A. Kassin is chairman of Best Brands Consumer Products, Inc., a global manufacturing firm which he founded with his father and two uncles. Over the past 30 years, Jack also invested in real estate, which paved the way for his son Steven’s establishment of Infinity Real Estate, a full-service developer, owner, operator, and manager of commercial and residential properties. A community leader and philanthropist, Jack lives in New York and New Jersey with his wife, Joyce.

Henry Kaufman is president of Henry Kaufman & Company, Inc., an investment management and economic and financial consulting firm. For 26 years, he worked for Wall Street investment bank Salomon Brothers, where he was managing director, a member of the executive committee and ran the firm’s research departments. Prior, he was an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Dr. Kaufman received a BA from NYU, an MS from Columbia University, and a PhD in banking and finance from NYU Stern.

David Ko is the CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Calm, the leading app for sleep, meditation, and relaxation. Prior to joining Calm, David was the co-founder and CEO of the health tech company Ripple Health Group, which was acquired by Calm in 2022 to help build out its mental health capabilities. Before founding his own company, David was a board member, president and COO of Rally Health, a digital health company, and the COO at Zynga, which he helped take public in December 2011.

Andre Koo is chairman of Chailease Group, comprised of Chailease Holding and Yellowstone Holding. Founded in 1977, Chailease Holding's operation spans 10 countries. It is the market leader in leasing and installment sales in Taiwan and the largest foreign-owned independent leasing company in China. Yellowstone Holding is engaged in investment, trading, real estate, and hospitality. Koo is an NYU Board of Trustees member, Stern’s Executive Board chair emeritus, and president of NYU’s Pan-Asia Ass

Glenn Krevlin is the Founder and Principal & Portfolio Manager at Glenhill Capital, a fundamental equity investment manager founded in 2001. Prior to founding Glenhill Capital, Glenn was a Partner & Portfolio Manager at Cumberland Associates for 11 years and began his career at Goldman Sachs. Glenn has been a lead investor in and has served on numerous advisory, private, and public boards, including Design Within Reach, Inc.; Restoration Hardware; Capital Q, a privately held franchisee of Qdoba.

Lee Kruter is a Partner and Head of Performing Credit at GoldenTree Asset Management and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. He is the Lead Portfolio Manager for the firm’s Private Credit strategy, Multi-Sector strategy, GoldenTree Loan Management and fixed income oriented Structured Credit strategies. Prior to GoldenTree, he was a Vice President at Credit Suisse in the Leveraged Finance Research group. Lee is a CFA charterholder and earned a BS degree from NYU Stern.

Kenneth G. Langone is founder and CEO of Invemed Associates LLC, a New York Stock Exchange member firm, and is a co-founder of Home Depot. He is chair of the NYU Langone Health Board of Trustees and serves on the boards of Center for Strategic and International Studies, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Horatio Alger Society Foundation, and the Harlem Children’s Zone and its charter school, Promise Academy. Ken earned a BA at Bucknell University and an MBA from NYU Stern.

Judy Lee is co-founder of Dragonfly LLC, which provides strategy consulting, risk management development and investment advice for leaders across the U.S. and Asia. Judy earned her BS in finance and international business at NYU Stern and her MBA at Wharton. She was a pioneer in risk management in the late 1980s at Bankers Trust New York, and went on to consult, teach, and co-author on risk and strategic risk management. She splits her time between New York, Tokyo, and Singapore.

Alla is CFO & COO of Beacon Platform, a financial technology company that offers next-generation quant technology for financial services companies. Previously, Alla served as managing director at J.P. Morgan and RBC, running banks’ internal fixed income investment businesses and overseeing macroeconomic investment practices for Citadel and Point72. Alla serves on advisory boards of Million Dollar Women and Decameron Technologies. Alla earned a BS degree from NYU Stern and graduated valedictorian

Georges Makhoul is Chairman of GMAK Advisors and a private investor. He is a founder and Chairman of IGT, Myanmar’s largest mobile tower operator, and of AEP, a leading renewable power platform in the Middle East and Africa. He previously held leadership roles at Constellation Holdings, Morgan Stanley, and PwC. He sits on private business and non-profit boards and holds advanced degrees in electrical engineering. His wife Tammy has an MBA from NYU Stern and his daughter is a current student.

Alison is chairman of Investment Banking and leads the Office of Alumni Engagement for Goldman Sachs. She is an advisor to corporate and private equity clients globally and is a member of the Investment Banking Executive Committee. Previously, Alison served on the Management Committee from 2018 to 2023. Prior to her current role, she was global head of the Financial and Strategic Investors Group (FSIG) in the Investment Banking Division and was co-head of FSIG in the Americas from 2003 to 2015.

Richmond Mayo-Smith is an impact investor who has started several fund management companies. He is a founding partner of Climate Finance Partners that recently listed the first ETF on the NYSE that puts a global price on carbon emissions (ticker: KRBN). He co-founded Indochina Capital, which raised over $2B for investments in Vietnam. As founding chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, he was active in promoting the normalization of US-Vietnam relations.

Founder of Quexco Inc., a diversified Metals company with operations in the US, Europe and Africa. He is chairman of Burger Boat Corp. and a member of the NYU Board of Trustees; its Executive, Finance and Investment Committees; the Stern Executive Board, NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing Dean’s Council, Horatio Alger Association Board of Directors, University of Texas MD Anderson Board of Visitors, UT Southwestern President’s Advisory Board and Southwestern Medical Foundation Board of Trustees.

Philip L. Milstein is a principal at Ogden CAP Properties, LLC,. He serves on the Executive Committee and Board of the Lincoln Center, the Board of NY Presbyterian Hospital, vice-chairman of the Columbia University Medical Center Board of Advisors and the Board of the Marcus Corporation. He received a John Jay Award for distinguished professional achievement from the College, the University’s Alumni Federation Medal, the Alexander Hamilton Medal, and Stern’s Charles Waldo Haskins Award.

Timothy is the co-head of Macro Research in Asia and is the chief Asia Pacific regional equity strategist. He is responsible for views on Asia Pacific Ex-Japan regional equity. His team has been consistently rated among the top regional equity strategy groups. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2002 and was named partner in 2006. He began his career in Hong Kong as the head of Asia Ex-Japan Regional Research and regional strategist.

Stan Moss is the CEO of Polen Capital, a global asset management firm. He previously served as CFO of AmSouth Wealth and Asset Management and as an auditor at Coopers & Lybrand. He is active with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and serves on the Florida Atlantic University College of Business Dean’s Advisory Board and the U.S. Institute Advisory Board. Stan has an MS in Global Finance from NYU Stern and HKUST Business School and has a BS in accounting and an MBA from the University of Alabama.

Ignacio Pakciarz is founding partner of BigSur Partners, a wealth management boutique firm. Before founding BigSur Partners, he was a managing director at Guggenheim Partners, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. Ignacio served as a board member of Reaching U, a foundation dedicated to helping underprivileged youth in Uruguay and taught Investment Management at Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey. He holds an economics degree from the University of Uruguay and an MBA in finance from NYU Stern.

John Paulson is the president and portfolio manager of Paulson & Co. Inc., an investment management company specializing in global merger, event, and credit strategies. He is involved in many philanthropic activities through the Paulson Family Foundation and serves on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, the Partnership for New York City, and the Dean's Advisory Board of the Harvard Business School. 

Ari Rennert is CEO of The Renco Group Inc., a private, New York-based investment holding company. Renco invests in a diverse range of industries including mining, metals, mineral, automotive, and apparel, among others. Ari joined Renco in 2005 and served as chief investment officer prior to becoming president in 2011. Ari previously held positions at Credit Suisse, First Boston, and Caxton Associates. Ari has a BS in Finance from NYU Stern and lives in Manhattan with his wife and four sons.

Darren Richman is a Co-Portfolio Manager and a Co-Managing Partner of Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, and he Co-Chairs the Firm’s Investment and Executive Committees. He formerly held roles at Blackstone Credit, DiMaio Ahmad Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Deloitte & Touche. Darren is on the Boards of F45, Eastman Kodak and Outward Bound USA, and is a member of the Economic Club of New York. Darren received a BS/BA in Accounting from the University of Hartford and an MBA from NYU Stern.

Ellen J. Schapps Richman is an adjunct professor of Marketing at Columbia University. She was the first female vice president of marketing at American Home Products, now Pfizer. She served as finance co-chair in CT for two presidential campaigns, was on the National Advisory Board of the DNC and the Women’s Leadership Forum, was a member of President Obama’s National Finance Committee, and was also appointed by him to the President's Advisory Committee for the Arts for the Kennedy Center.

James “Great Neck” Richman is president and CEO of Richloom Fabrics Group, a textile convertor, designer and distributor of home furnishing fabrics. Great Neck is on the Case Western Reserve University Visiting Advisory Committee, the board of directors of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA, and the Board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, and he is a member of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

Brett B. Rochkind is managing partner at BRK Capital, a global technology investing platform, and managing partner of SoftBank Vision Fund. Prior to founding BRK, Brett was a managing director at General Atlantic (GA), where he led the Silicon Valley office and was global co-head of the technology sector. He graduated with honors and as a University Scholar from NYU Stern and earned his MBA from Columbia University.

Franck is a managing member of Silver Creek Development, an international real estate development and investment firm. He is the former CEO of Aerium Group, where he served as director of several company subsidiaries since 1992 and led the 2003 launch of the pan-European investment platform. Franck received a BA from the ISG Business School, an MSc from the Université de Paris X, and an MBA from NYU Stern. Franck is a member of the international board of the Cleveland Clinic.

V.P. Sharma is the Founding CEO of PT Mitra Adiperkasa Tbk (MAP). He played a key role in pioneering modern retail in Indonesia. Under his leadership, MAP now operates over 150 world-class brands and over 3,000 retail stores in six South East Asian Countries. For his contribution to Indonesian retail, Mr. Sharma was nominated as a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Indonesia) Award in 2007 and CNBC’s Asia Business Leaders Awards in 2012 and 2015.

Alok Singh is co-founder and CEO of Bridge Growth Partners. He earned his BA in economics and history at NYU and his MBA in finance and international business at NYU Stern. Alok serves on numerous leadership boards, and prior to founding BGP, he held senior positions across the industry.

Leonard Stern is chairman and CEO of The Hartz Group, currently one of America’s largest private owners of commercial real estate. Leonard has a strong commitment to educational philanthropy. His landmark $30 million naming gift enabled NYU to consolidate its graduate and undergraduate business education facilities at Washington Square. Leonard also founded Homes for the Homeless, the largest non-profit provider of residential, education and employment training centers in the country.

Richard Tsai is chairman and CEO of Fubon Financial Holding Co. His extensive experience spans from banking and telecommunication services to land development, construction management, and the building leasing business. Richard earned a law degree from National Taiwan University and an MBA at NYU Stern. He holds leadership roles in numerous organizations across Asia.

Frank Yao is managing partner and senior portfolio manager at Green Court Capital Management. Prior to founding the firm, he was vice chairman of Asia and managing director at Neuberger Berman and senior portfolio manager for the NB Greater China Investment Team. Frank earned his MBA from NYU Stern, where he was honored as a Stern Scholar. He conducted PhD studies in engineering at Columbia University. He earned an MS from Georgia Institute of Technology and a BS from Fudan University.

Steve Zelin is head of the Restructuring and Special Situations Group at PJT Partners. Prior to joining PJT Partners, he worked at Blackstone for 17 years, serving as a senior managing director. Steve earned his BS in accounting at the University at Albany and his MBA in finance at NYU Stern. He is a frequent lecturer on restructuring topics at NYU.