Working for the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center and in partnership with IIE.VC, I co-developed the LP & Emerging Manager Summit in June 2024, to convene policy makers, limited partners, investors, nonprofits and Wilson Sonsini and KPMG, long-standing partners of the Nasdaq Center. The event was an opportunity to showcase the next-generation of venture capital funds that truly reflect our diversity as a nation takes more than just capital – it will take collaboration among the public sectors, investors, and nonprofits. 

Over 180 people registered to attend this inaugural Summit (more than our original target of 150) and over 100 joined onsite for the event. I built two new sponsor relationships for The Nasdaq Center with Sydecar, a tech enabled deal platform for VCs, and Nakama, a fractional CFO group serving emerging venture fund managers. 

Through the Summit, we provided a platform for institutional limited partners that build diversity and inclusion into their investment strategy. Susie Lee from W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kelli Fontaine Cendana Capital, Lisha Bell PayPal Economic Opportunity Fund shared their work investing in emerging fund managers. Seema Hingorani, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley Investment Management; Founder & Chair, Girls Who Invest served as a our Keynote Speaker and told her journey from Chief Investment Office of New York City to ensuring more women are represented as investors and allocators.

We featured venture capital fund managers who bring their unique lens on venture investing. We were thrilled to highlight Manan Mehta and his firm Unshackled Ventures, as well as Troy Cosey, Head of Platform, Kapor Center, Christa Williams of Cherryrock Capital, Mahrinah Lavi Shije, MBA and, Barry Givens Collab Capital who encouraged us all to focus, ignore distractions, and choose curiosity instead of fear.

Finally, we featured state VC leaders Shrina Kurani of IBank California, Aurelia Flores VIPC | Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation, and federal leader Karl Fooks U.S. Department of the Treasury who shared more about their work investing in VC funds through the Treasury SSBCI program.