Events
We have a number of phenomenal events held throughout the year.
WIN will explore how asset managers are implementing ESG principles into their investment processes. The audience will benefit from hearing how ESG implementation differs across equity, fixed income and investment grade private credit portfolio management.
Moderator
Marina Sitsiuhina, CFA, CPA
Research Analyst
Kopernik Global Investors, LLC
Marina is an equity research analyst at Kopernik Global Investors, covering the consumer sector across the globe. She performs fundamental analysis on companies, analyzing their business models and management; she integrates ESG factors into her company evaluation process. Marina has been a member of the Volunteer Committee at her firm, designing and organizing various local community engagement events. Additionally, she has been involved in expanding the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization abroad, through building the needed infrastructure and support system for the organization in Eastern Europe. Marina holds both CPA and CFA designations. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin with BBA with honors, and later earned her MBA from the University of Chicago.
Panelists:
Stephanie Dobson
Portfolio Manager, Sustainable Investing
Putnam Investments
Ms. Dobson is a Portfolio Manager of Putnam Sustainable Leaders Fund and Putnam Sustainable Future Fund, in addition to several global and institutional sustainability products. She is responsible for conducting fundamental analysis and valuation of companies, evaluating their performance across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, and identifying potential risks and opportunities related to these factors. Ms. Dobson joined Putnam in 2017 and has been in the investment industry since 2011, covering various sectors over the years including consumer, industrials, financials, and energy. Outside of Putnam, Ms. Dobson is a partner and member of the Investment Committee at Social Venture Partners, a global philanthropic network that works to strengthen nonprofit organizations in local communities and a member of the Governance Committee at Rosie’s Place, a sanctuary for poor and homeless women in Boston.
Liz Thorne
Managing Director, Corporate Private Placements
SLC Management
Elizabeth (Liz) Thorne is Managing Director, Corporate Private Placements for SLC Management.
Liz invests in private debt including corporate and structured/asset-backed notes. She is responsible for all aspects of deal sourcing, credit analysis and portfolio monitoring. Her focus is on clean energy, ESG integration and sustainable investments. Liz serves on the board of Sun Life’s BrightWomen and SLC Management’s Sustainable Investment Council. She also leads SLC Management’s Net Zero task force and the Private Fixed Income proprietary ESG scoring development team, among other sustainable finance related initiatives.
Liz has over 19 years of experience in private, public and bank debt. She joined SLC Management in 2016.
Prior to joining SLC Management, Liz was Director of Debt Management and Special Finance Programs at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She also served as the MassDevelopment and Mass Ventures Board of Directors. Before that, she was Vice President and Director at TD Securities.
Liz earned her MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and her Bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College. She also earned a graduate Certificate in Financing and Developing Clean Energy from Yale University in 2020.
Jessica Zarzycki, CFA
Portfolio Manager
Nuveen
Jessica is a portfolio manager for Nuveen’s global fixed income team. She is an integral part of the ESG/Impact fixed income strategy team and coportfolio manager on the Core Impact Bond, Green Bond and Short Duration Impact Bond strategies. Jessica’s analyst responsibilities include sovereigns and local markets throughout Western Europe. She is a frequent panelist and speaker at ESG and Impact conferences and a member of the ICMA Advisory Board, which provides insight and guidance to the Executive Committee on issues affecting the Green, Social, and Sustainable Bond markets.
Jessica joined the firm in 2008 as an agency MBS analyst before joining the International/EMD sector team as a European sovereign and agency analyst. Prior to Nuveen, she worked at Citi Global Wealth Management (GWM), helping to manage liquidity and risk of the GWM balance sheet.
Jessica graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from The Ohio State University. She holds the CFA designation and is a member of the CFA Society New York and the CFA Institute.
If you are purchasing a table or you are a corporate sponsor, please contact Dee Farris, 847-254-9136, deefarris9@gmail.com, with the names of your registrants, their emails, dietary choices and requested tables.
The Trailblazer Dinner is a high point of WIP’s annual calendar of events. Each year we focus on women who inspire us in achieving personal and professional excellence.
The WIP Board is pleased to announce it will be awarding its prestigious “Distinguished Woman Investment Professional of the Year” award to Leslie Lenzo, CFA, Chief Investment Officer, Advocate Aurora Health. We are honored to have Lauren Dillard, Executive Vice President, Investment Intelligence, Nasdaq, as the Keynote Speaker for the event.
This year’s event will be hybrid. If you’re not comfortable with in-person events, but you don’t want to miss the presentations, we will be live streaming. To attend virtually, there is no charge for members; charge for non-members is $35.
2021 Woman Investment Professional Award Recipient:
Leslie K. Lenzo, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Advocate Health
Leslie K. Lenzo, CFA is Chief Investment Officer at Advocate Aurora Health in Illinois and Wisconsin. In her role at Advocate Aurora, Ms. Lenzo oversees the investment of $14 billion in corporate and pension assets. She also oversees the investment options available in the organization’s $8 billion defined contribution plans. Prior to Advocate Aurora, Ms. Lenzo was a senior member of the investment team at Northwestern Memorial Healthcare in Chicago. Ms. Lenzo started her career with the investment program at Partners Health Care in Boston and then moved to the sell side to do equity research covering Healthcare Services at SG Cowen. Ms. Lenzo holds a BA in Economics and Government from Georgetown University and a MBA in Finance from Boston University. She is also a CFA charter holder and serves on the investment committee of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and on the investment advisory group of Adventist Health. Ms. Lenzo resides in Downers Grove, IL with her husband and four young sons.
Keynote Speaker:
Lauren Dillard
Executive Vice President, Investment Intelligence
Nasdaq Investment Intelligence
Lauren Dillard is the Executive Vice President of Investment Intelligence and is responsible for leading the strategic direction of the group and continuing to foster growth across Nasdaq’s index, data and intelligence businesses.
The mission of Nasdaq Investment Intelligence is to empower the investment community with actionable insights and technology to drive better outcomes. The group consists of a wide-ranging unit that provides critical data, intelligence and technology solutions to over 2,100 asset managers, 1,000 asset owners, consultants, 1,500 market data and index clients. Under Lauren’s leadership, the teams remain relentlessly focused on delivering for the needs of clients during a period of rapid digitalization and intense competition.
Before joining Nasdaq in 2019, Lauren served as Head of the Investment Solutions segment at The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm with $210 billion under management where she served on the Firm’s Management Committee. Lauren joined Carlyle in 2002 and served in a variety of capacities during her tenure, including as the CFO and COO of Investment Solutions, as well as Head of Global Tax and the Global Equity departments. Prior to joining Carlyle, Lauren served in the Tax Practice of Arthur Andersen, LLP.
Lauren is also an independent corporate director for SL Green Realty, where she is the chair of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Audit Committee. As a regular speaker at the Kayo Conference Series, Tech up For Women, Women in ETFs, Lauren is passionate about professional growth and career development of women in the financial services industry and beyond. She was the Executive Sponsor of Women In Nasdaq and now serves as the Executive Sponsor of Nasdaq’s Global Link of Black Employees. She was one of the founders of Carlyle’s Women’s Employee Resource Group and a member of the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN), and numerous other efforts to advance broad‐spectrum diversity.
Lauren earned her Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of Richmond.
IMPORTANT
We have put additional protocols in place for your health and safety. Vaccination will be required for in-person attendance and we will follow local mask mandate requirements. Registrations will be limited to support social distancing. We will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments as needed. Thank you for your support and patience.