Kate Burke is chief executive officer of Allspring Global Investments and director on the Board of Directors at Allspring Global Investments.
Prior to her current role, Kate served as the president of Allspring after joining the firm in September 2023. She has extensive industry experience spanning many facets of the asset management business. She joined Allspring from AllianceBernstein, where she most recently served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer. Before that, Kate was head of Bernstein Private Wealth and chief administrative officer. She has also served as head of human capital and chief talent officer for the firm. Kate currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Holy Cross University and at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, where she is also a member of the Executive Committee.
She earned a bachelor's degree in economics from College of the Holy Cross and a master's degree in business administration from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Liz Carrigan
VP of Inclusion and Belonging Natixis
Elizabeth Carrigan is the VP of Inclusion and Belonging at Natixis. Elizabeth has over 12 years leading this space. Prior to Natixis Elizabeth was working at Textron, an aerospace and defense company. Her passion is creating systems and cultures that allow for every employee to be fully engaged to bring their best self to work every day.
Mandell L. Crawley
Executive Vice President and Chief Client Officer Morgan Stanley
Mandell L. Crawley is Executive Vice President and Chief Client Officer of Morgan Stanley and a member of the firm’s Operating and Management Committees. He is responsible for the Integrated Firm Management division, which focuses on delivering Morgan Stanley consistently and systematically to clients across business lines and geographies. Mr. Crawley has been at the firm for over 30 years and has held leadership roles spanning a variety of functions.
Most recently as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Mr. Crawley oversaw the Human Capital Management and Corporate Services division. Prior to becoming CHRO, Mr. Crawley led the firm’s Private Wealth Management (PWM) business, where he also oversaw International Wealth Management, Family Office Resources, Global Sports and Entertainment, and Institutional Client Coverage. Mr. Crawley has also served as the firm’s Chief Marketing Officer and spent 14 years in Fixed Income Capital Markets.
PERSONAL
Mr. Crawley received an MBA from Fordham University and a B.A. in economics from Northeastern Illinois University. He is on the Board of Governors for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Board of Trustees at Fordham University, and the Board of Trustees at Greenwich Academy.
Mr. Crawley resides in Westchester County, New York, with his wife Alison and their twin daughters, Jordyn and Jaedyn. He is a proud native of Chicago, Illinois.
Jim Fitzpatrick
President and CEO Nicsa
Jim Fitzpatrick is the President and CEO of Nicsa, a global asset management trade association with a mission of connecting industry participants in order to advance leading practices. Jim joined Nicsa in 2015 with 30 years of experience in senior leadership roles within the asset management industry.
Working closely with the Board of Directors, Jim has set the strategic direction of Nicsa, which includes the launch of the Diversity Project North America in late 2018. The Diversity Project promotes an inclusive asset management industry and seeks to achieve diversity across all dimensions through collaborative leadership from senior business executives.
Previously, Jim was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management with responsibilities that included senior leadership in both global operations and global sales roles during his career. In addition, he served as an officer of the Goldman Sachs Funds for fourteen years and served as an Independent Trustee for the Hays Series Trust until December 2017. Jim began his career with The Boston Company and later First Data Investor Services Group, a subsidiary of the surviving entity, First Data Corporation, where he held several senior management positions during his tenure.
Baroness Helena Morrissey DBE
Baroness Morrissey was CEO of Newton Investment Management for 15 years and now chairs three financial companies and Eton College’s Endowment Fund. Helena is well known for her work on diversity, having founded the 30% Club in 2010, a campaign for better gender-balanced boards. The proportion of women on UK listed company boards has since risen from 10% to 43%, with Britain the first country to achieve such progress through voluntary change.
Helena is Chair of Inclusion in Finance UK, which she co-founded a decade ago while serving as Chair of the UK’s Investment Association. She was appointed a Dame in 2017 by Queen Elizabeth II for her work on inclusion and to the House of Lords in 2020. She has twice been named by Bloomberg as one of the 50 most influential people in finance globally and was the 2017 recipient of the Financial Times “Person of the Year” at its “Boldness in Business” awards.
Helena has authored two books, A Good Time To Be A Girl (Harper Collins) and Style and Substance (Little Brown Books). She is married with nine children.
Sameer Munshi
Head of AI Simulation & Behavioral Science EY
Sameer’s teams have pioneered the use of advanced behavioral modeling to transform how organizations understand and influence human decision-making to accelerate growth.
During more than a decade at the global EY organization, Sameer has advised global leaders on transformation, product design, and client engagement. His current work centers on applying agentic artificial intelligence (AI) simulations that replicate human decision making, allowing firms to test strategies, model behavior, and evaluate outcomes before committing capital.
He holds an MSc in Behavioral Science from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Cornell University.
Byron Pitts
Anchor & Chief National Correspondent ABC News
Byron Pitts was named co-anchor of ABC News’ “Nightline” in 2014. He has covered national news stories and in-depth features for the network, reporting across the news division, including "Good Morning America," "World News Tonight with David Muir," “This Week” and “20/20.”
Pitts is a multiple Emmy award winning journalist and news veteran with over 20 years of experience known for his thoughtful storytelling, on-the-ground reporting and in-depth interviews. After less than 24 hours at ABC News, Pitts immediately joined the network’s live special coverage of the Boston marathon bombing investigation. Since then, Pitts has gone on to report live from Baltimore, Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., during each cities’ recent riots and protests. He also co-anchored a special edition of “Nightline” with Juju Chang from Los Angeles looking back on the city 25 years after the riots that broke out following the Rodney King verdict.
During the 2016 election, Pitts was a key part of the network’s coverage, from the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and the first presidential debates to seven hours of live election night coverage. In the 30 days leading up to the election, Pitts traveled around the country for “Inside the Final 30,” a daily docu-series produced by “Nightline,” to speak with voters as they were coming to their final decisions about who should be the nation’s next President. It took viewers behind the scenes on the campaign trail and focused on the issues that matter most to Americans as well as revisited key moments that shaped the direction of the race.
Prior to joining ABC News, Pitts spent 15 years at CBS News where he served as Chief National Correspondent for The CBS Evening News, filed regularly for 60 Minutes, and won an Emmy for his coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was named the National Association of Black Journalists Journalist of the Year in 2002. His 2009 memoir, “Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challenges” chronicled his journey overcoming illiteracy and a stutter to become a journalist. In 2017, Pitts profiled six young adults that overcame hardship with hope in his book “Be the One.”
Pitts began his career at WNCT-TV in Greenville, N.C., where he covered local news and served as weekend sports anchor. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1982, where he studied journalism and speech communication. Pitts is a native of Baltimore and currently lives in New York City.
Kendall VanHoose
Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President, Advisory Services Gravity Research
Kendall VanHoose serves as Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President, Advisory Services at Gravity Research. In this role, she leads Gravity Research’s Strategic Executive Advisors team and plays a central role in shaping the company’s growth strategy — advising on new markets, evolving the firm’s service offerings, and guiding key investments and resourcing decisions. Kendall also serves as a senior representative of Gravity Research in client and industry settings. She has a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business, and lives in Washington, DC.
