2010 Capital IQ Investor Leadership Cocktail Reception (Greenwich)

Patrick A. Blott co-founded Blott Asset Management, L.L.C. in 2005, where he has responsibility for developing the firm’s special situations investments. Blott Asset Management, L.L.C. is currently one of the largest outside shareholders of Canwest Global Communications Corp, where Mr. Blott is a member of the Ad Hoc Committee of Shareholders and advisor to the founding Asper family under a court supervised restructuring. Mr. Blott has spent over 17 years focused on special situations investing in New York, beginning his investment career in the distressed commercial real estate group within loan portfolio management at BMO in 1993. Earlier in his career, Mr. Blott was a senior investment professional in the private equity, leveraged finance, mergers, and hostile takeover defense businesses at JP Morgan & Co and Banc of America Securities. Mr. Blott was a founding member of Borealis Capital Corporation in 2001, an Infrastructure private equity fund focused on distressed energy and healthcare companies. Mr. Blott has participated as a director or advisory board member at Beauceland Corporation, Express Pipelines L.L.C., Auto Guide Inc, BPC Long-Term Care L.L.C., The Hospital Infrastructure Company, Emerald Corp, and the Crescent School Alumni Board. Mr. Blott holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

 

Max Holmes founded Plainfield Asset Management LLC in February 2005, and has been the Chief Investment Officer of all of its funds since inception. Prior to founding Plainfield, Mr. Holmes was the Head of the Distressed Securities Group and a Managing Director of D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P., where he served as Co-Portfolio Manager for D. E. Shaw Laminar Portfolios, L.L.C. from its inception in February 2002 through February 2005.

Prior to joining D. E. Shaw & Co., Mr. Holmes from 1986 to 2002 had a variety of jobs involving high yield and distressed securities at RBC Capital Markets, Gleacher NatWest Inc., Salomon Brothers Inc, and the Beverly Hills office of Drexel Burnham Lambert.

From 1984 to 1986, Mr. Holmes was a practicing attorney with Vinson & Elkins in Houston, Texas, and he remains a member of the bar in New York and Texas.

Mr. Holmes graduated from Columbia Law School in 1984, Columbia Business School in 1984, and Harvard College in 1981. Since 1993, he has taught "Bankruptcy and Reorganization" at New York University Stern Graduate School of Business, where he remains an Adjunct Professor of Finance.

 

Bill Martin joined Commonfund as Chief Risk Officer in April 2008. He is a member of the Commonfund Senior Executive Group and its Investment Policy Committee. Bill’s unique background combines deep practical experience in trading & investing with the strategic knowledge gained as being CRO of a large, global bank and as CRO of a large global investment management firm. Prior to joining Commonfund, Bill was Chief Risk Officer responsible for all of the investment management activities at Bank of America, including Columbia Management, alternative investments, proprietary hedge funds and private equity. Previously, Bill had been Global Head of Risk Management at the Royal Bank of Scotland, responsible for credit, market and operational risk, and then Global Head of Investment Risk Management & Performance Analysis at INVESCO, both based in London. Today, Bill serves as Chairman of the Global Association of Risk Professionals, an association of 100,000+ members worldwide focused on promoting best risk practices, and as a Board Overseer at the New England Conservatory of Music. Bill holds a BBA degree in Management Science from the Baruch School of Business, City University of New York.

 

Brian Walsh, Managing Director, graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in 1988 and an M.B.A. from New York University Stern School of Business in 1992.  Mr. Walsh began his career at Shawmut Bank in 1988 working in commercial lending.  After attending New York University, he then joined Sanwa Bank Limited where he worked in corporate finance.  In March 1993, he joined Credit Lyonnais working in the Financial Institutions Department and later in the Credit Derivatives group.  Mr. Walsh left Credit Lyonnais in August 2002 to join Commonfund as a Managing Director where he was responsible for manager identification, research and selection, monitoring and portfolio construction for a portfolio consisting of three funds of hedge funds.  Mr. Walsh joined K2 in February 2005.