Partner, Apollo Global Management
FP&A Manager, Stant
2012 ANY Fellow Alum Vice President Regulatory Relations, Morgan Stanley
Managing Director, Blackstone
(Advisory Board Chair)
Senior Managing Director & Head of Americas, Green Investment Group, Macquarie Group
Managing Director, Global Head of Technology Risk Management & Cyber Resilience Practice, Protiviti
Nicole Bonsignore is Partner, Human Capital at Apollo, where she is Lead Human Capital Business Partner for Private Equity and Global Head of Talent Strategy. Prior to joining Apollo in 2011, she was Vice President at Neuberger Berman responsible for the US Recruiting and Training & Development team. Before that, Nicole was with Lehman Brothers, most recently as the Head of Associate and Analyst Programs for the Investment Management Division including Private Equity. Nicole started her career at Lehman Brothers as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Consumer/Retail group and spent several years as an Equity Research Associate.
Nicole is a first-generation college graduate of Bucknell University where she received a BA in Economics. She resides in New Jersey with her husband and two daughters.
Wendy has over 8 years of experience in investment banking, asset management, education management, and financial planning/analysis at top bulge bracket banks, elite boutiques, charter schools, and startups.
Wendy currently serves as FP&A manager at Boxed, a wholesale grocery ecommerce company, where she is responsible for reporting operational and financial metrics and coordinating annual planning processes. Prior to Boxed, she served as FP&A Manager at GAN Integrity, a tech start-up focusing on integrated compliance solutions. Prior to GAN Integrity, Wendy joined Success Academy (SA) as a part of the inaugural class of Robertson Leadership Fellows. In that role, she experienced firsthand the joys and challenges of teaching as she taught first graders foundational concepts in math and phonics. Prior to SA, Wendy was a senior analyst at Evercore Partners, a New York-based investment bank offering premier advisory services. As a member of the Private Capital Advisory (PCA) team, she developed financial models for underlying portfolio assets and executed mandated deals and pitches across several LP-led, GP-led, and real estate capital advisory transactions in the secondary markets. Past transactions included facilitating a competitive auction process for a $1.4bn+ sale of limited partnership interests and also evaluating returns of acquisition and development assets in a $850mm senior housing recapitalization proposal. Prior to PCA, Wendy was an investment associate in the wealth management arm of Evercore managing the taxable fixed income platform, performing due diligence on traditional and alternative assets, and conducting capital market and valuation research. Prior to joining Evercore, Wendy was a rotational analyst at Citigroup providing customized investment solutions for high net worth individuals in both a client-facing and analytical capacity.
Wendy graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Political Science and a B.S. in Economics and holds a CFA charter. As a first-generation immigrant, she has benefited immensely from the tutelage and guidance of mentors throughout her life and is happy to pay it forward as a working professional. Joining America Needs You in 2013, she has served as a three-time mentor coach (2014, 2016, 2020), Vice-Chair of the Mentor Leadership Council running programmatic events, and CFO Officer of the Associate Board managing fundraising contributions.
Mary Calliste is Vice President of Regulatory Relations in Morgan Stanley’s Legal and Compliance Division. In this role, Mary is responsible for advising and advocating for clients across multiple business lines and control functions and ensures the Firm remains ptive with its prudential regulators. At Morgan Stanley, Mary is also an active member and champion of recruiting and wellbeing initiatives, and she is a Wellbeing Influencer for the Compliance division.
Mary earned her BS in Political Science from John Jay College, CUNY. She is a first-generation college graduate and a 2012 America Needs You alumna. Mary lives in Brooklyn, enjoys solo travel, and is passionate about mentoring and mental/emotional health.
Mr. Dell’Amore is a Managing Director in the Infrastructure Group for Blackstone Inc. Since joining Blackstone, Mr. Dell’Amore has been involved in the execution of Blackstone’s investment in Mundys. He serves on the Boards of Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. and Tallgrass Energy. Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Dell’Amore worked at Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP) and Fortress Investment Group, focusing on investments in the energy, power, and transportation sectors. Before that, Mr. Dell’Amore was an Analyst at Société Générale in the Energy group. Mr. Dell’Amore received a B.A. in Economics and Spanish Language & Literature from Colgate University, where he graduated magna cum laude and with honors, an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in International Studies (Latin America) from The Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.
Chris is a first-generation college graduate who has been involved with America Needs You since 2012. He has previously served on the Associate Board and as a Mentor Coach.
William Gerald Demas is a Vice President at Macquarie Capital, where he focuses on principal investment and advisory in the Energy Infrastructure & Renewables sectors. Before Macquarie, he focused on renewable energy advisory at Ewing Bemiss & Co. and cleantech private equity and venture capital at Good Energies. He began his career at Lazard Frères, in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications group, where he also helped form the firm’s Renewable Energy practice.
A common theme throughout William’s career has been a distinct interest in developing economies, particularly in the Caribbean, Latin America and Middle East. The son of a Trinidadian father and Guyanese mother, William was born in Brooklyn, New York. After his family moved to Northeast Ohio, Gerald grew up an avid Cleveland sports fan, which has led to many years of heartbreak.
William received an A.B. in Economics from Harvard University. While at Harvard, he led and was involved in several community-focused organizations. He currently serves as an advisor to a number of promising start-up and growth-stage companies in various sectors. He is also a 2011 Mentor Coach alumnus.
Kevin is global leader of Protiviti’s Technology Governance and Risk Management practice. Kevin brings experience in operational risk across the lines of defense, CIO / CISO strategy, and advanced analytics, with a deep financial services background in technology, operations, and front-office processes. Previously, Kevin was Global Head of Operational Risk Assessment and Intelligence for Technology Risk Management at a Global Investment Bank. Before that, he was a Founder and Principal Consultant serving clients in the financial services technology, investment banking, and biopharma industries. Earlier, he held a series of senior leadership roles that supported technology operations, strategy, and advanced analytics.
Max is a Managing Director and General Counsel of Infrastructure for Blackstone Inc. Before joining Blackstone in 2021, Mr. Wade practiced law at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where he focused on public and private mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, stockholder activism, corporate governance matters and ongoing reporting obligations.
Max is a first-generation college graduate and received a BA, magna cum laude, from New York University and a JD, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center.
Matt Blank, along with his two business partners, founded BB Living in 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona. BB Living is a real estate development firm that specializes in building single family rental communities. BB Living operates in five states currently and is rapidly expanding in one of the fastest growing segments of the real estate industry. Matt is also a co-founder of Blank Property Group (“BPG”), which specializes in acquiring and redeveloping Multifamily properties in New York City. Prior to forming BB Living and BPG, Matt worked as an analyst at Long Pond Capital, which is a real estate focused hedge fund. He began his career at Morgan Stanley Real Estate, and has a JD/MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Wharton School of Business. Matt also attended the University of Pennsylvania for his undergraduate studies.
Matt lives in New York City with his wife, Lindsay, and their three elementary-aged children.
Leonard Bell II is a director in the Rates and Currencies Solutions business at Bank of America. He is responsible for delivering foreign exchange and interest rate risk mitigation strategies to the bank’s Global Commercial Banking Clients. He is also responsible for driving all aspects of the global FX payments business in the markets he covers which include Metro Chicago, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and the Dakotas.
Prior to joining Bank of America in Chicago, Leonard spent the last 14 years in New York with 8 years at Deutsche Bank, a time at Credit Suisse on the New York FX sales desks, and 4 years on Standard Chartered’s institutional macro sales desk. He began his finance career in Chicago in 2001 at JPMorgan Chase as a middle market relationship manager.
Lenny enjoys travelling with his wife and 2 kids, golf, all things Chicago (except the Cubs), is a part owner of a CrossFit in Brooklyn, and has been on national television twice on HGTV and Oprah.
Fitz Robertson is currently a Principal of Client and Partner Group at KKR & Co. Inc. and former Vice President within J.P. Morgan’s Global Asset Management unit, a global leader in investment management with $2.8 trillion in client assets. He is responsible for managing some of the largest strategic relationships within the unit and for positioning the firm’s Investment capabilities.
Mr. Robertson joined J.P. Morgan in 2010. He was previously the Head of Market Insights, Asia-Pacific. In this role, he led the strategy, execution, and distribution of the firm’s intellectual capital in Asia across the Global Funds and Institutional businesses. He also served on the leadership team for Investment Management Asia-Pacific and in Corporate Strategy functions in Global Funds and Investment Management Asia-Pacific. Outside of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, he held roles in Investment Banking and Private Equity at various firms.
Mr. Robertson received his B.A. from Hampden-Sydney College and his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the South Kent School in Connecticut.
After a 40 year career with Macys, Inc, in April 2019 Donna started an independent executive consulting business advising on both domestic and international retail strategies, specializing in Home products, leadership mentoring strategies, and team development. Appointed Executive Vice president at Macys Merchandising Group, February 2015 after serving in several roles before elevating to SVP Textiles, she started her career at Macy’s in sales, joining the Executive Training Squad in November of 1979, assuming many Home Store roles.
As EVP, Donna was responsible for the design, product development and sourcing of Home Private Brands. In this role she developed strong vendor relations worldwide including Asia, Europe as well as in the domestic marketplace. Her accomplishments include the successful Hotel Collection eventually expanded to all Home categories, originally launched in 2004 in bed and bath. She was responsible for the Martha Stewart Home Collection – the largest product launch in the history of Macy’s. She is also credited with building brands through a strong partnership with sister division Bloomingdales, the only business sourced through MMG. Known for building brands reflecting keen assortment building and merchandising skills that provide the customer with logical choices at strategic pricing tiers in an evolving marketplace.
A results oriented executive, Donna grew private label to #1 brand at superior margins through her strong leadership and thorough knowledge of Home product. She is particularly recognized for her cross functional and team building skills and strong leadership abilities, and has served as a leader in corporate sponsored ‘give back’ and diversity initiatives at Macy’s. She has also sat on numerous internal committees, including the Customer Strategy committee Co-leader of the millennial committee for Home, and the Home Reinvent.
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