1. Art and Diseño

Speaker biographies:
Operational Excellence for Hedge Funds
Barry Knee
Partner
Phone: (646) 471-5898
PwC
Email: [email protected]
Barry is an audit partner leading PwC's New York alternative asset management assurance practice. His client base
compasses funds with a broad array of trading styles including long/short equity funds, private equity funds, hedge
funds, unregistered collective funds, fund of funds, as well as traditional mutual funds. He has served alternative
investment clients from start-up managers to fund managers that manager over 200 fund products. Barry is well
versed in working with complex valuation issues, performance fees/ carried interest calculations, fund mergers,
master-feeder structures and other more complex structures. He is a regular internal and external technical instructor
on topics including private equity funds, fund of funds, hedge funds, collateralized debt obligations and private equity
investments. Barry is a CPA and graduate of the University of Michigan. He is a member of the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Erich Butters
Director
Phone: (646) 471-0074
PwC
Email: [email protected]
Erich Butters is a director in the Asset Management Advisory practice with 15 years of management consulting
experience. Erich advises alternative asset managers, traditional asset managers, and asset servicers on opportunities
for shareholder value creation.
Relevant experience
Project Finance / Business Case - Public Hybrid Manager
•
Analyzed the current operations cost structure and forecast the growth of the cost base under the
Management Company’s 5-Year Growth Plan. Identified improvement opportunities to benefit staff
productivity, unit costs, and future cost growth. Developed the business case to secure funding for the
improvement projects, which were estimated to deliver run-rate savings of $3.2m annually (an NPV of
$14.2m) versus an addressable cost base of $32m.
TPA Contract Renegotiation Business Case - Public Hybrid Manager
•
Led an assessment of an alternative asset manager’s pricing and contract structure with a leading third-party
administrator (TPA). Analyzed the administrator’s cost structure, profit margins, and degree of operating
leverage under the manager’s presumed five-year growth plan. The business case identified a $16 million
savings opportunity over six years—an NPV of $10.5 million.
Cost Synergy Valuation – Public Hybrid Manager
•
Conducted a cost synergy analysis between the operations functions of the management company and a
wholly owned asset management affiliate. Developed the business case identifying cost synergies of ~$2
million annually—an NPV of $10.4m—against an addressable cost base of ~$10 million.
Operating Model Efficiency – Public Hybrid Manager
•
Developed an activity-based management model (ABMM) that quantified staff productivity metrics and unit
costs for the activities performed by each of the Manager’s support functions, (i.e., middle-office, fund
finance, corporate finance, and AP). Used outputs from the ABMM to identify operating improvements that
delivered a ~30% gain in productivity and a ~35% reduction in unit costs.
Education and affiliations
•
M.B.A. Finance, Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
Relevant Industry Publications
•
Hedge Fund Administration: The quest for profitable growth, 2014
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Frank Serravalli
Partner
Phone: (646) 471-2669
PwC
Email: [email protected]
Frank is a tax partner with PwC’s FSR (Financial Instruments, Structured Products, and Real Estate) practice. He is a
subject matter specialist in regulation as it relates to securitizations, structured products and related areas providing
global advisory services to our banking, insurance, investment management and private equity clients for over 26
years. He assisted companies in developing and executing financing strategies, financial reporting, mergers and
acquisitions, surveillance, and due diligence in both the debt and equity sectors. He has extensive experience in
valuation, accounting, tax, financial and regulatory reporting, bookings, and controls functions.
Relevant experience
Frank performed the securitization desk model build process for Basel III and OCC 2011-12 compliance, with respect
to data sourcing quality and validation, assessment and documentation of key estimates, and assumptions. He
structured credit transaction Basel III and three NPRs and MRFR impact assessments from bank, bank client, and
non-regulated counterparty perspectives. He has structured trade reviews for high-risk structured credit transactions
at four global investment banks, and has also helped with the balance sheet substantiation processes and procedures
performed by product control at a top tier bank.
Leadership roles
Frank is the leader of the Financial Instruments, Structured Products and Real Estate Group (‘FSR’). The team of 400
professionals has expertise in a wide range of asset classes, including agency and private label mortgages, commercial
loans, trade receivables, equipment leases, future flow and esoteric transactions; experienced in structuring,
negotiating, and arranging US, European, and cross-border structured finance transactions.
Education and certifications
Frank holds a BA in Accounting and an MBA in Taxation, from St. John’s University. He is a CPA licensed to practice
in New York and District of Columbia.
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Melanie Prusinski
Partner
Phone: (646) 471-5416
PwC
Email: [email protected]
Melanie is a Partner in our Financial Services' Risk Assurance practice. Melanie has over 19 years with the firm
providing services to client in the Asset Management and Capital Markets industries. Melanie specializes in helping
clients identify and manage operational and financial risks. Her experiences include providing third party assurance
(e.g. SSAE 16 and similar reporting standards over internal controls) and broader technology and operational risk
services to her clients. Currently, she is focused on helping our Asset Management client achieve trust and
transparency in the market place through external report and enhance control environments.
Melanie is the Asset Management sector leader in Risk Assurance. In this role she leads the effort to assess industry
issues impacting operations, technology and the overall control environment, and to identify solutions for clients to
meet the requirements of their various stakeholders.
Melanie has lead a wide range of projects across multiple locations, including global SSAE 16 engagements with client
sites located throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Melanie has also assisted a number of clients in the
assessment of their control environment; as part of these projects, she has assisted her clients in the development of
external reporting that meet customer requirements while also focusing on the efficiency of her client's operations.
Qualifications
Melanie graduated from Boston College with a B.S. in accounting. She is a member of the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants.
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Scott Weisman
Managing Director
Phone: (703) 918-4540
PwC
Email: [email protected]
Scott joined PwC in July 2013 and assists financial services clients – primarily advisers to hedge funds, private equity
funds, and registered investment companies – in a wide variety of securities regulatory compliance matters.
Scott has deep securities regulatory experience, having served for more than 11 years in the SEC’s Division of
Enforcement, most recently as an Assistant Director. In that role, Scott helped form and lead the agency's Asset
Management Unit, an 80-person national specialized group focusing on misconduct involving hedge funds, private
equity funds, and investment companies. Scott collaborated extensively with other SEC divisions and law enforcement
agencies on asset management priority areas and emerging risks, and developed a highly successful initiative to detect
hedge fund fraud through the use of proprietary risk analytics. Scott also supervised a number of significant
investigations concerning improper conflicts of interest, valuation, disclosure, fees, and trading practices.
Scott holds an LL.M. degree in Securities and Financial Regulation from Georgetown University, a J.D. from American
University, and B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Tim Mueller
Principal
Phone: (646) 471.5516
PwC
Email: [email protected]
Tim is a Principle in PwC’s Advisory Asset Management practice. He has over 25 years of experience specializing in
Asset Management, Capital Markets, Banking, Insurance and Regulatory sectors of the financial services industry and
currently serves as PwC’s US Alternative Asset Management Advisory Leader. Tim also leads our Asset Management
FATCA practice and has been with PwC for the past 14 years.
He has a wide range of industry experience including : operations, financial reporting, technology selection &
implementation, risk management, FATCA, process improvement, M&A as well as performance and profitability
measurement. During the past year, Tim has led more than 25 FATCA Assessment and Implementation projects
within the asset management industry and is a frequent speaker at FATCA industry roundtables.
Prior to joining PwC, Tim held a variety of positions, including with: the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Citigroup,
Bank of New York, Lyons, Zomback & Ostrowski Inc. (a division of Advest) and Loan Pricing Corporation (a division of
Reuters Inc.).
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