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2026 WSB Private Capital Conference

Friday, October 23 | 9:30am – 6:00pm

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Over the past two decades, private capital has experienced significant growth and transformation, driven by increasing global demand for alternative investments. Private equity, venture capital, and private credit have expanded as investors seek higher returns and diversification outside of traditional public markets. Institutional investors, such as pension funds, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds, have poured capital into private markets, fueling the rise of mega-funds and expanding investment into sectors like technology, healthcare, and infrastructure. Regulatory changes, increased access to technology, and a shift toward more flexible capital structures have also played a key role, enabling private capital firms to take a more active role in company growth and operational improvements. As a result, private capital has become a more prominent and influential part of the global financial ecosystem.

The Third Annual WSB Private Capital Conference

WSB is honored to host the 2026 Private Capital Conference on October 23. This gathering of top industry experts will explore the sectors of private equity, private credit, and venture capital. Please join us as we discuss the latest sector insights and trends with industry leaders.

Featured Speakers
Agenda
Registration
Sponsors

Dana M. Peterson, Chief Economist, The Conference Board

Dana M Peterson is the Chief Economist and Leader of the Economy, Strategy & Finance Center at The Conference Board, where she brings Trusted Insights for What’s Ahead® to C-suite executives of Fortune 500 firms.

Prior to this, she served as a North America Economist and later as a Global Economist at Citi, one of the world’s largest investment banks. Her wealth of experience extends to the public sector, having also worked at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C.

Dana’s broad economics portfolio includes analyzing global themes having direct financial market implications, including growth; monetary policy; inflation; labor markets; fiscal and trade policy; debt; taxation; consumption; and demographics. Her work also examines myriad U.S. themes leveraging granular data and identifying risks and gray swan events that might impact firms globally.

Peterson and her research have been featured by U.S. and international news outlets: in print, on broadcasts, and at large media events. Publications and networks include CNBC, FOX Business, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, BBC, Thomson-Reuters, CNN Finance, Yahoo Finance, Schwab Network, Harvard Business Review, and Barron’s.

Dana is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the Global Interdependence Center (GIC). She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, National Association for Business Economics (NABE), the New York Association for Business Economics (NYABE), National Business Economics Issues Council (NBEIC), and the Forecasters Club.

Michael A. Skelly, Partner, Lexington Partners

Michael (“Mike”) Skelly is a Partner on the Secondary team primarily focused on the origination, evaluation, and execution of secondary opportunities including partnership and GP-led transactions.

Brent Adam, Managing Director, Borgman Capital

Brent Adam joined Borgman Capital as the Chief Financial Officer in 2020 and was named a managing director and shareholder in 2023. He has over 20 years of finance and accounting experience with a focus on mergers and acquisitions. Brent started his career with Ernst & Young, where he spent 14 years primarily in the mergers and acquisitions group.  Brent then joined a venture capital firm and eventually became CFO of one of its portfolio companies, guiding it to a successful exit to a publicly traded company. He has been involved in hundreds of M&A transactions, with deals ranging from $1 million to $6 billion in enterprise value.

Brent received both a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, majoring in accounting, and Master’s of Accountancy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He serves on the board of directors of Olympus Group, YPO Wisconsin, and several of Borgman Capital’s portfolio companies. In 2022, Brent was named a 2022 Notable CFO by BizTimes Milwaukee. 

Mark Attanasio, Director-Alternative Investments, General Motors Asset Management

Mark Attanasio is a Director at General Motors Asset Management (“GMAM”). He currently oversees a team responsible for managing GM’s allocation to Absolute Return Strategies, Real Estate, and Private Equity across several GM domestic and international pension plans.  Mark has been a member of the Absolute return Strategies team since inception and has added the responsibilities of private equity and real estate more recently. His primary responsibilities include due diligence, risk management and portfolio construction. Mark also sits on a several internal committees (Investment Management and Operational Risk Management) and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for an international pension plan. 

Additionally, while at GM, Mark has managed GM’s Equity program, a Global Tactical Asset Allocation program and the trading room. Mark joined GMAM in 1999, where his initial responsibilities were in risk management until his transition into the Absolute Return Strategies Group. Prior to joining GMAM, Mark worked at Bankers Trust Company in their Investment Consulting and Risk Management Groups.  

Mark received a BA in Economics and an MBA from Rutgers University. Mark is a Chartered Financial Analyst. 

Thomas Chadwick, Investment Partner, Pritzker Private Capital

Thomas Chadwick is an Investment Partner on the Manufactured Products team for PPC. Thomas works with Aurorium, Buckman, NAI Group, Plaskolite, and Technimark. Thomas joined PPC in 2017 as a Vice President. Prior to PPC, Thomas was an Associate at Madison Dearborn Capital Partners and an Investment Banking Analyst at Deutsche Bank. Thomas received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and his B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Sheldon Deng, Associate, Charlesbank

Sheldon joined Charlesbank in 2023 upon graduating from college, having previously been a Summer Analyst at Charlesbank. Prior to joining the firm, he interned at Eminence Capital, a long/short equity hedge fund in New York City. Sheldon graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Distinction, receiving a BBA in Finance in 2023.

Steve Farsht, Co-Founder, Corazon Capital

Steve co-founded Corazon Capital. He was a Board Member of Techstars Chicago and co-managed the program in 2013 and 2014. Steve was Chief Operating Officer of Tap.Me, which was sold to MediaMath in 2012.

Previously, Steve was a General Partner with Norwest Equity Partners. Over his 9 years with the firm, Steve invested $280 million of equity in 13 management buyouts and growth capital investments across a variety of industries. His platform companies completed 9 add-on acquisitions. Steve served on 8 boards and led the sale of several companies to strategic and financial buyers.

Steve was a lecturer of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management where he also received his MBA. Steve has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Beth Holzberger, Senior Portfolio Manager – Private Equity, SWIB

Beth is a Senior Portfolio Manager focused on Private Equity investing at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (“SWIB”). She joined SWIB in 2007 and has 25 years of experience working in Alternative Investments including 18 years in Private Equity at SWIB. Beth is a senior member of the Private Equity team where she manages and underwrites fund investments and co-investments in buyouts and private credit as part of the pension’s $27 billion Private Equity portfolio. SWIB is the 6th largest U.S. Pension Fund with approximately $160 billion in assets. Prior to joining SWIB, Beth was an Associate in the Real Estate Group at Fidelity Investments and a Real Estate Market Analyst at CoStar Group. Away from the office, Beth serves as an Investment Committee member of the Madison Community Foundation. In her free time, she is a passionate baseball fan and enjoys water sports, card games, cooking, and time outdoors. Beth received a BBA in Business from University of Wisconsin—Madison and an MBA from Edgewood University.

Chris Kozina, Head of Value Creation, Garnett Station Partners

Christopher Kozina is the Head of the Value Creation Team and an Operating Partner at Garnett Station Partners. Chris serves as Special Assistant to the Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, focused on entrepreneurship. Prior to joining GSP, Chris also served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Industry Engagement and Economic Development at UW-Madison and Advisor to the University Research Park Real Estate Board. Chris formerly served as Chair, President, and Chief Executive for Coors Distributing Company, as well as Group President at Driven Brands prior to its IPO. Chris also served as Chief Information Officer, Chief Human Resources and People Officer, Chief of Staff to the CEO, and Senior Vice President of Marketing within the operating companies of South African Breweries Ltd. Chris started his career at Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, where he last served as a Partner in the Global Consumer Goods and Services Practice. Chris graduated with Distinction from UW-Madison with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration in Finance, Real Estate, and Urban Land Economics, and with High Honors with a Master’s in Globalization and Educational Policy from the University of Illinois. Chris also holds an Advanced Business Management certification from Northwestern University.

Evan Lorch, Private Equity Associate, Thoma Bravo

Evan Lorch is an operating partner at Thoma Bravo, bringing more than 25 years of experience as a financial executive with a track record of scaling organizations and driving value creation across the technology sector. Most recently, he served as chief financial officer at WebPT, the leading software platform in the rehab therapy market. Before that, he was an operating partner at Francisco Partners, where he focused on technology investments and worked closely with leadership teams across a portfolio of enterprise software companies to accelerate growth and optimize performance. Earlier in his career, he held CFO roles at Optanix, ShoreGroup, CoreOne Technologies and BIDS Trading, where he helped expand operations, execute strategic transactions and build high-performing finance teams. He began his career at PwC. Evan holds an MBA from Cornell University and a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. 

Kort Schnabel, CEO & Head of US Direct Lending, Ares Capital Corporation

Mr. Schnabel is a Partner and Co-Head of U.S. Direct Lending in the Ares Credit Group and serves as Chief Executive Officer of Ares Capital Corporation. He is also the Co-Head of Sports, Media and Entertainment and serves as a Director and Co-President of Ares Sports, Media and Entertainment Opportunities LP. He serves on the Ares Operating Committee and is a member of the firm’s U.S. Direct Lending, Sports, Media and Entertainment and Specialty Healthcare Investment Committees. He may from time to time serve as an officer, director or principal of other entities affiliated with Ares Management or investment funds managed by Ares Management and its affiliates. Prior to joining Ares in 2001, Mr. Schnabel was in the Corporate Development Group at Walker Digital Corporation, a business and technology research and development firm, where he was responsible for corporate finance, merger and acquisition and strategic planning activities. Previously, Mr. Schnabel was in the Corporate Finance Group at Morgan Stanley, where he performed financial analyses for mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and equity/debt offerings. Mr. Schnabel holds a B.A., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in Economics.

Jen Wilson, Vice President-Head of Private Investments, Thrivent

Jen has 21 years of professional experience and has been involved with middle market private equity for most of her career. At Thrivent, she is involved in making all private equity fund commitments and equity co-investments. Before joining Thrivent in 2006, she worked at ING Investment Management focusing on private debt investments. Jen began her career at Arthur Andersen in its Transaction Advisory Services department.  

Jen earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Minnesota. Jen completed her CPA designation and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. 

Jen is a board member of Children’s Cancer Research Fund. Additionally, she is a member of the University of St. Thomas Investment Committee, the Investment Advisory Council for the Minnesota State Board of Investment, several fund advisory boards, and is co-chair of PEWIN’s Twin Cities Chapter. 

Jen chairs and serves on Thrivent’s Private Equity Investment Committee.

Katie Wyatt, Chief Investment Officer, Loyola University Chicago

Katharine Wyatt, CFA is the Chief Investment Officer at Loyola University Chicago. With over 20 years of experience managing large institutional portfolios, Katharine leads Loyola’s investment office where she is responsible for investment policy and management of over $1.5 billion in endowment, operating reserves and defined benefit pension assets. Prior to joining Loyola, she was Director of Investments for Abbott Laboratories $6bn pension plan. At Abbott, she was responsible for oversight of public and private investments, including selection, due diligence and monitoring of external managers and was instrumental in building the alternative investments program. Katharine started her career as a research analyst covering hedge fund, private equity and private real asset investments. Katharine holds both an MS and a BA in Finance, Investment and Banking from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and was part of the Applied Security Analysis Program during her graduate studies. She is a CFA charter holder and serves on the executive committee of CFA Society Chicago board of directors. Katharine enjoys mentoring women in the investment field and has been a member of the Private Equity Women’s Investor Network, Women Association of Venture & Equity, and Women Investment Professionals. Katharine volunteers as a board member and serves on the investment committee of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School.

Agenda and Venue

TimeSession
Morning Session:
9:45 am – 10:00 amWSB Opening Remarks
10:00 am – 11:00 amKeynote Conversation – Dana M. Peterson and Michael Skelly
11:00 am – 11:45 amIntroduction to Private Investing Panel
Lunch
1:00 pm – 1:45 pmLimited Partners Panel
2:00 pm – 2:45 pmValue Creation Panel
2:45 pm – 5:00 pmOpen Networking
4:00 pm – 6:00 pmStudent – Panelist Networking Reception (Hors d’Oeuvres, Drinks Provided)

The event will be held in Pyle Center’s Alumni Lounge.

Registration

Please use the button at the top of this page to register for the conference.

Sponsors

The 2026 WSB Private Capital Conference is sponsored by the Wisconsin School of Business Department of Finance, Investment, and Banking and the Wisconsin Private Equity Club.