Badgers in Finance | New York

Prior to joining Studio VC as co-founder & managing partner, Joe Coyne (BBA ’07) helped build Samsung Next’s Venture Capital team in New York City. While at Samsung, Coyne performed all aspects of deal sourcing, diligence, and negotiation, with a focus on early- and growth-stage software and deep tech investments. During his tenure at Samsung, Coyne’s initial investments realized two exits: Automated Insights sold to Vista Equity-backed STATS Inc. and LoopPay was sold to Samsung Electronics to create the technical backbone for Samsung Pay.

In 2009, Coyne joined Bain Capital Ventures Investments in Boston, Massachusetts. While at Bain Capital, Coyne worked on both early-stage and growth-equity investments in a variety of industries, including business services, consumer technology, marketing services, e-commerce, and digital media. He also worked closely with numerous portfolio companies on strategic planning, business development, and company exits.

Earlier in his career, Coyne worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Merrill Lynch in New York, where he advised clients across diverse industries on a variety of strategic and financial transactions.

Coyne received his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where his studies concentrated on investments, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Alisa Robertson (BA ’94, MBA ’03) is the incoming CEO of the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA), a role she will assume on January 1, 2025. She currently serves as the organization’s president and chief advancement officer and has more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, fundraising, and stakeholder engagement. She joined WFAA as chief of staff in 2011 and became president in 2022. During her tenure, Robertson led the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s $4.2 billion All Ways Forward comprehensive campaign and has been instrumental in advancing key initiatives that elevate donor engagement and support for the university. Robertson works closely with campus leaders on principal gift development and oversees WFAA’s development, alumni engagement, marketing, advancement services, and human resources teams. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Previously, Robertson served as associate dean for external relations at the Wisconsin School of Business, where she led marketing, alumni relations, and annual giving.

Ricky C. Sandler (BBA ’91) is the founder, chief executive officer, and chief investment officer of Eminence Capital, LP, which he founded in 1999. Today, Eminence is a nearly $7 billion global investment management organization, investing client capital across global financial markets. As CEO and CIO of Eminence, Sandler is responsible for setting the firm’s strategic direction as well as directly managing its 20+ person investment team and diversified investment portfolio.

Prior to launching Eminence, Sandler was co-founder and co-general partner of Fusion Capital Management, a firm that managed a long/short hedge fund focused on global equity securities. Prior to that he was a research analyst at Mark Asset Management, where he began his investing career in 1991.

Sandler received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance, graduating with honors from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Ricky developed and teaches a Capstone Finance course at Wisconsin, Applied Equity Markets Research, and launched Badgers in Finance: a professional and recruitment network for UW–Madison students and alumni across financial services. Sandler also serves as an advisor on the Investment Committee for the University of Wisconsin Foundation and is a chartered financial analyst.

John Stecher (BS ’01) is the chief technology officer of Blackstone. Stecher is responsible for all aspects of technology across Blackstone, advises the firm’s investment teams, and acts as a resource to portfolio companies on technology-related matters.

Before joining Blackstone, Stecher was a managing director, chief technology officer, and chief innovation officer at Barclays, based in New York, and was also a member of the Barclays Technology Management Committee. Prior to joining Barclays in August 2017, Stecher worked for Goldman Sachs where he held a variety of senior management and engineering roles across the firm’s capital markets and technology divisions, and most recently built their Marcus-branded consumer finance division.

Stecher has had an extensive career in technology and engineering across industry sectors. He was appointed as an IBM Master Inventor and led application development, architecture, and strategy for IBM’s WebSphere product line in the Software Group, and he delivered/created over 45 patents across several diverse problem spaces.

Stecher holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Master of Science in computer science from the University of Minnesota.