Kristen Van Gelder is Partner and Co-CIO at Evanston Capital Mangement, where she has spent her entire career since college. 

We begin our conversation with the roots of Kristen’s career, which corresponds quite closely with the roots and growth of Evanston Capital Management from the Northwestern University Endowment Management Team. Her career has spanned a significant period in the evolution and use of hedge funds in a portfolio and we spend some time on this, given the enduring focus on Evanston on this particular asset class.

It has been an exciting summer, but we have managed to squeeze in a set of global guests for Series 4 of our 2025 Fiftyfaces Podcast – which takes us from the evolving world of hedge funds and the support infrastructure needed, to emerging market equities to late-stage venture capital to public pension pooling.

Kelly Chesney is principal and co-founder of Pluscios Management, a fund of hedge funds manager based in the Chicago area. The firm, founded in 2006, has two female founders, and we interviewed Connie Teska, the other founder, in this earlier episode of the Fiftyfaces Podcast.  She has a long history in investment management, particularly in the area of funds of hedge funds, investing and consulting and started her career as an attorney.

Caroline Lovelace is Founding Partner at Rose Hill Park Alternative Asset Managers, as well as Preserver Partners as CIO and Co-Portfolio Manager. Preserver is diverse-owned and Memphis-based. It runs a multi-strategy fund that invests through external managers. She has had an extensive career in researching and investing in hedge funds and in promoting emerging private equity and hedge fund investment programs.

Laura Sage is CEO at Chill Anywhere, and Co-Founder of the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation.  She has previously held a series of advisory and business development roles at different financial institutions including hedge funds. Our conversation starts with her financial career, and the grueling travel schedule that accompanied it.  She describes her pivot to wellness and what led her to think about a solution for employing a holistic approach to health and wellness in the workplace.

Michael Halpern is Founder and President of Westmore Capital Advisors, a multi-strategy investment firm that invests across asset classes focused on early stage/growth capital companies as well as investments in more established companies undergoing substantial transformation.  He was previously Co-Managing Member and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Dorchester Capital Advisors, a fund management firm that invested in hedge funds, private equity funds and secondary hedge fund interests. Prior to that he ran a long/short hedge fund Dorchester Advisors that he founded in 1991. He previously held a series of roles in financial services in the Los Angeles area and currently holds a number of Board Roles.

Jennifer Coffey is Chief Executive Officer at Bright Capital Advisors, a firm she founded a decade ago that focus on capital introductions and placement for a range of alternative asset managers.  She started her career in foreign exchange research at Lehman Brothers and worked in hedge funds for many years.