Beyond the Backlog: How exit overhang could trigger the next deal wave

Lisa is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Secondaries and Liquidity Solutions (SLS) team within BlackRock Private Financing Solutions (PFS). She is a member of the SLS Investment Committee and is responsible for all aspects of the SLS business including investment strategy, deal sourcing, structuring and execution, portfolio construction, risk management and business development/capital formation.   

Prior to joining BlackRock, Lisa was an Investment Principal at Coller Capital, a global private capital secondaries firm, where she was responsible for origination, diligence and execution of secondary deals across a variety of structures including LP portfolios, GP-led continuation vehicles, single asset transactions, co-investments, fund preferred equity and corporate/captive team spinouts.

Sola leads Preqin’s global Company Intelligence product, overseeing the development and expansion of one of the industry’s leading datasets on private companies. Preqin serves over 200,000 professionals worldwide, and its Company Intelligence platform supports deal sourcing, due diligence, and company screening workflows across private equity, venture capital, private credit, real assets, and other alternative asset classes.  

With nearly two decades of experience in the financial information industry across Europe and North America, Sola has built a career at the intersection of data, technology, and investment workflows. He is a frequent speaker at leading M&A, private equity, and alternative investment conferences, where he advocates for greater transparency and smarter use of data in private markets.  

Prior to joining Preqin, Sola was Global Head of Deals & Data Content at Acuris, where he led a global team delivering market-defining data and insights for the M&A, private equity, and debt markets. During his tenure, he was instrumental in scaling the firm’s content and data operations to serve many of the world’s top investment banks, law firms, and asset managers.  

Sola received his BA in Philosophy from King’s College London.

Luke has been a part of the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) Investment Office since 1998, with many roles over the years, including working with their Emerging Manager Program. Prior to his role at PSERS, he worked at the Pennsylvania Treasury Department. He has been working with their private equity portfolio since 2012. Luke graduated with a B.S in Finance and Management from Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, PA, where he is originally from. He holds both the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations.  

PSERS has roughly a $10.5 billion PE portfolio, which accounts for about 12% of their total plan assets, which is currently at approximately $81.5 billion. They have approximately 70 GPs and 150 funds that are active. PSERS has been investing in private equity since the mid 1980’s. They have an internally managed co-investment program, which goes back to 2012. This has been a key driver of their overall performance over the years.

Chirag is a Managing Director in the secondary advisory team at Campbell Lutyens and has 20 years of experience across private equity globally. Prior to joining Campbell Lutyens, Chirag spent nearly 15 years as an investor leading fund investments and co-investments at top institutional investment organizations, including the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, DB Private Equity, and GE Asset Management. Most recently, Chirag was a Senior Portfolio Manager at the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, an $80+ billion sovereign endowment and one of the world’s premier investors in private equity. He began his career in investment banking at Citi / Salomon Smith Barney in New York and Singapore focusing on mergers and acquisitions and financings.  

Chirag has also been actively involved in the broader alternatives industry. He is an advisory board member of the Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Center for Private Equity Finance at The University of Texas in Austin. Chirag recently served on the Global Capital Markets Advisory Council of the Milken Institute and the Limited Partner Advisory Council for SEO’s Alternatives Investments program.  

He received his BBA and MBA from The University of Texas in Austin and sits on the New York for McCombs Council.