VCPE Conference Keynote Speeches
2026 Keynote Speakers:
Joshua Kushner
Founder & CEO, Thrive Capital, Founder of Oscar Health
Joshua Kushner is an entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder and CEO at Thrive Capital, an investment firm that builds and invests in companies in the technology industry. Thrive Capital has a broad, opportunistic mandate that has remained consistent since its founding: to co-found companies with exceptional entrepreneurs, invest in early-stage companies with a strong product focus and category-defining companies at the late stages. Since inception, Thrive has invested in ~200 companies and currently manages ~$25BN of assets. Joshua is also the vice chairman and co-founder of Oscar, a publicly-traded health insurance company transforming the healthcare industry through the use of technology, data and design.
Craig Packer
Co-President and Board of Directors of Blue Owl Capital Inc.
Craig W. Packer is Co-President of Blue Owl Capital Inc. and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. He also serves as Head of Blue Owl’s Credit platform and Co-Chief Investment Officer for each of the Blue Owl Credit Advisers, as well as Chief Executive Officer of the firm’s Business Development Companies (BDCs). Prior to co-founding Owl Rock Capital Partners, the predecessor to Blue Owl’s Credit platform, Craig was a Partner and Co-Head of Leveraged Finance in the Americas at Goldman Sachs, where he was named Partner in 2008. Earlier in his career, he was Global Head of High Yield Capital Markets at Credit Suisse First Boston and began his career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Craig serves on several nonprofit and university boards and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from the University of Virginia.
Mar Hershenson
Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Pear VC
Mar Hershenson is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Pear VC, where she leads investments across multiple sectors. A Stanford PhD in Electrical Engineering, Mar previously co-founded three startups and holds 14 patents. She teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford, serves on the boards of Harvey Mudd College and Carnegie Mellon’s ECE department, and is a founder of the Equity Summit and a founding member of All Raise. She has been recognized on the Forbes Midas List from 2021–2025.
Verdun Perry
Global Head of Strategic Partners and Senior Managing Director at Blackstone
Verdun Perry is the Global Head of Blackstone Strategic Partners, one of the world’s largest secondary fund managers with over $90 billion in assets under management. Since joining the firm at its founding in 2000, he has overseen more than 2,000 secondary and co-investment transactions across private equity, real estate, venture capital, and infrastructure.
Mr. Perry founded Blackstone’s Diverse Professionals Network (DPN) and served as its first Chair. He is also Vice-Chairman of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) and Chairman of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation. In addition, he serves on the boards of Morehouse College, the Partnership for Education Advancement, and the New York Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund.
Mr. Perry earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BA magna cum laude from Morehouse College, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa.
Kim Lew
President & CEO of the Columbia Investment Management Company
Kim Y. Lew is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Columbia Investment Management Company, responsible for managing the University’s endowment. She came to Columbia from Carnegie Corporation of New York, where she worked for more than a decade, most recently as Vice President and Chief Investment Officer.
Lew began her career at Chemical Bank as a credit analyst, after receiving her BS in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She went on to graduate with an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1992, after which she joined Prudential Capital Group and then the Ford Foundation, where she spent more than a decade, first as a portfolio strategist investing in the technology sector and then as a senior manager responsible for the organization’s private equity investments.
Former HBS VCPE Conference Keynote Speakers:
Sean Klimczak
Global Head of Infrastructure and Senior Managing Director at Blackstone | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2025
Mamoon Hamid
Partner at Kleiner Perkins | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2025
Maya Noeth
Partner at Accel | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2024
David Roux
BayPine (Managing Partner) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2022
Ramzi Musallam
CEO of Veritas Capital | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2024
Suyi Kim
Global Head of Private Equity, CPP Investments | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2024
Anne Miura-Ko
Floodgate (Co-Founding Partner) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2019
Dayna Grayson
Construct Capital (Co-Founder & General Partner) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2020
Jim Breyer
Breyer Capital (Founder & CEO) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2020
John Connaughton
Bain Capital (Co-Managing Partner) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2017
José E. Feliciano
Clearlake Capital (Co-Founder & Managing Partner) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2023
Margot Wirth
CalSTRS (Director of PE) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2023
Meg Whitman
Quibi (Chief Executive Officer) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2022
Paul Maeder
Highland Capital Partners (Founder & General Partner) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2018
David M. Rubenstein
Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2025
Alissa Wood
Partner & Co-CEO at KKR Private Equity | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2025
Jay Sammons
Co-Founder & Managing Partner at SKKY Partners | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2024
Joel Cutler
General Catalyst (Co-Founder & Managing Director) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2019
Jonathan Sokoloff
Leonard Green & Partners (Managing Partner) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2021
Holly Maloney McConnell
General Catalyst (Managing Director) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2018
Kewsong Lee
Carlyle Group (Chief Executive Officer) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2018
Matt Nord
Apollo Global (Partner, Co-Head of PE) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2021
Noah Knauf
KPCB (General Partner) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2017
Rick Schifter
TPG Inc. (Senior Advisor) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2019
Sarah Cannon
Coatue (General Partner & Head of Europe Private Investments) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2023
Sean Klimczak
Blackstone (Global Head of Infrastructure) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2018
Tony James
Blackstone (Executive Vice Chairman) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2020
Yup Kim
CalPERS (Investment Director - Private Equity) | Keynote Speaker @ HBS VCPE Conference 2022