The SPEC Team includes:

Second-Year Officers

  Adam Rainey
Co-President & Co-Conference Chair
Prior to Stern, Adam was a Senior Associate with Kormendi \ Gardner Partners ("KGP"), a boutique investment banking and private equity firm. Before leaving KGP he worked on the analysis and structuring of potential investments for a $300 million European-focused private equity fund. Prior to that, he worked on a variety of advisory projects including: the sale of a $150 million private equity holding in Paris; a solvency opinion for a bankruptcy involving $350 million (book value) of assets; the estimation of variable annuity fund dilution in an SEC market timing case; and the estimation of $100 million of economic damages arising from a bank’s loss of intangible assets. During the summer of 2009, Adam interned as a Summer Associate in the investment banking division of Jefferies & Company, Inc. in New York, working primarily in the Mergers & Acquisitions group. Adam is currently pursuing an M.B.A. from the NYU Stern School of Business with specializations in Finance and Quantitative Finance. He holds a B.B.A. in Finance from James Madison University.

  Igor Vishnevetsky
Co-President & Co-Conference Chair
Before coming to NYU Stern, Igor spent 4 years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management as an Institutional Sales Associate where he sold investment management products including alternative products to large corporate pension funds with AUM above $1B. Prior to Goldman Sachs, he was an Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers Transaction Services Group where he represented strategic and private equity firms on merger and acquisition, audit and forensic projects. This past summer he worked for Fidequity, a London-based firm which provides private equity advisory services to Limited Partners and General Partners in primary and secondary markets. Igor has lived and studied overseas in Spain, England and Russia and received his B.S. in Accounting CPA from Syracuse University in 2001.

  Veronica Clemens
Director of Communications
Prior to coming to Stern, Veronica worked at Citi Investment Research doing Latin America Equity Strategy. Before that she spent three years at the Council of the Americas in New York City, the country's premier international business organization dedicated to fostering communication and eliminating barriers between U.S. multinational companies and Latin American countries. She holds a BA from the University of Virginia and, upon graduation, plans to pursue a career in Private Equity or Investment Banking.

  Charles Macon
Director of Alumni Relations
Before coming to Stern, Charles worked in Boston Massachusetts for TA Associates Realty, a private equity real estate company with over $12 billion in assets under management. At TA, Charles worked as a Real Estate Analyst doing valuation, portfolio management, dispositions and underwriting acquisitions. Prior to joining TA Associates Realty, Charles was a portfolio analyst with the Columbia Management Group, an investment management division of Bank of America. Currently, Charles is studying for his MBA at New York University’s Leonard N. School of Business and is specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. Charles received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University.

  Scott Cohen
Director of Education and Events
Before coming to Stern, Scott worked in the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Transaction Services group. At PricewaterhouseCoopers, Scott was a manager who performed a wide range of services that included Financial Due Diligence, IPOs, LBOs, and technical accounting advice for Fortune 500 companies. Prior to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Scott worked at Kroll Zolfo Cooper performing forensic accounting and was an auditor at KPMG LLP. Currently, Scott is studying for his MBA at New York University’s Stern School of Business and is specializing in finance and operations. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.A. in Economics, and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York.

  Pat Kosiek
Director of Corporate Development & Sponsorship
Prior to attending Stern, Pat worked as a sports marketing advisor at talent agency CSMG Sports. While at CSMG, Pat negotiated over $4 million dollars in domestic and international endorsement deals for top clients such as Chris Bosh, Antwaan Randle El, Chien Ming-Wang and Felix Hernandez. Pat later worked in a business development role at CSMG where he originated and managed national sports media properties. Pat received his B.A. from Colgate University, where he majored in International Relations and was an intramural flag football champion. He is a member of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship.

  Ryan Deegan
Director of Part-Time Students
Ryan is an NYU Stern MBA student in the Langone part-time program. Currently Ryan is an Associate within GE Capital's Leveraged Finance group specializing in underwriting leveraged loans for Sponsor related take-private and M&A transactions. Prior to that, he worked as an Investment Analyst for GE Capital in Chicago where he performed corporate asset valuation and collateral diligence for both Sponsor and non-Sponsor related transactions. Ryan received his B.A. in Finance from Michigan State University.

  Justin Kenlon
Director of Technology
As a technology and strategy consultant with Sapient Corporation for 5 years, Justin led strategy, marketing, and implementation teams to success with clients across commercial and government sectors. Each engagement was focused on integrating the launch of early-stage IT and BPR solutions into next-level rounds of funding. This summer, he worked with IBM's Extreme Blue program leading small teams through start-up phase business development and preparing those products for early-stage funding. Holding a B.S. in Ethics, History, & Public Policy and an M.S. in Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, Justin is pursuing his MBA intent on the optimization of investment returns, innovation, and social impact.

Taaha Shaikh
Director of Alternative Asset Programming
Prior to Stern to NYU Stern, Taaha spent two years at Morgan Stanley as an analyst in the Infrastructure Banking group working primarily for public sector clients. Taaha joined Morgan Stanley from Citigroup’s Investment Banking Strategy team where he consulted on potential business restructurings within Citigroup’s Corporate and Investment Banking divisions. Over the summer of 2009, Taaha interned at Thornton Holdings LLC, a private equity firm focused on renewable energy infrastructure investments in the emerging markets. Upon leaving Stern, Taaha would like to focus on private equity and investment opportunities in the emerging markets. Taaha holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University.

  Rafael Quintella
Director of International Career Development
Prior to NYU Stern, Rafael was an investment banking senior analyst at Banif Investment Banking in Portugal and Brazil where he worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions group for two years. Prior to Banif Investment Banking, Rafael was a consultant with Ernst & Young in the Transaction Advisory Services (corporate finance) group in Sao Paulo. Rafael received his BA in Business Administration from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Currently, Rafael is studying for his MBA at New York University’s Stern School of Business and is specializing in corporate finance and entrepreneurship. During the last summer, Rafael worked in the business development team of Coty Inc in projects related to Latin America.

First-Year Officers

Open Positions:

• Executive Conference Committee
• Vice President, Education and Events
• Vice President, Alumni Affairs
• Vice President, Communications
• Vice President, Technology
• Vice President, International
• Vice President, Finance & Administration

• Position(s) of interest to you (up to two)
• Why you would be an effective SPEC officer