Kara Gula joined Third Point in 2012.  Prior to joining Third Point, Ms. Gula was a member of the private equity origination and project management team at Park Hill Group, formerly a subsidiary of Blackstone.  Previously, Ms. Gula was an investment banking analyst in the Structured Finance Division at Goldman, Sachs & Co.  Ms. Gula holds a B.A. cum laude in Accounting and Finance with a minor in English from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Deborah Gunn is Seattle-based art advisor for the Faurschou Foundation with locations in Copenhagen, Beijing, and New York.  Ms. Gunn previously served as Associate Director, Art Finance of the Vulcan Art Collections, where she was responsible for all transactions, and oversight of day-to-day collection management.  She is a member of The Association of Professional Art Advisors and provides advice and assistance with assessment, development and stewardship of collections, including advising on acquisitions and deaccessions, art investments, installations, care and conservation, loans and exhibitions.

James Haft has been at the forefront of the global investment banking and venture capital industries for over 30 years, focusing on emerging markets and early stage disruptors in the tech ecosystem globally. He is a frequent speaker at blockchain industry events and the co-founder of CryptoMondays, the largest decentralized community of blockchain and distributed ledger enthusiasts.

James has been advisor to over 100 venture-backed and distributed ledger-based entities and is the:

• Founder of PALcapital, an advisory and VC formed in 1996 to create opportunities based upon on the impact of the digitization of information and communications on business and society. The firm has been focussed exclusively on distributed ledger technologies and blockchain since 2016; investing in and advising entrepreneurs and investors
• Co-founder of CryptoMondays, a decentralized global community of 13,000+ members that share a passion for Crypto with presence in 26 countries and 56 cities;
• Co-founder of CryptoOracle, the community-first VC supporting the emerging global decentralized digital economy;
• Co-Founder of CryptoCommons, a decentralized platform offering shared working spaces to the crypto community globally;
• Co-founder of ClimateCoin, a utility asset to democratize the carbon system; and
• Co-founder of  NXTPLabs, the leading tech accelerator in Latin America, which is now supported by the World Bank and has invested in 200+ companies in that eco-system.
• Co-founder of com, the leading global site for the marketing of condominiums.

Previously, James was MD of Asian Investment Banking in Hong Kong for Bear Stearns, where he was responsible for the first listing of a Chinese company on the NYSE. He was the MD of Latin American Equity Capital Markets at INGBarings, and founder and MD of Emerging Markets Investment Banking at Furman Selz.

James earned an AB in Economics from Vassar College and a JD/MBA from Emory University’s schools of Business and Law.

 

 

A second-generation art dealer, Daniel Hamparsumyan has been developing an international private and corporate client base since the late 1980’s.

He has focused on both the primary contemporary market as well as the secondary market of American and European paintings, sculpture and works on paper ranging from Modern to Contemporary Art. Prior to joining Leila Heller Gallery as a director in September 2012, Mr. Hamparsumyan held his first position as assistant director at Galerie Framond in Paris, was the director of the Helen Drutt Gallery and then of Loveed Fine Arts in New York. These positions allowed him to expand his range of contacts and sources in various parts of the expanding global art market as well as nurture invaluable relationships with private collectors, museum directors, curators and critics. In addition, he worked with Leila Heller in New York from the mid to late 1990’s, dealing privately in 20th Century and Contemporary Art. Since joining Leila Heller Gallery, he has been in a position to develop his expertise in the expanding Middle Eastern art market, traveling extensively to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Istanbul.

Raised in Paris, Daniel Hamparsumyan graduated from the University of Paris Law School, majoring in Business Law and completed his BA in Contemporary Art from l’Ecole du Louvre in Paris.

Ed possesses a wealth of experience as an investment professional.  As Managing Member of Alternative Strategy Institute (ASI), he serves as an investment and operational senior advisor to several large family offices, financial and financial technology firms.  Prior to ASI, Ed was Chief Operating Officer of Castle Lanterra Properties, a multi-billion-dollar real estate investment firm.  Ed was also Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of Quest Global Advisors, a convertible arbitrage hedge fund.  Prior to Quest, he was Head of Hedge Fund Investment and Operational Due Diligence at Stamos Capital Partners, where he was a Partner and member of the Investment Committee.   Ed was Head of Risk Management for Royal Bank of Canada’s Alternative Assets Group, and Global Head of Hedge Fund Investment Due Diligence for Merrill Lynch’s $20 billion Hedge Access Platform.

Ed began his investment career as a fixed income Portfolio Manager at Nomura Securities (Tokyo), where he specialized in esoteric instruments and oversaw a $3.7 billion asset-backed fund of funds portfolio.  Ed has evaluated the investment, operational, and compliance programs of myriad investment managers, and has a deep understanding of investment and operational best practices.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree from The Pennsylvania State University and is a CFA Charterholder.