StreetWise Partners Board of Directors Biographies

Orlando D. Ashford is a Managing Partner at Mercer, leading the firm's new business expansion in corporate board, CEO and C-suite effectiveness. Mr. Ashford also leads Mercer's consulting services in change management, diversity, and executive talent development. Previous, Orlando was the Chief HR and Communications Officer of Marsh and McLennan Companies, Inc. As Chief HR and Communications Officer, he served as the lead employee advocate for 50,000 employees in more than 100 countries. He and his team provided leadership on all aspects of Human Resources and Communications, including talent management, media relations and employee communications, diversity, compensation and benefits, and HR operations. Prior to Marsh & McLennan, Mr. Ashford was with the Coca-Cola Company, as Group Director of Human Resources for Eurasia and Africa based in Istanbul, Turkey. Previously, Mr. Ashford was Vice President, Global HR Strategy and Organizational Development for Motorola, Inc. He has also held leadership positions with Mercer Delta Consulting, Ameritech, and Andersen Consulting. In 2010, Mr. Ashford was named by Savoy Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America”. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), and serves on advisory boards for Purdue University School of Technology, University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and Ladders.com. Mr. Ashford holds a BS in organizational leadership and an MS in industrial technology both from Purdue University. In 2006, he received Purdue University School of Technology Distinguished Alumni Award.

Singleton Beato is an award winning Human Resources leader with over twenty years of business experience spanning various industries including advertising, financial services, banking, media, real estate development, fitness and entertainment. As part of the management team for the American Association of Advertising Agencies, and in her current role as Senior Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, Singleton is responsible to oversee, design and/or support diversity and inclusion programming efforts that span the marketing and communications industry. In her previous role as Director of Human Resources for the marketing communications giant JWT, Singleton was responsible for the design, delivery and management of strategic people-centric programs for more than 700 employees. In 2009, Singleton established the first broad reaching and comprehensive Workforce Inclusion program for JWT. This successful pioneering effort was publicly acknowledged when the American Advertising Federation presented Singleton with the Educator award at the 2009 Diversity Achievement and Mosaic ceremony. Singleton serves on numerous Boards of Directors for the private, non-profit, and education sectors. Singleton lives in Teaneck, New Jersey, with her husband Marino, and son, Greyson.

Ben has been involved with StreetWise Partners in numerous capacities since its inception. Ben has experience as a Partner, Officer, Director of the San Francisco program and a Board of Advisors member. Mr. Chrnelich is currently the Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative & Financial Officer of NYSE Technologies, a leader in providing complete connectivity, data management and transaction solutions for investment banks, broker dealers, hedge funds and financial markets throughout the world. Prior to joining the NYSE, Ben was the Chief Administrative Officer for Equity Sales and Trading at Lehman Brothers. Ben also has held positions as the Controller for Schwab Capital Markets and a Vice President - Finance at Robertson Stephens in San Francisco, and with PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York in their Capital Markets Audit and Business Advisory group. Ben is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. in Accounting.

Brian is a Managing Director at Barclays Capital. He is responsible for several areas within technology including the award-winning “Barclays Capital Live” Research and Ecommerce platform. Prior to Barclays, Brian was at Lehman Brothers for eighteen years. He was based in London for six years and Tokyo for eight years (where he was Chief Technology Officer for Asia). Since 2004 he has lived and worked in New York. Brian became involved with StreetWise (as an officer) in 2007 and became the organization’s champion when he transitioned to Barclays in 2008. He was instrumental in helping establish the New Jersey program in the Barclays Jersey City office. Brian was born and raised in Ireland and has a business degree from University College Dublin.

Mr. Fariborz joined the StreetWise Partners Board in 2007. Mr. Fariborz is a Partner in the New York office of BC Partners. Prior to joining BC Partners, Mr. Fariborz was employed by Hellman & Friedman as well as The Carlyle Group. Mr. Fariborz graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and earned an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School.

Matt, the Founder of StreetWise Partners and former Chairman of StreetWise Partners for 12 years, is a co-founder and Managing Partner at Contour Venture Partners, an early stage venture capital firm based in New York. Matt was previously with Promontory Financial Group, a merchant banking firm focused on the financial services sector, where he helped launch Promontory Interfinancial Network. Previously he worked for Red Hat as Business Development Manager in its Strategic Planning & Corporate Development group. Matt also worked at Morgan Stanley within its strategic venture capital fund, concentrating on making investments in early-stage financial services companies. Prior to entering business school, he was a turnaround consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in its Financial Advisory Services group. Matt received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and B.A. in Economics and American Studies from Brandeis University, where he was an NCAA Academic All-American for tennis.

Brian has volunteered with StreetWise Partners since the spring of 2000 and was most recently a member of the Advisory Board. Brian helped co-found Glocap and is currently Head of the Private Equity Practice. At Glocap Brian oversees several aspects of the Executive Recruiting division and personally focuses placing experienced Principal and Partner-level investment professionals into Venture Capital and LBO funds. From his experience over the past 7 years covering the Private Equity industry, Brian has developed a deep insight on emerging compensation and hiring trends that allows for a more consultative approach when advising clients on shaping their core staffing/growth strategies. Before joining Glocap, Brian worked at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (DMG) focusing mainly on corporate finance transactions in the telecommunications sector. Brian has a BS from the Wharton School in Economics with concentrations in finance and accounting.

Christine Lattanzio leads PricewaterhouseCoopers' New York Metro Real Estate Tax practice and has over 15 years of experience providing federal, state, local and international tax services to clients in the financial services industry.

Christine focuses her practice on large private equity fund groups, including real estate and infrastructure funds, and has significant industry-specific experience with the business and tax technical issues that arise in funds sponsored by banks and other large financial institutions.

In addition to her work at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Christine has worked in the tax department of a publicly traded real estate company and practiced law with a global law firm. Christine holds an A.B. from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, a J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and an LL.M. in Taxation from the New York University School of Law.

Mr. Lukaj has almost 20 years of investment banking experience having originated, structured and executed transactions totaling well over $100 billion of transaction value. Mr. Lukaj is a founder and chief executive of Bank Street Holdings and aspires to create a premier middle market investment banking franchise focused on growth sectors of the global economy. Mr. Lukaj has executed hundreds of transactions over the course of his successful investment banking career, ranging in variety from mergers and acquisitions, underwriting of debt, equity and derivative securities, restructurings, exclusive sales, and other financial advisory mandates. Previously during his career at Bear Stearns, he contributed meaningfully to the development of one of the strongest investment banking franchises on Wall Street. Although heavily weighted towards the Media, Communications and Technology industries in recent years, he also has a very broad industry experience in Industrial, Consumer, Retailing, Energy, Aerospace, Specialty Finance, Real Estate and Natural Resources arenas. Mr. Lukaj attended New York University and resides in Greenwich, CT.

Claire Silberman is a retired lawyer and current philanthropist/activist. Claire practiced corporate litigation and banking law until 1997. She occasionally consulted in the financial compliance area of Promontory Financial Group, a consulting firm for global financial services companies, from 2002-2006. Claire is a board member for several organizations in addition to StreetWise Partners: She serves on the Stanford Law School Board of Visitors and on the Sierra Club National Advancement Council, and is a Board Member for the Women's Campaign Forum and Women's Voices Women Vote. Claire is also on the Board of The Tank, a nonprofit performing arts venue for emerging artists of all genres. She occasionally consults to the Carbon Disclosure Project, which works with corporations to monitor their greenhouse gas emissions. Claire previously served on the board for The HOPE Program, a welfare-to-work organization based in Brooklyn, New York. Her philanthropy is focused on at-risk populations, progressive organizations and environmental groups. Additionally, she serves on the Citizens Union State Affairs Committee and the Public Service Committee of the New York City Bar Association.
Claire holds a BA and JD from Stanford University, and has lived in Brooklyn Heights with her husband and kids since 1988. She was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama.