2025 Texas Private Equity Conference

Friday, February 28, 2025

8:00-8:30 am

Registration and Breakfast

8:30-9:00 am

Welcome: Ken Wiles, Executive Director, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Center for Private Equity Finance, McCombs School of Business

Speaker: Lillian Mills, Dean, McCombs School of Business

9:00-10:15 am

Panel 1: Managing Private Capital Funds During Technological, Economic, and Regulatory Uncertainty

Description: Private Equity fundraising, deal, and exit activity have declined materially since the beginning in 2022 after the Federal Reserve began increasing interest rates. US PE exits in 2021, for example, totaled approximately $841 billion and declined to $302 billion in 2022, $277 billion in 2023, and $417 billion in 2024. As a result, providing liquidity to LPs has become a focus for GPs as evidenced by the increase in secondary offering and continuation funds. Market dynamics continue to change as the Fed begins to pursue a more accommodative monetary policy and a new federal administration modifies regulatory oversight. The industry still confronts increased capital costs, elevated geopolitical uncertainty, higher returns from publicly traded assets, private credit, and changing investor preferences. Despite these challenges US PE Funds have more than $900 of dry powder to deploy. This panel will address private capital investments vehicles, liquidity, pricing, fees, fundraising, asset allocation, exits, and other fund strategies in a dynamic economic environment.

Moderator: Chirag H. Shah, Managing Director, Secondary Advisory, Campbell Lutyens

Panelists:

• Miguel Espinosa, Managing Director, Nomura Securities
• David Fox, Partner, Co-Head of Sage Fund, Leonard Green & Partners
• Eric Lang, Senior Managing Director, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
• Anthony Tutrone, Managing Director, Neuberger Berman

10:15-10:45 am

Break

10:45 am – 12:00 pm

Panel 2: Driving Operational Excellence and Value Creation in Portfolio Companies

Description: Economic uncertainly and a challenging exit market affects the management of portfolio companies. The cost of capital may decline, but longer holding periods are exerting downward pressure on returns. Driving operating results has become the predominant source of returns, sources of capital are changing, deal terms are more investor friendly, exit opportunities have diminished, valuations have declined, consumer and business spending is under pressure, and investor preferences are changing. The technology landscape continues to change with AI creating uncertainty and opportunities for investors. This panel will address the management of companies under dynamic market conditions, the search for value creation, restructuring and turnaround strategies, and emerging market opportunities.

Moderator: Brian Hegi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Crossplane Capital

Panelists:

• Craig Bondy, Senior Advisor, GTCR
• Shawn O’Neill, Senior Advisor, SilverLake
• David Strassner, Managing Director, Swan & Legend
• Hilary Fleischer, Managing Director, Strattam Capital

12:00-12:30 pm

Break

12:30-1:45 pm

Lunch and Fireside Chat: Joe Lonsdale, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Palantir/8VC and Ken Wiles, Executive Director, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Center for Private Equity Finance, McCombs School of Business

Introduction of HMTF Scholarship Recipients: Jonathan Cohn, Academic Director, HMTF Private Equity Center, McCombs School of Business

1:45-3:00 pm

Networking Reception

Joe Lonsdale

Joe Lonsdale

Founder and Managing Partner, 8VC

Joe Lonsdale is the Founder and Managing Partner at 8VC, an early-stage venture capital firm managing over $6 billion in capital. In 2003, he founded Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR), a global software company known for its work supporting US and its allies’ defense and intelligence. Since then, he has founded over a dozen prominent companies, including Addepar, a wealth management platform helping investors manage over $7 trillion, and OpenGov, the leading cloud software provider for local governments which recently sold for $1.8 billion. He continues to create and scale companies through the 8VC Build program.

Joe was an early investor in Anduril, Oculus (acq. FB), Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH), Oscar (NYSE:OSCR), Illumio, Wish (NASDAQ:WISH), JoyTunes, Blend (NYSE:BLND), Flexport, Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY), Orca Bio, Qualia, Synthego, RelateIQ (acq. CRM), Yugabyte, among many others.

Joe and his wife Tayler are active in a variety of philanthropic and institutional pursuits. In 2018, they founded the non-partisan Cicero Institute, which crafts and advances policies to promote effective and accountable governance, and is now successfully battling special interests with teams in over a dozen states. In 2021, Joe became the founding chairman of the board of the University of Austin (UATX), a new university dedicated to restoring the pursuit of truth in higher education. He also sits on the board of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute.

Joe, Tayler, and their five children live in Austin, TX

We do not have a room block for these hotels.

AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center
1900 University Ave.
Austin, TX 78705
Phone: 512-404-1900
Toll-free: 877-744-8822

Hampton Inn & Suites Austin at The University/Capitol
1701 Lavaca Street
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: 512-499-8881

Hotel Ella
1900 Rio Grande Street
Austin, TX 78705
Phone: 512-495-1800

DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotels
303 W. 15th Street
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: 512-478-7000

AC Hotel Austin-University
1901 San Antonio Street
Austin, TX 78705
Phone: 512-473-8920

Hilton Garden Inn Austin-University Capitol District
301 W. 17th Street
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: 512-319-3333

2024

8:00-8:30 am
Registration & Breakfast

8:30-9:00 am
Welcome: Ken Wiles, Executive Director, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Center for Private Equity Finance, McCombs School of Business
Speaker: Lillian Mills, Dean, McCombs School of Business

9:00-10:15 am
Panel 1: Managing Private Capital Funds During Economic Uncertainty
Private Equity fundraising, deal, and exit activity declined materially beginning in 2022. PE exits during the first three quarters of 2021, for example, totaled approximately $700 billion and declined to about $185 billion during the first three quarters of 2023. Private capital markets continue to confront restrictive Federal Reserve monetary policy objectives, increased capital costs, elevated geopolitical uncertainty, regulatory uncertainty, higher returns from publicly traded assets, and changing investor preferences. Despite these challenges PE Funds have more than $3.7 trillion of dry powder to deploy. This panel will address private capital, pricing, fundraising, asset allocation, and other fund strategies in an uncertain economic environment.
Moderator: Matt Lyons, Wilson Sonsini
Panelists:
Ashley Baum, Senior Director and Head of Special Opportunities, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Shawn O’Neill, Managing Partner, Silver Lake
George Seay, Founder and Chairman, Annandale Capital
Carlos Whitaker, Sr. Managing Director, Blackstone Credit

10:15-10:45 am
Break

10:45 am – 12:00 pm
Panel 2: Driving Portfolio Company Values and Returns in Challenging Markets
Economic uncertainly affects the companies in which PE firms invest. The cost of capital has increased, sources of capital are changing, deal terms are more investor friendly, exit opportunities have diminished, valuations have declined, consumer and business spending has begun to soften, and investor risk preferences are changing. This panel will address the management of companies under uncertain market conditions, value creation, restructuring and turnaround strategies, and emerging investment opportunities.
Moderator: Ken Wiles, Executive Director, HMTF Private Equity Center
Panelists:
George Ackert, Sr. Managing Director, Evercore
Brian Hegi, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Crossplane Capital
Jeffrey Klein, Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal
David Lorch, Managing Director, Cerberus Capital Management

12:00-12:30 pm
Break

12:30-1:45 pm
Lunch and Fireside Chat: Bill Gurley, General Partner, Benchmark. and Britt Harris, Founding Advisor, On Eagles Wings Advisors
Introduction of HMTF Scholarship Recipients: Jonathan Cohn, Academic Director, HMTF Private Equity Center, McCombs School of Business

1:45-3:00 pm
Networking Reception

2023

8:30-9:00 am
Registration and Breakfast

9:00-9:15 am
Opening Comments
Welcome: Ken Wiles, HMTF Private Equity Center
Speaker: Ethan Burris, Senior Associate Dean, McCombs School of Business

9:15-10:00 am
Keynote Speaker: Pia Orrenius, Vice President and Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

10:00-10:15 am
Break

10:15-11:15 am
Panel 1: Private Equity: Creating Value in an Era of Economic Uncertainty
Private Equity and Debt fundraising, deal, and exit activity remained robust during the first half of 2022 generating more than $3 trillion of dry powder available to invest. During the second half of the year, as the Federal Reserve began aggressively raising interest rates and withdrawing liquidity from the markets, uncertainty about economic conditions led to a substantial decline in deal and exit activity across all sectors of the private capital markets. This panel will address private capital, pricing, fundraising, asset allocation, and other strategies in an uncertain economic environment.
Moderator: Ken Wiles, Executive Director, HMTF Private Equity Center
Panelists:
Ashley Baum, Director of Special Opportunities, Teacher Retirement System
Tiffany Kosch, Managing Partner, CenterGate Capital
Robert Morse, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Strattam Capital
David Rosenberg, Co-Portfolio Manager, Oaktree Capital Management

11:15-11:30 am
Break

11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Panel 2: Venture Capital: Risk, Return, Repeat
Is this déjà vu all over again? What lessons from past economic cycles can help navigate the current economic environment? Venture Capital seeks investment opportunities that will disrupt existing markets and create new ones. Macroeconomic disruptions increase fundraising and deal uncertainty but also create the market opportunities from which new companies can emerge and prosper. Coming off two years of record fundraising, U.S. Venture Capital firms have more than $300 billion of dry powder to deploy in an increasingly uncertain market. This panel will address sector opportunities, fundraising, portfolio company management, deal pricing and terms, exit opportunities, and other emerging topics in venture capital.
Moderator: Jim Nolen, Associate Director, HMTF Private Equity Center
Panelists:
Roger Chen, Partner, Silverton Partners
Drew Oetting, Founding Partner, 8VC
Krishna Srinivasan, Founding Partner, Live Oak Venture Partners
Gavin Turner, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Mainsail Partners

12:30-1:45 pm
Lunch
Fireside Chat: Jose Feliciano, Managing Partner and Co-founder, Clearlake Capital Group and Neil Randall, Managing Director and Head of Private Equity, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Scholarship Recipient Recognition: Jonathan Cohn, Academic Director, HMTF Private Equity Center

1:45-1:55 pm
Break

1:55-2:55 pm
Panel 3: Special Topic in Private Capital: Agricultural Technology, Energy, and Real Estate
Private Capital markets are being disrupted by rapidly evolving technology developments, macroeconomic uncertainty, investor preference, and government regulations, among others. Three industries that are confronting these pressures more than many are food and agricultural technology, energy, and real estate, and this panel will address the unique challenges and opportunities in these industries including how to identify opportunities, portfolio strategies, capital allocation, and exit opportunities.
Moderator: Sheridan Titman, Director, Energy Management and Innovation Center, McCombs School of Business
Panelists:
Jason Downie, Managing Partner, Tailwater Capital, LLC
Eric Lang, Senior Managing Director of External Private Markets, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Vince Reyna, Senior Principal and CIO, Pennybacker Capital
Spencer Swayze, Managing Director, Paine Schwartz Partners

2:55-3:00 pm
Closing Comments