Evren Ozdemir

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Evren Ozdemir is the Chief Operating Officer at Manhattan West where he is responsible for building the firm’s infrastructure and leading strategic initiatives to scale its integrated platform of investments and services.  With decades of experience, Mr. Ozdemir brings a deep level of expertise in managing operations, analytics, and technology implementation at global and multi-manager hedge funds.

Prior to Manhattan West, Mr. Ozdemir worked at Surveyor Capital, a global multi-manager equities hedge fund within Citadel, where he most recently served as the Deputy Chief Operating Officer and before that as Head of Research Development.  He also worked at Upgrade Inc, a Fintech firm based in San Francisco, California where was responsible for managing the Investor Operations team and executing structured product solutions for its investors.  

Mr. Ozdemir previously worked at Point72, a global multi-strategy hedge fund, where he held various roles including Associate Director of Business Development and Vice President of Futures and FX Operations.  Mr. Ozdemir began his career at Goldman Sachs.

Mr. Ozdemir received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown University.  A New Jersey native, he currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife.  In his free time, he enjoys reading, playing guitar, and traveling.   

Matthew Weitz

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Matthew Weitz is General Counsel at Manhattan West where he oversees the company’s legal affairs. With a decade of experience in transactional, regulatory, and litigation matters across a diverse range of business and legal sectors, Mr. Weitz’ keen legal and business mind is focused on a practical approach managing a wide variety of legal and business matters.

Mr. Weitz has extensive experience in Media and Entertainment, Gaming and Hospitality, Real Estate, M&A, and Regulatory Law. Among his achievements, he represented Meruelo Media before the FCC in a first-of-its-kind purchase and sale of television spectrum, negotiated the financing and relocation of Magic Mike Live Las Vegas to the SAHARA Las Vegas, and served as legal counsel for global concert tours of U2, Sting, Justin Timberlake, and Phil Collins.

Mr. Weitz previously served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel for the Meruelo Group, a family-owned asset management company, where he oversaw legal matters for its Media and Entertainment, Gaming and Hospitality, and Real Estate divisions as well as intellectual property matters for the entire portfolio. He also served as Senior Director of Legal Affairs for Global Touring at Live Nation Entertainment, as a law clerk for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, and as a judicial extern in Los Angeles Superior Court. Mr. Weitz also had his own private practice representing professional players, coaches, and companies in the Esports sector.

A Los Angeles native, Mr. Weitz graduated with a B.A. from UCLA and Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law. An entrepreneur at heart, he also owns and operates his family’s real estate business with his sister. In his free time, Mr. Weitz enjoys exploring cities across the globe, cycling, and cooking.

Maryam Howland

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Maryam S. Howland is the Director of Marketing at Manhattan West, where she heads the firm’s marketing strategy, planning and execution. With over a decade of experience, she brings with her a wide array of marketing knowledge within the private equity, investment banking M&A, private wealth, and commercial real estate markets.

Prior to joining Manhattan West, Maryam worked at Houlihan Lokey, a global investment bank headquartered in Century City, where she led marketing and communications for the firm’s Business Services, M&A, Consumer, Food and Retail, Healthcare, and Private Funds Groups throughout the U.S. Prior to Houlihan Lokey, Maryam worked at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a Fortune 500 global commercial real estate services company, where she ran the firm’s Retail Group marketing in the southwest region. Prior to JLL, Maryam worked at General Atlantic, a global private equity firm headquartered in New York, where she co-managed the firm’s global marketing and communications. She began her career in marketing for financial services firms in Los Angeles and New York.

Maryam received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and French Language from the University of California, Berkeley. Maryam was born and raised in London, is fluent in French and enjoys traveling with her husband and son.

Gabriel Garcia

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Gabriel Garcia is the Chief Financial Officer at Manhattan West where he is responsible for all aspects of the firm’s financial affairs. Mr. Garcia possesses an expert level of financial acumen in his day-to-day oversight of accounting, financial reporting, audit oversight and strategic planning for Manhattan West and its affiliated entities. With over a decade of experience in high level financial roles, Mr. Garcia is integrally involved in all aspects of Manhattan West’s global business.

Mr. Garcia’s domestic and international experience across a wide range of asset classes in finance makes him ideally suited to oversee the complexity of Manhattan West’s operations. Prior to Manhattan West, Mr. Garcia worked for Los Angeles based Oakmont Corporation where he was responsible for the financial affairs of Cabo del Sol, a luxury master-planned real estate development in Los Cabos, Mexico. Prior to Oakmont, Mr. Garcia worked at Saban Capital Group, an $8 billion Los Angeles based private investment firm. At Saban, Mr. Garcia was responsible for managing a broadly diversified portfolio of investments in equities, fixed income, real estate, and alternatives.

Prior to Saban Capital, Mr. Garcia worked in the private equity industry with Silver Canyon, a growth equity investment firm based in San Diego, California. He also worked at Platinum Equity, a global Private Equity firm based in Beverly Hills, California where he worked on M&A transactions, transformations of businesses in work outs and complex situations. A CPA by training, Mr. Garcia began his career at KPMG in Audit and Transaction Services.

Mr. Garcia received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Entrepreneurship from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Born and raised in Southern California, Mr. Garcia enjoys golf and international travel.

Bill Ryan

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Bill Ryan is the Chief Compliance Officer at Manhattan West, where he is responsible for ensuring the firm complies with all outside regulatory and legal requirements, as well as internal policies.

Mr. Ryan began his career working in the client service group at Nuveen Investments where he worked closely with the Portfolio Managers and Compliance team to build marketing and client service presentations for the firm’s investment managers and institutional client base. Thereafter, Mr. Ryan worked in operations & compliance at Argosy Wealth Management and Steel Peak Wealth Management, where he worked as the Chief Compliance Officer.

Mr. Ryan received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Arizona. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, playing golf, bicycling, and snowboarding.

Kate Kurz

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Kate Kurz is the Chief Administrative Officer at Manhattan West where she is charged with overseeing the company’s functions in operations, reporting, human resources, technology, client service, vendor negotiation, accounts payable, external auditors and banking relationships.  With over 19 years of experience in the financial services industry, Ms. Kurz is focused on delivering an exceptional client experience across a broad range of areas at the firm.

Among her duties, Ms. Kurz is in charge of managing the firm’s day-to-day business operations. Her objective is to ensure that Manhattan West operates efficiently so the firm’s employees operate in accordance with both internal and external regulatory standards.

Prior to Manhattan West, she worked at several global financial services firms, including Lehman Brothers, Bank of America Private Bank, Deutsche Bank Securities, and J.P. Morgan Securities.

A graduate of Boston College, Ms. Kurz earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry.

 

Lorenzo Esparza

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Lorenzo Esparza is the Chief Executive Officer and Founding Principal at Manhattan West where he leveraged his legal, corporate, and financial experience to form the modern version of an investment firm.

With an investor-centric mindset, Mr. Esparza manages the firm’s strategic direction while overseeing day to day operations. He is focused on building the firm using a top-down approach to working with clients across a broad suite of services and investment categories. Leading a culture of excellence and inclusion at Manhattan West, Mr. Esparza seeks to deliver returns for clients, partners, and shareholders. Embracing the core values of integrity, respect and honesty, Mr. Esparza’s efforts seek to position the firm as a leader in the investment industry serving ultra-high net worth clients, family offices and institutions across the United States.

A respected Investor in his own right, Mr. Esparza chairs the firm’s Investment Committee. He has capitalized and led numerous private investment funds in real estate, venture capital, private equity/credit in addition to overseeing liquid portfolios across a broad set of asset classes. Mr. Esparza serves as the general partner or managing member of over 30 investment Funds with portfolio investments across the country. He sits on the Board of numerous portfolio companies and serves as Special Advisor to several large institutions.

Mr. Esparza began his career in financial services at Alliance Bernstein before joining JP Morgan Securities. He launched Manhattan West immediately following his tenure at JP Morgan. Mr. Esparza is an avid Philanthropist where he supports numerous causes that benefit underprivileged youth. Active in the community, he is a former Board Member of the Richstone Family Center, the former Board Chair of the Cancer Support Community-Benjamin Center in Santa Monica, and is a former Board Member of the Stroke Association of Southern California.

Mr. Esparza received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. A workout enthusiast, golfer and surfer, he resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.