Top Skills

Early Employee

Was employee #5 at a high-growth alternative investment asset management startup.

Alternative Investment

30 years of experience in an alternative investment asset management startup. Developed expertise in fundraising, investor relations, regulatory compliance, fund structures (domestic+Cayman, hedge fund, drawdown, hybrid, side pockets), accounting and operations, tax strategy, SPVs, governing legal documents, investor negotiations, service provider identification, evaluation, selection, and onboarding, SOP development, talent building and development.

Adaptability

Acts as a 'plug and play utility player' easily moving between strategy and execution. On the John Maxwell scale of working styles, I am an adaptor. This means I can mirror and match as needed, pivot on a dime, redirect when appropriate, skillfully wear many different hats, and can see that understanding / having knowledge of an entire process is invaluable in being able to adapt. Adaptability is the name of the game in startups and small businesses.


About Steffanie

Bio

With 30 years of experience in a high growth alternative investment asset management start-up firm (I was employee #5), I understand the precious value of a founder's time and the scrappy, all hands-on-deck nature of start-ups. One of my superpowers is identifying opportunities to create capacity for founders and executive leadership teams. I'm a 'chief problem solver' at heart and thrive in supporting roles so founders and ELT members can focus on the highest and best use of their time. I've leveraged my diagnostic skills to establish / reimagine functions, roles, workflows, and cross-functional collaboration. One of these projects was deconstructing, assessing, and reconstructing the entire GTM / fund launch process. I led a cross-functional team in this effort which ultimately resulted in reducing fund launch GTM from 12+ months to < 3 months allowing the firm to accelerate fee income and maintain industry relevance. I easily move between strategy and execution - zooming in and out as needed. Think of me as a plug and play utility player / advisor solely focused on helping founders and companies level up and scale.

Skills

SkillStrengthExplanation
Early Employee
100
Was employee #5 at a high-growth alternative investment asset management startup.
Alternative Investment
95
30 years of experience in an alternative investment asset management startup. Developed expertise in fundraising, investor relations, regulatory compliance, fund structures (domestic+Cayman, hedge fund, drawdown, hybrid, side pockets), accounting and operations, tax strategy, SPVs, governing legal documents, investor negotiations, service provider identification, evaluation, selection, and onboarding, SOP development, talent building and development.
Adaptability
95
Acts as a 'plug and play utility player' easily moving between strategy and execution. On the John Maxwell scale of working styles, I am an adaptor. This means I can mirror and match as needed, pivot on a dime, redirect when appropriate, skillfully wear many different hats, and can see that understanding / having knowledge of an entire process is invaluable in being able to adapt. Adaptability is the name of the game in startups and small businesses.
Asset Management
95
30 years of experience in an alternative investment asset management startup. Developed expertise in fundraising, investor relations, regulatory compliance, fund structures (domestic+Cayman, hedge fund, drawdown, hybrid, side pockets), accounting and operations, tax strategy, SPVs, governing legal documents, investor negotiations, service provider identification, evaluation, selection, and onboarding, SOP development, talent building and development.
Capacity Building
95
Skilled in identifying opportunities to create capacity for founders and executive leadership teams. Examples include savings of 500+ hours of partner time review and negotiation of fund documents, quarterly investor updates, multi-entity direct lending transaction documents, owning DDQ process and inbound requests (RFPs), technology implementations (45%+ administrative workload reduction across multiple departments), built centralized side letter repository, and mentored / professionalized several growing teams across many functions maintaining high morale and zero-error standards.
Startup Management
95
Gained 30 years of experience in a high-growth, scrappy alternative investment asset management startup as an early employee (#5). I built all of the non-investing functions from scratch and understand what life is like for a startup.
Team Leadership
90
I've built, led, and managed multiple backoffice functions. Throughout my career many direct reports have requested to move with me to new functions. I have a high EQ and believe that everyone in an organization regardless of role has an important part to play in firm success. I've led several teams through multiple change management initiatives, including technology projects.
Process Optimization
90
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certified. The key to understanding bottlenecks and inefficiencies is understanding every aspect of an issue to identify where the real bottlenecks, redundancies, and rework loops exist. Example: significantly reduced Go-to-Market/fund launch time from over 12 months to under 3 months using this methodology.
Process Improvement
90
Leveraged diagnostic skills to establish/reimagine functions, roles, workflows, and cross-functional collaboration, notably for GTM/fund launch. Leverage LSS principles to identify root causes of bottlenecks, redundancies, and rework loops.
Project Management
90
Managed the complex project of deconstructing and reconstructing the GTM/fund launch process; developed detailed fund launch gantt chart to guide all fund launches; led 4 large-scale, multi-team Lean Six Sigma projects in 18 mos.; spearheaded several technology implementation projects managing both a Steering Committee and a Task Force; able to complete projects on time and on budget; and pull together / motivate resources to achieve project goals on top of "day jobs".
Cross-Functional Collaboration
90
Established and reimagined processes requiring effective collaboration across different teams. Led 4 large-scale, multi-team Lean Six Sigma projects in 18 mos.; spearheaded several technology implementation projects managing both a Steering Committee and a Task Force; able to complete projects on time and on budget; and pull together / motivate resources to achieve project goals on top of "day jobs".
Workflow Optimization
90
Expert in reimagining workflows to enhance efficiency and cross-functional collaboration.
Go-to-Market Strategy
90
Key contributor to securing & retaining $5B of institutional capital developing a true understanding of what investors need and want and balancing that with firm obligations and capabilities. Refined discernment and anticipatory skills - a cornerstone to maintaining a best-in-class white glove experience for investors. Deconstructed, assessed, and reconstructed the GTM/fund launch process, significantly reducing launch time by 9+ months.
Startup Ecosystem
90
Deep understanding of the startup ecosystem, having worked as an early employee in a high-growth startup.
Problem Solving
90
Self-identifies as a 'chief problem solver' thriving in supporting roles for founders and leadership. Let me look under the hood and I'll identify potential issues / risks and recommend a path forward. My proven process involves an immensely strong intellectual curiosity combined with a desire to leave people, process, teams in a better place than I found them.
Leadership Support
90
Thrives in supporting founders and executive leadership teams to focus on high-value tasks. Adept at and known for creating capacity for founders by identifying which tasks or work could be handled by others freeing up founders and executive leadership to focus on only the things they can and should be doing. Reputation as a trusted thought and delegation partner who develops underlying foundations that facilitate the support leadership needs. Provide direct feedback - I don't just tell people what they want to hear.
Strategic Execution
85
Easily moves between strategic planning and hands-on execution, zooming in and out as needed. Ability to communicate the importance of strategy to the business AND what's needed to operationalize that strategy with a "what's in it for me" approach that resonates across the board / up and down an organization.
Diagnostic Skills
85
Utilizes diagnostic skills to assess and improve functions and processes largely through Lean Six Sigma principles and understanding / embracing the power of structure around cross-functional collaboration work. My intellectual curiosity drives me to continually peel back the layers until the root cause of an issue surfaces. I'm often able to see several steps ahead (e.g., knowing we need to get from a to z) before others and then pull together people and/or teams to determine how to get there after gaining consensus around the end goal. It is incredibly important to not only take accountability for inefficiencies, errors, etc. but to also identify and implement solutions to mitigate / eliminate recurrence. This also provides a solid learning experience for less experienced folks.
Revenue Acceleration & Expense Management
85
Accelerated fee income for the firm by streamlining the fund launch process to first close process and timeline. Developed and enforced e-billing guidelines for outside counsel management which resulting in a savings of $1M+. Increased legal document / terms review proficiency to reduce reliance on and cost of outside counsel spend. Implemented efficiencies and optimized processes through revamping processes and leveraging technology where appropriate which led to additional team capacity and delaying / avoiding further hires.
Organizational Design
80
Experienced in establishing and reimagining functions and roles within a startup / scaling company.
Scalability
80
Focused on helping founders and companies level up and scale through function, process, and people optimization and reimagination. Based on lived experience, understand the importance of considering many factors up front to avoid rework and frustration later (nothing kills adoption faster than that).
Advisory
80
Acts as a 'plug and play utility player / advisor' for founders and companies. Am known as a trusted thought and delegation partner to founders and executive leadership. I know how to get "stuff" done AND bring others along the journey that organically motivates them to go above and beyond. I am comfortable raising various points of view respectfully to pressure test as much as possible (i.e., identify roadblocks, anticipated issues, considerations, trade-offs, etc.).

Experiences

JOBVärde Partners

Title

Global Head of Legal Operations

Position Description

Founded function and designed / deployed global legal operations framework to govern $30M annual legal spend for 6 in-house attorneys and led cross-functional digital transformation initiatives. Led selection and implementation of e-billing platform increasing spend transparency and reducing costs. Established automated workflows. Standardized and streamlined employee investment and carry award protocols and established a single point of contact for employees. Provided strategic support to founders and executive leadership teams within a high-growth startup environment, acting as a chief problem solver. Focused on identifying opportunities for capacity creation and optimizing organizational functions, roles, workflows, and cross-functional collaboration.

Accomplishment Notes

Centralized legal operations framework increased team capacity by 50% and identified $1M+ in savings through spend transparency and e-billing guideline enforcement. E-billing platform implementation transformed an entirely paper-based legal invoice review and processing procedure to a fully digital one positioning the firm to pay invoices within 30 days and negotiate discounts based on that payment history. E-billing platform implementation resulted in 25% reduction in administrative workload across multiple departments (legal, accounting, investor services, etc.). Standardizing the employee investment and carry award process saved 40+ hours of work for HR and legal teams. Completed four, stalled business-critical cross-functional projects in under 18 mos.

JOBVärde Partners

Title

Global Head of Investor Services & Fund Formation

Position Description

Founded and managed a dedicated 7-person team with full ownership of investor lifecycle, reporting, and operational due diligence (ODD) to streamline and optimize the investor experience through a best-in-class, white glove investor relations philosophy and zero-error standards approach. Designed industry-leading ODD program from scratch. Led cross-functional task force to overhaul the fund launch (GTM) process and reduce time from launch to first close.

Accomplishment Notes

Key role in securing and retaining $5B+ in institutional investor capital through investor services function built on trust, data integrity, and successful management of complex institutional investor demands. Instituted cross-functional charter and comprehensive fund launch strategy reducing time-to-market from 12+ mos. to < 3 mos. Led digital transformation of investor data and reporting through CRM implementation, centralized due diligence response repository, and other reporting tools achieving a 50% reduction in resource utilization and 60% faster RFP response times. Built side letter term repository reducing review and negotiation time by 25%. Crafted quarterly investor letters with co-founders providing first-level legal/compliance review saving ~15 hours per reporting cycle.

JOBVärde Partners

Title

CFO / Director of Ops / Accounting Manager

Position Description

Built the entire finance, operations, tax, and audit functions from the ground up during the firm's multiple critical growth phases. Architected the firm's finance and operations functions from the ground up: GAAP-compliant financial and tax reporting, budgeting and forecasting, LP income allocation, investment performance metrics, asset manager audits, management company books and records and technology overhauls. Served as interim CFO overseeing financial strategy, treasury management, payroll, internal controls, vendor relationships, audit readiness, and tax strategy across a complex multi-entity structure.

Accomplishment Notes

Created the foundation allowing the firm to scale from $500M AUM to $13B+ AUM, from 5 to 150+ people, and a single location to a multi-office global organization ensuring data fidelity and zero-error execution at every stage.

JOBRoets Jordan Brewery

Title

Owner / Operator

Position Description

Founded and operated a craft micro-brewery for 10 years, managing all financial operations, vendor relationships, and regulatory compliance.

Accomplishment Notes

Named Best of the Best (Southwest) Brewery three years running. Successfully led team through pandemic pivots demonstrating adaptability and calm leadership under sustained pressure.

EDUCATIONUniversity of St. Thomas

Title

Position Description

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification

Accomplishment Notes

EDUCATIONMultiple AI Courses

Title

Position Description

Google AI Essentials, Outskill AI Bootcamp Masterclass & Accelerator, Scaling Business with AI & Agentic Workflows (AI Build Lab)

Accomplishment Notes