Speakers

Shannon Wulff is a Senior Research Associate at William Blair Investment Management on the U.S. Growth & Core equity team. In this role, she is a generalist for U.S. small and mid-cap companies. She holds an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, with a concentration in capital markets and investments. She received a BS in accounting and finance at Wofford College. She is also an Alpha Challenge alum, finishing 1st in the 2022 competition.

Zelle Dunn is a managing partner of New Republic Partners and a member of the firm’s leadership team. She leads the firm’s day-to-day operations and heads the firm’s North Carolina advisory team. She also advises a portfolio of individuals and families on strategies and investment solutions to achieve their goals.

She brings over two decades of experience in wealth advisory and investment management. Prior to joining New Republic Partners, she served as a vice president at Merrill Lynch where she worked with high-net-worth individuals and families on investments and wealth planning.

Zelle worked in the private wealth management group at Morgan Stanley in New York for 15 years advising family offices and high-net-worth individuals on investment opportunities and financial planning.

She began her career at Centura Bank, spending time in both Raleigh and Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Zelle graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in political science. She serves on the board of St. Catherine’s School Foundation in Richmond, Virginia, and the advisory board of HopeWay in Charlotte. She is a member of the Mint Museum Auxiliary and a member of Myers Park Presbyterian Church where she is a former elder and former member of the outreach council.

Carla Fuller is the chief risk officer at Allspring Global Investments, a $600B independent, global asset management firm. In this role, she and her team are responsible for building and leading the enterprise risk framework, as well as developing and implementing Allspring’s operational risk programs.  Carla oversees risk management activities across the firm including risk assessment, issue identification and remediation, risk governance, and risk reporting.

Carla joined Allspring from its predecessor firm, Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM). Carla held a variety of leadership roles across technology, operations, data management, and operational risk functions. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, she worked for Accenture managing large transformational initiatives for financial services clients.

Carla is a proud Tar Heel having earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She is an active member of the ICI Risk Committee.

Stephanie Lynch is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at GEM, where she sets strategic direction, manages daily operations, and leads key client relationships, supporting investment policy development and partnering with investment committees, trustees, and client leadership teams. Previously, she was the Chief Investment Officer at The Duke Endowment and a portfolio manager at both INVESCO Capital Management and Trade Street Investment Services. Stephanie has held numerous trustee and board membership roles at organizations including the Florida State University Foundation, Novant Asset Management Company (NAMCO), The Thacher School, the Presbyterian Medical Center, Avalon Advisors, and CBAM. She holds a B.S. in Finance from Florida State University and is a CFA Charterholder.

Sumali Sanyal is Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Systematic Global Equities Platform at Xponance. She is the lead PM for the platform’s systematic active, customized, and passive equity products. She also co-leads the firm’s AI Committee. She is a co-founder of Piedmont Investment Advisors, an investment firm based in Durham and acquired by FIS Group, the predecessor company to Xponance. She served as the Chief Operating Officer of Piedmont for several years and at the time of its acquisition by FIS Group she held the position of Co-CIO of Equities. Prior to that, Sumali served as Director of Quantitative Research at Loomis Sayles. Sumali is currently a Board Member of the CFA North Carolina Society and has been a Member of the Durham North Carolina Chamber of Commerce. In addition, she is a member of the Chicago Quantitative Alliance and the Indus Entrepreneurs. She was the 2022 recipient of the Triangle Business Journal’s 2022 Women in Business Award and 2023 Leaders in Diversity Award. Sumali holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation and a Certification in ESG Investing from the CFA Institute. She earned her MBA in Finance & Information Systems from Oakland University, a Master of Science, and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Calcutta. She resides in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina.