HEARD CAPITAL - Key Persons


Charles Phillips - CEO, Founder

Job Titles:
  • Co - Founder
  • Managing Partner
  • Co - Founder & Managing Partner of RECOGNIZE
Charles is a Co-Founder & Managing Partner of RECOGNIZE. Prior to RECOGNIZE, Charles was the CEO and Chairman of Infor, an enterprise applications company. Prior to Infor, he was President and a director of Oracle Corporation, and a Managing Director in the Technology Group and a director at Morgan Stanley. Charles served as a Captain in the U.S. Marine. Charles received a J.D. from New York Law School, an M.B.A. from Hampton University, and a B.S. in Computer Science from the U.S. Air Force Academy. Charles currently serves on the boards of directors of ViacomCBS Corporation, American Express, Compass Inc., the Apollo Theater, and the Council of Foreign Relations. He is also the co-founder and Co-Chairman of the Black Economic Alliance, a consortium of business leaders committed to economic growth in Black communities.

Eric A. Reeves

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Board of Advisors
  • Member of the Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute
  • Vice President and General Counsel of the Duchossois Group
  • VP & General Counsel / the Duchossois Group
Eric is Vice President and General Counsel of The Duchossois Group (TDG). He formerly served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary to The Chamberlain Group, Inc., TDG's largest operating unit and the world's largest manufacturer of garage door openers, commercial door openers and gate openers. Prior to joining TDG, Eric was a partner in the Corporate Department of McDermott Will & Emery. Eric's private practice involved counseling and advising corporate clients on a variety of transactional matters including commercial financial transactions, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate governance matters. Eric began his career in the Chicago office of Jones Day. Eric serves on the Board of Milestone AV Technologies, Systems, Inc. and is a member of the Investment Committee for Chicago Ventures. He also serves on the Board of Seaway Bank & Trust Company and advises several early stage companies. He is a Trustee of Rush University Medical Center. Eric is a member of the Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute (2009), Chicago United Business Leaders of Color honoree (2009), and a graduate Fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago (2007). Eric is an active member of the Economic, Executives', Chicago and University Clubs of Chicago. Eric received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from The Ohio State University.

Erin Casey

Job Titles:
  • General Counsel, CCO & CAO
  • General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Secretary at Heard Capital LLC
Erin Casey is the General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Secretary at Heard Capital LLC where she is responsible for overseeing the Firm's legal, compliance and regulatory matters. Prior to joining Heard Capital LLC in 2022, Ms. Casey was a Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, where she taught courses and seminars in secured transactions, lender rights and remedies, and artificial intelligence. Prior to the University of Chicago Law School, Ms. Casey was a Principal at Goldberg Kohn Ltd. in Chicago and an Associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York. In these roles, she represented lenders in all aspects of corporate bankruptcy cases and commercial workouts throughout the country, as well as in the documentation of asset-based and cash-flow commercial finance transactions. Ms. Casey received her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and her Bachelor of Arts in Economics, with honors, from the University of Chicago. She is admitted to the bar in Illinois and in New York.

Joel Steinhaus - CEO, Founder

Job Titles:
  • CEO
  • Co - Founder
  • Member of the Board of Advisors
  • Co - Founder and CEO of Daybase
  • Member of the Economic Club of New York
Joel Steinhaus is Co-Founder and CEO of Daybase, a seed-stage startup developing a new model for the hybrid workplace. Mr. Steinhaus is the former Head of Strategic Initiatives at WeWork and was previously Chief of Staff to WeWork's Co-Founder and CEO. Prior to WeWork, he was Managing Director and Chief of Staff to the Chairman at Citigroup. Before joining Citi, Mr. Steinhaus helped launch NBC News' Education Nation, a multi-media enterprise focused on engaging the public in a conversation about improving education in the United States. He is Chairman Emeritus of the century-old non-profit New Yorkers for Parks and is a Trustee of uAspire, a national nonprofit focused on college affordability. He is Vice Chairman of the Board of Corlears School in Manhattan and a member of the Presidential Computer Science Advisory Board at Hunter College. He formerly served on the board of the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association as well as the advisory board of the Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program at Yale University. Mr. Steinhaus is a member of the Economic Club of New York and a recent term member at the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2014, he was named a David Rockefeller Fellow through the Partnership for New York City. Mr. Steinhaus has an MBA from the Yale School of Management, where he was a Sutphin Fellow and a Greenberg World Fellow. He earned an AB, magna cum laude, from Harvard University, where he was Managing Editor of Let's Go Publications. Originally from Kansas City, he now lives in New York City with his wife and three children.

John A. Canning Jr.

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Board of Advisors
  • Chairman / Madison Dearborn Partners
  • Chairman of Madison Dearborn Partners
John Canning is Chairman of Madison Dearborn Partners. Prior to co-founding MDP, Mr. Canning spent 24 years with First Chicago Corporation, most recently as Executive Vice President of The First National Bank of Chicago and President of First Chicago Venture Capital. John has more than 35 years of experience in private equity investing and currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Corning Incorporated and Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club; and is a Life Trustee of Northwestern University. Mr. Canning is Co-Chairman of the Big Shoulders Fund, a Director and Chairman of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, a former Trustee and Chairman of the Museum of Science and Industry, a Director and former Chairman of The Economic Club of Chicago, former Chairman of The Chicago Community Trust, a Trustee and former Chairman of The Field Museum and former Director and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. John received a A.B. from Denison University and a J.D. from Duke University.

Joseph Lee

Job Titles:
  • Partner, Head of Risk Management and Trading
Joseph Lee is a Partner at Heard Capital LLC and is responsible for overseeing risk management, trading and execution. In addition, Mr. Lee supports the Firm's portfolio attribution analysis and quantitative research processes. Prior to joining Heard Capital LLC in 2014, Mr. Lee was a discretionary futures trader, specializing in Treasury yield curve spreads and TED spreads. In that role, Mr. Lee was responsible for researching, developing and executing both momentum and mean reversion driven strategies. Mr. Lee is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Chicago. Mr. Lee earned an MBA with honors distinction from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Nelda J. Connors - Founder

Job Titles:
  • Founder
  • Member of the Board of Advisors
  • Board Director of BorgWarner
  • Chairman & CEO / Pine Grove Holdings, LLC
Ms. Connors is the founder, and has served as the Chairwoman and CEO of Pine Grove Holdings, LLC, a woman and minority-owned privately-held investment company focused on acquiring small-to-mid-sized businesses with a high engineering component, since 2011. Prior to founding Pine Grove Holdings, LLC, Ms. Connors served as President and CEO of Atkore International and as Vice President at Eaton Corporation. Ms. Connors serves as a board director of BorgWarner, Baker Hughes Company, Boston Scientific Corporation, EnerSys, as an independent outside advisor for the board of directors of Nissan North America Inc. She also serves as board director of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and as an advisor of Xavier University of Louisiana. Previously, she served on the Board of Delphi Technologies PLC, Echo Global Logistics, CNHI. Ms. Connors brings her executive leadership skills and her experience in the areas of operations and financial management, quality, engineering and business strategy, as well as her knowledge of public company matters resulting from her service on other public company boards.

Nicolas Couri

Job Titles:
  • Analyst
  • Analyst at Heard Capital LLC
Nicolas Couri is an Analyst at Heard Capital LLC where he supports all aspects of the research process. Prior to joining Heard Capital LLC in 2022, Mr. Couri was a portfolio analyst at Wintrust Financial Corporation in the Capital Markets team. In that role, he underwrote and managed a portfolio of term loan B facilities for large private and public companies in a variety of industries. Mr. Couri completed Wintrust Financial's 2-year rotational credit analyst program during which he rotated through various areas of the firm's lending platforms. Mr. Couri is a graduate of Marquette University's College of Business Administration where he earned a Bachelor of Science in International Business and Marketing.

Priya Kaftan

Job Titles:
  • Head of Investor Relations and Product Strategy at Heard Capital LLC
Priya Kaftan is the Head of Investor Relations and Product Strategy at Heard Capital LLC where she oversees client relations, client communications, business development and product strategy. Prior to joining Heard Capital LLC in 2019, Ms. Kaftan was a Senior Associate at Silver Point Capital, L.P., a credit and distressed focused hedge fund. Her responsibilities included managing relationships with Silver Point Capital's existing and prospective investors, product strategy, reporting, credit market research and communications. Prior to Silver Point Capital, L.P., Ms. Kaftan was a Vice President in JPMorgan's Syndicated and Leveraged Finance group. In that role, she structured leveraged loan and high yield transactions for clients in the energy, metal, mining, packaging and chemical sectors. Ms. Kaftan also served as an Associate and Analyst in the group. Ms. Kaftan holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston University where she was a magna cum laude graduate. She is a Board Member of Ten Thousand Villages Oak Park, an organization focused on fair trade and economic empowerment and on the Sponsorship Committee of Women Investment Professionals, a professional community that enhances women's opportunities and growth in the investment industry.

Stephen Granstrand - CFO, COO

Job Titles:
  • CFO
  • COO
  • Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Heard Capital LLC
Stephen Granstrand serves as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Heard Capital LLC and is responsible for the Firm's key corporate functions. His responsibilities include overseeing the Firm's middle and back-office functionality; managing firm policies, positions and cash reconciliations and counterparty relationships; and maintaining the Firm's books and records. Mr. Granstrand also has an active role in the Firm's budgeting, liquidity and cash management. Prior to joining Heard Capital LLC in 2019, Mr. Granstrand was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs in Prime Services and Clearing where he was responsible for client services, sales and relationships management. Mr. Granstrand also served as a Vice President in Prime Brokerage Sales and previously held other roles within Prime Brokerage. In those roles, Mr. Granstrand helped build and develop processes and procedures for some of the largest hedge funds and broker dealers in the financial services industry. Mr. Granstrand earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Lehigh University.

William Heard - CEO, CIO, Founder

Job Titles:
  • CEO
  • CIO
  • Founder
  • Founder of Heard Capital LLC
William Heard is the founder of Heard Capital LLC and serves as the Firm's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, leading the Firm's investment process and strategic direction. Prior to founding and leading Heard Capital LLC, Mr. Heard was a special situations analyst for Stark Investments, a global alternative investment firm. While at Stark Investments, he covered the telecommunications, media, technology, financials, industrials and energy sectors. Mr. Heard's investment experience spans asset classes and includes leveraged loans, high yield bonds and equity securities. Mr. Heard is active in the philanthropic community, focusing his efforts on education and disadvantaged youth. He currently serves on the City Year Chicago Board of Directors and actively participates in OneGoal: a diverse collective of local organizations creating opportunities for today's youth and low-income population. Mr. Heard is also a board member of the President's Circle and Young Professional Network for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. Mr. Heard is a graduate of Marquette University's College of Business Administration where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Real Estate. While at Marquette, he founded and established the University's Applied Investment Management (AIM) Program. AIM was the first undergraduate business program in the nation to be selected as a Program Partner by the CFA Institute. Mr. Heard was raised in Milwaukee, WI. In his spare time, Mr. Heard serves as a mentor to students on topics such as leadership, globalism and markets.