2026 Upstate Capital Impact Exchange

Thomas P. DiNapoli

New York State Comptroller

The Early Years
A life-long Long Islander, Tom was raised in a middle-class, union household and saw the value of hard work and stretching every dollar in the example set by his parents.

In 1972, Tom won his first election and served as a trustee on the Mineola Board of Education, becoming the first 18-year-old in New York State to hold public office. He attended Hofstra University, earning a bachelor’s degree in history and graduated magna cum laude in 1976. He worked in the telecommunications industry for 10 years and attended night classes to earn his master’s degree from The New School University’s Graduate School of Management and Urban Professions.

Public Service
In 1986, he ran for the New York State Assembly and was elected to represent the 16th District in northwestern Nassau County for the next 20 years. Tom was elected State Comptroller on February 7, 2007, by a bipartisan majority of the State Legislature. He was elected Comptroller by New York’s voters in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.

Record of Accomplishments & Priorities
Fighting Fraud
Tom fights waste, fraud and abuse in government and pursues officials who abuse their public positions or steal money from taxpayers. This has resulted in hundreds of arrests and tens of millions in restitution.
Managing the State Pension Fund
Under his leadership and during turbulent fiscal markets, the State pension fund remains one of the best-managed public pension funds in the nation.
He puts pension dollars to work in every corner of the State, investing billions in New York-based companies and achieving solid returns while growing New York’s local economies.
Tom is taking bold steps to protect the State pension fund from the risks that climate change poses to investments, transitioning its portfolio to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 and divesting from companies that are not prepared to prosper in the growing low-carbon economy.
He is increasing State pension fund investments with minority- and women-owned firms, which have reached an all-time high of approximately $37 billion, and is pushing corporate America to improve their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Providing Oversight for Tax Dollars
Tom is known for his fact-driven insights of economic, policy and fiscal issues. His work has examined the factors driving costs in childcare, housing, transportation, and food, helping shine a light on the key drivers of affordability challenges. He produced a comprehensive research series, called New Yorkers in Need, exploring the causes of food insecurity, housing instability and poverty. Tom also tracks local government revenue and spending — from regular reporting on tax revenue trends to analyses on the efficiency of NYC agencies and changes to how government spends money. When federal funding cuts threatened key programs, he produced reports and interactive tools to show how communities and programs could be affected. During COVID-19, he closely monitored job losses, economic recovery and the impact of relief programs.
His audits have identified billions of dollars in waste and cost savings for State agencies, public authorities and local governments, while offering recommendations for operational improvements. His audits on quality-of-life issues, economic development, affordable housing, vulnerable populations and more have raised public awareness of critical problems.
Tom has made oversight of school districts a priority of his tenure as State Comptroller. His auditors are closely reviewing school fiscal operations, looking at programs to protect children from harassment and discrimination, monitoring special education providers and spending, and identifying best practices to help schools operate more effectively and improve cybersecurity and data privacy.
Pushing for Financial Accountability
He is fighting for prudent State budget, debt and reserve reforms to help New York change how it does business and put it on better fiscal footing.
He monitors NYC’s budget and has urged the city to build deeper rainy-day reserves and find more operational efficiencies to eliminate future budget gaps.
He closely tracks transportation spending and the need for critical repairs of roads and bridges, pointing out when designated State funding is diverted and the need to invest in fixing local infrastructure. His audits and reports on the MTA have highlighted major failures, recommended improvements, and monitored ridership and the fiscal health of the system during the pandemic.
Empowering New Yorkers
Tom believes in making government accountable to the people and has earned praise for his early warning system that identifies local governments and school districts in fiscal stress, his transparency initiative called Open Book New York and his online user-friendly dashboards tracking State and City spending.
He is a strong advocate for disability inclusion in the workplace. He also manages a savings program to improve the lives of New Yorkers with disabilities, NY ABLE.
He administers the State’s 529 College Savings Program to help New York families invest to pay for high education costs.
Tom streamlined the claims process for individuals to recover lost money. He returns hundreds of millions in unclaimed funds to rightful owners each year, averaging $2 million a day.

Jennifer Tegan

Managing Director, NY Ventures

Jennifer Tegan serves as Managing Director of Empire State Development’s New York Ventures. In this role, she oversees more than $320 million in direct and indirect investment programs, including the NYS Innovation Venture Capital Fund, the Pre-Seed and Seed Fund and over $150M in fund of funds for emerging managers and accelerator partners. Through all of its programs, New York Ventures invests in diverse entrepreneurs and high-growth companies, with the goal of building and sustaining a robust startup ecosystem across New York State.

Marnie LaVigne

President & CEO, Launch NY

Dr. Marnie LaVigne has spent more than 30 years in both the private and public sectors creating new products and start-up businesses, driving innovation and economic growth in high-tech industries, such as life sciences, informatics, and advanced manufacturing. Her passion for working with start-ups took root from her experience launching health informatics businesses with colleagues in the 1990’s as she finished her doctoral work at the University of Rochester, which resulted in growing two health informatics companies with more than 100 employees and two initial public offerings (IPOs).

In July 2014, she became the President and CEO of Launch NY, a 36-county venture development organization that she co-founded with other Buffalo boosters and whose mission is to identify, support and invest in high-growth, high-impact companies and catalyze the entrepreneurial culture of Upstate New York. Previously, she led economic development efforts involving work with hundreds of businesses at UB as Associate Vice President for Economic Development from 2012 to 2014 and Director of Business Development from 2005 until 2012 at the NYS Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics & Life Sciences and the UB Center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology yielding economic impact with more than a 60:1 return-on-investment. In addition to her for prfit start-up experience prior to UB, Dr. LaVigne also spearheaded product development initiatives for larger corporations in managed care (e.g., Aetna), pharmaceuticals (Bristol-Myers Squibb), medical devices (Welch Allyn), and medical informatics (Medscape/MedicaLogic, now GE and WebMD).

Dr. LaVigne has a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and a doctorate in clinical psychology, both from the University of Rochester. She is chair of the New York State Economic Development Council (NYSEDC) and a member of the Board of Directors for Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, the State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI), Western New York Venture Association, and numerous advisory boards. As lifelong residents of Buffalo, Marnie and her husband, Rob Fohl, are avid downhill skiers and sailors who are blessed with two adult children, a son-in-law, and six grandchildren.

Jack McGowan

Director, Buffalo Angels

Somak Chattopadhyay

Managing Partner, Armory Square Ventures

Somak is a Founder and Managing Partner at Armory Square Ventures where he invests in software, mobile, and technology-enabled services companies across New York state and the greater northeast region. He is also a board member of the Upstate Venture Association of New York, as well as Clerio Vision and Vizbee. Somak earned his BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Columbia Business School.

Katie Moore

Managing Director, Fund Investment & Managed Solutions, Hamilton Lane

Katie is a Managing Director on the Fund Investment & Managed Solutions team, focused on leading the Emerging & Diverse Investment programs. Prior to this role, Katie was a Senior Relationship Manager to several institutional clients, responsible for portfolio construction and strategic planning. Katie is currently a member of the Responsible Investment Committee and co-chairs the Belong@HL Council.

Prior to joining the firm in 2007, she was a Financial Analyst at Murray Devine & Company, a Philadelphia-based Valuation Advisor to private equity and venture capital firms.

In 2021, Katie received the Think Advisors Luminaries award in the Diversity & Inclusion category. Katie has also been named to Chief Investment Officer’s 2020 Knowledge Brokers list, acknowledging the world’s most influential investment consultants, and named to Real Deals’ 2020 “Future 40 Diversity and Inclusion Leaders” list. In addition to her work at Hamilton Lane, Katie is a member of the Private Equity Women’s Investor Network (PE-WIN), 100 Women in Finance and The Forum of Executive Women.

Leo Chenette

Senior Investment Officer, NYS Common Retirement Fund

Leo Chenette, Deputy Director of Private Equity, joined the CRF in 2022 as a Senior Investment Officer. Leo began working on Wall Street in the early 90’s and has focused primarily on the Private Equity asset class since 1996. Prior to joining the CRF, Leo worked as a Managing Director and General Partner with BlackRock Corporation’s Private Equity franchise. Before that, he was a principal with Paul Capital Partners, in addition to working at Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette, Merrill Lynch, and CIBC Oppenheimer.

Sylvester (Sly) McClearn

Director of Emerging Manager Program, New York State Common Retirement Fund

As Director of the Emerging Manager Program for the New York State Common Retirement Fund, Sly McClearn sets the strategic direction of one of the largest and most comprehensive programs in the country, leads a team of professional staff, and partners with the Fund’s CIO, internal investment staff, program partners and aligned organizations to manage the allocation of approximately $11.6 billion to 118 emerging investment managers across all asset classes. McClearn has previously supported the Fund as a Senior Investment Officer and Interim Director of the Emerging Manager Program.

Prior to joining the Fund, McClearn held senior leadership private sector roles including Managing Director and Head of Institutional Product Sales at CastleOak Securities, Senior VP of Equity Capital Markets at Loop Capital, and Partner and the Head of Business Development for Topeka Capital Markets. With additional experience across Wall Street, McClearn has touched on all aspects of the investment banking, sales and trading and investment management businesses.

McClearn has industry affiliations with the National Association of Security Professionals, Sponsorship of Educational Opportunity, and AIF Global and holds a B.S. and an M.B.A. from Fordham University where he currently serves as a Trustee Fellow.

Dom Mammarella

Hamilton Lane and Upstate Capital Board Member

Dom is a Principal on the Direct Equity team, where he is responsible for leading the evaluation and due diligence of direct investment opportunities.

Prior to joining Hamilton Lane in 2018, Dom was a Director with FS Investments, where he focused most recently on investment management related to private debt. Dom has previously held roles at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and T. Rowe Price and began his career as an analyst at Lehman Brothers.

Dom received an M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in both Finance and Government from Franklin & Marshall College.

Dave Helgerson

Head of Impact Investments, Hamilton Lane

David is a Managing Director on the Direct Equity Investment team and leads the Impact and Targeted Investing activities. He is a member of the Investment Committee and Responsible Investment Committee. David focuses on both direct equity and direct credit investments within a variety of sectors and strategic areas across Hamilton Lane’s investment products. In fulfilling these duties, he has served as Board Member, Board Observer, and Advisory Board representative for multiple direct company and fund investments across the firm’s products and client base. His experience includes fund management and oversight, as well as sourcing, structuring and underwriting of debt and equity investments with financial sponsors and corporations on behalf of institutional clients.

Prior to joining Hamilton Lane in 2004, David was a corporate investment banker in the Financial Institutions Group of Morgan Stanley in New York, focusing on advising and executing mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions. Previously, David worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Credit Suisse First Boston in New York. David also served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.

David received an M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a B.A. in Political Science from Swarthmore College.

Frank McEvoy

Retired, New York State Common Retirement Fund

Jay McHarg

CEO, AeroSafe

Jay McHarg brings 25 years of operational and strategic experience to his role as CEO of AeroSafe Global. AeroSafe Global is a company dedicated to providing the safe and sustainable delivery of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals. Jay has led strategic partnerships and innovative product development, cultivating the biopharma industry’s most trusted provider of cold chain services. Jay holds a B.A. and M.A. degree in engineering from McGill University, and a M.B.A. from Babson College.

Dave Helgerson

Head of Impact Investments, Hamilton Lane

David is a Managing Director on the Direct Equity Investment team and leads the Impact and Targeted Investing activities. He is a member of the Investment Committee and Responsible Investment Committee. David focuses on both direct equity and direct credit investments within a variety of sectors and strategic areas across Hamilton Lane’s investment products. In fulfilling these duties, he has served as Board Member, Board Observer, and Advisory Board representative for multiple direct company and fund investments across the firm’s products and client base. His experience includes fund management and oversight, as well as sourcing, structuring and underwriting of debt and equity investments with financial sponsors and corporations on behalf of institutional clients.

Prior to joining Hamilton Lane in 2004, David was a corporate investment banker in the Financial Institutions Group of Morgan Stanley in New York, focusing on advising and executing mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions. Previously, David worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Credit Suisse First Boston in New York. David also served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.

David received an M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a B.A. in Political Science from Swarthmore College.