Ryan Israel, chief investment officer and managing director at Pershing Square Capital Management, is one of the most important behind-the-scenes investors in activist hedge funds, helping shape the concentrated, high-conviction portfolio that defines Bill Ackman’s firm. Since joining Pershing Square in 2009, Israel has played a central role in research, underwriting, and portfolio construction across the firm’s major public equity positions, earning a reputation for deep fundamental analysis and disciplined long-term thinking. He represents the analytical core of one of Wall Street’s most closely watched investment platforms.

Luis von Ahn, cofounder and CEO of Duolingo, is a pioneering computer scientist who turned language learning into one of the world’s most successful education apps while helping define the economics of crowdsourced internet infrastructure. Before Duolingo, he created reCAPTCHA, later acquired by Google, and built a reputation for converting human attention into scalable digital systems. At Duolingo, he helped grow the company from a mission-driven startup into a publicly traded global platform spanning language, math, and music education, with AI increasingly central to its product strategy.

Tom Steyer is a billionaire businessman, climate activist, and prominent candidate in the 2026 California gubernatorial election. After building his fortune as the founder of the hedge fund Farallon Capital, he pivoted to full-time advocacy, founding NextGen America to mobilize young voters on issues like climate change and social justice. In late 2025, he launched his bid to succeed Gavin Newsom, framing himself as a "populist billionaire" focused on tackling California's affordability crisis and pledging to build one million affordable homes. To focus on his campaign, he took a formal leave of absence from his leadership role at Galvanize Climate Solutions, the investment firm he co-founded with Secretary John Kerry to finance the global energy transition.

Sami Mnaymneh, cofounder and co-CEO of H.I.G. Capital, built one of the world’s largest middle-market private equity firms by focusing on complex carve-outs, underperforming businesses, and operational turnarounds. Since launching H.I.G. in 1993, Mnaymneh has helped scale the firm into a global platform investing across private equity, credit, and real assets, with a reputation for hands-on value creation and disciplined dealmaking. Known for deep operational involvement and a global investment footprint, he has positioned H.I.G. as a dominant force in middle-market buyouts and special situations.