Our Board of Directors
Joshua Kestler
Joshua Kestler has more than 23 years of experience in the financial services industry and is currently President of Innocap, the largest hedge fund managed account platform. Mr. Kestler is responsible for platform operations and onboarding, product development, business development, marketing, client coverage and sustainability and impact solutions.
Mr. Kestler was previously Head of HedgeMark (which combined with Innocap in 2022) and was responsible for overall management of the HedgeMark business. Mr. Kestler helped build HedgeMark from an idea into the largest hedge fund managed account platform in the industry. Prior to joining HedgeMark, Mr. Kestler spent 8 years at Deutsche Bank serving in various senior roles including Head of Managed Account Platform Operations for Deutsche Bank’s X-Markets Hedge Fund Platform in the U.S. and Chief Administrative Officer of DB Advisors Hedge Fund Group. He began his career as an associate in the Investment Management Group of New York law firm, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP. Mr. Kestler also served as a Law Clerk for Justice James Coleman, Jr. of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Mr. Kestler has authored numerous articles on the subject of dedicated managed accounts and has been a featured speaker at many managed account industry events. Mr. Kestler received a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Rutgers College.
Mr. Kestler is Co-President of Trial Blazers for Kids along with his wife, Gallite. Trial Blazers for Kids was established by Josh and Gallite Kestler in honor of their son, Jake, to raise money to fund innovative clinical trials for pediatric cancers. Mr. Kestler fought vigorously for Jake to receive the best possible care (including access to a clinical trial and other cutting edge treatments) during his 2 year and 4 month battle with Glioblastoma. Mr. Kestler’s experience advocating for Jake to get access to the most promising treatments has made him extraordinarily passionate about ensuring that all pediatric cancer patients have access to the best and most innovate treatment options.
Gallite Kestler
Gallite Kestler spent many years as a classroom teacher and behaviorist for children with Autism. Mrs. Kestler worked in several schools and school districts including the Fair Lawn Board of Education, the Allendale Board of Education, the Developmental Learning Center and Academy 360. Mrs. Kestler has a Special Education Certification as well as an Elementary Education Certification K-8. Mrs. Kestler received a Masters in Education, cum laude, from Rutgers Graduate School of Education and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Rutgers College. Apart from her professional educational career, Mrs. Kestler has focused her time raising her three children. Mrs. Kestler was her son, Jake’s full-time care giver through two different battles with cancer.
Mrs. Kestler is Co-President of Trial Blazers for Kids along with her husband, Josh. Trial Blazers for Kids was established by Josh and Gallite Kestler in honor of their son, Jake, to raise money to fund innovative clinical trials for pediatric cancers. Mrs. Kestler’s experience working with children and devoting herself as a long-term care giver to a child with pediatric cancer has made her extremely passionate about improving outcomes for pediatric cancer patients through increased access to innovative clinical trials.
Dr. Steven Arsht
Dr. Steven Arsht is a board certified orthopaedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center and holds the rank of Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine. After receiving his B.A. from the George Washington University in 1991, he went on to graduate with distinction from The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in 1995. Dr. Arsht completed his orthopaedic surgical residency at GW in 2001. He then traveled to New York for a fellowship in Adult Reconstruction and Sports Medicine at the world renowned Insall Scott Kelly Institute for Sports Medicine where he gained additional sports medicine training with the team physicians for the New York Yankees, New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, and the New York Liberty. After completing his fellowship training in 2002, Dr. Arsht remained at the Insall Scott Kelly Institute as an attending orthopaedic surgeon for several years before becoming part of the full time academic staff at the Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Arsht was inspired by the strength and courage of Jake Kestler after he was diagnosed with brain cancer and founded the Knock Cancer Out of the Park organization in 2017 to honor and support Jake and other children like him battling this terrible disease and to raise money for pediatric cancer research.
Matthew Pauls
Matthew Pauls has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and currently he is the Chair of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Savara Pharmaceuticals, a NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company focused on rare respiratory diseases. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Mast Therapeutics, where he was Chair of the Board, and Zyla Life Sciences. In addition, for over 5 years, Matthew served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Strongbridge Biopharma plc, a rare disease-focused biopharmaceutical company that he took public onto NASDAQ via IPO in October 2015. From April 2013 to August 2014, Mr. Pauls was Chief Commercial Officer of Insmed, Inc. and prior to that he worked at Shire Pharmaceuticals where he was Senior Vice President, Head of Global Commercial Operations. Matthew is also a volunteer board member of The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey, and founder and director of a non-profit youth basketball organization, WE-R1, and he holds MBA and BSBA degrees from Central Michigan University and earned his JD from Michigan State University College of Law.
Michael Margolis
Michael A. Margolis, R.Ph., is a Managing Director and Head of Life Sciences at Oppenheimer & Co. Mr. Margolis also serves as Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking. He has over two decades of Investment Banking experience in the Life Sciences sectors. Prior to joining Oppenheimer, he served as the Head of Healthcare Investment Banking at Roth Capital Partners, LLC and as a Managing Director at Merriman Holdings, Inc. (also known as Merriman Curhan Ford Group Inc.) Before becoming an Investment Banker, Michael worked at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation in several roles, including as a Director in the Global Business Development and Licensing group. He also served as an Equity Research Analyst at Ursus Capital. He began his career at Eli Lilly & Company as a Senior Pharmaceutical Representative. Mr. Margolis is a registered Pharmacist and holds an M.B.A. from New York University's Stern School of Business and a Pharmacy Degree from Rutgers University, College of Pharmacy. Michael, and his wife, Neeli, reside in Livingston, NJ with their three children. Michael joined Trial Blazers’ Board in 2019.
Neeli Margolis
Neeli Berger Margolis, J.D. is an attorney, formerly specializing in family law and mediation. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she served as Editor of its Law Review. After more than a decade in private practice, Mrs. Margolis now focuses her time on raising the three children she shares with her husband, Michael, and volunteering her time to the community. She created and manages a community social media platform, called Ltown Lowdown, with nearly 5,000 members. She is a former Executive Member of the JCC Metro West Board of Trustees, and an active member of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest and Livingston Public Schools Home School Associations. Neeli joined Trial Blazers’ Board in 2019.
Jessica Blatt
Jessica Blatt is an Audit Partner at Berdon LLP and has been with the firm for more than 20 years. Her accounting and auditing experience encompasses an array of industry sectors, among them real estate, hospitality, and manufacturing. Ms. Blatt advises on complex real estate transactions and partnership agreements and consults on high-level tax issues and internal controls. She provides clients with income tax basis and GAAP auditing, financial reporting, and tax preparation services. In addition, she reviews corporate and partnership income tax returns.
Mrs. Blatt is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as well as the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. Jessica holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting, cum laude, from SUNY-Albany. She was licensed as a certified public accountant in New York in 1999.
Michael Handler
Michael Handler has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services and corporate legal industries. Mr. Handler is a Senior Vice President with Odeon Capital Group, LLC where he specializes in originating investment ideas and sourcing non-funded debt in bankruptcy cases and other court-administered situations. Michael previously worked with a private investment firm where he specialized in purchasing bankruptcy claims and other illiquid assets in the distressed debt space. He began his career as an associate with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in the firm's Business Reorganization and Restructuring Department, where he predominantly represented debtors in connection with all aspects of their chapter 11 cases, and then practiced with Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, where he mainly represented creditor clients in all facets of chapter 7 and chapter 11 bankruptcy cases as well as chapter 15 cross-border insolvency cases.
Mr. Handler received a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Rutgers University.
Michael Elchoness
Michael Elchoness is Managing Director of Investor Relations at Shrewsbury River Capital LP. He is a Vice President of Jewish Family Service of Metrowest and on the Board of Trustees for both United Jewish Communities of Greater Metrowest and Rutgers Hillel. In addition, he is on the Advisory Board of Team LeGrand, a fundraising unit within the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. Michael received a B.A. in Communication from Rutgers University in 1996, an MBA, with a concentration in Finance, from Fordham Gabelli School of Business in 2002 and completed his Certified Financial Planner designation in 2006. He and his family live in Livingston, NJ.