Meet the Team

  • Vusal Najafov

    Vusal Najafov

    CO-FOUNDER

    Vusal is the co-Founder of Anthelion Capital and oversees strategy, investment, portfolio construction, and AI-native software platform. He has 24 years of experience investing across sectors as well as developing investing-focused data science software platforms. Prior to Anthelion, Vusal worked at Goldman Sachs, Highbridge, Millenium and Indus Capital. He earned a BBA with honors in finance from Texas Tech University and MBA with honors from the Wharton School.

    Vusal co-led design and development of proprietary AI-native software platform for private credit and equity markets.

  • Ewa Kozicz

    Ewa Kozicz

    CO-FOUNDER

    Ewa is a co-Founder of Anthelion Capital and oversees strategy, investment selection and portfolio construction for the firm. Ewa has 26 years of investment experience across sectors and asset classes, including significant expertise in agriculture, industrials, and financial services. Prior to Anthelion, Ewa worked at BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. She has an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics and Math from Columbia College.

  • Karsten Berlage

    Karsten Berlage

    CEO

    Karsten is the CEO of Alphite Capital. He has 25 years of experience in credit, structured finance, securitization, insurance structuring, capital raising, and building and managing innovative and complex businesses. He completed over $10 billion of well-performing and award-winning securitizations, managed a multibillion structured credit portfolio, and built global, market-leading businesses for major financial institutions.

  • Michelle Barone

    Michelle Barone

    COO

    Michelle is a seasoned Chief Operating Officer in the asset management space. She has over 24 years of experience, including 18 years as a COO at Goldman Sachs Investment Partners with a focus on launching and operating new funds in the asset management space. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University.

  • Ahmed Bayyari

    CTO

    Ahmed oversees the Alphite and Anthelion Capital technology platforms and infrastructure with 25 years of experience developing proprietary enterprise software products and cloud solutions. Ahmed holds BS and MS degrees with honors in Computer Systems Engineering from University of Arkansas.

  • Al Moniz

    Managing Director

    Prior to Alphite, Mr. Moniz was a Partner and member of the investment committee at Boundary Creek Advisors (BCA), a long-short credit fund. His responsibilities included sourcing, underwriting and managing credit opportunities in Europe and the US across the technology, healthcare and packaging sectors.

  • Jonathan Tepper

    Managing Director

    Mr. Tepper first began managing CLOs in 2005. Prior to Alphite, Mr. Tepper was the Fund Manager of Prospect Capital’s non-traded BDC. Prior to joining Prospect, from 2019 to 2022, Mr. Tepper was a Managing Director at Atalaya Capital Management where he was responsible for portfolio management of the Telos CLO business.

  • Lowell Thomas

    Managing Director

    Mr. Thomas is a Managing Director at Alphite Capital with 20 years of experience in credit investing and advisory. Prior to Joining Alphite in 2025, Mr. Thomas spent eight years at CVC Credit Partners serving as a senior credit analyst in CVC’s Liquid Credit business, where he led research coverage for a range of sectors including building products, commercial real estate and packaging.

  • Alex Osnos

    Principal

    Mr. Osnos is focused on the sourcing, valuation, structuring, and management of credit investments. Prior to joining Anthelion/Alphite in 2025, Mr. Osnos was a senior credit analyst at BlueMountain Capital and Neuberger Berman, focused on underwriting performing, stressed, and opportunistic credit across a variety of industries.

  • James Steiger

    Principal

    Mr. Steiger is focused on the sourcing, valuation, structuring, and management of credit investments. Prior to joining Alphite Capital in 2025, Mr. Steiger was a Vice President at Tikehau Capital and Apex Credit Partners, where he focused on underwriting, analyzing, and covering high-yield loans and bonds and navigating complex situations across a variety of industries.

  • Conor Colgan

    Vice President

    Mr. Colgan is focused on Credit Operations. Previously Mr. Colgan was a Fund Operations Associate at Sound Point Capital where he was responsible for trade settlements.

  • Vinay Paul

    Vice President

    Mr. Paul is focused on the sourcing, valuation, structuring, and management of credit investments within the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical industries.

  • Anthony Pirrone

    Assistant Controller, VP

    Mr. Pirrone is responsible for the financial reporting, liquidity management, and the annual audit of Alphite Capital. Prior to Alphite, Mr. Pirrone worked at BC Partners on their opportunistic private credit funds and Blue Owl Capital on their direct lending private credit funds.

  • Colvin Dunteman

    Associate

    Mr. Dunteman is an Associate focused on the structuring, valuation, research, and management of debt investments for Alphite Capital.

  • Justin Musella

    Associate

    Mr. Musella’s primary responsibilities include structuring, valuation, and management of debt investments for the Alphite Credit platform.

  • Douglas Nordlof

    Analyst

    Mr. Nordlof serves as an Analyst at Alphite Capital, where he supports the accounting and operations functions of the firm and assists with day-to-day fund operations and financial reporting.