Leslie Lenzo, CFA
CEO/Chief Investment Officer
Highlights: Leslie K. Lenzo, CFA is Chief Executive Officer / Chief Investment Officer of the Hershey Trust Company (“HTC”) in Hershey, PA. Prior to HTC, Ms. Lenzo served as Chief Investment Officer at Advocate Aurora Health where she oversaw the investment of $14 billion in corporate and pension assets as well as the investment options available in the organization’s $8 billion defined contribution plans. Previously, Ms. Lenzo was a senior member of the investment team at Northwestern Memorial Healthcare in Chicago. Ms. Lenzo started her career with the investment program at Partners Health Care in Boston and then moved to the sell side to do equity research covering Healthcare Services at SG Cowen.
Ms. Lenzo holds a BA in Economics and Government from Georgetown University and a MBA in Finance from Boston University. She is also a CFA charter holder. Ms. Lenzo resides in Hershey, PA with her husband, four sons, and Italian Greyhound.
Joshua Shannon, CFA
Deputy Chief Investment Officer & Vice President, Strategy
Highlights: Josh joined the team in 2019 and became Deputy CIO in 2022. In that role, he closely coordinates with the CEO / CIO on any aspect of portfolio oversight and team management. In addition, Josh leads strategic and financial analysis of the “Controlled Companies,” oversees the MHST co-investment program, and leads investment management for the M.S. Hershey Foundation, Hershey Cemetery, and Local Real Estate portfolio.
Josh joined HTC with over 20 years of experience in equity analysis, manager selection, and portfolio construction, with his most recent work experience from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where he was a Portfolio Manager within the US Fundamental Equity franchise. Prior to Goldman, Josh was with Honeywell Capital Management with responsibility for Public Equities across both the actively managed and outside manager portfolios. Josh initially joined JPMorgan Securities within Fundamental Equity Research as a consumer staples analyst.
Josh earned a degree in Economics, with Honors, from Lafayette College. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Evril Clayton
Vice President, Public Markets
Highlights: Evril joined Hershey Trust Company (“HTC”) in 2023 as Vice President, Public Markets and is responsible for leading the public market investments for the Milton Hershey School Trust, including public equity, public real assets, and public fixed income. His responsibilities with respect to public markets include portfolio construction, manager selection and due diligence. He most recently served as Managing Director of Marketable Investment at Rockefeller University in New York, NY. Prior to that he spent 12 years with the New York State Common Retirement Fund in Albany, NY with his most recent position being Deputy Director of Global Equity since 2018. Evril brings over 16 years of investment experience to HTC.
Evril earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Potsdam and his MBA from Clarkson University in Schenectady, NY.
Terry Davis, CPA
Vice President, Finance
Highlights: Terry Davis is Vice President-Finance at the Hershey Trust Company and is responsible for leading all finance and accounting functions and serving as a member of the Senior Officer’s Committee. Terry has over 16 years of experience in the financial services industry. His experience includes four years as Chief Financial Officer of AgChoice Farm Credit, and then just over a year as SVP, Finance for Horizon Farm Credit. Prior to that, he was an auditor for two years with PwC where he served manufacturing and healthcare clients. Terry earned his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license in 2006. He also served in the Marine Corps for 20 years, the first eight of which were as an avionics technician, and then as an air traffic controller.
Terry holds a Master of Accountancy degree from the University of West Florida, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Hawaii Pacific University.
Jerel Hopkins, Esq.
Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Highlights: Jerel A. Hopkins joins the Hershey Trust Company from Macquarie Asset Management in Philadelphia where he has been since 2004 and most recently serving as Managing Director, Corporate Secretary and Associate General Counsel. Mr. Hopkins brings 24 years of legal experience to HTC including experience in state government, corporate and securities law and global asset management.
Jerel is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics. He earned his Juris Doctorate at Villanova University School of Law and is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Jerel resides in the Philadelphia area with his family where he is very active in volunteering for youth organizations, including as a football coach and as a mentor.
Laura Minteer
Vice President, Corporate Services
Highlights: Laura joined the Hershey Trust Company in 2022 as Vice President, Corporate Services and is responsible for planning and directing the administration functions of Hershey Trust Company, including human resources and organizational development, information technology, public/community relations, internal and external corporate communications and other office and facilities services. Laura has over 28 years’ experience in human resources and administrative functions. She most recently served on the senior leadership team at Menno Haven Retirement Community as Executive Director, Human Resources & Organizational Development. Prior to that Laura served as Vice President, Human Resources at Meritus Health, a regional health system in Hagerstown, MD.
Laura is a graduate of Shippensburg University where she earned a Bachelors’ degree in Business Administration and a graduate of Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA where she earned a Masters’ degree in Human Resource Management.
Muzzamil Mussani, CFA
Vice President, Investment Operations and Portfolio Analytics
Highlights: Muzzamil Mussani, CFA is the incoming VP-Investment Operations and Portfolio Analytics and is responsible for building and leading the investment operations function for all investment portfolios managed by the Hershey Trust Company, including the development and oversight of all investment reporting. Muzzamil has over 17 years of experience in investments and investment operations. Over the last decade, Muzzamil built and led the investment operations function at Advocate Health Care /Advocate Aurora Health. Previously he worked in investment operations at RH Investment Management in Chicago. Prior to that, Muzzamil served at a leading investment banking firm in Pakistan as a research analyst and equity trader.
Muzzamil holds an MBA in Finance from the Institute of Business Management in Pakistan and is a CFA charter holder. Muzzamil is an active community leader and has served as the Vice President of OPEN Chicago, an entrepreneurial and leadership not-for-profit. Muzzamil lives in Hummelstown, PA with his wife and three lovely kids.
Jennifer Sassani
Vice President, Private Markets
Highlights: Jen joined the Hershey Trust Company in 2017. She has 25 years of asset management experience. As Vice President of HTC’s Private Markets, she leads portfolio strategy for the private market investments including private equity, private real assets, and private credit. She leads portfolio construction, manager selection, and due diligence for the Private Real Asset program. Prior to joining the Hershey Trust Company, Jen served as Lehigh University’s Director of Alternative Investments where she was responsible for overseeing the private equity and private real estate initiatives. Jen also functioned as the COO of the Investment Office. Before joining Lehigh, she held various roles with the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System (“SERS”), most recently as Co-Director of Alternative Investments and was involved with managing SERS’ then $10 billion private equity program.
Jen holds a BSBA from Shippensburg University and a MSBA from Bucknell University. She is a board member of the Shippensburg University Foundation. Outside of work she is busy with her family, or you can find her in her gardens.
