Robert R. Topping founded a hedge fund in 1998, a fund of funds in 2007, and formed the corporate structure of Topping Capital in 2006. He has been in the investment business for over forty years with prior experience in institutional and retail sales, venture capital, portfolio management, and the market making of securities.  Beginning in 2010, and through 2013, Topping Capital reallocated approximately $5 million to distressed real estate with a group that had fifteen years and $100 million of prior acquisition experience. This initial reallocation away from the hedge fund, and the realization of the confluence of capital-market events provided the genesis of a major “pivot” of the business model. The subsequent merger of the two predecessor funds in 2013 was the foundation of a totally opportunistic, “freeform” business model in search of early identification of alternative solutions independent of market and economic outcome in a Nu40 world. We believe in ever increasing velocity and volatility in capital markets and a construct to the compartmentalization of risk. 

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Rob is a past board member of GlobeMed.org, a past treasurer and board member of the Old Masters Society at the Art Institute of Chicago and a former advisory board member of Cumulus Funding (Align Income Share Funding) .  He was a member of the Evanston Entrepreneur Lab.  He earned his BBA from Southern Methodist University in 1983 and was a member of the 1983 NCAA Track and Field national championship team. Rob received the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in September of 1993.  He has two grown children and lives in downtown Chicago while officing in Evanston.

Alex Topping is an equity holder in Topping Capital and has been associated with Topping Capital since September 2001 where he assisted in due diligence, research, operational (accounting and audit) and mentoring. Alex semi-retired in 2011 and fully retired in 2022.

In his prior experience and prior to his association with Topping Capital, he was a Senior Vice President of PNC Mortgage in Structured Finance. While in that position over a period of six years he increased security and whole loan sales from $2 billion to over $12 billion and pre-tax income for the conduit increased from a loss in 1993 to $22 million in 2000. Responsibilities included all aspects of pricing, hedging and marketing our whole loan position. From 1995 to 1997 he was also responsible for the warehouse lending business where average outstanding loans increased from less than $100 million in 1993 to $305 million in 1996. Pre-tax income increased from $4.9 million to $8.0 million.

John Lawrence joined Topping Capital’s Advisory Board in 2015. He is a healthcare executive with significant M&A experience having served as General Counsel of a healthcare services company for over 18 years.

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John was one of the original employees of NovaMed, Inc. and served as its General Counsel during its growth from a start-up in 1996, to its initial public offering in 1999 (Nasdaq: NOVA) and ultimately its sale in a going private transaction to HIG Capital in 2011 during which it merged into one of HIG Capital’s existing portfolio companies, Surgery Partners. John then served in the same capacity as General Counsel of Surgery Partners until December 2014 when Surgery Partners purchased Symbion, Inc. and relocated its headquarters to Nashville. John has since founded JOLA Capital Advisors, LLC, which provides advisory and consulting services.

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John is also active with and serves on the Board of Directors of a family business that engages in timber, real estate and agricultural operations in the Southeast. John has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from the Washington University School of Law. John resides in Chicago with his wife, Kelly, and their three children.

Shima Rayej has over 10 years of experience launching new financial and technology products. She is co-founder and managing partner of Persee Ventures, a Chicago-based venture technology firm that works with promising fintech startups and large financial institutions to build scalable technology solutions for some of the industry’s toughest problems, including automated risk management, portfolio management, and asset pricing. She is also the co-founder and CIO of Safe Rate, a mortgage company commercializing socially responsible mortgage products for residential borrowers. Shima has previously worked in Deutsche Bank’s structured products group as well as OCA Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in software and financial technologies.

From 2005 to 2010, Shima was a robotics engineer, developing path planning and obstacle avoidance algorithms for autonomous ground vehicles. Shima received her BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT and her MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Dylan Hall has over 10 years of experience launching new financial and technology products. He is co-founder and managing partner of Persee Ventures, leading system design and data analytics. He is currently a lecturer at the University of Chicago, teaching Entrepreneurship in Technology, and co-founder and CEO of Safe Rate, a mortgage company commercializing socially responsible mortgage products for residential borrowers. Prior to Persee Ventures, Dylan was CTO at Classkick, a YCombinator / Imagine K12 - backed education technology startup creating real-time classroom technology to connect students with teachers.

From 2008 to 2010, Dylan was a math teacher in West Garfield Park, Chicago as part of Teach for America. He received his BS in Computer Science from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

As a Commercial Relationship Manager at Fifth Third, Denise works with emerging middle market business owners on their commercial banking needs. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and a Masters of Educational Psychology both from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Denise started her career in retail banking and then spent 15 years working in economic development helping entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses including running the business loan fund at the Women's Business Development Center as the Director of the Access to Capital. With a focus on business finance and access to capital, she has developed curriculum, taught classes, and spoken publicly to entrepreneurs on how to prepare for outside capital (credit or early-stage investment). Some of her hobbies include running, music, baking and reading. 

Amir Homayoun Rafizadeh is known as the family Office Network Sommelier. Amir is a valuable resource to Topping Capital in expanding our family Office Network. Amir builds strategic customer networks by pairing the right customers to the right companies creating strategic relationships. 

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Amir started his career in a Persian family office in London and built out significant multiple family office relationships. He has spent his entire career growing sales for customers and organizations not only in the operating companies these family offices own but during his tenure at Glaxo Wellcome(now GlaxoSmithKline) where he managed a team of 60 sales professionals and increased revenues over four years 4x $320M. 

Amir has built a private network of over 150 family offices across the US. His Chicago family office consulting practice (678 Partners) provides advisory services on sales growth, sales strategies, and customer acquisition strategies. His customers typically include CEO’s, senior C-suite Sales Directors inside Family Office owned companies, who are focused on, and in need of, growth and scaling strategies. 

Amir has a BSc in computer science and an MBA in international business. He is the Global head of Family Office and Strategic Partnerships at Salt Flats Innovation house. Amir is married and lives in Chicago. 

Joe Rizzi is founder and principal at Journey Capital Partners ("JCP"). JCP is an investor and advisor that leads with CxO roles in emerging growth companies. Joe is an ex-investment banker that covered fintech, insuretech and emerging growth financial services firms in 15 years of enterprise experience. Additionally, Joe is Vice Chairman of Heartland Angels and has been active in consulting to portfolio company CartoFront and business operations at Topping Capital. Joe is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago (MBA & MSF - 4.0 GPA) and Indiana University Bloomington (BA - Economics) and is married living in Chicago.

Jason Harris is an operating partner of Topping Capital and is currently serving as CEO of CartoFront, a Topping Capital portfolio company, which is building intelligence and workflow into the flood insurance distribution process.

Jason has a unique blend of large systems background, having worked in leadership at McDonalds Corporation (1998-2011), as well as start-up, innovation, and agile business development at UI LABS (2013-2016) and Salt Flats (2016-2017) and practicing growth consulting with large (Exelon) and small companies (Gunderson Law Firm).  He specializes in business strategy, designing efficient systems, and leading teams from identifying business initiatives to 100% customer execution.

He has a Masters of Science in Communication from Northwestern University and a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign.  Jason resides on the north shore of Chicago, has four children — one in each US Timezone! — and enjoys running, yoga, cooking, photography, travel, baseball, antiques, and family.

Pamela Finney Swenson has more than two decades of experience coaching and directing student athletics programs in multiple sports at private schools and academies. She has helped at Topping Capital with special projects and events, business development and was responsible for the initial build out of the CRM in 2015. In addition, she is a former consultant in business operations, investment and financial management with a background in management and options trading. In the early 1990s, Pamela was an options trader for Chicago Research and Trading (CRT) in Chicago. She was also the Financial Manager for the Woman's Club of Evanston. Throughout her career, both in athletics and in business, Pamela has used her knowledge, experience, and natural talent for working with people to bring trusted guidance to her co-workers, fellow students, and clients.  Pamela holds a Specialized Certificate in College Counseling from University of San Diego and a Masters of Athletic Administration from Ohio University, Athens, OH. Pamela has three children and lives in Evanston, IL.

Dudley Beyler is the founder of Laveer Capital Management, LLC (LCM) which engages in the execution of alternative investment strategies. Laveer seeks misunderstood markets, out of favor strategies, concepts disrupting legacy incumbents and inefficiencies identified through an understanding of investor psychology. Recently Laveer has launched a series of funds focused on distressed real estate and property tax receivable strategies as well as investing in early stage growth companies. Dudley is the author of "Capital Disruption" - The stories of nine pioneers and their vision to change the lending industry. He is a graduate of Indiana University with a BS in Finance, Operations Management and International Business.