Private equity is holding its West Coast summit at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills September 14-15 and most of what’s on the agenda was written for people who already speak the language: DPI, continuation vehicles, evergreen structures.
But two things are happening at SuperReturn US West this year that show a new, bold evolution.
Institutional money has decided sports and entertainment are investable in a way they weren’t five years ago, and the AI conversation in private equity is skyrocketing into the stratosphere that’s undeniable. Those two threads run through four sessions across the two days. Here’s what to know before September 14.
Book your Delegate Pass for SuperReturn US West on Sept 14-15
Day 1
Opening Keynote: The Private Markets Pulse Check
9:05am | Chris Webber (Monument Group), Jeff Suer (Leonard Green & Partners), Nicholas Janneck (Vance Street Capital), Jason Breaux (Crescent Capital Group)
This is the room-setter: first use of the new venue, first read on how the industry’s biggest names are framing 2026 and beyond. The content will be cautious by design. The value is in what the mood says about the year ahead.
The Private Wealth Surge: Democratizing Private Markets
4:30pm | Rajib Chanda (Simpson Thacher & Bartlett), Laurie Chan (PGIM), Anthony Wicklund (Wilshire Advisors), Robert Picard (Hightower Advisors), Lu Zhou (VANQUOUR)
The pitch here is simple: private equity spent decades as a pension-fund and endowment product, and that wall is coming down. Wealth managers are now packaging PE access for clients who couldn’t have touched it a decade ago.
Whether that’s genuine democratization or just a new distribution channel with a fancier name may depend entirely on the fee structure. Worth watching for where personal wealth strategy is actually headed.
Day 2
Redefining Private Equity Success Through AI Integration
9:05am | Ian Gutwinski (Mosaic), Josh Klinefelter (Aurora Capital Partners), Lou Rassey (McNally Capital), Ben Collins (AlphaSense), Paul Sloan Zimmerman (Google)
Every industry conference now has an AI panel now. The difference is many only share polite talking points. Here we have industry leaders and hopefully some very pointed discussion. This one has Google’s Global Head of Private Equity on the stage, which changes the math. When the person running PE strategy at Google talks about deal sourcing and diligence, that’s a signal about where the capital is actually pointed.
The rest of the industry will spend eighteen months copying whatever gets said in this room and borrowing it as “their” strategy.
Game-Changing Investments: Unlocking Growth in Sports and Entertainment
11:15am | Jon Oram (Davis Polk), Andrew Howard (Shamrock Capital), Matthew Helderman (BondIt Media Capital), Jason Wright (Ariel Project Level)
This is the session that matters most if entertainment piques your curiosity. Shamrock Capital has been quietly one of the sharper operators buying media and IP assets for years, and Andrew Howard sitting on this panel means the sports and streaming valuation conversation is getting a voice with veteran experience closing these deals, not just theorized about them. Franchise values, streaming economics, esports; the entertainment industry has become an asset class, and this is where the people writing the checks explain why.
Capital Conversation
Two days, dozens of sessions, plenty of conversation for LPs comparing fund structures. These four are where the money world and the culture world actually meet.
Book your Delegate Pass for SuperReturn US West on Sept 14-15
FAQ
When and where is SuperReturn US West 2026? September 14–15, 2026, at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills in Los Angeles.
Do I need a finance background to understand these sessions? No. The AI integration panel and the sports and entertainments panel are both built around industries, tech and media, that don’t require PE fluency to follow.
Who is the standout speaker to watch? Paul Sloan Zimmerman, Google’s Global Head of Private Equity, on the AI integration keynote, and Andrew Howard of Shamrock Capital on the sports and entertainment panel.
Book your Delegate Pass for SuperReturn US West on Sept 14-15
Shamrock on that panel is the actual headline. Everything else is conference furniture
Google’s PE head on an AI panel isn’t a talking point, it’s the whole distribution signal. That’s the whole conversation
The sports opportunity is obvious. The harder question is whether today’s entry prices leave enough upside for institutional investors.
Sports finally becoming a real institutional asset class is the story here.
it’s interesting watching traditional finance discover that IP and audiences can have durable value beyond opening weekend.
Shamrock is the panel I’d want to hear. Wish I was in CA this week
Just as in wine collecting, everyone suddenly becomes interested in an asset class after the best vintages have already appreciated.
I’m particularly interested in hearing how PE people think about entertainment risk. We obsess over individual titles while institutional investors increasingly seem to be thinking about libraries, rights and platforms.