Steffanie Sanders — Operations Executive

Ways to Work Together

Two ways I partner with founders.

For hiring teams

Full-Time Leadership

Embedding as the operational backbone of your firm — owning the systems, the team, and the execution so founders can focus on strategy and capital.

COO & Chief of Staff
Head of Operations / Business Operations
Finance & legal-entity operations leadership

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For founders & firms

Fractional & Advisory

Through Forge3 Advisors — building institutional-grade back-office infrastructure for emerging alternative asset managers, without a full-time hire.

Fractional COO / CFO
Fund formation & launch support
Back-office build & service-provider selection
Compliance program & vendor governance

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About

Operations Executive | Legal & Fund Entity Management | Alternative Asset Infrastructure

Operations executive with 30 years of progressive leadership building institutional-grade infrastructure for alternative investment firms. Joined Värde Partners as one of its earliest hires and served as a foundational architect of the firm's evolution from a 5-person, $500M startup to a 175-person, $14B AUM global alternative investment manager with a footprint across the US, London, and Singapore — founding and leading Legal Operations, Investor Services, Fund Formation, and FinOps.

Governed $30M+ in annual legal spend, managed multi-entity global structures across four offices, and led the selection and implementation of technology platforms that eliminated cross-functional friction between 8+ departments. Public accounting background with KPMG audit roots, Lean Six Sigma discipline, and an active AI workflow practice.

Known for writing the playbook where none exists, building the systems so problems don't recur, and delivering zero-error execution across sensitive legal, compliance, and personnel matters.

What I Bring

Operations & Strategy

Cross-functional leadership through influence
Legal entity formation, maintenance & wind-down
Multi-jurisdictional corporate governance
Vendor management
SOP design & operational infrastructure
Board & ELT advisory support

Finance & Risk

LP onboarding, investor lifecycle & reporting
Regulatory & compliance programs (KYC, Form D, FINRA)
Vendor contracting, billing review & spend governance
CPA-grounded financial operations

Technology & Efficiency

Technology evaluations, implementations & adoption
Process improvement & automation (LSS Green Belt)
AI workflow deployment
Vendor management & budget rigor

Selected Experience

Forge3 Advisors

Founder & Business Operations Advisor (Fractional)

2024 – Present · Minneapolis, MN

Building back-office infrastructure for founders and emerging alternative asset managers. Selected engagements:

East Beach Asset Management

Head of Finance & Operations · Fractional COO/CFO

Oct 2024 – Mar 2026

Built complete institutional-grade fund operations infrastructure from scratch for a formative-stage private credit manager: finance & audit framework, internal controls, vendor oversight, compliance program, and operational run-books.
Evaluated and onboarded the firm's full service-provider ecosystem (fund admin, legal, audit/tax, cybersecurity, compliance, insurance), saving 200+ hours of partner time and ensuring readiness for first fundraise.
Led all fund formation — project planning, DDQ prep, outside-counsel engagement, and governing-document negotiation — creating 150+ hours of partner capacity.
Reviewed and negotiated bespoke direct-lending transaction documents across a complex multi-entity structure, reducing CIO workload by 40+ hours.

MPowered Capital

Business & Fund Launch Strategist

Apr – Dec 2024

Strategic and tactical fund-launch support — drafting fund governing documents, completing ILPA DDQ updates, and fulfilling investor RFPs — creating 60+ hours of team capacity and reducing outside-counsel spend.

Värde Partners

Foundational Operations Leader · Early Hire

1996 – 2024 · $500M → $14B AUM · US · London · Singapore

Founded and led 7 functions from scratch, including a dedicated Investor Services function central to securing and retaining $5B+ in investor capital.
Instituted a firm-wide fund-launch strategy that cut time-to-market from 12+ months to under 3 — a 75% reduction.
Governed $30M+ annual legal spend and delivered $1M+ in annual savings through vendor and billing rigor.

Roets Jordan Brewery

Owner & Operator

2013 – 2023 · Minneapolis, MN

Co-owned and operated a craft brewery for 10 years, owning all financial operations, vendor relationships, and regulatory compliance.
Named Best of the Best (Southwest) Brewery three years running.

I help founders prepare for growth and capital.

Track Record by the Numbers