FOUNDING PARTNER

Mr. Freudenstein is a Founding Partner of NEXT Investors. From 2013-2023 Alan was Managing Director and Co-Head of NEXT Investors at Credit Suisse Asset Management. Alan joined Credit Suisse in 2000, and prior to forming NEXT I, he oversaw the bank’s direct private investment portfolio on behalf of Credit Suisse’s Securities group.

Previously, Mr. Freudenstein was a Managing Director responsible for incubation and venture investments within the New World Ventures Group at the Bankers Trust Company. Prior to Bankers Trust, he was a management consultant at Booz Allen & Hamilton and an equity research analyst at Salomon Brothers.

Mr. Freudenstein earned his B.A. in Economics from Johns Hopkins University and M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

FOUNDING PARTNER

Mr. Grimaldi is a Founding Partner of NEXT Investors. From 2013-2023 Greg was Managing Director and Co-Head of NEXT Investors at Credit Suisse Asset Management. Greg joined Credit Suisse in 2000, and prior to forming NEXT I, he focused on making direct private equity investments on behalf of Credit Suisse’s Securities group.

Before joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Grimaldi was an associate at Insight Capital Partners, a venture capital firm. Prior to his position with Insight, he was an investment banker at Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Grimaldi earned his B.S.E and B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania.

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Mr. Khan joined the NEXT team in 2014. He was previously with Credit Suisse Equity Research where he covered IT hardware, networking and telecom equipment starting
in 2011.

Prior to his role at Credit Suisse, Talal was a Consumer and Commercial Finance Investment/Merchant Banking Analyst at FG Advisors.

Talal received his CFA Certification in June 2012. Mr. Khan earned a dual B.S. with high honors in Finance and Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

CHIEF OPERATING & FINANCIAL OFFICER

Mr. Ziglar is the Chief Operating and Financial Officer of NEXT Investors. He joined the firm in 2025 and is responsible for fund operations, finance, and strategic initiatives.

Prior to NEXT Investors, Mr. Ziglar co-founded and led operations and finance for three investment management and technology firms—Seven Grand Managers, Duality Group, and Applied Data Quotient—spanning global equity, quantitative macro, and institutional data analytics strategies.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Ziglar held senior roles at The Carlyle Group, Jefferies Group, Goldman Sachs, and UBS Investment Bank, where he won awards for innovation and the creation of financial indices and structured products, including the 2007 MTN-i Structured Note of the Year.

While at Goldman Sachs and UBS, he co-headed hedge fund strategies, developed the first Municipal Credit Default Swap Index in collaboration with Markit Partners and structured landmark financings for the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees stadium projects. Mr. Ziglar earned his B.A. in Economics from Rutgers University.

PRINCIPAL

Mr. Hrynkiewicz joined the NEXT team in 2015. He previously spent more than two years covering internet and online gaming in the Credit Suisse Equity Research division. In addition to normal coverage responsibilities, Nick conducted due diligence on, and helped bring to market, a number of Credit Suisse-led public offerings. 

Nick received his CFA certification in September 2018. He earned his B.S. in Finance from Lehigh University. 

SENIOR ASSOCIATE

Mr. Balaban joined NEXT Investors in 2021.
Prior to joining NEXT, he was Director of Market Operations at Prime Trust, a financial infrastructure fintech. He has held finance roles at a single-family alternative asset manager and in the real estate investments group at Guardian Life. 

Robb graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University with a B.S. in Finance.

SENIOR ADVISOR

Frank Fanzilli has been a Senior Advisor to NEXT since 2015. He is an IT professional with 30+ years of executive leadership and operational experience, in both financial services and enterprise software.  

Frank currently serves as a director of Sapience Analytics, Portfolio BI, and ReadyWorks as well as Airiam, iBoss, and Skytap.  He has served on the boards of PeopleSoft, CommVault, Avaya, Interwoven (Chairman), nLayers (Co-Founder), Calypso Software (Lead Director), Skytap, Krystallize, and others.  He is an independent board member for the Linux Foundation. Prior to becoming involved directly with the technology community, Frank served as the Global Chief Information Officer of Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was a Managing Director and a member of the Operating Committee.  

Frank is a frequent speaker and author published in The Financial Times, The Washington Post, and CIO Magazine. He speaks at events for Forrester, Gartner, among others. Frank holds a B.S. degree in management from Fairfield University, where he serves on the Advisory Board of the School of Engineering, and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University, where he graduated With Distinction and was the Marcus Nadler Scholar.