Meet the Team
Leap District Advisors was founded by Scott Barnes, who previously held several C-suite positions with various firms in the asset management and tech industry.
From 2003-2022, Scott was the CFO/CCO/COO of firms in the hedge, VC, PE, and digital asset space, including FORT, LP, a $7B quantitative investment advisor, and Washington Harbour Partners, a fundamentally driven alternative asset advisor focusing on public and private investments in the technology sector.
Emphasizing our focus on relationships and work product, current clients include former employers, such as Skolem Technologies, a SaaS platform providing decentralized trading and data services to the digital market space.
LDA has a deep bench of operations, accounting, and compliance professionals with applicable experience in our various industries of expertise, including full service CPA advisory firms, fund administrators, and project managers.
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With 20+ years accounting and finance experience, including roles as CFO, CCO, and COO at various funds ranging from $300MM - $7B, Scott has the technical depth and experience to lead all of your company’s non-investment functions.
Karsten Thot
Karsten Thot is Partner at Leap District Advisors LLC and has been with the firm from its inception. He is an operational professional with 10+ years’ experience within the finance and technology sectors. Adept at navigating complex challenges, he’s driven strategy and process development in financial services, software development, and global risk management. As a director within the office of the COO, Karsten helped spur dramatic operational and systems growth from 2016-2020 at FORT, LP, a $7 billion asset manager. From 2020 – 2022, Karsten was a program manager within Meta’s Global Risk Management department coordinating globally distributed teams in Austin, Dublin, and Singapore responding to Meta’s highest complexity emerging risks.
A graduate of the College of William & Mary, Karsten’s expertise is underpinned by PMP and CSM certifications. He currently resides in Seattle, Washington.
Joseph Eperjesi
Joseph Eperjesi joined Leap District as a partner in 2024. He has 10+ years’ experience in the hedge fund and alternative asset space where he has been Controller for multiple multi-billion dollar funds. From 2016 to 2023, he was Controller at FORT, LP where he helped scale the operations and accounting function as the firm grew from $1B to $7B in assets under management. Before joining Leap District, Joseph was Controller for Quest Partners LLC, a NYC-based $3B quantitative hedge fund trading across the futures, fx, and single name equity asset classes.
Joseph began his career at a family office in his native Pittsburgh before joining Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services in Chicago where he gained broad experience across the alternative investment and regulatory landscape. Joseph is a CFA charter holder, inactive CPA, and graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. He resides in the Washington, DC area.
Sumon Thomas
Sumon Thomas joined Leap District as a Director in May 2024. She has 10 years of experience in the hedge fund, private equity and asset management space. Prior to joining Leap District, Sumon worked at Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services within the financial control group servicing various hedge fund clients with their fund administration needs. Sumon also worked in asset management finance at Northern Trust performing revenue analysis and reporting, forecasting, annual planning processes, and partnering with sales executives on new business.
Sumon is a graduate from Indiana University with degrees in Accounting and Finance and has her MBA from the University of California, Irvine. She currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.
Erin Pisarik
Erin is an experienced Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with over 25 years in the industry, including time at a Big Four accounting firm. She has experience in a variety of markets including trust and estates, online travel, hospitality, restaurants, consumer and industrial markets, investment advisors, professional services, healthcare, and non-profit. Erin is adept at managing multiple diverse projects while communicating effectively with clients to deliver driven results and provide successful account management services.