Claudine M. Cohen
Douglas Song
Evan Gallinson
Sylvie Gadant
David Acharya
Drew Brantley
Christopher Sheeren
Melanie Santos Grant
Matthew Pettit
Chase Stuart
Thomas Kesoglou
Grant Kornman
James Illikman
Pierce Edwards
Charles Scripps
Matthew L.T. Harnett
Rob Bauer
Dave Hiemstra
Bryce Winkle
Bruce Lipian
Robby K. Markose
Mark Hauser
Rodney Reisdorf
Max Dezara
Pat Dinolfo
Peter Shelton
Bob Puopolo
Jabbar Abdi
Scott Merkle
Ana Winters
Dave Hiemstra
Bob Shettle
Bryan C. Natale
Azhar Quader
Kevin M. Meyers
Samantha L. Ory
Paul Cohn
John J. Koeppel
John Gilson
Gopal Tampi
Andrew Suh
Troy Fields
Chris Streit
Chris Keller
Andrew Ferworn
Patrick Machir
Danny Bloomstine
Nick Russell
Patrick T. Fitzgerald

Speaker Profiles

Claudine M. Cohen

Managing Principal, Value360

CohnReznick LLP

Claudine oversees an integrated team of transaction, valuation, restructuring, project finance, and dispute resolution professionals serving clients throughout the lifecycles of their businesses. With specific expertise in managing opportunities and roadblocks that can impact a business moving forward, Claudine and her team help clients achieve optimal outcomes in protecting and growing stakeholder value.

Claudine serves as an adviser to public and private companies, both domestically and internationally. Her clients comprise the full gamut of financial sponsors including private equity investors, independent sponsors, family offices, alternative investment funds, lenders, and strategic investors. Her areas of knowledge include strategic advisory, quality of earnings analyses, identifying revenue sources and profitability drivers, examining operating cost structure and sustainability factors, investigating business models including cash flow and financial projections, reviewing quality and realization of assets and liabilities, identifying working capital requirements and negotiating positions, post-close working capital verification, and adjustment mechanisms.

Claudine was named to Mergers and Acquisitions 2019 list of the most influential women in mid-market M&A, and Crain’s NY 2018 most notable women in consulting.

Douglas Song

Co-Founder and Managing Director

Prodos Capital

Mr. Song has a diverse background with over 30 years in principal investments, investment banking and operational experience. Mr. Song is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Prodos Capital (“PC”), an investment firm focused on investments in the lower middle market. Prior to PC, Mr. Song was the head of investments and corporate finance for Verus International, a boutique merchant banking firm that was co-founded by Citigroup. At Verus, Mr. Song led investments in both private and public companies in the emerging growth and middle market. Prior to Verus, Mr. Song was SVP of Corporate Development at On2 Technologies. At On2, Mr. Song led all aspects of strategic planning, financial analysis, mergers & acquisitions, financings and the capital markets. Prior to joining On2, Song was a Managing Director at Bluestone Capital Partners, where he was a senior banker and a manager in that firm's Corporate Finance Department. At BlueStone, Mr. Song was responsible for the execution of public offerings and private placements as well as merger and acquisition transactions. Mr. Song was a member of BlueStone's Management Committee and Commitment Committee. Previously, he held positions as an investment banker at Smith Barney in the Global Energy and Power Group and Chase Manhattan Bank in the Workout and M&A Groups. During his career as an investment banker, Mr. Song has executed over a billion dollars in public offerings, private placements, cross border mergers and acquisitions, and restructurings transactions. Mr. Song received a B.S. Degree from the School of Management at Boston University

Evan Gallinson

Managing Director

Merit Capital Partners

Evan R. Gallinson, Managing Director, joined Merit in 2005. Evan previously worked in Investment Banking with BMO Capital, William Blair & Company, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions advisor work for middle market companies in a variety of industries.

Evan received an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 2002 with a concentration in finance. In 1997, he received a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan with a concentration in finance and accounting.

Evan currently serves on the Board of Directors of Choice Slocum Holdings, LLC, Elgen Manufacturing Company, Glunt Industries Inc., Storage Solutions, Inc. and TGR Industrial Services.

He is a native of New Jersey, but has lived in the Chicago area for over twenty years, and is currently residing in Northbrook, IL with his wife and two daughters. Evan’s non-work activities involve coaching his daughters’ softball, basketball, soccer and any other sporting activity that involves a ball as well as playing platform tennis.

Sylvie Gadant

Partner

Citrin Cooperman

Sylvie Gadant is a partner with Citrin Cooperman’s Private Equity and Capital Markets Practice and is the Transaction Advisory Services (TAS) practice leader. She leads buy-side and sell-side due diligence engagements for private equity firms, independent sponsors, family offices, and strategic buyers.

Prior to joining Citrin Cooperman, Sylvie was the principal-in-charge of the TAS practice at a top-20 national accounting firm, where she also spent more than 10 years with its audit and advisory practices. Previously, she served middle-market private companies across several industries for another public accounting firm.

Sylvie has advised clients on over 300 transactions valued between $5 million and $300 million, including platform investments, add-on acquisitions, leveraged recapitalizations, carve-outs, and minority investments. Her areas of expertise include analyzing an acquisition target’s quality of earnings, understanding key performance indicators, assessing working capital requirements, and identifying key deal issues and risk areas. She also provides her clients with guidance on accounting for mergers and acquisitions.

Sylvie is a frequent speaker, panelist, and moderator for various industry forums including the Kayo Private Equity Conference, the iGlobal Forum, the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), the Exit Planning Exchange (XPX), and Expert Webcasts. She has been featured in business and industry publications, including Inc. Magazine, Forbes, PE Hub, Buyouts Magazine, Crain’s New York Business, and Accounting Today.

Sylvie is the recipient of several prestigious industry awards, including the "2020 Crain's Notable Women in Accounting" (Crain's New York Business) and the "2019 USA Women Dealmakers" (Global M&A Network), which singularly honors and spotlights an A-List of the most accomplished and respected women dealmakers from the private equity, lending, restructuring, M&A financial advisory and legal transactional communities, especially from the middle-market segments. She is also a 2017 "Top 25 Leading Women Intrapreneur" (Leading Women Entrepreneurs) award recipient.

David Acharya

Managing Partner of Acharya Capital Partners, LLC

David Acharya is the Managing Partner of ACP where he oversees all aspects of the firm’s investing, management, and strategic activities. He brings over 25 years of investing and transacting experience to ACP. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and is recognized by his peers for his expertise in private equity, capital markets, and portfolio value creation.

Before establishing ACP, Mr. Acharya was a partner of AGI Partners, LLC, a private equity firm, and played a key role in the development of the firm including strategy, hiring, and fundraising. He continues to serve on the board of directors for Impact XM, an AGI portfolio company, and will be managing until exit. Earlier, Mr. Acharya was a Director of an NYC-based private equity firm where he was responsible for investment sourcing and execution. Among other accomplishments, he sourced and executed Revolution Dancewear, co-sponsored with Incline Equity Partners, and was sold to Audax Group.

Previously, Mr. Acharya was a Vice President with Apprise Media, a private equity firm focused on niche media investments, where he worked with the founders of PRIMEDIA, a former KKR founded portfolio company. Mr. Acharya invested over $200 million in niche media companies across digital, events, and print products in North America, Europe, and Asia. He made significant contributions to Apprise Media’s largest portfolio company Canon Communications, a B2B media company. Canon was successfully sold to United Business Media in 2010. Mr. Acharya spent 10 years as an investment banker in the highly ranked leveraged finance groups of JP Morgan Chase and Toronto Dominion Securities. He advised, structured, and raised over $18 billion of capital for leading financial sponsors, telecommunications, media, and consumer product companies across the globe. He also advised clients on debt tender/consent transactions that affected over $4 billion of debt. While at Toronto Dominion and as part of its merchant banking initiatives, he was involved in numerous equity investments including Rural Cellular Corporation (sold to Verizon), T-Mobile, Bresnan Communications, and Intermedia Communications (Leo Hindery’s Cable Venture).

In 2020, after completing his term as President of the New York Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Mr. Acharya was elected as Chairperson. Additionally, he was recently elected to the ACG Global Board of Directors. In recognition of his years of leadership and volunteerism, he was honored with the ACG Meritorious Award.

Mr. Acharya is a graduate of St. John’s University and holds B.S. and M.B.A. degrees with honors.

Drew Brantley

Managing Director at Frisch Capital Partner

Drew is a Managing Director at Frisch Capital Partners. For the past 25 years, Frisch Capital has specialized in raising debt and equity for value-added Independent Sponsors.

Drew is a serial entrepreneur having started 5 businesses, sold a few and still owns some. He knows what it’s like to be in your shoes. He sees the Independent Sponsor model as the method executives and industry experts can take to own and run already established businesses. He now dedicates his career to helping individuals buy companies, find greater success and live life on their own terms.

Christopher Sheeren

Partner at Longhouse Partners, LLC

Chris has over 28 years of business experience in M&A, turnaround consulting, public accounting, and sales. He has worked with Huron Capital, Conway McKenzie, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Revlon. He has a B.A. in English and Speech Communications from the University of Nebraska, and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan, and is a former CPA.

Melanie Santos Grant

Founder & Managing Partner - 2ndGenPartners

Melanie Santos Grant is the Founder and Managing Partner of 2ndGenPartners, a woman-led, private equity independent sponsor firm focused on control and non-control investments in Agribusiness, Healthcare Services, Health & Wellness products. Her career started with 4 years in fixed Income securities at Goldman Sachs, then 5 years as a transactions attorney at Morgan Lewis followed by serving as Assistant General Counsel for Aramark, a large global food services company. After Aramark, she moved from legal to the operations at Burlington Coat Factory, a Bain Capital portfolio company. As Chief Transformation Officer, she was responsible for the strategic growth initiatives from store re-design to supply chain, which resulted in revenue growth from $1 to over $4 Billion. After leaving Burlington, Melanie owned and operated her own strategic growth and advisory firm.

As a first generation Filipino-American, mother of four with over 25 years of deal and business growth experience, Melanie is excited about 2ndGen's mission which is to partner with founders and family-owned businesses to directly improve the lives of future generations. Melanie graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers College and earned her JD from the University of Virginia. Melanie is currently a trustee of the Virtua Healthcare Foundation, the largest healthcare network in Southern New Jersey.

Matthew Pettit

Founding Partner, Seven Hills Capital

Matthew Pettit founded Seven Hills Capital in order to bring a unique long-term operating perspective to healthcare services investing

Prior to forming Seven Hills, Matt founded Ascend Dermatology with the goal of creating an organization that provides world-class, compassionate care to dermatology patients and offers a unique succession planning vehicle for dermatology practice owners. Matt served as the CEO of Ascend where he oversaw operations, the construction of a corporate team and associated back office support center, and all financial functions. Additionally, Matt led business development sourcing and the execution of several add-on-acquisitions. Ascend merged into Forefront Dermatology in 2016

Matt developed his passion for healthcare after being involved with several successful ventures as an investor and advisor while at Beecken Petty O’Keefe and Company and Piper Jaffray. He worked with companies in the healthcare information technology, practice management, staffing, infusion and home health sectors. Matt has also made personal investments in the healthcare space, targeting primarily outpatient services and personal wellness. Matt currently serves on the Board of Directors of The VersiCare Group and Reliable Medical Supply. Matt is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) Chicago Chapter.

Matt received his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and his Masters in accounting and B.S. from The Ohio State University with Honors where he received the Presidential Salute and Pacesetter Awards. Matt lives with his wife and two sons in Nashville, Tennessee.

Chase Stuart

Partner- Ice Miller

Chase Stuart is a partner in Ice Miller's Business Group. He represents a variety of private equity funds, family offices, independent sponsors, mezzanine funds, and privately held businesses. He provides strategic and legal advice in their investment and general corporate strategies, including leveraged buyouts, mezzanine financings, growth capital transactions, early and late state private equity investments and secondary transactions. He represents family, founder, and entrepreneur-owned businesses as general corporate counsel and as a sell-side advisor. He has represented a variety of companies in sectors such as technology, manufacturing, health care aerospace and defense, gaming, and business services.

Thomas Kesoglou

Managing Partner, Ice Miller

Thomas Kesoglou is the Office Managing Partner of Ice Miller's New York office, where he leads the Firm’s Private Equity Practice. He is also a member of the Firm's Board of Directors. Mr. Kesoglou represents private equity funds, mezzanine funds, SBICs, BDCs, family offices and independent sponsors providing strategic and legal advice in their investment strategies, including leveraged buyouts, mezzanine financings, growth capital transactions, early and late stage private equity investments and secondary transactions. Mr. Kesoglou also advises these investors in connection with the management of their portfolio companies, including acquisitions, dispositions, follow-on debt or equity investments, bridge loans, restructurings, recapitalizations, employment matters, stock plans and other general corporate matters.

Mr. Kesoglou serves as outside general corporate counsel to a number of privately held and emerging growth companies in connection with growth capital transactions, acquisitions and other general corporate matters. Mr. Kesoglou represents privately held companies in connection with the sale of their business to strategic or financial investors. He also represents large U.S. and foreign corporations in connection with their investment and M&A activities in the United States.

In addition to advising his clients, Mr. Kesoglou actively seeks transaction opportunities to refer to financial investors in order to facilitate introductions and transaction opportunities.

Mr. Kesoglou is a frequent public speaker on corporate legal matters and has authored several articles published in leading magazines, including Buyouts, Financier Worldwide, and The Deal. He was named 2014 AM&AA Conference Chair of the Year and AM&AA Chapter Leader of the Year in January 2013 by the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors and was appointed as Chairman of its 2013 summer conference and 2014 winter conference.

Prior to joining Ice Miller, Mr. Kesoglou practiced in the private equity group at McCarter & English LLP and Goodwin Procter LLP in New York. Prior to becoming an attorney, Mr. Kesoglou worked as an investment banker in the Real Estate Finance and Securitization Group of CIBC World Markets in New York.

Grant Kornman

Managing Partner - NCK Capital

Grant is a seasoned investment professional with years of both deal and operating experience. Over the last few years, Grant has honed his operating skills by founding several innovative companies such as MoneyToGo, HelpMeToBuy and Vuru. Grant’s leadership and these companies have been profiled in numerous national media outlets including an appearance on CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. Grant was also Director of Business Development at Isadra, an enterprise software company that was acquired by VerticalNet (NASDAQ: VERT).

Prior to rolling up his sleeves and running companies, Grant spent years investing in operating companies and real estate. He was the Florida Development Partner for The Lane Company, one of the largest multifamily development companies in the U.S. In that role, Grant focused on acquiring and developing apartments and condos that ranged from $15 million to $50 million in project size. Grant began his career as an associate at Sterling Partners, a private equity firm with over $4 billion under management. At Sterling, Grant structured investments in numerous companies and spent considerable time advising senior management teams on their growth and capitalization strategies.

Grant has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Finance from Georgetown University.

James Illikman

Partner - Peninsula Capital Partners

James has over twenty years of corporate finance experience in private equity, mergers and acquisitions and operations management. His career comprises private and public sector investing from both a strategic and financial investor perspective.

Immediately prior to coming to Peninsula Capital Partners, Mr. Illikman held positions with Talon Equity Partners LLC, a middle-market buyout firm, where he was responsible for investment origination and portfolio maintenance. Before that, he held positions with Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership, United Technologies and the predecessor entity to Delphi Corporation. At these firms, Mr. Illikman was responsible for identifying, conducting due diligence, negotiating and closing acquisitions consistent with the business development objectives of the companies. Mr. Illikman has also served in various management roles for acquired operating companies.

Mr. Illikman earned both his Bachelor and his Masters in Business Administration degrees from the University of Michigan. He is a member of the CFA Institute. Mr. Illikman’s interests include mountain biking and winter sports.

Pierce Edwards

Principal, Valesco Industries

As Principal with Valesco, Pierce Edwards’ primary role in this position includes new investment origination, financial & business analysis, due diligence, and investment process management. His responsibilities play a key role in our team’s ability to deliver on our commitment beyond capital.

Prior to beginning his career at Valesco, Pierce spent nearly four years at Evolve Capital where he worked on originating, executing, and monitoring private equity investments. His focus was in founder-run businesses across a variety of industries that included manufacturing, industrial services, and healthcare. Pierce began his career at J.P. Morgan-Chase, where he developed his analytical skill-set managing the portfolios of ultra-high net worth individuals and family offices. As Principal, these analytical skills are integral to the success of the entire team and our portfolio companies.

Pierce received his Master of Business Administration from the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business, with concentrations in Accounting, Strategy & Entrepreneurship. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Amherst College where he participated on the Amherst Men’s Basketball team and Student Senate.

Pierce remains close to his twin brother and younger, much taller brother. They spend their time playing basketball, engaging with various charities and exploring new and exciting investment opportunities.

Charles Scripps

Managing Partner - Black Lake Capital

Chad brings two decades of experience investing in private and public businesses. Prior to founding Black Lake, he was at leading private equity firms HIG Capital and AEA Investors, which manage $37B and $15B, respectively, and began his career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. He earned an MBA with Honors from the Wharton School and a BS in Chemical Engineering with Distinction from the University of Wisconsin.

Matthew L.T. Harnett

Partner & Co-Founder - Tecum Capital Partners

Matthew Harnett is a founding Partner of Tecum and serves on the firm’s Investment Committee. In this position, he is responsible for leading all aspects of transaction origination, analysis, structuring, underwriting, deal execution and monitoring of subject private equity and mezzanine debt investments.

Matt currently serves as a Board Member of Aging With Comfort, BP Business Solutions, BP Express, Connecticut Electric, Conco Services, Cox Transportation, Fluence Automation, Hoodmart, Midwest Equipment Sales, National Power, and he serves as a Board Observer for Bandon Holdings, The Marwin Company, Inc., and Sentrics.

Prior to co-founding Tecum, Matt served six years at the predecessor organization, F.N.B. Capital Corporation, LLC, where he was Vice President. Matt started his career at Ford Motor Company where he worked for four years. He completed the management program and became Zone Manager of Ford Division’s largest market in the Pittsburgh Region. Matt was responsible for annual franchisee revenues exceeding $300 million and was named Ford’s 2006 Zone Manager of the Year. He was recognized as one of the top-performing Zone Managers nationally for exceptional results in sales and market share growth, market representation actions and franchisee profitability.

Matt is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth (“”ACG””) and was a founding member of the ACG Future Corporate Leaders Board, where he served on the Board of Directors from 2012 to 2016, and was elected Chairman of the Board 2014 to 2016. He also served on the Pittsburgh Advisory Board of Economics Pennsylvania (2008 to 2016), which develops programs for young people focused on essential economic and financial literacy concepts.

Matt received an MBA degree from the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh, with focused studies in Finance and Strategy. He also received dual major B.S.BA. degrees in Supply Chain Management & Logistics and Marketing from The Ohio State University. Matt is also Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (“CAIA”) Charterholder.

Rob Bauer

Managing Member - Bassett Creek Capital

Mr. Bauer has 18 years of private equity experience and has completed over 30 M&A transactions worth over $3.0 billion in transaction value. Prior to founding Bassett Creek Capital, Mr. Bauer was a member of the private equity teams at New Stream Capital, Sterling Investment Partners and Piper Jaffray & Co.

Dave Hiemstra

Founder & Principal - Quadec Private Capital LLC

Dave has more than fifteen years of private equity, mergers & acquisitions consulting and auditing experience. During his career he has coordinated numerous private equity transactions and, prior to becoming a private equity investor, worked on over one hundred due diligence, financial advisory, and audit engagements.

Before joining Peninsula Capital Partners, Mr. Hiemstra was a Partner at Strength Capital Partners, a middle-market, private equity firm where he focused on deal evaluation, acquisition due diligence, transaction execution, and portfolio monitoring. Prior to Strength Capital, Dave worked in the Transaction Services practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, focusing on buy-side and sell-side due diligence. In that role, he supported strategic and financial buyers in evaluating and negotiating acquisition transactions in various industries. Dave also worked in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ middle-market audit practice prior to graduate school.

Dave earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, where he also earned his Masters of Business Administration degree with high distinction. Dave teaches an MBA course at Ross titled “Entrepreneurship via Acquisition”. He is a registered certified public accountant in the State of Michigan. Dave enjoys a wide variety of outdoor activities, coaching, and spending time with his family.

Bryce Winkle

Managing Director - Resurgent Capital Partners

As both an operating executive, investor, and advisor, Mr. Winkle has deep expertise in private equity, business strategy, leveraged finance, and financial and operational restructuring across the technology, services, and consumer industries.

Through roles at Bain and Company, Alvarez and Marsal, The Gores Group and as entrepreneur, Mr. Winkle has developed deep expertise in M&A transactions, as an executive/operator, as well as in board oversight.

Operationally, Mr. Winkle has led and grown a small business as a CEO, as well as led, designed and executed carving out large corporate divisions and building out new G&A functions, sales force re-organizations, cost savings initiatives in excess of $20M, and recruited and hired C-level executives.

Mr. Winkle has led acquisition and sale efforts ranging in size from over $500M to under $1M. Through these processes he has developed a deep understanding of deal dynamics and deal execution.

Mr. Winkle has served on the board of directors of Imagine Communications, Gates Air, Alpheus Communications, Big Strike, Inc. and on the Audit Committee of Imagine Communications and holds a BA in Biology from Duke University with honors and an MBA from UCLA where he graduated in the top 2% of his class

Bruce Lipian

Co-Founder - StoneCreek Capital

Bruce N. Lipian is a founding principal and Managing Director of StoneCreek Capital. Founded in 1992, StoneCreek is an independent private equity sponsor focused on investing directly in growth-oriented management buyouts and targets transactions ranging from $10 million to $100 million. StoneCreek’s most recent acquisitions include Kova International (www.kovaintl.com), Pinnacle Exhibits (www.pinnacle-exhibits.com), Mob Scene (www.mobscene.com), Rio Ranch Market (www.rioranchmarket.com), Montana Silversmiths (www.montanasilversmiths.com) and ACCESS DMC (www.accessdmc.com). Prior to StoneCreek, Bruce was a Vice President at Kelso & Co., one of the nation’s leading buyout investment firms. Bruce received his BA (Economics) from the University of Washington and his MBA (Finance) from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Bruce is an active member of ACG, a founding member of both the Orange County Private Equity Connection and the Orange County Transaction Network, and has served as an adjunct professor at the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics (California State University Fullerton) and as Vice Chairman of the Board of Kids Connected.

Robby K. Markose

Founder & Managing Partner - Samson Capital Group

Robby Markose is a former Partner of Samson Investment Partners (SIP). He began his career with SIP in 2009 and directed and managed the firm’s private equity investments from 2014 to 2021. In his role at the firm, he served on various boards across the portfolio. Before joining SIP, Robby worked at J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. from 2004 to 2007, where he helped advise technology companies on a wide range of transactions including mergers, acquisitions, recapitalizations, leveraged buyouts, and management buyouts.

Robby received his Bachelor of Business Administration, summa cum laude, from The University of Texas at Austin and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mark Hauser

Founding Partner - Tamarix Capital

Rodney Reisdorf

CEO & Co-Founder - Verivend

Principal - Transactional Advisory Service

Rodney Reisdorf is the CEO and Co-Founder of Verivend and is an experienced, results-driven leader of SaaS and enterprise software solutions with a successful history in the B2B and B2C industries. He has served in multiple senior-level roles focusing on organizational leadership, client delivery and operational strategies. Prior to founding Verivend in 2019, Rodney served in key roles at several early-stage technology companies where he built and scaled client implementation and delivery divisions, ensuring successful outcomes for 1,000s of clients.

Rodney has deep expertise in architecting client service strategies from concept to completion, software platform and product development, operational process design, and building successful cross-functional teams. Rodney received his MBA and undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Canisius College in Buffalo, NY.

Max Dezara

Founder & Managing Partner - Akoya Capital

Max founded Akoya Capital Partners in 2005. He serves as Managing Partner of the company and is involved in overseeing all aspects of the operation.

Max has sourced, evaluated, valued, and structured numerous investment opportunities across a variety of industries including manufacturing, professional information services, consumer foods and specialty chemicals. Max is uniquely expert at partnering with industry-leading executives to develop proprietary investment opportunities for family office and private equity co-sponsorship. The strategies he has developed and teams he has partnered with have created substantial shareholder value. Since its inception, Akoya has completed 20 platform investments and numerous add-on acquisitions across the portfolio.

Prior to forming Akoya Capital, Max spent over 20 years in talent acquisition, assessment and human capital consulting, most as the founder and leader of the Carlyle Group, a leading Midwest boutique retained executive search and consulting firm. In 1998, Max sold Carlyle Group to The Whitney Group, creating a top-ten global executive search firm with eight offices worldwide. During his tenure with The Whitney Group, he was elected vice chairman and served on Whitney’s board of directors and lead their global private equity practice.

Max is an active member of the Family Office Club, Association for Corporate Growth, and Vistage, a peer mentoring group for CEO’s and Tiger 21.

Max is also the former Chairman of the Century Foundation, a non-profit board focused on the development of Lane Tech College Prep High School and remains actively involved on the board.

Max works closely with our portfolio companies Edge Adhesives and TTG and prior to our exit, was a board member for NutriScience and Momentum Manufacturing Group.

Pat Dinolfo

Managing Director - Actel Advisory Group

Pat Dinolfo, Managing Director, joined Actel Advisory Group in 2008. Pat leads Actel’s engagement management, new business development, and day-to-day firm management. He has 13 years of market due diligence experience across a wide array of industries including aerospace and defense, consumer products, healthcare products and services, food and foodservice, niche manufacturing, energy products and services, industrial products and services, IT/software, value-added distribution, specialty subcontracting/building products, and others. Over the course of his time with Actel, Pat has evaluated over 400 transactions on behalf of buy-side clients.

Previously, Pat was an Associate at Houlihan Lokey, where he provided sell-side advisory services in the consumer, food, and retail industries.

Pat holds undergraduate degrees in English and Political Science from the George Washington University and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. In his non-work life, Pat enjoys spending time with his wife and four children, coaching youth soccer, playing golf, running, and avidly rooting for his hometown Buffalo Bills.

Peter Shelton

Partner, Corporate & Securities Practice Group - Benesch Law

Peter focuses his practice on transactional and corporate work.

Peter has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, as well as private debt and equity financings. In addition, he counsels clients with respect to general contract drafting and negotiation matters, joint ventures, partnership agreements, shareholder agreements and other day-to-day corporate matters.

Bob Puopolo

Partner - Epic Partners

Mr. Puopolo brings to the team nearly 30 years of education, private equity and investment banking experience. Mr. Puopolo is responsible for overseeing all of Epic Partners' activities. As such, Mr. Puopolo originated, among others, Epic Partners' investments in St. Matthew's University School of Medicine and Oasis Children's Services. Before co-founding Epic Partners, Mr. Puopolo was a partner at Leeds Equity Partners, the largest private equity firm focused on companies involved in education and training. At Leeds Equity Partners he structured, financed and negotiated the LBO of DataMark, the leading marketing services firm for the for-profit colleges and schools market. While at Leeds, Mr. Puopolo also originated growth capital investments in two leading e-learning companies. He also identified and assisted in recruiting the CEO for Leeds' largest portfolio company, Ross University Schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. Mr. Puopolo was an investor in Edison Schools, the largest private management company of K-12 public and charter schools, and is currently an investor in Lincoln Educational Services, a leading proprietary post-secondary schools group. He is currently Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oasis Children's Services and a member of the board of Panax Capital. Mr. Puopolo is a former director of St. Matthew's University School of Medicine, Datamark, Provant, the University of Sint Eustatius School of Medicine, LAWYERStv, Helma Institute and Paxar, and a former director or advisory director of four other private companies.

Prior to joining Leeds, Mr. Puopolo spent 18 years in the M&A and Corporate Finance Departments of Oppenheimer & Co., Bear Stearns and Kidder, Peabody. While at Oppenheimer & Co., he founded and ran the Firm's M&A group for three years. Mr. Puopolo also co-founded and was co-head of the Firm's Private Equity Firm Coverage Group. During his 18-year investment banking career, he originated and/or executed over 50 M&A and other corporate financing transactions, over one third of which were LBOs and other highly leveraged M&A transactions. During his investment banking career, Mr. Puopolo represented BET plc in the sale of its Rediffusion flight simulation business to GM/Hughes Electronics. He also performed investment banking services for various other education-related companies including GP Strategies (NYSE: GPX), ECC International, Gilat Satellite Networks (NASDAQ: GILT) and Doron Precision Systems. Other than his time at Leeds and Epic Partners, Mr. Puopolo has personally invested either with clients, in clients or independently in over 20 private equity transactions.

Mr. Puopolo holds an AB in Economics from Harvard College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Jabbar Abdi

Managing Partner - Sidereal Capital Group, LLC

Prior to joining Sidereal, Jabbar was a Managing Director at Cordova, Smart, & Williams, LLC (“CSW”), a middle-market private equity firm where he was a key member of the investment team. Jabbar joined CSW from GE Capital where he held various positions. As a Vice President in GE Capital’s Merchant Banking Unit, Jabbar was responsible for originating and underwriting debt and equity financings for leveraged buyouts in the middle market in addition to managing a portfolio of debt and equity investments in various industrial companies. Jabbar also worked in GE Capital's Private Equity Unit, GE Equity, where he executed and managed early- and late-stage equity investments in growth companies and other investment funds. Prior to his tenure at GE Capital, Jabbar was a management consultant with First Manhattan Consulting Group where he focused on strategy development and implementation in the financial services sector. Jabbar began his career with Furman Selz, a New York-based investment bank where he conducted an assortment of mergers and acquisitions, public equity offerings, and private placements.

Jabbar earned an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for MEND NJ, an organization that strengthens and supports an interfaith network of 20 member food pantries located throughout Essex County, NJ.

Scott Merkle

Managing Partner - SLB Capital Advisors

Extensive 20+ year real estate background across a wide range of areas including sale leasebacks, build-to-suit capital raising, capital markets, strategic advisory, principal investment and development
Scott provides strategic direction, cultivates new and existing client relationships, and oversees execution of transactions for SLB Capital Advisors
Prior to co-founding SLB, Scott focused on sale leasebacks at Stan Johnson Company, a leading firm in the single tenant real estate space
Previously, Scott was a Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets in the Investment Banking department responsible for capital raises and advisory mandates for public REITs and private real estate clients across the U.S.
Scott’s earlier work experience includes five years in real estate development along with two years in real estate investment banking at First Union Securities, a predecessor to Wells Fargo

Ana Winters

Managing Director - Midwest Mezzanine Funds

Ana joined Midwest in 2004 from LaSalle Bank. Ana started at LaSalle in 2001 as part of the Leveraged Finance Group where she focused on underwriting, analyzing and monitoring cash flow transactions to private equity sponsored companies. Ana also helped negotiate and restructure certain distressed assets from LaSalle’s Leveraged Finance portfolio. Previously, Ana was a Manager in Ernst & Young’s M&A consulting group where she provided due diligence advisory services to private equity investors. Ana began her career with Arthur Andersen where she spent three years auditing middle-market manufacturing clients.

Ana serves or has served as a Director of Transhield, Connecticut Electric, Peltram Plumbing, Dorsett Technologies, LSC Environmental, Pan-Am Dental, Blair Duron, and Century Drill & Tool.

Ana received her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and her BS in Accounting from DePaul University. She passed the CPA exam. Ana is also actively involved with the Midwest Regional Committee for the Small Business Investor Alliance as well as several charities that support her church and children’s school.

Dave Hiemstra

Founder & Principal - Quadec Private Capital LLC

Quadec’s Founder and Principal, Dave Hiemstra, has over 22 years of experience with middle market companies. Dave has participated in more than 40 private capital transactions as a principal investor, totaling over $700 million in total enterprise value and over $300 million of equity and junior capital. In addition to supporting management by serving on the boards of more than ten private companies, Dave has developed expertise in sourcing transaction opportunities, evaluating businesses and industries, conducting and facilitating due diligence, raising capital, and negotiating transaction documents. Dave invests his personal capital in every transaction and is supported by a broad network of debt and equity co-investors and transaction advisors.

Prior to founding Quadec Private Capital, Dave was a partner at Peninsula Capital Partners, a private equity and mezzanine capital provider in Detroit, MI focused on lower middle market transactions with independent sponsors. Before Peninsula, Dave spent 10 years at Strength Capital Partners, a committed capital and independent private equity firm in Birmingham, MI. Dave has spent his entire career working with middle market private companies, starting his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ middle market advisory and transaction services practices for 7 years before transitioning into private equity.

Dave was born and raised in the Midwest and earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, where he also earned his Masters of Business Administration degree with high distinction. Since 2013, Dave has taught an MBA course at Ross titled “Entrepreneurship through Acquisition”. He also currently runs the “Zell Entrepreneurship through Acquisition Program” under the Zell-Lurie Institute at Ross, mentoring more than a dozen students each year in pursuit of careers in search funds, private equity, and mergers & acquisitions.

Outside of work, Dave enjoys a wide variety of outdoor activities, traveling, and coaching or cheering on his children. He serves on the board of Birmingham Girls Softball, helping to provide athletic and personal development to more than 300 players each year. Dave lives in Birmingham, MI with his wife and two daughters.

Bob Shettle

Managing Director- Star Mountain Capital

Mr. Shettle is a senior investment professional with approximately 30 years of experience investing senior debt, junior debt, private equity and making lower middle-market fund investments.

Mr. Shettle had a highly successful 22-year career at Barings, the $325 billion AUM investment manager owned by MassMutual Financial Group. At Barings he was promoted to Co-Head of North American Private Finance Group co-managing a team of 35 investment professionals across 3 U.S. offices and overseeing an approximately $10 billion private credit investment portfolio. He was also Chairman of both the North American Mezzanine and the North American Private Finance investment committees.

Mr. Shettle was also President of two Barings branded publicly traded New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) closed-end funds focused on private debt securities.

Prior to Barings, Mr. Shettle was a Vice President in commercial lending at Fleet Bank (now part of Bank of America).

Mr. Shettle started his career in management consulting at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) in the late 1980s.

Mr. Shettle is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and has an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Mr. Shettle also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Bryan C. Natale

Partner- Burns Levinson

Bryan C. Natale is a partner in the firm's Corporate group. Bryan represents clients in transactional matters with a focus on mergersand acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, growth equity investments, venture capital financings, distressed acquisitions, debt and equity financings, licensing and outsourcing, and securities and corporategovernance. Bryan works extensively with private equity sponsors,venture capital funds, financial institutions, closely-held and venture-backed emerging growth companies, privately-held middle-market companies, and private equity-backed portfolio companies acrossmany industry sectors, including health care, technology and software, industrial and manufacturing, media and marketing, retail and consumer products, and financial services.

On behalf of his clients, Bryan drafts and negotiates primary and ancillary transaction documents, investment-related documents, commercial agreements, and corporate governance documents.

Azhar Quader

Investor - Queens Court Capital Management

Azhar Quader is an entrepreneur and investor based in New York City. Azhar has over a decade of experience in finance at both sell-side and buy-side firms encompassing a broad range of roles ranging from idea generation, research, structuring, trading, product management, principal investing and investment banking.

Azhar is a value investor at heart and started investing in stocks from his dorm room at Columbia University from where he received his BA in Mathematics and Economics.

As an investor, Azhar abides by the two lifelong maxims of the “Oracle of Omaha”: Warren Buffett

Rule # 1: Never Lose Money
Rule # 2: Always Remember Rule # 1

Azhar considers himself to be a true “Graham and Dodd” investor, and his favorite treatises on investing include “Security Analysis”, “the Intelligent Investor”, “Margin of Safety”, “Fooling Some of the People All the Time: A Long Short Story”, “The Art of Short Selling”, and all Buffett biographies. Azhar’s investing “heroes” include Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Marty Whitman, Seth Klarman, Michael Price and Carl Icahn.

Outside of work, Azhar Abdul-Quader supports a number of philanthropic and nonprofit organizations, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Charity: Water, and Indego Africa. The latter group is nonprofit social enterprise & lifestyle brand that supports women in Rwanda through economic empowerment and education.

Kevin M. Meyers

Managing Partner - First Haven Capital

Kevin Meyers is the Managing Partner of First Haven Capital and Co-Founder of its affiliate Turtle Creek Investment Advisors. His responsibilities include sourcing and evaluating non-control investment opportunities and portfolio monitoring. Prior to founding First Haven and Turtle Creek, Mr. Meyers worked at Caxton-Iseman Capital (now “CI Capital”), a middle market private equity firm based in New York where he initiated, evaluated, and structured private equity transactions and participated in the monitoring and expansion of portfolio companies. Mr. Meyers started his career as an investment banker in the Financial Sponsors Group at Credit Suisse First Boston. In addition to his co-investment responsibilities, Mr. Meyers overseas First Haven’s broader third-party manager platform which allocates to a wide range of fund strategies through a bespoke asset allocation model. Mr. Meyers, has served in many current and former advisory roles including as a member of corporate boards, limited partner advisory committees, industry associations and charitable organizations. Mr. Meyers graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is originally from Dallas, Texas.

Samantha L. Ory

General Partner- Ouroboros Group LLC

Samantha Ory, CEO of Ouroboros Group, leads one of the few women-owned private equity firms here in Boston. This past November, she traveled to New York City among other young women to participate in the WAVE’s Second Annual Women in Alternatives Career Forum. The Forum is a conference that brings women from all backgrounds within private equity and venture capital to network and learn from industry veterans about buyout, VC, LP, placement agents, FOFs, distressed equity, real estate, and private credit.

As the industry evolves, it is imperative to continue the conversation of women involvement and their activity. Since its inception in 2003 The WAVE, also known as the Women's Association of Venture and Equity, has taken initiative in creating spaces for these discussions and presenting women opportunities to network with each other. Kirsty McGuire, a board member and Deputy General Counsel at StepStone Group shared, “At WAVE, our objective is to bring better information to women about the breadth of career options available in the private equity sector and to provide them access to employers and opportunities.”

The focal points of this event were:

· Investment Management

· Investment Allocation

· Male Perspective on Diversity, Culture, and Teams

In effort to change the narrative for women in this industry, the conference was a huge success. With Ouroboros Group on the rise, we too, plan on furthering this discussion! This conference thesis exhibits a lot of what we at Ouroboros feel to be important regarding gender diversity and overall equality in the workplace. We strive to hire the best individual and fit for the role and look for diverse skill sets among team members to enrich the overall experience and investment outcome.

Paul Cohn

Managing Partner - Tail End Capital Partners

Paul is a successful private equity professional with over thirty years of experience. Paul has worked in all facets of private equity and venture capital as a secondary investor, limited partnership investor, co-investor, direct investor and leveraged buyout lender.

Prior to founding Tail End Capital Partners, was a Managing Director and a member of the Investment Committee of Fort Washington Capital Partners (“FWCP”). FWCP manages more than $3.8 billion in private equity commitments across more than a dozen funds with three exclusively focused on secondary investing.

Prior to leaving FWCP in 2018, Paul led all efforts focused on investments in GP-led Secondaries, including deal sourcing, deal execution and post investment management. Paul was on the boards or advisory boards of nine Secondary related investments. Additionally, while at FWCP, Paul served on the board of advisors of eleven additional private equity limited partnerships.

Previously, Paul founded and managed a boutique investment consulting organization called Navigation Capital Partners. Earlier in his career, Paul was a Partner with Mellon Ventures, Mellon Bank’s private equity affiliate. Paul was a founding team member and by the time he left, Mellon Ventures had $1.3 billion invested and committed to over 100 portfolio companies and over 70 funds. Paul started his career and was an Investment Manager at Westinghouse Credit Corporation acting as a lender into leveraged buyouts.

John J. Koeppel

Partner and Private Equity Leader - Lippes Mathias

Mr. Koeppel is a Partner and the Team Leader of the firm’s Private Equity Practice. He is a corporate lawyer who has successfully structured, negotiated and closed over 250 transactions in the past two decades, which typically involve mergers and acquisitions, fund formations and investments, and various private equity transactions (including co-investments, venture financings and cross-border deals). He also works with clients on reviewing / structuring their Qualified Opportunity Zone and Qualified Small Business Stock investments.

Mr. Koeppel acts as counsel to a number of leading funds, independent sponsors, middle market companies, institutional investors, and high net worth investors focused on buy-out, growth, venture, real estate, intellectual property, fund-of-funds, co-investments, secondaries and other strategies. He also often acts as US counsel to non-US clients on their US private equity and investment fund transactions. He also serves as a director for several private equity-backed companies.

On the M&A / private equity transactions side, Mr. Koeppel has advised on deals from $5 million to $250 million+ in a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, technology, consumer goods, food, distribution, business services, cleantech and medical / health care.

He is a frequent speaker at a number of leading private equity and M&A events. Mr. Koeppel and his team take a pro-active and practical approach to helping clients make connections and successfully navigating the various legal challenges in any private equity transaction. Prior to joining Lippes, he was a partner in the private equity and investment funds group of an AmLaw 100 firm.

John Gilson

Partner - Holland & Knight

John C. Gilson is a private equity attorney in Holland & Knight's Charlotte office. His practice includes a broad range of corporate transactional matters. Mr. Gilson's core practice includes the representation of strategic and financial buyers and sellers in a variety of complex business transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, carve-out transactions, structured equity products, cross-border transactions, minority equity, growth equity and venture capital investments, and joint ventures.

Mr. Gilson has extensive experience representing independent sponsors, search funds and traditional and self-funded searchers in all aspects of their transactions, including equity structuring and transaction execution. He has authored several articles and lectured on these topics.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Gilson was an attorney at law firms in New York and Charlotte.

During college, Mr. Gilson was a member of the Phi Alpha Theta historical honor society at the State University of New York at Albany. Mr. Gilson was also a two-time captain of the University at Albany men's lacrosse team and a member of the school's football team. He studied abroad in 13 different countries in Europe and the Middle East through Eastern Michigan University's European Cultural History Tour. He also served as a student teacher at an Albany middle school and public high school.

Gopal Tampi

DealMTRX

Gopal started his career as an Accountant at Arthur Andersen before taking on various senior roles within financial sponsor groups at global investment banks including Morgan Stanley, UBS, Nomura and Mizuho. Gopal has always sought to maximize efficiency during his time working in Private Equity banking coverage and so the idea of DealMTRX was born. As founder and CEO of DealMTRX, Gopal is passionate about data driven, streamlined workflow in the Private Equity world.

Andrew Suh

Partner

PKF O'Connor Davies, LLP

Andrew Suh is a partner of the Firm and is responsible for leading buy-side and sell-side transaction advisory services including due diligence assistance (accounting, financial, tax), purchase agreement vetting, closing and post-deal assistance to corporations, private equity investors and their portfolio companies.

With over 14 years of international experience, Andrew had been part of the transaction advisory services practices of two “Big 4” international accounting firms. Previously, he was the CFO of a private equity backed technology company which he guided through multiple acquisitions and ultimately a successful exit for the private equity sponsor and management shareholders.

Andrew has provided clients with assistance in over 150 transactions including significant software and technology experience where he advised on critical metrics such as recurring revenue streams, customer and user churn, bookings momentum, and customer acquisition costs. He has also worked on deals ranging in value from $5 million to $2 billion in other industries including: media/entertainment, telecommunications, life sciences, healthcare, business services and consumer products. In addition, he has advised on a number of cross-border transactions involving, Canadian, Australian, South American, European and Asian entities.

Troy Fields

President - Tax Advisors Group

A proven leader, Troy is responsible for the Financial, Sales, Information Technology and Facilities functions. Having been a leader of a consulting firm (Viscern) that was twice selected as one of the Top 100 fastest growing companies in Dallas, Troy brings years of experience with managing a fast-growing consulting practice.

In addition to his years working as the CFO and COO for several Dallas-area hedge funds, Troy also formed and led Surge Advisors, a contingency fee-based consulting practice that focused on cost reduction for their clients.

Troy received his bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Management Information Systems from Southern Methodist University.

Chris Streit

Chief Commercial Officer at Tax Advisors Group - Tax Advisors Group

Chris Streit leads the commercial strategy for Tax Advisors Group, an organization specializing in preserving client capital by minimizing property taxes and recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Tax Firms. Mr. Streit began his career in SALT over 13 years ago and has directly contributed to millions of dollars in savings for clients across all industries. Chris’s career extends beyond SALT as he has held leadership positions with human capital firms Korn Ferry and Dale Carnegie. Mr. Streit received his bachelor’s in business from the University of Texas at Arlington and his MBA in Finance from the University of North Texas.

Chris Keller

Managing Director - Moelis Asset Management.

Chris is a Managing Director at Moelis Asset Management and is responsible for overseeing Archean Capital Partners, a private equity seeding strategy which is part of Moelis. He is exclusively focused on investing in first-time private equity funds. Prior to Moelis, he was at Summit Strategies Group, an institutional investment consultant, where he was a Managing Director, Head of Research and Head of Private Markets. In his previous role, Chris committed over $10 billion across 200 private equity funds, including a significant number of first-time funds and emerging managers. He was also an active member on dozens of fund advisory boards. Chris is a Kauffman Fellow, a CFA® charter holder and received an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and an undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology from The University of Colorado.

Andrew Ferworn

Sr Vice President - Virtus

Andrew co-leads Virtus’s Private Capital Insurance Practice – providing insurance solutions to middle market private equity investors and the management teams of their portfolio and target companies. Andrew is responsible for sourcing and evaluating new business opportunities, overseeing operations and project consulting, growing the team’s technical capabilities, and private investor relations.

Prior to joining Virtus, Andrew was a Senior Account Director at Lincoln Financial Group where he led new business and client retention activity in their employee benefits insurance market for employers with over 2,000 employees. His ten-year experience at Lincoln Financial Group focused on delivering innovative employee benefit insurance strategies in collaboration with insurance underwriters, actuaries, and many of the world’s largest insurance brokers to maximize stakeholder value.

A Michigan native, Andrew holds a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan and resides in Chicago.

Patrick Machir

Partner - Atlantic-Pacific Capital, Inc

Patrick J. Machir leads the firm’s direct investment advisory and private placements practice, leveraging his extensive experience as both a principal investor and deal advisor.

Prior to joining Atlantic-Pacific, Patrick served as an Advisor at Roundtable Investment Partners, a family office based in New York, evaluating and structuring investments across the alternatives landscape. Previously, Patrick served as a senior member of the investment team at WL Ross & Co., an investment firm based in New York, and at Bear Stearns as a member of the Leveraged Finance Group and in the High Yield Research department.

Patrick earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Finance and Accounting from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

Danny Bloomstine

Juniper Square

Danny is a New York City based Account Director at Juniper Square, a venture-backed company making the private capital markets more efficient and transparent through software and tech-enabled administration. He works with PE and VC firms to evaluate their:

LP portals
IR software
Digital subscriptions
Fund administration services

Danny's background is in fintech. Prior to Juniper Square he was an early employee at VTS and started his career at S&P Capital IQ. He graduated from Boston College.

Over 1,700 firms partner with Juniper Square across the country.

Every touchpoint you have with an investor is an opportunity to advance the relationship—or set it back. That’s why it’s key to choose partners that invest in your success—and the success of your investors. Juniper Square not only offers digital solutions that can improve operations, data transparency, security, and the user experience for employees and investors, but we can also take on reporting and other administrative tasks.

Juniper Square’s modern administration solutions offer deep expertise and industry-leading digital solutions that can help you deliver exceptional investor experience with less effort. And we can help you navigate ever-evolving industry regulations and reinforce your firm’s strengths so you can stay a step ahead of changes in the market, provide a good investor experience, and keep impressing your investors

Nick Russell

Managing Partner - Tuckerman Capital

Nick Russell is the Managing Partner at Tuckerman Capital where he focuses on investing in small and lower middle market buyouts in partnership with deal partners (independent sponsors and experienced executives). He has over twenty years of experience as an investor, advisor, strategist and operator. The entirety of his career has been focused on helping smaller niche, usually technical, product and service businesses across a range of sectors succeed and generate stakeholder value. He has led several Tuckerman investments including Verdantas (Environmental Advisory), Dauntless Air (Wildfire Suppression), Anser Advisory (Infrastructure Project Management), Orthofeet (Orthotic Footwear), TRS Services (Industrial MRO), and Freedom Communication Technologies (Safety Equipment Test and Measurement). Nick began his career at a global strategy consulting firm now part of Oliver Wyman Group where he focused on growth and turnaround strategy, corporate venture formation, and operational improvement engagements. He was a founding team member of a boutique private equity advisory firm prior to joining Tuckerman.

Nick has a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth. He is active in his community with a strong interests in natural conservation and education related issues. He is a Trustee at Crossroads Academy and an investment committee member at the Montshire Museum of Science, has been a Trustee at the Upper Valley Land Trust and a Board Advisor at the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences, and serves as an Adjunct Faculty member at the Tuck School teaching an MBA course on private investments. Nick is married and has three young children.

Patrick T. Fitzgerald

Partner - Phillips Lytle LLP

Mr. Fitzgerald is a Partner and Co-Team Leader of the firm’s Private Equity Team. His practice focuses on corporate law, with particular emphasis on structuring, forming and advising real estate and other private investment funds and their portfolio companies. As a former partner of a private equity firm, Mr. Fitzgerald has first-hand experience working on all aspects of structuring and operating private investment funds and broker dealer and investment adviser regulatory compliance matters, and has personally participated as a GP and LP in various alternative investments, including venture capital and syndicated real estate deals. With respect to portfolio companies, Mr. Fitzgerald has significant experience working on all matters related to the underlying real estate transactions, including sales and acquisitions, financing, leasing, land use and zoning, easements and covenants, conditions and restrictions. Mr. Fitzgerald has the unique ability to advise his clients on all aspects of their legal and business matters.