September 12th - Golf Outing
Followed by the Cocktail hour, Reception & Awards.
September 13 - Day 1 Agenda
8:00 am - REGISTRATION & NETWORKING BREAKFAST
9:00 am - CHAIRPERSON WELCOME & OPENING REMARKS
Claudine Cohen
Managing Principal
CohnReznick
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.
9:15 am - ROUNDTABLES / THINK TANKS
Get to know your peers - join us for interactive smaller targeted discussions and be part of the conversation.
Roundtable 1: Why Pay Now, When You Can Pay Later: Earnouts, Seller Notes and Rollover Equity
- Market trends
- Optimal structuring
- Alignment of interest
- Tax implications
John Koeppel
Partner and Private Equity / Independent Sponsor 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.
Roundtable 2: Navigating Human Capital Challenges in M&A Transactions
- Employee Communication
- Turnover Reduction
- Transferring Benefits
- Quieting the Noise
Roundtable 3: Exit Strategies for Independent Sponsors
- Preparing for the exit from the beginning
- Key considerations when issuing equity to management
- What legal concepts should be in your definitive documents?
- How to consider roll-ups in connection with the exit
Chase Stuart
Managing Partner
Ice Miller
Roundtable 4: Due Diligence for Independent Sponsors
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Best practices for conducting due diligence on target companies
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Identifying potential risks and red flags in deal structures
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How to negotiate and mitigate risks
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Due diligence on your Capital Partner
Bryan 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 mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, growth equity investments, venture capital financings, distressed acquisitions, debt and equity financings, licensing and outsourcing, and securities and corporate governance. 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 across many 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.
Roundtable 5: How to Unlock Value & Liquidity in Your Portfolio
- Identifying opportunities to extract value through the real estate exposure of your underlying portfolio companies
- Sale Leaseback of company-owned real estate
- Best Practices for assessing opportunities with leased real estate for synthetic sale-leaseback, Landlord capital contributions, or occupancy cost reductions
Matt Anuszkiewicz
Managing Director and Co-Head of the Institutional Coverage Group
STNL Advisors
Matt Anuszkiewicz is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Institutional Coverage Group (“ICG”) with STNL Advisors, one of the top performing sale-leaseback, lease advisory, and net lease real estate development firms in the country. Matt is responsible for the creation and execution of sale-leasebacks programs, credit underwriting, large scale asset disposition programs, as well as lease restructures for private equity firms, multi-unit franchisees, and business owners nationally.
Since joining STNL Advisors in 2015, Matt has developed an in-depth understanding of capital markets as well as unique and creative transaction structures. During his tenure with STNL Advisors, Matt has been directly involved in the sale of over 800 properties totaling over $2.5 billion in transaction volume.
Prior to working with the STNL Advisors, Matt worked at J.P. Morgan and graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business. Matt lives in Westchester County, New York with his wife and two daughters.
Roundtable 6: Recruiting Star CFOS for PE-Backed Companies
- Qualities to look for when hiring a great CFO
- Assessing talent
- Recruiting for potential
Burton Francis
Managing Director
ECA Partners
Burt Francis is a Managing Director of Business Development at ECA. He works with clients to fill permanent and project based roles. Burt has wide-ranging experience in engineering, business leadership and management consulting in various industries including aerospace, software, financial services, and manufacturing. This includes notable tenure with Oliver Wyman, The Boeing Company, General Dynamics and Starbase Technologies Inc.
Burt graduated summa cum laude, with a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
1:00pm - 2:00pm NETWORKING LUNCHEON
Designed to foster meaningful connections. Strike up a conversation with someone new, and make the most of this fantastic opportunity to expand your network and forge lasting connections.
1:15 pm – LUNCHEON WORKSHOP: From ESG to E+SG: Understanding Future Environmental Risks To ESG Ratings and How To Integrate Future Risk Assessment Into Your Process (by invitation)
Today’s ESG assessments and ratings focus heavily on current environmental issues for companies. But what of future environmental risks to companies from ever-changing regulatory and litigation-driven factors? While these factors may not impact the “ESG now” ratings and risk analysis, looking to “future E” risks is the best way to ensure strong long-term ESG portfolios and investments. Key topics of this discussion will include:
- Examples of how the lack of forward-looking “E” risks has impacted portfolios and investments
- Examples of environmental risks that are looming on the horizon that will impact future investments
- How to better predict the next future “E” risks in your diligence process
John Gardella
Moderator
Shareholder
CMBG3 Law
John Gardella is a Shareholder and recognized thought leader on PFAS issues. He is licensed to practice in Massachusetts and Tennessee.
A seasoned trial attorney with over 75 verdicts, John is the Chair of the firm’s PFAS, Environmental, Risk Management & Consulting, and ESG practice groups. His thought leadership and predictive risk abilities with respect to PFAS earned him the honor of being the only person in the country that was recognized as a thought leader on PFAS in 2020 and 2021 by the esteemed National Law Review. John is regularly interviewed by media on the subject of PFAS and other emerging chemicals of concern, and he consistently publishes his own thought leadership in several nationally syndicated resources, including Bloomberg Law, AM Best, and National Law Review. Private equity firms, the financial world, insurance companies, and corporations regularly seek John’s opinions on forward-looking environmental and chemical substances risk issues.
In his environmental and toxic torts practice, John represents companies ranging in size from small mom-and-pop businesses to Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. Companies seek John’s expertise on matters ranging from compliance planning and audits to litigation of pending cases.
John also Chairs the firm’s CMBG3 Cares charitable program; is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth and sits on its Industrials and Manufacturing Committee, ASTM’s PFAS committees, the USA 500 Clubs, and the Personal Care Products Council; and actively participates in and supports the firm’s DEI initiatives.
Outside of work, John is committed to supporting various charitable organizations, specifically through raising money for them through marathon and triathlon participation. Through these efforts, John has raised over $30,000 for the Martin Richard Foundation and Autism Speaks.
NETWORKING MEETINGS
2:00pm - 5:00pm BUSINESS BUILDING 1X1 NETWORKING MEETINGS
- 1x1 meetings dedicated to developing valuable partnerships for your business model. This unique addition to the program will provide you with the opportunity to meet exclusively with those independent sponsors or capital providers specializing in investments in the industry sectors and markets you are focused on. We will provide you with a full list of participating capital providers and independent sponsors, and offer an hour of free-flowing networking to meet with the most relevant contacts. You will then have the chance to evaluate the potential for future business opportunities and make the most of your time. These meetings will conclude with our cocktail hour that will afford additional unstructured networking time with any independent sponsors or capital providers you may not yet have met.
5:00pm - 6:00pm WELCOME COCKTAIL RECEPTION
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6:30pm - 8:30pm INVITATION ONLY POST-CONFERENCE DINNER
Sponsored by
September 14 - Day 2 Agenda
8:00 am - NETWORKING BREAKFAST
9:00 am - DAY 1 RECAP AND WELCOME REMARKS
9:15 am - NON-TRADITIONAL CAPITAL SOURCES: SECONDARY MARKET OPTIONS AND STRATEGIES
Learn about and deep dive into a discussion about the non-traditional sources of capital through secondary market options and debt financing.
Thomas Kesoglou
Moderator
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.
Paul Cohn
Managing Partner
Tail End Capital
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 Darguzas
Principal
Merit Capital Partners
John Darguzas, Principal, joined Merit in 2018. From 2011 to 2018, John was a Vice President at Antares Capital Sponsor Finance Group in Chicago. At Antares John worked on the Underwriting Team evaluating senior debt investment opportunities across a broad range of industries, on the Originations Team reviewing new investment opportunities and on the Credit Advisory Team working on troubled loans all while maintaining an active role in helping establish Antares as a standalone company after it was spun out of GE Capital. While attending Kellogg part time from 2012 to 2014, John founded MyMenu, an app based platform that helps people with food allergies find restaurants that meet their dining requirements. From 2005 to 2011, John was a Director in KPMG’s Transaction Service Group, overseeing financial buy-side due diligence of middle market acquisitions for private equity clients.
John Received an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 2012 with concentrations in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. In 2005, he received a B.S. from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business with concentrations in Accounting and Finance. John is a registered CPA.
John currently serves on the Board of Directors of Engendren Corporation, Glenn Rieder, MicroPrecision, LLC, Revision Military, LTD, Urban Surfaces, and U.S. Minerals, Inc.
Matt Anuszkiewicz
Managing Director and Co-Head of the Institutional Coverage Group
STNL Advisors
Matt Anuszkiewicz is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Institutional Coverage Group (“ICG”) with STNL Advisors, one of the top performing sale-leaseback, lease advisory, and net lease real estate development firms in the country. Matt is responsible for the creation and execution of sale-leasebacks programs, credit underwriting, large scale asset disposition programs, as well as lease restructures for private equity firms, multi-unit franchisees, and business owners nationally.
Since joining STNL Advisors in 2015, Matt has developed an in-depth understanding of capital markets as well as unique and creative transaction structures. During his tenure with STNL Advisors, Matt has been directly involved in the sale of over 800 properties totaling over $2.5 billion in transaction volume.
Prior to working with the STNL Advisors, Matt worked at J.P. Morgan and graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business. Matt lives in Westchester County, New York with his wife and two daughters.
Raffi Azadian
CEO
Change Capital
With over 20 years of experience in technology, venture capital, investment banking and commercial finance, Raffi Azadian is a seasoned investor and entrepreneur who is passionate about creating positive social change through business. He is the Founder and CEO of Change Capital, an investor and capital provider that focuses on businesses that offer innovative, sustainable, and socially responsible products and services.
Raffi is also the Founder and Board Chair of the Make Change Foundation, a charitable organization that applies rigorous analysis and high ROI expectations to its giving decisions. The Foundation supports institutions and initiatives that can demonstrate high social impact and efficient use of capital resources. Additionally, Raffi is an active investor and board member of several companies in the fintech, logistics, and e-commerce sectors, such as Xen, QX Logistix, and Azadian Group.
10:00 am - BUILDING THE DESIRED INFRASTRUCTURE FOR AN INDEPENDENT SPONSOR FIRM
- Establishing the right tools, systems, and processes to create a structure for an independent sponsor firm to operate efficiently and effectively
- Effective deal sourcing and execution processes to help the firm identify and capitalize on opportunities
- Adopting the right technology and software to support day-to-day operations and improves overall efficiency
Sylvie Gadant
Moderator
Partner and Practice Leader
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.
Brad Deghand
Sr. Risk Consultant
Virtus
Brad is a Senior Risk Consultant at Virtus where he works with private equity firms in a consultative capacity focusing on business insurance and the procurement of representation and warranties policies. Brad is responsible for overseeing due diligence opportunities and helping transition target companies to Virtus clients on an ongoing basis.
Prior to joining Virtus in December of 2021, Brad was a member of the private equity team at Lockton for several years focused on producing property and casualty due diligence reports. Thereafter, he switched roles to become a Client Advocate for one of the top performing producers in the private equity realm at the firm. Brad facilitated all new deals while overseeing all scopes of work and helped maintain relationships for the current book of business.
Brad attended Rockhurst University where he received his undergraduate degree in Accounting as well as his MBA.
Jonathan Saltzman
Managing Partner
Torque Capital Group
Jonathan Saltzman is the Managing Partner of Torque Capital Group. At Torque, Mr. Saltzman takes a lead role in the sourcing, structuring, and financing of investments and the management, strategy, and growth of its portfolio companies, all in niche manufacturing in and around automotive and transportation related markets. Together with the firm’s investment team and operating partners, Mr. Saltzman takes a hands-on, operational approach to building value in Torque’s portfolio companies.
Before co-founding Torque, Mr. Saltzman was a senior investment professional focused on manufacturing investments at The Cypress Group, a New York-based private equity firm.
Prior to The Cypress Group, Mr. Saltzman sourced and led transactions at BG Strategic Advisors, a boutique investment bank focused on the supply chain sector, leveraging the supply chain and operations experience and network he developed while working as the corporate finance manager of the Amsterdam-based transportation, logistics, and shipping multinational TNT NV (“TNT”).
Before TNT, Mr. Saltzman worked in the financial institutions group in Salomon Brothers’ investment bank, where he advised on a broad array of capital markets and M&A transactions for banks, specialty lenders, asset managers, and insurers. Mr. Saltzman began his career as a public auditor in Ernst & Young’s financial services group.
Mr. Saltzman is currently a director of Cablecraft Motion Controls (transportation related actuation devices), Netform (automotive powertrain components), Maval Industries (automotive steering remanufacturing), Spektrum (automotive braking products), and XLD (automotive braking components) and was a director of various Torque and Cypress Group portfolio companies, including in the aerospace, building products, and logistics sectors.
Mr. Saltzman is a CPA and earned an MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA and a BBA with highest distinction from Emory University. Mr. Saltzman is active in a variety of industry organizations as well as local charitable organizations in Fairfield County, Connecticut where he resides with his wife and three children and enjoys tennis, mountain biking and travel.
Timothy Laczkowski
Partner
Altacrest Capital
Tim founded Altacrest Capital to focus on investing and growing lower middle market companies in branded consumer products. At Altacrest, he is responsible for deal origination, operations and fund-raising activities. Prior to Altacrest, Tim spent 15 years at Prudential Private Capital, the private investment arm of Prudential Financial, investing private debt and equity across various industries. Prior to Prudential, Tim was a management consultant for PwC. He began his career in the audit practice of EY.
Tim holds a BSBA in Accounting and an MBA in Finance both from Washington University in St. Louis.
Tim has been married for over 20 years and has three boys. In his spare time, Tim watches his son’s athletic events and enjoys playing golf and tennis. He is active in the community, including work with the Exchange Club of East Dallas and various Washington University alumni groups.
Jessica Kates
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Rellevant Partners
Jessica co-founded Rellevant Partners with Janice Meyer in 2019. Jessica has a unique hybrid background that combines over 10 years of private equity experience with 8 years of C-level operating and management experience. Prior to co-founding Rellevant, Jessica was a Partner in TriSpan’s Rising Stars fund, a dedicated restaurant private equity fund. Earlier in her career, Jessica was the CEO of Eddie Borgo, a luxury accessories brand, and CFO of Folica, an online-consumer products retailer. Jessica began her private equity career at Catterton Partners, where she worked before business school. Jessica is from Montreal originally, and moved to New York in 2000 to work as an investment banking analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (later Credit Suisse First Boston).
Jessica holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BCom with Great Distinction/Dean’s Honor List from McGill University. Jessica serves on the Board of the Harvard Business School Women’s Association of New York, and she is a past Board Member of Rosa Mexicano, Yardbird, and Stacked.
10:45 am - MORNING NETWORKING BREAK
Pick the sessions most relevant for you.
TRACK A
11:15am - 12:00pm SYNDICATING VS A SINGLE CAPITAL PARTNER - PROS AND CONS
- Discussing the goal of Independent Sponsor and the role they want to play
- Board control and partnership
- Managing passive vs. active investors
- Efficiency, timing & risk - turning documents, managing investors etc.
Kevin Christmas
Moderator
Partner
Holland & Knight
Kevin Christmas is a corporate partner in Holland & Knight's Charlotte office, where he focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, financing matters, search fund transactions and general corporate advisory work. Mr. Christmas leads Holland & Knight's Search Funds practice and has substantial experience representing domestic and international search funds in connection with capital raising, acquisition transactions and related matters.
Mr. Christmas has more than 15 years of experience advising clients on the full life cycle of business issues, from company formation and capital raising to exit strategies. He serves a portfolio of clients across various industry sectors, including healthcare, life sciences, financial services, distribution, software, retail, manufacturing, and mining and minerals. Mr. Christmas' practice includes representation of private equity funds, family offices, search funds, independent sponsors, entrepreneurs, family-owned businesses, and public and private companies.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Christmas was a corporate partner at an international law firm based in Charlotte, N.C.
John Kim
Partner
New State Capital Partners
John co-founded New State Capital Partners in 2013. Prior to joining, John spent over 14 years in investment banking. Most recently, John was an Executive Director in the Financial Sponsors & Leveraged Finance Group at UBS Investment Bank, where he was responsible for originating and executing leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and refinancings as well as co-covering middle market private equity firms. Prior to UBS, John was at Credit Suisse First Boston (previously Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette) in the Private Placements Group, where he helped raise over $2 billion for growth companies in a variety of industries. John began his career at Deutsche Bank in the Commercial Real Estate Finance Group.
John graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics.
Paul Shufro
Managing Director
Greyrock Capital Group
Paul has over thirteen years of leveraged finance and private equity investing experience. A member of Greyrock’s investment committee, he joined the firm in 2015 and is responsible for sourcing and executing transactions as well as portfolio management. Prior to joining Greyrock, Paul spent three years at Prostar Capital, an energy-focused private equity firm. He began his career as a member of GE Capital’s Energy Finance Division.
Mark Tedford
Managing Director
Valley Ridge Investment Partners
Mark Tedford is Co-Founder and Managing Director at Valley Ridge Investment Partners, an independent sponsor private equity firm. He is responsible for all phases of deal origination, due diligence, financing, closing and portfolio company performance management. Mark has twenty-five years of experience developing and implementing strategic growth initiatives for lower middle market, mid-market and large (F500) corporations as an internal executive and external consultant. Prior to founding Valley Ridge, Mark served in senior executive corporate strategy roles in large global financial services firms including Prudential, TIAA, Citibank and Fidelity Investments. Prior to that, he led strategy engagements for The Boston Consulting Group for industrial products, telecommunications, data storage and retail apparel clients. Prior to BCG, Mark led operations improvement engagements for lower middle market manufacturing clients at Coopers & Lybrand Consulting. Mark is a military veteran, having served two tours as a Naval officer, managing industrial operations for the Marine Corps on bases in Japan and Quantico, VA. He has been a principal investor for years and has experience serving on and supporting corporate and non-profit boards of directors.
Mark holds an MBA from The Fuqua School at Duke University where he was a Fuqua Fellow. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Minor in Industrial Management from Tufts University, while on a Navy R.O.T.C. scholarship at M.I.T.
TRACK B
11:15am - 12:00pm INDEPENDENT SPONSORS TRANSITIONING TO RAISING FUNDS
- Building a team with the necessary expertise before raising funds
- Compliance with regulations and legal requirements, such as SEC registration and reporting obligations
- Learn about how to overcome challenges of raising funds such as increased administrative and regulatory burdens, higher costs, and balancing the interests of multiple limited partners
Peter Shelton
Moderator
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.
Christian MacCarron
Managing Director
Taubman Capital
Christian MacCarron is a Co-Founder/Managing Director at Taubman Capital Management (“TC”), a private equity investment firm for the Taubman family.
Over the last 73 years, the Taubman family has built Taubman Centers into a leading global owner and operator of regional and super-regional malls (Taubman Centers was acquired by Simon Property Group in December 2020). Through TC, the family is building an investment portfolio of world-class businesses led by exceptional management teams outside of its core real estate holdings. The firm’s flexible, long-term capital base offers sellers closing certainty, while also providing management teams with the ability to focus on building larger, more valuable enterprises without time constraints or exit pressures. TC focuses on making control/minority equity investments as generalists in companies with $1-15m EBITDA on a national basis (including independent sponsor transactions).
Since 2015, TC has led/invested in 25+ lower middle market platforms across industrial, SaaS/software, consumer, healthcare services and business services end markets.
Prior to co-founding TC, Christian MacCarron worked in private equity and private credit investing at Capitala Group, Windjammer Capital Investors and Platinum Equity. Christian started his career at Merrill Lynch in their global investment banking group.
Christian graduated from UCLA with a BA in Economics and is a member of the UCLA Economics Department Board of Visitors.
Nathan Chandrasekaran
Partner
Columbia River Partners
Nathan has been in private equity/finance for over 15 years. Nathan holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University) and a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Bowdoin College.
Prior to starting CRP, Nathan spent over ten years at a NY-based middle market private equity firm with $2.0 billion of assets under management. Nathan was a board member of numerous companies, including Lift Brands, The Dwyer Group (now called Neighborly), DLT Solutions, and BQ Resorts. Earlier in his career, Nathan spent several years at Merrill Lynch in the media and telecom investment banking division, as a telecom strategy consultant at inCode Wireless (now a subsidiary of Ericsson) and started his career as a business analyst at Deloitte Consulting.
Mark Fornasiero
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Clarendon Capital
Mark co-founded Clarendon in 1998. He has over 30 years’ experience as a principal investor, board member, C-level executive, and management consultant focused exclusively on the Transportation, Logistics and Distribution sectors. Mark proprietarily sourced seven Clarendon investments and has served as Chairman and a Director on the boards of several companies in the Transportation, Logistics and Distribution sectors.
In 1998, Mark conceived RoadLink (now RoadOne), an intermodal logistics consolidation vehicle, as Clarendon’s first investment and worked with his Clarendon partners to organize and co-found the company in 2000. Following RoadLink’s formation, he guided the investment as a RoadLink board member and shareholder representative and served as CFO/SVP Finance & Acquisitions, Secretary/Treasurer and Chief Strategy Officer. Following a sale to a leading private equity firm in 2006, Mark continued in senior finance, M&A and strategic development roles, helping grow RoadLink to over $400 million in revenue. Over the course of his decade of RoadLink involvement, Mark executed over 25 acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and debt/equity financings comprising over $350 million of transaction value.
Before launching Clarendon, Mark was a senior manager in the Transportation/Logistics Management Consulting Practice of A.T. Kearney, where he led engagements in strategic development, M&A and profit improvement for transportation and private equity clients. Prior to A.T. Kearney, Mark was part of the team that launched Princeton Transportation Group (later sold to Manhattan Associates), where he led engagements applying university research from Princeton and M.I.T. to improve the profitability of transportation clients.
Mark received an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was named an Arjay Miller Scholar. He received a BS in Operations Research and BA in Economics from Cornell University where he graduated with highest honors. Mark serves on the national board of the “I Have a Dream” Foundation, which empowers children of low-income communities across the U.S. to achieve a college education.
Mark Hauser
Founding Partner
Tamarix
Founded the Tamarix Group in 1993. Over 30 years experience in private equity, private credit, asset management and investment banking. Previously Senior Managing Director of OFS Capital Management, Global Head of Private Equity at Sandell Asset Management and Managing Director at FdG Associates. Served on numerous private and public boards of directors and philanthropic organizations. Member of the Economic Club of NY and YPO/WPO. Master of Laws from London School of Economics and Bachelor of Economics and Laws from Sydney University.
1:30pm - 3:30pm BUSINESS BUILDING 1X1 NETWORKING MEETINGS
Sector-specific 1x1 networking meetings (10 meetings, 15 minutes each) between senior-level capital providers and independent sponsor executives. These meetings will be dedicated to developing partnerships unique to your business model and will provide you with the opportunity to meet exclusively with those independent sponsors or capital providers specializing in investments in the same sector and market as you are. We will provide you with a full list of participating capital providers and independent sponsors before the event - you will have the chance then to evaluate the potential for future business opportunities and make the most of your time. Join today to meet and network directly with leading industry professionals and decision-makers all under one roof such as Independent Sponsors (Fundless Sponsors), Private Equity Firms, Family Offices, Mezzanine Lenders, Hedge Funds, Institutional Investors, HNWIs (High Net Worth Individuals) and M&A Intermediaries/Advisors.
