Meet the Speakers

Jay is a Principal at Tamarix Equity Partners, a middle-market fund based in NYC, where he leads deal execution, investment strategy, and portfolio management. Over ten years’ experience in private equity, growth capital, investment banking and as a consumer startup founder. Prior investment firms include Centre Partners, a middle-market private equity firm in NYC, Palisades Growth Capital, a growth-equity firm in Los Angeles, and Macquarie Capital, an investment bank. Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlebury College with a major in International Politics and Economics.

Sam Snyder is the Managing Partner at junior capital-focused private equity firm Greyrock Capital Group. Greyrock is a leading one-stop equity and debt financing provider to Independent Sponsors with 37 platform investments close to date. Greyrock is investing out of Fund VI with $284MM in committed capital. Sam currently serves as a board member of Bentec Medical, Blast Deflector, Inc., Competition Specialties, Daron, Ford Gum, Helm, Laguna Dental Arts, Tricoci University, and Triple Shift Entertainment. Former board member of Ogle School, Paleteria La Michoacana, Powertronix, Solair Group, and Westside Equipment. Prior to joining Greyrock, Sam was an Associate at Goldman Sachs in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications investment banking division. Before Goldman, Sam worked as a Senior Research Analyst at Renaissance Capital. Sam earned an MBA with Honors from the Haas School of Business and an AB in History from Princeton University. Sam is also a CFA charter holder.

Brinda Yohannan is a Managing Director at First Haven Capital, where she sources, evaluates and executes on non-control equity investments in leading lower middle market companies. Prior to First Haven, Mrs. Yohannan spent ten years as part of the investment teams at First Atlantic Capital and Permira, where she was responsible for sourcing and executing leveraged buyouts, as well as managing portfolio companies across diverse industries. She started her career as an analyst in the Financial Sponsors Group at Credit Suisse. Mrs. Yohannan holds a B.S. in Business with highest distinction from Indiana University, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Bryan Rand is the CEO of Rand & Co Holdings– a private holding company that makes long-term investments in companies across a wide array of industries. Rand & Co currently has a portfolio containing ownership stakes in 9 growth platforms with more than $300mm in annual revenue. Additionally, Bryan serves as President of Vacation Innovations, the largest marketplace in the vacation ownership industry. Previously, Bryan served as a Partner at Tritium Partners, a private equity firm with more than $1.5 billion in assets under management. Prior to joining Tritium, Bryan helped launch Brightwood Capital Advisors. Bryan began his career in investment banking at Credit Suisse. Bryan is a member of the Southern 7 Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization. Bryan received his MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated magna cum laude from Morehouse College with a B.A. in German Studies and a B.A. in Business Administration.

Nick has spent over 25 years in M&A and corporate development with firms including Huron Capital, CCC Intelligent Solutions, Ryan Enterprises Group, and Bear, Stearns & Co. He has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan, and an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Cliff Meijer has over 30 years of experience in the private equity sector. He is a Managing Director in Headway Capital’s U.S. subsidiary and joined Headway Capital in 2015. His responsibilities include portfolio management, deal sourcing and business development activities. Prior to joining Headway Capital, Cliff was Managing Partner of the private equity fund management practice at Thomas Weisel Partners and subsequently Stifel Financial Inc. Cliff also previously worked at BancBoston Capital and Abbott Capital Management. Cliff has a Bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship / Entrepreneurial Studies and a Master of Business Administration from Babson College.

Eric Taylor is the Founder, CEO and CIO of Trident, a private equity firm focused on acquiring US-based small businesses in industrial, consumer and healthcare sectors. Trident uses proprietary technology to systematically source and diligence small-cap opportunities, with an eye towards reducing the racial wealth gap by incorporating post-transaction elements of diversity, equity and inclusion to amplify commercial outcomes. Eric oversees day to day operations, the Investment Team and is actively involved in portfolio management. He also leads the firm’s Investment Committee and makes final decisions on all additions to the portfolio. Mr. Taylor began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he spent 4 years in the Special Situations Group, focused primarily on lower and middle market companies. After Goldman and prior to Trident, Eric was a Portfolio Manager at Brightwood Capital. Eric holds an AB from Harvard University with Honors and is a CFA Charterholder.

As Managing Partner, Mike Lonergan works with Georgia Oak’s partner companies to help drive value creation through revenue growth and acquisition strategies, while also evaluating new investment opportunities. Mike started Georgia Oak with a philosophy built for the business owner who is deeply passionate about their legacy and the success of the organizational family that helped propel their business to new levels. Prior to founding Georgia Oak, Mike was Vice President of Private Equity for Strategic Value Partners (SVP), a global hedge fund. He was also with Sun European Partners in London and Sun Capital Partners in Boca Raton, Fla. Sun Capital is one of the world’s most active turnaround private equity investors. While at Sun Capital, he evaluated and facilitated control buyout investments.

Vinay is a Founding Partner at Weave Growth. Weave is an investment firm that brings a tech-enabled growth playbook to middle market companies looking to embrace technology and M&A in order to build robust and durable franchises. Vinay has spent over a decade in investing and financial services at Q Investments, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, and the Grassroots Business Fund, an impact investing fund from the IFC/World Bank. He has also served as an executive/operator at an HR outsourcing and insurance services business. Vinay received a BA in Political Science from Yale University and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School.

Darien K. Smith, Esq. is a private equity independent sponsor based in South Florida. He started his collegiate career playing college football for Eastern Illinois University and finished his undergrad degree in finance and mathematics at the University of Miami (FL). Subsequently, Darien received his J.D. from New York University School of Law. Upon graduation, he became a licensed corporate attorney at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in their private funds group in New York City. After practicing law at Stroock, Darien transitioned to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as a Management Consultant in their Corporate Finance and Strategy Practice Area where he advised multi-billion dollar conglomerates and private equity firms, building and executing organic and inorganic growth strategies. Darien left BCG in 2019 to launch D.K. Smith & Co. where he focuses on acquiring, operating, and advising lower middle market businesses.

David Eshaghian serves as the Managing Partner of Panther Equity Group, a lower middle market private equity group primarily focused on tech-enabled and B2B service providers up to $100M in enterprise value. He was previously an investment banker at Guggenheim Securities and Operated a Managed IT Services Company via a Search Fund. David graduated from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.

Over the last twenty-five years, Jason Duzan has led over twenty private equity transactions in consumer, service, and industrial companies, primarily in the Midwest. Over the last ten years, Jason has invested in over ten family-owned or closely-held businesses in combination with operating executives to grow the businesses. Since 2017, as Colfax Creek, Jason has managed six platform companies with two exits, GLE Precision and Fluence Automation. Jason is a managing partner and board chairman of Midwest Innovative Products, Premier Engineered Products, Traverse City Products, and Dial Tool Industries. His prior work experience includes Glencoe Capital and BMO Harris Bank. Jason earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and a B.S. from the University of Illinois. He was raised on a corn and soybean farm in Colfax, Illinois. Jason and his family live in Birmingham, Michigan.

Judd Kohn joined White Wolf Private Credit Management LLC in April 2021 as Managing Director and Head of Private Credit. Prior to joining White Wolf, Judd worked at First Merchants Bank in its Sponsor Finance Group. At First Merchants, Judd was responsible for establishing the Southeast Region, and led the deal process on numerous lower middle-market credit opportunities. Prior to joining First Merchants Bank, Judd worked at CIBC Bank USA. At CIBC Judd was a Managing Director who was responsible for establishing relationships with lower middle-market and middle-market businesses and private equity firms. Across Judd’s 14-year career, he sourced, underwrote, and executed over $2.0 billion in lower middle-market and middle-market private credit transactions. Judd has a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Miami University (Ohio). Judd is an integral member of the Company’s investment and leadership team, and manages the day‐to‐day activities of White Wolf Private Credit, including execution of due diligence processes for each investment, managing deal flow and origination activities, and playing a key role in fundraising activities.

Grant is a Partner at Align Collaborate and a member of its Investment Committee. Align Collaborate invests $10 to $50 million of equity exclusively into transactions led by independent sponsors in the lower-middle market. Prior to becoming a capital partner, Grant co-founded NCK Capital (“NCK”), a boutique independent sponsor that acquired controlling interests in lower-middle market companies, with his business partner, Michael Kornman. NCK built a successful portfolio of companies across various industries and was an early pioneer in the independent sponsor community. Prior to NCK, Grant was the Florida Development Partner for The Lane Company, a large multifamily management and development company that acquired and developed between $1B and $2B of assets per year. Grant began his career as an Associate at Sterling Partners, a private equity firm with over $4B AUM. Grant has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Finance from Georgetown University and is a Board Member of the Lone Star Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

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.

Steve has been a private equity investor since 1998, with an emphasis on lower middle-market manufacturing and industrial service companies. To date, he has invested in transactions totaling $350 million in enterprise value. He enjoys assisting management teams with strategic planning, add-on acquisitions, operational improvements, personnel development and recruiting, and financial analysis. He has also served as interim CEO and CFO for his companies. Prior to joining Cornerstone, Steve was a principal with Long Point Capital, a middle-market private equity fund. Before Long Point, Steve worked for Masco Corp. and affiliates for ten years in a variety of operational, financial, and business development roles, primarily focused on turning around troubled operating divisions. His last position was as president of an operating division.

Andrew leads Virtus’s Private Capital Insurance Practice (PCIP). Andrew’s team focuses exclusively on insurance brokerage and consulting services for private equity investors and their portfolio companies. Their work includes M&A and value creation driven insurance due diligence, P&C and employee benefits brokerage, M&A integration, and transaction related insurance products to improve risk and economic terms for deals (representations and warranties insurance, tax insurance, and contingent liability insurance). Prior to joining Virtus, Andrew worked Lincoln Financial for ten years where he advised insurance brokers on employee benefits for large businesses. Andrew resides in the Chicago area and holds a BA from the University of Michigan.

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.

David Zawitkowski is a partner with the firm’s Transaction Advisory Services (TAS) Practice. He has worked with strategic buyers (both public and private) and private equity firms on asset purchases, stock purchases, carve-outs, and growth-equity investments. He also provides post-closing assistance.

Prior to joining Citrin Cooperman, David worked in the capital markets groups of bulge-bracket and middle-market investment banks. He worked as an equity analyst advising institutional investors, including hedge funds, mutual funds, and pension funds, in industries such as retail, energy, engineering and construction, manufacturing, and industrials. In these positions, David held FINRA licenses including Series 7, 63, 86, and 87.

David began his career at another public accounting firm, where he provided audit and tax services to small and mid-sized companies across various industries.

Rodney founded Verivend to change the status quo of investment transactions by building the Venmo of Private Capital. Verivend is the market-leading fintech platform that eliminates the effort, pain, and friction for investment sponsors and their LPs during the entire lifecycle of the deal process.

Rodney is an experienced, results-driven leader of SaaS and enterprise software solutions and has served in senior-level roles focusing on technological innovation, client delivery, and operational strategies.
Prior to founding Verivend, Rodney served in leadership roles at several early-stage technology companies that transformed industries resulting in successful exits. Rodney has extensive 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.

Mark Sinatra is a 7-time Inc. 5000 CEO who is currently CEO of Aspen HR.  Aspen HR is a white-glove PEO that provides independent sponsors and their portfolio companies with cost effective employee benefits, streamlined payroll and expert HR guidance. Prior to Aspen HR, Mark was CEO of Staff One HR where he led the company through a period of substantial growth highlighted by the company's sale to its largest privately-held competitor, Oasis Outsourcing, in 2017. Mark oversaw the Western half of the country for Oasis Outsourcing until its sale to Paychex for $1.3bn in December 2018. 

Mark is an MBA graduate of the Wharton School of Business, and holds a BA in Economics from Fordham University. He is an active member of YPO (Young Presidents Organization) and a partner with Social Venture Partners. Mark enjoys spending time with his family and playing tennis and basketball.

Steven Haug is a Managing Director at ECA Partners where he leads the Finance Practice and works with investors and their portfolio companies to fill senior Finance roles, M&A leadership roles, and Operations leadership roles. Steven holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University with a BA in Philosophy and History.

Paul Marino is a partner in the Financial Services and Corporate Groups. Paul focuses his practice in matters concerning financial services, corporate law and corporate finance. Paul provides counsel in the areas of private equity funds and mergers and acquisitions for private equity firms and public and private companies and private equity fund and hedge fund formation.

Paul works on a variety of M&A transactions, including leveraged acquisitions, divestitures of business divisions, going-private transactions, and other strategic acquisitions and dispositions, in the following industries: manufacturing, telecommunications, consumer products, hospitality, healthcare, and technology, among others. His practice also includes joint ventures and general company representation matters.

Paul has represented national and multinational corporations, ranging from telecoms to tech companies, as well as real estate syndication and financial investors and investment advisors. He has also negotiated and structured a number of U.S. domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures.

Kevin Christmas is a private equity attorney in Holland & Knight's Charlotte office, and is a co-head of both Holland & Knight's Independent Sponsors and Search Funds teams. Mr. Christmas has substantial experience representing domestic and international independent sponsors, search funds and private equity funds in connection with capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, financing, equity structuring, general corporate advisory work and related matters. Mr. Christmas has extensive 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, education and manufacturing. Mr. Christmas' practice includes representation of private equity funds, independent sponsors, search funds, family offices, entrepreneurs, family-owned businesses, and public and private companies.

Peter Shelton is a partner at Benesch Law. He 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.

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.

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.

Edward Otocka is a Senior Managing Director, Private Equity Specialist with STNL Advisors, one of the top performing sale-leaseback, lease advisory, and net lease real estate development firms in the country. Eddie joined STNL Advisors in 2011 and works on the Institutional Coverage Group. His expertise is in sale-leaseback, build to suit, and structured debt transactions on behalf of private equity funds, national retail, industrial, and medical tenants, REITs, and net lease funds. Eddie has closed more than $3.0 billion in transactions during his career, including more than $2.0 billion over the last three years. Prior to working with STNL Advisors, Eddie began his professional career at UBS AG and Credit Suisse. He is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College and currently resides in Duxbury, Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters.

Jonathan Barnes has more than 20 years of private equity investing and investment banking experience, including at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Barnes was a Partner at Halyard Capital, a U.S. lower middle-market private equity fund manager where he spent 15 years. Mr. Barnes helped lead Halyard’s successful investment of over $600 million in the technology, business services, media and communications industries, backed by sophisticated institutional investors such as Goldman Sachs, Abbott Capital and the Bank of Montreal. Mr. Barnes has a broad spectrum of private equity investing experience across technology-enabled services industries including Human Capital Management, Digital and Direct Marketing and IT/Cybersecurity Services. He has represented Halyard on the board of directors of numerous portfolio companies and has also actively worked with Halyard portfolio companies on negotiating and structuring finance solutions, advising on management changes and restructurings as well as helping find and integrate add-on acquisitions. Prior to Halyard, Mr. Barnes was an Analyst at Aragon Global Management, a long/short public equities hedge fund affiliated with Tiger Management. Mr. Barnes began his career in Morgan Stanley’s Media Corporate Finance Group and subsequently worked at Consolidated Press Holdings, a Sydney, Australia based private investment company. Mr. Barnes received an MBA with honors from Columbia Business School and an AB (cum laude) from Harvard University where he played JV lacrosse, among other activities.

Tony Brindisi is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at RTC. Prior to joining the firm, he worked in the Organizational Transformation practice at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Working with organizations ranging from late-stage startups (~$600M in revenue) to large corporations at the top of the Fortune 100, Tony has experience engaging directly with executive teams to develop and implement organizational strategies aimed at accelerating growth, building operational efficiencies and maximizing profitability. He has extensive experience in the development and execution of M&A strategy and post-merger integration operations. Prior to BCG, Tony spent several years as the Director of Sales and Marketing for The Keller Group, an insurance and financial services firm, where he eventually helped with the sale of the company to a PE-backed roll-up.

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.

Emily is Managing Director, Private Capital Markets for Insperity, a national provider of HR solutions.  Leveraging Insperity’s expertise in private capital transactions and our natural alignment with investor goals, the Private Capital Markets team develops relationships with private equity, venture capital and family office firms to drive business to Insperity offices nationwide.   Emily joined Insperity in 2014 as a business performance advisor and later served on the sales leadership team as district manager of the Carolinas.  Prior to Insperity, Emily held production management and creative services positions at Lions Gate Films, Blink Digital and Sony Pictures.  Emily also serves on the board for BraveWorks, a nonprofit organization that supports women overcoming trauma & injustice in Charlotte NC, Africa and South/Central America. 

Brad is the Northeast Private Capital Advisor for Insperity, a national provider of human capital solutions. Brad partners with private equity firms, venture capital firms, and family offices to help their portfolios move beyond growth plateaus, optimize operations, & drive additional value creation. Brad joined Insperity in 2022 as a Business Performance Advisor in the New England. Prior to Insperity, he held business development and account management positions at Paycom and Volkswagen of America. Brad also actively supports St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a nonprofit organization who’s mission is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment.

Azhar is a successful entrepreneur, operator and investor with over 20 years of experience investing and building businesses. Azhar has a track record of success in private equity and special situations investing and his experience spans the gamut from sourcing, transaction execution, value creation and exit. Prior to founding Queens Court, Azhar worked at firms such as Advent Capital, Perry Capital, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley. Throughout his career Azhar has been a successful private markets investor across a variety of industries. Azhar served as Chairman of the HairCuttery Family of Brands, VCG Holdings, and is currently the Chairman of Pet Resort Hospitality Group. Azhar was also part of the founding team of Convene, an Inc 500 real estate services business.

Azhar is a graduate of Columbia University where he received a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics as well as Columbia Business School where he received his M.B.A.