Meet the Speakers

Dhvani Shah, CFA, is group vice president and chief investment officer of JM Family Enterprises, Inc., a privately held diversified company with more than $20 billion in revenue and more than 5,000 associates. Rooted in automotive and united in its strong culture and core values, JM Family is in the business of helping other businesses succeed.

In this role, Shah is responsible for managing and monitoring JM Family’s portfolio and investment activity, managing pension funds, and developing short- and long-term investment policies. Shah currently serves on the Board of Directors for CFA Society Miami, The Robert Toigo Foundation, PREA Foundation and PREA.

Prior to joining JM Family, Shah was chief investment officer for the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) in Oakbrook, Illinois for nearly 10 years. In that time, she oversaw a global $49+ billion portfolio and led a team of seventeen investment professionals with respect to the portfolio monitoring and management responsibilities. A seasoned investment professional with more than 25 years of industry experience, Shah also worked with the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System, Bank of America and the Northwestern University Investment Office.

Shah was named in CIO Magazine’s 2019 Power 100 list, which recognizes the 100 most influential chief investment officers. She received her master’s degree in business administration from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and received her bachelor’s degree in business administration, Magna Cum Laude, from Loyola University. She, along with her husband and two children live in Delray Beach, Florida.

David is a Managing Director of Genesis Park and joined the firm in 2019. Previously, David was a Managing Director at Kuleana Capital, a long/short public equity manager. David previously worked as a private equity investment professional at Natural Gas Partners. He began his career in the investment banking division of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.

David holds a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Scott has over 30 years of investing, lending, capital markets, operations and leadership experience. Until December 2017, Scott was a Managing Director at Tenex Capital Management (a New York based private equity firm with over $2 billion of capital under management). During his 8 years at Tenex, Scott helped the firm raise two of their private equity funds and was responsible for the origination and execution of many of the firm’s investment platforms. He also led the firm’s debt capital markets function which arranged the debt financing activities for all the firm’s investments. During his tenure, Scott arranged over $2 billion of debt placements at various Tenex portfolio companies.

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.

At Black Granite Capital, Mr. Kroloff leads the firm's growth equity stage investing in healthcare and technology, with a focus on software for the healthcare sector. Prior to founding Black Granite Capital, Mr. Kroloff invested in healthcare companies at NGN Capital for 11 years, with a focus on medical devices and diagnostics. Prior to NGN Capital, Mr. Kroloff served as an executive officer at i-STAT Corp., a publicly-traded medical device and diagnostics company where he was Vice President for International Sales & Marketing and Corporate Development. He led the creation of global alliances with Abbott Laboratories and Hewlett-Packard Medical Products Group and created i-STAT’s international distribution network. He was actively involved in the sale of i-STAT to Abbott for approximately $450 million. Prior to i-STAT, Mr. Kroloff was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co. where he advised leading pharmaceutical, diagnostics, and tech companies on R&D management, portfolio strategy, and alliance formation. Mr. Kroloff also worked in international business development at Merck & Co.

Mr. Kroloff received his BA in general science from Brandeis University and his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management where he was a co-founder and served as a judge of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition--one of the largest such competitions in the world. Mr. Kroloff is currently or was previously a board member or board observer of Valtech Cardio, Cerapedics, OptiScan Biomedical, Hospital IQ, TigerConnect, Bluesight (Kit Check), IntelyCare, Jump Technologies, and Z Software. He is a member of the board of the American Technion Society-NY and has served as an advisor to the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s healthcare initiative and as a member of McKinsey's alumni advisory council.

Mr. Lynch is an experienced leader in the consulting industry based in Atlanta, GA.
His expertise and specialization is primarily in Finance, Operations, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain, turnarounds, restructuring, and strategic advisory. In addition, Mr. Lynch has worked with Enterprise Resource Planning systems including SAP implementations and support, LEAN manufacturing implementations, Supply Chain improvements, and international development.

Mr. Lynch's industry expertise includes: International Development, Aerospace/ Defense, Forestry, Education, Building Products, Retail, Oil & Gas, and Non-Profit/NGOs.

Mr. Lynch has received an MBA, cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame and a BSBA in Computer Information Systems and Finance from Northern Arizona University.

Nichol Chiarella is a partner and Citrin Cooperman's Mergers and Acquisitions Tax Practice Leader, with over two decades of experience in public accounting. She provides high level tax planning and consulting services related to buy-side, sell-side, and restructuring transactions involving private equity firms, closely-held businesses, business owners, and high net worth individuals within the technology, manufacturing and distribution, wholesale, retail, cannabis, healthcare, real estate, staffing, and professional services industries.

Nichol handles transaction tax matters for private equity funds, independent sponsors, limited liability companies (LLCs), domestic partnerships, corporations, and S corporations. She specializes in buy-side and sell-side tax advisory, including tax due diligence, pre-transaction planning, tax structuring, and modeling, and post-transaction compliance support. She also handles mergers, divestitures, and restructuring matters, in addition to helping privately-held business owners transition to related parties.

Nichol also leads the firm’s global diversity, equity, and inclusion mission, branded as CC EDGE (Empowering Diversity and Gender Equality). In this role, she interfaces regularly with all CC EDGE leads in each of our metro geographies in the United States and in India.

Nichol's specialized tax knowledge and network of professional contacts allows her to act as a resource not only for her clients, but for other professionals seeking solutions for their clients and customers.

Kevin Christmas is a private equity attorney in Holland & Knight's Charlotte office, and is a co-head of both Holland & Knight's Search Funds and Independent Sponsors teams. Mr. Christmas has substantial experience representing domestic and international search funds, independent sponsors 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, search funds, independent sponsors, family offices, entrepreneurs, family-owned businesses, and public and private companies.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Christmas was a corporate partner at international law firms based in Charlotte and Philadelphia.

Megan Brobson is a vice president at Borgman Capital. She joined the firm in 2019 as an analyst. Prior to working at Borgman Capital, she spent six years working in client finance at subsidiaries of two global, public companies – WPP PLC and Publicis Group S.A. Megan focused primarily on forecasting and financial analysis, driving growth and profitability across her client businesses and improving internal agency wide operational processes.

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.

Chase Stuart is a partner in Ice Miller's Business Group and the Office Managing Partner in New York. He represents a variety of private equity funds, family offices, independent sponsors, privately-held businesses, private credit funds, and mezzanine funds. He provides strategic and legal advice in their investment and general corporate strategies, including on leveraged buyouts and other M&A, financings, minority investments, growth capital transactions, and early and late stage private equity investments. 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 aerospace and defense, technology, manufacturing, consumer products, business services, gaming, and health care.

Matt Harnett is a founding Partner of Tecum Capital Partners (“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, monitoring, and exiting of subject private equity and mezzanine debt investments.

As the deal team lead, Matt has closed and managed the full life cycle of over 100 unique mezzanine debt and private equity transactions. He has been with the same investment partners for the past 18 years, where the team has invested over $1 billion across multiple funds. His focus is on companies with $10-100 million of revenue and $3-10 million of EBITDA, primarily in the business-to-business services, manufacturing, and value-added distribution markets. Matt and his partners recently launched their 4^th Small Business Investment Company (“SBIC”), a $350 million committed fund focused on supporting best-in-class sponsors, management teams and operators.

Matt currently serves as a Board Member of Aging with Comfort, BP Business Solutions, Connecticut Electric, Conco Services, Midwest Equipment Sales, National Power and Blackwood Solutions. He also serves as a Board Observer for The Marwin Company, Inc., Gilman Cheese, Long Island Waste Management, CM Industries, Five Point Dental Specialists, CDE Services, Hainesport Transportation, The Lewis Group, DelGrosso Foods, Arrow Waste and 5280 Waste Solutions.

This extensive investment experience has provided him with significant expertise in sourcing and structuring transactions, growing companies, and executing & negotiating successful exits.

In addition, Matt is an active member of the Small Business Investor Association (“SBIA”) and is on the SBIA Independent sponsor committee and has served on the Midwest conference committee. He is a member of the Association of Corporate Growth (“ACG”) and serves on the Board for the Pittsburgh Chapter.

Prior to co-founding Tecum, Matt served six years at the predecessor organization (2007-2013), F.N.B. Capital Corporation, LLC, where he was Vice President. Prior to this, he started his career at Ford Motor Company (2002-2006) where he managed dealership groups in the Buffalo and Pittsburgh markets. He advised franchised dealers on operational improvement, financial analysis and reporting, sales process, inventory planning, and sales, parts & service profitability. As a result of his success in this role,  he was named Ford’s 2006 Zone Manager of the Year. Ultimately, direct exposure to franchise consolidations, and a passion for investing and growing private family-owned companies, spurred Matt to pursue a career in M&A.

With over 20+ years of experience, Ronelle is a seasoned transactional attorney who focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, joint ventures, and general corporate representation. She counsels and advises private equity funds, independent sponsors, venture funds, private and public companies on complex business transactions in a variety of industries, including industrial technology, sports, and energy.

Ronelle collaborates with her clients to understand their strategic and financial priorities beyond any particular transaction and works closely with them to ensure that their identified objectives are continuously considered not only in larger strategic matters but also in day-to-day business decisions.

In addition to her corporate practice, Ronelle is a member of the firm’s Diversity Committee. She is also a past co-chair of Loeb & Loeb’s New York Women’s LEAD Network.

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.

Mr. Vasilchikov embarked on his journey in investment banking in 2008, just as the financial markets were grappling with the impact of the Great Recession, and focused on the complex landscape of M&A, recapitalization, and capital-raising activities across equity and debt transactions. 

Throughout the nearly 20 years as a finance professional, Mr. Vasilchikov focused on building relationships with prominent family offices, asset management firms, RIAs, and traditional private equity and private credit funds, and its those relationships that have differentiated him from others in the space, and has been the hallmark of his career. 

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His extensive network of faily offices and priviate investors is enhanced by his role as an Ambassador of TIGER21, a prestigious peer membership organization for ultra-high-net-worth investors, entrepreneurs, and executives. Mr Vasilchikov also serves as an Advisor to Sportsology Capital Partners and Una Equity Partners, which manages and sponsors investments in sports, entertainment, sports adjacent real estate and gaming. Mr. Vasilchikov is also a Director of Capital Markets, with Lakewood & Company, an independent sponsor firm with a 20 year track record and a successful history of deploying nearly $2 billion of investors' capital.

​During Mr Vasilchikov's finance career, he completed transactions amounting to over $300 million, across Aerospace & Defense, Business Services, Consumer, Food & Beverage, Manufacturing, Consumer Technology, Media, Gaming and Entertainment, Industrial Services, Manufacturing, Technology, and Real Estate.

Ankit joined Clarendon in 2024 as a Vice President. In this role, Ankit is focused on origination, due diligence, deal execution and portfolio company value creation initiatives across the Transportation, Logistics and Distribution sectors.

Prior to joining Clarendon, Ankit was at ACON Investments and The Carlyle Group where he focused on deal evaluation and execution as well as portfolio company management across a variety of different industries. Ankit has served on the board of a hardware distribution business and has evaluated several opportunities in the broader Distribution sector.

Ankit began his career at Raymond James as an investment banker, where he provided financial advisory services on mergers and acquisitions to corporate and institutional clients.

Ankit received an MBA from The Wharton School. He received a BS in Economics and a BA in Sciences, summa cum laude, in Finance from The Wharton School and in Computer Science from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, respectively, at The University of Pennsylvania. Ankit serves on the board of The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, which restores the lands and waters of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Claudine Cohen leads a dynamic team specializing in transaction advisory, valuation, restructuring, project finance, dispute resolution, performance improvement, merger integration, carve-outs, M&A insurance advisory, and sustainability advisory. With a keen eye for identifying opportunities and navigating challenges, Claudine helps her clients achieve optimal outcomes, safeguarding and enhancing stakeholder value throughout their business lifecycle.

Bill has been involved with the founding and growth of new ventures, has taken companies public, and has acquired, sold, financed and combined many others along the way. Bill’s transactions have also included cross border elements. His diverse industry experience includes advertising and digital media, wealth management and financial services, technology consulting, business services, cannabis industry, direct marketing, manufacturing, distribution, food, health care services, medical devices, retail and transportation.

Bill is a seasoned deal attorney, who for over thirty years has helped many clients successfully complete a variety of public and private transactions and successfully navigate a variety of business and legal challenges.

Bill regularly provides responsive, thoughtful and effective legal and business advice to the leaders of the Business enterprises in a wide range of sizes and industries, often acting as the client’s principal legal counsel.

Ross is no stranger to rolling up his sleeves and working hard. When he was 16, his career at Giombetti Associates started with cleaning the toilets, vacuuming the floors, and taking out the trash. Fast forward 20+ years, and he’s worked his way up to re-painting the conference room and washing dirty coffee mugs. When he finishes all his chores, Ross spends most of his time leading the business by facilitating workshops and training programs, bringing new clients aboard, providing one-on-one coaching, and learning as much as possible about the culture, needs and people of the businesses we support.

Ross’ value to the organization is his ability to read and understand people. One of the greatest gifts he received from his father, Rick, is the gift of intuition. Coupled with his natural relationship-building skills, Ross is excellent at developing rapport with others, so they feel at ease and able to accept developmental feedback. He leverages a direct approach to feedback, providing open and honest insight. He understands that without being supportive but tough on you, real growth is limited.

Ross graduated from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst with a bachelor’s in business and received his MBA from American International College. During his time at AIC, he also received his Six Sigma Green Belt certification. Prior to coming to Giombetti Associates, Ross spent a few years in human resources for Six Flags New England, and a few years helping drive the recruitment function at Mohegan Sun Casino. We’re pretty sure that a desire to ride rollercoasters and play craps may have played a part in his early career choices.

A native of western Massachusetts, Ross currently lives in Wilbraham with his better half, Liz, their daughters, Noelle and Lainey, and their son Ryan. Let’s not forget our office mascot, their chocolate lab, Bailey. When he isn’t playing chauffeur/coach for his kids’ sports, he’s raiding Tree House Brewery and cheering on the Patriots and Red Sox. His other hobbies include un-organizing Amanda’s desk, dressing up as Cousin Eddie at Halloween parties, blowing an air horn in the office when it’s quiet, singing karaoke to Jamie Kent, and checking up on his fantasy football team. He loves to cook, is a sports enthusiast and wouldn’t trade his friends and family for anything in the world. And, oh by the way, his nickname as a kid was Screech…the Saved by The Bell character. His hair says it all. We’re still not sure how he got Liz to marry him.

When asked what gets him out of bed in the morning and into the office before 7 a.m. each day, Ross laughed and said, “It’s so cliché and I feel so corny saying it out loud, but making a difference and inspiring people…not only helping them make changes to become more successful at work, but to also help them find happiness and fulfillment in their personal lives; it’s what I was born to do. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would never stop trying to touch others’ souls and give them the tools they need to be the best version

Anna Nekoranec co-founded Align in 2014 with Robert Blabey and a leading Florida based family to address the ultra high net worth alternative investment market. Align launched its first family only fund with one LP in 2019.

Prior to Align, Anna spent over 20 years either working with ultra high net worth families on direct investments or working for private equity or venture capital firms including Investor Growth Capital, the Safeguard International Fund and CMS Companies. Anna also worked at the Brookings Institution and the NASD.

She has an MBA from Wharton and a BA from the University of Virginia. Anna is a contributing author to The Complete Direct Investing Handbook: A Guide for Family Offices, Qualified Purchasers, Accredited Investors and is a co-author of How to Buy a Business: Entrepreneurship through Acquisition. Anna also served on the Board of Trustees for the Jefferson Scholarship Foundation, chaired the Walentas Scholarship at the University of Virginia and serves on the Investment Committee for Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Anna is also a Fortune Most Powerful Women in the World Conference Delegate.

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.

Experienced Partner with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. Skilled in Leveraged Finance, Venture Capital, Capital, LBO, and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). Strong entrepreneurship professional with a BA focused in Near Eastern Studies from Cornell University.