Independent Sponsors & Capital Providers Dealmakers Meeting

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.

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.

Rachit brings his diverse experience as a serial entrepreneur, corporate executive, and early-stage investor to Amalgam Capital. His background includes founding, scaling, and exiting technology companies, giving him unique insight into growth strategies and digital transformation.

Mr. Matt London is a Managing Director, Co-Head of Equity Group of Monroe Capital. He is responsible for executing new equity investments, working with existing portfolio company management teams on value creation initiatives and arranging for the disposition of investments.  Mr. London has over 20 years of experience in private equity investing and investment banking.  Prior to Monroe, he was a Principal at Waud Capital Partners, where he focused on partnering with leadership teams and growing companies primarily in the healthcare services market.  Previously, Mr. London was an Analyst within the investment banking groups at Deutsche Bank and Morgan Keegan.  Mr. London earned his B.S.B.A. in Finance and International Business from Washington University in St. Louis.

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.

In 2025, Connor launched Virent Capital, a lower middle market private equity firm dedicated to transforming family- and founder-owned businesses into digitally enabled market leaders.

Connor joined L2 Capital in 2012 as an Associate and rose to Partner, contributing to every deal during his tenure. He led initiatives across the full investment lifecycle—from sourcing and execution to value creation—and continues to support L2’s legacy companies through their next phase of growth.

Prior to L2, Connor was an Associate at Boxwood Partners, a Richmond-based merchant bank, where he executed a range of transactions in the lower middle market. He earned his B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Richmond, where he was also a member of the Spiders’ championship football team.

As an experienced private equity operator, Ryan Paskin leads CohnReznick’s Value Creation practice. In this role, he helps alternative investment firms develop, execute, and accelerate value creation strategies to unlock the full growth potential of their portfolio companies.

Jonathan founded Ilion Capital Partners with the goal of providing capital and expertise to the companies that need it. It takes an investor with strong operating capabilities to partner with companies in the lower middle market, and that is exactly what Jonathan brings. Prior to founding Ilion, Jonathan spent nearly seven years at McKinsey & Company, where he focused on finance, investing, and operational transformations. In addition to strategy and investment decision-making, he has experience leading Lean operating transformations, training sales teams to accelerate growth, and digitizing back office processes. Jonathan grew up in Indiana and received his BA in Economics and History from Hillsdale College in Michigan. He now lives in New York City with his wife and two young daughters, where they are active members of their church. When not investing or supervising playground time, Jonathan likes to read fiction, philosophy, and biographies.

Paul Valentine is an experienced corporate lawyer who advises venture funds, private investment firms, middle-market companies and privately held companies across a broad array of industries, including carwash, hospitality, health care and consumer products. He has extensive experience with acquisitions, dispositions, minority investments and joint ventures. Paul also counsels clients with respect to legal opportunities and challenges related to qualified opportunity zones, real estate funds and fund formation.

Paul is the co-leader of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions team. He works creatively and efficiently, partnering with his clients to understand their business operations and risk profile to tailor his legal advice to their business goals. Clients rely on Paul to neutralize obstacles, focus on practical solutions to business and legal problems, and navigate the changing legal landscape.

Kurt is a Principal at Align Collaborate. Prior to joining Align Collaborate, he spent 7 years on the investment team at Align Capital Partners (“ACP”), where he was responsible for sourcing, executing, and monitoring the firm’s investments. During Kurt’s tenure at ACP, he served on three company boards and received direct operating experience by serving as the Vice President of Finance at Action Elevator from March 2021 — December 2021.

Prior to joining ACP, Kurt was an investment banking professional at Wells Fargo Securities where he focused on mergers and acquisitions for healthcare services companies and at KPMG where he provided advisory services to lower-middle market technology companies.

Kurt received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Economics from The University of Iowa.