Operating Partners Forum | New York

Mark Abatto

Managing Director, Gryphon Investors

Mark is a senior operating executive and member of Gryphon’s Operations Resources Group where he helps portfolio companies implement best practices in operational finance, accounting, planning and analytics, tax, and information technology, with a focus on growth, scalability, efficiency, and governance.

Prior to joining Gryphon, Mark was President & COO of NV5 Global, where he led the geospatial technology platform of this publicly traded engineering services firm, expanding capabilities and market reach through the acquisition and integration of leading technologies. Prior to NV5, Mark’s private equity experience included COO/CFO roles of technology leader Quantum Spatial and pharmaceutical producer Alcami. Mark is the former CFO of GE Healthcare Medical Devices and former Global Controller for GE Energy Products. Mark started his career in public accounting with KPMG.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors is a leading middle-market investment firm focused on competitively advantaged companies in the Business Services, Consumer, Healthcare, Industrial Growth, and Software sectors. Gryphon’s integrated Deal-Ops business model includes highly experienced investment professionals who work alongside full-time senior operating executives with general management, human capital, IT, treasury, finance and accounting expertise. Gryphon’s differentiated model has been a critical driver of the firm’s stable returns, significant alpha creation, and zero loss ratio since 2008. With approximately $9 billion of assets under management, Gryphon’s private equity funds target investments of $50 million to $500 million while the junior capital fund targets investments ranging from $5 million to $25 million. Recently, Gryphon was recognized by Inc. Magazine as a top 2023 Founder-Friendly Investor. Additional information on Gryphon can be found at: https://www.gryphon-inv.com/

Tracey Abbott

Director, Mubadala Performance Partners, Mubadala

Tracey Abbott is a Director (Senior Operating Partner) on the Mubadala Performance Partners team, based in New York City. Mubadala is a sovereign investor with $284 Billion AUM. Her operating responsibilities include consumer/retail and health and life sciences. Additionally, she leads Portfolio Company C-suite and Board Talent across the Mubadala Investment Company.

Prior to joining Mubadala, she worked for a Private Equity firm on the direct equity and special situations teams as a Senior Lead Operator. Her operating experience spans 20 years across consumer and retail companies Adidas, PepsiCo and Foot Locker as well as consulting with Bain. She was also an owner/operator of Chick-fil-A franchise. 10 years of international experience living in Europe, Asia, EMEA, and South America. She holds an M.B.A. from Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Paris.

Mubadala Investment Company is a sovereign investor that manages a diversified global $284bn asset portfolio to generate sustainable financial returns for its shareholder, the Government of Abu Dhabi.

At its core, Mubadala is a values-driven business builder:
• We invest in companies that create tangible and measurable impact on society
• These are companies that matter for current and future generations, are undergoing sustainable growth, and where our ownership can make a difference
• We build partnerships of choice with the world’s best management teams and GPs

Nadeem Ahmed

Partner, Private Equity, CrossCountry Consulting

Nadeem is a Partner in CrossCountry Consulting’s national Private Equity practice based in Dallas, Texas. A hands-on M&A leader with over 20 years of experience across the transaction lifecycle – from diligence to post-close transformation – he has particular expertise in infusing analytics and data-driven decision-making into an organization’s business processes to drive revenue growth and increase operational efficiency.

Prior to CrossCountry, Nadeem was a Managing Director in KPMG’s Deal Advisory and Strategy practice, providing technology strategy, digital transformation, and performance improvement support to private equity firms and their portfolio companies before joining West Monroe’s Technology Transaction Services as Senior Partner.

Preceding his consulting career, Nadeem spent many years working at product technology companies, including one which he co-founded, where he held roles from software engineer to CTO, giving him a unique perspective that he now brings to the technology M&A space.

Nadeem earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Manitoba, Canada, and a master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Rice University.

CrossCountry Consulting is a leading provider of specialized finance, operations, and technology advisory services. As a trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies, emerging growth market leaders, and private equity sponsors, the firm solves today’s most pressing challenges and creates present and future enterprise value through accounting and risk, technology-enabled transformation, and transaction solutions. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., CrossCountry has employees across the United States and in strategic international locations. With an unwavering commitment to providing a better experience, they are regularly recognized as a best place to work. Learn more at crosscountry-consulting.com.

Peter Andrada

VP of IT and Engineering Delivery, Jumio

Peter Andrada is a seasoned IT executive with a proven track record of driving innovation and operational excellence in global organizations. With leadership roles at FireEye, Intel, and McAfee, Peter has spent the last 5.5 years as Global IT Leader at Jumio, where he has spearheaded major digital transformations. Under his leadership, Jumio has successfully transitioned to cloud and AI-driven technologies bringing cost reductions and operational efficiencies. His strategic focus on aligning technology with business objectives has accelerated sales and marketing efforts, while bolstering overall cybersecurity across the enterprise.

In addition to his technical expertise, Peter is an accomplished public speaker. He has delivered TEDx talks and educated over 60,000 students, parents, seniors, and teachers on online safety and cybersecurity best practices. Peter resides in Northern California with his wife and two children. In his free time, he enjoys camping, playing guitar, and immersing himself in Dungeons & Dragons.

Jumio protects the ecosystems of businesses through the Jumio platform, a unified, end-to-end identity verification and eKYC orchestration platform offering a range of solutions to accurately establish, maintain and reassert trust from account opening to ongoing monitoring. Customers, patients, employees … whoever your users are, the Jumio platform delivers the assurance you need to know, then trust.

Jumio has processed over 1 billion transactions from over 200 countries and territories from real-time web and mobile transactions. Jumio’s solutions are used by leading companies in the financial services, sharing economy, digital currency, retail, travel and online gaming sectors.

Based in Sunnyvale, California, Jumio operates globally with offices and representation in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Gerard Ashmore

Senior Vice President, Reporting & Insights, Grain Management

Experience:
Mr. Ashmore is Senior Vice President – Reporting & Insights in Portfolio Dynamics Group, a team dedicated to supporting Grain’s due diligence processes and portfolio company integration and operations to create value through sustained operational improvement, where he oversees financial reporting, business intelligence and analytics.

Prior to joining Grain, Mr. Ashmore was an executive with Communications Management working exclusively with the Grain investment team and Grain portfolio companies on financial reporting, optimization, and analytics. Mr. Ashmore has over 20 years of experience in the global TMT sector, most recently serving in a variety of financial and general management roles at Cable & Wireless, now a subsidiary of Liberty Latin America. Previously, he held multiple senior level finance roles in Ireland, Australia, and in the Caribbean.

Education:
Mr. Ashmore holds a B.A. in Business Administration from John Moores University (Liverpool, UK) and is a Fellow of The Institute of Public Accountants (Australia).

About Grain Management:
Founded in 2007, Grain Management is a leading, global investment firm. We believe broadband and digital infrastructure are foundational to the tech-enabled transformation occurring across all industries and facets of society. Our global team of seasoned and diverse professionals share a collective passion for the power of connectivity to strengthen communities and unlock human potential for all.

We specialize in digital infrastructure and are a trusted solutions provider to the broadband and communications industry. Our unique combination of sector knowledge, experience as operators, and disciplined analytical approach guide our differentiated investment strategy across fiber networks, data centers, wireless spectrum, cell towers, as well as managed and infrastructure services.

Annie Asrari

Operating Principal, Accel-KKR

Annie Asrari is an Operating Principal at Accel-KKR.

Prior to joining Accel-KKR, Annie was the Chief Product Officer at Castellan, where she led the positioning, grew Castellan’s product portfolio, and built a product management practice. During her tenure at Castellan, Annie directed Castellan’s product strategy from a single product to a platform approach, launched organic products, integrated M&A add-ons, and built and led migration plans. Castellan was acquired by Riskonnect, where Annie served as VP of Product Management and focused on company integration as well as leadership of additional product lines. Prior to Castellan and Riskonnect, Annie spent seven years at Everbridge building product strategy, launching and growing organic products, and integrating numerous acquisitions. Prior to Everbridge, Annie held Product Management positions at several technology companies.

Annie received an M.B.A. from Babson College, and a B.S. in Computer Engineering, from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

Accel-KKR’s culture is built on a strong work ethic and drive to succeed and is one that values integrity and collaboration. Our investment and operating professionals have extensive experience in the technology space. The team is disciplined in its investment approach and dedicated to helping our portfolio companies grow and succeed.

Geoffrey Baird

Independent Operating Executive, Palladium Equity Partners

Geoff Baird is a Senior Operating Executive partnering with Palladium Equity in the technology sector. Working as an independent consultant he leverages extensive PE experience assisting sourcing of new investments and driving growth in their technology portfolio businesses.

 Geoff is the Chairperson of Source Logistics, a Board Advisor and Operating partner at Envoy Global, a Board Member of Propeller Industries and an advisor to Fora Financial. Previously, Geoff was the Senior Managing Director of Value Creation at LLR Partners where he built a functional expert team of 12 people. Prior to joining LLR, Geoff was an operating executive at Tailwind Capital where he assisted in sourcing, evaluating and performing due diligence on investment opportunities. He served as a board member and active advisor to Tailwind portfolio companies Stratix Corporation (Chair), Diversified, AST and CoreBTS. In addition, Geoff was a board director at Worldaware, an LLR portfolio company. He also invests in early-stage technology companies as an angel investor and advisor.

 Geoff’s leadership background is highlighted by several executive roles in the mobile, Internet of Things (IoT) and communications sectors. He previously served as President of the Product & Technology Group at AGT International, CEO of 3i-MIND, and Vice President and General Manager of the Small Medium Business Unit and the Communications Appliances Business Unit at Avaya. Earlier in his career, Geoff was the CEO of mobile technology firms Commtag and Xtempus, and COO of Psion Computing.

He received his MBA with distinction from the London Business School and a BSc in Cybernetics and Mathematics from the University of Reading, UK.

Since its founding in 1997, Palladium has invested in more than 220 companies (41 platforms and more than 180 add-ons). With over $3 billion in AUM, the firm focuses primarily on buyout equity investments in the range of $50 million to $150 million. Palladium seeks to acquire and grow companies in partnership with founders and experienced management teams by providing capital and strategic guidance. The partners of the firm have meaningful experience in consumer, services, industrials, and healthcare businesses, with a special focus on companies they believe will benefit from the growth in the U.S. Hispanic population. For more information, visit www.palladiumequity.com.

Neil Bansal

Managing Director & Operating Partner, OMERS Private Equity

Neil is a Managing Director & Operating Partner in the New York Office of OMERS Private Equity and works with portfolio companies to help them define and execute value-creation priorities especially around digital acceleration (data, technology, AI/analytics, operating models).

Neil has over 20 years of experience as an investment banker, management consultant and operator in customer & consumer businesses. Prior to joining OMERS, Neil was the first Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer for Foot Locker, Inc. He also served as SVP, Strategy, Insights & Analytics for Constellation Brands and Managing Director & Head of Transformation for BNP Paribas in the US. Prior to this Neil worked at JP Morgan and was a consultant with McKinsey & Company. He started his career in M&A at Bank of America and Citigroup.

Neil holds an MBA in Finance & Accounting from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Brown University

Seavron Banus

Operating Vice President, Berkshire Partners

Seavron Banus is an Operating Vice President at Berkshire Partners. He leads the Office of COO program and Operating Model Scalability function supporting portfolio company diligence & growth. Prior to joining the firm in 2019, Seavron was a leadership coach and scalability consultant. He was also previously the Director of Corporate and Operational Strategy at Unison, a real estate investment company.  Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Slalom Consulting and Kaiser Associates in the firms’ telecommunications, media, and technology practices.

Berkshire Partners is a 100% employee-owned, multi-sector specialist investor in private and public equity. The firm’s private equity team invests in well-positioned, growing companies across technology & communications, consumer, healthcare, and services & industrials. Since inception, Berkshire Partners has made more than 150 private equity investments and has a strong history of collaborating with management teams to grow the companies in which it invests. The firm’s public equity group, Stockbridge, founded in 2007, manages a concentrated portfolio, seeking attractive long-term investments. The firm’s Stockbridge and Private Equity teams frequently collaborate and leverage their collective industry expertise across sectors. For additional information, visit www.berkshirepartners.com

Michael Belkin

Head of Global PE Practice, Zuora

Michael Belkin leads the Global Private Equity Practice at Zuora. Michael began his career at H.I.G. Growth Partners. He then co-founded & scaled Nextgengolf which the PGA of America acquired. Michael then worked at HubSpot and several early-stage ventures before joining Zuora in 2020 and founding the Private Equity Practice.

Zuora

Zuora is the preferred monetization solution for high-growth technology companies, orchestrating complete quote to cash and revenue recognition processes at scale. Through its industry-leading technology and expertise, Zuora helps 1,000+ companies globally, including Salesforce, Visma, BMC, Box, Zendesk, Zoom, and HubSpot nurture and monetize direct, digital customer relationships. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Zuora also has European offices in London, Milan, Munich, Paris, Stockholm among other Global Sites. To learn more about the Zuora monetization suite, please visit www.zuora.com.

Alex Bello

Director of Technology Strategy, EQT Group

Alex Bello serves as Director of Technology Strategy at EQT, where he provides strategic support and advice to EQT’s investment teams and portfolio companies, focusing on technology, products, cybersecurity, and the application of AI to drive efficiency and innovation. EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with $250 billion AUM and three decades of developing companies across multiple geographies, sectors, and strategies covering all phases of a business’s development, from start-up to maturity.

Before joining EQT, Alex held various senior leadership roles in technology and product development, where he was instrumental in scaling businesses, driving revenue growth, and bringing innovative products to market. He has earned recognition for his contributions to software engineering and delivery, including being awarded a patent for continuous software deployment.

With over 20 years of experience in product and technology leadership, Alex began his career as a software engineer. His core expertise includes building highly scalable and secure software, optimizing R&D structures, driving growth through data-driven leadership and experimentation, and leading large-scale change initiatives to enhance operational efficiency and business performance.

Ori Ben-Moshe

Director of Portfolio Operations, ORIX Capital Partners

Ori Ben-Moshe is a Director, Portfolio Operations at ORIX Capital Partners (“OCP”). Mr. Ben-Moshe is responsible for leading operational improvement and growth initiatives at portfolio companies, in the technology, industrial and business services spaces.

Prior to joining OCP, Mr. Ben-Moshe was a Senior Vice President on the Growth Team at Serent Capital, a lower-middle market fund focused primarily on technology companies, where he identified and led multiple Go-to-Market and sales acceleration initiatives. Prior to Serent, Mr. Ben-Moshe was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company where he led operations and growth-focused engagements for technology, industrial and consumer clients. While at McKinsey, He also acted as the General Manager of Numetrics, a SaaS-based solution for improving R&D productivity using advanced analytics. Earlier in his career, he held various engineering and marketing positions at networking equipment and telecom services companies in Israel.

Mr. Ben-Moshe earned an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Master’s degree in Systems Engineering from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, and a B.Sc in Electrical Engineering from Tel-Aviv University

ORIX Capital Partners (“OCP”) is an operationally-focused middle-market private equity team, investing primarily in industrial, technology and business services companies. OCP utilizes a thesis and industry-driven investment approach, access to transformational industry relationships, and in-house operating expertise to buy and build companies of significant and sustainable value.

Joe Benincasa

Product Leader, Cloud Optimization, ProsperOps

Joe Benincasa is a software product leader with diverse experience in multi-cloud security, performance, and cost optimization. He built and led engineering teams at Turbonomic and IBM, and now delivers FinOps automation as a Principal Product Manager at ProsperOps....

Steven Berman

Vice President, Executive Search, Accel-KKR

Steven Berman leads the Accel-KKR’s executive search function. Working with deal teams and portfolio companies to drive value by having the right people in the right seats.

For over two decades, Accel-KKR has leveraged our vast pool of resources and focused expertise in mid-market software and tech-enabled services to help hundreds of businesses go further than they have imagined.

Ted Bililies

Partner and Managing Director, AlixPartners

Ted is an internationally-recognized expert on leadership and organization development. He advises investors, CEOs, and boards globally to help them position the right leaders for key roles and to support those leaders and teams for maximal value creation. Ted assists top performing organizations to anticipate and plan for future core business competencies and to install them in dynamic governance processes such as executive succession.

An organizational psychologist, human resources executive, management consultant and master coach for more than 30 years, Ted authors a bi-monthly leadership column in Chief Executive magazine and is also on the executive education faculty of the Harvard Business School. Ted has helped leaders around the world achieve enduring change in their organizations, their teams, and themselves by expanding their psychological, behavioral, and organizational insights into leadership.

Career Highlights: Ted Bililies, PhD:
• Internationally recognized expert on leadership and organization development
• Founded AlixPartners’ transformative leadership practice in 2014, advising global CEOs, their boards, and private equity investors
• Serving nearly three decades as an organizational psychologist, human resources executive, management consultant and master coach
• Executive Education faculty of the Harvard Business School and has held teaching appointments at Harvard University in four of Harvard’s graduate schools: Medical, Business, Arts & Sciences, and Extension
• Frequent speaker at leadership and investment conferences
• Featured in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and CNBC’s Power and Money
• Author of bi-monthly leadership column in Chief Executive magazine
• Serves as exclusive advisor to the CEO of the Year Award committee
• Board Member, Perkins School for the Blind
• Board Member, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis
• John Harvard Scholar, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University

For nearly forty years, AlixPartners has helped businesses around the world respond quickly and decisively to their most critical challenges – circumstances as diverse as urgent performance improvement, accelerated transformation, complex restructuring and risk mitigation.

These are the moments when everything is on the line – a sudden shift in the market, an unexpected performance decline, a time-sensitive deal, a fork-in-the-road decision. But it’s not what we do that makes a difference, it’s how we do it.

Tackling situations when time is of the essence is part of our DNA – so we adopt an action-oriented approach at all times. We work in small, highly qualified teams with specific industry and functional expertise, and we operate at pace, moving quickly from analysis to implementation. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our clients until the job is done, and only measure our success in terms of the results we deliver.

Our approach enables us to help our clients confront and overcome truly future-defining challenges. We partner with you to make the right decisions and take the right actions. And we are right by your side. When it really matters.

Sebastien Bilodeau

President, Cerberus Technology Solutions, Cerberus Capital Management

Sebastien Bilodeau is the President of the Cerberus Technology Solutions (CTS) group at Cerberus. He is a highly qualified and driven executive with leadership and value-added skills. He has extensive experience in digital, eCommerce, data, offline customer acquisition, marketing, sales, ideation, and product development across many industries.

Stephanie Bixler

Chief Technology Officer, eShipping

Stephanie is rooted by over two decades in analytics, technology, and operations, growing profit for Fortune 1000 companies. Previously, the founder of Synapsum, Stephanie also served as the Senior Vice President of Scholastic Technology. Stephanie spent the first decade of her career with Deloitte Consulting focused on digital transformation, supply chain optimization, and restructuring. Stephanie holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a BA from Washington University in St. Louis.

Company Profile
eShipping is a leading, tech-enabled, non-asset based provider of managed transportation services. Through its proprietary eShipManager® platform, the company offers a full suite of outsourced logistics solutions, including freight optimization and management, less-than-truckload and truckload brokerage, international air and ocean services, customs brokerage, parcel, final mile, drayage, warehousing, and distribution. eShipping is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, with regional office locations and distribution centers across the United States. www.eshipping.biz

Barr Blanton

CEO, Crosslake Technologies

Barr has created an unparalleled community of "been there, done that" technologists at Crosslake — setting the standard for technology leadership and guidance at the intersection of investment and private equity. He came to Crosslake from global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he was Managing Partner of the firm's Charlotte, North Carolina office and served as a partner in the Transformation and Private Equity practices. Barr has extensive experience advising private equity firms, portfolio companies and Fortune 500 clients on strategic and transformational initiatives.

As advisors on 4,000+ private equity tech deals over the last four years, Crosslake is the firm investors call to understand what good looks like. The hands-on technical expertise of our 250+ practitioners is underscored by Crosslake’s objective TechIndicators®, based on thousands of prior M&A transactions. Our capabilities in tech due diligence, value creation and exit readiness are supported by accelerated delivery from our Build practice, cyber and risk solutions from our cybersecurity practice, and operational insights from our suite of proprietary, data-based applications.

From diligence through exit, we’ve helped more than 500 firms and 1,000 portfolio companies create value and make technology make a difference.

Fabian Bodoky

Director, Tech Industry Lead, Efficio

Fabian is a Vice President in Efficio’s North America region and our worldwide technology sector lead working extensively with Private Equity funds and portfolio companies. During his 15 years in consulting with Efficio and the Boston Consulting Group he has covered all levers to streamline costs across all aspects of the deal cycle to help clients find the right partners for growth, improve supplier management and achieve significant cost savings in various industries.

Fabian has lived and worked across four continents and speaks 7 languages. Before a career in consulting, Fabian completed his PhD in Theoretical Physics at the Delft University of Technology.

Efficio has specialized in procurement and supply chain management for more than 20 years helping organizations reduce costs, improve internal processes, and upskill their procurement teams, enabling them to become high value-generating functions within their businesses. We support our PE clients both at a portfolio level and across the full transaction cycle: from pre-deal due diligence to post-acquisition value creation and exit support. Efficio has an unrivaled track record of delivering significant operational, EBITDA, and working capital benefits in private equity assets. Our 1,300 consultants have so far delivered results for over 50 different private equity funds across North America and Europe.

David Bonasia

Managing Director, Brookfield

David Bonasia is a Managing Director in Brookfield’s Private Equity Group. In this role, he is responsible for operational and financial oversight of portfolio companies in the Americas. Mr. Bonasia has held various positions across the organization including investment origination and execution within the technology services sector, value creation and strategy as a member of the business operations team and investment analysis across deals in the industrial and business services sectors.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2015, Mr. Bonasia held roles in private equity and investment banking, with a focus on M&A and complex restructurings.

Mr. Bonasia holds a Bachelor of Engineering Science degree from Western University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Chris Boulet

Solution Consulting VP, Medium Enterprise and Markets, Workday

With over 25 years in the software industry, I am an experienced leader in solution consulting, enterprise software, and SaaS. I am passionate about delivering solutions that help organizations achieve their goals and drive transformation.

As Vice President of Presales for USME and Markets at Workday, I lead a high-performing team that drives the sales cycle and demonstrates the value of Workday’s products. I collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop and execute pre-sales strategies, processes, and best practices. My contributions have driven revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and market expansion for Workday.

Scott T. Brady

Managing Director, PEMA East Leader, Marsh USA

Scott Brady is a Managing Director in the Private Equity and M&A Services Group (PEMA) of Marsh Inc. based in New York City. Scott leads PEMA in the Eastern United States, and he leads the Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions (strategic investor vertical) advisory business in North America. He is responsible for developing and coordinating corporate and financial sponsor relationships, leading transaction engagements and advising clients on transaction risks (Representations and Warranties, Tax and Contingent insurance) and integration strategies. Scott serves as an internal and external subject matter expert and speaker.

Scott has more than twenty-five years of experience in the insurance and financial services industries. He has held various insurance leadership roles ranging from divisional leadership within major brokers, to leading a privately held, Top 100 insurance brokerage based in California.

Brenninkmeijer, Rupert, OP, NY, 24, CROPPED

Rupert Brenninkmeijer

Operating Principal, Growth Factors, Bregal Sagemount

Rupert Brenninkmeijer is an Operating Principal at Bregal Sagemount, where he partners with portfolio company leadership to accelerate growth and build operational scale across five Value Creation pillars: sales acceleration, offer optimization, tech & process, M&A and recruitment. As a senior leader in VC-backed tech companies, Rupert helped scale multiple startups to $100M+ ARR and achieve $2B+ valuations. Prior to joining Bregal Sagemount, Rupert was a Director at Contentful ($3B), responsible for the product-led business unit representing 15% of the P&L. Earlier in his career, Rupert operated as a Senior Growth Marketing lead at GoCardless ($2B) scaling the Mid-Market business. Rupert received a BSc in Mathematics with honors from Oxford Brookes University.

Seth Brody

Partner, Global Head of Operational Excellence, Apax Partners

Seth is a Partner and Global Head of the Operational Excellence Practice. He joined the Firm in 2008 and is based in New York.

Prior to joining Apax, he held several executive operating positions in digitally focused enterprises including roles as Executive Vice President and General Manager at Razorgator Interactive Group, Group Vice President and General Manager at Orbitz Worldwide, Director of Marketing at priceline.com, and Product Manager at Netmarket Group, Inc. During his time at Apax, Seth has served in multiple interim management positions across the Apax portfolio, driving operational best practices and digital transformation throughout those enterprises.

Seth holds a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Steven Browning

Managing Director, Private Equity, Insight Sourcing, part of Accenture

Steven leads Insight Sourcing’s Private Equity practice which partners with PE firms and their portfolio companies to deliver EBITDA impact, operational improvement, and cash creation through procurement value creation initiatives. The Private Equity practice has grown 3x in the past 2 years. Over the past 15 years, Steven has advised 30+ Private Equity firms and 100+ portfolio companies. Prior to leading the Private Equity practice, Steven led numerous large-scale sourcing and procurement transformation engagements primarily in the retail, healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing industries.

Insight Sourcing is the leading procurement advisory firm for private equity sponsors. We have partnered with 60+ private equity firms to drive EBITDA improvement for portfolio companies through non-headcount cost reduction and cash creation. In 2024, Insight Sourcing became part of Accenture.

Tony Buffum

Vice President of HR Client Strategy, Upwork

Tony Buffum is VP of HR Client Strategy at Upwork. As a key member of the senior-level executive client strategy team, Buffum is responsible for accelerating growth of current and prospective Upwork enterprise clients, helping them solve HR challenges related to finance, procurement and talent transformation. Buffum is an accomplished HR professional with more than two decades of experience leading global HR teams as well as driving transformational change in company culture, organizational design, performance management, and employee integration and engagement. He joins Upwork following a series of noteworthy leadership positions including chief human resources officer (CHRO) at FLIR Systems, VP of global human resources at STANLEY Security, VP of human resources at Stanley Black & Decker and others.

Upwork is the world’s work marketplace connecting millions of businesses with independent talent around the globe. Help your portfolio companies find the on-demand talent they need because without effective execution, strategy only gets you so far.

Learn more about our partnership opportunities at upwork.com/enterprise/private-equity

William Bundy

Partner, McKinsey ＆ Co

Will focuses on holistic, sustainable transformation of private equity investments. Most recently serving as a Chief Transformation Officer and Interim Chief Supply Chain Officer for a private equity backed consumer company. In this role, he turned around a company to structurally positive cash flow in one year post close whilst standing up the operations out of a global carveout. He also served as a Managing Director and Partner at AlixPartners advising and serving in interim roles for large scale private equity investors focused on operational transformation.

Experience includes:

Served as an Interim COO for a Tech-enabled CPG company.

Carved out a $500m CPG company from a multi-national conglomerate; stood up independent operations within 12 months including 3PL and IT ecosystem.

Served various PE clients across numerous transformation situations as an advisor and interim operating executive.

Will holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Science from the US Naval Academy. He has summitted Kilimanjaro, ran with the Bulls in Pamplona, and hiked the Inca Trail.

Jamie Carter

Co-Founding Partner, Lancor

Jamie is a Senior Partner in the Technology Practice and is known in North America for his CFO search work. He also works with both public and private boards to recruit new directors and serves as an advisor to counsel clients on board composition and evolution, executive team retention, and compensation and corporate governance issues.

Prior to joining Lancor, Jamie was the youngest partner with CTPartners and where he spent ten years in the firm’s Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Practice. He began his career with Ernst & Young as a Senior Auditor, working with a variety of publicly traded companies. Jamie is a graduate of Miami University, where he earned a dual BS/BA in accounting and marketing.

Abigail Chan

Senior Operations Executive, ABRY Partners

Abigail is a Senior Operations Executive at Abry Partners. She drives value at the portfolio companies through acquisition integration, operational effectiveness, and value creation plan design and execution.  Abigail is known for her collaborative, hands-on, and metrics driven approach.  Prior to Abry, Abigail led the Professional Services business unit and M&A activities at Datapipe.   And before that she was a management consultant at Capgemini.

Abigail earned a BA in Economics and a BS in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University.

Abry Partners is a leading Boston based private equity firm with three and a half decades of history investing in lower and middle market Insurance, Financial Services, Data Centers & Managed IT, Healthcare Information and Business Services companies. The firm employs a thematic investment strategy across its Flagship middle market buyout, its Heritage lower-middle market buyout and its Senior Equity funds as well as its credit funds. This multi-strategy approach provides Abry with flexibility to invest as a majority control and/or a minority investor across the capital structure. Abry's thematic investment strategy enables the firm to identify companies that present attractive investment characteristics and to which it can bring its industry experience and its long history adding operational value to lower and middle market companies.

Chris Chandler

Former President and CEO, Perativ

After starting his career as a CPA, banker and strategy consultant, Mr. Chandler has spent the last 25 years as PE backed CEO or as a PE Operating Partner. Throughout that time, he successfully created and drove growth strategy, motivated his teams, enthusiastically developed key clients, and led financing, M&A, and investing activities. He has a track record of compounding EBITDA, raising capital, and successfully integrating acquisitions.

From 2005 to 2023, he led Perativ (and its predecessor companies) as President and CEO. Under his leadership, Perativ became the leading operator in Canada and provided a SaaS solution for global banks. He led three consecutive management buyouts of Perativ with Tier I PE fund partners and then with his own fund, where he was also the GP. Perativ was a successful roll-up platform that he led to complete and integrate more than 25 accretive tuck-in acquisitions. Since 2016, he has also been actively investing in AI companies, recognizing the transformative potential of this technology. He is passionate about working with great people to tackle challenging issues that unlock significant value and will share his perspective on what worked well, and what worked less well.

Tanoya Chatterjee

Senior Principal, Mubadala

Tanoya Chatterjee is an Operating Partner on the Mubadala Performance Partner team, based in New York City. Mubadala is a sovereign investor with $302 Billion AUM. Tanoya leads go-to-market value creation initiatives for portfolio companies and due diligence workstreams for investment teams across all sectors. Tanoya has over 13 years of experience in both the operating and investing sides of private equity, including at firms such as KKR and Permira. She previously began her career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley. Tanoya holds a Bachelor’s degree and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mubadala Investment Company is a sovereign investor managing a global portfolio, aimed at generating sustainable financial returns for the Government of Abu Dhabi.

Mubadala’s $276 billion (AED 1015 billion) portfolio spans six continents with interests in multiple sectors and asset classes. It leverages its deep sectoral expertise and long-standing partnerships to drive sustainable growth and profit, while supporting the continued diversification and global integration of the economy of the United Arab Emirates. For more information about Mubadala Investment Company, please visit: www.mubadala.com

Bruce Chesebrough

Operating Partner, New Mountain Capital

Mr. Chesebrough, Operating Partner, joined New Mountain in 2022. Mr. Chesebrough has spent his entire career as a Growth Officer and Commercial Excellence executive, and he has worked in many industries in the B2B arena including: technology, discrete manufacturing, distribution, media, healthcare, and financial service. Prior to joining New Mountain, Mr. Chesebrough was an Operating Executive with TPG Capital from 2012 to 2021 where he was a leader on the Sales Effectiveness team. During his tenure at TPG, Mr. Chesebrough led sales transformations and turnarounds at a number of portfolio companies – where he often took the role of Acting CRO or Head of Sales Operations. Prior to TPG, Mr. Chesebrough held positions as Managing Director of the Revenue Enhancement practice at Alvarez & Marsal and Chief Revenue Officer at Corbis Corporation. He holds a BA in economics from Amherst College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a Certified Turnaround Professional (CTP) and a former member of Board of Directors of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA).

Dave Clement

Partner, Simon – Kucher

Dave is a Partner and Head of Simon-Kucher’s New York office, where he supports top-line growth strategy design and implementation for clients in a variety of industries.

Dave’s areas of expertise include customer segmentation, price setting and implementation, product and service design, and rewards and loyalty programs. His recent project work has focused on business services, industrials and manufacturing, and franchise organizations.

He is a guest lecturer at multiple MBA programs, regularly speaks at industry and business association events, and authors content focused on customer segmentation, product and service offering, and go-to-market strategies (pricing and digital focused).

Dave is a native of Philadelphia and earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Brown University, where he was a three-year varsity football letterman.

Simon-Kucher is a global consultancy with more than 2,000 employees in 30 countries. Our sole focus is on unlocking better growth that drives measurable revenue and profit for our clients. We achieve

this by optimizing every lever of their commercial strategy - product, price, innovation, marketing, and sales - based on deep insights into what customers want and value. With 37 years of experience in monetization topics of all kinds, we are regarded as the world’s leading pricing and growth specialist.

simon-kucher.com

David Cohen

Partner, Human Capital, Kelso & Company

David Cohen joined Kelso in 2019 as a Partner and Managing Director leading Human Capital work. He is focused on applying talent and human resources best practices to enhance the firm’s investment process, portfolio companies and Kelso Specialist Network. He spent the preceding nine years at American Securities in a similar role in support of their middle market portfolio.

Prior to his work in private equity, Bristol-Myers Squibb for more than eight years where he held various HR leadership positions including three and a half years based in Singapore as their HR leader for Asia Pacific. Prior to joining BMS in 2001, David was with General Electric for nine years where he held various HR positions in the Company’s Healthcare, Industrial Systems and Plastics businesses. Over the course of his 35+ year business career, David has worked outside the United States three times and has extensive experience starting and developing businesses in India, China, Southeast Asia and Japan. Finally, he began his career managing a small rural based development organization in Botswana, Africa as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer.

David has a B.A. in Economics and an MBA in General Management from the University of Michigan.

About Kelso

Kelso is a founding firm in the private equity industry with a unique history and legacy, having been founded by the inventor of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (or “ESOP”) more than 40 years ago. The principles of partnership and alignment of interest serve as the foundation of the firm’s culture and investment philosophy. Kelso is focused on North American mid-market buyout transactions within four core sectors. Since 1980, Kelso has invested through 11 funds with over $15 billion of equity capital across 135+ investments. Kelso benefits from a successful investment track record, industry-leading GP alignment, deep sector expertise, a long-tenured investing team, and a reputation as a preferred partner to management teams and corporates. The firm is based in New York, NY.

Wes Cole

Vice President, Portfolio Talent Lead, Goldman Sachs

Wes leads portfolio talent efforts within the GS Value Accelerator. Previously, he led more than 100 successful executive searches for high impact portfolio company leadership, board, and operating partner roles for private equity clients including GS at Dore Partnership and Notch Partners. His technology industry experience includes strategy consulting, venture capital investing, startup CEO, and executive leadership at Alcatel-Lucent. Wes earned a BA with departmental honors from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Drew Conrad

Field Ops Advisor, TPG

Mr. Conrad is a Field Ops Advisor and pricing specialist for TPG Capital.  Since joining the firm in 2011, Drew has developed and executed topline growth strategies for a wide range of portfolio companies in software, media & entertainment, and healthcare sectors. These firms include McAfee, New Relic, Cirque du Soleil, Entertainment Partners, LifeStance Health and Confluent Medical Technologies.

Prior to TPG, Mr. Conrad was a Partner in the San Francisco office of Simon-Kucher & Partners (SKP), the world's largest pricing consultancy.  At SKP, Drew specialized in customer segmentation, price optimization, and key account negotiations.  He developed pricing strategies for multiple divisions of Intuit and PayPal, trained Google’s pricing group, and helped optimize LinkedIn’s product line-up prior to their IPO.

Mr. Conrad earned a bachelor's degree in public policy and international relations from Princeton in 1993. Mr. Conrad received an MBA from Thunderbird in 1999.

TPG is a leading alternative asset manager with roughly $230B in assets under management. TPG platforms include private equity (e.g., Capital, Growth, Rise, and Rise Climate), real estate, and credit solutions.

Jim Corey

Managing Partner, Blue Ridge Partners

Jim is a co-founder of Blue Ridge Partners and serves as the firm’s Managing Partner. For 35 years he has assisted companies in North America, Europe and Asia accelerate profitable revenue growth. Jim has advised over 300 companies on revenue-related issues including growth strategy, pricing, sales and marketing management and effectiveness, customer segmentation and messaging. Prior to founding Blue Ridge Partners, Jim was a Partner at both McKinsey & Company and Accenture. He was also the President of the worldwide professional services group at Unisys and the Managing Partner of AT＆T Solutions, the professional services arm of AT＆T. Jim previously served as Managing Partner of Potomac Partners and CEO of Luminant.

Blue Ridge Partners

Blue Ridge Partners is a management consulting firm exclusively focused on helping companies accelerate profitable revenue growth. We have worked with more than 1,000 companies to improve their strategic understanding of markets and customers, deepen and expand their customer relationships, and enhance marketing and sales performance.

Our clients include over 130 private equity firms and their portfolio companies –supporting them during deal evaluation, due diligence, and post-acquisition. We have a reputation for helping companies grow faster by rolling up our sleeves, working collaboratively, and delivering measurable impact quickly and more efficiently than large consultancies.

Justin Cottrell

Partner, Private Equity Practice, Riviera Partners

Justin brings over 15 years of expertise in technology-focused executive search, with a deep specialization in core product development functions across diverse industries and sectors. He has successfully partnered with leading Private Equity firms, helping their technology-driven portfolio companies scale toward high-growth outcomes. His leadership spans both operating engagements at the portfolio level and recruitment of key value creation talent within these organizations, ensuring operational excellence and strategic resourcing.

As a Partner at Riviera, Justin plays a pivotal role within the Private Equity Practice, where he collaborates with post-investment middle-market businesses of varying scale. Beyond enhancing leadership teams at the portfolio-level, he also specializes in placing Operating Partners/Advisors, Managing Directors, EIR, and other Specialist roles. His efforts are aimed at top-grading talent to drive organizational growth and preparing companies for successful exits.

Prior to joining Riviera, Justin served as the Sector Leader for Korn Ferry’s Technology Officers Practice, leading a team of recruitment experts and managing numerous executive-level engagements across the Fortune 1000. His work delivered top-tier talent for leadership roles critical to transformation and innovation.

Earlier in his career, Justin was the President of Talener, a boutique technology search firm specialized in sourcing product, engineering, and design talent for early- and growth-stage venture-backed companies. Under his leadership, Talener grew to 150 employees and operated across six offices nationwide, with its headquarters in New York City.

Justin lives in New York City and holds a B.A. in History from Dartmouth College.

Adam Cummins

Principal, Portfolio Procurement, The Carlyle Group

Adam Cummins is a Principal focused on Portfolio Procurement at The Carlyle Group. In his role (and as a seconded consultant for over nine years prior) Adam serves as the lead for Carlyle’s Global Portfolio Solutions Procurement team, overseeing strategic supplier partnerships and Procurement & Supply Chain, Employee Benefits and Corporate Risk related value creation opportunities for the benefit of Carlyle portfolio companies. Adam has over 23 years of outsourcing, strategic sourcing, contracts negotiations and program management experience. In addition to his time as a Procurement consultant with West Monroe Partners and Pace Harmon, he previously held several supply chain executive roles, including serving as the acting Chief Procurement Officer for a global IT outsourcer with over $7B in annual spend. Adam has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Virginia and a Master of Science in Supply Chain Management from the University of Tennessee’s Haslam School of Business.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across three business segments: Global Private Equity, Global Credit and Investment Solutions. With $260 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2021, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,800 people in 29 offices across five continents. Further information is available at www.carlyle.com. Follow The Carlyle Group on Twitter @OneCarlyle.

Sean Curran

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, ENDUIR Cyber

Sean is an accomplished Cybersecurity professional with almost 30 years of experience leading Cybersecurity teams for Global consulting firms in the United States and Australia. Early on, he recognized the impact of ransomware and began helping the industry to acknowledge the importance of focusing on recovering business operations – not just determining the who and how.

A technologist with deep expertise in infrastructure and application security, Sean has designed, implemented and defended complex environments across most industries. He has also provided forensic analysis on complex breaches for both corporate and government agencies. In addition, he has developed a business acumen that stems from advising Private Equity firms on hundreds of complex mergers and acquisitions transactions in particular Cybersecurity firms and products.

This blend of skills has put Sean in the board room, supporting dozens of large organizations in the midst of a ransomware attack, and advising executives as they navigate their organization to recovery.

Enduir Cyber is the leading cybersecurity firm focused on Private Equity value creation.

In today’s market of fast paced transactions, cross industry investments, and a focus on technology enablement; Private Equity firms need a cybersecurity partner that understands the complexities of the M&A lifecycle.

Enduir’s Private Equity Portfolio Resilience (PEPR) Program™ delivers value from pre-close diligence all the way through sell-side preparation. We closely tailor each PEPR program with the Operating Partner to mitigate risk and build Portfolio cyber resilience throughout the investment period. When cyber incidents do occur, Enduir provides a white-glove Incident Command service to respond, recover, and get the PortCo back to business.

Kim D'Aversa

Operating Partner and Head of Talent, Growth Factors, Bregal Sagemount

Kim D’Aversa is an Operating Partner and Head of Talent for Bregal Sagemount’s portfolio operations team, Growth Factors. She leads a team focused on Value Creation and Talent Leadership. Prior to joining Bregal, Kim worked for Citadel from 2018-2023 where she led data investment recruiting globally and business development for Ashler Capital, one of Citadel’s fundamental L/S equities businesses. Prior to that, Kim was a Vice President at JPMorgan where she ran executive search and sourcing for their Corporate and Investment Bank. Earlier in her career, she worked for Michael Page International, a global recruitment consultancy. She graduated summa cum laude from Towson University and holds a JD from Widener University School of Law.

Josh Damon

Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Resources, MDP

Josh Damon, Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Resources B.S., Miami University. Prior to joining MDP in 2019, Mr. Damon was a Senior Managing Director at Ankura Consulting, where he co-led the firm’s Strategy and Performance practice. Mr. Damon is responsible for leading MDP’s efforts to identify and facilitate value creation initiatives across the portfolio and is currently engaged in activities across all four MDP verticals. Mr. Damon currently serves on the Board of Directors of InMoment.

Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (“MDP”) is a leading private equity investment firm based in Chicago. Since MDP’s formation in 1992, the firm has raised aggregate capital of more than $31 billion and has completed over 160 platform investments. MDP invests across four dedicated industry verticals, including basic industries, financial services, health care, and technology & government. For more information, please visit www.mdcp.com

Christian Davis

Associate Partner, JMAN Group

Christian is an Associate Partner, having joined JMAN in October 2017.

Christian has developed long and lasting relationships with leading clients within the private equity industry. He has experience in delivering data-led strategies and initiatives that deliver value across the deal cycle for subscription, services and product business models across software, technology, professional and financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and pharmaceutical end markets. Christian’s recent focus has been supporting Management Teams, Sell-Side Banks and Investors to build more sophisticated data assets for exit. He is the practice lead for our M&A Centre of Excellence, which covers all buy-side and sell-side diligence and exit projects.

He holds a BA in Economics and Geography from the University of Leeds.

Santiago Delgado

Operating Partner, ACON Investments

Santiago Delgado is an Operating Partner who works directly with certain portfolio companies of funds sponsored by ACON Investments providing advice on a range of operational issues. Mr. Delgado began working with ACON in 2018. Prior to commencing to consult for ACON and with ACON portfolio companies, he was a Vice President at Thomas H. Lee Partners where he was responsible for developing and implementing operational improvement, cost reduction and revenue enhancement programs for portfolio companies. Prior to Thomas H. Lee Partners, Mr. Delgado was a Consultant at Bain & Company with a focus on increasing the value of companies in the technology, industrial and retail industries. Mr. Delgado started his career at National Instruments, with roles in engineering, product management and corporate development. Mr. Delgado received a B.S., summa cum laude, in Business Administration and Management Information Systems from the University of Nebraska, and an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Marie Deller

Partner, Lancor

Marie is a Partner and is known in North America for her Chief Financial Officer search work within vertical and horizontal SaaS as well as technology-enabled services. She has been with Lancor since 2017, is based in Reno, NV and supports the firm leading specific and complex Chief Financial Officer assignments. In addition, she tracks and publishes M&A and CFO / CEO movements within the middle market, private equity backed, technology sector.

Marie earned her Master of Business Administration in Finance and her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Kevin Desai

Deals Deputy Platform Leader and Private Equity Sector Leader, PwC US

Bio Coming Soon..

Company profile:

PwC is a leading advisor to private equity investors and the companies they invest in. We help to drive performance optimization and growth enhancement of portfolio companies across the deal lifecycle. In addition, we advise on fund level strategies, sustainability, portfolio operations, and digital enablement.

Our scale, scope, and presence across geographies offer unparalleled capabilities, insights, and expertise. Our tailored and differentiated approaches to regions and industries help private equity firms make better investment decisions and realize value across their portfolios.

Patrick Donegan

Senior Managing Director, Blue Ridge Partners

Pat is a Senior Managing Director at Blue Ridge Partners and works closely with private equity firms and their portfolio companies to solve growth challenges and accelerate revenue. Prior to joining Blue Ridge Partners, Pat was an Operating Partner at The Riverside Company where he led the Microcap Fund’s GTM/Sales Excellence team. While there, he advised deal teams and portfolio companies on strategies to drive growth and achieve scale. He has also held successful roles as a PE-backed operator with P&L responsibility at PIP and GLG as well as leadership roles at Mastercard, LRN and Gartner.

Patrick holds an MBA from the University of Connecticut and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University. He lives in the New York area with his wife and their five children.

Blue Ridge Partners

Blue Ridge Partners is a management consulting firm exclusively focused on helping companies accelerate profitable revenue growth. We have worked with more than 1,000 companies to improve their strategic understanding of markets and customers, deepen, and expand their customer relationships, and enhance marketing and sales performance.

Our clients include over 130 private equity firms and their portfolio companies –supporting them during deal evaluation, due diligence, and post-acquisition. We have a reputation for helping companies grow faster by rolling up our sleeves, working collaboratively, and delivering measurable impact quickly and more efficiently than large consultancies.

Beth Dresdale

Principal, Head of Value Creation, Martis Capital

Beth joined Martis Capital in 2024. Before that, she worked at Incline Equity Partners as a principal focused on value creation. Earlier, Beth led sales and commercial operations at A Place For Mom, a tech enabled healthcare services company. Beth started her career at McKinsey & Company and Centerview Partners.

Beth received a bachelor's degree in history from Brown University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

Allison Earnest

Senior Director, Alvarez & Marsal

Allison Earnest is a Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal’s Private Equity Performance Improvement Group, bringing over 15 years of experience in leading strategic sourcing and transformation projects. Ms. Earnest specializes in implementing sustainable processes and organizational improvements for private equity clients through the entire lifecycle of investments, in addition to Fortune 50 and 500 companies.

Ms. Earnest expertise lies in cross-functional program management and source-to-implement projects, executing operational improvement initiatives, including process design, supply risk mitigation, category efficiencies, cost optimization, and savings tracking.

Before joining A&M, Ms. Earnest managed client sourcing programs with Accenture's Business Process Outsourcing group, focusing on global strategic sourcing programs. Previously, with Ariba's Spend Management Services, she delivered accelerated savings implementation and multi-year transformations utilizing and training clients on the Ariba suite of P2P solutions.

Cory A. Eaves

Partner and Head of Portfolio Operations, BayPine

Cory A. Eaves is a Partner and Head of Portfolio Operations at BayPine, where he leads the firm’s digital transformation and portfolio operations team. BayPine is a pioneering new private equity firm—one built from the ground up to bring digital transformation to companies in the healthcare, consumer, business services, and specialty industrials industries. Cory’s primary focus is on driving digital transformation initiatives within the firm and its portfolio companies. Before joining BayPine in 2023, Cory was one of the first Operating Partners at General Atlantic, where he built and scaled their portfolio value-add capability for nearly 15 years. Before joining General Atlantic, he was Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Information Officer at Misys plc. Earlier in his career, Cory also served as Chief Technology Officer of SSA Global, one of the world’s largest enterprise software providers, and various other technology leadership positions. Outside of his professional endeavors, Cory is active in a number of philanthropic activities, including The Marfan Foundation, where he serves as past Chairman and board member, and NetHope, where he serves as Board Fellow. Outside of work, Cory spends his time off-shore sailboat racing, snowboarding, and with his family in Larchmont, New York.

BayPine is a newly-formed private equity firm that seeks to make control and control-oriented equity investments in high-quality, market-leading businesses in traditional industries with the intent of facilitating a comprehensive digital transformation. Headquartered in Boston, BayPine was founded to instill durable core-economy companies with the execution speed, innovation mindset and technology infrastructure of leading “new economy” businesses. At the heart of the strategy is a pointed focus on digital enablement, a purpose-built team of investors and operators, and a differentiated value creation playbook that operationalizes each company’s full potential. For more information on BayPine, please visit www.baypine.com.

Adam Echter

Partner, Simon-Kucher

Adam Echter is a Partner at Simon-Kucher in San Francisco, where he leads the Global Industrials Sector and specializes in sales excellence, value definition, business model transformation, and pricing. With over two decades of experience in value-based sales, he has worked with over 50+ private equity firms, helping hundreds of companies drive organic growth.

Adam recently co-authored the book “Beating Inflation” with Dr. Hermann Simon, addressing pricing strategies in volatile economic times. A regular speaker at various industry forums, he provides valuable insights on pricing and sales strategies.

Ask Adam about any pricing-related questions.

Simon-Kucher is a global management consulting firm founded in 1985 in Germany with expertise in strategy, marketing, pricing, and sales optimization. Operating in over 30 countries, they provide data-driven, customized solutions to clients across various industries, focusing on maximizing profitability and market share. Known for their thought leadership in pricing strategy, Simon-Kucher emphasizes innovation and client-focused collaboration to help companies grow profitably.

Mara Edgar

Managing Director, Human Capital, The Riverside Company

Mara Lamoureux Edgar is the Managing Director, Human Capital at The Riverside Company where she leads portfolio talent strategy and company value creation on behalf of the Riverside Capital Appreciation Fund. Mara has lead HR and Talent functions for 25 years in both operating company roles and as an Operating Partner in various industries. Prior to joining Riverside, she held the dual role of Chief Human Resources Officer and Director of Portfolio Talent Management & HR Strategy at Parthenon Capital. Earlier in her career, Mara held senior roles at TA Associates, Arrowroot Capital, IQVIA, Kantar and Cayan. Mara has a BA from Wheaton College and a JD from Suffolk University. She is a Member of the Massachusetts Bar.

The Riverside Company is a global private equity firm that makes growth investments ranging from loans to fast-growing software and tech companies to control investments in companies with up to $400 million in enterprise value. The firm invests through nine product strategies focused on various geographies, tactics, and criteria. Since 1988, Riverside has grown from a small unfunded PEG to a global enterprise with more than $13.1 billion in assets under management conducting control and minority buyouts, growth equity investing and corporate divestitures. Riverside invests in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. Through more than 900 investments, the firm has developed industry specializations in business services, consumer brands, education and training, franchisors, healthcare, and software & IT. Riverside has offices across the United States and Europe and has additional offices in Hong Kong and Australia.

Richard Elder

Managing Director-Partner, Head of Global Portfolio Solutions, The Carlyle Group

Richard Elder is a Managing Director-Partner and Head of Global Portfolio Solutions (GPS). He is based in Washington, D.C.

Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Elder served as Executive Vice President, Strategy & Growth and Chief Transformation Officer at Nouryon. He was responsible for helping to develop and integrate Nouryon’s Global Transformation program, with a focus on Strategy, Growth and Commercial Excellence. Prior to Nouryon, Mr. Elder spent 25-years at McKinsey & Company, where he was a senior partner in its Washington, D.C., office and a leader in its Transformation, Private Equity and Organization practices. He brings extensive experience in transformation processes and strategy development and has applied his private- and public-sector experience to help global industrial, manufacturing, aerospace, and defense organizations develop new strategies and implement large-scale transformations. He started his career as an officer for the US Air Force.
Mr. Elder has been a board member for more than 10 years with Athletes for Hope, which connects professional athletes with charitable causes.

Mr. Elder holds a B.S. in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA with honors from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.

Sean Ellis

Operating Advisor, Orix Capital Partners

Sean is an independent operating advisor supporting middle-market private equity firms. Prior to his independent work, Sean was a director at ORIX Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity fund. At ORIX, Sean worked closely with portfolio company executives to develop and execute multi-year strategic plans. Sean also triaged operational issues, including process improvements, liquidity management, new service offerings, and technology solutions.

Before his career in private equity, Sean worked on large-scale organizational transformations to enhance customer experience. Sean also worked as a consultant at RSM, supporting private equity firms on due diligence matters and carve-out execution. Sean started his career at Staples, serving in multiple operational and finance roles.

Sean has an MBA from the University of Chicago (Booth) and completed his undergraduate degree at Syracuse University, where he was also a Division 1 swimmer.

Jay Epstein

Managing Director, Value Creation, Warburg Pincus

Jay Epstein is based in New York, joined Warburg Pincus in 2022, and is a CFO Advisor on the Value Creation team. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, he was Chief Financial Officer and President of International Operations for CSC ServiceWorks, a business services company. Jay has a long track record in financial operations, previously serving as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for other private equity and privately owned industrial companies. He started his career as a Chemical Engineer before moving into finance. Jay received a BS in Chemical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from The University of Chicago.

Ken Esterow

Operating Partner, TZP Group

Ken Esterow joined TZP Group in February 2018. Earlier in his career, Ken held executive positions at The Netmarket Group, Deloitte Management Consulting, and served as a Board Director at Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. Ken spent nearly a decade at Cendant Corporation, where he held the positions of Senior Vice President, eCommerce Development, Chief Business Development Officer, Executive Vice President, Supplier Services and ultimately, President and CEO, Travel Industry Services, Americas. From 2007 until 2011, he was CEO of GTA by Travelport, a global online B2B travel distributor owned by Blackstone. From 2012 to 2013, Ken was a CEO for 1st Partner for Frontenac Company, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Prior to joining TZP, he was President, Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of Bankrate, Inc., an online personal finance marketplace from 2014 to 2017, leading the sale of RATE to Red Ventures, a digital marketing services firm.

Ken serves as a member of the Boards of Directors of Lift Brands, Pyramid Global Hospitality and Lush Décor Home.

Ken received a Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Andy Fauver

SVP, Transaction Services, INSIGHT2PROFIT

Andy Fauver is the Senior Vice President of Transaction Services at INSIGHT2PROFIT, where he leads the Transaction Services Practice. Andy partners with private equity firms, their portfolio companies, and other transaction advisors to add significant value to the M&A process by developing the data foundation and analytics, identifying enterprise value creation opportunities and risks, and crafting the growth roadmap and strategy. With over 25 years of consulting and commercial experience, Andy is a trusted advisor to private equity firms, their portfolio companies, and investment banks. He spearheaded the launch of INSIGHT’s Quality of Pricing® service offerings to support buy-side, exit planning, sell-side due diligence, and post-acquisition value creation.

Prior to joining INSIGHT, Andy founded and served as President of Freedonia Custom Research, a division of The Freedonia Group, providing growth consulting and market analytics to Global 1000 companies, private equity firms, and investment banks across a wide range of industries. He began his career with Ernst & Young and Capgemini, serving clients across industries with operational improvement and business transformation engagements, and led Sales Operations for Capgemini’s Technology Consulting group as part of The Leadership Development Program. Andy earned his MBA from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management and completed his B.A. in History from Hamilton College.

Kevin Flounders

Chief Executive Officer, SIB

Kevin Flounders joined SIB in 2018 to lead SIB’s technology and telecom practice and assumed the role of CEO in 2019.

In early 2020, he led the transaction between SIB and O2 Investment Partners, a private equity firm, to facilitate the firm’s next stage of growth. He and the leadership team are driving an aggressive plan to expand SIB’s service offerings and sales capabilities through targeted M&A and investments in our team. He has led the organization through six acquisitions in the past two years with others on the horizon.

As CEO, Kevin leverages his entrepreneurial spirit and decades of leadership success to drive SIB’s growth through organizational development, operational effectiveness, business development, and customer engagement. His focused expansion strategy positions SIB as a category leader in spend management services with the largest database of pricing benchmarks, deep analytics capabilities, specialized category expertise, disruptive technologies, and demonstrated savings in the industries we serve.

Prior to joining SIB, Kevin was the founder and CEO of Comstar Technologies, a technology integration firm focused on VoIP, data, and physical infrastructure, growing it to a $50 million technology platform.

SIB is the market leader in spend management with expertise in cost reduction and contract compliance. We empower business leaders in mid-market, enterprise, and private equity companies with access to benchmarking data, technology, and spend category expertise that improves profitability by leveling the playing field with service providers. Our solutions include contract compliance—which generates generate immediate and ongoing cost savings by holding vendors accountable to their service promises and pricing commitments and recouping credits for costly billing errors. We leverage our deep DNA in cost reduction to reduce our clients’ business expenses by an average of 11-34% across multiple spend categories without changing vendors, operations, or service levels. Our cost reduction services are a no-friction, no-risk way to rapidly reduce costs and close EBITDA gaps while keeping portfolio management focused on driving growth. Learn more at www.aboutsib.com

Flynn Ripley, Meredith, OP, NY, 24, CROPPED

Meredith Flynn-Ripley

SVP and GM, Global PE and VC Practice, Salesforce

Meredith leads the global Private Equity & Venture Capital Practice, focused on partnering with leading Private Equity and Venture Capital firms to accelerate top line growth and digitally-enabled value creation in portfolio companies leveraging the Salesforce platform and ecosystem.

Meredith is a seasoned operator and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience leading transformative technology companies across digital platforms. She has held multiple CEO roles at startups all acquired by Fortune 500 companies, and has driven high-growth trajectories for venture-backed firms and corporate divisions.

At Salesforce, Meredith has held multiple leadership positions, including SVP Product Management & GTM Strategy for Commerce Cloud, SVP & GM of Lab 1449, SVP & GM of Vaccine Cloud and Safety Cloud, and VP Digital Engagement and Bots. Previously, as CEO of HeyWire, she became the first female CEO whose company was acquired by Salesforce.

Salesforce is the customer company, helping companies connect with customers in a whole new way since 1999. Its pioneering formula of Data + AI + CRM + Trust helps companies embrace this new innovation cycle of artificial intelligence, democratizing AI with low-code tools and accelerating productivity with AI in the flow of work for every team.

Salesforce Customer 360, its complete portfolio of products, unites every team around the customer on one integrated, metadata-driven, low code platform with built-in automation and intelligence. Its open and innovative approach has made Salesforce the #1 AI CRM for 10 years in a row.

Salesforce is proud to be the market leader, but it’s even more proud to be a leader in philanthropy, innovation and culture. Guided by core values of trust, customer success, innovation, equality and sustainability, Salesforce is more than a business — it's a platform for change.

Mark Fortin

Managing Director, Portfolio Dynamics Group, Grain Management

Mr. Fortin is a Managing Director in Portfolio Dynamics Group, a team dedicated to supporting Grain’s due diligence processes and portfolio company integration and operations to create value
through sustained operational improvement.

Prior to joining Grain, Mr. Fortin was the CEO and Founder of Communications Management working exclusively with the Grain investment team and Grain portfolio companies on distribution, pricing and related go-to-market strategies. He has been an executive in the telecommunications industry for over 25 years, serving in senior level finance roles for Fortune 100 and middle market businesses, including Comcast Cable, AT&T Broadband, MediaOne, and Caribbean Assets Holdings.

Mr. Fortin began his career in public accounting.

Mr. Fortin holds a B.S. in Accounting and Computer Science and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern New Hampshire. He is a Chartered Global Management Accountant.

Tim Foster

Managing Director, Investor Group Services (IGS)

Tim is a Managing Director with IGS where he leads the value creation practice. He previously served as the founding Partner of Maple Street Advisors, a boutique management consulting firm specializing in Pricing and Go-To-Market Excellence. Maple Street was acquired by IGS in 2024. Tim has spent over 25 years working with B2B companies across various industries in roles with SBI, LLR Partners, KPMG, and Edison Partners. Earlier in his career he held various sales and sales management roles in technology and services companies including Lanier, SAP, and GS1. As a result, Tim can assess a situation through the eyes of an investor and a practitioner. Tim leverages this unique combination of experience to help companies build and execute growth initiatives.

Michael Frain

Managing Director, Shared Services, Warburg Pincus

Michael Frain is based in New York, joined Warburg Pincus in 2008, leads the firm’s shared services program, which program helps portfolio companies drive strategy and value in areas such as procurement, employee benefits, corporate insurance and real estate. He is also a member of the firm’s Environmental, Social and Governance Committee. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, Michael held various senior level finance positions at Racebrook Capital, Monday Properties and ATC Management. He holds a BBA in Accounting and an MBA in Finance from Baruch College.

Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global growth investor. The firm has more than $83 billion in assets under management. The firm’s active portfolio of more than 225 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector, and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Since its founding in 1966, Warburg Pincus has invested more than $117 billion in over 1,000 companies globally across its private equity, real estate, and capital solutions strategies. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.warburgpincus.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

Josefin Frick

Associate Director, EQT Partners

Josefin Frick joined EQT Partners in April 2018 and is an Associate Director, Digital.

Prior to joining EQT, Josefin worked as an Analyst at Groupon in London, United Kingdom.

Josefin holds an B.Sc in Information Systems from Lund University in Sweden, where she also lectured alongside her studies.

Dominic Gallello

Managing Director, Head of Digital & AI, Bridgepoint

Dominic is a Managing Director and member of the Operational Support Group. He joined Bridgepoint in 2022.

Prior to Bridgepoint, he was Chief Marketing Officer of Bumble Inc. where he served as part of the executive leadership team that led the company through an acquisition by Blackstone in 2020, and a NASDAQ IPO in 2021. Before this, Dominic held various marketing roles at consumer internet companies like Airtime and Spotify, as well as in brand and go-to-market consultancies where he worked with partners like PayPal, Braintree and Coca-Cola.

Dominic holds an undergraduate degree from Waseda University and an MBA from INSEAD Business School.

Bridgepoint

Bridgepoint is one of the world's leading quoted private asset growth investors, specialising in private equity and private debt. With over €41bn of assets under management and a strong local presence in Europe, North America and Asia, we combine global scale with local market insight and sector expertise, consistently delivering strong returns through cycles.

Ishan Gammampila

Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Apax Partners

Ishan Gammampila is the Chief Data and Analytics Officer in the Operational Excellence Practice. He joined Apax Partners in 2021 and is currently based in New York.

Prior to joining Apax Partners, Ishan co-founded Beacon Data where he led a team of data engineers and scientists that helped companies solve business problems through advanced analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence. His expertise includes strategic consulting and execution in the areas of system architecture, data engineering, predictive modelling, and other advanced approaches to data science.

Ishan holds an MSc in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from Columbia University and a BSc in Production Engineering from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka.

Apax is a leading global private equity advisory firm. For over 50 years Apax has worked to go beyond traditional private equity in building businesses. Results are driven by a collaborative culture that listens, learns and looks across horizons to inspire growth… together with partner companies. The firm conviction is that a blend of hands-on operating experience, specialist sector knowledge and incisive global perspective delivers best results. Working side-by-side with management teams, our goal is expanding mutual success through mutual vision.

AJ Gandhi

Chief Growth Officer, Marlin Equity Partners

Anjai “AJ” Gandhi: AJ is a B2B GTM executive and currently serves as Chief Growth Officer at Marlin Equity Partners ($10B AUM Private Equity Firm with control positions in ~50 software companies).  

Over his career, he has led growth acceleration strategy and go-to-market productivity improvement at 100+ companies primarily in the technology industry. 

Previously, AJ was a member of the GTM leadership team at RingCentral and salesforce.com.  He also spent many years in management consulting (Bain, McKinsey and The Alexander Group) and has been an executive in 2 venture-backed companies.  AJ earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS Business Administration from UC Berkeley.

AJ serves on multiple non-profit Boards including the HBS Club of Northern California and is based in Hillsborough, CA. 

Bala Ganesan

Managing Director, Special Situations, Oaktree Capital Management

Mr. Ganesan is a Managing Director within Oaktree Capital's Special Situation/Private Equity group. He specializes in driving commercial and operational performance improvement initiatives, including turnarounds, collaboratively with management teams. He joined Oaktree in 2017 from Yum! Brands, where he was the Vice President of Operations and corporate officer for the Taco-Bell division. He led operational and digital transformation of the 8,000 restaurant system. Prior thereto, he led Corporate & Business strategy and turnaround initiatives for both the Kimberly-Clark Corporation and Mattel, Inc. He was also an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company, where he served multiple Fortune 500 companies in the consumer, technology, manufacturing, medical devices, energy and financial sectors. Earlier in Mr. Ganesan’s career, he served as a 1st Lieutenant and field Artillery Officer of the Singapore Armed Forces. Mr. Ganesan received an M.B.A. from INSEAD Business School, a M.Sc. with highest distinction, and B.Sc. summa cum laude in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Purdue University, respectively.

Oaktree is a leader among global investment managers specializing in alternative investments, with $156 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2021. The firm emphasizes an opportunistic, value-oriented and risk-controlled approach to investments in credit, private equity, real assets and listed equities. The firm has over 1,000 employees and offices in 19 cities worldwide. For additional information, please visit Oaktree’s website at http://www.oaktreecapital.com/.

Ariel Garcia

Partner, OceanSound Partners

Ariel is a Partner at OceanSound where he leads the portfolio value creation efforts. Prior to joining OceanSound in 2022, Ariel was the President & CEO of ChyronHego. Previously, he was an Operating Partner and the Head of Value Creation at Vector Capital and a Senior Principal at The Boston Consulting Group. Ariel began his career at Accenture and worked in private equity in Latin America before immigrating to the US. Ariel was born in Argentina and is a naturalized US citizen. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

OceanSound Partners is a growth-oriented private equity firm that makes control investments in technology and technology-enabled services companies serving government and enterprise end markets.

Rory Gaston

Group Managing Director, Saragossa

Rory’s professional credentials have been built entirely within financial services technology delivery. His work has primarily focused on offsetting the inefficiencies created by the increasing gap between supply & demand in technology talent markets.

Recognizing that great people are central to the best business outcomes, Rory harnesses his Psychology background to create and implement tailored people-led solutions for Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies. This produces qualitative and quantitative efficiencies to technology delivery capability.

Recognizing the inherently unique demands of each firm Rory has been central in defining Saragossa products & services extending to; Project based Consultancy, Search & Selection and IT offshoring.

With an uncompromising dedication to delivering clear quantifiable improvements to business outcomes Rory has established a reputation as the trusted advisor to Technology leaders globally.

Saragossa is a Technology Solutions organisation with a proven track supporting Private Equity businesses, accelerating their portfolio companies. For nearly a decade we have provided support leading Private Equity organisations to maximise returns through rapid, specialised technology solutions. Providing strategic support alongside all of our core services: Project Delivery Consulting, Technology Outsourcing, Staffing, Executive Search, and 3rd party Talent Acquisition.

Having developed a reputation for unparalleled Private Equity domain expertise, we fully grasp the unique challenges presented managing an evolving technology business portfolio, responding rapidly to changing priorities and goals in a fiercely competitive landscape.

Our core values; Fearless, Uncompromising and Human underpin everything we do. We are brave, working outside of conventional methods to achieve agreed objectives, we do not compromise in our commitment to creating brilliant customer experiences, believing that great people are at the heart of every successful outcome.

Angela Geffre

Head of Human Capital, GrowthCurve Capital

Angela is the Head of Human Capital and member of the Investment Committee at GrowthCurve Capital, where she partners with the Investment team and management teams to accelerate growth through talent and organizational design. Angela’s role focuses on assessing organizations upfront to create a blueprint for value creation, developing a bespoke organizational development strategy, and seeking to drive continuous improvement within GrowthCurve’s portfolio companies. Before joining GrowthCurve in 2022, Angela was the Chief Human Resources Officer at Sun Capital Partners, where she worked across a diverse portfolio driving human capital initiatives. Before joining private equity, Angela held several global Human Resources leadership positions at JLL, Kellogg Company, and Procter & Gamble, working in both the U.S. and Europe. Angela brings a wealth of data analytics, assessment, recruiting, talent management, and leadership development expertise from her prior experience and education. Angela earned a Master and Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Wayne State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kalamazoo College.

GrowthCurve Capital is a private equity firm with a proprietary approach that seeks to leverage AI, digital transformation, and human capital capabilities within its portfolio companies to accelerate their growth and create sustainable value. We believe AI provides unique opportunities to unlock new areas of value creation within our portfolio companies by enhancing their operational decision-making at scale. Together with a differentiated approach to human capital, we believe this ecosystem empowers management teams to create sustainable value.

GrowthCurve’s control-oriented investment strategy is centered on data-rich and growth-focused businesses in three investing sectors where we have deep expertise and strong networks: technology and information services, healthcare, and financial services.

Amar Ghai

Head of Digital Value Creation, KKR

As Head of Digital Value Creation, Mr. Ghai partners with Americas Private Equity investment teams, focusing on technology-related investment diligence and portfolio company value creation via digital transformation and technology modernization. He also supports the development and management of KKR's global portfolio technology platform.

Mr. Ghai oversees KKR’s global portfolio cyber risk program, manages relationships with strategic tech partners, and leads AI value creation efforts.

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management and capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of The Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

Bob Gold

Former EVP and CFO, EyeCare Partners

Bob Gold is an accomplished finance and operations executive with a strong track record in corporate turnarounds, restructuring, and operational excellence. He has led four major PE transactions across Healthcare, Industrial B2B, Defense, and Consumer Products sectors, building finance teams that become strategic partners to the business.

Recently, he led a critical liability management transaction at EyeCare Partners, creating liquidity for the company's transformation. He successfully led the sale of AM General to KPS Capital, guided United Plastics Group’s shift to medical industries, resulting in a PE-backed sale, and led the Jolly Gardener sale, achieving a 6x+ EBITDA.

Bob’s experience spans middle and upper-middle market companies. With deep expertise in financial strategy and operational leadership, Bob excels at aligning financial and business strategies to optimize performance. He holds a BS and MBA from Drexel University and a Certificate in Corporate Governance.

Company profile: EyeCare Partners is a leading provider of Ophthalmology and optometry services with over 700 locations and over $1.8 billion in revenue.

Jana Gold

Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal

Jana Gold specializes in end-to-end product design, development, GTM and operating model transformation, with extensive interim management experience. In addition to product process transformations, Jana has led several carveouts and post acquisitions integrations both in the US and Asia.

Ms. Gold has ~20 years of retail industry holding various roles of increasing responsibility across Asia and North. During her tenure in industry Ms. Gold assisted and led 10+ post acquisition / carve out integrations for apparel, footwear, and accessories brands; with a specific focus on product design, development and GTM organization optimization. Ms. Gold has also led the PLC reengineering for Under Armour and has directed the implementation of multiple ERP, PLM and planning systems.

Ms. Gold earned a bachelor's degree from New York University Stern School of Business and an MBA from Wake Forest School of Business.

Josh Gold

Senior Operating Executive, Hellman & Friedman

Josh has over 20 years of experience helping some of the most innovative, disruptive tech companies and established market leaders accelerate profitable growth (e.g. LinkedIn, Adobe, Zendesk, UKG, Cisco, PayPal, LegalZoom, PTC, NXP, Ancestry.com). As a Senior Operating Executive at H&F, Josh partners with boards of directors and C-level executives to drive enterprise-wide transformation and value creation at portfolio companies. Prior to H&F, Josh held executive roles at Adobe and LinkedIn focused on business strategy, product marketing, and go-to-market. Previously, he spent 10 years in management consulting, including six years as a leader in Simon-Kucher’s technology practice. Josh holds a B.S. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University.

Hellman & Friedman is a global private equity firm focused on large-scale equity investments in high quality growth businesses. H&F partners with world-class management teams where its deep sector expertise, long-term orientation and collaborative partnership approach enable companies to flourish. Since its founding in 1984, H&F has invested in over 100 companies and currently has $120 billion in assets under management.

Amanda Good

Partner, Global Head of Value Creation, Searchlight Capital Partners

Prior to joining Searchlight in 2021, Ms. Good was a partner at Hg, where she led the portfolio and operations team of over 30 executives. While at Hg, Ms. Good was also an active member of the Operating Committee and chaired the Portfolio Review Committee. Previously, Ms. Good was a partner at Bain & Company. During her career at Bain, she worked in both the London and San Francisco offices, with a focus on technology and private equity clients during both the diligence and post-acquisition stages. Ms. Good is currently serving on the boards of Care Advantage and IPS. Ms. Good received a BA in economics from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. 

Searchlight is a global private investment firm with over $10 billion in assets under management and offices in New York, London and Toronto. Searchlight seeks to invest in businesses where its long-term capital and strategic support accelerate value creation for all stakeholders. For more information, please visit www.searchlightcap.com.

Robin Goodman

Senior Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Portfolio Operations, Blackstone

Robin is Senior Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer for Blackstone’s Portfolio Operations team, based in New York. Robin also leads Asset Management for Blackstone’s Private Equity businesses, and previously led Asset Management for Blackstone's European private equity investments.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Goodman spent 12 years in GE Renewable Energy and Alstom Power where he was most recently Interim CEO for the Onshore Wind business in Europe and Africa and General Manager for Wind Services in Europe and Africa. Prior to joining GE/Alstom, Mr. Goodman worked for Mars & Co and Citigroup.

Mr. Goodman received a BA in Mathematics and Economics, cum laude, from Kenyon College.

Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to deliver compelling returns for institutional and individual investors by strengthening the companies in which we invest. Our more than $1 trillion in assets under management include global investment strategies focused on real estate, private equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, credit, real assets, secondaries and hedge funds. 

Eric Gordon

Operating Partner, MidOcean Partners

Eric Gordon has over 30 years of technology leadership experience as a consultant and as a CIO of global companies in the retail, consumer products, financial services, manufacturing, health care, and hospitality industries. Eric has built a successful career driving business value through technology, and by transforming IT organizations to adapt to a changing digital world while maintaining a responsible cost structure. Eric’s deep experience in aligning business stakeholders and technology strategies to maximize value combined with his IT outsourcing, IT strategy, program management, and IT cost optimization expertise helps deliver that value at a fast pace. He has successfully transformed multiple IT organizations to operate at scale, with improved value, and at lean cost structures of 1.0% - 2.0% of sales.

Eric is also President of Versitae, an innovative technology outsourcing company. A Versitae Virtual Captive (or Global Services Center) is a dedicated offshore extension of a firm’s IT team. Comprised of only experienced resources, a Versitae Virtual Captive operates with more agility than traditional off-shore models. With both permanent and interim CIO experience at companies such as Michaels Stores, Collective Brands, Art Van Furniture, Capital Senior Living, and CEC Entertainment, Eric has executive and advisory experience across retail, restaurant, and fast-moving fashion industries in both public companies and PE portfolios. He began his career at Andersen Consulting and has also held senior leadership roles at Family Dollar and Springs Global. Eric holds a BA in Economics, and a BS in Computer Science from Iowa State University, and MBA from Rockhurst University. He is a Certified Internal Controls Risk Analyst with experience driving Enterprise Risk Management, Information Security, and Business Continuity programs.

MidOcean Partners is a premier New York-based alternative asset manager specializing in middle-market private equity, structured capital, and alternative credit investments. Since its inception in 2003, MidOcean Private Equity has targeted investments in high-quality middle-market companies in the consumer and business services sectors. MidOcean Credit Partners was launched in 2009 and currently manages a series of alternative credit strategies, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), and customized separately managed accounts. For more information, please visit: https://www.midoceanpartners.com/

Manish Goyal

Operating Partner, Portfolio Support, Berkshire Partners

Manish Goyal is an Operating Partner in the Portfolio Support Group at Berkshire Partners. Prior to joining Berkshire in 2020, Manish was the Group Chief Strategy Officer at Singtel in Singapore. He was also previously a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he served clients both as an advisor and as a seconded operating executive. Earlier in his career, he also worked on handwriting recognition research at Microsoft. Manish received a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, an M.S. from the University of Washington, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Rebecca Granne

Senior Director, Advent International

Rebecca joined Advent in 2020 and is a Senior Director in New York. She is a member of the Portfolio Support Group. Rebecca works with management teams to improve performance and deliver results needed to realize the investment thesis.

Prior to joining Advent, Rebecca was Senior Vice President of Growth at the private equity firm Serent Capital, where she focused on value creation for SaaS-based companies across a wide-range of sectors. Before Serent, Rebecca served as the General Manager of North America for Hydralyte, an Australian health and wellness consumer brand. Previously, Rebecca worked as the VP of Global Consumer Marketing for Mylan Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Mylan, Rebecca worked at PepsiCo, where she was responsible for the Aquafina and SoBe brands, and at Avon, where she led global digital strategy and operations. She began her career at McKinsey & Company as a consultant for media and technology companies.

Rebecca received a BA in Political Science from Yale University.

Advent International is one of the largest and longest serving independent private equity partnerships. Since our founding in 1984, we have invested $66 billion in over 395 private equity investments across 41 countries. While every company is different, our hands-on approach to helping these businesses flourish has remained a constant.

Ours is a long-term business built on trust, and we take great care to protect and enhance the open, honest and inclusive culture that will always define Advent International.

Evan Greenfield

Managing Director, ESG, BCI

Evan G. Greenfield is the Managing Director and Head of ESG for the Private Equity arm of British Columbia Investment (BCI). BCI oversees $250 billion in assets, including $30 billion in private equity strategies, encompassing both direct investments and limited partner investments. Evan has extensive experience as an investor and operator in the ESG and climate landscape.

At BCI, Evan's primary focus is on integrating ESG into the private equity program in order to minimize risk, enhance returns, and generate overall value, resulting in tangible financial outcomes. Under his leadership, the Net Asset Value of the portfolio companies he has collaborated with is projected to increase by 30%, fully attributable to ESG drivers.

Before joining BCI, Evan served as Senior Managing Director and Global Head of ESG at S&P Global. In this capacity, he oversaw ESG strategy, M&A, and operations. Evan was instrumental in establishing S&P Global as a premier provider of ESG and climate solutions for corporations and capital market participants, achieving a 40% compound annual growth rate in revenue.

Prior to his time at S&P Global, Evan played a key role in the development and management of the ESG and Impact Investing Platform for Deutsche Bank's Asset and Wealth Management division in the Americas. He spearheaded ESG integration across investment products and broadened the scope of ESG and Impact Investing products and solutions. Before his tenure at Deutsche Bank, Evan accumulated over a decade of experience as a private equity investor in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Evan earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Duke University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Craig Greenseid

Managing Director and Portfolio Chief Commercial Officer, Carlyle Group

Craig Greenseid is a seasoned operating executive and Managing Director, currently serving as the Chief Commercial Officer within Carlyle’s private equity group. With a wealth of experience in scaling businesses and leading high-performance teams, Craig plays a pivotal role in driving value creation across Carlyle's global portfolio through a focused lens on strategic go-to-market (GTM) initiatives, investment optimization, and operational excellence.

His primary focus is on optimizing sales strategies, improving customer acquisition and retention, and driving substantial revenue growth across diverse industries in the technology space. He is also deeply involved in Carlyle’s diligence processes, leveraging his extensive expertise to assess commercial scalability, market opportunities, and execution capabilities in new and existing investments. In addition to his leadership role at Carlyle, Craig serves on the boards of several key portfolio companies, including HireVue, Net Health, and Tribute Technology, where he provides strategic guidance and oversight.

Craig's operating background reflects his proficiency in leading large-scale GTM organizations and achieving sustainable business expansion. He served as Interim Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at HireVue, one of Carlyle’s portfolio companies, where he successfully led the company’s commercial efforts, improving its market position in the HR technology space.

Prior to his work at Carlyle and HireVue, Craig was Chief Revenue Officer at PowerSchool, a global education technology company. In this role, he led a comprehensive global go-to-market organization, spanning sales, marketing, customer success, and support teams. His leadership was instrumental in driving significant growth during his tenure, as PowerSchool expanded its reach in the K-12 education technology sector.

Before his role at PowerSchool, Craig held several leadership positions at Blackboard, another leader in education technology. As General Manager of North America and President, he oversaw the company’s expansion and drove key initiatives that resulted in strong Net Retention Revenue results.

Earlier in his career, Craig spent over 15 years at IBM, where he held senior executive roles that focused on scaling large, complex organizations.

Doron Grosman

CEO/President, Smart Start

Doron Grosman is a serial Board Member, CEO/President and Private Equity Operating Partner with a proven track record achieving record revenue and EBITDA growth at leading private equity and public companies.

Currently Doron is the CEO/President of Smart Start, Inc. an Apollo Management portfolio company. Prior to that, Doron was the CEO/President of GCT Global Container Terminals a portfolio company of three equity investors, where he led a very successful sale to a strategic buyer.

Previously as an Operating Partner at Court Square Capital, Doron focused on leading portfolio company strategy and revenue growth acceleration, operational improvements and CEO hiring and mentoring. He was the interim CEO at DISA, and at Physiotherapy Associates.Doron was President of Hexcel Corporation, a public company, President of the Magazine Printing Solutions Business for Quebecor World and Chief Operating Officer for the global Trane Air Conditioning business. He began his career at GE in the Plastics business, where he led numerous businesses and spent 5 years at Bain & Co, after graduating from Harvard Business School.

Smart Start LLC, based in the Dallas suburb of Grapevine, is the acknowledged leader in alcohol monitoring nationally and worldwide with our advanced alcohol breathtesting technology. Smart Start’s Ignition Interlock is a convenient, discreet solution for impaired driving offenders. At the same time, SmartMobile™and BreathCheck™portable alcohol monitoring devices provide the greatest benefit at the lowest cost to users and monitoring authorities. Our SmartWeb™ online platform offers quick reporting and analysis for easy caseload management. Smart Start is Setting the Standard in Alcohol Monitoring Technology® with thousands of service locations across the U.S. and internationally, and a 24/7/365 multilingual Customer Care Center. Visit smartstartinc.com

Previously, Doron was the President of Hexcel Corp, a public company that is a global leader in advanced composites technology and the President of Quebecor Magazine Printing Solutions, where he was responsible for the successful turnaround of both these businesses.

Doron started his career at Bain & Company, the strategy and management consulting firm, and then spent eleven years in various senior executive capacities in General Electric both in the corporate office and at GE Plastics. Subsequent to his career at GE, Doron was the Chief Operating Officer (de facto) for American Standard’s global Trane Air-Conditioning business.

Doron holds a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a Master of Science in Engineering from Witwatersrand University in South Africa.

GCT Global Container Terminals Inc. has been making waves in the marine container terminal industry for over a hundred years. GCT Canada has been operating on the West Coast since 1907 and is responsible for running both GCT Vanterm and GCT Deltaport. Beyond operating these facilities, GCT Canada has also played a major role in developing Canada’s Pacific Gateway. GCT’s two East Coast facilities, GCT Bayonne and GCT New York were established in 1972 and 1995, respectively. GCT’s high standards, customer focus, and leadership in safety, innovation, and automation have led to stable, long-term relationships with the majority of the world’s largest ocean carriers and shippers

Todd Grove

Vice President, Private Equity, Quantum Health

As Vice President of Private Equity, Todd serves as the liaison between Private Equity firms, their portfolio companies, and Quantum Health. He works to educate the senior leadership teams on independent navigation and identifies opportunities for partnership and collaboration. In this role, Todd drives EBITDA growth through support of unbundled plan strategies.

Prior to joining the Quantum Health team, Todd was the Vice President of Health Plan/Payor Solutions for Ovia Health where he was responsible for contracting health plans nationally to offer digital maternity healthcare solutions. He also held positions at Accolade as the Regional Director of Sales for large employers in the Northeast and Teladoc as the National Director of Sales for the mid-market segment.

Todd says, Il l have worked for more than 30 years in the healthcare industry. Having been successful in the digital health care/navigation marketplace, I am able to support Private Equity owned firms thoroughly evaluate ways to improve healthcare outcomes for their valued employees while driving necessary costs down."

In his spare time, Todd can be found cycling the coast of Maine or hiking in the mountains of New Hampshire.

Quantum Health is the industry-leading consumer healthcare navigation and care coordination company that delivers an unparalleled experience for our members, as well as validated claims savings and high satisfaction rates for employers. Quantum Health’s proprietary Real-Time Intercept™ model identifies opportunities for early intervention, improves engagement, and ultimately drives cost efficiencies.

Akshay Grover

Global Private Equity Practice Lead, Zscaler

Akshay Grover serves as the Global Private Equity practice leader at Zscaler. Akshay has 20+ years of results-driven and forward-thinking transformational leadership experience in Private Equity, M&A, Divestitures consulting, SaaS GTM strategies, partnerships & alliances and value creation with cloud technologies across Americas, EMEA, APAC and LATAM. Prior to joining Zscaler, Akshay co-led the Global Go to Market M&A Integration and WW M&A, Divestitures and PE practice at Salesforce. Akshay was responsible for developing new routes to market with alliance and PE partners and driving GTM M&A integration strategy, planning and execution for 15+ Salesforce acquisitions. Prior to joining Salesforce, Akshay held leadership roles at PwC, HCL Tech, Deloitte Consulting, and Tata Motors.

Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) accelerates digital transformation so that customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange protects thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location. Distributed across more than 150 data centers globally, the SSE-based Zero Trust Exchange is the world’s largest in-line cloud security platform. Learn more at zscaler.com or follow us on Twitter @zscaler.

Asheesh Gupta

Managing Director, Portfolio Support, Audax Private Equity

Asheesh is a Managing Director for Audax Private Equity, based in Boston. Prior to joining Audax in 2008, Asheesh worked as the Director of Performance Improvement and Supply Chain Management at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Prior to that, Asheesh was a Senior Consultant at Computer Sciences Corporation and Accenture.

Asheesh received an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University.

Audax Group is a leading alternative investment manager with offices in Boston, New York, and San Francisco. Since its founding in 1999, the firm has raised over $27 billion in capital across its Private Equity and Private Debt businesses. With more than 250 employees and over 100 investment professionals, the firm is a leading capital partner for North American middle market companies. For more information, visit the Audax Group website www.audaxgroup.com.

Samiksha Gupta

Commercial and GTM Lead, Mubadala Performance Partners, Mubadala

Samiksha is an Operating Partner at Mubadala Performance Partners, operating arm of Mubadala Investment Company. She leads the Commercial go-to-market strategy for Mubadala’s global portfolio. Samiksha brings 15+ years of experience driving value creation for private equity owned portfolio companies. She specializes in end-to-end commercial transformations including go-to-market strategy, pricing, margin expansion, pipeline management, salesforce effectiveness, incentive plans, etc.

Samiksha began her career as an Investment Banker at J.P. Morgan. Post-MBA, she switched gears to management consulting at McKinsey & Company. Prior to joining Mubadala, she worked at a start-up (MERU) that focused on private equity value creation across the investment lifecycle.

Samiksha holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and Master in Accounting / B.B.A. from McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin.

Mubadala Investment Company is a sovereign investor managing a global portfolio, aimed at generating sustainable financial returns for the Government of Abu Dhabi. Mubadala’s $276 billion (AED 1015 billion) portfolio spans six continents with interests in multiple sectors and asset classes. It leverages its deep sectoral expertise and long-standing partnerships to drive sustainable growth and profit, while supporting the continued diversification and global integration of the economy of the United Arab Emirates. For more information about Mubadala Investment Company, please visit: www.mubadala.com.

Mujteba Haidri

Operating Partner, Blue Point Capital Partners

Mujteba is an accomplished, global business leader with over 20 years of broad functional experience ranging from general management, global sales and marketing, manufacturing operations and finance. He has built extensive experience in the industrial, aerospace & defense, transportation, energy, and IIOT sectors, developing and launching highly engineered products and service solutions. Working across North America, Europe and Asia, he has successfully led transformation initiatives to drive enterprise value creation for large private and multinational public companies with segments ranging from $50.0MM to $5.0B. He focuses on strategies to develop high-performance teams that accelerate profitable growth through leadership, data analytics, business development, and operational excellence.

His prior experience includes serving as General Manager of divisions at LORD Corporation (a Parker Hannifin company) and General Electric (GE). Previously Mujteba served as CFO for GE’s Industrial Solutions - Power Components Business. He is a graduate of GE’s Corporate Audit staff and Operations Management Leadership program.

On behalf of Blue Point, Mujteba serves on the board of National OnDemand, TAS Environmental, and Premier Needle Arts.

Mujteba earned a B.Sc. in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Duke University.

Blue Point Capital Partners is a private equity firm managing over $1.9 billion in committed capital. With resources in Cleveland, Charlotte, Seattle and Shanghai, Blue Point’s geographical footprint allows it to establish relationships with local and regional entrepreneurs and advisors while providing the perspectives and resources of a global organization. Blue Point has over a two-decade history of partnering with lower middle-market businesses to build processes and capabilities to achieve growth. Blue Point’s portfolio is supported by its unique capabilities — which include an integrative team focused on innovative global supply chain, data and digital and human capital strategies — as well as its extensive experience, network of industry resources and focused M&A efforts. Blue Point typically invests in businesses that generate between $30 million and $300 million in revenue.

Dan Hawkins

Founder & CEO, Summit Leadership Partners

Dan advises boards, CEO's, investors and business leaders on strategy execution and value creation through leadership and organization performance. After a successful corporate career, Dan founded Summit in 2014 to help growth-oriented companies and business leaders scale and improve performance. He partners closely with clients to catalyze change and is an expert in leadership, strategy, assessment, executive and organization development.

Under Dan’s leadership, Summit has become the industry leader for PE investors and high growth companies in leadership and organization assessment and performance. Summit has been recognized by Forbes as America’s Best Management Consulting Firms in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and ranked as one of the fastest growing firms in the US by Inc., Consulting Magazine, and Charlotte Business Journal.

Dan is a Board-Certified Executive Coach (BCC), holds a NACD Directorship Certification, and is an active member of several industry and professional organizations, such as Fast Company’s Executive Board, Bloomberg Breakaway CEO Network, Forbes Coaches Council, Inc Masters, the International Coaching Federation (ICF), the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and the American Psychological Association (APA). He also serves on the boards of Clemson University College of Business and the Belk College of Business, University of North Carolina Charlotte.

Dan authors and presents numerous topics on CEO performance, leadership, organization change, strategy, leading in global contexts, and strategic talent management. He is regularly featured in top business publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Bloomberg, Forbes, Inc, Yahoo! Finance, and Chief Executive Magazine, as well as industry publications, such as Boardroom Insider, Consulting Magazine, HR Executive, PE Hub, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Middle Market Executive.

Summit Leadership Partner advises boards, investors, CEOs and senior leaders on scaling businesses, improving performance and increasing returns by unlocking the full potential in their leaders and organizations. We do this through our expertise in behavioral and leadership science, proven business acumen, and unparalleled data and benchmarks to ensure objective insights. Our solutions are practical and actionable to help our clients assess, develop, and improve their human capital to perform at peak levels. We understand the complex challenges CEOs and management team face and are trusted partners to catalyze change. Summit has been recognized by Forbes as America’s Best Management Consulting Firms in 2022, 2023 and 2024, ranked as one of the Inc. 5000’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in America over the last four years, and was listed as #5 on Consulting Magazine’s Fastest Growing Consulting Firms. For more information, visit www.summitleadership.com, and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Brian Heery

Chief Information Officer, Voyant Beauty

Brian Heery, Chief Information Officer at Voyant Beauty, brings over 20 years of experience in leading IT teams within the manufacturing and retail sectors. Since joining Voyant Beauty in January 2019, Brian has been responsible for shaping the company’s IT strategy, encompassing IT infrastructure, service desk operations, business systems, and cybersecurity.

During his tenure, he has successfully led multiple integrations and carve-outs and is currently overseeing the rollout of a new ERP system.

Prior to his role at Voyant Beauty, Brian served as the Vice President of Business Process and Systems at Clover Technologies Group, a global leader in the aftermarket lifecycle management of enterprise electronic assets, including toner and ink cartridges, wireless devices, personal electronic devices, and telecommunication equipment.

Voyant Beauty is a full-service partner to the personal care and beauty industry and is a leading value-added manufacturer of innovative hair care, bath and body, and skin care products to both established multi-nationals and fast-growing emerging brands. Voyant Beauty is the new name for the company formed following the acquisitions of Vee Pak, Aware Products, Cosmetic Essence Innovations & KIK Personal Care. Voyant has an integrated network of innovation and manufacturing capabilities that serves customers at every stage of the brand life cycle with responsive solutions.

Ali Heron

Managing Director, Digital Transformation, GrowthCurve Capital

Ali Heron is the Managing Director of Digital Transformation at GrowthCurve Capital. With over 22 years of experience, Ali has successfully grown and scaled diverse technology teams to deliver innovative high-quality products across various sectors, including FinTech, Media Streaming, and startups.

In her most recent role as CTO at Petal and Prism Data, Ali led the product, design, engineering, security, and analytics teams. Under her leadership, the team doubled in size and achieved significant product and revenue growth. She also incubated and launched Prism Data to bring the power of cash flow-based underwriting to businesses. Prior to Petal, Ali spent 5 years at Two Sigma Investments as SVP Engineering, where she focused on modernizing the security, services, data, communication, and collaboration aspects of their platform.

Throughout her career, Ali has been an entrepreneur, consultant, and spent the first 10 years at Microsoft, where she gained valuable experience in scaling and building products from scratch. She worked on well-known products such as MSN Messenger, Xbox, and the infamous KIN phone.

Ali holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, as well as a Master's of Business Administration from TRIUM (NYU, LSE, HEC). She is also the holder of 16 patents. Currently, Ali serves as an executive-in-residence at NYU Stern and has previously worked as an adjunct professor and entrepreneur in residence at NYU Tandon, collaborating with computer science students to bring their ideas to life.

Mark Herrington

Operating Partner. Portfolio Operations, Resurgens Technology Partners

Mark Herrington is an Operating Partner at Resurgens Technology Partners. Based in Atlanta, he joined Resurgens in 2024.

Mark has spent more than 30 years in the enterprise technology space as an entrepreneur and founder, a product and technology innovator, and an operating executive. Prior to joining RTP, Mark was the CEO at OnSolve — an industry leading Critical Event Management platform. Previously, Mark served as an Operating Partner at Marlin Equity Partners and was the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Money Network, which was acquired by First Data. Mark then became Executive Vice President of Global Product Management and Innovation at First Data. He has held senior operating roles at Oracle Corporation and i2 Technologies.

Mark serves on the Board of Directors of Detechtion and EnergyCap.

Resurgens Technology Partners is a tech-focused private equity firm investing in North American and select European lower middle-market application and infrastructure software businesses. Resurgens’ growing team of thirty eight professionals offers a diversity of investing, operating and talent management experience, applying an active and engaged value creation approach with each portfolio company. Resurgens is headquartered in Atlanta, with additional professionals located in Austin, Boston, London and the Bay Area.

Mike Hoffman

Chief Executive Officer, SBI

Mike Hoffman is the Chief Executive Officer of SBI. Mike is responsible for steering day-to-day operations at SBI by integrating the major functions of the business and aligning them with SBI’s corporate strategy. Since joining SBI in 2019, Mike has been pivotal in leading SBI’s business transformation for scaled growth and client success. As an experienced executive leader and former PE operating partner, he brings a demonstrated history of value creation through growth strategies. One of Mike’s biggest strengths is taking very complicated concepts and finding a way to communicate them effectively to lead teams to success.

Jimmy Holloran

Partner, Head of Talent, American Industrial Partners

Jimmy joined American Industrial Partners in 2023 and leads the Talent practice, focus on executive hiring, management team assessment, and talent development. He most recently served as Operating Partner at ParkerGale Capital where he led the firm’s talent strategy. Previously, he spent time driving talent strategy at Home Chef, at the time a private equity owned meal kit company. Prior to that, he was a consultant at Bain and Company, where he led a variety of projects including growth strategy and M&A. He spent time early in his career at Teach For America and Nortel Networks. Jimmy holds a BA in Philosophy from Northwestern University, an MEd from University of Missouri-St. Louis, and an MBA from Yale School of Management.

Gary Hoover

Vice President, Global Private Equity Practice, TBM Consulting Group

Gary Hoover is Vice President with TBM Consulting Group and has 35 years of experience as a senior operations executive, management consultant, and former military officer. Gary established TBM’s Private Equity practice, serving 150 firms and capturing $3B+ in value creation over the past 5 years. The practice is tailored toward the middle market excelling in Pre-Deal Operational Due Diligence and Post-Close Value Creation. He has collaborated with 60 private equity clients and their portfolio companies. TBM has 170 consultants globally throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and South America. Recognized as a thought leader, Gary understands the speed and value creation expectations of PE firms. He led operations for ESAB’s $1B division in North and South America, doubling operating profit within 36 months.

Gary is a member of TBM’s Board of Directors and holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University and a BA from West Virginia University.

Tye Howell

Operating Partner, Rubicon Technology Partners

Tye Howell is an Operating Partner at Rubicon Technology Partners, a PE firm focused on middle-market enterprise software companies. When not working across disciplines with his dedicated portfolio companies, he leverages his specialty in CIO-related topics across the portfolio (e.g. Data Analytics, Systems, Cybersecurity, Digital Transformation). Prior to Rubicon, Tye was an Operating Partner at Blue Point Capital Partners specializing in Digital Transformation. Prior to Blue Point, Tye worked for Accenture helping middle market and megalithic software clients envision and deliver digital and data-based transformations across most corporate functions. Tye holds an MBA with a concentration in Finance and a BA with a concentration in Statistics.

Jawad Hussain

Partner, Private Equity Services Lead, MorganFranklin Consulting

Jawad Hussain leads MorganFranklin’s Private Equity Services practice and has extensive experience leading global M/A integrations and identifying synergies to achieve value realization for private equity firms, their partners, and portfolio companies. He employs proven methodologies, tools and reporting techniques that provide the right approach at each phase of the deal lifecycle and consistency across Private Equity portfolios. Jawad’s focus is on driving operational improvements to enable value creation.

Prior to joining MorganFranklin, Jawad led M/A integrations at CrossCountry Consulting where he collaborated with clients to execute end to end integration related activities to drive strategic growth. Jawad has a bachelor’s in finance from George Mason University.

MorganFranklin Consulting is a management consulting firm that works with leading businesses to address critical finance, technology, cybersecurity, supply chain and business objectives. The firm’s areas of expertise also include on-demand technical accounting, financial reporting, M&A lifecycle and integration, finance transformation, risk advisory, supply chain services, and the implementation of enterprise and cloud applications including NetSuite, SAP, Microsoft ERP, OneStream and more. MorganFranklin is headquartered in the Washington D.C. area with regional offices in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Raleigh, Charlotte, Nashville, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The firm supports clients across the globe.

Matt Ibbetson

Partner, Ridgemont Equity Partners

Matt has led Ridgemont’s Portfolio Operations practice for the past 8 years. The Portfolio Operations team collaborates with company executives across industry verticals to drive value-creation initiatives.

Prior to joining Ridgemont, Matt ran Global Purchasing at Lear Corporation. Matt has significant consulting experience working with numerous North American and European companies in strategy, sales, and operations with McKinsey & Co. He also served as a nuclear submarine officer in the United States Navy.

Matt earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and an M.B.A. from UCLA.

Ridgemont Equity Partners is a middle market private equity firm that has provided over $4 billion of buyout and growth capital to private companies and new business platforms since 1993. The principals of Ridgemont have a proven, industry-focused model building distinctive middle market companies.

Bob Isaman

Head of Operations, Dunes Point Captial

Mr. Isaman joined Dunes Point Capital as Head of Operations in 2024.

Prior to joining Dunes Point Capital, Mr. Isaman was the Chief Operating Partner at Graham Partners. Prior to Graham Partners, Mr. Isaman was an Operating Partner at Kohlberg & Company. Mr. Isaman’s other experience includes CEO of Stanadyne Corporation, CEO of Senneca Holdings, CEO of Stolle Machinery, President at Terex Construction, President of Fire Safety Americas at UTC Fire & Security, President, Otis Elevator China and various other senior executive roles at United Technologies Corporation and Otis.

Mr. Isaman is among the recipients of the People's Republic of China's Friendship Award. Presented by the Premier of China, the award is the supreme prize the Chinese government confers to foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's economic and social progress.

Mr. Isaman received a B.S. in Marketing from the University of Maryland and an M.B.A. from the George Washington University School of Business. He is a lifetime member of the Special Forces Association.

Sajjad Jaffer

Head of Data, Analytics and Machine Learning, GrowthCurve Capital

Sajjad is the Head of Data Analytics and Machine Learning and a member of the Investment Committee at GrowthCurve Capital. He joined GrowthCurve at its inception in 2021 as part of the founding Senior Leadership Team.

GrowthCurve Capital is a private equity firm focused on building world-class businesses by leveraging data, analytics, and machine learning, combined with a comprehensive approach to human capital, to accelerate growth and drive value creation. Founded by Sumit Rajpal, former Global Co-Head of the Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division, the firm focuses on control private equity investments primarily across the financial and information services, healthcare, and technology sectors.

Prior to joining GrowthCurve, Sajjad co-founded Two Six Capital, the Silicon Valley firm that pioneered Data Science for Private Equity. Sajjad’s arc at Two Six began as a startup entrepreneur in 2012 when he found 25 years of Ph.D. research developed at Wharton. He launched Two Six in 2013 building a team of Data Scientists and Data Engineers that applied this research to private equity investing. The company evolved into a technology platform as the team deployed large-scale engineering and data science models to over $30 billion of global private equity deals closed across industry sectors. This technology platform was acquired in 2020 as an AI asset by West Monroe Partners and Sajjad concluded his Two Six tenure through its successful exit.

Sajjad’s work and Two Six have been profiled by Private Equity International, Mergers and Acquisitions magazine, Knowledge@Wharton, Private Equity Technology podcast, Forbes, FT Fundfire, Institutional Investor, and Business Insider.

He holds a B.A. from Bowdoin, where he double majored in Computer Science and Government and minored in Economics, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School. He serves on the Board of Analytics at Wharton.

Ryan Jones

Global & US Private Equity Consulting Leader, Deloitte Consulting

Ryan Jones is the Private Equity Global and US Consulting leader at Deloitte Consulting, and US India Board member. He and his team work with the world's leading private capital firms to maximize the value of their investments and make a positive impact in the world. Ryan’s work encompasses strategy and diligence, outcome focused ‘hands on’ business, as well as digital and IT transformation of portfolio companies. He works closely with buyout funds and operating teams to create value in the assets they own.

Prior to leading Private Equity, Ryan led Deloitte Consulting’s Technology Industry, where he and the team worked with the world’s most influential (and up and coming) Technology companies across the software, platforms, semiconductor, hardware, and consumer technology sub-sectors. Before Technology Industry, Ryan led Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications investment fund, Deloitte Digital Central Region, and several of Deloitte's largest client relationships.

Ryan ‘grew up’ in Consulting digitizing his clients’ businesses, turning the old and complicated into the modern and simple. He provided both ‘born in the cloud’, and 30+ year old Technology companies a leg up in their growth and transformation: from strategy and advice, to changing business and operating models to be more Digital, often underpinned by large scale IT enabled business/digital transformations and commercial technology product modernization programs.

Ryan is a pioneer, with a unique capability to get things done, experienced leading high growth businesses and $1b+ P&Ls.

A future where more people have access to opportunities for creating wealth—it’s the promise of human-centered capitalism. Deloitte’s professionals bring a broad and powerful perspective that is experience-driven, strategic, and constantly evolving. Whether you’re in private equity, hedge funds, or mutual funds, Deloitte’s Investment Management practice can help you turn challenges into opportunities in an everchanging marketplace.

Marc Jourlait

Senior Operating Partner, The Riverside Company

Marc Jourlait is seasoned business executive, Private Equity Senior Operating Partner, Chairman of the Board, Board Member, and battle-tested consumer and tech turnaround global CEO.

Jourlait is the Senior Operating Partner at Riverside Private Equity Value Fund. He is Chairman of the Riverside portfolio companies SCRAM Systems, PFB and siffron. Jourlait was recently Chairman of the Board of Avenga, an Oaktree Capital portfolio company, that just sold to KKCG. Jourlait is also Operating Partner for Cathay Capital as well as Executive Chairman of the Board for IMT, one of Cathay Capital’s portfolio companies. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Electrosonic headquartered in London UK.

Before Riverside, Marc was CEO of Kodak Alaris where he stabilized and turned around the business portfolio preparing it for a divestiture. Prior to Kodak Alaris, Marc was Deputy CEO at Navico, a global leader in Marine Electronics, an Altor Private Equity owned portfolio company bought by Goldman Sachs in 2016. Before Navico, Jourlait was Vice President and General Manager of Bose Europe, where he ran the entire €1B European business for Bose.

Previously Jourlait held senior general management, product, and marketing positions over the course of his 35+ year career in some of the world’s leading companies including Apple, HP, Seagate, and Technicolor. With triple citizenship (France, USA, Canada), he resides in Manhattan and has lived and worked in a variety of countries, including France, the United States both in Silicon Valley and New York City, Japan, and Canada. Jourlait holds an MBA from ESCP Paris.

Kate Ju

Vice President, Value Accelerator, Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Kate Ju is a Vice President at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in their Private Equity Investing Business. As a digital and technology advisor, she is passionate about accelerating business growth and operational efficiency by leveraging technology. Kate has been deeply engaged in business transformation driven by data and analytics and cloud strategy, from enhancing business reporting capability to delivering real-time insights to developing data retention policies to improve operational efficiency and business scalability. Most recently, Kate was a portfolio strategist, constructing and optimizing multi-asset portfolios of financial institutional clients.

Peter Kahn

Senior Partner, West Monroe

Upbeat and collaborative, Peter champions diversity and inclusion in leading the New York City office, including building teams that are attuned to the evolving needs of West Monroe’s expansive client base. He also continues to lead our Mergers & Acquisitions practice in the Northeast—a role he has held since 2020.

To understand the kind of impact Peter creates for clients, think big. He led an engagement that netted over $700 million in cost savings over three years after the merger of two international breweries.

With deep global expertise in corporate strategy, performance improvement, post-merger integration, supply chain, and change management, Peter guides clients through the complexities of mergers and acquisitions – from strategy, analysis, and planning to integration and optimization.

Peter has built a track record of helping clients realize deal value by blending his formidable business acumen with strong leadership skills and broad industry knowledge.

Before joining our team, Peter led the Strategy and Operations consulting practice and the North East Region at Strong-Bridge Envision. Prior to that, he spent a decade with Pöyry Management Consulting. He also founded a firm that was acquired by the Pöyry Group.

Chris Kalna

Vice President Information Technology, OceanSound Partners

Chris is a Vice President at OceanSound Consulting where he focuses on information technology optimization activities across the OceanSound portfolio companies. Prior to joining OceanSound in 2023, Chris was a Director at MorganFranklin, where he focused on technology transformation consulting for corporate and private equity clients. Previously, he was a Digital and CRM Consultant at CohnReznick and a Digital Transformation leader at The Carlyle Group. Chris is a member of the American University Board of Directors.

Dan Kapinos

Partner & Global Practice Leader of Equity Services, Aon Talent Solutions

Dan Kapinos is a Partner and the Global Practice Leader for the Equity Services Team within Talent Solutions. The team provides expertise, service and advice around equity compensation, including plan design considerations, valuation and financial reporting requirements, global plan compliance, equity administration, employee education and more. He has oversight of the team’s strategic direction and global presence in helping companies with all things related to equity compensation.

Dan has a degree in statistics from the Pennsylvania State University.  He also maintains the Certified Equity Professional (CEP) designation through Santa Clara University and the Certified Executive Compensation Professional (CECP) designation through World@Work. He is a frequent national and international speaker and published author on a variety of compensation topics. He has also sat on the Curriculum Committee for the CEP Institute and served as the President of the NASPP Philadelphia Chapter. In 2020, Dan became a Fellow of Global Equity (FGE) through the Global Equity Organization. He currently sits on the Strategic Partner Alliance Committee for the NASPP.

Additionally, Dan has served as a member of the Alumni Board of Directors for the Eberly College of Science at the Pennsylvania State University, specifically as Chair for the Student Engagement Committee, and also started the For The Glory Scholarship Fund to benefit students in the fields of Science and Education. Through his work with Penn State, Dan also received the 2015 Joan M. McLane Recent Alumnus Award and the 2019 Alumni Achievement Award.

Sebastien Katch

Managing Director ＆ Global Lead, Operational Excellence, Verlinvest

Sebastien leads Verlinvest Global Operations Excellence and Value Creation.

For over 25 years, Sebastien has alternated between operating and consulting roles in consumer, retail, and industrials, driving large-scale operational excellence and business transformations across growth, middle market, Fortune 100, and PE-backed companies. Sebastien joined Verlinvest after leading Realtruck’s operations as its Chief Operating Officer, heading Operations Excellence at LCatterton as an Operating Partner, and assuming various consulting, engineering, and operating roles over the years at McKinsey & Company and previously in Aerospace at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engines.

Sebastien holds a Master of Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MBA from Carnegie Mellon Tepper School, a Master of Finance from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University.

Verlinvest is an international, family-backed evergreen investment company. We identify inflection points in consumer behaviors and partner with the businesses that are driving these consumer revolutions forward while having a positive impact. Established in 1995, with offices in Brussels, London, New York, Singapore, and Mumbai, Verlinvest focuses on the FMCG, health, consumer technology and lifestyle categories, investing across three strategies: Platform, Growth & Venture. The company has over €2bn in AuM and counts brands such as Oatly, Vita Coco, Tony's Chocolonely, BYJU’s, Purplle.com, Mutti and Who Gives A Crap among our portfolio, alongside alumni Chewy.com, Vitaminwater and Remy Cointreau

Stephan Keese

Managing Director, Roland Berger

Stephan Keese joined Roland Berger in 2001, and is the Managing Partner for North America and Head of the Industrials practice for the Americas region. He has advised leading global players on growth and market entry strategies, sales and distribution strategies, cost reduction, and restructuring. Additionally, he has supported fund operating partners and portfolio companies across many of these topics.

Prior to joining Roland Berger, he worked with leading automotive and industrial groups around the world. Stephan studied Industrial Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, in Germany, and holds an MBA from Georgetown University.

Roland Berger is one of the world's leading strategy consultancies with a wide-ranging service portfolio for all relevant industries and business functions. Founded in 1967, Roland Berger is renowned for its expertise in transformation, innovation across all industries and performance improvement, the consultancy has set itself the goal of embedding sustainability in all its projects. Roland Berger has deep experience supporting leading investors globally and in North America, working with GPs, LPs & their portfolio companies across a range of topics.

Greg Kegeles

Operating Partners, Digital Transformation, Newlight Partners

Greg has been with Newlight Partners since 2021. He has over 15 years of technology and operational leadership experience in both start-ups and publicly traded companies. He is responsible for supporting portfolio companies in their data & technology needs.

Greg resides in Harlem, New York, with his wife and two children.

Newlight Partners LP is a growth-focused middle market private equity firm that builds businesses in partnership with exceptional founders and management teams. The Newlight team has been investing together since 2005, originally as the Strategic Investments Group at Soros Fund Management LLC, and now as Newlight after the team's spin-out in 2018. Newlight’s thematic investment approach focuses on identifying and addressing marketplace opportunities in rapidly growing subsectors. Newlight currently has over $4 billion in capital commitments and assets under management.

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Michelle Keller-Hobson

Director, Private Equity Business Development, Vertice

Michelle leads the Private Equity Practice at Vertice, where she works with private equity firms globally on their value creation strategy. Vertice partners with procurement and finance operating partners to drive efficiencies across portfolio company SaaS and Cloud spend.

Michelle has over 12 years of experience in client-facing roles, including 7 years in technology, ranging from fintech to consumer to SaaS businesses. Before entering the tech world, she served as a political advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada. Michelle holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Originally from Toronto, Michelle now calls London, UK home.

Vertice is a SaaS and Cloud spend optimization platform that saves portfolio companies 20%+ on their annual spend. They do this by improving tracking of all tools and usage, providing benchmark insights on price, and enabling vendor negotiations through specialized procurement experts.

Today, Vertice manages over $4B in contract spend and is the only platform worldwide that allows companies to optimize their SaaS and cloud costs with a unified offering.

Vertice is a trusted partner to value creation teams at leading firms like Apax, Goldman Sachs, and BGH Capital and offers a contractual savings guarantee to portfolio companies. Their clients include Asda, Grant Thornton, Euronext, eMed and Lincoln Financial.

Jasmine Khambatta

Managing Director & Operating Executive, Blackstone

Jasmine Khambatta is a Managing Director in the Private Equity Group where she handles portfolio operations and asset management for Blackstone’s North American private equity investments.

Before joining Blackstone, Ms. Khambatta served as Vice President and General Manager at TE Connectivity. Previously Ms. Khambatta served as Sr. Vice President of Strategy and Operational Excellence at Schindler Elevator Corporation, Group President of IAQ at Filtration Group, and Vice President and General Manager of Indoor Lighting at Acuity Brands Corporation. Earlier in her career she held marketing and operations leadership roles at Danaher Corporation.

Ms. Khambatta received a BS in Industrial and Operations Engineering, cum laude, from the University of Michigan and completed her MBA at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Janshaaz Khan

Vice President, Wellspring Capital Management

Janshaaz F. Khan joined Wellspring in 2017. Prior to joining Wellspring, he spent two years as an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in the Leveraged Finance Group. Janshaaz graduated from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance.

Raz Khan

Principal, Permira

Raz is a member of the Value Creation Team. He has worked on a number of transactions including LSNE, Cambrex, DiversiTech, Cielo, Axiom, tkww, Lytx, and Reformation. Raz also leads procurement and insurance optimisation across all Permira companies.

Prior to joining Permira, Raz worked for Tyco International where he led global strategic initiatives for the CEO for three years. Before Tyco, he spent eight years at Cerberus Capital Management as a Private Equity Operating Executive. Raz started his career at General Electric, where he spent several years in Nuclear Energy, Water Treatment, and Corporate Audit Staff.

Raz holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Material Science and Ceramic Engineering from Alfred University, in NY, USA.

Spencer Khoury

Director, Value Creation Team, Shamrock Capital

Spencer is a Director, Value Creation Team at Shamrock Capital. Prior to joining Shamrock, Spencer was a Manager in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Transaction Services consulting group, leading financial and commercial diligence processes.

Spencer graduated with a B.S. in Finance & Accounting from the University of Southern California.

Shamrock Capital is based in Los Angeles and has approximately $6.2 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2024. We invest through two distinct strategies: Private Equity and Content. Our Private Equity strategy makes majority and minority investments, including buyouts, growth equity and recapitalizations, in leading middle market companies across our target sectors. Our Content strategy invests in and/or finances entertainment IP and media rights across a diverse set of asset classes that includes film, TV, music, games, and sports. We believe we are uniquely qualified to invest in our target sectors given our rich heritage that traces back to 1978, when our predecessor firm was founded as the family investment company for the late Roy E. Disney. Today, Shamrock is a fully independent, institutionally backed firm with a leading group of investors including endowments, foundations, pensions and sovereign wealth funds.

Shamrock Capital leverages its 45+ year heritage to invest and partner with companies, founders, and creators that operate within the media, entertainment, content, communication, sports, marketing and education sectors.

Neil Kimber

Principal, Accel-KKR

Neil Kimber is a Principal and Consulting CTO at Accel¬-KKR Consulting Group. Within Accel-KKR, his responsibilities include working with deal teams during technical due diligence, aiding portfolio companies with specific technology initiatives and managing portfolio-wide technology programs.

Prior to joining the firm, Neil held leadership technology positions in a number of software and tech-enabled companies including PowerPlan, Fiserv and Kaplan. At PowerPlan, Neil led the technology organization and helped to grow the company leading to an enterprise sale from Thoma Bravo to Roper Technologies for $1.1 billion. Neil was CTO at Kaplan Learning Technologies, managing technology groups in North America, Europe and Africa. He was a part of the management team that led the business to an acquisition by Assima. At Fiserv, Neil was responsible for Engineering in the Risk and Compliance Division, providing solutions to banks with AUM $20 billion.

Earlier in his career Neil was a consultant at the Monitor Company (Monitor Deloitte).

Neil has an MBA in Management of Technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, an M.S. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and B.S. in Computer Science from De Montfort University (UK)

Accel-KKR is a technology-focused investment firm with over $9 billion in capital commitments. The firm focuses on software and IT-enabled businesses, well-positioned for topline and bottom-line growth. At the core of Accel-KKR’s investment strategy is a commitment to developing strong partnerships with the management teams of its portfolio companies and a focus on building value alongside management by leveraging the significant resources available through the Accel-KKR network. Accel-KKR focuses on middle-market companies and provides a broad range of capital solutions including buyout capital, minority-growth investments, and credit alternatives. Accel-KKR also invests across a wide range of transaction types including private company recapitalizations, divisional carve-outs and going-private transactions. Accel-KKR is headquartered in Menlo Park with additional offices in Atlanta and London.

John Knapp

Operating Director, Talent, Berkshire Partners

John Knapp is an Operating Director and Talent Specialist in Berkshire Partners’ Portfolio Support Group, where he focuses on talent leadership and human capital best practices across the portfolio. Prior to joining Berkshire, John was a Partner with David Barrett Partners, a global executive search firm. Earlier in his career, he was a Principal with Egon Zehnder where he led the firm’s North American Asset Management practice and a Vice President of Institutional Wealth Services for Fidelity Investments. He began his career with Accenture in the firm’s Strategy and Business Architecture practice, and earned a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based investment firm, has been investing in well-positioned, growing companies for more than 35 years. Berkshire Private Equity has made more than 145 private equity investments since its inception and has a strong history of partnering with management teams to grow the companies in which it invests. Stockbridge, founded in 2007, seeks to make public equity investments in high-quality companies with strong competitive positions and long-term growth prospects. The firm’s Stockbridge and private equity teams frequently collaborate and leverage their collective industry expertise in multiple areas, including in communications and digital infrastructure, consumer, healthcare, technology, and services and industrials. For additional information, and to see a full list of the firm’s private equity investments, visit www.berkshirepartners.com.

Darlene Kober

Principal, Next Level Partners

Darlene Kober is a growth-oriented commercial leader with more than 25 years of experience accelerating profitable growth in high-performance, high-expectation organizations. Combining her commercial acumen with an engineering background, she provides her clients with the necessary processes and skills to realize transformational growth that accelerates profitable revenue increases, drives share gains, reduces costs, and improves profitability.

Darlene has both P&L and functional leadership experience with Fortune 200 multinational corporations including: Danaher Corporation, Baxter Healthcare, Morton International, and Air Products & Chemicals. Most recently, and prior to joining NEXT LEVEL Partners®, LLC, Darlene was SVP at MW Industries, Inc, where she led the commercial excellence processes for this $500M private equity owned industrial manufacturer. She has also led the commercial functions for multiple PE-owned manufacturers as an interim management consultant.

Darlene has developed and executed several advanced Commercial Excellence/Growth Tools as both a process owner and as a facilitator with companies in diverse industries such as medical devices, industrial manufacturing, chemicals, and process equipment. In addition, she is highly skilled and experienced leading the implementation of the Strategy Deployment Process (SDP).

Samples of her leadership include growing revenues at 3X the market; 20-50% top-line revenue increases; price increases of 15%; and gross margin increases of >8 points.

Darlene holds an MBA in Marketing and Management from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University.

Tom Kolaja

Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

Tom Kolaja is a Senior Partner in McKinsey’s Transformation practice where he specializes in leading PE client portcos through performance transformations, managing through distress, or responding to activist investor challenges.

Tom has partnered with executive teams to design and execute full enterprise transformation in the automotive supplier, aerospace & defense, industrial service, construction materials, chemical, pulp & paper, IT services, and fast-moving consumer goods sectors. Examples of Tom’s recent client work include the following:

designing and implementing a commercial excellence program to grow margins and capture white space clients for a PE owned industrial services company
leading a full-enterprise turnaround of a public German tier-one automotive supplier with a global plant footprint
leading a FTSE-50 aerospace group through an enterprise-wide transformation
leading the Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America transformation of a US public building-services company
leading the redesign of the 18-country (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) operating model for a public IT company
Tom also frequently counsels senior executives of leading global companies on response strategies to activists and hostile takeovers.

Previously, Tom led the Enterprise Transformation service line in Europe at Alvarez & Marsal, managing six offices across Germany and Central Europe. Before that, he founded Kolaja & Partners, a leading boutique consultancy in CE focused on turnaround and restructuring. Earlier in his career, he was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, and a chemist at Bayer AG.

Tom has pursued his interest in higher education, having served as vice-chair of the Ohio State University Alumni Association, and board member of both the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, as well as the Polish–American Fulbright Commission. He also proudly served on the board of Transparent Agents and Contracting Entities (TRACE), the leading anticorruption non-profit serving Fortune 500 companies.

Tom holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, an MA in engineering from Northwestern University, as well as a BS in chemistry and a BA in Russian from the Ohio State University. Tom was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Warsaw.

Jonathan Konkoly

Vice President of Portfolio Operations, HCI Equity Partners

Jonathan Konkoly joined HCI Equity Partners in 2022 as Vice President of Portfolio Operations, with a focus on identifying and accelerating profitable revenue growth at our portfolio companies.

Jonathan brings to the position deep experience in go-to-market strategy, pricing, and commercial team effectiveness having consulted at Blue Ridge Partners, INSIGHT2PROFIT, and IRI. Earlier in his career, Jonathan held several management positions at McMaster-Carr Supply.

Jonathan received his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and his BBA from Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business.

HCI Equity Partners is a lower middle market private equity firm with approximately $1B in AUM, focused on partnering with family and founder owned distribution, manufacturing and service companies. HCI makes majority investments in businesses within North America in large, fragmented markets. HCI is headquartered in Washington, DC. For more information, please visit our website, www.hciequity.com.

Travis Krueger

Managing Director, GTCR

Travis joined GTCR in 2005 and is a Managing Director. Travis leads portfolio data & analytics and portfolio valuation for the firm, and co-leads the firm’s Portfolio Resource Group charged with providing functional support to GTCR’s investment teams and portfolio company leadership. He is also a leader of several of GTCR’s initiatives related to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) both at the firm and at portfolio companies, including serving as a member of GTCR’s ESG-DEI Steering Committee. Travis is a Certified Public Accountant and previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in its Assurance practice. Travis holds an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, and a BS in finance and accounting from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

Outside of GTCR, Travis serves on the board of directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago.

JoAnne Kruse

Partner, Talent, TZP Group

JoAnne Kruse joined TZP Group as a Partner, Talent in July 2019. Her thirty-year career as a Human Resource executive covers a wide array of industries, including financial services, consumer products, technology and travel. JoAnne most recently served as the Chief Human Resource Officer of American Express Global Business Travel. In this role she was part of the executive team that carved-out the nearly 16,000-team member global enterprise to form a stand-alone joint venture between American Express and private-equity firm Certares. Her corporate career includes HR roles with brand giants like Travelport, Cendant, PepsiCo, Clairol and the Chase Manhattan Bank. Additionally, JoAnne spent nearly six years as a small-business entrepreneur, building her own HR and talent development consulting firm, HCpartners, with a diverse client portfolio ranging from the Fortune 100 to technology start-ups.

JoAnne received a Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

Ryan Kuchova

Head of Customer Strategy and Operations, Jellyfish

Ryan is the Head of Customer Strategy and Operations at Jellyfish. His background is a mix of operating and consulting roles, centered around software development, R&D strategy and effectiveness, and value creation.

Prior to joining Jellyfish, Ryan was Vice President in EY-Parthenon’s Software Strategy Group where he advised Private Equity clients on both software M&A and value creation initiatives. Ryan’s background also includes roles at early-stage B2B SaaS startups that collectively have raised ~$1B in funding.

Jellyfish Bio

Jellyfish is the leading Software Engineering Intelligence that helps CTOs align engineering effort with business priorities to drive better business outcomes. Jellyfish combines quantitative and qualitative insights to help engineering teams make their work more transparent and predictable. By demystifying engineering efforts, executives and boards can understand where capital is deployed in R&D, track when new capabilities will launch, and have more confidence in engineering's ability to execute.

Raj Kushwaha

Managing Director ＆ Partner, Co-Head Value Creation and Chief Digital Officer, Warburg Pincus

Raj Kushwaha joined Warburg Pincus in 2012 and serves as Co-Head of the Value Creation team and is a member of the firm’s Operations Management Group. In addition, as Chief Digital Office of the firm, his work with portfolio companies is focused on identifying opportunities to leverage AI/ML and LLM enabled digital strategies that create new growth platforms and disruptive business model opportunities. He is a Director of Arise. He also serves on the Board of Nutrien, and the Information Technology Committee of the Boards of Trustees of Mount Sinai. Raj brings over 30 years of experience in leading large-scale digital transformations, building commercial grade SaaS software platforms, and managing technology operations in Fortune 500 companies and late stage ventures. Prior to joining the firm, he held senior management positions at Zimmer Holdings Inc., Dell Computer Corporation, PepsiCo, First Data Corporation (FDC), Cummins Engine Company, and Safway, Inc. He has been recognized as one of the top 100 IT innovators in the automotive/manufacturing industry, is the recipient of a CIO 100 innovation award, is a noted industry author Financial Services & Payments, and has numerous patents in the field of disruptive services technologies. Raj holds an MS in Management of Technology from MIT, an MBA from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and ISU, a BS in Electrical Engineering from India, and completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from Harvard University.

Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has more than $60 billion in private equity assets under management. The firm’s active portfolio of more than 200 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector, and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 19 private equity funds, which have invested more than $90 billion in over 930 companies in more than 40 countries. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore. For more information please visit www.warburgpincus.com.

Ajaykumar Kutty

Technology Operating Principal, KKR

Ajay Kutty (New York) is a member of the KKR Capstone team. Mr. Kutty partners with Americas Private Equity investment teams, focusing on technology-related investment diligence and portfolio company value creation via digital transformation and technology modernization. He also supports the development and management of KKR's global portfolio technology platform. Previously Mr. Kutty was Chief Product and Technology Officer at Symphony Talent, a leader in AI based Recruitment Marketing platform. Before that, he was Head of Enterprise Applications in CIO office at PTC, a global leader in CAD, PLM, IoT and AR. Prior to that, Mr. Kutty worked as a technology leader at Publicis Sapient, a global leader in digital transformations. Mr. Kutty earned his MBA from Columbia University and is a Bachelor of Engineering.

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

Markus Lahrkamp

Managing Director, Alvarez and Marsal

Markus Lahrkamp is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Private Equity Performance Improvement in New York. He is one of the head developers of A&M’s proprietary Rapid Results Program™, which he continues to lead. Mr. Lahrkamp is also experienced with cost optimization and other consulting approaches.

With more than two decades of consulting experience, Mr. Lahrkamp brings a wealth of expertise in top-line revenue and margin optimization, performance improvement for private equity owned manufacturing, distribution and services companies. He also has significant consulting experience with large US-based and international clients, focusing on their short- and long-term performance improvement needs.

Mr. Lahrkamp’s experience spans the whole private equity funds life cycle, including pre-acquisition diligence, post-acquisition performance improvement, and exit readiness for portfolio companies. He has participated in over 100 engagements, driving significant value for his clients. While Mr. Lahrkamp usually acts as the lead for consulting engagements, he also provides interim leadership to companies when needed.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Lahrkamp was the President and CEO of both Arthur D. Little, Inc. and Droege & Comp. He built and led these companies’ private equity practices in the U.S. and Europe, focusing on due diligence and value enhancements for private equity-sponsored portfolio companies. Prior to his consulting career, he was an accountant with the national real estate practice at Pricewaterhouse in Atlanta.

Mr. Lahrkamp earned an MBA from the University of Muenster in Germany. He is an accredited CPA in the State of Georgia. 

When Tony Alvarez and Bryan Marsal joined forces in 1983, it was with the intent of seamlessly linking operations, performance improvement and value creation to best help companies turn areas of stagnation into growth to achieve sustainable results. This ethos remains at the core of our firm.

Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) provides global leadership, problem solving and value creation for companies across industries and around the world. We are the consulting firm known for asking tough questions, listening well, digging in and rolling up our sleeves. We are fact-driven and action-oriented - We work as advisers, interim leaders and partners who tell you what you need to know, not always what you want to hear. We move our clients forward, to where they need to be. We are A&M.

Brent Lanier

Former Managing Director and Global Chief Information Officer

Brent Lanier is a seasoned global executive with over 20 years of technology and operations leadership expertise. At Vista Equity Partners, he distinguished himself as the inaugural Chief Information Officer, orchestrating the technology function's expansion, growing the firmwide team from 200 to over 750 members, and elevating assets under management from $27B to over $100B.

His leadership at Vista also involved spearheading major initiatives such as integrating AI technologies and enhancing operational efficiencies across portfolio companies. Previously, Brent served as the Global IT Director at The Boston Consulting Group, where he played a pivotal role in strategic IT management and cost reduction efforts.

Earlier career impacts include significant tenures at Bain Capital and Cambridge Associates, where he led transformative technology and corporate initiatives.

Brent holds a Master of Liberal Arts in Technology Management from Harvard University and maintains several professional certifications, including PMP and Certified ScrumMaster. His pragmatic and consultative approach has made him a respected leader and mentor in the technology sector.

Jeff Laurinaitis

Managing Director, RKON

Jeff Laurinaitis has been with RKON since 2004 and a Managing Director RKON since 2008. With over a decade of experience working with the private equity sector, Jeff’s expertise encompasses Carve-outs, M&A activities, Digital Transformation, and IT turnarounds. Jeff also brings over 20+ years of working in the Cyber industry with Risk Management strategies and Cyber program development. In addition to his work experience, Jeff holds 2 BA degrees from the University of Illinois at Champaign.

RKON is an IT Service Provider that is dedicated to partnering with Private Equity firms across the investment lifecycle, from pre-acquisition due diligence to post-acquisition operational improvements. RKON was founded in 1998 as a security and infrastructure consulting firm and in 2008, introduced MSP capabilities. RKON has been purpose-built to support the complex needs of your portfolio, ranging from initial Diligence and Risk Assessments to a fully outsourced IT department. Our Management Consulting practice has the experience to assist with Value Creation strategies and aligning IT with the Portfolio Strategy.

Le Veaux II, Pierre, OP, NY, 24, CROPPED

Pierre Le Veaux II

Senior Vice President, Private Equity & Venture Capital Partnerships, Wpromote

Pierre is the Senior Vice President and Private Equity Division lead at Wpromote. Under his leadership, the division is responsible for partnership and performance marketing initiatives for private equity, growth investors, and venture capital clients and their respective portfolio companies. Prior to Wpromote, Pierre created and led a similar division for another performance marketing agency. Additionally, Pierre brings almost two decades of consulting and financial services experience, including over a decade with Goldman Sachs.

Wpromote is a data-focused marketing agency powered by our Challenger culture, deep business intelligence, and predictive Polaris platform. Our agile, outcome-first approach helps private equity firms and portfolio companies unlock unprecedented EBITDA potential, next-level growth, and immediate impact.

We partner with private equity firms in three ways: assessment (diligence), value creation (portfolio companies), and reporting (data).

We offer strategic, organizational, operational, technological, and creative guidance that drives efficiency and growth, leveraging our deep bench of cross-vertical experience to evaluate investments, manage full media strategies, or build new models for performance, depending on the partner’s specific needs.

Our work adds quantitative value to targets in as early as 180 days, giving our partners the power to de-risk investment choices, take advantage of more efficient opportunities, and accelerate performance and profitability across the portfolio.

Jennifer Lee

Partner, Edison Partners

Jennifer is a Partner at Edison Partners leading the firm’s fintech investment practice. Her investments include K1x, Dash Solutions, gohenry/Acorns, Upright, Yieldstreet, MoneyLion (NYSE: ML), ComplySci, Bipsync, and Bento for Business among others. She was recognized by Kayo Top 22 in ’22 Women in Fintech, VCJ Rising Stars 2021, NJBIZ 40 Under 40 in 2020, the Business Insider as 2019’s Rising Stars of Wall Street, NY Fintech Women’s Inspiring FinTech Females of 2021 and 2019, a finalist for Finovate’s Fintech Woman of the Year for 2019, and was named to WSJ’s Women to Watch in Private Equity in 2018. Prior to joining Edison, she was at Commerzbank evaluating select European equities for fundamental long/short investments. Jennifer started her career at ForgeRock, a global leader in identity and access management with a unique history stemming from Sun Microsystems, and built the company from its first year through multiple rounds of funding, which subsequently went public, then taken private again by Thoma Bravo.

Nick Leopard

CEO & Founder, Accordion

Nick Leopard is the CEO and Founder of Accordion, the financial consulting firm uniquely focused on private equity. Under Nick’s leadership, Accordion has grown significantly since its founding in 2009. Rooted in data and technology, the firm now boasts more than 300 of the world’s premier private equity firms and their portfolio companies as clients, offering services spanning the entire CFO function (including Operational and Technical Accounting, Strategic Financial Planning and Analysis, CFO-Driven Transformation, CFO Technology, Transaction Execution, Data & Analytics, and Turnaround & Restructuring). Nick has also spearheaded the company’s geographic expansion, growing it from one office in New York City to 11 offices across the globe.

Nick’s tenure has also seen the functional expansion of Accordion’s CFO Technology and Data & Analytics practices, which, through a combination of organic growth and acquisition, has built Accordion into the premier digital-enablement partner for portfolio CFOs.

As CEO, Nick is a hands-on leader who continues to drive Accordion’s strategic vision and ambitious scaling efforts. Nick remains committed to new ways of serving the evolving needs of the office of the CFO, and equally passionate about providing talented professionals with a better way to work in finance.

Before founding Accordion, Nick was part of the investment team for BHC Interim Funding, L.P., a $200M mezzanine debt fund, which focuses on short-term investments in companies with $50-$500M of revenue. Prior to BHC, he was a member of the FIG Investment Banking Department of Bear, Stearns & Co. LLC.

Nick began his career at CapitalSource Finance (NYSE: CSE), where he focused on securing and analyzing senior and subordinated debt opportunities. During his time at CapitalSource, Nick built and maintained more than 300 relationships with private equity funds, senior lenders, and investment banks.

Nick is a widely recognized thought leader, entrepreneur, and growth company CEO who has been featured in publications including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, Bloomberg, CFO and PE Hub. He has been selected as one of M&A Advisor’s “Top 40 Under 40” and was recognized as a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award. A former lacrosse captain at Saint Joseph’s University, Nick graduated with a B.S. in Finance from the Haub School of Business.

Accordion

We are a financial consulting firm uniquely focused on private equity. Rooted in data and technology, our expertise lives at the intersection of sponsors and PE-backed CFOs. We created this space–and remain obsessed with creating value for clients. Our services span the entire CFO function (including Operational and Technical Accounting, Strategic Financial Planning and Analysis, CFO-Driven Transformation, CFO Technology, Transaction Execution, Data & Analytics, and Turnaround & Restructuring), and we are trusted by over 300 private equity firms and their portfolio companies to consistently drive value through tailored, hands-on solutions. Our headquarters are based in New York, and we have 11 offices across the globe.

Andrew Lim

Managing Director, Blackstone

Andrew Lim is a Managing Director in the Portfolio Operations group and Talent Lead for the Real Estate business where he is focused on developing and executing an integrated talent strategy across the portfolio.

Prior to joining Blackstone, he spent five years at ghSMART where he was an Associate Partner and co-lead of the Executive Coaching and Development practice. There he advised clients on critical leadership initiatives such as selection assessment, succession planning and high potential development. Prior to ghSMART, Mr. Lim worked at Korn Ferry where he was a Principal and Consulting Director in their advisory business and earlier in his career, he worked at Heidrick and Struggles and Deloitte Consulting.

Mr. Lim holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Commerce, with merit, from the University of New South Wales in his hometown of Sydney, Australia.

Sam Little

Senior Vice President, Teneo

Sam is a Senior Vice President in Teneo's Private Equity Growth Practice where he focuses on driving top-line revenue growth within the portfolio companies of technology-focused PE funds. Sam specializes in supporting businesses on all aspects of commercial excellence with focus on topics such as pricing, GTM strategy and marketing.

Based in San Francisco, he has worked with a wide range of companies, investors and sectors and has lived and worked across Europe, North America, and Asia.

Teneo is a global CEO advisory firm dedicated to partnering with clients to achieve impactful outcomes for a better future. With over 1,600 employees in 40+ offices worldwide, Teneo focuses on providing strategic guidance and comprehensive solutions. They offer a range of advisory services across strategic communications, investor relations, financial transactions, management consulting, risk management, organizational design, and more.

Teneo's Management Consulting division specializes in addressing complex challenges faced by businesses and industry leaders. This includes strategic planning, operational improvements, transaction support, and value creation for stakeholders and investors.

Within the Management Consulting division, the PE Growth Practice is focused on driving growth for B2B PE-backed assets, particularly in the software, data, tech services, and business services sectors. The practice leverages deep sector expertise and functional knowledge from across Teneo to deliver exceptional results in shareholder value realization, commercial models, product and market strategy, sales optimization, and delivery models.

Misha Logvinov

Managing Director, MGX

Misha Logvinov is a Managing Director at MGX, a leading AI and advanced technology investor. Misha’s responsibilities include advising the MGX’s investment teams and portfolio companies on digital strategy and value creation. Prior to MGX, Misha was a senior operating partner at Mubadala, a sovereign investor with $302 Billion AUM, and Managing Director and Head of Technology Strategy at EQT Group where he helped establish their digital and GTM operating practice. Previously, he was Group Vice President of Cloud Customer Success at Oracle, where he helped lead the company's transition to cloud and directly oversaw product adoption, customer retention, and growth of the Oracle's Cloud Infrastructure business in North America. Prior to Oracle, Misha served in various senior executive roles at Lithium Technologies (a cloud software company acquired by Vista Equity Partners and rebranded as Khoros), including Chief Information Officer, Chief Customer Officer, and SVP of Business Development. During his tenure, Lithium grew its revenue 6x and scaled its digital platform to support over 100 million users across hundreds of leading brands. Misha also has over 20 years of experience in technology leadership roles developing, scaling and advising venture-funded startups in Silicon Valley. Misha has a Bachelor's degree from Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

Hilda Lui

Head of Portfolio Human Capital, Advent International

Hilda Lui joined Advent in 2020 and is a Director and the Head of Portfolio Human Capital, based in Boston. She is a member of the Portfolio Support Group. Hilda focuses on Human Capital strategy across Advent’s portfolio companies, including leadership performance, talent assessment, talent acquisition, and cultivating a network of top senior executives for C-level, Board and advisory roles. 

Prior to joining Advent, Hilda was the Vice President of Talent Management at L Catterton, where she advised on portfolio talent management best practice across L Catterton's multiple strategies and geographies. Previously, she was a member of Heidrick & Struggles' CEO and Board Practice, where she advised public and privately-held companies across industries on Board of Director searches and CEO succession engagements. 

Hilda holds a JD from the Fordham University School of Law and received bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and French from New York University. 

Alfred Lumsdaine

CFO, Ardent Health

With more than 30 years of healthcare finance experience, Alfred Lumsdaine provides financial oversight across all organization activities and assets. He develops and executes Ardent’s long-range financial plans, leads short and long-term capital strategies and ensures proper internal controls. 

Previously, Mr. Lumsdaine served as executive vice president and CFO of Quorum Health Corporation. In this role, he oversaw financial operations for the company’s acute care hospitals and led a major financial restructuring and other strategic initiatives that significantly reduced the company’s debt and improved its financial position. Prior to joining Quorum Health in 2018, Mr. Lumsdaine was president of Population Health for Sharecare and spent five years as CFO for Tivity Health prior to its acquisition by Sharecare. He began his career at Ernst & Young where he spent more than eight years in the external audit practice with a focus on healthcare. 

A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Mr. Lumsdaine earned both an undergraduate and a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Tennessee. 

Chris Madaus

Senior Managing Director, Blue Ridge Partners

Chris is a Senior Managing Director at Blue Ridge Partners with over 30 years of experience building shareholder value through operational and advisory roles. Chirs leads the Business Services and QoR Diligence Practices.

Prior to Blue Ridge, he served as Group VP, Brand Marketing at Walgreens, and in senior GM and functional roles at Staples. Prior to that he spent eight years at Bain & Company focused on go-to-market strategy, sales effectiveness, and PE diligence.

Chris holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Amherst College. He lives in the Boston area with his wife and has three grown children.

Puroo Maheshwari

Managing Director, Cybersecurity, Portfolio Value Creation, CPP Investments

Puroo is the Managing Director - Cybersecurity at CPP Investments and leads the global Portfolio Cybersecurity program as part of the Portfolio Value Creation team. Puroo works in close partnership with global investment teams, boards and portfolio company executive teams across a portfolio of ~100 assets across infrastructure, sustainable energy and direct private equity.

Puroo is an experienced technology executive with expertise in building and executing strategic technology roadmaps encompassing cybersecurity, cloud transformation, application management, data & analytics, digital, and IT risk. At Thomson Reuters, Puroo was the Global Vice President of Security Engineering where he had accountability for the engineering and operations for all enterprise cybersecurity platforms as well as for security data, AI & analytics. Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, Puroo held multiple Vice President roles at TD Bank, where he ran TD’s global cybersecurity and infrastructure technology delivery an enterprise-wide program for technology modernization and cloud transformation.

Puroo sits on the Advisory Board for PhilanthPro, the Advisory Board for siberX and is on the Governing Body for Evanta Toronto CISO.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Fund in the best interest of the more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries of the Canada Pension Plan. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, investments are made around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, San Francisco, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. At June 30, 2024, the Fund totalled C$646.8 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or on X @CPPInvestments.

Vikram Mahidhar

Operating Partner, Apollo Global Management

Vikram Mahidhar is a Private Equity Operating Partner for Apollo Global Management, Inc., where he leads Digital, Data and AI. He and his team are responsible for creating value through digital transformation across the portfolio including products, platforms, front and mid-office processes, data and analytics modernization, cloud modernization and AI strategy/implementation. Vikram is Member of the board at Cengage. Prior to Apollo, Vikram was an entrepreneur at RAGE Frameworks, an AI platform company which was successfully sold to Genpact.

Recently, Vikram has been recognized by Data IQ as 2023 Top 100 Most Influential Leaders in Data. He has also received the AI100 Award by MachineCon. He holds graduate degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, and undergraduate degree in engineering from University of Pune.

David Mamikonyan

Director, Operating Partner and CISO, MGX

David is a Director and Operating Partner with MGX, a leading AI and advanced technology investor. Additionally, David leads the internal MGX cyber program as the acting Chief Security Officer. David’s key focus is cyber due diligence and advising investment teams on strategy, visibility and enhancing cybersecurity postures across portfolio companies, providing strategic vision to harness AI to drive positive change while safeguarding digital assets.

Before joining MGX, David was an Operating Advisor for the Value Creation team at Warburg Pincus. He also served as Senior Vice President at CBI for eight years, following a two-year tenure at Summit Health as Chief Information Security Officer.

David is an alumnus of Temple and Wharton, holds numerous industry certifications and a U.S. patent for an innovative patching process. He resides in the suburbs of Pennsylvania with his wife and two children, enjoying chess and restoring his 1968 Ford Shelby in his free time.

Jon Marston

Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner, WilliamsMarston

Jon Marston is the Co-Founder of WilliamsMarston, a national advisory firm specializing in accounting, tax, valuation and transaction advisory services for pre-IPO, public, and private equity-backed companies experiencing rapid growth and transformation. With over 25 years of experience, Jon plays a pivotal role in shaping the firm’s strategic direction while maintaining a hands-on approach to client service. His expertise spans mergers and acquisitions, finance effectiveness and process improvement.

In addition to driving value-added outcomes for many of the Firm’s private equity clients, Jon routinely advises the C-suite and investors at large private equity firms, private equity-backed companies, and public companies with revenues ranging from $200M to $10B.

Prior to founding WilliamsMarston, Jon was a Director in PwC’s Transaction Services Advisory practice, where he provided due diligence and related services on M&A transactions from $5M to over $20B.

Throughout his career, Jon has worked with SEC registrants, foreign public companies, private companies, private equity, and VC firms, advising on US GAAP, IFRS, SEC reporting, IPOs, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, and other complex financial matters. His industry experience spans software, technology, telecommunications, healthcare, industrial products, and consumer retail across the US, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Jon holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Boston College.

Miten Marvania

Managing Director, Business Services Platforms, Blue Owl Capital

Miten Marvania is a Managing Director at Blue Owl and member of the Business Services Platform team. In his role within Operational Advisory, Miten leads the IT and Cybersecurity advisory practice, which provides strategic thought leadership, best practice consulting and tactical support to GP Strategic Capital Partner Managers. Before joining Blue Owl, Miten was a Senior Vice President at Blackstone within their Portfolio Cybersecurity group. Prior to that, he was a co-founder, COO and CISO of Agio, a managed IT and Cybersecurity services company supporting alternative asset management firms. Miten received a BS in Computer Science from Rutgers University.

Steve Mayotte

Operating Partner, Technology Enablement, New State Capital Partners

Steve joined New State Capital Partners in 2022 with 15 years of experience in executive management and high-tech consulting. Steve has operational experience developing strategy and executing transformational solutions using modern technology across a range of industries including business services, financial services, hospitality, healthcare, and real estate.

Prior to New State, Steve was the Chief Information Officer at PAYOMATIC responsible for developing and implementing innovative tech value creation strategies and for leading the company’s digital transformation. Previously, Steve was with Modus Agency, a boutique consulting firm specializing in digital product development, where he led global teams to execute strategic initiatives for clients in a variety of industries.

Steve began his career at UBS Wealth Management in the information technology group where he worked on enterprise-wide software and infrastructure projects.

Steve received his undergraduate degree in Management Information Systems from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and earned his M.B.A in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the Stern School of Business.

We founded New State Capital to be more nimble, more decisive and more cooperative than bigger, institutional private investment firms.
We also think of ourselves as entrepreneurs, not just asset managers. In this context, we pride ourselves on our long-term outlook. We approach each potential investment as an opportunity to create a long lasting and valuable relationship. This is why our prior counterparties serve as our strongest advocates. Moreover, our firm started as an independent sponsor and as such we seek to support and provide services to independent sponsors.

Our success will be directly linked to the success of our portfolio companies individually. By contrast with other firms who have large, diverse portfolios, and who de-emphasize the importance of any given investment, our entrepreneurial approach maximizes the chances for shared success. This must-succeed attitude creates an alignment of interests with our management partners.

We have made a deliberate choice to employ an experienced team. Because our senior principals also execute our investments, we must be highly selective. This also allows us to be very decisive and flexible. We evaluate each company’s business and financial needs and create the structure that best fits the situation.

Critically, we are focused on growth. For example, we have executed fifteen add-on acquisitions – on average, nearly one for each platform company. We also try to balance our focus on growth with the realistic expectations of inevitable challenges.

Lee McCabe

Operating Partner, AEA Investors

Lee joined AEA Investors in 2019 and serves as an Operating Partner. In addition to providing oversight for the digital value creation function, Lee is also responsible for digital diligence with prospective investments as well as ongoing work with the firm’s existing portfolio companies. He is primarily focused on working with portfolio companies to assess, develop and identify opportunities to build value creation via digital initiatives.

Prior to AEA, Lee most recently served as Vice President of North America at Alibaba Group, leading the company’s North American initiatives. Prior to Alibaba, Lee was the first Global Head of Travel at Facebook, where he was responsible for developing the company’s monetization and growth strategy. Previously, Lee held various executive positions at Expedia, including overseeing APAC and North America where he led many supply optimization initiatives. Earlier in his career, Lee was part of the start-up office for eBay UK, where he helped drive eBay’s market penetration with several initiatives across supply, product, digital payments and platform trust and safety. Lee started his career with Warner Music in London.

Lee studied at Warwick Business School where he earned an MBA. He also earned an MA from Sheffield Hallam University in Media Production.

AEA Investors LP was founded in 1968 by the Rockefeller, Mellon and Harriman family interests and S.G. Warburg & Co. as a private investment vehicle for a select group of industrial family offices with substantial assets. AEA has an extraordinary global network built over many years which includes leading industrial families, business executives and leaders; many of whom invest with AEA as active individual investors and/or join its portfolio company boards or act in other advisory roles. Today, AEA’s approximately 100 investment professionals operate globally with offices in New York, Stamford, San Francisco, London, Munich and Shanghai. The firm manages funds that have nearly $15 billion of invested and committed capital including the leveraged buyouts of middle market companies and small business companies, growth capital and mezzanine and senior debt investments.

Jason McDannold

Partner & Managing Director, Americas Co-Lead of Private Equity, AlixPartners

As the co-lead of the Americas Private Equity practice, Jason drives transformation programs for private equity portfolio companies, achieving tangible and measurable commercial and operational improvements on accelerated timelines.  He has 25 years of experience (including 6 years in India and 4 years in Southeast Asia and Europe).

Jason has taken interim and permanent executive roles to lead dramatic EBITDA improvements in technology and business services organizations across the globe. In particular, Jason has led global shared service operations, global market expansions, and cross-border acquisitions. Jason is a recognized expert and contributor to Harvard Business Review and has earned an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Lane McDonald

Managing Director, OMERS Private Equity

As Managing Director, Operations, Lane works with investment and management teams to assess new investments and define and execute value-creation priorities. Lane is based in New York and joined the OMERS Private Equity team in 2022. Prior to joining OMERS, Lane was the Global Head of Financials, Business Services and Education for the Industry Value Creation team at Partners Group and, before that, helped build the Portfolio Strategy & Operations team for DLJ Merchant Banking Partners. She also has held various operations and strategy roles at Ropes & Gray, JetBlue Airways, American Express, Delta Air Lines and Bain & Company.

OMERS Private Equity manages private equity assets for OMERS, the defined benefit pension plan for municipal employees in Ontario. OMERS holds C$121 billion in net assets, and net private equity assets of over C$19.8 billion, as at December 31, 2021. OMERS Private Equity has been an active private equity investor for over 20 years and its portfolio currently consists of investments in 20 industry-leading companies headquartered across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia.

Jonathan Metrick

Partner & Chief Growth Officer, Sagard

Jonathan has +15 years of commercial leadership experience profitably scaling consumer & tech businesses.

Jonathan is a Partner & Chief Growth Officer at Sagard, a $25B AUM alternative asset manager focusing on VC & PE investing in fintech & financial services. During this time, Jonathan built Sagard's Go-To-Market (GTM) practice, helping its portfolio profitably grow. Jonathan leverages his playbook on Revenue Engineering to implement GTM best practices e.g. optimal channel mix, tiered pricing, speed to lead, measurement & attribution, and hiring/org design. Jonathan has also taken on interim operating roles as CMO at Wealthsimple and Chief Growth Officer at Koho.

Jonathan is a contributor at TechCrunch and has been published in the MIT Sloan Review, The Globe & Mail, and Forbes where he writes about growth trends, marketing & sales. Jonathan sits on the boards of Choosing Therapy and The University of St. Augustine.

Prior to joining Sagard, Jonathan served as the CMO of Policygenius and has held marketing leadership positions working with Tiffany & Co, Live Nation Entertainment, Hult, and Procter & Gamble.

He has an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University.

Kate Migliaro

Managing Director, Talent and Organization Performance, Portfolio Operations, Blackstone

Ms. Migliaro is a US Army Veteran with 5 years active-duty experience in the Military Police Corps. During her service, Ms. Migliaro deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan supporting and building local national law enforcement capabilities. She was awarded the FYo8 FORSCOM J.P Holland Award for best Military Police Company in the Army, the combat action badge and bronze star.

Prior to joining the Blackstone team in 2024, Ms. Migliaro was the Global Head of Portfolio Talent at Searchlight Capital. During her tenure at Apollo Global Management, she was selected to support talent management and organizational effectiveness on the Apollo Portfolio Performance Solutions (APPS) team where she built the talent and diversity, equity, and inclusion playbooks to maximize portfolio company performance. In her previous roles, Ms. Migliaro has worked in generalist human capital roles as well as specialist roles in compensation. Today, she is focused on building management teams aligned to the value at stake and driving organizational effectiveness through organizational design, leadership assessment and development, and board construction.

Ms. Migliaro earned her degree in American Politics and Systems Engineering from the United States Military Academy. She is currently the Chairwoman of America’s Warrior Partnership’s Board of Directors and is an advocate for veteran employment.

Aaron Miller

Head of Apollo Portfolio Performance Solutions, Apollo Global Management

Aaron Miller is a Partner in Apollo’s Private Equity business and Head of Apollo Portfolio Performance Solutions (APPS), where he oversees efforts to support its deal teams and the management of its funds’ portfolio companies to drive more successful investment outcomes and build stronger companies. Prior to joining Apollo in 2019, Aaron was Chief Operating Officer of Catalina Marketing, where he was responsible for Innovation & Customer Delivery, which included Product, Technology, Analytics, Operations and Solutions in Europe, Japan and the US. Previously, he served as Operating Director at Berkshire Partners and was a Partner with Bain & Company where he held various leadership roles before that. Earlier in his career, Aaron also held key product and operations leadership roles with General Mills and Cereal Partners Worldwide, a joint venture between General Mills and Nestle, in the US and Latin America.

Aaron serves on the boards of Avaya and Bellwether Education Partners. He received his MBA from Wharton and his BS in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University and is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese.

Curt Miller

Senior Operating Partner, Littlejohn & Co

Curt has been an innovator and leader in global private equity operations for the past 20 years. In his current role as an Senior Operating Partner with Littlejohn & Co, Curt has aligned with the firm to create a portfolio wide platform leveraging the highly collaborative and successful approach to strategic sourcing developed during his prior experiences with New Mountain Capital, Ares Capital Management, TPG Capital, and Cerberus.

Before his work in private equity, Curt worked over ten years in multiple positions at GE, including Global Supply Chain Leader for GE Signaling and Senior Audit Manager for the Corporate Audit Staff. He began his career in the Operational Management Leadership Program for GE Transportation, and holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University.

Littlejohn Overview

Littlejohn & Co., established in 1996, is a value investor specializing in middle-market companies, with a focus on operational turnarounds, buyout opportunities, and various credit situations. Managing approximately $8 billion, the firm operates on principles of integrity, continuous improvement, open and direct communication, and boasts an experienced, stable, and aligned team with special-situations investing expertise. With a steady, deliberate growth strategy and a tradition of promoting from within, Littlejohn & Co. has broad industry experience and a unique carried-interest sharing model across strategies throughout the firm. Their investment approach is flexible and synergistic, emphasizing maximizing value from underperforming companies and inefficiencies, including strategies like Control Private Equity, distressed/special situations, and performing credit.

Todd Miller

CEO, Risk International

Todd Miller joined Risk International in 2015 as Chief Growth Officer. By 2016, he was promoted to President and, in July 2017, named CEO. As CEO, Todd is a key member of Risk International’s development team and board, primarily responsible for leading the company’s commercial activities and spearheading sales and marketing initiatives. Todd is also instrumental in identifying opportunities for expanding Risk International's service offerings, providing strategic vision and guidance, and setting long-term goals for the organization.

Todd has over 20 years of experience supporting private equity funds and their portfolio companies with their risk and benefits needs. Before joining Risk International, Todd spent 15 years overseeing risk management and benefits services at Oswald Companies. He finished his tenure as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the Columbus, Ohio office.

Risk International is an independent insurance, risk management consultant, and employee benefits advisor, delivering solutions through data and analytics. With no ties to the insurance industry, we align exclusively with our clients, providing unbiased support in navigating the changing insurance market. Our independent client-centric approach is evident in our transparent fee-for-service model, with 100% of fees directly paid by clients, eliminating conflicts of interest.

Recognizing that companies invest in insurance to shield themselves from financial losses, we understand the intricacies of securing appropriate coverage can be overwhelming. Leveraging our expertise and resources, we collaborate with clients to develop optimized insurance programs that are practical and cost-effective, ensuring that the insurance programs align precisely with our client's unique needs.

riskinternational.com

Mohamed Mirza

Director – Mubadala Performance Partners, Mubadala Investment Company

Mohamed Mirza serves as Director, Mubadala Performance Partners at Mubadala Investment Company, where he is responsible for overseeing several functional areas including Value Creation, Finance, Operations and Supply Chain. He served also as the Chief Executive Officer of Minesa (2018-2022), a mining company supported by Mubadala and focused on the development of the Soto Norte Gold Project in Colombia.

Mohamed left McKinsey & Company in 2013 as Engagement Manager, serving a wide range of clients across industries. He then joined Emirates Global Aluminium, a Mubadala Portfolio Company, as a Strategy and Planning Manager overseeing the merger integration between Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium. In 2014, he joined Mubadala as Vice President, Mining and Manufacturing at Mubadala Investment Company.

Mr. Mirza is a board member of Minesa, Avramar (Aquaculture business in Europe) and board observer of Culligan, and holds an MBA from INSEAD, a master’s degree in Strategy & Management of International Business from ESSEC Business School (France), and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the American University of Beirut (Lebanon).

Mubadala Investment Company, based in Abu Dhabi, is a global investment firm established by the government of the United Arab Emirates. With a diverse portfolio that spans more than 50 countries and reaching $276bn, Mubadala actively invests across various sectors, including consumer, technology, healthcare, real estate, and more. Its strategic investments are designed to drive sustainable financial returns and contribute to the UAE’s long-term economic development. Mubadala’s mission is to create value for its shareholder, the Abu Dhabi government, by investing in transformative projects and industries that spur growth and innovation. The firm is committed to responsible investment practices, with a focus on economic, social, and environmental impacts. Mubadala partners with leading companies and funds globally to expand its reach and enhance its capabilities, playing a key role in advancing the UAE's position on the global stage while supporting the nation’s economic diversification objectives.

Patrick Mizer

Portfolio CTO, Blue Star Innovation Partners

Patrick Mizer is an accomplished software executive with over fifteen years of leadership experience in Engineering and Product Development. At Blue Star, Patrick serves as the Portfolio CTO, overseeing the Product and Engineering Practices. He is responsible for product-driven value creation, technical due diligence, and the implementation of best practices across the portfolio.

Previously, Patrick ran Engineering and Product at Storable. He managed the team's growth from inception to $200 million in revenue. During his tenure, he successfully navigated multiple private equity transitions, led several strategic mergers and acquisitions, and developed Storable’s platform rationalization strategy, culminating in a $2 billion exit.

Blue Star Innovation Partners ("BSIP") is a Frisco-based investment firm that partners with leading software and payments companies.

By utilizing decades of operational experience, BSIP has deep functional expertise in all aspects of payments, software architecture, go-to-market strategy, pricing, partnerships, and M&A. BSIP combines a unique formula of top investment experience and talent along with unmatched operating experience to help businesses reach their full potential.

Sean Mooney

Founder and CEO, BluWave

Sean is a former NY-based private equity partner turned entrepreneur, founder and CEO. While in private equity, Sean and his peers in the PE industry experienced significant and growing pressures to devise new ways to more effectively assess opportunities and build value in companies under intensely competitive environments. Sean leveraged his years of experience investing in and supporting growth in data, network and information businesses to found BluWave and solve his own problem.

Sean is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Sachem Inc. and previously served on the Board of Directors of AGDATA, MD Buyline, Spectro Scientific, Ampac Packaging, and Alpha Sintered Metals.

Prior to founding BluWave, Sean was in the private equity industry for nearly 20 years, most recently serving as Partner and Member of the Investment Committee of SFW Capital Partners, a leading private equity firm specializing in information, data, and network enabled businesses. Sean received his MBA from Columbia Business School and BSBA from Georgetown University.

BluWave is the business builders’ network for private equity grade needs. BluWave innovatively combines technology, data, AI and human ingenuity to expertly connect businesses with proven operators across due diligence, value creation, and prep for sale. The BluWave Vetted™ network is an invite-only ecosystem of best-in-class individuals and service providing firms. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, BluWave ranks as one of America’s fastest growing companies and today serves more than 500 leading private equity firms and thousands of proactive businesses. Visit www.BluWave.net to learn more.

Alessandro Moretti

Head of Operational Value Creation, Public Investment Fund

Mr. Alessandro Moretti is currently leading the Operational Value Creation Team at the Public Investment Fund since December 2019, Executive Committee member in Noon since 2021 and Board Member in HPDC investment fund since 2022. Prior to his work at the Public Investment Fund, he held a number of leadership positions in various public and private sectors, including private equity operating partner in performance improvement team, and a Chief Transformation Officer in a global firm, with HQ in Switzerland. He also worked in one of the largest consulting firms - the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) - for more than 10 years in Europe. Alessandro holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School, a Master of Science from the Polytechnic University of Milan, and an Executive Certificate from MIT Sloan School of Management and Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Brenda Morris

Partner, CSuite Financial Partners

Brenda Morris, CGMA, CPA, MBA, is currently a partner with CSuite Financial Partners, a financial executive services firm. Brenda is an strategic and operationally focused executive and board advisor, with extensive experience as a CFO/COO in public and closely held companies including entrepreneurial start-ups, high-growth and mature organizations.

Brenda is on the Board of Directors of Xponential Fitness ("XPOF"-NASDAQ), iHerb and Boot Barn Holdings ("BOOT"-NYSE), where she chairs the audit committees and serves as Lead Independent Director for XPOF. She was formally a member of the Board of Directors for Duluth Trading Company, where she served on Audit Committee and Compensation Committee and the Board of Directors of Ideal Image Holdings and she serves on the advisory board of Asarasi Water. Brenda is on the Board of National Association of Corporate Directors, PSW Chapter, and formally on the Board of Regents of Pacific Lutheran University. Prior to her current work, Brenda served as CFO for a number of retailers, consumer products and lifestyle organizations, including Apex Parks, Hot Topic, Torrid, 5.11 Tactical, Zumiez, K2 Sports and Icicle Seafoods.

She is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University and earned her MBA from Seattle University.

Brad Mortimore

VP, Strategic Accounts, Zone & Co.

Brad is a former finance and accounting professional with over a decade of NetSuite expertise. Prior to his time with Zone, he spent 4 years as a Sr. Solution Consultant at NetSuite, specializing in SaaS billing and revenue recognition. Now as VP of Strategic Accounts at Zone, Brad works with top technology customers on Quote-to-Cash best practices.

Zone is reinventing the way companies approach back-office excellence, empowering finance leaders and their teams to scale and thrive in today's dynamic business landscape. Our highly flexible platform enhances out-of-the-box ERP capabilities, offering maximum visibility and control over company operations. From complex billing & revenue recognition to AP automation and advanced FP&A reporting, Zone's unified platform integrates seamlessly with leading ERP software, adapting precisely to evolving needs. Trusted by over 3,000 customers worldwide, Zone & Co is committed to delivering real-world solutions that deliver tangible results for its customers. Headquartered in Boston, MA, with hubs across Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia, we're dedicated to shaping the future of enterprise back-office management.

Kristin Murphy

Executive Leadership & Talent Expert, Entromy

Kristin’s passion is to help people and organizations realize and attain their highest potential by building inspiring and effective leadership and fostering a healthy culture. Her diverse career experience spans both consulting and executive positions as an operator in human capital, strategy, and product functions with public, private and PE owned organizations. Kristin has built both a deep understanding of leadership constructs and development approaches, and expertise with applying these practices as a business leader. She has presented at national and international professional conferences and is a lecturer and instructor at Duke University. Kristin brings a unique perspective to Entromy where she provides executive oversight for enterprise accounts, ensures global customer value, and advises on strategic product and growth initiatives. With Kristin’s expert guidance, the Entromy team helps clients swiftly extract deep insights across their portfolio companies, identify crucial risks to value creation, and enable time sensitive board level decisions.

Entromy is the leading strategy and organizational insights technology company and platform focused on helping Private Equity owned companies achieve results. We provide cutting-edge, actionable data and executive assessment that helps companies proactively understand readiness to execute and achieve key value drivers (innovation, scaling, M&A integration, commercial excellence, finance effectiveness, etc.) while identifying potential risks that could impact growth and value creation. The Entromy Insights Platform leverages cutting-edge natural language processing capabilities to synthesize insights for real-time organizational health visibility to support business due diligence, PMI, business transformations, rapid growth of distributed teams, and overall business performance.

Jeff Nagel

Operating Partner, AEA Investors

Jeff is an Operating Partner on AEA’s Middle Market Private Equity team. In his role, he is primarily focused on working with portfolio companies to maximize value creation through improved operating performance and cross-portfolio best practice development. He is a member of the AEA ESG leadership team and also works with AEA’s Best Practice Councils. Jeff serves on the Boards of Redwood Logistics, Numotion and the LoneStar and previously served on the boards TricorBraun Holdings Inc. and Visual Comfort & Co. He was also on the boards of former AEA portfolio companies Pro Mach Group Inc., Sparrows and Springs Window Fashions.

Before joining AEA, Jeff was the chief executive officer of NBTY Inc. NBTY is a leading global manufacturer and multi-channel marketer of supplements. He was formerly a corporate officer of GE and most recently led the Global Services division of GE Oil & Gas as VP and GM, based out of Italy. He previously ran GE Inspection Technologies as president and chief executive officer, based out of Germany. Prior to that, he was the president of GE Home Electric Products. He also served as general manager of business development in GE Aircraft Engines. He joined GE in May of 1997 as the manager of business development at GE Lighting. Before joining GE, Jeff was vice president of marketing at a biotech start-up, Energy Biosystems Corporation. He started his career in management consulting with Strategic Planning Associates (now Oliver Wyman) and Cannon Associates.

Jeff graduated from Carnegie Mellon University where he earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering with honors as well as an M.B.A. from The Tepper School of Business with honors. Jeff sponsors and works with Carnegie Mellon undergraduate engineering leadership courses as well as Tepper Accelerate Leadership Center. He also mentors graduate business projects at Middle Tennessee State University. He formerly was a Board member of the Cold Spring Harbor Lab association.

Apurva Nair

Partner, Oliver Wyman

Apurva Nair is a New York City based Partner in Oliver Wyman’s Private Capital practice. He has more than 15 years of experience working closely with PE firms on both, pre and post-deal initiatives. Apurva’s industry expertise includes manufacturing/industrials and telecom/enterprise software, with a highly successful, multi-year track record of value-creation across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

In the Industrials/manufacturing space, Apurva focuses on operational diligences and post-close value-creation efforts, aimed at helping his PE clients realize improved operating performance in accelerated time frames. Apurva has an engineering background, which informs execution strategies and tactical approaches, particularly around VA/VE and product cost down initiatives.

Currently, Apurva leads Oliver Wyman’s intersection of Private Equity and Operations in North America– a specialized team focused on helping PE-owned manufacturing and distribution businesses maximize their potential upsides in operating performance.

Apurva holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s degree in Engineering Management, and an MS in Applied Mathematics from Dartmouth College.

Narayanaswamy, Balaji, OP, NAPA, 24, CROPPED

Bala Narayanaswamy

Global Head of Private Equity, Infosys

Bala leads the Private Equity team for Infosys and brings c.25 years in the technology industry. Over the last decade, he has advised several PE firms on key technology opportunities and challenges holistically across the full investment cycle as well as specifically on key domain topics such as Digital. He has hands on experience in executing technology due diligence, carve outs, integration, cost takeouts, transformation and value creation projects on behalf of PE firms and/or the Management teams.

Bala has an MBA from INSEAD (France) as well as Masters in Software Engineering from SMU, Texas. Bala is a Djokovic super fan and enjoys weekend tennis games at his local club in London.

Malcolm O'Neal

CHRO, Renovo Home Partners

Malcolm O’Neal is the CHRO for Renovo Home Partners, a PE-backed home improvement platform backed by Audax Private Equity. Malcolm has 25+ years of human resource leadership in complex, global B2B and B2C companies and led reorganization and transformation in public, private, and PE-backed environments. Malcolm’s has held CHRO leadership roles at MRC Global (NYSE: MRC), BJ Services (PE Sponsors: Goldman Sachs & CSL Capital), and Ascend Performance Materials (PE Sponsor: SK Capital).

As an engineering-trained problem solver and operations-oriented business partner, Malcolm takes a business first approach to human resources to help teams and leaders deliver breakthrough performance in organizations. Malcolm earned his bachelor’s in chemistry and masters in human resource development from Clemson University, and MBA from Penn State. Malcolm resides in Houston, Texas with his wife and teenage daughter.

About Renovo Home Partners

Based in Dallas, Texas and formed in November 2021 with the backing of Audax Private Equity, Renovo Home Partners is a Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) platform providing a full range of home repair and remodel (R&R) products and services to homeowners across the United States. As a growing national network, Renovo has acquired 7 industry-leading regional companies to-date with over 1,800 US-based employees.

About Audax Private Equity

Based in Boston and San Francisco, Audax Private Equity is a leading middle market investment firm with approximately $19 billion of assets under management, over 270 employees, and 100-plus

Kevin O'Neill

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Acertitude

As co-founder and managing partner of Acertitude, Kevin is dedicated to unlocking the full potential of today's leading organizations by discovering, connecting, and empowering brilliant leaders.

With a 25+ year career in executive search, he has earned the reputation as a trusted advisor to global board members, CEOs, and C-suite executives, having led more than 2,000 searches for prominent companies and private equity firms worldwide.

Acertitude’s success builds on Kevin’s establishment and leadership of O’Neill Consulting, an Acertitude company, which now specializes in senior management search, which he founded in 1996. His early career included roles at investment banks like Merrill Lynch and Kidder, Peabody & Co., as well as a senior position at a major search firm in Philadelphia. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Marietta College.

Kevin serves on the board of Avishkar Holdings, a biotech investment firm, and was a board member and founder of Cargenix, a clinical-stage CAR-t cell immunotherapy company acquired by a strategic buyer. He is actively involved in public service as a trustee of his alma mater and the Bryant University College of Business Dean’s Council, as well as a director of the World War II Foundation board. Previously, Kevin chaired the boards of the American Heart Association and the YMCA of Greater Providence.

Outside of work, Kevin prioritizes quality time with his family and community. A health and wellness advocate, he maintains an aggressive active outdoor lifestyle and is passionate about skiing, cycling, and rucking.

Acertitude is the executive search firm unleashing human potential for private equity firms and portfolio companies globally. We recruit Board, CEO, and C-level talent that transform businesses, teams, and performance. Our approach to search is built on taking extreme ownership of our client’s needs. We get closer to clients, move at your speed, and turn insight into impact.

https://www.acertitude.com/

Ash Padmanabhan

Private Equity Practice Leader, Genpact

Ash has been with Genpact since 2018 and currently leads Genpact’s Private Equity Practice.

In prior Genpact roles, he led the High-Tech and Services businesses. Prior to joining Genpact, he held leadership positions in P&L as well as Shared Services at Wolters Kluwer and American Express in New York since 2010. He started his career in 2001 in Investment and Real Estate roles in London.

He lives in Manhattan with his family, enjoys playing in squash and football (“soccer”) leagues, and is an avid global traveller and skier.

Genpact (NYSE: G) is a global professional services firm that transforms and runs operations in the areas of Finance, Procurement and Supply Chain, IT, HRO and Customer Care. We work with PE firms and their portfolio companies to speedily realize enterprise value.

As a mid-sized firm ourselves, we combine the power of big and small, provide full stack solutions maximizing the benefits of data strategies and AI, working with our full spectrum of tech partnerships.

Our 125,000+ people across 30+ countries are driven by our innate curiosity, entrepreneurial agility, and desire to create lasting value for clients. We connect every dot, reimagine every process, and reinvent the ways companies work. Get to know us at Genpact.com/industries/private-equity

Paul Pan

Private Equity Value Creation Lead Partner, KPMG Strategy

Paul Pan is a Partner in the KPMG Deal Advisory and Strategy practice and serves as the Private Equity Strategy Leader. Based in New York, Paul is a trusted advisor to private equity and corporate clients on complex operational transactions and transformations, with a specific focus on complex carve-out transactions.

He has worked with many of the largest Private Equity funds, and their internal operations groups, providing operational due diligence support as well as portfolio company value creation services. Paul has expertise in defining value creation programs and has led several transformation programs for private equity portfolio companies which required executing on multiple operational levers and resulted in enhanced profitability.

Paul has knowledge across several industry verticals, focusing on consumer products and industrials.

As Private Equity Lead Partner at KPMG Strategy, Paul plays a pivotal role to align KPMG sector depth and firm-wide solutions to best serve our Private Equity clients throughout the transact to transformation journey.

Kristin Patrick

Senior Operating Partner, Human Capital, New State Capital Partners

Kristin joined New State Capital Partners six years ago as Senior Operating Partner, Human Capital with more than 20 years of hands-on growth strategy, talent acquisition & development experience. New State takes a hands-on role in value creation and Operating Partners are a full time, integral part of the firm's team, bringing functional expertise and seniority to the growth process.

The bulk of Kristin’s career has been focused on strategic talent acquisition for a wide range of industries including industrials and manufacturing across a broad spectrum of company sizes from startups to F100s. Kristin specializes in helping companies grow quickly and build value. She has worked across a range of companies in roles including advisor, mentor and coach.

Prior to New State, Kristin spent six years at Business Talent Group (now part of Heidrick & Struggles) and also ran a boutique executive search firm, focused on venture capital and their portfolio companies.

Kristin received her M.B.A. from NYU's Stern School of Business and her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

New State Capital invests in founder-led companies in B-to-B services and Industrials ($8-$40 Million EBITDA) with a focus on value creation and growth. The firm strives to be nimble, decisive and cooperative, approaching each potential investment as an opportunity to create a long lasting and valuable relationship.

New State has made a deliberate choice to employ an experienced team, deploying a fully-dedicated Operations team for every investment.

Marni Payne

Managing Director, Berkshire Partners

Marni Payne is a Managing Director and a member of the Consumer specialist investment team at Berkshire Partners. Throughout her tenure at Berkshire, she has worked with management teams to provide support as a thought partner, helping them grow into enduring leaders in their markets.

Marni’s current directorships and primary portfolio company involvements are:

CrossFit, the world’s leading health platform (Boulder, CO);

Kendra Scott, a designer and marketer of fashion jewelry (Austin, TX)

Fast Growing Trees, the largest digitally native seller of trees and shrubs (Charlotte, NC)

Marni began her career as an Associate at Berkshire Partners.

Marni is active in various charitable activities including National Multiple Sclerosis Society where she served as a board member. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with my husband, son and daughter.

Education

A.B. from Dartmouth

M.B.A from Harvard

Berkshire Partners is a 100% employee-owned, multi-sector specialist investor in private and public equity. The firm’s private equity team invests in well-positioned, growing companies across technology & communications, consumer, healthcare, and services & industrials. Since inception, Berkshire Partners has made more than 150 private equity investments and has a strong history of collaborating with management teams to grow the companies in which it invests. Stockbridge, founded in 2007, manages a concentrated portfolio, seeking attractive long-term investments. The firm’s Stockbridge and Private Equity teams frequently collaborate and leverage their collective industry expertise across sectors. For additional information, visit www.berkshirepartners.com.

Darren Peirce

Partner, Cuesta Partners

Darren has a 20+ year track record of partnering with enterprises to drive strategic advantage from their use of data and AI. Over the last few years, Darren has established a leading Data and AI Practice at Cuesta Partners, working with numerous Private, Growth and Venture sponsored organizations, to drive differentiation through data. Prior to Cuesta Darren leveraged his deep AI & Data expertise to lead customer-driven product and engineering organizations, in the enterprise data management software market for VC and PE backed businesses, as CTO and CPO for companies like Magnitude Software, Kalido, Noetix. Here he partnered with the executive team to deliver new product innovation, augmented by acquisitive growth, leading to multiple high-value exit events.

Angelo Perez

Managing Director, Pacific Avenue Capital Partners

Angelo Perez is a Managing Director at Pacific Avenue Capital Partners. In his role at Pacific, Mr. Perez focuses his efforts on acquisition due diligence, portfolio company operations, and corporate strategy. Prior to joining Pacific, Mr. Perez served as Vice President of Portfolio Operations with KPS Capital Partners, as CFO with Compass Health Brands and Dynamic Machine, as Principal with NexusPoint Partners, and as a Vice President of Portfolio Operations with Platinum Equity. Mr. Perez graduated with a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan. He is a Certified Turnaround Professional (CTP) and Certified Insolvency & Restructuring Advisor (CIRA)

Pacific Avenue Capital Partners is a Los Angeles-based private equity firm focused on corporate divestitures and other complex situations in the middle market. Pacific Avenue has extensive M&A and operations experience, allowing the firm to navigate complex transactions and unlock value through operational improvement, capital investment, and accelerated growth. The members of the Pacific Avenue team have closed over 105 transactions, including over 40 corporate divestitures, across a multitude of industries throughout their combined careers. Pacific Avenue takes a collaborative approach in partnering with strong management teams to drive lasting and strategic change while assisting businesses in reaching their full potential. For additional information, visit www.pacificavenuecapital.com

Daniel Perry

Resource Partner Sales Excellence, Court Square Capital Partners

Dan Perry joined Court Square in 2024 as Resource Partner Sales Excellence. He has over 34 years of experience in Sales, Sales Leadership and Sales & Marketing Consulting working with private equity, pubic, small-middle and enterprise markets. He works collaboratively to assist companies in dramatically scaling their productivity, providing capacity to their go-to market teams and helps accelerate revenue growth.

Prior to Court Square, Dan founded and managed the Sales Excellence Team for Parthenon Capital and Riverside's Micro-Cap Fund. Those Sales Excellence team accelerated revenue growth for over 130 middle-market portfolio companies in healthcare, financial, manufacturing, industrial and business services. Previously, Dan Companies on all aspects Sales and Marketing. He also was a Principal Consultant for Sales Benchmark Index (SBI). Prior to SBI, Dan held Sales and Sales Leadership roles at Three Day Blinds, Lavi Industries, Aramark and Cintas.

Dan is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University where he received a B.A. in Economics.

Pat Petitti

Co-Founder, CEO, Catalant Technologies

Pat Petitti is the co-founder and CEO of Catalant, which he started in 2013 as a class project at Harvard Business School and has since grown into the premier provider of agile consulting services to the Fortune 500. Petitti is also co-author of a book titled, Reimagining Work: Strategies to Disrupt Talent, Lead Change, and Win with a Flexible Workforce, which lays out a vision and path for a new relationship between global companies and talent. In 2016, he received an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the New England region. Prior to co-founding Catalant, Petitti was a consultant at negotiation and conflict management consulting firm Vantage Partners, and before that at Booz Allen Hamilton. Petitti received his Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Catalant Technologies is the creator of Consulting 2.0 and the leader in on-demand access to the world’s best independent consultants and teams. Trusted by hundreds of leading private equity firms and their portfolio companies for flexible, fit-to-purpose consulting, Catalant's platform gives firms and their portfolio companies access to a network of thousands of experienced business professionals, matching them to pre-vetted professionals who have solved their specific problems before.

Jason Phillips

Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

Jason Phillips is a Senior Partner in the London office of McKinsey & Company and leads the Firm's Private Capital practice in the UK.  He is Global Leader of Portfolio Company Alpha, which focuses on bringing the best of McKinsey to PE-owned portfolio companies to transform their performance and drive above-benchmark returns for investors.  He has convened McKinsey’s engagement with the PE operating group community since 2015 as the Firm’s expert on the topic.

For almost 30 years, Jason has been working closely with private equity investors and business leaders to drive value creation, as an operator, advisor and consultant. Over the course of his 12-plus year McKinsey career, he has led functional and holistic transformations of multiple portfolio companies across a breadth of industries.

He previously led McKinsey's Private Equity practice on the West Coast of the US and continues to convene McKinsey’s engagement with the PE operating partner community. He has co-authored articles focused on PE operating groups and portfolio value creation and is a frequent speaker on the topic.

A seasoned chief executive, Jason led the turnaround and growth of a vertically-integrated portfolio company – with production in seven countries and distribution in 35 – for the eight years prior to joining McKinsey. For the decade before this, he served a range of companies and financial sponsors as an investment banker. He holds a BA, cum laude, from Williams College, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Scott Phillips

Managing Director, ORIX Capital Partners

Scott Phillips is a Managing Director at ORIX Capital Partners (“OCP”) and leads the portfolio operations team responsible for operational improvement initiatives and due diligence. Prior to joining ORIX in 2018, Mr. Phillips served in various management roles at TE Connectivity, Continental AG, and Motorola. Mr. Phillips earned an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Michigan State University.

ORIX Capital Partners (“OCP”), a subsidiary of ORIX Corporation USA, started investing in 2016, and has deployed approximately $750 million across industrial and business services. OCP has a thematic investment approach and experienced in-house operating resources and industry advisors to (1) provide due diligence, underwriting and investment management support, and (2) emphasize strong and supportive partnerships with management teams to improve operations through strategic value creation programs and tactical enhancements, along with deep add-on integration support.

Andy Pickens

Managing Director Apollo Global Management

Andy Pickens serves as Managing Director - Digital, Data & AI within Apollo Global's Private Equity fund. In this capacity, Mr. Pickens works closely with management teams and investment teams to develop and execute digital transformation theses that drive growth and improve performance within portfolio companies. Prior to joining Apollo in 2018, Mr. Pickens served in Business Operations & Strategy at Palantir Technologies, leading big data and digital transformation engagements at Fortune 500 clients, primarily in the logistics and pharmaceuticals industries. Previously, from 2012 until the company's sale in 2016, he was CEO and Co-Founder of Jamplify, a data analytics and marketing software company based in New York. He started his career at Goldman Sachs in the Emerging Markets group of the Securities division. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Duke University with a Bachelor of Science in Economics.

Michael Picton

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, ENDUIR Cyber

Michael recognizes that an effective response requires an integrated approach with blended skillsets across the incident command, forensics, containment, recovery, and remediation work-streams. He has almost 25 years of technology and cybersecurity experience in both industry & global consulting.

After spending many years building and leading programs to defend GE’s intellectual property against advanced threats, he co-founded managed detection and response (MDR) firm Morphick, which was recognized by Gartner as a “pioneer” in the MDR services market and ranked among the top firms to hold the NSA CIRA accreditation for incident response services.

Following the acquisition of Morphick by Booz Allen Hamilton, Michael led cybersecurity practices for global consulting firms, advising clients on cybersecurity strategy, incident response, and M&A transactions.

Enduir Cyber is the leading cybersecurity firm focused on Private Equity value creation.

In today’s market of fast paced transactions, cross industry investments, and a focus on technology enablement; Private Equity firms need a cybersecurity partner that understands the complexities of the M&A lifecycle.

Enduir’s Private Equity Portfolio Resilience (PEPR) Program™ delivers value from pre-close diligence all the way through sell-side preparation. We closely tailor each PEPR program with the Operating Partner to mitigate risk and build Portfolio cyber resilience throughout the investment period. When cyber incidents do occur, Enduir provides a white-glove Incident Command service to respond, recover, and get the PortCo back to business.

David Reid

Senior Managing Director, Teneo

David is a Senior Managing Director with Teneo’s Management Consulting business and serves as the leader of the Global Private Equity Growth Practice.

David’s focus is advising leading Private Equity investors on top-line growth, value creation and transaction advisory. David has run over 150 top-line growth projects which in aggregate have added over $5Bn in Enterprise Value for PE funds.

David founded Teneo’s Global Private Equity Growth Practice in 2018. This practice exists to increase the Enterprise Value of Private Equity backed assets. The practice now has 35-40 specialized resources, split between Teneo’s London and New York offices.

He previously worked for Credo, a boutique strategy consulting firm in London, which was founded in 1999 and acquired by Teneo in 2017. Prior to Credo, David has worked for Simon-Kucher & Partners and Citigroup.

Teneo is a global CEO advisory firm dedicated to partnering with clients to achieve impactful outcomes for a better future. With over 1,600 employees in 40+ offices worldwide, Teneo focuses on providing strategic guidance and comprehensive solutions. They offer a range of advisory services across strategic communications, investor relations, financial transactions, management consulting, risk management, organizational design, and more.

Teneo's Management Consulting division specializes in addressing complex challenges faced by businesses and industry leaders. This includes strategic planning, operational improvements, transaction support, and value creation for stakeholders and investors.

Within the Management Consulting division, the PE Growth Practice is focused on driving growth for B2B PE-backed assets, particularly in the software, data, tech services, and business services sectors. The practice leverages deep sector expertise and functional knowledge from across Teneo to deliver exceptional results in shareholder value realization, commercial models, product and market strategy, sales optimization, and delivery models.

Dave Richards

Managing Director, Co-Head US Operating Team, SVPGlobal

Mr. Richards is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the North American Operating Team.

Prior to joining SVP, Mr. Richards was with Advent International for fourteen years, where he was a senior member of the Portfolio Support Group and head of the North American Operations Advisor program, a team of functional expert former CXOs that partnered with Advent’s portfolio companies. Before Advent, Mr. Richards spent time at Bain & Company and A.T. Kearney. He began his career at Kraft Foods as an engineer in the R&D group.

Mr. Richards holds a BS in Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

We are purpose-built to invest in debt, private equity, event-driven and financing opportunities. We combine direct sourcing, financial and operational expertise to calibrate risk, protect the downside and capitalize on the upside.

The firm has established teams of investment professionals, business development executives, operating partners and an advisory council of former senior bank executives and chairpersons. The firm is headquartered in Greenwich, CT and has operated from London since 2004. The firm also maintains a presence in Tokyo and New York.

We are committed to responsible investing according to the principles of our ESG policy.

Caroline Ritter

Senior Advisor, Go-To-Market and Commercial Excellence, TPG

Caroline Ritter serves as a Go-to-Market and Commercial Excellence Senior Advisor for TPG, a leading global alternative asset manager. In her role within TPG’s private equity business, Caroline works with senior executives from portfolio companies in the Capital, Growth and Rise funds to drive commercial excellence and profitable growth through value creation.

Prior to joining TPG, Caroline served as a senior commercial, strategy and operations executive at Third Bridge Limited Co. and CEB, now Gartner. Through over 25 years working in high-growth global businesses, her experience includes but is not limited to leading sales, account management, customer success, strategy, operations and enablement teams; driving large-scale transformation initiatives; and designing GTM strategies and operational ecosystems to generate and sustain healthy scalable growth across time.  Caroline has also established and led several women’s EAG groups as well as mentoring and leadership programs across the course of her career.

Caroline graduated with a B.S. in Biology from the University of Virginia. Outside of work, Caroline enjoys time with family and friends; travel; cooking; and is an active supporter of animal welfare causes.

Zorian Rotenberg

Operating Partner, Charlesbank Capital Partners

Zorian works at the Tech Fund at Charlesbank Capital Partners, focusing on deal diligence to identify opportunities for unlocking growth and on value creation for middle-market portfolio companies. He has a dual background in finance/investing and senior executive experience, having grown several global tech companies to successful exits. He started his career in Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch in New York, focusing on M&A and financing transactions within the Financial Institutions Group (FIG). He also worked on the Investment Team, investing in private software investments and later held C-level executive roles, leading global commercial teams. Combining his finance and investing background with executive experience, Zorian brings a unique and diverse perspective to assessing investment opportunities while understanding firsthand what it takes to execute and scale a business. He has shared his insights as a speaker at private equity conferences, including those hosted by PEI and ACG. Zorian majored in Finance, specializing in Investment Management, with minors in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from Lehigh University. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Joe Rubino

Managing Director & CISO | Co-Head of Portfolio Resources Group, GTCR

Joe joined GTCR in 2022 as Managing Director and Chief Information Security Officer. He focuses on both GTCR security and data privacy, as well as supporting our portfolio companies on similar initiatives. Joe also co-leads the firm’s Portfolio Resources Group, which provides functional support to GTCR’s investment teams and portfolio company leadership.

Prior to joining GTCR, Joe was the Global Chief Information Security Officer at HCL Software and the Chief Information Security Officer at Bloomberg Industry Group. Prior to his private sector experiences, Joe spent 15 years with the Central Intelligence Agency as an Intelligence Officer in the Office of Security. Joe holds a BS degree from Saint Joseph’s University and has completed executive leadership programs at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the Harvard Kennedy School.

Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm that invests through The Leaders Strategy™ – finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through organic growth and strategic acquisitions. The firm is focused on investing in transformative growth in companies in the Business & Consumer Services, Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare and Technology, Media & Telecommunications sectors. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $25 billion in over 280 companies, and currently manages $40 billion in equity capital. GTCR is based in Chicago with offices in New York and West Palm Beach.

John Sander

Principal, Lightyear Capital

John Sander is a Principal at Lightyear Capital joining in 2022. Previously, John was with McKinsey & Company and the operating arm of Vista Equity Partners. Mr. Sander holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Pomona College and was a Fulbright Scholar in Machine Learning in Germany. He received his M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Lightyear Capital is a specialist private equity firm that partners with growth companies at the nexus of financial services and technology, healthcare, and business services. For over 20 years, Lightyear has worked closely with management and leveraged its industry expertise, operating resources, and network of advisors to accelerate growth and build market leading businesses.

Tim Sanders

Vice President, Research Insights, G2

Tim Sanders is the VP of Research Insights at G2, the leading marketplace for software. He’s also an executive fellow at the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard, where he’s laser focused on how AI impacts businesses, and how things will shape up over the next few years.

He’s a NY Times bestselling author of five books, including Love is the Killer App. He was an early stage member of Mark Cuban’s broadcast.com and after its acquisition by Yahoo rose to serve as their CSO.

Chris Satchell

Managing Director Technology & Digital, Clayton Dubilier & Rice

Mr Satchell joined CD＆R in 2020. Prior to CD＆R, he spent twenty-five years in software and technology industries spanning five different CXO roles. Most recently, Mr Satchell served as CTO of Zume Inc., building AI, logistics and robotic systems to improve sustainability in the food supply chain. Prior to Zume, he served as chief product officer and head of consumer engineering at Comcast, responsible for product, design, and technology for consumer video, high speed data/Wi-Fi, IoT, and home security. Previously, Mr Satchell was CTO of Nike, helping to build their digital and direct-to-consumer businesses, and CTO and EVP of R＆D for IGT, the global leader in casino systems and entertainment. He started his executive career at Microsoft where he helped to build and ship Xbox 360 and was CTO of the interactive entertainment business. Mr. Satchell has a B.Sc. (Hons), computing, D.I.S., from Loughborough University.

Founded in 1978, Clayton, Dubilier ＆ Rice (CD＆R) is a private investment firm with a strategy predicated on building stronger, more profitable businesses. Since inception, CD＆R has managed the investment of more than $45 billion USD in 120 businesses representing a broad range of industries with an aggregate transaction value of more than $188 billion. The firm has offices in New York and London.

Graham Sayers

Operating Partner, AEA Investors

In 2024, Graham Sayers joined as an Operating Partner on AEA’s Middle Market Private Equity team, with a focus on finance and accounting. In his role, he works closely with the investment team to diligence new opportunities as well as support the existing portfolio.

Prior to joining AEA, he served as the CFO for a number of private equity-backed companies, including Elgin National, Tekni-Plex, Caraustar, and Truck Hero (now RealTruck). Graham’s early career was at General Electric, where he started as a corporate audit staff member and over time was elevated to more complex, operating finance roles.

Graham attended Aston University where he earned a Master of engineering degree in electronic systems engineering.

Avra Schaaf

Principal, Lead Edge Capital

Avra leads the Value Creation practice at Lead Edge Capital, where she is responsible for partnering with the portfolio to achieve the investment thesis, evaluating opportunities during due diligence, and determining ways to improve our ability to support sustainable long-term success for the portfolio.

Most recently Avra built out the Revenue Strategy & Operations practice on Vista’s GTM consulting team. Prior to her life in private equity, Avra spent over a decade as a GTM Strategy & Operations practitioner in the SaaS space. She has experience scaling companies across a wide range from $10M to $1B+ across vertical and horizontal software solutions. She has worked across a variety of end-markets ranging from customer experience, marketing & consumer generated content, cyber security, recruiting, healthcare solutions, transportation, employee safety, compliance, revenue optimization, and sales efficiency among others. Prior to her career in SaaS, Avra was a corporate attorney focused on M&A, Private Equity & Securities law.
Avra earned her juris doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley and her B.A. at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Avra is based out of the firm's NY office, where she travels frequently, but lives full time in Austin, Texas.

Thorsten Schäfer

Managing Director, Head of Procurement, EQT

Thorsten Schäfer serves as Head of Procurement and Managing Director at EQT, where he supports EQT portfolio companies and deal teams in the value creation contribution from 3rd party spend optimization and the professionalization of portfolio companies' Procurement operating model.

EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with c. $250 billion AUM and three decades of developing companies across multiple geographies, sectors, and strategies covering all phases of a business’s development, from start-up to maturity.

Prior to joining EQT, Thorsten was a Senior Director at Alvarez & Marsal and a member of the European Procurement leadership team. He led complex Procurement performance improvement- and transformation projects and acted as interim Chief Procurement Officer for corporate and private equity clients in diverse industry sectors. Before joining A&M, Thorsten held different positions with Wincor Nixdorf AG, including Chief Procurement Officer Asia, Head of Supply Chain Management Office and Director Global Purchasing.

With over 20 years of experience, Thorsten provided leadership and hands-on implementation work realizing superior savings for direct and indirect spend categories, optimizing and de-risking end to end supply chains, and developing and implementing enhanced Procurement target operating models in international contexts.

EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with $250 billion AUM and three decades of developing companies across multiple geographies, sectors, and strategies covering all phases of a business’s development, from start-up to maturity. Headquartered in Sweden and with over 1,800 employees, EQT is invested in c. 300 portfolio companies worldwide and one of the world’s largest private equity firms based on AUM.

Doug Schrock

Managing Principal, Artificial Intelligence, Crowe LLP

As the managing principal of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption at Crowe, Doug is at the forefront of guiding Crowe clients and the organization through a pivotal transformation. With a career spanning over three decades, he has dedicated himself to advising clients on assessing, adapting to, and implementing transformative and disruptive technologies tied to their business strategy. The application of AI will be a central element of the firm’s client service delivery and a part of every role across our team of over 6,000 professionals and more than 35 offices in the United States.

Doug’s responsibilities include:

· Growing client-focused AI services, including AI transformation, AI governance, AI data, and AI software implementation

· Expanding utilization of AI into all existing Crowe solutions to help clients and Crowe build enterprise value

· Supporting the firm’s AI technology relationships

· Maintaining adherence to strict governance protocols to enable the firm to implement AI in a responsible way that aligns with its values and is compliant with all applicable regulatory protocols and standards

Doug has served on the board of directors at Crowe and held numerous firmwide leadership roles, which aligns with his typical client relationships, often including CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, PE investors, and BOD members. His experience with clients spans many industries, including private equity, healthcare, technology, services, manufacturing and distribution, and the public sector.

Crowe LLP (www.crowe.com) is a public accounting and consulting firm with offices in more than 130 countries around the world. Crowe helps clients make smart decisions that lead to lasting value throughout the deal lifecycle with its audit, tax, and consulting services, helping businesses uncover hidden opportunities in the market – no matter what challenges the markets present. Whether you are preparing to buy, integrate an add-on, or exit an investment, Crowe has the breadth of private equity services and depth of expertise to get to the solution that works for you.  Our private equity client base consists of more than 450 private equity groups and 1,200 portfolio companies. Each private equity relationship is managed by a single, dedicated partner who oversees the delivery of all services. 

Ken Schwartz

Director, KKR

Ken Schwartz (New York) supports value creation across KKR’s investments in Industrials Private Equity in the Americas and its U.S. Private Credit strategy. Before joining KKR, Ken was a director at SVPGlobal, an investment firm focused on distressed debt and private equity opportunities. Prior to that, he was an associate partner at McKinsey & Company, where he supported industrial companies in executing large-scale turnarounds. He holds an A.B. from Princeton University in Public Policy and International Affairs.

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

Drew Scielzo

Operating Partner, ACON Investments

Drew Scielzo leads the Operating Group at ACON Investments, which he joined 9 years ago. He is responsible for overseeing ACON’s portfolio in Europe, North America, and South America. In addition, he works directly with a multitude of portfolio companies providing advice on a range of operational issues. Prior to joining ACON, he was an Operating Partner with Monomoy Capital where he was responsible for developing and implementing comprehensive profit improvement programs for portfolio companies. Prior to Monomoy, Mr. Scielzo was a Principal at Allied Capital and the Director of Portfolio Management and Analysis at the Riverside Company. Mr. Scielzo began his career at McKinsey and Company. Mr. Scielzo received a B.S. in Economics, summa cum laude, in Finance and Accounting from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University.

ACON Investments, headquartered in Washington, DC, is an international private equity firm investing in North America, Latin America and Europe. Founded in 1996, ACON has raised more than $6.2 billion of capital to date and has professionals in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Mexico City, São Paulo, Bogotá and Madrid.

Susan Scutt

Managing Director, Operating Directors & Entrepreneurial Governance, Partners Group

Susan Scutt is part of the Operating Directors and Entrepreneurial Governance business unit, based in New York. She has 21+ years of transformative experience across consulting, corporate, and investment firms. She spent the last 9 years in Private Equity value creation initially driving the transformation of a Vista Equity Partners-owned company, then joining the firm as Chief of Staff/VP Operations within their flagship fund. Susan later stood up the portfolio operations function at TCV and spent time driving value creation within Sun Capital Partners technology businesses. She holds an MBA from Oakland University and a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from Kettering University.

Andrew Seay

Managing Partner, Arcos Group

Andrew Seay is the managing partner at Arcos Group, a consulting firm specializing in corporate transformations. Prior to founding Arcos Group, Andrew worked in McKinsey & Company’s RTS (Recovery & Transformation Services) practice, where he led the design and execution of transformative programs with manufacturing, mining and technology clients. Andrew holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a dual degree in Mechanical Engineering and Economic Geography from Northwestern University.

Robert Sheesley

Board of Directors, Chief Information Officer, BUMP Search

Robert Sheesley is an executive leader with experience driving transformational change and growth across mid-market and Fortune 500 organizations. He is known for being a people-focused leader recognized for building teams of experts, creating critical mass, and delivering exceptional results. In his role as Chief Information Officer of Wrench Group, Robert was responsible for the operations and evolution of the information and computing platforms enabling Wrench Group’s historic growth from $250M to $1.8B in revenue over seven years. His accomplishments included building a team of high performing information technology professionals, driving innovation and adoption of technology across the growing acquisitive enterprise to support data-driven strategies, information-based decision making and digital transformation to create competitive advantage and drive organic and transactional growth, receiving several technology industry awards, including HotTopics’ 2024 Global CIO 100, 2023 Georgia CIO of The Year and Technology Association of Georgia’s 2022 Digital Transformation Project of The Year.

Before joining Wrench Group, Robert held various senior leadership roles in business consulting, innovation, technology operations and product development. His expertise in systems development and integration, and M&A pre-deal due diligence and post-deal integrations evolved in leadership roles at Andersen Consulting, CNA Insurance, Alvarez & Marsal, West Monroe Partners, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Mylan.

Robert began his career as a United States Marine and systems engineer with Electronic Data Systems. He holds a MBA and Bachelor of Science Degree from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, a Cyber Security Leadership Certification and Enterprise Architecture Certification from Carnegie Mellon University, a TOGAF 9 Enterprise Architecture Certification from The Open Group, a Business Architecture Certification from the Business Architecture Guild, and a Merger and Acquisition Integration Advisor Certificate from Pritchett, LP.

Subhi Sherwell

Operations Director, TPG Capital

Subhi Sherwell is a Director at TPG Capital with a focus on upgrading the Finance capabilities of TPG healthcare, software, consumer and digital media portfolio companies.

As part of TPG’s Operations team, he has partnered with dozens of portfolio company leadership teams in EMEA and North America to drive the transformation of their finance functions and optimize reporting, forecasting and FP&A, including during carveouts, integrations and platform builds.

Drawing on his over 20 years’ experience in the field, Subhi leads TPG’s cross-portfolio cash management activities, focusing on unlocking cash from Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and Inventory, which has helped maintain liquidity for many TPG portfolio companies in the portfolios during COVID and beyond.

Subhi received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Oxford and is a Member of the UK Securities and Investment Institute. He is fluent in Russian and French.

TPG is a leading global alternative asset management firm, founded in San Francisco in 1992, with $222 billion of assets under management and investment and operational teams around the world. TPG invests across a broadly diversified set of strategies, including private equity, impact, credit, real estate, and market solutions, and our unique strategy is driven by collaboration, innovation and inclusion

James Silberstein

Director of Commercial Excellence, Trivest Partners

James joined Trivest in 2022 to lead Commercial Excellence and Revenue Optimization for Trivest’s portfolio companies. In this role, he drives revenue and EBITDA growth by applying the proprietary Path to 3x system to pricing, go-to-market, and sales effectiveness initiatives. Prior to joining Trivest, James spent five years focused on revenue growth at Blue Ridge Partners, and before that held sales and marketing roles at national technology providers. He received his BA from Duke University.

Trivest is one of the oldest and most successful middle market Private Equity firms in the country. Trivest focuses exclusively on founder & family-owned businesses across a wide variety of industries, working alongside founders to grow their companies with a proprietary “Path to 3x” strategy.

Saurabh Singh

Partner, AlixPartners

Saurabh has diverse experience across multiple industries and has helped many organizations realize tangible revenue growth and cost savings across various functional areas.

More specifically, Saurabh specializes in end-to-end company transformation including growth strategy, commercial effectiveness, services optimization, customer success, field operations, product portfolio optimization, org transformation, and M&A and divestitures. He has advised multiple clients including large public and private institutions in industries such as Technology, Telecommunications and Finance.

He holds an MBA from the Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a BE in Computer Science from Delhi University.

Alix Partners

For nearly forty years, AlixPartners has helped businesses around the world respond quickly and decisively to their most critical challenges – circumstances as diverse as urgent performance improvement, accelerated transformation, complex restructuring and risk mitigation.

These are the moments when everything is on the line – a sudden shift in the market, an unexpected performance decline, a time-sensitive deal, a fork-in-the-road decision. But it’s not what we do that makes a difference, it’s how we do it.

Tackling situations when time is of the essence is part of our DNA – so we adopt an action-oriented approach at all times. We work in small, highly qualified teams with specific industry and functional expertise, and we operate at pace, moving quickly from analysis to implementation. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our clients until the job is done, and only measure our success in terms of the results we deliver.

Our approach enables us to help our clients confront and overcome truly future-defining challenges. We partner with you to make the right decisions and take the right actions. And we are right by your side. When it really matters.

Steve Siwinski

Operating Principal, Accel-KKR

Steve Siwinski is an Operating Principal at Accel-KKR, where he leads the office of the CFO practice and focuses on driving finance, operational and strategic initiatives across the investment cycle and AKKR’s portfolio of 70+ companies.

Steve brings a unique combination of private equity, corporate finance, public accounting, and advisory experience to AKKR. Prior to AKKR, he spent 10 years as a private equity operating partner including roles at High Road Capital Partners and Marlin Equity Partners. At High Road, Steve was the finance operating partner responsible for providing financial leadership to portfolio companies and working across the portfolio to implement financial, operational and strategic best practices. Steve has significant experience across the private equity investment cycle having worked on hundreds of mergers and acquisitions, implemented value creation initiatives at numerous portfolio companies and supported multiple successful exits. He has deep experience in optimizing financial operations and driving strategy execution to transform investor-backed businesses and create value. Throughout his career, Steve held multiple roles as a CFO and corporate strategy and restructuring advisor. He began his career at EY where he was a partner in the private equity practice and spent the early part of his career working with high-growth businesses.

Steve received a BS in accounting and finance from Fairfield University’s Dolan School of Business and an MBA in finance and management strategy from New York University’s Stern School of Business where he was a Stern Scholar and graduated with honors. He is a CPA and frequent speaker on private equity and corporate finance topics for both corporate and educational organizations.

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Accel-KKR is a technology-focused investment firm with over $14 billion in capital commitments. The firm focuses on software and IT-enabled businesses, well-positioned for topline and bottom-line growth. At the core of Accel-KKR’s investment strategy is a commitment to developing strong partnerships with the management teams of its portfolio companies and a focus on building value alongside management by leveraging the significant resources available through the Accel-KKR network. Accel-KKR focuses on middle-market companies and provides a broad range of capital solutions including buyout capital, minority-growth investments, and credit alternatives. Accel-KKR also invests across a wide range of transaction types including private company recapitalizations, divisional carve-outs and going-private transactions. Accel-KKR is headquartered in Menlo Park with additional offices in Atlanta, London, and Mexico City.

Brian Slobodow

CEO of Better Being and Operating Partner, HGGC

Brian Slobodow currently holds the position of CEO at The Better Being Co., a prominent leader in the Vitamins, Minerals, and Supplements industry sponsored by HGGC and Snapdragon. Brian Slobodow is also an Operating Partner of Operational Resource Group, LLC ("ORG")*. Brian advises the firm and portfolio companies in a broad range of supply chain and procurement issues. Prior to joining ORG, Brian was an Operating Executive with Golden Gate Capital. He formerly served as Chief Operating Officer of Atrium Windows, Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Silica, and Chief Operating Officer of Neways International, all of which are current or former Golden Gate Capital portfolio companies. Prior to joining Golden Gate Capital, Brian held multiple leadership positions within Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products and was a Principal with A.T. Kearney.

HGGC is a leading middle-market private equity firm with over $5.4 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., HGGC is distinguished by its Advantaged Investing approach that enables the firm to source and acquire scalable businesses through partnerships with management teams, founders and sponsors who reinvest alongside HGGC, creating a strong alignment of interests. Since its inception in 2007, HGGC has completed more than 200 platform investments, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations and liquidity events with an aggregate transaction value of over $30 billion. More information, including a complete list of current and former portfolio companies, is available at www.hggc.com.

Chris Smith

Partner, Global Head of Private Equity, Leathwaite

Chris is a Partner with Leathwaite where he leads the firms’ global Private Equity and Corporate Officers practices, additionally leading the firm’s HR and Human Capital practice. Chris has over fifteen years of global search and advisory experience supporting clients on critical functional leadership appointments. Partnering with a number of the world’s preeminent private equity firms, Chris and the Leathwaite team help to build transformational leadership teams, recruiting transformational functional leadership within Portfolio Companies and growing operating partner and value creation teams. Chris joined Leathwaite in 2022 from Korn Ferry where he was a senior partner in the global HR, private equity and consulting practices, focused on executive search and leadership advisory. Based in the UK with his family, Chris divides his time between London and New York and grew up in Vienna, Austria.

Leathwaite is the leading global search and talent advisory firm focused exclusively on transformational functional leadership. With offices across North America, EMEA and APAC, we partner the world’s leading large and mid-cap private equity firms to build exceptional leadership teams. We recruit critical functional leaders into private equity funds, grow value creation and operating partner teams, and build transformational c-suite leadership teams across portfolio companies. As experts in functional leadership, our consultants cover the breadth of technology and digital, finance, HR/human capital, transformation, ESG, legal and governance, and Chair/Board positions. Partnering with firms and their portfolio companies, we recruit diverse, market-leading talent that deliver sustainable performance and unlock value.

Dan Soroka

Senior Operating Partner, Graham Partners

At Graham, Dan provides general management support with an emphasis on supply chain, real estate and procurement related matters across Graham Partners and its portfolio companies. Dan has over 30 years of experience in purchasing, six-sigma quality analysis, operations, real estate and management. He has expertise in leading and developing global teams, process improvement, negotiations, and project management, in domestic and international locations. He also serves on Graham Partners’ Buyout Gating Committee.

Prior to joining Graham Partners, Dan was a director at Ingersoll Rand Company (Trane Technologies), a $13 billion global diversified firm providing products, services and solutions in climate control, transportation and industrial tools. While at Ingersoll Rand, he focused on indirect spend and real estate, globally. Dan led the integration of strategic sourcing and delivering synergy savings from all spend categories after Ingersoll Rand acquired Trane. Previous to Ingersoll Rand, Dan was a general manager at Delta Airlines in its Sourcing Division. Prior to Delta Airlines, Dan worked for GE, where he held various supply chain/operations positions in the US and Mexico and also worked as a Corporate Auditor in Italy. Earlier at GE, Dan was in the manufacturing management program.

Past and Present Board Directorships:
ABX, Myers EPS, OptConnect, EasyPak, Eberle

Education:
Dan earned his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University, and his M.B.A. from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Dan also holds a lifetime Certified Purchasing Manager designation.

Personal:
Originally from Saratoga Springs, NY, Dan enjoys playing ice hockey and golf in his spare time.

Firm Profile:
Graham Partners is a private investment firm focused on investing in technology-driven companies that are spurring innovation in advanced manufacturing, resulting in product substitutions, raw materials conversions and disruptions to traditional end markets. Based in suburban Philadelphia and investing primarily across North America, the firm has access to extensive operating resources and industrial expertise and is a member of The Graham Group. Graham Partners has $6.2B total assets under management, have conducted over 160 acquisitions and investments to date, and 21 active investments.

Chris Steiner

Partner, Cuesta Partners

Chris has a track record of unlocking extra value in private equity & venture capital investments through thoughtful technology implementations and data work. One of Chris’ main focuses is assessing companies’ posture around AI and data to ensure they’re ready for the next five years. As an engineer who builds his own applications, he’s familiar with the latest cloud offerings and methodologies, and as a former operator, he knows where to look to best assess a company’s technology health and profile. Chris is a New York Times Bestselling Author of two books on technology, including Automate This: How Algorithms Came To Rule Our World. His writing on technology has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes magazine, and MIT Technology Review, among others. He helped build Cuesta’s Index42.com, which ranks S&P 500 Companies on their AI capabilities.

Cuesta Partners is a 75-person technology consultancy grounded in pragmatism and technical know-how. We are engineers and operators who specialize in helping private equity get the maximum value from their portfolio investments via technology. We serve private equity throughout an investment’s entire lifecycle: from buy-side diligence through the hold period to sell-side diligence. Our team has deep experience in tackling the hardest challenges faced by portfolio companies: from complex transformations to shovel-ready roadmaps, to deep data projects that unlock margin. During the last year, our data practice has helped many clients glean value from their proprietary data to capitalize on pricing power, cross-sell, predict, and implement automation and AI.

Juliane Stephan

Principal, BayPine

Juliane Stephan is a Principal at BayPine. Ms. Stephan has focused the majority of her career on partnering with businesses to accelerate growth through improvements in technology enablement, operations and go-to-market strategies.

Previously, Ms. Stephan was a Principal at Incline Equity Partners, a middle market private equity firm headquartered in Pittsburgh. Prior to that, she was an Associate Partner at Bain & Company and a Director at PwC Strategy&, focusing on performance improvement and digital operations in both roles.

Ms. Stephan is originally from Germany and holds a BA from Zeppelin University and a MSc and CEMS MIM from the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Teresa Sweeney

Managing Director & COO, Data Science, Blackstone

Teresa Sweeney is the Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone Data Science. In this role, she oversees strategy and operations for the team, informing how data analytics and statistical modeling support the sourcing, diligence, and value creation processes at Blackstone and its portfolio companies.

Before joining Blackstone in 2022, Ms. Sweeney was the Head of Strategy and Chief of Staff to the CEO at GLG and subsequently led much of its flagship private equity business in the Americas. Prior to that, she worked at Platform Specialty Products, a SPAC in the specialty chemicals space, where she ran the integration of its three agricultural chemicals businesses and then research & development strategy for those businesses. Ms. Sweeney was previously a Vice President at New Mountain Capital, where she was involved in the evaluation and execution of private equity transactions. She began her career at McKinsey & Company, working primarily on private equity due diligences and portfolio companies.

Ms. Sweeney graduated summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis with a BSBA in Finance and Economics & Strategy and an MS in Finance with highest honors. She is a member of the WashU New York Regional Cabinet and the Olin Alumni Board.

Marissa Tarleton

Senior Managing Director, Haveli Investments

Marissa Tarleton is a Senior Managing Director at Haveli Investments. Based in Austin, she joined the firm in 2022. Marissa is focused on fundraising, talent, investment decisions, and operating partnerships for value creation with Haveli Software portfolio companies. Marissa has over 25 years of experience as an operating and marketing leader in technology, including her roles as CEO of RetailMeNot and RxSaver, and President of Aceable. She earned her bachelor's degree from Colgate University and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. She loves spending time with her family and dogs in her free time.

Shivani Tejuja

Advisory Director, Charlesbank Capital Partners

Shivani joined Charlesbank as an advisory director in 2018 to partner with portfolio company CEOs. Her mission is simple -- to accelerate growth and drive digital transformation. Shivani focuses on four key areas: eCommerce, digital marketing, analytics, and technology. She also leads the cybersecurity initiatives across the firm.

Shivani joined the firm from a Charlesbank portfolio company, FullBeauty Brands, where she served as executive vice president and chief digital officer. Previously, she was an operating adviser for Apax Partners leading the digital practice. Prior to Apax, she was multichannel director of New Look, driving a turnaround for the fashion business. She has held senior management roles and directorships at a host of major brands in the US and Europe, including Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, Expedia and Voyages-SNCF.
Shivani holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from London Business School. She lives in New York City. In her free time, she enjoys rock climbing, sailing and diving. She is also a mentor for the Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship program and a guest lecturer at London Business School in the marketing and analytics departments.

Founded in 1998, Charlesbank Capital Partners is a private investment firm with more than $15 billion of cumulative capital raised since inception. The team has a long history of working together, a deep specialization in the middle market and experience investing over multiple business cycles. Known for its consistent, disciplined approach, Charlesbank invests primarily in North America through its flagship private equity, opportunistic credit and technology opportunities strategies, which leverage Charlesbank’s brand and collective insights, resources and networks. Charlesbank is guided by its mission to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns through a best-in-class team and culture. The firm has more than 130 staff members and offices in Boston and New York.

Tony Totta

Executive Vice President, eShipping

Tony Totta currently serves as Executive Vice President at eShipping, a leading logistics company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Tony brings over two decades of experience in corporate leadership and private equity relationships.

Upon joining eShipping in 2009 in business development, Tony has played instrumental roles in the company’s growth. In 2011, Tony assumed leadership of eShipping’s Client Services division, enhancing
operational efficiency and employee development frameworks. In 2013, Tony spearheaded the development and launch of eShipping Exchange, a pivotal partnership sales channel. Today, as Executive Vice President, Tony embodies the principles of purpose-driven leadership and holistic personal growth. His focus extends beyond traditional sales responsibilities and encompasses operational excellence, nurturing private equity relationships, and fostering strategic partnerships crucial to eShipping's
expansion.

Tony earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Clearwater Christian College and a Master of Business Administration from The Helzberg School of Management at Rockhurst University. He resides in
Parkville, Missouri, with his wife, Sarah, and their four children, Anthony, Angelina, Roman, and Dominic.

Chris Trendler

Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Talent, Madison Dearborn Partners

Chris Trendler is a Managing Director and the Head of Portfolio Talent for Madison Dearborn Partners, responsible for leading the firm's talent strategy across the portfolio. Prior to joining MDP in 2021, Chris was a Partner at ghSMART and Company, where he advised investors, CEOs and Boards on critical talent issues. Chris holds a B.A. from Brigham Young University and he received his J.D. from University of Chicago.

Kush Tulsidas

Operating Partner, One Rock Capital Partners

H. Kush Tulsidas is an Operating Partner focused on sales and marketing strategy and execution at One Rock’s portfolio companies. He is responsible for assessing the growth potential of companies in the investment stage and improving profitable revenue growth post acquisition. Mr. Tulsidas brings over 20 years of experience building and improving businesses and has worked in both large corporate settings as well as in private equity. Prior to joining One Rock, Mr. Tulsidas ran a consulting firm focused on growing private equity-backed companies in the middle market. Prior to that, he worked with The Riverside Company as an Operating Growth Executive. During his career, he has assisted companies across multiple industries improve sales organizations and processes, implement and drive appropriate key performance indicators (“KPI’s”) and grow revenue.

Previously, Mr. Tulsidas worked for the Nielsen Company, where he spent 9 years in senior leadership roles within the Sales, Consulting and Process Improvement departments. His most recent role at Nielsen was Senior Vice President, Client Consulting where he led the team responsible for servicing and retaining existing clients, growing share of wallet and driving new business in the media industry. Before joining Nielsen, Mr. Tulsidas worked at Cintas Corporation within their International Business and Six Sigma groups. He also founded and exited Soondar Secrets, an Organic Beauty company. Mr. Tulsidas started his career at KPMG in the audit function.

Mr. Tulsidas holds a B.Com. in international business and information systems from Curtin University and University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. Mr. Tulsidas is also a Six Sigma Master Blackbelt and holds various certifications in Six Sigma, management, sales & negotiation and other trainings.

Founded in 2010, One Rock Capital Partners has ~$5.0 billion of cumulative capital commitments under management. One Rock makes controlling investments in companies with potential for growth and operational improvement using a rigorous approach that utilizes highly experienced Operating Partners to identify, acquire and enhance businesses in select industries. The involvement of these Operating Partners affords One Rock the ability to conduct due diligence and consummate acquisitions and investments in all types of situations, regardless of complexity. One Rock works collaboratively with company management and its Operating Partners to develop a comprehensive business plan focused on growing the enterprise and its profitability to enhance long-term value. One Rock has offices in New York and Los Angeles. For additional information about One Rock Capital Partners, please visit One Rock’s website at www.onerockcapital.com

Ercan Ucak

Director, Cerberus Capital Management

Ercan Ucak is a Vice President at Cerberus Technology Solutions (“CTS”), the Tech Operating group within Cerberus Capital Management. Mr. Ucak began his career as a Data Scientist serving various US Government agencies within the Defense / Counter-Intelligence community, where he leveraged his background in Statistics to develop ML / AI models to solve complex problems for the three letter agencies. He eventually joined CTS in Nov 2019, utilizing his deep technical expertise to drive Data & Analytics transformation and Enterprise Value Creation across numerous Cerberus investments.
Founded in 1992, Cerberus is a pioneer in alternative investing with approximately $60 billion in assets across complementary credit, private equity, and real estate platforms.

Mark Uhrmacher

Head of Digital Transformation and Chief Technology Officer, GrowthCurve Capital

Mark Uhrmacher is the Head of Digital Transformation and Chief Technology Officer at GrowthCurve Capital. Mark has 26 years of experience across a broad set of technology-enabled companies in senior technology roles. Most recently, Mark was an Executive Director with EY-Parthenon’s Software Strategy Group lead Technical and Product Due Diligence and Value Creation projects on software economy companies on behalf of Private Equity sponsors.

Before EY-Parthenon, Mark completed a four-year engagement with Hearst as SVP of Software Engineering for the Business Media Division, a collection of B2B information assets and SaaS platforms in the Healthcare, Transportation, and Finance verticals. Reporting to the divisional President, Mark’s responsibilities included business unit technology governance, architectural review, internal consulting, and tech diligence on >$2.5BB of acquisitions.

Previously, Mark co-founded and served as CTO of ideeli, an e-commerce website which in five years received more than $100 million in investments, grew to 6 million members with $100 million in revenue, and was ranked No. 1 in the Inc 500 list. At ideeli, Mark managed design and deployment of all technology within the company, including consumer-facing website and business support software.

Prior to co-founding ideeli, Mark held senior roles at Expert Foods, DoubleClick, NetGravity and Oracle. He earned his undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT and was selected to attend Hearst Management Institute, an internal executive management program at Hearst.

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Alexis Underwood

Managing Director, Commercial Excellence and Pricing, Wynnchurch Capital

Alexis Underwood joined Wynnchurch in 2024 as Managing Director of Commercial Excellence, Go-to-Market and Pricing. She partners with portfolio company leadership teams to improve their Sales, Product Management and Pricing capabilities to drive increased profitability. Prior to joining Wynnchurch, Alexis spent 16 years at Koch Industries where she held various leadership roles realizing key commercial bets at recently acquired companies across consumer goods, packaging and building products. Alexis holds a B.A. in Communications with a Concentration in Commerce from the University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School for Communications & Wharton School.

Wynnchurch Capital, L.P., headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois with an affiliate in Canada, was founded in 1999, and is a leading middle-market private equity investment firm. Wynnchurch’s strategy is to partner with middle market companies in the United States and Canada that possess the potential for substantial growth and profit improvement. Wynnchurch Capital manages a number of private equity funds with $9.2 billion of regulatory assets under management and specializes in recapitalizations, growth capital, management buyouts, corporate carve-outs and restructurings.

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Maggie van de Griend

Managing Director, Portfolio Talent, Warburg Pincus

Margreet (Maggie) van de Griend is based in New York, joined Warburg Pincus in 2019 and focuses on organization, talent, and leadership development for portfolio companies. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, Ms. van de Griend was a Principal at Katzenbach Partners and an Organization Expert at McKinsey & Company. She founded Sokrates Partners – a small, globally operating consulting firm. Ms. van de Griend's consulting career has focused on questions of leadership, executive teaming, transformation, commercial effectiveness, and organization; she has advised the leaders of large global corporations across multiple industries (e.g., Technology, Health Care, Consumer Goods, Transportation/Logistics, and Financial Services). She holds a Drs. (advanced academic) degree in Classical Languages and Culture from the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands).

David Venker

Principal, Portfolio Operations, HCI Equity Partners

Dave Venker is a Principal, Portfolio Operations at HCI Equity Partners, having joined the firm in 2019. He is involved in identifying and executing strategic and operational initiatives at portfolio companies and reviewing new investment opportunities. He brings to the position a blend of experience in middle market private equity and operating roles in industrial businesses.

In his time at HCI, Dave has worked to redefine this latest phase of the operations team’s structure and role within the firm, including the development of several programs to benefit portfolio companies, including MSI Express, WF Cabinetry, Consolidated Hospitality Supplies, SDS Rx, AmerCare Royal, Regent Cabinets, and Tri-State Enterprises. Dave leads the operations team’s efforts at several companies to develop and execute value creation plans, and he leads the operations team’s efforts in supply chain and operations.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Venker spent five years at The Jordan Company. Earlier in his career, Mr. Venker held various operational roles at GE and Eaton.

Mr. Venker has a BS degree in electrical engineering, magna cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame.

HCI Equity Partners is a lower middle market private equity firm focused on partnering with family and founder-owned manufacturing, service and distribution companies, with deep experience in end markets including aerospace and defense, automotive, building products, foodservice, industrial services, infrastructure, test and measurement and transportation and logistics. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the firm partners with growth-oriented companies to develop and support well-defined organic and acquisition growth strategies and assist with operational improvements. For more information, visit https://www.hciequity.com/

Prerak Vohra

Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Prerak Vohra is Managing Director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in their Private Investing Business. He leads the Digital and Technology Value Accelerator Capability and works with portfolio companies driving both strategy and execution of their Digital Value Creation plans. Prior to joining Goldman, Prerak spent several years leading Digital Transformation practice in McKinsey focused on Financial Services clients. Prerak has worked in several geographies and continues to have a global responsibility in GS.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global financial institution that delivers a broad range of financial services across investment banking, securities, investment management and consumer banking to a large and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals.

Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world.

Nic Volpi

Partner, Permira

Nic Volpi is a Partner at Permira, a global private equity firm that advises funds with a committed capital of approximately €80 billon.

Nic has worked on a number of transactions including Ancestry, Curriculum Associates, Duff & Phelps / Kroll, Intelsat, Magento, Renaissance Learning, Sushiro, TeamViewer and Tricor. Nic is the Head of the Menlo Park office and is a member of the Financing Group, Services Sector and Technology Sector within Permira.

Prior to joining Permira in 2004, Nic spent four years at Brera Capital Partners where he worked on middle-market buy-outs. Prior to that, he worked at Index Securities in Geneva and spent three years in the Financial Institutions Group at Merrill Lynch in New York.

Nic has a degree in Business Administration from Georgetown University, USA, an MBA from Stanford University, USA and lived in Japan for over 17 years.

Permira is a global investment firm that backs successful businesses with growth ambitions. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds across two core asset classes, private equity and credit, with total committed capital of approximately €80bn. The Permira private equity funds make both long-term majority (Buyout) and minority (Growth Equity) investments in four key sectors: Technology, Consumer, Healthcare, and Services.
Permira employs over 500 people in 16 offices across Europe, the United States and Asia.

Craig Vosburgh

Chief Technology Officer, Strattam Capital

Craig Vosburgh joined Strattam as Chief Technical Officer in 2019. In this role, he helps drive technical excellence across the Strattam portfolio.
Previously, Craig served as Distinguished Engineer in the Office of the CTO at CA Technologies where he helped create the CA Technologies’ Product Accelerator and prior to that as Senior VP Software Development while leading the turnaround of their global APM product development organization. Passionate about developing compelling, customer-facing applications, Craig previously developed software for NASA, and held senior roles at Sun Microsystems, MCI Telecommunications, Martin Marietta Information Systems, and Rockwell Space Operations.
Craig earned his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Strattam Capital invests in founder-led, independent B2B software and technology companies outside of Silicon Valley. We believe in aligning with founders and CEOs before signing, via our Five-Point Plan process to allow execution with purpose, excitement, and efficiency. Headquartered in Austin, TX, we connect companies with the people, process and scale needed to reach their potential. For more information, please visit Strattam.com.

Jonathan Waggoner

Managing Director and Co-Head of the North American Operating Team, Strategic Value Partners, LLC

Mr. Waggoner is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Investment-Operating Team in North America.

Prior to joining Strategic Value Partners, Mr. Waggoner was with New Mountain Capital where he was a Managing Director in their operating group. Prior to New Mountain, Mr. Waggoner served as both Chief Operating Officer and Chief Revenue Officer at Rue La La, an online, off-price retailer, from 2012 until 2015. While at Rue La La, he led operations efforts, including merchandise planning, pricing, inventory management, materials management and production, as well as all direct customer marketing efforts, including customer acquisition, engagement and retention. Earlier in his career, Mr. Waggoner was a senior professional in the operating group at Bain Capital and spent time as a consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Mr. Waggoner received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Arkansas State University.

Rob Waldron

Chief Executive Officer, Curriculum Associates

Rob Waldron serves as CEO of Curriculum Associates, a Boston-area edtech company supporting learning gains for 12 million students and their educators nationwide. He runs the company with a long-term focus, upholding the founding mission to improve classrooms everywhere. Under his leadership, revenues have increased more than twentyfive-fold, making Curriculum Associates one of the nation’s fastest-growing K–
12 edtech companies. With over 2,200 employees and a strong culture that promotes belonging, Curriculum Associates has been honored as a “Top Place to Work” by The Boston Globe nine years in a row.

Prior to joining Curriculum Associates in 2008, Rob served as CEO of Jumpstart, and as CEO of the K12 tutoring division of Kaplan Education. Rob also served as an operating executive at private equity firm Berkshire Partners.

Rob’s mission-driven passion has earned him recognition as a Fast Company Top 25 Social Entrepreneur, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and EY Entrepreneur of the Year. He has also won the Northeastern US Regional YPO Social Impact Award and EdTech Digest’s CEO of the Year. Rob serves on the board of The Boston Foundation and was previously an Aspen Institute/Pahara Fellow and a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School. Rob received a B.A. from Northwestern and an M.B.A. from Harvard.

Andrew Walshe

Director, North American Operating Team, Strategic Value Partners

Mr. Walshe is a member of the SVP Global, North American investment team and is an operating professional. Prior to joining SVP in 2022, Mr. Walshe was the architect and leader of the portfolio operations team at Sightway Capital, a Two Sigma company. While at Sightway, he focused on due diligence, value creation and financial transformation across a portfolio of financial services and real asset companies. In addition, he was a member of the valuation and ESG committees. Prior to Sightway, Mr. Walshe was a member of Marlin Equity’s portfolio operations group and served various finance leadership functions across Marlin’s portfolio companies. Earlier in his career, Mr. Walshe was a senior consultant with PwC and A&M in their respective transaction advisory practices.

Mr. Walshe earned an MA in Accounting from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a BA in Economics from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia.

Kenneth Wang

Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Kenneth is a Managing Director in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Investment Banking team at Goldman Sachs, and covers the Info & Data Analytics (IDA) and Vertical Software sectors. He provides corporate finance advisory services to clients across a broad range of transactions including mergers & acquisitions, equity issuance and debt financing.

Prior to Goldman Sachs, Kenneth worked at Barclays in the TMT Investment Banking Group, and has lived and worked in the US and Hong Kong.

Kenneth earned a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.

David Warren

Senior Director, Subscribed Institute, Zuora

David serves as a lead strategist for Zuora’s Subscribed Institute, a think tank dedicated to serving a community of subscription business leaders through research, content, events, and advisory services. He has led engagements across multiple industries, including SaaS, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and media, and is a frequent keynote speaker and moderator for the Institute’s executive forums. David has written and co-authored multiple white papers on topics that include monetizing anything-as-a-service, the future state of the office of the CFO, go-to-market strategies, and channel partner success strategies.

Before joining Zuora, he led the go-to-market team for Salesforce’s Ignite program, helping Fortune 1000 customers envision and activate their digital experience strategies. David spent 15 years in management consulting, specializing in leading design thinking engagements to develop new business models, product and service offerings, and customer experiences.
He is based in Richmond, Virginia.

Jana Wayne

Managing Director, Head of Procurement, Hunter Point Capital

Ms. Wayne is a Managing Director and serves as Head of Procurement at Hunter Point Capital.

Ms. Wayne has worked in procurement for over 15 years. Prior to joining HPC, Ms. Wayne was the Director of Portfolio Procurement at SK Capital Partners, a global private investment firm, where she built a leverage procurement program that drove significant savings for SK’s portfolio companies. Prior to that, Ms. Wayne was Vice President at Blackstone where she supported over 200+ portfolio companies in driving cost reduction through procurement optimization. Ms. Wayne has also held procurement leadership positions at J.Crew Group and Citibank and began her career at GEP, a leading procurement consulting firm.

Ms. Wayne earned her B.A. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania where she graduated summa cum laude and received her M.B.A. from New York University.

Hunter Point Capital ("HPC") is an independent investment firm seeking to provide innovative capital solutions to middle-market alternative asset managers across private equity, credit, real estate, and infrastructure in North America, Europe, and Asia. HPC is dedicated to pursuing long-term strategic partnerships with proven asset managers who are poised to build enduring franchises and define the next generation of leading investment firms across the globe. HPC’s inaugural investment fund focuses on GP stakes investing. It recently launched its new strategy of GP Financing providing NAV loans and preferred equity financing to GPs.

John Weaver

Senior Director, Risk International

John Weaver joined Risk International in 2019 and is the Senior Director of Private Equity. He works with the risk management and benefits advisory teams to drive value creation for private equity clients and their portfolio companies.

Before joining Risk International, John held executive roles with insurance consulting and risk management firms, helping companies and their management teams achieve their financial goals by employing data-driven approaches to arrive at favorable outcomes.

John has over 20 years of experience in sales, consulting, and business process outsourcing, having spent over ten years with ADP in several strategy and business development roles.

Risk International is an independent insurance, risk management consultant, and employee benefits advisor, delivering solutions through data and analytics. With no ties to the insurance industry, we align exclusively with our clients, providing unbiased support in navigating the changing insurance market. Our independent client-centric approach is evident in our transparent fee-for-service model, with 100% of fees directly paid by clients, eliminating conflicts of interest.

Recognizing that companies invest in insurance to shield themselves from financial losses, we understand the intricacies of securing appropriate coverage can be overwhelming. Leveraging our expertise and resources, we collaborate with clients to develop optimized insurance programs that are practical and cost-effective, ensuring that the insurance programs align precisely with our client's unique needs.

Visit: https://riskinternational.com

Jessie Wechsler

Principal, BayPine

Jessie Wechsler is a Principal at BayPine. She has extensive experience working alongside management teams to execute transformative business plans, bolt-on acquisitions, refinancings, restructurings and public market exits.

Previously, Ms. Wechsler was a Vice President at AEA Investors, a middle market private equity firm, where she focused on evaluating and executing AEA’s investments in the consumer, retail and tech-enabled services sectors. Prior to that, she was an Associate at Bregal Partners, a consumer-focused private equity firm, and held positions at BlackRock Alternative Investors and Goldman Sachs.

Ms. Wechsler currently serves on the board of POLYWOOD. Ms. Wechsler holds an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

BayPine Capital Partners (“BayPine”) is a middle market private equity firm focused on control-oriented equity investments in North America. BayPine seeks to create lasting value for the firm's investors, portfolio companies, and communities in which they operate by driving innovation, digital transformation, and sustainable growth in market-leading businesses across core sectors of the economy. At the heart of our strategy is a pointed focus on digital enablement, a purpose-built team of investors and operators, and a differentiated value creation playbook that operationalizes each company’s full potential. For more information on BayPine, please visit www.baypine.com.

Roxi Wen

Operating Partner, Insight Partners

Roxi Wen joined Insight as an Operating Partner in 2023 to build out advisory practice for the Finance center of excellence. Ms. Wen brings decades of success as a senior business executive where she built and scaled global technology and healthcare companies. Previously she has served as CFOs for various publicly traded, private and PE owned portfolio companies driving growth, capital allocation, innovation and digital transformation. Ms. Wen has a MBA from the University of Minnesota and is a CFA charterholder.

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Ryan Wesselschmidt

SVP Sales and Service and GM North America, Husqvarna Construction Division, North America

Ryan Wesselschmidt has 23 years of sales, general management, and leadership experience.  He joined Husqvarna Construction, a part of the Husqvaran Group,  in 2001 after earning a degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he studied Business, Marketing, and Economics.  At Husqvarna, he has held various roles within the professional, national accounts, and distribution sales management teams. In 2014, he took his experience across to Sweden, where he resided and served as the Vice President of Sales and Service, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific for the Construction Division for four years and then followed with two years as Global Vice President of Sales and Service within the Forest and Garden Division.

In 2021, Ryan left Husqvarna Group for two years and relocated back to the United States, where he was the Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for a privately held company based in St. Louis. 

In 2023, Ryan returned to Husqvarna Construction as Senior Vice President of Sales and Service and General Manager. He has a proven track record in growing customer-focused and results-driven organizations. 

Company Profile: Husqvarna Construction Division

We are Husqvarna Construction, a leading manufacturer of innovative equipment and diamond tools within the light construction industry, and diamond tools for the natural-stone processing industry.

Our portfolio includes machines, solutions, services, and diamond tools made for professionals working with hard materials like concrete and stone to shape urban environments of tomorrow. Our goal is to be our customer’s trusted business partner and to keep them at the cutting edge.

Quick facts:

Headquartered in Jonsered, Sweden

Factories in Europe, North America, China, and India

Global network of sales companies, service centers, distributors

Total net sales in 2023: SEK 8,4 billion

Number of employees: 2,700

Chris Westington

Director of Portfolio Management and Value Creation, BCI

Joining BCI in 2022 and based out of New York City, Chris leads the Value Creation program for the Private Equity asset class. BCI’s Value Creation strategy focuses on alpha generation across our private equity portfolio by partnering with management teams to scale profitable growth and drive performance improvement opportunities.

Prior to joining BCI, Chris was Vice President of Strategic Finance at Rent The Runway, an industry leading unicorn start-up. During his time at Rent The Runway, Chris oversaw numerous strategic commercial and operational initiatives, which positioned the business for a successful IPO in Fall 2021. Chris additionally was an active leader for the IPO roadshow and S-1 efforts and, subsequently, managed public markets processes, including guidance setting and investor/analyst education.

Prior to joining Rent The Runway, Chris led Finance and Strategy at Jet.com, an ecommerce start-up, which was acquired by Walmart in 2016 for $3.3B. Chris subsequently worked at Walmart across several key roles overseeing ecommerce and omnichannel strategy. Prior to Jet.com, Chris spent 10 years in M&A transaction services. Chris brings over 17 years of strategy and operating expertise across rapid scale and established public companies.

Chris graduated from The College of New Jersey with a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in the state of New Jersey.

BCI’s Private Equity program has grown to $24.8 billion in privately held companies and funds with long-term growth potential. The program includes a talented team of over 60 investment and operational professionals with specialized in-house asset management expertise, contributing to the growth of the total fund exposure, increasing direct and co-sponsor deals, and extending the portfolio global reach. BCI’s Private Equity program is a significant contributor to the corporation’s $211.1 billion in assets under management, making BCI one of the largest institutional investors in Canada.

Jason White

Chief Transformation & Development Officer, HGS BioScience

Jason White is an accomplished executive with extensive experience in operations and business management within the agricultural distribution sector. Currently serving as the Chief Transformation and Business Development Officer at HGS BioScience his responsibilities include management of the Americas, Strategic Account Development, M&A activities as well as the oversight of Customer Service and Logistics. Previously, in his role as EVP of Operations, Jason focused on integrating business operations and developing a new order to cash structure that streamlined processes and enhanced productivity. Jason has a proven track record of driving growth and efficiency.

HGS BioScience is a world-class manufacturer of patent-protected extracted granule humate products, the preferred delivery system for nutritional and biological technologies.

HGS is shaping the future of soil health with its innovative and patented product portfolio to unleash every acre. Our product portfolio focuses on extracted humic and fulvic acids that unlock the nutrient bank in the soil, increase the concentration of organic matter, carbon, and microbes, improve stress management, and unleash the yield potential of crops. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, HGS has a North American footprint of six manufacturing plants and serves customers in 20+ countries. HGS has an aggressive growth plan over the next 5 years, positioning HGS as the global leader in humic substances. 

Jared Wiesel

Senior Vice President, Manufacturing & Distribution, Revenue Analytics

Jared leads the Manufacturing and Distribution practice at Revenue Analytics. Within this role, he runs the company’s Private Equity partnerships, working with Operating Partners to help PortCo executives define, execute, and refine their pricing to drive EBITDA growth. He has 20+ years of B2B pricing experience across industry, consulting, and technology roles.

Revenue Analytics
A pioneer of precision pricing models, Revenue Analytics is an enterprise technology company that partners with leading Private Equity firms and their industrial portfolio companies to solve their most complex pricing challenges.  

Backed by over a decade of experience working with Private Equity, Revenue Analytics created Pricing-as-a-ServiceTM (PraaS) to equip Operating teams with the necessary tools and insights to refine pricing strategies across their industrial portfolio companies. Our data-driven methodology supported by a cross-functional team of industrial pricing experts is proven to create value through sustainable profit growth and improved commercial maturity. 

Learn more about how Revenue Analytics helps PE leaders unlock the full revenue potential of their portfolio at www.revenueanalytics.com (link to: https://www.revenueanalytics.com/md/pricing-as-a-service 

Nick Winter

Managing Director, Värde Partners

Nick Winter is a Managing Director and North American Head of Portfolio Operations responsible for value creation in Värde private equity investments across multiple industries. He is also an investment lead for selective private equity positions and asset-backed credit investments (focused on consumer whole loans and ABS). Nick also heads Asset Management globally for Värde’s Financial Services & Diversified Private Credit book which includes private equity, private credit, structured products and whole loans. Based in New York, he joined the firm in 2018.

Prior to Värde, Nick spent several years at JPMorgan Chase in senior operations and technology transformation roles, most recently as a Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Reference Data Operations. Previously, he worked on bank turnarounds, and in private equity portfolio operations roles at Organic Growth Partners, Millennium Partners and Ameriquest Capital Group with a focus on financial services and real estate related businesses. Nick started his career with Mercer Management Consulting as an industry generalist, ultimately as a Partner in the Financial Services practice and as Co-Leader of the North American Private Equity Group.

Nick received an M.A. in Electrical Engineering and Information Services from the University of Cambridge, England.

About Värde Partners
Värde Partners is a leading global alternative investment firm specializing in credit and credit-related assets. Founded in 1993, the firm has invested more than $100 billion across the credit quality and liquidity spectrum in both public and private markets. Värde currently manages over $13 billion in assets with teams in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific focused on Corporate & Traded Credit, Real Estate, and Financial Services & Diversified Private Credit

For more information, please visit www.varde.com.

Curt Witte

Partner, Head of Growth Factors, Bregal Sagemount

Curt Witte is a Partner at Bregal Sagemount who founded and leads the Growth Factors portfolio operations team. Growth Factors partners with companies to realize high yield growth and operations enhancement, resulting in accelerated enterprise value creation. Curt is a Silicon Valley tech leader and investor, with over 20 years of operating experience and a track record of driving profitable hyper growth. His methods for tripling the enterprise value of companies are outlined in From Impossible to Inevitable: How SaaS and Other Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross and Jason Lemkin. Prior to joining Bregal Sagemount, Curt was a Partner at Symphony Technology Group, founded and sold two profitable software businesses with over $50 million in revenue, and had General Management P&L responsibility for two multi-billion dollar businesses at AT&T and Cardinal Health. Curt received a BS in Economics from the University of Chicago, and an MBA from the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Tricia Witty

Managing Director, Private Capital Value Creation Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan

Tricia is a Managing Director on the Private Capital Value Creation Team at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan where she brings ~25 years of expertise in Strategy and Value Creation from her Industry and Consulting roles. She developed her toolkit in Industry at Celestica, leading the turnaround of a large global account as well as launching a new Healthcare division. She then transitioned to McKinsey serving clients across sectors before joining the Value Creation team at Ontario Teachers’. Tricia has served on the board of four of OTPP's investments: Shearer's Foods, Arterra Wines Canada, Orgain and NVISION.

About Ontario Teachers’ 

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is a global investor with net assets of ~$250B. They invest in more than 50 countries in a broad array of assets including public and private equities, fixed income, credit, commodities, natural resources, infrastructure, real estate and venture growth to deliver retirement income for 340,000 working teachers and pensioners. 

Scott Wong

Managing Director – Data Science and AI, GrowthCurve Capital

Scott Wong is the Managing Director of AI and Data Science for GrowthCurve Capital. Prior to joining GrowthCurve, Scott was the Vice President of Science and Machine Learning for SiriusXM and Pandora. Scott led the integration and evolution of Pandora and SiriusXM's personalization systems - including recommendations, search, and voice products - as well as key modernizations of machine learning infrastructure and platforms.

Before SiriusXM, Scott led machine intelligence research and development for Human Dx, a worldwide effort of 100,000+ clinicians and 500+ institutions to build a system that maps the best course to help patients everywhere. By combining collective intelligence with machine learning, Human Dx intends to enable more accurate and affordable care, accessible to all.

Earlier in his career, Scott was an investor at Blackstone in the Private Equity Group, where he was involved in the evaluation and execution of investments in entertainment, energy, healthcare, and real estate companies.

Scott received an A.B. in Mathematics and B.E. in Engineering from Dartmouth College, where he graduated summa cum laude, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He holds an M.S. from Stanford in Computational and Mathematical Engineering.

GrowthCurve Capital is a private equity firm with a proprietary approach that seeks to leverage AI, digital transformation, and human capital capabilities within its portfolio companies to accelerate their growth and create sustainable value. We believe AI provides unique opportunities to unlock new areas of value creation within our portfolio companies by enhancing their operational decision-making at scale. Together with a differentiated approach to human capital, we believe this ecosystem empowers management teams to create sustainable value.GrowthCurve’s control-oriented investment strategy is centered on data-rich and growth-focused businesses in three investing sectors where we have deep expertise and strong networks: technology and information services, healthcare, and financial services.

Ken Yagen

Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy and Innovation, Warburg Pincus

Ken Yagen is a Senior Vice President in the Digital Strategy and Innovation Group at Warburg Pincus, where he leads the product, AI, and data monetization practices. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, Mr. Yagen was Chief Product Officer and held executive roles at Symphony Communications, Box and MuleSoft. He has over 25 years of operating experience in Technology and Product Development and holds numerous patents in areas including Security, Identity Management and Distributed Architecture.

Warburg Pincus is a private partnership focused solely on private equity. The firm has over 55 years of experience in growth investing, building world-class businesses around the globe. Warburg Pincus applies a thesis-driven approach to investing across a variety of sectors and geographies. The firm has developed domain expertise in Consumer, Energy Transition & Sustainability, Financial Services, Healthcare, Industrial & Business Services, Real Estate, and Technology.

Cici Zheng

Managing Director, Corridor Capital

Cici Zheng is a Managing Director at Corridor Capital and leads the firm’s Operations team. Prior to joining the Corridor team, Cici was a Partner at ParkerGale Capital, a private equity firm that invests in technology and software companies. As one of the first members of the Operating team at ParkerGale, Cici focused on driving value creation at their portfolio companies by developing and implementing programs that amplified go-to-market approaches, product positioning and financial results. Prior to joining ParkerGale, Cici worked at Bain & Company as a Case Team Leader advising clients across multiple industries on a variety of engagements including private equity due diligence, customer strategy, marketing and merger integrations. Before joining Bain, Cici was an Associate at HealthCare Royalty Partners as well as an Analyst at UBS where she was a part of the healthcare investment banking team. Cici holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Paul Zuber

Operating Partner, North American Lead, Hg

Paul Zuber is an Operating Partner, North American Lead at HG Capital. Prior to HG, Paul was an Operating Partner at Thoma Bravo, where he Chaired companies across multiple funds and also founded and led their Technology Group. He brings 30 years of experience in founding and growing successful global technology companies. Separate from HG Capital, Paul is a member of the Board of Directors of Houlihan Lokey (NYSE: HLI).

Prior to Thoma Bravo, Paul was the founding CEO of Dilithium Networks, a global leader in mobile video infrastructure solutions. The company was acquired by OnMobile (NSE:ONMOBILE). He also was a co-founder and CEO of Bluegum Group, growing the EMS company to A$500M in revenue before its acquisition by Solectron. Paul also held a variety of senior management positions at the embedded systems software company Ready Systems, including VP of Operations, CFO and VP of Global Support Services before its acquisition by Mentor Graphics. Before joining Ready Systems, Paul founded JGC and as CEO, led the microcomputer-based CAD and CAE solutions provider into market leadership before a private investment group acquired it. He began his career as a management consultant with Bain & Company, where he was a founding member of the team that became the private equity group (Bain Capital).

Paul received the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer Award on behalf of Dilithium Networks in Davos in 2010. He is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and has been a guest lecturer at the Iovine and Young Academy at USC and the Trium Global Executive MBA program. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University with BA degrees in both International Relations and Economics. Paul also holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Hg is a leading investor in European and transatlantic software and services businesses. We support the building of sector-leading enterprises that supply businesses with critical software applications or workflow services, delivering a more automated workplace for their customers.

Our support combines deep end-market knowledge with world class operational resources, together providing compelling support to entrepreneurial leaders looking to scale their business – businesses that are well invested, enduring and serve their customers well.

With a vast European network and strong presence across North America, our 400 employees and $75bn in funds under management support a portfolio of 50 businesses, worth over $125 billion aggregate enterprise value, with over 100,000 employees, consistently growing revenues at more than 20% annually.

The largest global event for private equity value creation

Create operationally efficient portfolio companies

Network with top value creators

Learn key strategies for cross-portfolio initiatives

“This is where I learnt to become an operating partner. Now, 10 years later, I have over half my team here with me.”

Aaron Miller Head of Apollo Portfolio Performance Solutions Apollo Global Management

2024 agenda highlights

How does your compensation compare?

Managing Director-Partner, Head of Global Portfolio Solutions, The Carlyle Group

Operating Principal, Accel-KKR

Head of Apollo Portfolio Performance Solutions, Apollo Global Management

Managing Director, Private Capital Value Creation Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan

Partner, Global Head of Value Creation, Searchlight Capital Partners

Operating Partner, North American Lead, Hg

Managing Director, Commercial Excellence and Pricing, Wynnchurch Capital

Managing Director & CISO | Co-Head of Portfolio Resources Group, GTCR

Senior Operations Executive, ABRY Partners

Partner and Head of Portfolio Operations, BayPine

Senior Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Portfolio Operations, Blackstone

Vice President, Value Accelerator, Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Operating Partner. Portfolio Operations, Resurgens Technology Partners

Operations Director, TPG Capital

Head of Portfolio Human Capital, Advent International

Meet the largest operating partner network

2024 agenda

Explore our exclusive operating partner only networking

Pre-conference reception

Monday, October 21, 2024