Mergermarket M&A Forum Chicago 2023
The must-attend event for US dealmakers returns!
The Ritz-Carlton, Chicago
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M&A update: Dealmaking during times of uncertainty
According to Mergermarket data, US M&A was worth US$309.58 billion in Q3 2022 – a marked decrease from the previous two years. The recent slowdown in M&A activity and a rapidly changing global economic outlook is prompting dealmakers to take a thematic approach, whether through complimentary bolt-on acquisitions or buying a company to enhance their overall digitalization capabilities. Distressed opportunities may also be on the horizon and although availability of leverage is reduced, private equity dry powder levels are high. Indeed, because many strategics have strong balance-sheets, it will be interesting to see where deal flow is sourced, how transactions are restructured, and which parties are most active in the year ahead.
- How is the banking crisis and current sentiment in the capital markets shaping M&A?
- Will the changing macro environment halt the M&A market, and will we see more distressed opportunities?
- What are the current trends in North American M&A, and how has the opportunity set in the Midwest evolved?
- Which sectors are investors turning to for defensive acquisitions that can offer growth over the next five years?
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Networking break
M&A drivers: The rise of activist investors
The number of shareholder activist campaigns in the US is on the rise, with companies anticipating that activism will continue to be a powerful lever for opportunistic shareholders seeking to extract value and deliver superior returns. A key focus for activist campaigns centers on corporate governance relating to ESG (especially environmental), and in the current troubled economic climate, activist campaigns may be launched against companies that are underperforming with depressed stock prices. We are likely to continue to see private equity players adopting a similar strategy to traditional shareholder activism as they come to the table with a value creation thesis, pushing for a change in management, a sale, or the breakup of the company. In this session, a panel of experts will look at the current activist landscape and the sectors that could attract attention in 2023 and beyond.
- What are the typical activist situations, and how are campaigns being structured?
- Are more activist firms adopting private equity-like approaches?
- How will ESG activist campaigners continue to assert themselves?
- What sectors are likely to be under the spotlight over the next 12 months, and how will this impact the M&A landscape?
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Presentation: The long view of M&A – private equity vs corporate acquirors
If you are a corporate acquiror in 2023 then private equity is coming to eat your lunch - or to eat you. With M&A valuation multiples at 30-year highs, find out how competition between private equity and strategic acquirors for deals is driving a valuation frenzy, how private equity is gate-crashing strategic acquirors' growth plans, and how corporate acquirors are responding.
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Lunch
Navigating cross-border M&A: Investing in a fragmented landscape
Monetary tightening and geopolitical tensions have investors reviewing their risk appetite for cross-border transactions, and stricter protections on foreign investment is expected to have a negative impact on dealmaking strategies, with Canada, UK and Australia becoming favored destinations. Experiences with the pandemic, global supply-chain issues, and the deglobalization trend means dealmakers must have conviction and place more emphasis on due diligence, compliance, and post-deal integration. Our panel of experienced investors outline the driving forces for cross-border activity and discuss the global challenges and hotspots.
- Which regions are seeing the most cross-border activity, and how and why has this changed?
- What are the leading target sectors for US acquirors – mining, computers and electronics?
- What are some of the regulatory issues that dealmakers need to be aware of, such as cybersecurity, political tensions, and ESG compliance?
- What specific geopolitical risks and supply-chain challenges can be mitigated through dealmaking?
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Case study
The M&A landscape has become more challenging, requiring dealmakers to navigate a highly complex and multi-faceted risk environment. In this session, senior members of Aon’s M&A and Transaction Solutions practice will take us through a case study where a strategic buyer acquired a complementary business through a highly competitive auction. Due the competitive nature of the deal, the seller was not provided recourse for the inherent representations and warranties risks. In addition, the tax due diligence process uncovered several large tax exposures at the Target level leaving the buyer further exposed to a risk of more than $1.5 billion. In response to these risks, the acquirer was able to leverage insurance capital to secure their investment, cover the significant financial exposure the deal posed and move forward with the deal, thus turning risk into opportunity.
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Networking break
Viable valuations: Finding the right price point
As buyers, sellers and lenders all wait for clarity on the macro-economic forces shaping the market outlook, uncertainty surrounding how deals should be priced will continue to act as a cap on activity. This is especially true for businesses whose revenues were impacted by COVID-19, either negatively or positively, as the buyer–seller expectation gap persists. The reluctance of regional banks to lend to large leveraged transactions could impact activity, however it may also open the door for private credit funds to fill the void and play a role in deal financing. Our panel of experts will discuss the current dynamics in play for dealmakers, as well as the valuation outlook for the next 12 months.
- Valuations and expectations – how have they changed over the last 12 months?
- What role are private credit providers playing in filling the financing gap left by regional banks?
- Is there a lack of standardization in valuation methodology?
- How is leverage availability effecting valuations in the large-cap deal space?
- Is the bid–ask spread starting to narrow to the point where transactions will progress?
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Private equity viewpoint: Staying active in the current environment
According to a joint report conducted by Mergermarket and Debtwire, buyout activity amounted to 752 deals worth USD276.9 billion in the first nine months of 2022, down 25.6% compared to 2021. This can be attributed to the significant headwinds facing investors, including geopolitical unrest, inflationary pressure, and rising interest rates contributing to a highly uncertain investment environment. However, with funds sitting on substantial amounts of dry powder and corporate carve-outs still active, the outlook for the market is promising. For forward thinking funds that can selectively access opportunities and innovate via technology like AI for deal sourcing and due diligence the future is bright. Our panel of GPs share their views on the current state of the market and opportunities and challenges from investments to exits.
- What are the benefits of partnering with private equity in an M&A transaction?
- Which transaction sizes have GPs been focusing on?
- How is AI impacting the deal market today and in the future?
- What capital structure are GPs now using less leverage is available?
- What are the current portfolio priorities – labor shortages, ESG, de-risking supply chains, digitalization?
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Josh Armstrong is deputy managing editor for Mergermarket in North America. He founded the Southeast US editorial bureau in 2018, building out Mergermarket's coverage in the region from a home base in Charlottesville, Virginia. He previously oversaw financial services coverage at S&P Global Market Intelligence and did a little bit of every job at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Josh Armstrong is deputy managing editor for Mergermarket in North America. He founded the Southeast US editorial bureau in 2018, building out Mergermarket's coverage in the region from a home base in Charlottesville, Virginia. He previously oversaw financial services coverage at S&P Global Market Intelligence and did a little bit of every job at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Marc Cooper is CEO of Solomon Partners, a position he has held since 2016. He was previously Vice Chairman from 2013 to 2016 and joined the firm in 1999 as a Partner and Managing Director.
In 2016, Marc led the transaction in which Natixis, the international corporate and investment banking, asset management, insurance and financial services arm of Groupe BPCE, made a strategic investment in Solomon Partners.
As the former head of Solomon’s Consumer Retail Group, Marc has advised a long roster of high-profile retailers and brands. Over the past three decades, Marc has advised on hundreds of transactions globally, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations and restructurings, financings and shareholder activism.
Prior to joining Solomon Partners, Marc co-founded and served as Vice Chairman of Barington Capital Group where he oversaw its investment banking operations. He began his career in investment banking at Kidder Peabody.
Marc holds an MBA, magna cum laude, and a BS from New York University.
Rachel currently leads the Immunology Business Development & Acquisitions (BD&A) at AbbVie, from strategy development through deal execution for this core therapeutic area. She also oversees the company’s BD&A in AI/ML-Enabled Drug Discovery and its China Partnering Center of Excellence. Her previous deal experience has included Oncology, Virology, Women's Health and other Specialty disease areas. She has represented AbbVie across a wide spectrum of both inbound and outbound deal structures, including licenses, options, acquisitions/divestitures, research alliances and other collaborations. She has completed deals with public companies, privately held start-ups and academic institutions. In addition to her deal work, Rachel enjoys mentoring and managing junior talent.
Rachel joined Abbott/AbbVie in 2009 as part of the Commercial Management Development Program, holding various roles in Sales and Marketing. After serving as Senior Product Manager, Bardoxolone, Global Marketing, she worked on AbbVie’s separation from Abbott and various post-merger integrations, including that of Pharmacyclics while serving as Director, AbbVie Transition Office. Rachel joined the Business Development & Acquisitions team at the end of 2015. Prior to joining Abbott, she was a strategic management consultant for firms including BCG.
Rachel attended Stanford University, where she earned both an MBA from the Graduate School of Business and an MA from the Center for East Asian Studies. Her undergraduate degree is from Brown University, in Engineering and East Asian Studies.
Warren Estey is Head of the U. S. Mergers & Acquisitions Group and a member of the Global Leadership Committee at BMO Capital Markets. He joined the firm after 23 year at Deutsche Bank. During his tenure there, he held positions as Vice Chairman of Investment Banking Coverage & Advisory, as Head of the Natural Resources Group, Americas and as Co-Head of the U.S. Equity Capital Markets Group. Warren has extensive transactional experience advising clients across a broad range of industries, products, market caps and geographies. Over his career, he has executed approximately 400 transactions for clients representing in excess of $240B of value. Warren has also held leadership positions in Bank of America’s Consumer Division and as an Armor Officer in the U.S. Army.
Warren earned an MBA from The Darden School at The University of Virginia, where he has since served as the Chairman of the Darden School Alumni Board of Directors and as a member of The Darden School Board of Trustees. Warren earned a BBA from the University of Miami, which he attended on a full Army ROTC Scholarship.
Warren currently serves on the Board of Directors of Homeless Solutions, Inc. where he is also Chairman of the Finance Committee.
Andy He has extensive experience helping clients with designing and implementing large-scale value creation and transformation programs, as well as driving M&A initiatives across the deal lifecycle. He specializes in solving complex challenges and delivering measurable and accelerated results. He takes a highly-collaborative and culturally-attuned approach to drive changes that are impactful and sustainable.
His industry expertise spans Technology, Media, and Telecom (TMT), Financial Services, and Healthcare. His clients range from thriving companies seeking rapid growth to distressed organizations in need of accelerated turnaround.
He holds a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering with a minor in social science from California Institute of Technology.
Rachel covers fintech and the broader tech sector for Mergermarket. She has a bachelor’s degree in business journalism from Washington and Lee University.
As Founder and CEO of Campaign Management, Michael Fein is a leading advisor to clients seeking shareholder support in corporate elections and leverages more than 30 years of Wall Street experience to drive successful outcomes.
Having advised on hundreds of shareholder meetings, Michael is fluent in proxy logistics, current on the latest regulatory developments, an expert on corporate governance best practices, and has in-depth knowledge of institutional and proxy advisor voting guidelines. His experience advising on more challenging and nuanced campaigns is vital to obtain and maximize shareholder support in proxy contests and challenging M&A transactions. He has advised on many of the highest profile proxy contests on behalf of both companies and investors and is often selected as a judge of the annual M&A Advisor awards in recognition of his transactional expertise.
Michael began his career as Director of Marketing at Prudential Asset Management helping build the firm’s asset base and communicating with PAMCO’s institutional investors. He later was an equity derivatives trader as an Options Principal Member of The American Stock Exchange before launching an asset management firm that invested over $300 million in a variety of equity and debt strategies. Prior to founding Campaign Management, Michael was a seed investor in a proxy solicitation firm specializing in shareholder activism which he later joined as Senior Vice President. He then built and led the U.S. business of a global proxy solicitation firm as President, U.S.
Michael holds a B.S. in Economics with a concentration in Finance from The Wharton Business School of The University of Pennsylvania
Duncan Herrington is a Managing Director in the Shareholder Advisory practice at Moelis & Company, where he advises corporate clients on shareholder activism, ESG, shareholder engagement and related matters. Duncan has over 22 years of investment banking and legal experience and has counseled both domestic and international clients in all sectors on a wide variety of contested situations.
Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Duncan was Managing Director and Head of the Activism Response & Contested Situations at Raymond James. Prior to that, he served on the activism defense team at Credit Suisse. Duncan was previously an M&A lawyer at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.
Duncan has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an M.B.A from London Business School, and he graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Business Administration and Economics from Rhodes College. He is a CFA charterholder with a Certificate in ESG Investing, and is a member of the State Bar of California.
David Clark focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and other corporate and securities matters. Mr. Clark has advised public and private companies and their boards, real estate investment trusts and private equity firms in negotiated and contested domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, asset sales, spin-offs and reorganizations. He also represents issuers and underwriters in debt and equity securities offerings.
Mr. Clark has advised, among others:
- CME Group in its:
• $1 billion equity investment by Google LLC;
• transaction with S&P/Dow Jones Indices LLC;
• transaction with IHS Markit involving the combination of the parties’ post-trade services for OTC markets into a new joint venture named OSTTRA;
• $6 billion acquisition of NEX Group plc;
• proposed $820 million acquisition of GFI Group, related $165 million sale of GFI’s interdealer broker business to a group formed by management of GFI and response to interloper bids; and
• $126 million acquisition of the Kansas City Board of Trade;
- Ball Corporation in its:
• $530 million sale of its beverage packaging business in Russia;
• $6.9 billion acquisition of Rexam PLC;
• $675 million joint venture with Platinum Equity involving its U.S. food and aerosol packaging business;
• $225 million divestiture of its Chinese beverage can and end manufacturing business; and
• $120 million sale of its minority interest in its South Korea joint venture; - AutoNation in its:
• $190 million acquisition of RepairSmith;
• minority ownership stake in TrueCar; and
• $85 million acquisition of CIG Financial;
- R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company in its proposed but terminated $2.1 billion acquisition by affiliates of Atlas Holdings LLC, and subsequent $2.3 billion acquisition by affiliates of Chatham Asset Management, LLC;
- Flagstar Bancorp in its $2.6 billion merger with New York Community Bancorp;
- Exact Sciences Corporation in its $2.8 billion acquisition of Genomic Health, Inc.;
- Hillenbrand, Inc. in its $2 billion acquisition of Milacron Holdings Corp.;
- Cardinal Health in its $6.1 billion acquisition of Medtronic’s patient product portfolio;
- Sara Lee in connection with the spin-off and redomestication of its international coffee and tea operations in a transaction valued in excess of $13 billion;
- InvenTrust Properties in its:
• $1.4 billion sale of its student housing platform, University House, to a joint venture that includes Scion and CPPIB;
• $2.3 billion sale of a portfolio of net lease assets to AR Capital; and series of self-management transactions with the Inland Group for the $12 billion REIT;
- Huron Consulting Group in its:
• $112 million sale of Huron Legal to Consilio; and
• $325 million acquisition of the Studer Group;
- Black Diamond Capital Management in its:
• acquisition of GST AutoLeather, Inc.;
• investment in IAP Worldwide Services, Inc.; and
• sale of its portfolio company Sun World International.
Mr. Clark was named one of Crain’s Chicago Business’ 2021 Nota[1]ble Rising Stars in Law. In 2020, he was recognized by The Deal as a Rising Star for his M&A and private equity work.
He is a frequent speaker at seminars on corporate and governance matters, including those organized by PLI Practising Law Institute and the Garrett and Corporate Counsel Institute.
Dan Scorpio is a Managing Director and Head of M&A and Activism at H/Advisors Abernathy. He provides strategic communications and stakeholder engagement counsel to leadership teams and Boards of Directors regarding transactions, activism defense and governance matters.
Dan’s recent M&A advisory work includes T-Mobile’s acquisitions of Sprint and Mint Mobile, IFF’s RMT with DuPont’s Nutrition & Biosciences business, Symbotic’s public listing via a SPAC backed by SoftBank, Keurig Green Mountain’s acquisition of Dr Pepper Snapple, Silicon Motion’s cross-border acquisition by MaxLinear and Boston Beer Company’s acquisition of Dogfish Head. He has advised corporate clients in private and public engagements against activist investors including Carl Icahn, Elliott Management, JANA, Mantle Ridge, Pershing Square, Sachem Head and Starboard Value, among others.
He is skilled in connecting communications strategies to business objectives and brings a highly effective cross-stakeholder approach to client engagements. Dan has significant media relations experience and is a leader in applying digital strategies to drive positive outcomes for clients in contested M&A, proxy contests and special situations. He received a B.S. in Newspaper Journalism from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School.
Philip is chief strategy & marketing officer at Sterling Technology, a premium provider of virtual data room solutions for M&A, capital markets, and real estate. He has more than 30 years' experience working in strategy, M&A, corporate development, and corporate finance leadership roles in management consulting, investment banking, public companies, and private equity backed firms. Philip is a non-executive adviser to startups, investment management and private equity firms. He has served as an honorary visiting fellow in finance, and as a member of the advisory board of the M&A Research Centre, at Cass Business School. He is a co-author of over a dozen published M&A research studies and papers, as well as a co-inventor and patent holder for computerised, networked secure collaboration technology. Philip graduated from the University of London with Masters degrees in computer science and finance.
After eight years collaborating for Mergermarket from Latin America, Carlos is joining our staff as the new Canada Editor, where he will boost coverage and build up a strong source network, as well as spearhead Mergermarket’s energy and mining reporting.
Carlos started out as a Colombia correspondent in late 2014 and quickly became a crucial member of the Latin America team, helping with edits, sharing leads on Teams, and closely collaborating with Debtwire and Infralogic’s regional teams. He was named Deputy Latin America Editor in 2021.
Prior to joining Mergermarket, Carlos was senior features editor at Mexico’s leading business magazine and held similar roles at various other media outlets in Canada and the UK. He started his journalism career as a researcher/reporter at the Los Angeles Times’ foreign bureau in Mexico City back in 2005.
Carlos holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Thompson Rivers University in Canada and a master’s degree in international development from the University of Manchester in the UK. He is fluent in English and Spanish and is refreshing his high school French language skills. Outside of work he spends most of his time playing with his six-year-old daughter Sienna and walking his mixed-breed schnauzer Max.
For over a decade, Stephen has advised private equity, family offices, asset managers, and governments on macro-economic considerations and cross-border opportunities in Latin America. In 2019, he and his partners structured Emmersion Capital to acquire and build strategic U.S. facing enterprises in the Latin American market, including supply chain and logistics along with technical services such as civil/commercial engineering, cybersecurity, and financial analysis. Originally from Chicago, Stephen is now based in Bogotá and São Paulo where he manages operations in 7 countries and the group's headquarters in Miami.
Thomas is a Principal at Pritzker Private Capital focused on the firm’s investing activities in the Manufactured Products sector. Prior to joining Pritzker Private Capital, Thomas worked at Madison Dearborn Capital Partners, a multi-billion dollar Chicago-based firm. Prior to joining Madison Dearborn, Thomas was an investment banking analyst at Deutsche Bank in their Financial Sponsors Group.
Thomas received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He received his B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
William J. Rowe is a mergers and acquisitions partner in the Chicago office of Baker McKenzie. He assists global clients, many Fortune 100 repeat acquirers, with transformational international mergers and acquisitions. Representative clients include FedEx, McDonald's, Stryker, Daimler, Kao Corporation and Laboratoires Servier as well as companies seeking to be acquired. William has successfully closed over 30 cross border transactions and has spoken at conferences held by or been published by Bloomberg, Practicing Law Institute, the Chicago Bar Association and Deal Lawyers on practical developments for international acquisitions. His practice emphasizes making cross border strategy driven mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures reliable and understandable to strategic companies competing in local M&A processes, through explanation, modification of terms and tools like representation and warranty insurance.
Richard Buchband has over two decades of leadership and boardroom experience in professional services, start-ups, alternative investments and technology, with ManpowerGroup, Accenture, Orbitz, Juno Online Services and D. E. Shaw & Co.
Since 2013, Buchband is senior vice president and general counsel at ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN), a Fortune 150 workforce solutions company that operates globally, with 30,000 employees and revenues of $20 billion. A member of ManpowerGroup’s executive leadership, he works alongside the CEO, CFO and Board of Directors on the Company’s most critical matters, including its acquisition and disposition strategies. This includes re-alignment of the Company’s geographic footprint via the JV and subsequent IPO of its Greater China business, the $1B strategic acquisition of a major industry player in the US, and numerous sale and franchise transactions globally.
As a partner at Accenture, Buchband worked directly with the Board and C-suite, heading a team responsible for all corporate and securities matters. He managed Accenture’s most complex transactions, including its reincorporation to Ireland, a multi-year project involving issues of international law, tax, employee equity and investor relations.
Earlier in his career, Buchband spearheaded the IPO of Juno Online Services, a pioneering Internet provider incubated by D. E. Shaw & Co., and oversaw its transformation into a profitable public company. He was instrumental in its sale. Buchband likewise directed the IPO of global online travel player Orbitz, leading the company through its transition to public reporting status and completing the sale of the company.
Buchband is a frequent speaker on public company matters, boardroom issues and workforce trends, including at the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and Ethisphere. He has been published in Harvard Business Review. He has been named by Financial Times to its FT Global GC 25 list, and to the GC Powerlist (United States), recognizing the country’s most powerful legal advisers.
He sits on multiple boards, including the Milwaukee Art Museum (where he chairs the Investment Committee and serves on the Executive Committee), the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the ManpowerGroup Foundation. He is a Board Leadership Fellow of the NACD, holds an NACD Director Certification, and is an inaugural member of the NYSE Listed Company Advisory Board.
Buchband is a graduate of the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School), magna cum laude, and Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He spends his time outside of work cycling, skiing, and enjoying art, architecture and international travel with his wife and college-age daughters. He holds dual US and EU citizenship.
Vip Patel joined Aon’s Transaction Solutions team in 2016. In this role, he advises clients on brokering, placing and negotiating representations and warranties insurance across industries with an expertise in healthcare and life sciences transactions. Prior to joining Aon, Vip was a healthcare and life sciences investment banker with Robert W. Baird and Deutsche Bank, where he focused on mergers, acquisitions and capital-raising transactions. Prior to his investment banking experience, Vip was a corporate attorney with O’Melveny & Myers and Jones Day, focusing on mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and securities offerings.
Education
University of Chicago
MBA - 2010
Columbia Law School
JD - 2003
Case Western Reserve University – B.S.
Jessica Harger is part of Aon's Transaction Solutions team and focuses primarily on tax insurance. Prior to joining Aon in 2016, Jessica worked as a tax consultant, most recently in Ernst & Young's Transaction Tax group. Jessica began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, advising financial services clients and focusing on international tax issues in M&A transactions. She has advised on both private equity and strategic corporate deals from the buy-side and sell-side. Jessica has experience in all stages of the transaction life cycle, including strategic analysis of opportunities, development of financial and tax structures, due diligence and negotiation of sale and purchase agreements, and post transaction implementation. Jessica is admitted to the bar in New York, and was recognized as a Power Broker and Rising Star by RISK & INSURANCE Magazine in 2019, 2020, and 2021 for her work with tax insurance in M&A transactions.
Education
Middlebury College
B.A. Economics, Mathematics
2007
Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
J.D.
2010
Kimberly Trautmann joined DRW Venture Capital in 2016. DRW VC, an arm of principal trading firm DRW, is a private investor in financial and enterprise technology. The team focuses on revenue-generating and high-growth businesses that will derive value from DRW beyond capital: as a client, as a product advisor and through our deep trading industry expertise. The current portfolio holds more than 20 investments, including OpenFin, NinjaTrader, TradingView and Bitgo.
Prior to DRW, Kimberly was an investor at Goldman Sachs on the Principal Strategic Investments team for a decade. She is a CFA charter holder and holds a BS in Marketing from Wagner College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Based in Chicago, IL, Kelly Scheltens is a director of mergers and acquisitions for Crowley, guiding strategic investments that create sustainable growth and accelerate the company’s competitive advantages.
Kelly contributes to all aspects of strategic acquisitions, mergers, and divestitures, collaborating with Crowley’s business units to identify growth opportunities that best maximize the company’s diverse capabilities and offerings. Kelly spends the majority of her time focusing on deal valuation, diligence and integration planning. In addition, Kelly supports the company’s venture investing initiatives.
Throughout her career, she has helped companies throughout the transaction lifecycle from pre-deal advisory to post-transaction valuation support and portfolio monitoring. Kelly’s industry experience spans from private equity, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and financial services. Kelly also spent a few years of her career at a publicly traded company in their strategic finance team.
Prior to joining Crowley, Kelly served as a director in the transaction services practice of Grant Thornton, LLP. She holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from DePaul University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Mr. Dresner founded Dresner Partners in 1991 to provide Wall Street investment banking services to middle market businesses. His distinguished corporate finance career spans nearly 30 years, including mergers, acquisitions, debt and equity financing, restructuring and turnarounds, recapitalizations and international transactions. In addition to his transactional experience, Mr. Dresner has led numerous valuation, fairness opinion and strategic financial consulting engagements. He has worked extensively in several industries including healthcare, business services, building products, textiles, industrial manufacturing, retail and media.Prior to founding Dresner Partners, Mr. Dresner held management positions with First Chicago Corporation (JP Morgan Chase), Arthur Andersen (corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions practices), Heller Financial and GE Capital Corporation.
A community leader, Mr. Dresner serves on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Association for Corporate Growth, the Michael Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago, North Shore Congregation Israel, RTC Corporate Board, and The Entrepreneurship Institute. He has also served on the Ravinia annual fund committee and is a member of The Economic Club of Chicago.
Education
M.B.A. Finance, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
B.S. Economics, with Honors, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Erik Levy is the Group head, Corp Dev and M&A at DMGT plc. Erik is a highly experienced Corporate Development Executive with deep experience building and leading best in class, Fortune 1000 acquisition/investment and portfolio strategy. Erik has completed over 150 acquisitions, minority and venture investments and strategic partnerships.
Rob Rosenfeld is a Managing Director and Global Head of Baird’s Household Products practice – targeting products that are sold DTC/online, through big box and/or specialty retail.
Rob provides strategic and analytical support on sell-side and buyside M&A, strategic alternatives, and debt and equity offerings – with numerous CPG businesses including Bradshaw Home, PurposeBuilt Brands (fka Weiman), Instant Brands (fka Corelle Brands), Aden+Anais, Elmer’s, HG International, Freudenberg, Newell Brands, SC Johnson, FILA, Wilton Brands, Contigo, TOMY, Jazwares, Mayborn, Baby Jogger, and many more.
Prior to joining Baird, Rob worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions group for BMO Capital Markets in Chicago focusing principally on consumer and retail clients.
Rob received his M.B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a dual degree in Business (Marketing and Finance) and Liberal Arts (French) from Washington University in St. Louis.
Alex joined Periscope in 2018 and is a Principal. He leads business development and is responsible for the firm’s deal sourcing effort across business owners, executives and deal intermediaries as well as other relationships tied to Periscope’s origination strategy.
Prior to joining Periscope Equity, Alex was a Vice President of business development at a lower middle market private investment firm. Previously, Alex was a Vice President at Gibraltar Business Capital, where he focused on sponsor-backed, private credit origination. Earlier in his career, Alex was an Assistant Vice President at PNC Capital Markets in its financial services, advisory and banking practice, where he covered insurance companies.
Alex received a BBA in finance, investment and banking from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Ms. Browne is co-head of the Elevate strategy as part of the Sponsor Solutions Business. In addition, she works on various strategic investing initiatives across the firm. Prior to joining GCM Grosvenor, Ms. Browne worked at RedBird Capital Partners, where she focused on investing in family and founder-led businesses, including transaction sourcing, company-building, capital raising, and co-investments. Before joining RedBird, she was a senior member of the investment team and head of business development for DNS Capital, a prominent Midwest family office, where she focused on investing in venture and private equity transactions across a range of industries and sectors. Earlier in her career, she held roles at Goldman Sachs, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Ms. Browne earned a BA in Sociology with Great Distinction from McGill University and an MBA in Finance and International Business from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She sits on the Midwest steering committee for the Women's Association of Venture & Equity (WAVE); is a member of the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN) and The Chicago Network; and founded the Chicago Women: Lift & Lead citywide interview series, in partnership with Chicago Scholars.
Nick Potter serves as Principal on the Financial Services team at The Vistria Group, a middle-market private investment firm focused on delivering both financial returns and societal impact. Joined in March 2017, Nick has played a vital role in identifying and capitalizing on investment opportunities across the financial services industry, with particular emphasis on asset and wealth management, insurance services, and healthcare-related financial services platforms. Nick’s expertise in financial services has established him as a trusted leader in the industry and at the firm, driving the growth and contributing to the success of the portfolio companies he serves.
Prior to The Vistria Group, Nick was an Associate at Flexpoint Ford, where he focused primarily on investments in financial services companies. He also worked in the technology services investment banking group at Raymond James & Associates.
Nick received a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from The Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. He currently is involved with the board of several notable portfolio companies, including Treliant, The Mather Group and Flores & Associates.
Ellen has worked in a variety of capacities for Sam Zell’s affiliated companies for more than 30 years. As managing director, she represents EGI in finding potential transactions, and serves on the boards of Ardent Health Services, a provider of hospital and healthcare services and Lanter Delivery Systems, an asset-light dedicated delivery service provider. In addition, Ellen helped establish and is responsible for overseeing the Zell Global Entrepreneurship Network (ZGEN), an organization that provides continuing education and mentorship for students and alumni of three entrepreneurship education programs sponsored by the Zell Family Foundation.
She has served on the boards of SIRVA, Inc., a provider of moving and relocation services; Rewards Network, a dining rewards company; WRS Holding Company, which specializes in environmental construction and remediation; East Mediterranean Gas Company SAE, an Egyptian natural gas transmission business; National Patent Development Corporation, a holding company focused on pharmaceutical and home improvement products; and Home Products International, a global consumer products company. She also held the roles of executive vice president at Equity International and vice president of Scott Sports Group.
Previously, Ellen was a financial analyst with The First Boston Corporation in New York City. She graduated magna cum laude with a BA from Harvard College and earned her Master of Divinity degree from the University of Chicago in 2016.