As we continue to emerge from the global recession and operate in an environment where credit is more attainable and investors are more prevalent, the distressed landscape has become more competitive and difficult to navigate. As companies recover and generate positive cash-flows, distressed opportunities have become more limited. This panel seeks to explore recent developments in distressed investing and identify the most opportunistic asset classes and industries in 2011. The panel will also discuss strategies for value creation in existing portfolio companies through operational turnaround as well as financial restructuring. The panelists will share their insights with respect to the most significant challenges distressed investors are facing today.
Michael Ranson is a Partner for Blue Wolf Capital, a private equity firm, and Blue Wolf Capital Fund II, L.P., a private equity fund, which specialize in control investments in middle-market companies in which managing relationships with government or labor, or resolving financial or operational distress, are critical to building value.
Prior to joining Blue Wolf, Mr. Ranson served as a Portfolio Manager of GoldenTree Asset Management, LP, a $12 billion alternative asset management firm. In this position, Mr. Ranson made private equity investments and debt investments in middle market companies and helped manage the firm’s private finance strategy. While at GoldenTree, Mr. Ranson invested approximately $634 million and helped oversee a $1.5 billion portfolio and team of approximately ten people.
Prior to joining GoldenTree in 2004, Mr. Ranson was a Vice President at American Capital, Ltd., where he worked closely with Mr. Blumenthal. While at American Capital, Mr. Ranson made private equity investments and debt investments in middle market companies and participated in the creation of that company’s internal workout and portfolio management group.
At both GoldenTree and American Capital, Mr. Ranson made investments across the capital structure and in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, media, entertainment, telecommunications, green energy, paper and restaurants. During his time at American Capital, Mr. Ranson served as a Director on the Boards of multiple companies, including American Decorative Surfaces, Patriot Medical, Confluence Holdings, Fulton Bellows and Components and Starcom Holdings.
Prior to American Capital in 1999, Mr. Ranson was a Financial Analyst with Chase Manhattan’s Leveraged Finance department. Mr. Ranson received a B.A. from Duke University, which he attended on a full scholarship. Following graduation from Duke, he received a scholarship to conduct a post-graduate independent study of music in Marrakech, Morocco, where he lived for six months.
Marcel Arsenault is founder and CEO of Real Capital Solutions, a nationally-focused investor of workout and distressed real estate assets based out of Denver, Colorado. He has acquired, repositioned, and redeveloped over $1.5 billion in commercial, condominium, and homebuilder projects over the past 25 years. He demonstrated his understanding of the macro real estate cycle when he ceased acquisitions and sold 80% of his $400 million portfolio at the market peak in 2006-2008. Since that time, Real Capital Solutions has acquired over $200 million in distressed condo and homebuilder deals in Colorado, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico and California. The firm continues to actively pursue $5-25 million distressed residential real estate deals and plans to re-enter the commercial space in 2011-2013. He holds a B.S. from McGill University and pursued a Ph.D. in molecular biology at the University of Colorado.
Marc Baliotti is a Managing Director with GSO Capital Partners focusing on middle market private equity investing and private debt investing.
Before joining GSO Capital in 2005, Mr. Baliotti was a Principal of AIG Highstar Capital, an energy and infrastructure private equity group with over $4.0 billion of assets under management. Prior to that, Mr. Baliotti worked at Advanstar Communications Inc., a portfolio company of DLJ Merchant Banking Partners. Prior to that, he was an associate at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.
Mr. Baliotti graduated, with distinction, from the U.S. Naval Academy with a BS in economics. He earned an MBA from Villanova University while on active duty in the U.S. Navy.
Maureen focuses on sourcing, analysing and closing North American secondary investment opportunities. She also participates in fund monitoring, firm marketing and client reporting. Prior to joining Pantheon, Maureen was a Vice President in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs, & Co. Maureen's execution experience includes a variety of cross-border and domestic M&A; and leveraged buy-out transactions, debt restructuring assignments as well as a broad spectrum of capital market financings from equity to high yield across multiple industries. Before joining Goldman Sachs in 1998, Maureen worked for Merrill Lynch in New York in their Fixed Income Division for three years. Maureen holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from Wharton's Graduate School of Business. Maureen is based in San Francisco.
Shonnel Malani is a Principal at Centerbridge Partners in New York. His primary area of focus is the retail/consumer industry, with additional experience in the industrials sector. He is a Director on the Board of CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries, Inc. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Malani was employed by Bain Capital in Boston and London, where he was active in the firm’s investments in Toys R Us, Dunkin Brands, Nutro Products, FCI and NXP. Previously, he worked as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley in New York and Toronto.
Mr. Malani graduated from McGill University, Montreal with great distinction as an LJ Forget & Company scholar and earned an MBA from the Wharton School and an MPA from the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Malani also serves as a Director on the Board of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center.
With over twenty years of experience and proven expertise investing in and executing business turnarounds, corporate restructurings and reorganizations, and other 'special situations', Mr. Segall is the Managing Partner of Versa Capital Management, and is responsible for the overall management and strategy of the firm and its affiliated investment funds.
He is a Board Member of Versa portfolio companies Allen-Vanguard Corp. (Defense), Black Angus Steakhouses (Restaurants), Bob’s Stores (Apparel Retail), Central Parking (Parking Facilities Management), Holliston (Coated Cloth), Polartec (Performance Fabrics), Republic Storage (Lockers) and Simplexity (Online Retail).
A former Governor of the State Bar of California by legislative appointment, Mr. Segall received his MBA from Pepperdine University, and has frequently served as a guest commentator on CNBC and Bloomberg TV, and as a panelist and lecturer for numerous universities and professional organizations on a variety of topics including corporate restructurings, distressed investing and other economic, business and financial issues.
David H. Storper is a Senior Managing Director of WL Ross & Co. LLC and member of the Office of the Chairman and Investment Committee. In addition, Mr. Storper is the director of WL Ross & Co. LLC’s analyst team and trading departments, sourcing and positioning product for the firm’s investment platforms and oversees the firm’s Absolute Recovery Hedge Strategy. Prior to WL Ross & Co. LLC, Mr. Storper worked with Mr. Ross as a Managing Director in Rothschild Inc.’s Restructuring Group and as a distressed securities analyst and salesman at Credit Suisse First Boston and Libra Investments. He began his career at Wells Fargo Bank in the Corporate Banking and Problem Loan Groups. Mr. Storper holds an M.B.A from Columbia Business School and B.S. from Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.
While significant macroeconomic trends may position the emerging markets as an attractive destination for private equity funds, substantial risks remain. This panel focuses on exploring the idea of what success in emerging markets looks like, both in the short and long term. Is a different skill set required to succeed in closing deals in these markets? More importantly, what goes into completing a successful exit? Are global firms with offices in local hubs in emerging markets doing as well (or better or worse) than local PE firms? This panel will bring together the foremost experts from different geographies to answer these questions, in addition to highlighting key success factors and likely future trends in PE in emerging markets.
Steve has a career that is both commercial and academic. Outside of Wharton, Steve is Venture Partner, Burrill & Company, a merchant bank and venture capital fund focused on the life sciences and health care. His role there is general management of overseas venture capital funds, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
Academically, he currently holds an appointment as Lecturer, Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs and Senior Fellow, Wharton Health Care Management and has been at Wharton for 18 years. He has created eight courses throughout the University that he has taught to over 5000 students. Steve’s primary areas of research coincide with his venture activity: health care and biotech capacity building in the emerging markets; private equity and venture capital approaches to economic development; and, the role of the private sector in addressing needs in global health.
During his private sector career, Steve has been involved in the creation or funding of nearly 40 biotechnology, Internet, and information technology companies globally. He is on numerous Boards of Directors including HealthRight International, the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, Dynamis Therapeutics, Combinent BioMedical Systems, and serves as a senior advisor to Mitsubishi Corporation’s Life Science Business Unit, and the Royal Bank of Canada Strategic Technology Fund. He is also a member of the publications board of the European Venture Capital Association and the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology. He is also lead editor of Scientific American Lives, a new magazine on innovation in global health.
He holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from Villanova University in biological sciences and philosophy, attended Hahnemann Medical College for two years, and holds an MBA from the Wharton School.
Ettore V. Biagioni is the Managing Partner and founder (2004) of Alothon, a Private Equity firm which focuses on Latin America. Mr. Biagioni has been doing business in Latin America since the mid 1980's and has worked with members of the Alothon Group since 1993. From 1995 to 2004, he served as Head of the Latin America Private Equity Group of Bankers Trust (BT), then of Deutsche Bank. He was also Head of BT’s Latin America M&A; and Private Equity Group prior to the acquisition of BT by Deutsche Bank. Other employers include Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York (1980-1986) and McKinsey & Company in Italy. Mr. Biagioni serves on numerous boards of portfolio companies and is a Director of Cynosure (NASDAQ). Mr. Biagioni is also a member of the Board of the Wharton Financial Institutions Center at the University of Pennsylvania and Co- Chair of the Global Advisory Board of Babson College. He holds a B.S. with distinction from Babson College and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Eiben is the head of North America investor relations of Aureos Capital. Aureos is a global emerging markets private equity manager focused on small to mid-market transactions across Africa, Asia and Latin America. As head of North America IR, Mr. Eiben is responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships with existing and potential investors, and for developing new business and products that fit Aureos' overall global strategy. Prior to Aureos Capital, Mr. Eiben was a senior member of the Alternative Investments Group at J.P. Morgan Private Bank raising and investing capital in third-party private equity funds. Prior to that, he was the head of fundraising and business development at Schroeder Ventures US and before that, a member of the UBS Private Equity Funds Group; the placement arm of the bank. Mr. Eiben started his career in the Mergers and Acquisitions group at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Mr. Eiben received his MBA degree from Thunderbird, the Global School of Management and his BA degree from Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina.
Ted serves as the Director of Product Management at The Rohatyn Group (TRG). In this capacity, Mr. Gillman is responsible for working closely with investment professionals at TRG in the private investment teams focusing on private equity and privately negotiated investment opportunities principally in Africa and Latin America. His responsibilities include structuring investment funds, and working with legal, operational and investment professionals to facilitate co-investments and to manage relationships with LPs on a global basis. Mr. Gillman has over 18 years of experience in the asset management field having held positions as an investment analyst and portfolio manager and client service professional. Previous positions held before arriving at TRG include serving as the Director of Institutional Marketing at Davis Selected Advisers, LP, where Mr. Gillman was responsible for new business development and client service. Other previous positions include the role of Managing Director at FA Asset Management Inc., where he led the asset management activities within a division of a publicly-traded brokerage firm. Previous to that role, Mr. Gillman was a Director at Lazard Asset Management, where he held positions in portfolio management and investment analysis in both the New York and London offices of Lazard over a nine year period. He began his career in the investment field as an equity analyst at Wilkinson, O'Grady & Co., in 1992.
Mr. Gillman is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business Administration.
Michelle Haigh is a Vice President at Conduit Capital Partners, sourcing, evaluating and executing new investment opportunities for the Latin Power Funds. Michelle joined the firm in 2007 from Goldman, Sachs & Co.'s Public Sector & Infrastructure Banking group, where she served infrastructure clients in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and State of New York. She started her career at SJF Ventures, a venture capital fund that invests in companies with both strong financial growth and positive community impact. Michelle has extensive experience working in Latin America in a volunteer capacity, including for Fundación Pro-PAPA in Honduras and TechnoServe in Perú. Michelle holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Economics and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.
Conduit Capital Partners, LLC is a private equity investment firm focused on the significant investment opportunities presented by the independent electric power industry in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 1993, the Conduit team has built the portfolios and managed among the most successful international infrastructure funds. As long-term investors, Conduit has managed funds generating industry-leading returns – not only in this sector, but across the breadth of private equity investing.
Mr. Mintz has more than 20 years of private equity investment and M&A; experience in Asia and the United States. Prior to founding Olympus Capital, he was head of Asia for Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, the former private equity arm of Morgan Stanley. Mr. Mintz holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business Administration and an AB degree magna cum laude from Brown University. He was a 1984 recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and is a member of the World Economic Forum, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Young Presidents Organization.
Shashank Singh is a Partner and Co-Head of the India office of Apax Partners, having helped to start the office in 2007. Shashank joined Apax in London in 2004, as part of the Technology & Telecoms team, and has focused on investments in the telecoms and IT services / BPO spaces. His deals at Apax include iGate / Patni (leading off-shore IT/BPO service provider) TIM Hellas (#3 mobile operator in Greece), Weather Investments (portfolio of developed and developing market mobile operators), TDC (incumbent telecoms operator in Denmark), Bezeq (incumbent telecoms operator in Israel) and Synetrix (public authority-focused network integrator in the UK).
Prior to joining Apax Partners, Shashank spent four years as a strategy consultant with Monitor Company in their London, Madrid, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Munich, Mumbai and Tel Aviv offices. His focus at Monitor was on leading client engagements in the telecommunications and high technology sectors.
Shashank has an MBA from Harvard Business School, from which he graduated as a Baker Scholar, a first class degree in economics from Cambridge University and a BA (Honours) with distinction from St. Stephen’s College (University of Delhi). Prior to this, Shashank went to school in Austria, Pakistan and India.
Shashank has lived in twelve different countries and is fluent in English, Hindi and German.
After two years of a sluggish economy and a challenging debt market, European buyouts are showing signs of recovery. However, valuations have been driven upwards given the significant undrawn capital available from 2005-2008 vintage funds, leaving fewer “bargain” targets available. This Panel features active investors who will comment on the investment landscape in Europe and their current strategy. The topics will include a short-term view on the industry competitive landscape, new investment frontiers in the search for top-quartile returns, and longer-term sustainability and outlook.
Mark O’Hare is Founder and Managing Director of Preqin, the alternative assets information service. Preqin provides extensive research and data on the entire global alternative assets industry, covering private equity, private real estate, infrastructure and hedge funds. Preqin is an independent business with 80 staff based in London, New York and Singapore, providing market-leading online and hard copy data services to many of the world’s leading institutional investors, money managers and advisors. Preqin’s online databases are used by over 4,700 customers in 72 countries worldwide. In addition, over 30,000 industry professionals receive Preqin’s newsletters and research reports every month. Preqin tracks fund returns, fund raising information, fund terms and conditions, profiles of the GPs running the funds, and the LPs investing in them. Preqin’s databases also cover buyout and infrastructure deals globally.
Before Preqin, Mark’s initial career was as a Manager with Boston Consulting Group, where he advised clients in Europe, the US and Africa, across several industries including financial services, healthcare, retail, industrial and consumer products. Following BCG he founded Goodall Alexander O’Hare & Co, an independent strategy consulting firm. In 1993 he founded Citywatch, the UK’s leading shareholder information service, which was acquired by Reuters in 1998, and now provides a global service on the ownership of listed equities.
Mark studied Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at Cambridge University, where he graduated with First Class Honours and was awarded the Stokes Prize. He represented his college 1st VIII in rowing. Subsequent to this he studied Finance at London Business School.
Glen Matsumoto joined EQT Partners in August of 2007 and heads EQT’s New York office.
Mr. Matsumoto is one of four partners that manages the firm’s infrastructure business line. EQT Infrastructure Fund has committed capital of EUR 1.2 billion and is focused on acquiring and developing infrastructure companies in Northern and Eastern Europe plus North America using EQT’s unique industrial approach.
Prior to joining EQT, Mr. Matsumoto held positions with Macquarie, GE Capital, ABB, the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and Mission Energy Company.
Mr. Matsumoto serves on the board of Midland Cogeneration Venture, a cogeneration power company located in Midland, Michigan and an EQT Infrastructure Fund portfolio company.
Mr. Matsumoto has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rice University.
Jaime Prieto is a Partner at LBO France. Mr. Prieto joined LBO France in 2009.
He began his career in 1998 as a Sales Engineer with Lucent Technologies in France, and subsequently in Mexico and the US.
He then joined McKinsey & Co in 2002, where he handled various projects for industrial customers and private equity funds in Europe.
In 2006 he joined Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) in London, where he was responsible for structuring acquisitions and monitoring investment on the "Private Equity & Mezzanine" investment team.
Gregory Stoupnitzky is a founder of CIS Capital LLC, a merchant banking boutique with a focus on Energy, Power and related infrastructure opportunities in Russia and Central Asia. He was an equity sponsor of Ruslan Investment Corp., a SPAC designed to raise funds on Euronext and to act as a reverse merger candidate for mid cap companies in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine; he continues to be involved in various principal investments.
From 1998 to 2008, Gregory was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley in Investment Banking, variously based in Moscow, London and New York. His clients included corporates, governments, and financial sponsors in the FSU, CEE and Southern Europe. He oversaw origination and execution activities of regional professionals in M&A; and financing across the region. Notable clients in Russia included Lukoil, Gazprom, Sibur, Novatek, Rosneft, Norilsk Nickel / Interros, VimpelCom, MTS and others. During his tenure at Morgan Stanley, Gregory served as a Co-Head of Global Emerging Capital Markets and was a Member of the Firm’s Capital Committee.
From 1996 to 1998, Gregory was a Partner at Imag Gmbh, a Vienna based Private Equity firm focused on the Former Soviet Union. Previously, Gregory spent 10 years at Bear Stearns, where he held various roles in Latin America, and Southern Europe.
In 2007-2008 Gregory served on the Board of Directors of the US-Russia Business Council. Currently he serves on the Advisory Board at Pace Financial Services, and on the Advisory Council to the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy at Columbia University.
Gregory has a BA and a MA from Columbia University and a certificate from Moscow State University in Language Arts.
The panelists will discuss the current state of international venture capital and recent trends in the sector. Panelists will debate why the venture capital industry abroad remains underdeveloped relative to the US venture capital market and what it would take to create a broadly sustainable market for venture capital internationally. Panel members with global and regional experience will share their knowledge gained through extensive experience, both successes and failures. They will also discuss differentiating venture capital from private equity in these markets.
Andras Forgacs is Managing Director of Richmond Global, a global venture firm focused on technology-enabled services, consumer Internet, and mobile applications in the US, China and across major emerging markets. His focus is the day-to-day management of Richmond’s existing portfolio of direct and indirect investments as well as sourcing new investment opportunities.
Prior to Richmond, Andras was a consultant in the New York office of McKinsey & Company advising global financial institutions and private equity/venture capital firms. Previously, Andras helped found the client-facing E-commerce Group of Citigroup developing award-winning products to support Citi’s corporate and investment banking clients. Andras began his career with Citigroup as an investment banker in the Financial Strategy Group advising the bank’s largest corporate clients on a range of financial and capital structure issues.
Andras serves on the boards of Voxiva and Organovo (which he co-founded in 2007). He is a board observer of AdChina, LearnVest and Fluent Mobile. He is also Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the international non-profit Resolution Project served as Co-Chair of the China Digital Media Summit 2010. Andras is a Kauffman Fellow with the Center for Venture Education and a Term Member with the Council on Foreign Relations.
Andras holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Harvard University.
Mr. Jinsi joined heads IFC’s clean technology investment efforts in globally. Earlier, Mr. Jinsi spent nine years in Asia as the Managing Director for one of Asia's leading venture funds. Mr. Jinsi has an MBA from Stanford University and an M Sc. degree in EE from Delft University, the Netherlands.
Mohanjit Jolly is the Managing Director of DFJ India. Mohanjit relocated to India in September, 2007 to establish the DFJ India office and help manage DFJ's India portfolio. Mohanjit currently serves on the Boards of Attero, Canvera, Cleartrip, iYogi, Mchek, Naseeb Networks, Pressmart, and Seventymm.
Mohanjit Jolly has spent the last ten years working with and investing in technology startups. Prior to DFJ, Mohanjit was Managing Director at Garage Technology Ventures, a seed and early stage venture capital firm. While at Garage, Mohanjit worked with over 30 companies, including LeftHand Networks, PureSight (BCGI), Jibe Networks (CTRX), Qumu, Thermoceramix, Kaboodle (Acq: Hearst Media) and SimplyHired. Prior to joining Garage, Mohanjit was part of the strategic planning group at Mattel where he helped launch the Mattel/Intel joint venture, Intel Play. He also spent several years in both engineering and business development roles with Itek Optical Systems, a manufacturer of high-resolution reconnaissance systems for both military and commercial use. While earning his M.B.A from the Anderson School at UCLA, Mohanjit helped launch ViaSpace, a technology incubator in Southern California in conjunction with Caltech and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Mohanjit earned a B.S. and M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, with a specialization in electric propulsion systems.
Denis Kalenja is the founder and Managing Partner of Montague Capital Partners, LLC. Based in New York and North Carolina, he leads the firm’s private equity practice bringing over 13 years of experience in banking and venture capital investing. He is currently an investor in a number of enterprises amongst which AdChina, IQ Max and Carolina Fabrication, Inc.
For 3 years Mr. Kalenja was the CEO of Albinvest, Albania’s government agency of Foreign Investment, Exports and Small Medium Enterprises. At Albinvest, he directed a staff of 32 and multiple programs with international donors including World Bank, USAID, EU and UNDP. While presiding over the rapid growth at Albinvest, he led Albania’s national image promotion campaign and restructured 3 government agencies.
In the context of Montague, he advises regional governments on attraction of foreign investment, reform of economic policies that influence business growth, and works closely with PE funds exploring Southeast Europe and Turkey in an advisory or joint investment capacity. He holds the position of Chairman of the Advisory Board at the Tirana Chamber of Commerce, and Vice President at the Center for Business and Parliamentary Dialogue.
Mr. Kalenja has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BS with honors in Applied Economics and Business Management from Cornell University. During his training at M&T; Bank he also received the Series 6 & Series 63 licenses. He speaks English, Italian, Bulgarian, Albanian, conversational Portuguese and German.
Benjamin Sessions has primary responsibility for GEF's investment program in Latin America as a member of the Emerging Markets team.
Prior to joining GEF in 1998, Mr. Sessions worked in the Financial Institutions Group at Lehman Brothers, structuring debt and equity offerings, as well as merger and acquisition transactions for banks, insurance companies and finance companies. Previously, he was a consultant with Ernst & Young, where he advised the government of Kazakhstan on its privatization program, first in the establishment of a countrywide public education program in support of privatization and then directing the transport privatization effort in the southern part of the country.
Mr. Sessions, a CFA Charterholder, received his MA with distinction in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies and holds a BA cum laude in Soviet and East European Studies from Tufts University.
Roberto Woldenberg is Managing Partner of Indigo Capital, a private equity firm focused on Latin America. Portfolio companies include PASA, Mexico’s leading waste services company; InverCap, Mexico’s largest independent social security trust administrator; SAR Energy, a leading oil services company in Colombia; Torrecom, a growing Central American cell phone tower company; and Prisma, the leading limited-service hotel company in Latin America. Prior to Indigo, Mr. Woldenberg was an Associate at JP Morgan’s Latin America M&A; group. Mr. Woldenberg graduated from Columbia University in 1994.
In times of uncertainty with limited credit availability, where are large buyout funds finding the most appealing opportunities? The LBO speakers on this panel will discuss the strategies they are pursuing, the industry sectors they are targeting, and how they are approaching exits. They will also highlight their international strategies and opportunities.
Mike Bingle joined Silver Lake in 2000. He is a Managing Director and a member of the Investment and Operating Committees of Silver Lake Partners. Prior to joining Silver Lake, Mr. Bingle was a principal at Apollo Advisors, L.P., a large-scale and diversified private equity firm. Prior to Apollo, Mr. Bingle worked as an investment banker in the Leveraged Finance Group of Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Bingle serves on the Board of Directors of Gartner, Inc., Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc., Mercury Payment Systems, Inc., and IPC Systems, Inc., and on the Board of Visitors of Duke University’s School of Engineering. He is also a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously Mr. Bingle was a director of Ameritrade Holding Corp., Datek Online Holdings, Inc. and Instinet, Inc. He holds a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.
Joshua M. Nelson is a Managing Director at Thomas H. Lee Partners. Prior to joining Thomas H. Lee Partners, Mr. Nelson worked at JPMorgan Partners, the private equity affiliate of JPMorgan Chase. Mr. Nelson also worked at McKinsey & Co. and The Beacon Group, LLC. Mr. Nelson is currently a Director of Hawkeye Energy Holdings, LLC and inVentiv Health, Inc. Mr. Nelson holds an A.B., summa cum laude, in Politics from Princeton University and an M.B.A. with Honors from Harvard Business School.
Jordan Zaken is a Senior Partner at Apollo Global Management. Mr. Zaken joined Apollo in 1999. Prior to that time, Mr. Zaken was employed by Goldman, Sachs & Co. in its Mergers & Acquisitions Department. Mr. Zaken serves on the boards of directors of Momentive Specialty Materials Holdings and Verso Paper Corp. Mr. Zaken graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business with a BA in Economics.
The landscape after the crisis has changed. The dust has settled, but considerable uncertainty remains. This panel will highlight LP perspectives on investing in private equity and venture capital versus other asset classes, long-term and short-term views of attractive strategies and geographies, and current return expectations. The LP panelists will discuss their plans for future commitments to funds or direct investments, views of private equity secondary investing, and opinions on fund terms that matter.
Sebastien is an Investment Principal responsible for deal origination and execution in the US market.
Since joining Coller Capital in 2003, Sebastien has worked on all aspects of the secondary transaction process and has completed numerous direct and LP transactions. Sebastien has been part of the team responsible for investing Coller International Partners IV and V. Sebastien started off in Coller Capital's London office where he worked until early 2006, at which point he moved to New York where he has since contributed towards the firm's growing presence in the US market.
Prior to joining Coller Capital, Sebastien was working for General Electric as an Associate in the Corporate M&A; group, and prior to that with GE Equity, General Electric's direct private equity group, where he focused on mid-market buyouts and co-investments.
Sebastien holds a BA (Hons) in Finance from Audencia - École Superieure de Commerce de Nantes in France, and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Maria C. Kozloski is Managing Director, Private Markets, Lockheed Martin Investment Management Company, overseeing investments in private equity and real estate. Prior to joining Lockheed in November 2008, Ms. Kozloski worked on emerging market initiatives for the J.E. Robert Companies (JER), a private equity real estate investment firm. Prior to joining JER in 2007, Ms. Kozloski was Manager of the Private Equity & Investment Funds Department of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, where she oversaw fund commitments worldwide for a US$1.7 billion private equity portfolio, investing in Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, the CIS countries, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Prior to joining IFC’s Funds Department, Ms. Kozloski co-managed the private equity portfolios of the World Bank Group Staff Retirement Plan and Retired Staff Benefits Plan, investing primarily in the United States, Europe and Asia. Ms. Kozloski has lived in Russia, during which time was Senior Investment Officer in IFC’s Moscow office, responsible for direct investments in Russia and Eastern Europe. Earlier in her career, she was an advisor to Poland’s Ministry of Privatization, based in Warsaw, and worked for J. P. Morgan & Co. as a Treasury Officer. She is a CFA and holds an MBA, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; MA, East European Studies, Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies; and BS, Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Andrea is a Managing Director at Hamilton Lane where she is responsible for the oversight and management of the firm’s global Fund Investment Group. Andrea is a member of the Investment Committee, and also serves on a number of fund advisory boards.
Prior to joining Hamilton Lane, Andrea worked as a General Partner at Exelon Capital Partners where she managed investments in the energy technology and enterprise application areas; as a Senior Business Development Manager for Philadelphia Gas Works; and as a Fund Manager for Murex Corporation.
Andrea received an M.B.A. in Finance from Temple University and a B.A. in Economics from Franklin and Marshall College.
As Director of Investments of Carnegie Corporation of New York, Kim Y. Lew is principally responsible for the management of the Corporation's private equity portfolio.
Prior to joining Carnegie, Lew spent seven years as Senior Manager of Private Equity for the Ford Foundation where she was responsible for managing the Foundation’s investments in venture capital and buyout funds. For the five years prior to that, she was the Technology Portfolio Strategist for the Foundation. Before joining Ford, she worked in the Private Placement Group of Prudential and in the Middle Market Banking Group of the former Chemical Bank.
Lew earned a BS from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business. Additionally, she was awarded her Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1996.
Lew serves on the Board of Trustees of the Stevens Cooperative School and serves on the ACLU Investment Committee.
Sheryl Schwartz has over 22 years of experience investing in fixed income and alternative investments. Since 2010 she serves as a Senior Managing Director of Perseus working on mezzanine debt investments, private equity investments, and investor relations. Prior to joining Perseus, Ms. Schwartz worked at TIAA-CREF’s alternative investment team which she joined in 1988. In 1997, Ms. Schwartz was appointed to establish and develop TIAA’s alternative investment portfolio. During the following 13 years, Ms. Schwartz built a diversified portfolio of approximately $13 billion of commitments in alternative investments. Ms. Schwartz was responsible for all fund, direct private equity co-investment, and mezzanine debt opportunities. Ms. Schwartz serves on the Board of Directors of WAVE, a nonprofit organization committed to the advancement of women in private equity and venture capital. She was also a long-time member of the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA).
Ms. Schwartz holds both a B.S. and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University.
Rick joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in August 2005 as the director of private investments. In this role he managed a portfolio of over $2 billion in commitments, with investments in private equity, venture capital, growth equity, distressed investing, opportunistic credit and real assets. Since joining the Foundation, Rick has also been responsible for building its Asian private equity and real assets portfolio. In 2009, Rick became Director of Portfolio Management. Rick's responsibilities include asset allocation, risk management, and portfolio solutions for the entire RWJF portfolio, working closely with the CIO. Rick chairs an Internal Investment Committee, which discusses both specific managers and general issues as they relate to the Portfolio. Rick also participates on a Liquidity Committee chaired by the CFO of The Foundation.
Rick received an M.B.A. in finance and a B.S. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
John Wolak is a portfolio manager for the Private Markets portfolios. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2002. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley AIP, John was a portfolio manager in the private equity group of DuPont Capital Management where he was responsible for managing a $2 billion private markets portfolio of partnership, secondary and direct investments. John is also a founding member of Wilton Asset Management, a joint venture fund-of-funds business with State Street Global Advisors. He received a B.S. in accounting from Bloomsburg University and an M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame. John holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and he is a Certified Public Accountant.
Jason Wright is a partner in the Tech and Telecom team. Jason joined Apax Partners in the New York office in 2000. Current directorships include Tivit (Bovespa: TVIT), Realpage (Nasdaq: RP), Trizetto and Plex Systems. Prior investments include WebClients (purchased by Valueclick), Planview, Spectrum Labs, Yell (LSE: YELL), INEA (purchased by SAP) and Intralinks (Nasdaq:IL).
Prior to joining Apax Partners, Jason served in a variety of roles at GE Capital, including principal investing on behalf of GE Ventures. Previously, he worked at Accenture, designing and implementing systems for the financial services and pharmaceutical industries.
Jason received a BA in economics from Tufts University and an MBA in finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is also on the board of the Opportunity Network, an education-focused charity in New York City.
Identifying and creating sustainable competitive advantages presents a challenging, yet rewarding opportunity for middle market private equity firms. Due to the changing macroeconomic landscape, future success in private equity investing will be driven more by investing acumen than by financial engineering. Those firms that successfully maneuver the evolving landscape will be best positioned to identify competitive advantages and to create value. This panel will explore current areas of interest in the middle market industry including fundraising, deal flow, the credit environment, and exit strategies. It will also focus on investing characteristics that will generate excess returns for individual firms, including industry-specific investing, operational expertise/differentiation, opportunistic investing, and expansion into new strategies.
Daniel O’Donnell is Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer-elect of the firm, and a member of the firm's Policy Committee. He is a nationally recognized advisor to private equity fund sponsors, corporations, and financial institutions as well as company managements, boards of directors, and special committees. He represents clients on public and private mergers and acquisition as well as corporate restructurings and corporate governance matters. Mr. O’Donnell has headed Dechert teams for private equity clients in more than 125 leveraged buyout and leveraged recapitalization transactions, including those involving Flender AG, American Microsystems, California Pizza Kitchen, J&L; Specialty Steel, MagnaChip Semiconductor, Ntelos, Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation, and Mohawk Industries, Inc. Mr. O’Donnell has been recognized for six consecutive years as a top lawyer for corporate/mergers and acquisitions and private equity by Chambers USA, where he has also been ranked among leading lawyers nationally for private equity buyouts. A member of the Pennsylvania Bar, he is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, B.A., and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Mr. Bondy is a Principal of GTCR Golder Rauner, LLC and has worked at GTCR since 2000. He is the Co-Head of the firm’s technology and information services practice. Founded in 1980, GTCR is a premier private equity firm that currently manages more than $8 billion in equity capital. The firm principally invests in companies in high-growth industries including technology and information services, financial services, and healthcare. During his tenure at GTCR, Mr. Bondy has been actively involved in over 20 acquisitions for GTCR and its portfolio companies. Mr. Bondy currently serves on the board of directors of several GTCR portfolio companies including Six3 Systems, Landmark Aviation, and Heritage Group. In addition, Mr. Bondy served as a director of several of GTCR’s prior successful investments including Cellnet Technologies, DigitalNet, Solera (NYSE: SLH), TransFirst, and VeriFone (NYSE: PAY).
Prior to joining GTCR, Mr. Bondy was employed in the investment banking department of Credit Suisse First Boston in Chicago where he focused on M&A; advisory and capital markets transactions primarily for Midwest industrial clients. He also worked in CSFB’s London office where he principally advised Western European governments on the privatization of several state-owned businesses including telecom, oil & gas, banking, and aviation assets.
Mr. Bondy is a member of the board of Community in Schools of Chicago (CISC), a non-profit organization that connects public school children with free social, emotional, health and enrichment programs. He serves as the Chairman of the Resource committee and member of the Finance committee for CISC.
Mr. Bondy holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He received a degree in Finance from the Honors Business Program at the University of Texas at Austin where he graduated with high honors.
Michael A. Delaney is a Managing Partner of Court Square Capital Partners, one of the pioneers in the private equity industry. Over the last three decades, Court Square has invested over $5 billion in over 170 transactions that have returned to date $15 billion to our investors and partners.
Mr. Delaney has been with Court Square Capital or its predecessor, Citigroup Venture Capital, since 1989. Before Court Square, he worked as a vice president in Citicorp Investment Bank’s Mergers and Acquisition Group. Prior to Citicorp, he held various corporate finance positions at General Motors’ Treasurer’s Office, including Manager of Acquisitions and Divestitures. From 1976 to 1980, Mr. Delaney served in the U.S. Army, as a Cavalry Officer, principally in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Mr. Delaney attended Pennsylvania State University and graduated in 1976 summa cum laude with a B.S in Accounting. In 1982, he received his M.B.A. from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Delaney is a director of Ancile Solutions, Compucom, MacDermid, Mosaic Sales Solutions, Strategic Industries and Rocket Software. He previously served on other notable boards including Amerisource Bergen, Arizant, ChipPAC, CORT Business Services, ERICO International, FastenTech,, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, NTELOS, Palomar Technologies, Sybron Chemical, Triumph Group and Western Dental.
Mr. Delaney is actively involved in a number of charitable organizations including The Make A Wish Foundation where he serves as a board member of the New York chapter.
Mr. Hochberg is a Partner at Lee Equity Partners, LLC, a $1.1 billion middle-market U.S. private equity firm founded in 2008. Prior to joining Lee Equity, Mr. Hochberg was a Principal at Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC, and from 1997 to 2005, at Bain Capital, LLC, where he most recently held the position of Principal. At Odyssey, Mr. Hochberg was involved in the execution and monitoring of the firm’s investment in Norcross Safety Products, LLC. While at Bain Capital, Mr. Hochberg was involved with the firm’s investments in Warner Music Group Corp., Loews Cineplex Entertainment, ProSieben Sat.1 Media AG, Warner Chilcott and Toys R Us, Inc. Mr. Hochberg was also the initial analyst for Bain Capital’s Sankaty Advisors fixed income asset management business. Mr. Hochberg started his career in 1995 at Bain & Company as a strategy consultant.
Mr. Hochberg serves or has served on the boards of directors of Deb Shops, Inc., Papa Murphy’s Pizza, and Norcross Safety Products, LLC. Mr. Hochberg received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and received an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard College.
Mr. Steuerman co-heads Golub Capital’s Direct Lending group, overseeing Origination, Deal Execution and Capital Markets and is a member of the firm’s investment and watch list committees. Prior to joining Golub Capital in 2004, Mr. Steuerman was a Managing Director at Albion Alliance from April 1998 to January 2004, where he originated, executed and supervised subordinated debt and equity investments for two private partnerships. Prior to Albion, Mr. Steuerman was a Vice President at Bankers Trust Alex Brown from 1997 to 1998 and an investment manager with New York Life Insurance Company from 1989 to 1997 in the Private Equity and Mezzanine Group. At New York Life, Mr. Steuerman was a senior member of the Private Equity Group managing leveraged senior loans, mezzanine investments, private equity securities and limited partnership assets. Mr. Steuerman graduated from Pace University with a BBA in Finance and holds an MBA in Finance from St. John’s University.
Mr. Traynor is a member of the Management Committee, having joined WCAS in 1999. He focuses on investments in the healthcare industry. Prior to joining WCAS, he worked in the healthcare and insurance investment banking groups at BT Alex. Brown. Mr. Traynor spent three years with Coopers & Lybrand. He earned a bachelor's degree from Villanova University in 1991 and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business in 1996.
In the crowded middle-market private equity universe, firms employ radically different approaches in managing their portfolio companies. For example, do firms employing dedicated portfolio groups or operating partners create more value? This panel aims to compare and contrast approaches towards portfolio management in an effort to understand how different firms realize outsized returns.
Geraldine A. ("Gerrie") Sinatra advises private equity sponsors through the life of their investments in portfolio companies with a focus on accomplishing successful exits. She advises sponsors in their domestic and cross-border acquisitions of portfolio companies and related financing transactions and represents sponsors and their portfolio companies in subsequent add-on acquisitions or dispositions, financings, dividend recapitalization transactions, and restructurings.
In addition, Ms. Sinatra advises sponsors and portfolio companies working toward a liquidity event, such as a public offering or divestiture, and assists sponsors, portfolio companies, and management in negotiating employment and equity terms.
Since 2006, Ms. Sinatra has been recognized as a leading corporate/M&A; and private equity lawyer by Chambers USA, a referral guide to leading lawyers in the United States. In recent editions, Chambers has described Ms. Sinatra as "a good all-round legal quarterback for corporate transactions" who is "tireless and unbelievably tenacious in getting things done." She is also recognized for her work in private equity by The Legal 500 (U.S.), where she is cited as "responsive, efficient, and has a broad range of technical knowledge," and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America. In addition, Ms. Sinatra was recently named among the "2010 Most Powerful and Influential Women of Pennsylvania" by the National Diversity Council, a national organization that seeks to promote diversity and inclusion within workplaces and communities.
Ms. Sinatra represents private equity sponsors, such as Court Square Capital Partners (and its predecessor, Citigroup Venture Capital), One Equity Partners, and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, in connection with their acquisitions and dispositions of both public and private companies, including Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Dynea North America, MacDermid Incorporated, MagnaChip Semiconductor, Newmarket International, Norcross Safety Products, Ntelos Holdings Corp., and Worldspan LP.
Some of her recent significant domestic and international assignments include:
Mark Barnhill manages functions connected to capital raising, fund administration, investor relations and corporate and external affairs for Platinum Equity and Platinum Equity Capital Partners.
Mr. Barnhill is responsible for strategic planning and administration of the firm’s private equity fund vehicles. He leads Platinum’s capital raising activities and is its senior relationship manager with investors, who comprise a diverse cross-section of public and private pension funds, financial institutions, foundations and family offices in North America, Europe and Asia.
As a Managing Director at Guggenheim Technology Opportunities Fund (GTOF), Mike Burns has over 17 years of experience in technology investing and management. He has been successful as both an entrepreneur and an investor. Mike was a founder of Agere, a developer of high-speed network processors which was acquired by Lucent. Mike also founded Traffic.com, a provider of traffic applications that went public and is now a division of Nokia.
Mike has sat on more than 20 Boards of Directors. He has been a founder, investor and director of businesses across the technology spectrum that later went public or were sold to market-leading companies, including Finisar, JDSU, Nokia, Texas Instruments, Alcatel-Lucent, CyOptics, Excite, Lycos, Ask.com and LSI Logic, creating greater than $2.5 billion in value.
Mike graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology. He has degrees in Finance and Electrical Engineering.
Dave Goldberg joined SurveyMonkey in April 2009. Previously, Dave served as an Entrepreneur in Residence with Benchmark Capital. In 1994, Dave founded LAUNCH Media Inc., which delivered music and music-related content online, and he led the company through its acquisition by Yahoo! in 2001. Following the sale, Dave served as Vice President and General Manager of Yahoo! Music, where he led the company's global music operations and built it into the Internet's most popular music destination. During his tenure, traffic increased from two million to twenty five million unique users per month. In 2006, Dave was named one of Billboard Magazine's top power players in digital music.
Dave also serves on the Board of Directors at Ancestry.com, GMG Entertainment and Dashbox. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a BA degree in History and Government.
Bill is a Managing Director based in H.I.G.'s Boston office. Since joining the firm in 2003, he has been responsible for all aspects of the investment process, including sourcing, transaction structuring, financing, and execution of post-closing growth strategies. Bill has led investments in a number of industries including distribution, healthcare, business services and manufacturing, and currently serves on the board of directors of several H.I.G. companies.
Prior to joining H.I.G., Bill was with Bain & Company, a leading management and strategy consulting firm. While at Bain, Bill advised a variety of Fortune 100 and Private Equity clients across a range of industries including consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing. His clients' needs included revenue growth initiatives, cost savings programs, acquisition analysis, and merger integration. Prior to Bain, Bill spent a number of years with Arthur Andersen Business Consulting, where he advised lower middle market companies across a variety of industries on operations and technology initiatives.
Bill earned an MBA from Harvard Business School with High Honors as a Baker Scholar. He earned his undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering from Villanova University.
Victor leads the operational efforts of Insight Equity to improve portfolio companies' performance and realize significant returns to the firm's investors. Currently, Victor is a Managing Director and Board Member at all of Insight’s portfolio companies. He previously worked at Bain & Company, Lehman Brothers, as well as Military Advantage, a successful dot-com sold to Monster Worldwide in 2003.
Victor received his MBA from the Harvard Business School where he graduated with high honors (Baker Scholar). He has also received a Master's Degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a double major BA in economics and political science from Stanford University.
Additionally, Victor is a Commander (0-5) in the US Navy Reserve with specializations in intelligence and targeting. He is also an accomplished mountaineer, having summited the highest peak on all seven of the world's continents, including Mt. Everest.
Over the past few years, early stage investing has evolved in unprecedented fashion and will emerge a transformed industry. The needs of early-stage companies have changed. Likewise, exit options for start-ups continue to evolve: IPO markets have remained unpredictable while strategic acquirers have become more active. The venture capital industry will continue to redefine itself in the coming years and likely remain an attractive asset class. The panelists will share their thoughts on the changing needs for venture capitalists, the attractiveness of funding new ventures in today’s market, explore which sectors and geographies have become most attractive and discuss what their respective firms are doing to capitalize on these new opportunities.
With more than two decades of broad-based experience in the financial services, technology and venture capital markets, Emily Mendell leads the communications and public affairs strategies for the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Her responsibilities at the NVCA span the areas of public policy, media relations, research, and member communications.
Emily has been working with the NVCA since 2001 when she served as a consultant to the Association in her capacity as a managing principal of The Weiser Group, a financial communications firm based in New York.
Prior to joining The Weiser Group, Emily served as Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications for Integrion Financial Network, a consortium of 18 banks, IBM and Visa.
Emily previously held management positions at CoreStates Financial Corp including Vice President of Strategic Business Development within the transaction processing division.
Emily is a cum laude graduate of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with a concentration in Finance and Management.
Before joining First Round Capital, Phin founded ResponDesign, an independent videogame company that developed and published Yourself!Fitness, the first fitness game for Xbox and PlayStation2. While managing the marketing and distribution of Yourself!Fitness from 2003-2006, Phin secured retail partnerships with Nordstrom and Best Buy as well as promotional partnerships with Proctor & Gamble and McDonald’s. One of the earliest employees at AND 1 Basketball, Phin spent six years helping to grow the company from revenues of $15 million to over $225 million. While at AND 1 Phin led product direction, managed relationships with national retail accounts and created the initial concept for the signature AND 1 marketing property—the AND 1 Mix Tape.
Phin also has consulted with several companies, including MTV Networks, where he focused on non-traditional games and the growth of the MTV Games division beginning in 2006.
Phin earned his MBA with honors from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with a double major in Operations and Information Management and Finance. He earned his BA in Economics and Sociology from Haverford College in 1998 and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society. He can be followed @phineasb or at www.sneakerheadvc.com.
For the last 15 years, Liam has been a venture investor – starting as a Principal at Foster Management, a venture investor focused on service industry investments; then co-founding Arcadia Partners, a $50M fund focused on technology-enabled education companies; and finally, co-founding .406 venture, a $170M early stage technology focused fund.
At .406, Liam focuses on technology enabled service investments in the education, healthcare, financial services and energy space.
While at Arcadia, Liam founded and took on CEO responsibilities for Business Intelligence Advisors (“BIA”), now a .406 portfolio company. This is where he gained a fine appreciation for the challenges and thrills of building a fast growing start-up company. Earlier in his career, Liam spent two years as employee #3 in Booz-Allen & Hamilton Philadelphia office before opening and leading their office in Budapest, Hungary. At Booz, Liam specialized in energy and environmental consulting.
Liam currently serves on the boards of .406 portfolio companies BIA, Connotate, EnergyHub, WellAWARE and WoodPellets.com. Liam also sat on the board of Health Dialog (an Arcadia and .406 company) until its sale to BUPA in January 2008.
Liam has a BS in Chemistry from Georgetown University, where he was a John Carroll Scholar, and earned an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.
Alex Ferrara, a partner in the New York office, joined Bessemer in 2005. He focuses on investments in software and Internet companies and the intersection of financial services and technology.
Alex serves on the boards of eCommerce SaaS company Shopify, games company OMGPOP; social-networking company SelectMinds; and online-advertising site Yodle. Alex also is involved with Bessemer’s investments in soccer-portal Goal.com; electronic securities-lending market Quadriserv; independent-research companies Gerson Lehrman Group and Soleil Securities; Web-site builder Wix; market-data provider Activ Financial; and online-lending marketplace Zopa. He also was on the investment team for network-management company Pure Networks; Internet-telephony company Skype, Web-site rating company SiteAdvisor and video-sharing network Revver.
Prior to joining Bessemer, Alex worked at Goldman Sachs in technology investment banking. While earning his MBA, Alex also worked as a part-time associate at both RRE Ventures and Apax Partners. Alex started his career at Salomon Brothers and later at the New York Board of Trade.
Alex holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, and a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Warren Lee is one of the preeminent digital media investors in the industry. A recognized thought leader on the future of online advertising and the evolution of the media landscape, Warren joined Canaan Partners’ East Coast office in 2005 and is based in New York City.
Warren led Canaan’s investments in Tremor Media, the world’s largest online video advertising network; Motionbox, the leading personal video sharing service; Associated Content, “The People’s Media Company”; and Vivox, the leading provider of voice services for online games and virtual worlds.
Warren previously worked at Comcast Interactive Capital, where he led the media firm’s investments in, and served on the boards of, several global technology companies, including Arbor Networks (acquired by Tektronix), Arroyo Video Solutions (acquired by Cisco), Broadbus Technologies (acquired by Motorola), CommunityConnect (acquired by Radio One), Counterpane Internet Security (acquired by British Telecom), netForensics, ReefEdge (acquired by Symantec), and Tripwire. Before joining the venture community, Warren gained hands-on operational experience serving as an engineer and project manager at Solectron Corp., a corporate development manager at Sun Microsystems, a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and an investment banker in Alex Brown’s technology group.
Warren holds a BS in computer science and BA in economics with honors from Stanford University and an MBA from The Wharton School. He currently sits on the boards of blip.tv, Peer39, Tremor Media, and Vivox.
Michael Steed is the Founder and Managing Partner of Paladin Capital Group, a PE/VC firm located in Washington, D.C. With approximately $1B in assets under management, Paladin is a multi-stage, multi-sector institutional investor with numerous funds investing in early, growth, and expansion capital in small-to-medium size worker friendly companies. Paladin’s Funds are primarily focused within the Homeland Security sector, which encompasses products, services and technologies that help to strengthen the country’s critical infrastructure and prevent, defend and cope with the immediate aftermath and recovery from terrorist attacks, national disasters and other inappropriate and criminal activity. The firm targets innovative software, hardware, security, IT services, clean technology and alternative energy, and Paladin leverages it diverse LP base and strategic network to help its portfolio companies grow both in the commercial and government sectors.
To date, he has completed over 125 direct, co-investment and fund investments during his career. Mr. Steed received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and his JD from Loyola Law School.
Fred Wilson has been a venture capitalist since 1987. He currently is a managing partner at Union Square Ventures and also founded Flatiron Partners. Fred has a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Fred is married with three kids and lives in New York City.
In today's changing environment, transparency to investors, regulators, and the broader marketplace is providing the basis for new regulatory initiatives. This discussion will focus on the evolving regulatory environment in the US and what it means for Private Equity funds and their LPs.
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Curt leads the Transaction Service Hedge Fund practice within PricewaterhouseCoopers and advises both hedge funds and private equity on distressed transactions.
His M&A; focus includes business and financial due diligence, operational analysis, and transition matters - especially in distressed situations. He has in-depth experience helping clients evaluate controlling interests and/or minority investments in both private and public companies. During his 14 years of deal-related experience, Curt has helped financial buyers analyze and structure over 150 public and private deals ranging in size from $75 million to $17 billion. His industry experience includes consumer and industrial products, services, retail, financial services and technology.
Curt received his M.B.A. in finance from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and B.S. in accounting from Bucknell University. He is also a Certified Public Accountant and member of the AICPA and ABI.
Mr. Beinkampen is the Chief Investment Officer of Wilshire Private Markets (WPM) and serves on WPM's Investment Committee. He is also responsible for sourcing, performing due diligence and monitoring investment opportunities across private equity sectors within the US, as well as oversight of WPM investment process. Prior to joining WPM, Mr. Beinkampen spent 15 years with Morgan Stanley, most recently as a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners. Earlier in his career, he worked with Scully Brothers & Foss, as well as Kidder Peabody & Co. A cum laude graduate of Princeton University with an AB degree in Economics, he received his Master of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School with a dual degree in Finance and Operations Management. He is also a CFA charterholder. He joined Wilshire in 2010.
Mr. Donnelly joined Apollo in 2010 following a 30-year career with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), most recently as PwC’s lead client relationship partner for several leading private equity firms. Prior to that role, Mr. Donnelly served as the Global Managing Partner for PwC’s advisory and tax practices from 2006-2008. During 2000-2005, and at a critical time for PwC, Mr. Donnelly served as Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer for PwC’s U.S. firm. Previously, Mr. Donnelly served in PwC’s global transaction services practice from 1996-2000, and he was the leader of that practice from 1997-2000. Before joining PwC’s transaction services practice, Mr. Donnelly was with PwC’s audit practice from 1979-1995, and he was appointed as a partner in 1989. Mr. Donnelly graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Accounting from St. Francis College.
Mr. Kim has been with Court Square since 2004 after working as a Partner at Capital Z running their Investor Relations and Marketing department. Prior to Capital Z, Mr. Kim was a senior fundraiser for JP Morgan's placement team and has raised capital for several private equity funds.
Mr. Kim currently heads Investor Relations, Co-investment syndication, and Marketing for Court Square. Mr. Kim received his A.B., magna cum laude, from Brown University and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Mr. Kim serves on the board of the Brooklyn Collegiate Charter Schools and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.
Mr. Walsh heads investor relations for Lee Equity Partners since 2008. Prior to joining Lee Equity, Mr. Walsh was an executive Director in the Private Funds Placement Group with UBS Investment Bank, where he was responsible for maintaining US Limited Partner relationships on the East Coast and in parts of the Mid-Western United States. During his time at UBS, he participated in over 25 separate Private Equity fundraising efforts that raised in excess of $46 billion dollars. Prior to joining UBS Mr. Walsh worked as an institutional equity salesperson at Deutsche Bank and Thomas Weisel Partners. Mr. Walsh received an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. from Fairfield University.
Ms. Waryjas helps private equity funds, hedge funds and their portfolio companies achieve their strategic business goals and objectives – on time and within budget. She has been the legal architect for many successful transactions. Over her career, she has represented general and limited partners in PE funds and hedge funds, and other financing sources, in forming investment vehicles, control transactions, equity investments, senior and junior debt financings, public bond issuances, PIPES transactions, and restructurings.