Nicholas Alexos
Managing Director
Madison Dearborn Partners

Nicholas W. Alexos, Managing Director - C.P.A., B.B.A., Loyola University; M.B.A., University of Chicago. Prior to co-founding MDP, Mr. Alexos was with First Chicago Venture Capital for four years. Previously, he was with The First National Bank of Chicago. Mr. Alexos focuses on transactions that are in the healthcare sector and currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Sirona Dental Systems, Inc. and VWR International, Inc. Mr. Alexos also is involved with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago as a Board of Trustee, the Children's Inner City Educational Fund, and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Council.

 

Cathy Arnst
Senior Writer
BusinessWeek

Catherine Arnst is a Senior Writer for BusinessWeek magazine, covering medicine and health policy, a position she has held since 1997.  She covers a broad range of medical and health care subjects, with a particular focus this year on the health care reform effort. Recent stories have examined new structures and payment systems for the delivery of health care, the intersection of social media and medicine, controversies surrounding the FDA’s cancer drug approvals, and ongoing coverage of the Congressional debate over reform and the issues raised.  She also writes frequently for the BusinessWeek web site, contributing to the blogs Money and Politics and Working Parents.

Prior to joining BusinessWeek Catherine was the European Science Correspondent for Reuters News Service, based in London. She also worked for Reuters as the Boston correspondent and before that as a general assignment reporter in New York. During her time at Reuters she covered a wide range of business and general interest stories, including the AIDS crisis, drug development, the genesis of the Human Genome Project, environmental damage in Eastern Europe, the Challenger space shuttle explosion, the 1988 presidential campaign and the 1986 World Series. Catherine won the 2004 Business Journalist of the Year award from London’s World Leadership Forum, and in 2003 was the first recipient of the ACE Reporter Award from the European School of Oncology for my reporting on cancer over five years.  She has also received awards from the Overseas Press Club, the New York Newswomen of New York and the Computer Press Association.

She holds a bachelors of science in journalism from Boston University.

 

Thomas M. Barry
Managing Director
Cain Brothers

Tom, who is a member of Cain Brothers' Executive and Commitment Committees, brings more than 33 years of investment banking experience to his clients. With deep skills in the areas of both capital markets transactions and mergers and acquisitions, Tom leads the Cain Brothers Restructuring Group, which focuses on advisory transactions for organizations undergoing significant change, whether through a change of control or a capital structure modification, including distressed credit situations. He has represented managed care organizations, insurance companies, senior care facilities, academic medical centers, and acute care hospitals. Prior to joining Cain Brothers, Tom worked as a Managing Director at CS First Boston and as a principal at Kidder Peabody & Co.

Tom has a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He serves on the Board and Executive Committee of the College of Mount Saint Vincent, in Riverdale, New York and is active in other activities for not for profit organizations. Tom speaks frequently at health care seminars and symposiums on topics such as mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, capital markets, and restructurings.

 

Raymond A. Cooper
Managing Director - HealthCare Investment Banking
Citi

Ray Cooper is a Managing Director for Citi Global Healthcare Investment Banking covering Healthcare Services. He joined Citi in September of 2008. Before joining Citi, Ray was a Managing Director in healthcare banking at Lehman from 1997 through 2008. Prior to joining Lehman, he was a Healthcare VP at Needham & Co. He also worked at Jefferies & Co. and was an analyst with Salomon Brothers from 1987-1989. He received his MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS degree in accounting from Lehigh.

 

Charles J. Ditkoff
Head of Global Healthcare Group
Banc of America Securities

Charles Ditkoff is Co-Head of Americas Healthcare Corporate and Investment Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (“BAML”).

Charlie joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 1999 as a managing director responsible for BAML’s coverage of healthcare service providers and distributors.  He was given responsibility for all of GCIB’s healthcare services coverage mid 2003.

Charlie is one of the most recognized bankers covering healthcare on Wall Street.  Under his direction, BAS has gained the leading market share in the sector in both M&A and financings.  Prior to joining the firm, he worked for five years in the Corporate Finance Group at Morgan Stanley primarily focusing on Healthcare.  Mr. Ditkoff also worked at Credit Suisse First Boston from 1992 to 1994 as Vice President.  Prior to that, he was an Associate at Cravath, Swaine and Moore for five years as a corporate securities lawyer.

Charlie graduated from Brown University Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with a degree in Political Science and received a J.D. from Yale Law School.

 

Benjamin Edmands
Managing Director
CCMP Capital Advisors

Benjamin Edmands is a Managing Director in the New York office of CCMP Capital. Mr. Edmands focuses on making investments in the healthcare sector and has been responsible for CCMP's investments which include Legacy Hospital Partners, CareMore Medical Enterprises, Warner Chilcott, MedQuest Associates, DJ Orthopedics, Hanger and others. He holds a B.A. from Colgate University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. Mr. Edmands currently serves on the board of directors of CareMore Medical Enterprises, National Surgical Care and Legacy Hospital Partners.

CCMP Capital Advisors, LLC is a leading global private equity firm specializing in buyouts and growth equity investments and has invested over $12 billion since 1984. CCMP Capital's latest fund, CCMP Capital Investors II, L.P., closed in September 2007 with commitments of $3.4 billion.  Through active management, its global resources and its powerful value creation model, CCMP Capital has established a reputation as a world-class investment partner.  CCMP focuses on five targeted industries: Healthcare, Consumer, Retail and Services, Energy and Industrials.  Selected investments include: Legacy Hospital Partners, Warner Chilcott, CareMore Medical Enterprises, National Surgical Care, Aramark Corporation, Edwards Limited, Generac Power Systems, Quiznos Sub and SafetyKleen Europe.

 

Steve Elek
Partner-in-Charge Healthcare Transaction Services
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Steven Elek, Partner, leads the Healthcare Practice in the Transaction Services Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He is responsible for delivering a wide range of merger, acquisition, divestiture and corporate finance-related services. Steve has over 25 years experience in a wide range of healthcare industry sectors that give him a broad understanding of the interrelationships amongst the sectors. His sector experience includes health insurance/managed care, general acute-care hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, integrated delivery systems, long-term care, rehabilitation centers, home care, clinical laboratories, medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies.

Steve is an attorney and a Certified Public Accountant. He is a past President of the Association for Corporate Growth's Philadelphia Chapter and a past Chairman of its Board of Directors. He is a member of the HealthCare Financial Management Association, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Philadelphia Bar Association. Steve has been a frequent speaker and author on various acquisition, divestiture and financing topics.

 

Kathleen Erickson DiGiorno
Vice President, Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer
Medtronic, Inc.

Kathy DiGiorno joined Medtronic in 1998 and has served as the company’s Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, reporting to the company’s CEO and to the audit committee of the Board of Directors, since 2006.  In this role, Kathy has global responsibility to ensure that ethics and compliance programs are administered on behalf of the company.

Previously, Kathy served in a variety of legal roles with Medtronic, including serving the Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management business in the areas of clinical research, drafting and negotiating clinical trial agreements and informed consents, institutional review board issues, patient privacy/HIPAA issues, data use issues, potential anti-kickback and Medicare fraud issues related to clinical research, and publication and policy issues related to medical devices.

Prior to joining Medtronic, Kathy was a shareholder at Briggs and Morgan P.A. in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she represented corporate clients in complex commercial litigation, with a focus on insurance coverage and appellate matters.  She also clerked for the Honorable Frank Magill, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Kathy received her bachelor’s degree with honors from Notre Dame, and graduated, cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School, where she served as a Note and Comment Editor for the Minnesota Law Review.

 

Thomas D. Forrester Esq.
Vice President, US Corporate Compliance Officer
sanofi-aventis US

Tom is currently Vice President and US Corporate Compliance Officer at sanofi-aventis US where he has served as an attorney to the company since 2000. As the US Corporate Compliance Officer since December 2007, Tom reports directly to the US CEO and is charged with the responsibility for the company’s US Compliance Program.  Previous responsibilities at sanofi-aventis have included (1) transactions including research collaborations, drug development and commercialization with biotech and other large pharmaceutical companies and (2) providing legal advice to business units (oncology, cardiovascular, managed care) and support functions of the company.  Tom’s clients within the company have included Senior Management, Research & Development, Business Development, Medical Affairs, Quality & Compliance, Regulatory Affairs, Government Affairs, Government Pricing, Marketing, Sales, Human Resources, Communications and Manufacturing. Prior to joining sanofi-aventis in 2000 (then called Aventis), Tom was Assistant General Counsel at Mallinckrodt Inc. (now called Covidien) in St. Louis, Missouri from 1995-2000.  Tom’s focus at Mallinckrodt was to counsel the company on FDA and related regulatory and state matters relating to prescription pharmaceuticals, medical devices and bulk pharmaceuticals to the corporation world wide.

Tom joined Hoffmann-La Roche in Nutley, NJ in 1992 where he supported the US Pharmaceuticals unit in a wide range of legal issues including (1) the FTC Second Request related to Roche’s acquisition of Syntex and (2) the Brand Name Prescription Drug Antitrust Litigation, which was the largest civil litigation in the US at the time.  The client types at Roche were similar to those of Mallinckrodt and sanofi-aventis.

Before joining Hoffmann-La Roche, Tom worked in private practice in New Jersey (from 1988 to 1992) handling matters in the health care area, litigation and real estate.

After graduation from law school in 1987, Tom clerked for a New Jersey Superior Court judge for one year.

Tom received his bachelor of arts degree from Boston College majoring in political science and philosophy, graduating summa cum laude, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  He received his law degree from the George Washington University, (Washington DC) in 1987.

 

Dr. Craig D. Frances, M.D.
Managing Director
Summit Partners

Craig Frances, M.D. is a Managing Director for Summit Partners, a leading private equity and venture capital firm with a capital base of nearly $9 billion under management, and leads healthcare investing on the West Coast. Recent investments include National Veterinary Associates, the largest private owner of free-standing veterinary hospitals in the U.S.; HealthCare Partners, the largest private physician group in California and Physicians Formula, the largest and fastest growing, independent cosmetics manufacturer in the mass market. Prior to Summit, Craig was President of The TV Corporation Int’l, acquired by Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN); co-founder of yourPharmacy.com, a leading online pharmacy backed by Express Scripts; and co-founder Expert Consensus Guidelines.

Craig was Chief Medical Resident at the University of California, San Francisco and Valedictorian at Cornell Medical College. Craig’s board directorships and investments currently include National Veterinary Associates, HealthCare Partners and Physicians Formula. He previously held board or advisory posts with Medscape, HealthAllies and Commission Junction.

 

Mark Francis 
Managing Director 
Houlihan Lokey

Mr. Francis is a Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey’s Dallas office, where he heads the Healthcare Group. He has nearly two decades of experience in mergers and acquisitions and financial operations in the healthcare industry, and he has managed a wide variety of projects, from acquisitions, divestitures, financings and financial restructurings to joint ventures and strategic-alliance formation. Before joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Francis directed a national team of acquisition professionals as vice president of M&A for the home health division of HCA. He speaks frequently on mergers and acquisitions and finance in the healthcare industry.

Mr. Francis earned a B.B.A. in finance from Baylor University. He is a Certified Public Accountant and is registered with FINRA as a General Securities Principal (Series 7, 24 and 63).

 

Mary R. Grealy
President
Healthcare Leadership Council

Mary Grealy is president of the Healthcare Leadership Council, a coalition of chief executives of the nation’s leading healthcare companies and organizations.  The HLC advocates consumer-centered healthcare reform, emphasizing the value of private sector innovation.  It is the only health policy advocacy group that represents all sectors of the healthcare industry.  She was appointed to the position in August 1999.

Ms. Grealy has an extensive background in healthcare policy.  She has led important initiatives on the uninsured, improving patient safety and quality, protecting the privacy of patient medical information and reforming the medical liability laws.  She testifies frequently before Congress and federal regulatory agencies.

She is a frequent public speaker on health issues and has been ranked many times by Modern Healthcare as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare and has been named toModern Healthcare’s list of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare for 2009.

 

Buddy Gumina
Partner
Apax Partners

Buddy Gumina is a Partner and Head of US Healthcare at Apax Partners. He focuses on investments in healthcare services, products, pharma and healthcare IT. Some recent deals have included Trizetto, Inc.; Qualitest Pharmaceuticals; Spectrum Laboratory Network; Encompass Home Health; Voyager HospiceCare, Inc.; and MagnaCare Holdings, Inc.

Prior to joining Apax Partners, Buddy was a Partner at Saunders Karp & Megrue, where he specialized in investments in healthcare and business services.  Before joining Saunders Karp & Megrue, Buddy was an Associate at DLJ Merchant Banking Partners where he focused on healthcare services and business services. Prior to that, he was an Analyst in the High Yield Group of Kidder, Peabody & Co. where he specialized in public and private debt financings and recapitalizations.

Buddy received an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and a BA in Political Science from Yale University.

Board Memberships

• Trizetto Inc.
• Qualitest Pharmaceuticals
• Spectrum Laboratory Network
• Voyager HospiceCare, Inc.
• MagnaCare Holdings, Inc.

 

Fred Hassan
Former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Schering-Plough Corporation

Fred Hassan is former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Schering-Plough Corporation.

Prior to joining Schering-Plough in April 2003 and assuming his current position, Hassan was chairman and chief executive officer of Pharmacia Corporation. He joined the former Pharmacia & Upjohn in May 1997 as chief executive officer and was elected to the Board of Directors. In February 2001, Hassan was named chairman of the Board of Pharmacia, the company created through the merger of the former Monsanto and Pharmacia & Upjohn companies.

Previously, Hassan was executive vice president of Wyeth, formerly known as American Home Products, with responsibility for its pharmaceutical and medical products business. He was elected to Wyeth's Board of Directors in 1995. Earlier in his career, Hassan spent 17 years with Sandoz Pharmaceuticals (now Novartis) and headed its U.S. pharmaceuticals business.

Hassan received a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology at the University of London and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Hassan is the past chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and is the immediate past chairman of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey. He is currently president of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of Avon Products, Inc.

 

Peter Hopkins
President and Co-founder
Big Think

Peter is the co-founder and President of Big Think, an online multimedia portal committed to developing the growing conversation about where we are and where we are headed.   In that role, Peter has lead the strategic development of Big Think's multi-platform content initiatives, which include partnerships with outlets such as The Washington Post, MSNBC and Sundance, among others.  From time to time, he has also served as one of Big Think's staff interviewers, which has given him the opportunity to speak with luminaries ranging from Supreme Court justices to Nobel Laureates.

Prior to co-founding Big Think, Peter served as a producer for Charlie Rose on PBS and acted as the project lead and force behind the creation of the new Charlierose.com, the single largest online archive in the world for a single program.  As part of that initiative, Peter worked with Google to develop a custom web solution for supporting the nearly 5,000 hour archive.

Peter has appeared in The New York Times, Daily Telegraph, Inc., Fast Company, The Los Angeles Times, as well as on NPR, CNN, Fox News and the Colbert Report, among others. He graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University.

 

Harris Hyman
Senior Principal
Flexpoint Ford

Harris Hyman IV is a Senior Principal of Flexpoint Ford, an industry focused private equity firm dedicated to the healthcare and financial services sectors.  Mr. Hyman focuses on investments in the healthcare sector and has over 20 years of experience working with healthcare companies. Prior to joining Flexpoint, Mr. Hyman was a General Partner at a middle market private equity firm, where he was responsible for the firm’s healthcare investment activity. Mr. Hyman previously was a Managing Director at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he served as Co-Head of Healthcare Mergers & Acquisitions. During his 19 years as an investment banker, Mr. Hyman served as financial advisor to many of the leading U.S. and European healthcare companies.

Mr. Hyman serves on the board of directors of MedAssets, Inc. and United BioSource Corporation. He received a B.S.E., magna cum laude, from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

 

David Katz
Principal
GTCR Golder Rauner

David Katz is a Principal at GTCR, where he focuses on investments in the healthcare services sector. Prior to joining GTCR in 2006, Mr. Katz served as a Managing Director of Frontenac Company, where he worked for twelve years. He also previously served as an Associate of the Clipper Group and a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Katz graduatedcum laude with a BA in Political Science from Yale University and earned an MBA from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business Administration, graduating with distinction. Mr. Katz serves as a director of APS Healthcare and Capella Healthcare and previously served as a director of Gevity HR and numerous other privately held companies.

 

Tim McCrystal
Partner
Ropes & Gray LLP
Practice

Tim McCrystal is a partner in the Health Care Group at Ropes & Gray. Tim has experience in many areas of the practice, including the development of physician/hospital relationships, provider mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, affiliations, divestitures, corporate governance, regulatory and health plan/insurer matters.

Professional Experience

Tim regularly counsels a broad range of health care clients regarding regulatory matters such as antitrust, fraud and abuse, Stark law, licensing, compliance, insurance, and HIPAA privacy, security, and transaction code set issues. Tim has worked with many types of health care organizations, including academic medical centers, community hospitals, physician groups, faculty practice plans, pharmacies, dialysis clinics, disease management companies, medical information technology companies, medical equipment and device companies, sub-acute care providers, HMOs, insurers, and managed care contracting organizations.

Tim is the co-author of a chapter on legal issues relating to health care provider mergers, acquisitions, and affiliations, which is included in Health Care Corporate Law; Facilities and Transactions, Mark A. Hall, editor, published by Little, Brown & Company, and he was a member of the Health Law Council of the Massachusetts Bar Association from 1994-1996. Tim speaks regularly on a variety of health care law topics, such as HIPAA, anti-kickback, Stark, compliance, and other issues.

Honors & Awards

• The Best Lawyers in America (2007-2010)

Bar Admissions

• Massachusetts, 1989

Education

• 1989, J.D., Suffolk University Law School
• 1984, B.A., Colby College

 

Christopher McFadden
Managing Director
Health Evolution Partners

Chris McFadden is responsible for all aspects of investment and portfolio management activities in the Growth and Buyout Fund at Health Evolution Partners. He has over twelve years of health care industry experience as a research analyst and investor.

Mr. McFadden joined Health Evolution partners from Goldman Sachs & Co. Mr. McFadden joined Goldman Sachs in 1999 as a vice president and was named managing director in 2004. He most recently directed debt and equity investments for in private and public North American-based healthcare companies as part of Goldman Sachs’ Americas Special Situations Group. From 1999 to 2007, Mr. McFadden was a senior equity analyst responsible for Goldman Sachs’ US healthcare services research coverage and served as a member of the Global Investment Research Sounding Board.

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. McFadden worked as a senior research analyst at Wheat First Securities, now Wachovia Securities. Prior to that, he held marketing and management positions at Xerox Corporation.

Mr. McFadden earned a BA in political science from the University of Richmond and studied graduate economics at Virginia Commonwealth University. Mr. McFadden became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in 1999. Mr. McFadden serves as a member of the board of trustees of Montefiore Medical Center in New York. He founded and leads RAMP, a mentor program for undergraduate students and is the past chairman of the advisory board for the Philip Coltoff Center of the Children’s Aid Society. He is also a fellow for the Health Care Solutions Group of Nashville.

 

Brian C. Miller
Partner
Linden LLC

Brian Miller is a Partner and Co-Founder of Linden Capital Partners, a Chicago-based healthcare and life science focused private equity fund.  Prior to Linden, Brian was a founding member of the healthcare and life science team at First Chicago Equity Capital.  Mr. Miller began his career in the investment banking division of Salomon Brothers Inc (currently Citigroup). He is a board member of BarrierSafe Solutions International, CORPAK MedSystems, and Suture Express.

Mr. Miller holds a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Economics from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, with a concentration in healthcare. He is an officer of the Harvard Business School Health Industry Alumni Association, a founder of Private Equity Analysts of Chicago, and a member of the Alumni Board of the Latin School of Chicago.

 

Devin O'Reilly
Principal 
Bain Capital

Devin is a member of Bain Capital’s North American Private Equity Group where his responsibilities include evaluating new investment opportunities as well as working with management teams of existing portfolio companies.  Devin has worked across a variety of healthcare sectors including specialty and generic pharmaceuticals, CROs, ambulatory and inpatient services, and devices.  Prior to joining Bain Capital, Devin was with Bain & Co., where he consulted to the healthcare and private equity industries.  Devin graduated from Princeton University and also holds an MBA from The Wharton School.

 

Scott K. Phillips
Managing Director
Healthcare Management Partners LLC

Scott Phillips has over 30 years of healthcare industry management and consulting experience. Prior to founding HMP in 1997 he served as the President and CEO of a 636 bed Academic Medical Center, National Partner and Regional Healthcare Practice Director with Touche Ross & Co., and CFO of a faith based Multi-Hospital System operating in seven states with 12 hospitals.

Scotts' management assignments and consulting experience has been with both tax-exempt and investor-owned healthcare service providers. He understands the organization and delivery of high quality health services, including the role of corporate and medical staff governance during difficult periods of transition. Scott has executive level experience with mergers, acquisitions and turnaround situations, including bankruptcy. In all of his healthcare provider turnaround assignments, he has successfully designed and implemented plans that simultaneously added patient volume and revenues, while conserving cash and reducing unit costs. He understands that this approach builds on the organization's strengths and attracts the support of the medical and nursing staffs, which is essential for the long-term provision of quality healthcare services.

Over the past several years, Scott has served as the Chairman and CEO of an investor owned healthcare provider with operations in fifteen states and CRO of a publicly traded medical staffing company with over 2,000 employees. Both assignments included the crises management of complex organizations in the early stages of high profile criminal and civil fraud investigations by multiple federal agencies. Scott has expert knowledge of the bankruptcy process as well as its implications and obligations on an operating provider of healthcare services.

Scott is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and member of numerous professional organizations.

 

Leslie Platt
Managing Director & Healthcare Practice Leader
Daylight Forensic & Advisory LLC

Leslie Platt brings three decades of life sciences and healthcare experience to lead Daylight’s expanding Healthcare Division.   He is based in the Washington, D.C. office.   Prior to joining Daylight Forensic, Leslie served as Counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, where he provided counsel and representation on public policy, projects and compliance in life sciences and healthcare, focusing on emerging medical technologies and global risk management standards. Previously, he served as in-house General Counsel at The Institute for Genomic Research and the American Type Culture Collection; as Executive Assistant to the Director and Chief of Operations at the National Institutes of Health; and as a Principal in global health sciences at Ernst & Young LLP.   Earlier, Platt worked in the U.S. government as Deputy General Counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services and as Counsel and Staff Director of the interagency White House Agent Orange Working Group.

Platt has worked on a range of regulatory issues, matters and investigations involving the conduct and reporting of research, covering: human subject protections, scientific fraud, clinical trial and laboratory management, and fraud and abuse in grants and contracts.  He also has extensive background in healthcare risk management, quality assurance and control, and organizational governance.

Platt has served as Board Chairman of the nonprofit BioJudiciary Project, and currently chairs the Loudoun County, VA Science & Technology Cabinet.  He has taught legal and ethical aspects of bioscience management at George Mason University.  In addition, he is a frequent lecturer at industry conferences in the U.S. and internationally and has authored numerous articles. Platt holds a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A. from George Washington University. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, American Bar Association, Federal Bar Association and American Judicature Society.

 

Zev S. Scherl
General Partner
NewSpring Capital

Mr. Scherl is a General Partner of NewSpring Capital, with significant experience in principal investing, corporate management and finance, focused exclusively in the health care and life sciences industries. Prior to joining NewSpring in 2003, Mr. Scherl worked with Pequot Ventures, which managed venture funds in excess of $1 billion within Pequot Capital.  Previously, he was a member of the health care investment team of Behrman Capital, a private equity investment firm which managed over $700 million.  Before entering private equity in 1997, he served as Senior Director, Strategic Planning, for Value Health, the largest independent pharmacy and mental health benefit management company, where he structured multi-year contracts with leading pharmaceutical companies and executed key growth initiatives, prior to its successful sale to Columbia HCA. He also served as U.S. Manager, Pricing Policy at Merck & Co., and prior to that was in the investment banking group at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Scherl is currently a board member of Core Essence Orthopaedics, EKR Therapeutics, Immune Control, and Nitric BioTherapeutics. He was a board member of AppTec Laboratory Services prior to its sale to Wuxi Pharma and Scandius BioMedical prior to its sale to Covidien.  He received a BA with honors in economics from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

 

David Snow
Executive Editor & Director
PEI Media

David Snow is executive editor and director at PEI Media.  In this role he plays a senior editorial role at Private Equity International magazine, PEI Manager magazine and other editorial products.  Prior to joining PEI Media, David was the founding editor of a news service for accredited investors now owned by Channel Capital Group.  Prior to that he was editor ofBuyouts newsletter, a Thomson Reuters publication.  David holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University and undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Chinese Studies from the University of California, San Diego.  He hails from Honolulu, Hawaii.

PEI Media, with offices in London, New York and Singapore, is a provider of information and events for the global alternative asset industry. www.peimedia.com

 

Lynn Snyder

Senior Member
Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.

LYNN SHAPIRO SNYDER is a Senior Member of the Health Care and Life Sciences and Litigation Practices in the firm's Washington, DC office. Ms. Snyder has over thirty years with EBG advising a wide range of clients about federal, state and international health law issues, including Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, Health Care Fraud Defense Compliance, and Managed Care issues. Her clients include health care providers, payors, pharmaceutical/device manufacturers and those companies and financial services firms that support the health care industry. Ms. Snyder was lead health care counsel in many transactions including the HCA buyout, Biomet and HCR ManorCare.

Ms. Snyder also is Founder and board member of the Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation™ whose mission is to help senior executive women and women board members of the health care industry do business with each other and be available for board service. See www.womenleadinghealthcare.org. Ms. Snyder is a member of the board of Trustmark Mutual Holding Company.

Ms. Snyder joined the firm in 1979 and is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, the States of Florida and New York, and before the United States Supreme Court. She earned a B.A. in Economics from Franklin & Marshall College in 1976 and her J.D. from the George Washington University National Law Center in 1979. On a more personal note, Ms. Snyder is married to Jeffrey M. Snyder and has three children.

 

Timothy J. Spillane
SVP, Corporate Development
AMERIGROUP Corporation

Timothy J. Spillane is Senior Vice President, Corporate Development of AMERIGROUP Corporation (NYSE: AGP).  In this role, he is responsible for the oversight of all merger, acquisition, divestiture, partnership and joint venture opportunities.  Mr. Spillane joined the Company in 2002 and has lead the origination, development and execution of the Company’s corporate development efforts since 2005.  Prior to joining AMERIGROUP, Mr. Spillane held investment banking positions at Envest Capital Advisors (a firm he founded), PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities and Dean Witter Reynolds in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Mr. Spillane has served as a board member for two private companies and the Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club.  His education includes a BS from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California Los Angeles.

Mr. Spillane is married to Anne Spillane.  They have three children and reside in Virginia Beach.

 

John C. Tishler 
Partner
WALLER LANSDEN DORTCH & DAVIS LLP

John Tishler is a partner at Waller Lansden. Mr. Tishler serves as the firm’s Chairman and on its Board of Directors. In addition, he serves as Chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee. He practices in the areas of corporate restructuring, creditors' rights, financial services and commercial litigation. He has acted as lead counsel in bankruptcy matters, representing debtors, creditors, indenture trustees, secured and DIP financing lenders, creditors, committees, as well as buyers and sellers of assets. Mr. Tishler is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® (Woodward White, Inc.) for his work in bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law. He also has been recognized in the Nashville Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar.”

Mr. Tishler has served as lead counsel for the largest creditors in the Service Merchandise Co., Inc. and Kmart Corporation bankruptcy cases. In addition, he has served as lead counsel for the senior secured lender in the Health Essentials Solutions, Inc. bankruptcy and the secured lenders and successful plan proponents in the Intrepid USA, Inc bankruptcy. He has successfully commenced and/or completed federal court receiverships in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee for secured creditors. He was debtor’s counsel in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of The Garden Companies, Inc./NK Lawn and Garden Company in their Chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee before the Hon. John C. Cook. He is currently lead counsel for the senior secured lender in a bankruptcy case pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Tishler is a contributing author to the Wiley Bankruptcy Law Update and authored “Is the Rule of Explicitness Viable? The First Circuit Says No” published in the August 2004 ABA's Commercial Law Newsletter.

Clerkships and Previous Affiliations

• Law clerk, Honorable Julia Smith Gibbons, United States District Judge for the Western District of Tennessee, 1988-1989

• Associate sports information director, University of Mississippi, 1980-1982

• Sports news coordinator, Texas A&M University, 1980-1984

Professional Activities

• Member, Nashville, Tennessee and American Bar Associations

• Member, American Bankruptcy Law Institute

• President, Tennessee Chapter, Turnaround Management Association, 2003-2006

• Member, Advisory Committee on Rules of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

Civic and Other Activities

• Legal counsel, board of directors, Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.

• Board member, St. Mary Villa

Professional Licenses

• Tennessee

• California

Court Admissions

• United States District Courts for the Western, Middle and Eastern Districts of Tennessee

• United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

• All California State Courts

• United States District Court for the Central District of California

• Supreme Court of the United States

 

Christopher Wasden
Managing Director, Health Industries Strategy and Innovation 
PricewaterhouseCoopers

At PricewaterhouseCoopers, Chris Wasden advises providers, pharmaceutical, medical device, healthcare services, private equity firms, venture capital, and governments on strategic and commercial risks, uncertainties and opportunities associated with their growth and innovation strategies including M&A, divestitures, corporate venturing, entrepreneurial ventures, and new product and business development.  He spent nearly a decade on Wall Street as an investment banker doing M&A and corporate finance work around the world for JP Morgan and Union Bank of Switzerland. He also spent several years in C-level positions with multi-billion dollar private and public companies. Prior to that, he spent nearly a decade as a medical technology entrepreneur starting four companies, was a named inventor on 20 issued and pending patents, evaluated over 100 different medical technologies, and raised over $50 million in angel and venture capital commitments. Chris is frequent speaker and university lecturer on strategy, entrepreneurship, and innovation, and he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on these topics at several universities. His proprietary strategy and innovation framework, referred to as Innovation Lifecycle Management, enables organizations and leaders to transform maladaptive tension into creative and adaptive ones to accelerate innovation and growth. Chris has a Bachelor's degree in Asian Studies and a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from Brigham Young University, and an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Anderson School at UCLA.  He also holds a Doctorate degree (EdD, abd) in organizational strategy from George Washington University.

 

Nathaniel Zilkha
Director
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

Nat Zilkha is a Director at KKR where he focuses on investments in healthcare.  Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Zilkha was at Goldman Sachs, where he led the healthcare investing efforts for the Goldman Sachs Capital Partners funds. Over his career he has invested over $1.5 billion of equity in various sectors of healthcare including services, managed care, medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Mr. Zilkha graduated cum laude from Princeton University.

 

Joseph M. Zubretsky
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Aetna Inc.

Joseph M. Zubretsky, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, joined Aetna, Inc. in February 2007.  In his position, he leads all of the corporation’s financial activities, including financial and performance management, capital strategy and planning, investor relations as well as corporate development, investment management and strategic planning.  He is a member of the Executive Committee, the senior governing body of the company, and is a key strategic contributor. Mr. Zubretsky came to Aetna from UnumProvident Corporation, where he was Senior Executive Vice President of Finance, Investments and Corporate Development.  In that capacity, he was responsible for Unum’s financial operations and capital management, investment management operations, enterprise risk management, and strategy development and planning.

Prior to Unum, Mr. Zubretsky was President and Chief Executive Officer of GAB Robins Group, a global insurance services company, for over six years.  Concurrently, he was a partner with New York-based private equity firm, Brera Capital Partners, specializing in insurance industry investments.  He has also served as executive vice president of business development and chief financial officer of MassMutual Financial Group, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Healthsource, Inc, and as a partner in the firm of Coopers & Lybrand. Mr. Zubretsky is a native of Hartford and graduated from the University of Hartford where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.