Tom Angell
Principal
Rothstein Kass

Tom Angell is the principal-in-charge of Rothstein Kass’ national Commercial Services Group and its Private Equity practice, and he is a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee.

Tom has extensive experience with both public and private companies, including advising private equity funds and investment advisors on all aspects of private equity transactions, such as raising financing, deal origination and structuring. He has over 25 years of experience providing audit, tax and consulting services to middle market businesses in the manufacturing, distribution, and service industries. Additionally, Tom specializes in organizational structure, operational issues and mergers and acquisitions for middle market businesses.

Tom is a certified public accountant and he is a member of the New Jersey, New York, and Virginia Societies of Certified Public Accountants as well as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Rutgers College and a Master of Business Administration degree in Information Systems from the Rutgers Graduate School of Management.

His activities outside the Firm include membership in and serving as a former chair of the AICPA Large Firm networking group. Tom also serves as a treasurer to the Drumthwacket Foundation in New Jersey.

 

Claudia Baron
Partner
PPM America Capital Partners

Claudia Baron originally joined PPM in 1993 where she was responsible for all investment systems for PPM as well as coordinating information sharing and reporting with the parent company in London. In 1995, Claudia began working for the leveraged finance group and later the private equity group underwriting both debt and equity investments. In 1999, Claudia left PPM to pursue operational roles including CFO of a technology company and CEO/GM of a winery in Northern California. In 2008, Claudia rejoined PPM America Capital Partners as a Partner in PPM‘s Private Equity asset class, focusing on the Private Equity Fund of Funds portfolio.

Claudia received her MBA, Finance/MIS, from the University of Illinois, and graduated with a BA, Political Science and Economics, from the University of Michigan.

 

Jim Barth
Senior Finance Fellow
Milken Institute

James R. Barth is the Lowder Eminent Scholar in Finance at Auburn University and a Senior Finance Fellow at the Milken Institute. His research has focused on financial institutions and capital markets, both domestic and global, with special emphasis on regulatory issues. He recently served as leader of an international team advising the People's Bank of China on banking reform and travelled to China, India, Russia and Egypt to lecture on various financial topics for the U.S. State Department.

Barth was an appointee of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush as chief economist of the Office of Thrift Supervision and previously the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. He has also held the positions of professor of economics at George Washington University, associate director of the economics program at the National Science Foundation and Shaw Foundation Professor of Banking and Finance at Nanyang Technological University. He has been a visiting scholar at the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the World Bank. He is a member of the Advisory Council of George Washington University's Financial Services Research Program.

Barth's expertise in financial institution and capital market issues has led him to testify before the U.S. House and Senate banking committees on several occasions. He has authored more than 200 articles in professional journals and has written and edited several books, including The Rise and Fall of the U.S. Mortgage and Credit Markets: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Meltdown, China's Emerging Markets: Challenges and Opportunities, The Great Savings and Loan Debacle and The Reform of Federal Deposit Insurance. Other recent books are Rethinking Bank Regulation: Till Angels Govern, with Jerry Caprio and Ross Levine, and Financial Restructuring and Reform in Post-WTO China, with Zhongfei Zhou, Douglas Arner, Berry Hsu and Wei Wang. Barth is the co-editor of The Journal of Financial Economic Policy and overseas associate editor of The Chinese Banker. He has been quoted in publications ranging from The New York Times, The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal to Time and Newsweek. In addition, he has appeared on such broadcast programs as "The McNeil/Lehrer Newshour," "Good Morning America," "Moneyline," Bloomberg News, Fox Business News and National Public Radio.

Barth serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Financial Services Research, Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies, Journal of Economics and Finance and Financial Services Review. He is also included in Who's Who in Economics: A Biographical Dictionary of Major Economists, 1700 to 1995.

Barth received a Ph.D. in economics from Ohio State University.

 

Jennifer Bellah Maguire
Partner
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Jennifer Bellah Maguire is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Los Angeles office and is co-chair to the firm's Investment Fund Group. She was a law clerk for the Honorable Mary M. Schroeder, currently Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. She holds a bachelor of arts from Bryn Mawr College,magna cum laude, and studied for one year at Sorbonne University in Paris, France. Ms. Bellah Maguire graduated from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and served as an Associate Editor for theCalifornia Law Review. She speaks and writes French fluently and practiced in the firm's Paris office in the late 80's.

Ms. Bellah Maguire's practice focuses on private equity and mergers and acquisitions, including public company transactions and divestitures. Currently and for the past several years, Chambers and Partners has recognized her as a leading lawyer nationwide in the areas of Private Equity: Fund Formation and Buyouts and in California in the area of Corporate M&A: Private Equity.International Financial Law Reviewnamed her as a Leading Lawyer in US Private Equity 2006 through 2008 and 2010. TheLos Angeles Business Journalalso named Ms. Bellah Maguire among "The Best of the Bar" for Corporate Transactions in 2007. Recently, Ms. Bellah Maguire was selected among the nation's leading attorneys for the Securities Law category in the 2010 edition ofThe Best Lawyers in America.

Ms. Bellah Maguire has represented a number of groups in raising leveraged buy-out, venture and other funds, including the $5.3 billion leveraged buy-out fund raised by Leonard Green & Partners in 2007, Green Equity Investors IV's going-private acquisition of The Sports Authority, several prior funds for Leonard Green & Partners, and GI Partners' private equity buy-out fund with commitments of $1.42 billion.

Ms. Bellah Maguire speaks frequently on corporate and securities topics. Ms. Bellah Maguire is a member of the Board of Directors of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Los Angeles, a member of the Board of Governors of the Otis School of Design and a founding member of the board of the Los Angeles Ballet.

 

Louise Bleakley
Assistant Editor
Mergermarket USA

Louise Bleakley heads technology, telecom and media coverage for mergermarket, an online subsidiary of the Financial Times that focuses on corporate strategy and M&A. Prior to joining mergermarket, Louise was a reporter with The Christchurch Press, a daily newspaper in New Zealand.

 

Edwin Chan
West Coast Financial Editor-in-Charge
Reuters News

Edwin Chan moved to Los Angeles to head up Reuters' West Coast business news coverage in 2009, after six years as Bureau Chief for the world's largest news service in Hong Kong and Shanghai. He now oversees coverage of Silicon Valley stalwats from Apple to Google, as well as major Fortune 100 companies based on West Coast, from Starbucks to Microsoft.

During a near-decade's stint in China, Edwin either led or was involved in coverage of the initial liberalization and diversification of mainland Chinese capital markets and investments, the landmark 2005 revaluation of the Chinese yuan, and arguably the first smooth, peaceful handover of power within the Communist Party in the country's history.

Edwin majored in journalism in his native Singapore, before earning a trainee post within Reuters. He is fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese

 

John Corrigan
Business Editor
Los Angeles Times

John Corrigan is Business Editor of the Los Angeles Times, where he has worked since 1999. He directed the newspaper’s coverage of Toyota’s sudden acceleration problems, which was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize this year, and was project editor of its series “The Wal-Mart Effect,” which won the 2004 Pulitzer in national reporting. Before joining The Times, Corrigan worked as an editor and reporter at newspapers including the Los Angeles Daily News, the Orange County Register, and the Los Angeles Business Journal. He is a former board member of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and currently serves on the advisory board for the alumni magazine of Loyola Marymount University. For the past two years, he has served as a preliminary judge for the Loeb Awards, which recognizes the best work in business journalism.

 

Mike Dillon
Transaction Services Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Mike is a partner in Transaction Services Accounting, Valuation and Financial Reporting Advisory Services in the San Francisco office and specializes in helping clients execute IPO’s and divestiture transactions. Mike assists audit and non audit clients in all divestiture transactions, including sales to strategic or financial buyers,spin-offs and IPO’s.

Mike’s transaction experience includes leading and executing large and medium-sized divestiture transactions which include technical transaction accounting, carve out accounting, regulatory and filing requirements and external audit assistance. Mike has executed all types of divestiture and capital raising transactions including spin-offs, IPO’s, sales to private equity and sales to corporate buyers. He has extensive experience managing the risks and complexities inherent with each divestiture strategy. Mike has also worked on sell-side due diligence transactions and post sale purchase price dispute engagements.

Mike earned a B.S. in accounting from New York University and is a C.P.A. in both California and New York. Mike has worked in the Chicago, New York and San Francisco offices of PwC and has extensive international client service experience.

 

Matthew Garff
Managing Director
Sun Capital Partners

Matthew Garff is a Managing Director and heads the Los Angeles office for Sun Capital Partners. He joined Sun Capital as an Associate in 2001. During his time at Sun Capital, Matthew has acquired controlling interests in businesses within a variety of industries. Matthew’s experience with manufacturing companies includes businesses in the food, metals, textiles, building products and electronics industries. His retail experience includes businesses in apparel, work uniforms, auto parts & fast food.

Prior to joining Sun Capital Partners in 2001, Matthew worked for The Carlyle Group in Washington, DC. Prior to Carlyle, he was with KSL Fairways, an affiliate of KKR which specialized in acquiring golf courses. Mr. Garff received a B.S. from the University of Utah and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

 

Gordon M. Goldstein
Senior Vice President
Silver Lake

Gordon Goldstein joined Silver Lake in 2010 and is a Senior Vice President with responsibility for public policy and global communications as well as key government relations and public affairs issues for the firm’s portfolio companies. He previously served as the head of Global Affairs at D.B. Zwirn &Co., a global multi-strategy hedge fund where he managed government relations, communications and corporate affairs throughout North America, Europe and Asia, as well as coordinating the work of the firm’s International Advisory Board. Prior to joining D.B. Zwirn in 2006, Mr. Goldstein was a Managing Director at Clark & Weinstock, a government relations, investor communications and strategy consulting firm based in Washington and New York. Mr. Goldstein is a former Senior Adviser to the Strategic Planning Unit of the Executive Office of the UN Secretary General and a former Project Director at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he is a life member. He is a former Wayland Fellow and visiting lecturer at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University and currently serves as a Director of the Brookings Institution Project on Sovereign Wealth Funds. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek and other publications and he is the author of Lessons In Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam, which was a Foreign Affairs bestseller. Mr. Goldstein is a graduate of Columbia University, where he was an International Fellow and was awarded a B.A., M.I.A., M.Phil and Ph.D.

 

Dave Hendler
Head of US Financial Services
CreditSights, Inc.

David Hendler is the Head of U.S. Financial Services research at CreditSights. David has offered a strong voice on capital structure issues facing U.S. banks, brokers, and finance companies. David has spent 25+ years following the financial sector through various credit, interest rate, and now structured finance investing cycles. David leads a US bank team that is known for drilling down into balance sheet issues that drive financial institution equity and credit instrument valuations. A major focus in this current cycle has been subprime mortgage risk and loan modifications, CDO/CLO risks, asset/liability management risk, derivatives activities, VaR, MSR risk management and hedging, hedge fund activity/prop trading, and other key market and credit risks. With the breakdown in the valuations in the financial system over the past two years, David has been guiding the CreditSights US bank team in helping investors stress test balance sheet exposures for lifetime cumulative losses while examining the interplay between credit, capital, and liquidity risks for banks, brokers, and finance companies.

David has worked on the buy-side as an investor (New York Life Insurance Co.) and on the sell-side as a bond analyst (Drexel Burnham, JPMorgan Securities, UBS Securities, Smith Barney, Credit Suisse First Boston) and equities analyst (Credit Suisse First Boston). At Smith Barney he was Head of Corporate Bond Research and ranked by Institutional Investor in U.S. bank fixed income. At Credit Suisse First Boston he worked in equities research and the team was ranked #2 in Big Banks and #2 in Regional Banks.

For the last nine years at CreditSights, David has been primarily responsible for building the US financial services research practice. David received his BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA in Finance from the Stern School of New York University. He is a member of the Capital Markets Credit Analysts Society and is Secretary on its Board of Directors. David is also a member of the Risk Management Association of New York, the New York Society of Security Analysts, and the CFA Institute.

 

James Hill
Executive Chairman, Partner
Benesch

Mr. Hill is the Executive Chairman of the firm, Chair of the firm's Private Equity Group and an active and practicing member of its Corporate and Securities Practice Group. Mr. Hill also served as Benesch's Managing Partner from 1999-2007 and is a member of the firm's Executive Committee.

He focuses his active practice on publicly and privately held growth companies in addition to representing mezzanine finance providers and equity participants. He primarily handles mergers and acquisitions, public and private offerings of equity, and public and private offerings of debt.

Mr. Hill was again selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2009 (Copyright 2009 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, SC).

Mr. Hill has published numerous articles and has been a keynote speaker on the subjects of mergers and acquisitions and dealing with the formation and ongoing operations of private equity funds and their subsequent acquisitions and dispositions of portfolio companies.

He also is admitted to practice in Illinois.

 

John C. Hodge
Senior Managing Director
The Blackstone Group

John Hodge is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group, focusing on technology investments. He is based in Menlo Park.

Since joining Blackstone, Mr. Hodge has been involved in Blackstone’s investment in Freescale and SunGard. He is also on the Investment Committee for Blackstone Cleantech Venture Partners.

Mr. Hodge has over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on the global technology industry. He has advised clients from the brightest startups to the largest global leaders completing over 250 transactions for companies such as Apple, Applied Materials, ASML, Broadcom, Cadence, Cypress, Google, Palm, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Intuit, KLA-Tencor, Lam Research, Linear Technology, National Semiconductor, Oracle, Philips, Rockwell, Samsung, Solectron, Synopsys, ST Microelectronics, Texas Instruments, Amazon, Yahoo, Verisign and Xilinx.

Mr. Hodge received a BS from Stanford University in Biology. He is on the Board of Directors of Freescale, Sungard, and Silicon Image

 

Scott Honour
Senior Managing Director
The Gores Group LLC

Mr. Honour is a senior member of the investment team at Gores. Prior to joining Gores, Mr. Honour led a career as an investment banker with a focus on private equity related transactions. Mr. Honour served as a Managing Director at UBS Warburg from 2001 to 2002 and worked at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette from 1991 to 2001. Prior to joining DLJ, Mr. Honour served as an analyst at Trammell Crow. Mr. Honour currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Compudyne, First Communications and Westwood One. Mr. Honour earned a B.S. in Business Administration and a B.A. in Economics, cum laude, from Pepperdine University and an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Andrew S. Jhawar
Senior Partner
Apollo Management, L.P.

Andrew S. Jhawar is a Senior Partner of Apollo Management, L.P., which is one of the largest and most successful private equity firms in the nation. Mr. Jhawar has been with Apollo for over a decade and oversees Apollo’s efforts in the food & beverage, consumer products, grocery and specialty retail industries. Mr. Jhawar has been integrally involved in Apollo’s private equity investments in Rent-A-Center, Inc., General Nutrition Centers, Inc., Smart & Final Inc. and Henry’s Farmers Markets in addition to managing a number of the firm’s distressed debt investments in his coverage industries.

Prior to joining Apollo, Mr. Jhawar was an investment banker with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corporation and, prior to that, Jefferies & Company, Inc., where he focused primarily on the structuring, execution and negotiation of high yield debt and equity financing transactions. During his career as an investment banker for over five years, Mr. Jhawar completed over $3.8 billion of high yield and equity financings in over 20 sole or lead-managed transactions.

Mr. Jhawar currently serves on the Board of Directors of Smart & Final Inc. and previously served on the boards of directors of Rent-A-Center, Inc. and General Nutrition Centers, Inc.

Mr. Jhawar earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

 

Steve Kaplan
Principal
Oaktree Capital Management
 Mr. Kaplan is the Head of the Principal Group. He joined Oaktree in 1995, having previously served as a Managing Director of TCW and portfolio manager of TCW Special Credits Fund V – The Principal Fund. Prior to joining TCW in 1993, Mr. Kaplan was a partner with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and responsible for that firm’s East Coast bankruptcy and workout practice. During his career as an attorney, Mr. Kaplan specialized in transactions involving the purchase and sale of companies undergoing financial restructurings. Mr. Kaplan graduated with a B.S. degree in Political Science summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law.

 

Christopher W. Kersey
Managing Member
Camden Partners

Dr. Kersey serves as a Managing Partner of Camden Partners in Baltimore, Maryland, where he focuses on private equity investments in the health care and life science industries. Founded in 1995, Camden Partners is one of the largest growth equity and investment management funds in the United States with more than $700 million under management.

Dr. Kersey currently serves on the board of directors of LipoScience Inc. and Pet DRx Corporation (NASDAQ: VETS), and he is a board observer of AtriCure Corporation (NASDAQ: ATRC) and Picis Inc. Dr. Kersey’s previous portfolio companies include MedServe Inc. (acquired by Stericycle Corporation, NASDAQ: SRCL), ComView Medical Systems (acquired by Evolved Digital Systems, TSX: EVD), Targacept Inc. (NASDAQ: TRGT), AlgoRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSV), Rejuvenon Corporation (acquired by Helsinn Healthcare S.A.), Xeotron Corporation (acquired by Life Technologies Corporation, NASDAQ: LIFE) and MacroGenics Inc.

Dr. Kersey has served in a variety of community, civic and professional organizations throughout his career, including as President of the Houston Private Equity Association and Foundation Board Director of the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health care systems.

A Phi Beta Kappa, Truman Scholar and Presidential Scholar graduate of Stanford University, Dr. Kersey graduated summa cum laude as the Class of 1996 Valedictorian at the Emory University School of Medicine. In 1996, Dr. Kersey attained the distinction of becoming the first individual in history to be accepted in the same year into the residency program of Harvard Medical School as well as Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, where he later graduated as the Class of 1998 Walter Fellow as one of the School’s first medical doctors.

A teammate of Pete Sampras on the Prince High School All-American Tennis Team and a former professional tennis player, Dr. Kersey lives in Maryland with his wife Johannah and daughter Arrabella.

 

Leon Kuan
Managing Director
Fisher Lynch Capital

Leon is a Managing Director in Fisher Lynch Capital’s San Mateo office and he focuses primarily on buyout co-investments and fund investments.

Previously, Leon was a Senior Vice President of GIC Special Investments, the private equity investment arm of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. Leon led over $2.5 billion of commitments to leveraged buyout funds, growth capital funds, and co-investments. Leon also helped to re-establish the GICSI’s venture capital program and represented them on numerous fund advisory committees and boards of directors.

Leon held previous senior positions in IT and Business Consulting, where he led 14 client engagements in software, supply chain, and professional services industries. Leon’s prior experience also includes various software development consulting roles.

Leon earned an M.B.A. at the Wharton School, and undergraduate dual degrees in engineering and business from the Jerome Fisher Management and Technology Program at the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School.

 

Hanson Li
Executive Director
The Hina Group

Hanson Li is currently Executive Director at The Hina Group, a premier China-focused cross-border investment banking and private equity firm. With offices located in China, the US, and Singapore, The Hina Group has been previously recognized as Best Private Equity Firm in China, Best Cross-Border Investment Bank in China, and China Boutique M&A House of the Year.

Hanson assists global corporations with China merger and acquisition strategy and implementation and also works with leading Chinese companies in “going out” of China. In addition, Hanson advises global corporations seeking funding from Chinese investors and Chinese state-owned enterprises. For the Hina Private Equity Fund, Hanson evaluates Chinese domestic investment opportunities, with a thesis in leveraging Hina’s investment banking platform and extensive China network.

Outside of The Hina Group, Hanson is involved with the Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association (HYSTA) and serves on the boards of both the Asia American MultiTechnology Association (AAMA) and the Association of Asian American Investment Managers (AAAIM). Hanson earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar and was named a Siebel Scholar in recognition as one of the top five graduates in his class. Hanson received his BA and MA from Stanford University as well. Originally from Hong Kong, Hanson grew up in Hong Kong, Taiwan, New York, and Malaysia and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese.

 

Kevin Nee
President of Private Markets Group
Wilshire Associates, Inc.

Kevin Nee is the president of Wilshire Private Markets and a member of the Wilshire Associates Board of Directors. A 16-year veteran of the private capital markets, with extensive experience working in the international private capital markets arena, Mr. Nee joined Wilshire Associates in 2009 when he was named president of Wilshire Private Markets by Wilshire Associates’ Executive Committee.

Prior to joining Wilshire Associates, Mr. Nee was a managing director and member of the investment and management committees for the BlackRock Private Equity Partners team. Prior to BlackRock Inc.’s acquisition of Quellos Group, LLC, Kevin was a principal of the latter, where he co-founded Quellos Group’s private capital division. Mr. Nee also was a member of that division’s investment committee and portfolio management group, and served on the firm’s portfolio management group responsible for co-investment activities across alternative asset classes. Mr. Nee began his private markets career with INVESCO’s private capital group, where he managed fund-of-funds portfolios and participated in directed company investments, and also worked for Capital Z Investments.

Mr. Nee is asumma cum laudegraduate of Villanova University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance, and received his Master in Business Administration degree, with honors, from Columbia Business School. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst

 

Kent R. Penwell
Managing Director - Financial Sponsors Group, Americas
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.

Kent Penwell joined Deutsche Bank's Financial Sponsor Group in 2006 and is responsible for covering many of the firm's West Coast and bicoastal financial sponsors, including Ares Management, Francisco Partners, Golden GateCapital, GTCR, Hellman & Friedman, Leonard Green & Partners, Oaktree Capital Management, Silver Lake, Spectrum Equity Investors, Summit Partners, TA Associates and TPG Capital, among others. Kent worked at Banc of America Securities (formerly Montgomery Securities) from 1994 to 2006 where he was most recently a Managing Director in theFinancialSponsor Group (2002-2006); Equity Capital Markets Group (2000-2002) and Co-Head of the Business Services Group (1998-2000). Kent worked in New York and London for PaineWebber Incorporated from 1988 to 1994. Kent’s transaction experience and knowledge spans multiple industry groups and product categories including leveraged finance, public and private equity, equity-linked and derivatives, and mergers & acquisitions, among others. Kent received his M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia University and his B.A. in Political Economy of Industrial Societies from the University of California, Berkeley.

 

Kyle Ryland
Managing Director
Silver Lake - Sumeru

Mr. Ryland joined Silver Lake in 2007 from Shah Capital Partners and is a Managing Director focused on the firm’s middle market strategy, Silver Lake Sumeru. He has in-depth experience with financings, mergers and acquisitions in the technology sector. Before joining Shah Capital, he was a managing director at Lehman Brothers and head of Global Technology Investment Banking. Prior to Lehman Brothers, he was an investment banker at Robertson Stephens covering clients in a variety of hardware sectors, and before that he worked in the Venture Capital group executing venture capital and leveraged buyout transactions in the technology industry. Mr. Ryland is a director on the boards of AVI-SPL, Inc. and Power-One, Inc. He also serves on the board of directors of Magellan, PulseCore, Ingenient and TES. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and Public Policy Studies from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business.

 

Terry Schpok
Partner
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Terry M. Schpok, P.C. is a partner in the corporate and securities practicing groups of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Dallas where he has represented and regularly counsels private equity firms, technology companies, insurance companies, finance companies, underwriters, institutional investors and issuers, with respect to capital transactions involving investments, merger and acquisition transactions, private and public offering of securities and corporate governance for over 25 years. Mr. Schpok has structured numerous investment and acquisition transactions in various industries on behalf of private equity investors and portfolio companies in small, mid-cap and large-cap markets.

Mr. Schpok is a frequent lecturer to business and legal groups on topics involving corporate governance, legal issues for emerging technology companies, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and has served on the faculty of the National Business Institute and a panelist at symposiums on corporate governance presented by the Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance at the University of Texas – Dallas. Mr. Schpok moderates the CEO Roundtable Forum of the Dallas Chapter of TechAmerica. He has served as a member of the Board of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of North Texas. Mr. Schpok has been recognized by his peers as a Texas Super Lawyer and as a Corporate Super Lawyer nationally.

Mr. Schpok's representative transactions include counsel to international motion picture exhibitor in connection with $1.5 billion investment and recapitalization by private equity firm; counsel to international motion picture exhibitor in connection with $537 million initial public offering (recognized by M&A Advisor as 2007 middle market financing deal of the year for media, entertainment and telecom sectors); counsel to private equity firm in connection with acquisition of international software company; counsel to private equity firm in connection with acquisition of insurance company; and counsel to international insurance brokerage firm in connection with sale to private equity portfolio company.

 

Ron H. Shah
Managing Partner
Jina Ventures

Ron is the founder and managing partner of Jina Ventures, which he launched in 2003 as one of the first U.S. private equity firms to focus exclusively on India. After advising 8 notable U.S-India transactions in its first two years, Jina Ventures launched its first India-focused private equity fund in 2005. The Fund invested in 12 Indian companies and produced 11 exits in less than four years, with top quartile performance. The firm’s second fund, the Jina Strategic Growth Fund, is a secondary-direct strategy that invests in late stage service companies in India and assists these companies with enhancing their value to strategic acquirers. Ron has his Bachelor in Business from the George Washington University and his MBA from New York University Stern School of Business.

 

John C. Stephens
Managing Partner
EM|ALTERNATIVES, LLC

John Stephens is a Managing Partner and co-founder of EMAlternatives, LLC, a private equity fund investor that focuses exclusively on global emerging markets. Through its offices in Amsterdam, Shanghai, and Washington, DC, EMAlternatives provides discretionary and non-discretionary services to institutional investors through customized single accounts.

John has over a decade of private equity and advisory experience in emerging markets. Prior to forming EMAlternatives, John was Vice President of Projects International and a Managing Director of Cape Point Capital, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, buyouts, and expansion capital assignments with middle-market companies in Asia, the Middle East, and Southern Africa, and private equity advisory assignments throughout the emerging markets.

John also was a Senior Investment Analyst with Global Environment Fund, a private equity manager investing in infrastructure and environmentally-related companies in emerging markets. From 1990 through 1996, he held a series of positions relating to the former Soviet Union, where he lived for four years. John began his international career in 1990 at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, where he worked on the staffs of Ambassadors Robert S. Strauss and Jack F. Matlock.

John earned a MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and received a BA in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Washington.

 

Patrick Sullivan
Transaction Services Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Pat Sullivan is a Partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's Transaction Services group in San Francisco and leads our TS practice focused on services to Private Equity in the West Region.In addition, he is the relationship partner responsible for our worldwide services for a large global private equity firm and its affiliates.With clients, he is responsible for providing financial, operating and accounting advice to companies that are involved in mergers and acquisitions.Mr. Sullivan is equally experienced in working with financial and strategic acquirers and lenders and has worked on transactions in a large variety of industries including consumer brands, industrial products, services, technology and retail/distribution.He has worked on transactions ranging in size from $10 million to $30 billion.

He has worked with numerous companies through all stages of growth and has experience with a variety of issues facing growth companies including:raising capital (private and public offerings), business planning, valuation and M&A.

Mr. Sullivan graduated from the University of Maryland where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

 

Oliver Wriedt
Managing Director, Capital Markets Group
Providence Equity Partners

Oliver Wriedt is a managing director in Providence’s Capital Markets Group based in our New York office. Prior to joining Providence in 2010, Mr. Wriedt was a partner at Sciens Capital Management. Previously, he was a partner and global co-head of marketing and structured products at GoldenTree Asset Management. Mr. Wriedt spent six years at Deutsche Bank in London and New York, where he held several sales management positions, most recently as managing director running the alternative asset solutions effort in North America. Before joining Deutsche Bank in 1998, Mr. Wriedt worked for five years at NORD/LB in Hannover, Singapore and New York. Mr. Wriedt received a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University.

 

Bob Wymbs
Principal
Platinum Equity

Since 2000, Bob Wymbs has worked in the M&A transaction area of Platinum Equity and has managed portfolio divestiture opportunities for Platinum. He works directly with the firm’s portfolio management, business development, and strategic planning groups examining potential exits and executing transactions. Bob also works with portfolio companies on potential acquisition opportunities. His most recent deal activity includes managing Platinum’s sale-side processes on Broadleaf, Advogent, Tecumseh Power, OVISO, and the European business of AEES.

Prior to joining the Platinum team, Bob held executive positions at the Los Angeles Dodgers and at McKinsey & Company where he held various positions in strategic development, business development, project management, operations and marketing.

Bob earned an MBA from the Wharton School and holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University.

 

Reza Zadno
President & CEO
Visiogen, Inc.

Reza Zadno is the founder, president, and CEO of Visiogen, Inc. that has developed an accommodating intra-ocular lens to treat cataract and presbyopia. Visiogen was recently acquired by Abbott-Medical Optics.

Previously at Three Arch Partners, he was entrepreneur in residence where he founded Visiogen, Inc. Prior to joining Three Arch, he co-founded PercuSurge, Inc. in 1995 and served as CTO. Percusurge pioneered the field of distal protection devices that provide safe treatment of occluded carotid arteries and saphenous vein grafts. Medtronic acquired PercuSurge in 2000.

Prior to PercuSurge, Reza served as the Director of Advanced Development with Cardiac Pathways Corp. from the company’s early inception. Cardiac Pathways markets mapping and ablation systems for the treatment of arrhythmia (IPO in 1996 and acquired by Boston Scientific in 2001). He started his career at Raychem Corporation, now Tyco, after receiving his PhD from Ecole des Mines de Paris.

Reza has filed more than 100 patents and serves on the board of directors of Transcend Medical and Oraya Therapeutics.