Keynotes
Chairman of the Board at Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc.
A veteran of the private banking industry and a master of municipal finance, Brian began his career on Wall Street, working with high-profile firms such as Smith Barney and Bankers Trust Company. A temporary foray into a state government role unexpectedly led to Brian’s 24-year career in public service, and to four sweeping election victories to the Nevada Constitutional Offices of Lieutenant Governor and State Treasurer. Brian is the first person in Nevada history to be term-limited twice.
As Lieutenant Governor, Brian led Nevada’s economic expansion efforts and spearheaded strategic legislation that prompted the state’s emergence as an economic innovator and a preferred location for new and expanding businesses. He served in a wide variety of critical positions, including Chairman of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, Chairman of the Nevada Commission on Tourism, and President of the Nevada State Senate. During his tenure as State Treasurer, Nevada became the first state treasury to receive the Certificate of Excellence in Investment Policy. Brian was honored with the prestigious Award for Excellence in Public Finance and, in 2004, earned the distinction as being the nation’s “Most Outstanding State Treasurer.”
Brian is a graduate of Stanford University, and currently serves on multiple corporate and non-profit boards.
Pamela Meyer
Certified Fraud Examiner and Best-Selling Author of LieSpotting
Successful M&A deal-making depends on discerning fact from fiction throughout every step of the process – and the ability to develop trust quicky with new partners. ACG is excited to have Pamela Meyer as our Keynote speaker on Tuesday, offering strategies and techniques on how to:
- Uncover deception – on the phone, in email, and in person
- Get the upper hand in buying, negotiating, protecting, and interviewing
- Go from lie-spotting to truth-seeking to trust-building
Pamela Meyer is an Expert on Trust & Deception; Author of the book Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception and has the #13 most-watched TED Talk – “How to Spot a Liar.”
The stunning popularity of Pamela’s TED talk and book is a solid testimony to the relevance and timeliness of her valuable work. There’s a deception epidemic. And it’s gotten worse. Businesses lose an estimated 7% of annual revenue to fraud each year.
Deception is serious business. According to studies by several different researchers, most of us encounter nearly 200 lies a day. It happens in person, on the phone, in email. It happens when buying, negotiating, interviewing, and interacting with colleagues, vendors, customers, friends, family, and others. In this environment it’s important to be equipped with the skills to protect yourself in your daily business and personal encounters.
Pamela brings years of knowledge – previously found only in the intelligence community, police training academies, and universities – to the effort to uncover the truth and build trust. She synthesizes her C-Suite business savvy with the critical deception detection skills she’s accumulated: advanced interviewing and interrogation techniques; facial micro-expression reading; body language interpretation; statement analysis; facial action coding systems; and behavior elicitation techniques. These techniques were developed by our national espionage, intelligence, security and law enforcement agencies over the last 75 years. They were refined by the top psychologists and psychiatrists at leading American research universities and think tanks. The result is a specialized body of information developed specifically to help business executives, managers, investment professionals, human resources specialists, lawyers, insurance professionals, corporate officers, and others detect deception and get the information they need to successfully conduct their most important interactions/transactions and build trust.
Pamela is founder and CEO of Calibrate, in Washington, D.C., which helps businesses root out lying, cut down on fraud and detect inside threats. Pamela and her team work closely with business executives to offer a blend of hard skills training, business savvy and strategic insight.
Prior to her current roles, Pamela was an executive in the media business for more than 20 years, starting several successful ventures and working as a senior executive at National Geographic, Vestron and Electronic Arts.
Pamela holds an MBA from Harvard, a master’s degree in Public Policy from Claremont Graduate School and is a Certified Fraud Examiner.
Featured Sessions
David Baboolall
Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company
David Baboolall (they/them) is an Associate Partner based in the New York Office of McKinsey & Company. They are a leader in McKinsey’s Private Equity and Principal Investors (PEPI) Practice, and advises PE sponsors and portfolio companies on strategy and M&A, predominantly serving the industrials sector, with a focus on exit support and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) transformation. They have led 40+ due diligences for corporate and PE clients.
Featured Session: DE&I’s Impact on the Middle Market: What’s Working and How
David H. Crean, Ph.D.
Managing General Partner, Equitos Venture Partners
Managing Partner, Cardiff Advisory LLC
David has +25 years buy- and sell-side expertise with life sciences and healthcare companies working within strategic biopharma companies, private equity, investment banking and venture capital. He is the Managing General Partner of Equitos Venture Partners, an emerging life sciences-focused investment fund. In parallel, he is a Managing Partner with Cardiff Advisory LLC, an investment banking firm focused on providing strategic and financial advisory for M&A, partnering and capital financing transactions within the life sciences and healthcare sectors. David is an active member of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and served as President for the past two years of the San Diego, CA chapter.
Featured Session: The Business Development Evolution
Justin S. Daniels
Shareholder, Baker Donelson
Justin’s corporate practice consists of representing domestic and international technology businesses and business owners in all aspects of their growth cycle, from structuring new ventures, raising capital and advising on acquisitions and divestitures to reviewing and negotiating key vendor, employment, and customer contracts. He has closed M&A transactions valued collectively at more than $1 billion.
Featured Session: Managing Cyber Risks: How Secure is Your Deal?
Jennifer J. Fondrevay
Founder and Chief Humanity Officer, Day1 Ready™
Jennifer J. Fondrevay is the Founder and Chief Humanity Officer of Day1 Ready™, a consultancy that advises forward thinking business leaders, owners and C-Suite executives on how to prepare for and manage the people challenges of business transitions, particularly Mergers & Acquisitions. She shares her M&A expertise as a contributor to Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Inc., Forbes and Thrive Global; is a sought-after podcast guest and keynote speaker for conferences and associations; and has advised numerous small and mid-market as well as Fortune 500 companies, on how to prepare for and lead through the multiple transitions of the M&A-deal journey.
Featured Session: Managing Post-Transaction Integration: How to Achieve Cultural and Operational Success
Emily Holdman
Managing Director, Permanent Equity
For over a decade, Emily has led origination efforts, working with advisors, operators, and owners to structure deals that provide meaningful liquidity, while preserving legacy, with minimal operational disruption. Permanent Equity is investing out of a 27-year fund, with no intention of selling, in closely held businesses with discretionary free cash flow between $3 million and $25 million. The firm’s current portfolio includes businesses in Aerospace & Defense, Building Products, Construction, CPG, Manufacturing, and Niche Services.
Featured Session: The Business Development Evolution
Jared Konstanty
CEO, Signature Brands
Jared Konstanty is a proven, inspirational business leader with a key focus on driving breakthrough results. He has over 25 years of experience in the packaged goods industry in dozens of countries around the world. He currently serves as CEO of Signature Brands, a CPG company leading the industry with the following brands: Betty Crocker, Cake Mate, Pumpkin Masters, PAAS, and Gift Pop.
Featured Session: Managing Post-Transaction Integration: How to Achieve Cultural and Operational Success
Jennifer Lee
Partner, Edison Partners
Jennifer is a Partner at Edison Partners leading the firm’s fintech investments. Her investments include Prepaid Technologies (B2B payments), gohenry (children’s money app and card for financial education), Fund That Flip (residential fix-and-flip real estate platform), Yieldstreet (alternative investment platform for retail investors), MoneyLion (NYSE: ML; digital banking and financial platform), ComplySci (compliance software), Bipsync (research management platform for asset managers), and Bento for Business (B2B payments) among others. She was recognized by VCJ Rising Stars 2021, NJBIZ 40 Under 40 in 2020, the Business Insider as 2019’s Rising Stars of Wall Street, NY Fintech Women’s Inspiring FinTech Females of 2021 and 2019, a finalist for Finovate’s Fintech Woman of the Year for 2019, and was named to WSJ’s Women to Watch in Private Equity in 2018.
Featured Session: Anatomy of a Deal: A Middle Market Deal Case Study
R. Whit Matthews
Senior Investment Director, abrdn
Whit Matthews is a Senior Investment Director focused on abrdn’s Private Equity strategies and a member of its US investment committee. He is responsible for all aspects of the investment process including portfolio construction and the due diligence and ongoing monitoring of existing and prospective fund commitments, co-investments and secondaries. Whit joined abrdn (then SL Capital Partners) in 2009. Previously, he was an Investment Analyst at the University of Pennsylvania endowment allocating to private equity, venture capital, and hedge fund opportunities.
Featured Session: Becoming a Value-Added LP/Family Office
Brian Rassel
Partner, Huron Capital
Brian is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, executing and managing investments made by the firm primarily in the commercial & industrial services (facility services), professional services (financial & insurance services) and residential services sectors. Prior to joining Huron Capital, Brian was an Associate at Prophet, a global growth strategy consulting firm advising clients on positioning, innovation and customer acquisition for B2B and B2C businesses. His responsibilities included strategic, competitive and customer analyses across a range of industries.
Featured Session: Managing Post-Transaction Integration: How to Achieve Cultural and Operational Success
Katherine Hill Ritchie
Founder and CEO, Private Capital Investments, LLC
Ms. Hill Ritchie is a frequent speaker and content provider to family office and investment conferences and publications world-wide. She founded Private Capital Investments, LLC while she was working in Geneva, Switzerland in 2009 when she realized there was a need for personalized investment services for family offices beyond typical brokers, bankers or wealth managers. Mrs. Hill Ritchie has worked internally and as an advisor to 8 family offices, 4 Billionaires, through her firm, Private Capital Investments, LLC.
Featured Session: Becoming a Value-Added LP/Family Office
Igor Rozenblit
Managing Partner, Iron Road Partners
Igor is a leading expert in financial regulation who helped shape the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulatory approach to the private capital markets. Igor focuses on helping clients successfully navigate a broad range of challenges stemming from regulatory examinations, investigations, litigation, disputes and other crisis scenarios. Igor’s unique combination of investing experience, due diligence expertise and decade of service as the SEC’s primary private markets expert allows him to provide insightful and practical guidance to clients grappling with complex regulatory and operational issues.
Featured Session: Managing Cyber Risks: How Secure is Your Deal?
Asim Grabowski-Shaikh
Partner, BakerHostetler
Asim Grabowski-Shaikh guides public and private companies through complex capital markets and corporate transactions, with an emphasis on securities offerings (including IPOs and SPACs), mergers and acquisitions (including de-SPAC transactions) and corporate governance matters. He offers clients practical, goal-oriented solutions, leveraging the skills developed and knowledge gained over nearly 20 years of representing issuers, underwriters, placement agents, buyers and sellers of businesses, boards of directors, activists, major financial institutions, funds and registered investment advisors in a variety of transactions across many sectors. Asim’s keen understanding of strategy complements his depth in corporate and securities laws, enabling him to provide bespoke and creative solutions to difficult problems.
Featured Session: Anatomy of a Deal: A Middle Market Deal Case Study
Mortimer Singer
Managing Partner, Traub Capital Partners
Mortimer Singer is a Managing Partner of Traub Capital Partners. TCP is a strategic private equity firm specialized in building value in consumer companies using its unique combination of investment, strategic and operational expertise, as well as a culture led, and engaged approach.
Featured Session: Becoming a Value-Added LP/Family Office
Michael Vaccarella
Partner – Private Equity and Transaction Advisory Services, Wipfli
Leveraging more than 24 years of public accounting experience, including more than 14 years with mergers and acquisitions, Michael Vaccarella leads Wipfli’s Private Equity and Transaction Advisory Services team. He provides client relationship support and provides buy-side and sell-side transaction diligence and consulting for, private equity funds, portfolio holdings in addition to family offices and corporations.
Featured Session: Anatomy of a Deal: A Middle Market Deal Case Study
Bhavesh Vadhani
Principal and Global Leader of the Cybersecurity, Technology Risk, and Privacy Practice, CohnReznick
Bhavesh Vadhani is a principal and the global leader of the Cybersecurity, Technology Risk, and Privacy Practice. He has over 20 years of experience in the field of information risk management, security consulting and privacy advisory services. Bhavesh works with organizations in different industry verticals including consumer product and retail, financial services and sponsors, health care, government contracting, manufacturing and distribution, and technology.
Featured Session: Managing Cyber Risks: How Secure is Your Deal?
Tanisha Wicker
SVP Human Resources, Smile Brands
Tanisha Wicker is an undeniably dynamic force and leader widely recognized and respected by her peers for pioneering lasting transformation in Human Resources. Driven by her desire to be the change she hopes to see in this space, she combines her track record of strategic-planning excellence with an intrinsic ability to effectively execute impactful HR initiatives that help shape an ever-changing landscape. In a career spanning over two decades, Tanisha has been a long-time champion of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
Featured Session: DE&I’s Impact on the Middle Market: What’s Working and How
Tanya Wong
Vice President, Houlihan Lokey
Tanya Wong is a member of Houlihan Lokey’s Real Estate, Lodging & Leisure Group, which specializes in M&A advisory and capital raising for public and private real estate related companies and investors. Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, Ms. Wong was Vice President of Hotel Real Estate Investing at Goldman Sachs and was Director of Global Real Estate at VC-backed, alternative lodging startup, Sonder. At the office and beyond, Tanya is a champion of DE&I. She is currently serving as a member of Houlihan Lokey’s internal DE&I Committee as well as a member of ULI New York’s DE&I Committee.
Featured Session: DE&I’s Impact on the Middle Market: What’s Working and How
