Craig Martin is the chairman, Americas of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and is a member of the firm’s executive committee. Prior to founding the Willkie Chicago office in 2020, Craig was the chairman of a national law firm. Recognized as a “courtroom to boardroom” lawyer, Craig regularly represents clients in their most important strategic, reputational and economic matters in virtually every substantive area of the law.   

Over the course of his career, Craig has become one of the most trusted advisors to the Fortune 100, wealthy family offices and private investors as well as notable business, civic and political leaders. His practice ranges from advising corporate boards; to trials; to strategic, legal and business advice in transactions globally. Consistent with his professional roots, Craig is frequently asked to try cases of substantial economic, strategic and reputational substance; to represent boards of directors regarding investigations and sensitive matters; and to provide trusted advice to myriad prominent families and other private businesses.

Craig holds a BA magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and a JD from Harvard University.

Cristina Iftimie joined the Carlyle Group in 2019 and is a managing director and head of strategy for Carlyle AlpInvest. She is focused on driving key business initiatives in segment growth, product development, as well as initiatives for operational excellence. Prior to this role, she was the transformation officer for GIS, driving key business initiatives across the segment and running the program management office. Prior to her roles with GIS, Cristina worked with the real assets segment leadership on strategic, tactical and operational initiatives. 

Prior to joining Carlyle, Cristina was a project leader with the Boston Consulting Group, where she worked on projects across growth strategy, project strategy and technology, as well as operating model and people. Prior to BCG, Cristina worked in economic consulting for Cornerstone Research. Cristina received a BA in mathematics and economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Chicago Booth. 

Stacy Kirshner is a managing director with Alvarez & Marsal’s Transaction Advisory Group (TAG) in New York. She is the United States practice co-leader for TAG. She specializes in performing financial and accounting due diligence in insurance including insurance brokers, wholesale brokers, MGAs, and insurance carriers. 

With more than 18 years of mergers and acquisition advisory and audit experience, Stacy has experience in providing financial and accounting buy- and sell-side due diligence for both private equity and strategic corporate buyers. Her focus includes developing a strong understanding of key drivers of the target company’s business to identify and report on key deal issues and risks (including business, regulatory and industry risks), quality of earnings, quality of assets, working capital analysis and consideration of off-balance sheet exposures. 

Stacy has developed a sought-after approach that is adaptable for deals ranging from unsophisticated accounting teams to targets with complex accounting in niche insurance sectors. She is recognized as an insurance deal expert among her clients and in the market space. 

Prior to joining A&M, Stacy worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP in New York serving with the transaction advisory group for three years and the audit & assurance practice for three years. 

Stacy earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance (summa cum laude) from Ohio University. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the state of New York and a member of the A&M Transaction Advisory Group US Executive Committee and Global Executive Committee.   

Stephen Master joined GTCR in 2008 and is currently a managing director at the firm. Prior to joining GTCR, Stephen worked as an analyst in the telecommunications and mergers & acquisitions groups at UBS Investment Bank. He is currently a Director of Ascent Sports Group, FMG, Guideline, Lexipol and Simpli.fi and played an instrumental role in GTCR’s investment in Landmark Aviation. He was previously a Director of Beeline, Cision, Inteliquent, Protection 1 and Park Place. Stephen holds a BA summa cum laude from Northwestern University in mathematical methods in the social sciences and economics and an MBA with honors from Chicago Booth.

John Zukin focuses his practice on complex business transactions. He regularly represents private equity clients and strategic investors in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and a broad range of general corporate and governance matters. John has experience across various industries, including healthcare, technology, life sciences, industrials, consumer and retail, and business services. 

Steve is the founder of Periscope Equity and oversees the day-to-day activities of the firm. He focuses on sourcing and execution of transactions and collaborating with management teams. Steve has spent his entire career working with tech-enabled business services companies, serving as an investor and board member after working in investment banking and holding operational roles. Steve currently serves on the boards of The RepTrak Company, Praecipio Consulting, CyberMaxx, brightfin, Sentrics, and Uprise Health. He previously served on the boards of MAS, WPAS, Power Digital and MicroMass. 

Prior to Periscope Equity, Steve was a principal at Bridge Investments, where he originated, negotiated and led the firm’s business services investments. He was the chairman of the Board of Prime Visibility Media Group through its ultimate sale to blinkx plc (LSE: BLNX) in November 2011. In addition, he was a board member and the lead preferred director of FreightWatch International through its ultimate sale to United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) in June 2012. Prior to Bridge, Steve was a director at Lake Capital, a middle-market private equity firm focused on business services firms where he executed several transactions. 

Earlier in his career, he was an investment banker, first at ABN Amro and then at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (later Credit Suisse First Boston through acquisition), where he was a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions group. At DLJ/CSFB, Steve worked extensively with Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), a Chicago-based market research company, which he later joined in an operational capacity. 

Steve holds a BSM from Tulane University and an MBA from Chicago Booth. He is a member of the Tulane Business School Council, Northwestern Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute advisory council, and The Economic Club of Chicago. 

Brian O’Connor is the founder and managing partner of NextGen Growth Partners (NGP), a lower-middle market private equity firm that partners with talented entrepreneur-operators to acquire and build great companies in growing industries. The firm was founded in 2015 on the belief that there is significant opportunity for value creation when fundamentally sound small businesses are led by the best and brightest entrepreneurial-minded operators.

Prior to founding NGP, Brian served as co-CEO and head of business development of Innflux, a hospitality-focused IT service company, where he oversaw sales / marketing, business development, M&A and investor relations functions. Innflux was sold to strategic buyer Thing5 in January 2015, after 3.5 years of significant growth. Brian became involved with Innflux after acquiring the business, through his search fund Fellowship Capital Partners (FCP) in 2011.

Prior to founding FCP, Brian was a vice president with Equity International, a middle market growth private equity fund. Brian was responsible for sourcing, evaluating, underwriting and closing new investment opportunities, as well as working closely with portfolio companies post-acquisition on operations and business strategy.

Brian also serves as board member and treasurer for Distinctively College Bound, a non-profit focused on creating opportunities for students to participate in extracurricular activities that cater to their individual talents and interests and promote continued education.

Brian holds an MBA from the Chicago Booth with concentrations in entrepreneurship, finance, accounting and international business. He is also a graduate of Miami University (Ohio) with a double major in finance and management information systems.

Carr joined Akoya Capital in 2010 as a leader of its investment team.

Carr has extensive experience in private equity investing, particularly in deal sourcing, partnering with sellers of owner-operated companies, transaction execution, and working with portfolio companies to execute their value creation plans.

Carr began his career with Chase Manhattan Bank and Freeman Securities and held senior positions with private equity firms Allied Capital and Reliant Equity Investors.

Carr received his BA in finance from Morehouse College, his JD from George Washington University and his MBA from Wharton Business School.

Mark is an adjunct associate professor of entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth, teaching a class called “Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition”. Mark is a cofounder and chairman of Pickles Group, a non for profit that provides kids free resources and community who are navigating a parent’s cancer. Mark rejoined Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria in 2011 after working there in high school and led the company through significant growth for almost a decade. When Mark was CEO and president, the company employed more than 4,000 people and operated 58 company-owned locations throughout Chicagoland and Phoenix, along with an eCommerce company Tastes of Chicago. Under Mark’s leadership, Lou Malnati’s was ranked as a top workplace nine years in a row by the Chicago Tribune.

Prior to joining Lou Malnati’s in 2011, Mark spent five years as a vice president at Dixon Midland Company, a Chicago-based private investment firm. In his role at Dixon Midland, Mark helped source platform and add-on investments as well as provide hands-on operational duties at portfolio companies. Before Dixon Midland, Mark was a private equity associate at Glencoe Capital specializing in basic industries and an investment banking analyst at Deutsche Bank with an emphasis on leveraged finance and MA.

Mark has a BS from Cornell University and an MBA with honors from Chicago Booth. Mark resides in Winnetka with his wife Carolyn, and their four children Molly, Elinor, James and Henry.

Josh Damon is a managing director and the head of portfolio resources for Madison Dearborn Partners, responsible for leading the firm’s efforts to identify and facilitate value creation initiatives across the portfolio. Prior to joining MDP in 2019, Josh was a senior managing director at Ankura Consulting, where he co-led the firm’s strategy and performance practice. 

Rory is a partner at Shore Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-10M of EBITDA. Rory’s responsibilities include sourcing, evaluating and enabling the growth of Shore investments in the business services industry. 

Prior to his current role, Rory worked a principal, vice president, and associate at Shore Capital. His experience included conducting due diligence on new investment opportunities and implementing value creation initiatives within portfolio investments. He works most closely and serves on the board of directors for Bundled Management. Rory previously worked most closely with Innovia Medical, Argentum Medical, Southern Orthodontic Partners, and Therapy Partners Group. Prior to Shore, Rory worked at J.P. Morgan in the corporate banking and leveraged finance group. 

Outside of the office, Rory is actively involved with the Big Shoulders Fund and previously served as president of the junior board of Loyola Academy. 

Rory received a BA, cum laude, in government and spanish from Georgetown University and an MBA from the Chicago Booth. 

Ami joined Periscope in 2019 and is a principal. Ami leads and is responsible for the development and implementation of portfolio company value creation strategies. In her role, Ami partners with portfolio company executives to create meaningful recurring revenue growth opportunities and overall gross margin and EBITDA margin improvement.

Prior to joining Periscope, Ami was chief financial officer of SMITH, a digital commerce agency, where she oversaw all aspects of finance for the company. Prior to SMITH, Ami worked with several private equity backed platforms within the TPG and Waud Capital Partners portfolio in order to build up operational and financial processes, pursue strategic growth initiatives and develop organizational scale. Previously, Ami was Regional CFO for the Americas at Heidrick & Struggles and led corporate M&A for the company. Before Heidrick, Ami was vice president of investments at Green Courte Partners, a real estate focused private equity firm. Ami developed her foundational experience early in her career through public accounting with Ernst & Young.

Ami earned her BS in finance from the University of Illinois, MS in accountancy from the University of Notre Dame, and MBA from Harvard Business School.

After spending fifteen years at mid-sized and global executive search firms, Tara launched Artemis in 2021 with two things in mind — client experience and results.

She credits two things for her success: transparency and saying “no” more often than “yes.” Tara won’t put her reputation on the line for just anyone, and her no nonsense, direct approach instills deep confidence in her ability to achieve her clients’ objectives. By being highly selective about her partners, Tara ensures that she  represents only the best candidates and opportunities in the market.

It’s unlikely you’ll find a smarter recruiter or one with a greater sense of urgency than Tara. She studies the market and its players voraciously, and will learn the key drivers of your business — and the competitive landscape — with remarkable speed.

Tara holds a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign and began her career as an analyst for Merrill Lynch before transitioning to executive search in 2007. Her entire career has been focused on the financial services industry, giving Tara the ability to understand your portfolio, goals, and strategy at great depth.

Rob Kirk is a vice president of portfolio operations at McNally Capital, focusing on performance improvement and value creation initiatives across the deal lifecycle. He works closely with portfolio company management teams to design and execute value-creation programs and supports McNally Capital investment teams on value-creation identification pre-close.

Prior to joining McNally Capital, Rob was a principal at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he was a core member of the firm’s Industrial Goods and Principal Investors and Private Equity (PIPE) practice areas. He worked extensively with clients to design and implement value-creation programs, with a particular focus on go-to-market, strategy, M&A, and transformation.

Rob holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Outside of the office, Rob enjoys spending time with his wife, Katie, and their two daughters, Nora and Quinn. He is an avid golfer and Cleveland sports fan.

David currently serves as an industry advisor at Advent and has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry working across multiple geographies. At TransUnion, he was responsible for the management, growth, and business strategy of the company’s international operations, which span five continents. Previously, he held a number of leadership roles at HSBC, including global head of sales and marketing for insurance. He received his MBA from Chicago Booth in 1995 and currently serves on the Kilts Center steering committee. 

Doug joined CIVC in 2011 and is focused on new investments and working with portfolio companies. Doug is currently a director of Continuum and InnovateMR. He was formerly a director of Magna Legal Services, Stoneridge, GPRS, Yellowstone Landscape, and Equipment Transport and worked closely with KPA. Prior to joining CIVC, Doug was an aassociate with AEA Investors where he focused on private equity investments in the services, industrial and consumer sectors. Prior to AEA, Doug was a consultant with L.E.K. Consulting advising clients on a variety of strategic projects. Doug received a BA in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated magna cum laude, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. 

As principal of value creation & strategy, Kelly develops the next-level growth strategies for Erie Street’s portfolio partners across the investment lifecycle. From investment thesis development to enterprise value creation, Kelly partners with the founders and management teams of Erie Street’s partner companies – and Erie Street’s network of operating partners – to unlock the business strategies and operational enhancements that enable our partners to evolve, scale, and deliver next-level outcomes. 

With a decade of strategic consulting experience (PwC, Capgemini) and global functional leadership (McDonald’s at Capgemini), Kelly brings industry expertise, operational leadership, and strategic planning experience to Erie Street and its portfolio partners. Kelly joined Erie Street in 2021 after serving as the global lead of strategy, portfolio governance, and engagement for the McDonald’s strategic account at Capgemini. 

Kelly holds an MBA from the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Michigan State University. Kelly previously served on the leadership board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago and currently serves as an advisory board member of Erie Street partner companies Trailer Park Group and Quantum Rise. 

Andrew Pomranke joined Ropes & Gray in 2015 and is a partner in the corporate department, where he represents institutional and strategic investors in a wide range of transactional matters, including leveraged buyouts, strategic M&A and similar transactions. Andrew also regularly advises clients and their portfolio companies on a range of operational matters, including add-on acquisitions, dispositions, general corporate governance and equity arrangements. 

Ryan joined GTCR in 2025 as a managing director, leading artificial intelligence and product across our portfolio. He evaluates prospective investments and shapes strategic direction based on emerging AI technologies. Within the portfolio resources group, he champions innovative product approaches to drive growth and differentiation in the market. Prior to joining GTCR, Ryan served as chief product officer at 1stDibs, overseeing product management, user experience, logistics, and the overall buyer and seller experiences for the two-sided marketplace. Previously, he led the product management organization for Google Ads core experiences and managed business development and strategy for Google Shopping. Ryan holds an MS in computer science from Stanford University with a specialization in artificial intelligence and a BA in economics magna cum laude from Yale University. 

Alex is a multiple-time AI software and consulting entrepreneur. He was a founder at Vivid Edge (web consulting, sold to Framfab), Touch Clarity (machine learning optimization, sold to AdobeOmniture), and Cognitive Match (sold to Magnetic), and a leader at Magnetic (sold to Deloitte), Deloitte Digital (Global CMO) and Advantage Solutions (Chief Data Officer).
He deeply believes in the transformative combination of human and machine, leading him to founding Quantum Rise together with business-services investment leader, Erie Street Growth Partners. Alex has a BA with honors in experimental psychology from Oxford University. 

Michael Sharifi joined Wynnchurch in 2025. Prior to joining Wynnchurch, Michael held various positions in the recruitment and talent sector, including most recently as director and head of portfolio talent operations at Vista Equity Partners. Michael has spent his career developing and scaling private equity talent programs with a focus on executive recruitment & selection, organizational health, leadership development, compensation & rewards, and HR strategy. Michael holds a BA in political science from Northwestern University and an MBA from Chicago Booth. 

Cass is an operating principal at ParkerGale Capital, where she works with portfolio companies to improve their financial reporting and visibility. She is focused on using metrics that matter to drive better day-to-day decision-making and outcomes, as well as streamlining reporting across the portfolio. For three years prior to re-joining the team as a principal on the operations team, she was an associate at ParkerGale, involved in all aspects of the firm’s investment process, supporting deal sourcing, diligence, and the monitoring of portfolio companies. Earlier in her career, Cass received her CPA license while working for KPMG in the deal advisory practice, focusing on financial due diligence for private equity clients. Cass received her BS in accounting from the University of Illinois and graduated with an MBA with honors from Chicago Booth. 

Ira Weiss specializes in tax strategy, financial accounting, and venture capital. He teaches advanced MBA courses in tax strategy, accounting, entrepreneurship and venture capital at Chicago Booth. 

Ira currently teaches Taxes and Business Strategy, and Accounting for Entrepreneurs – from Start-up to IPO.  In the tax class, Ira feels it is important for students in his tax class to walk away knowing how to structure business decisions in the most tax-efficient manner, taking into account all other costs. He cites one significant use for the tools he teaches in class: learning how to structure merger and acquisition transactions. Students also learn many useful tax planning techniques for their personal financial decisions, such as whether they can deduct the cost of MBA tuition off their taxes. While teaching taxes and business strategy, he often is able to include some of the structures from real private equity deals to demonstrate the power of effective tax planning. 

In 2017, Ira developed a new accounting course, Accounting for Entrepreneurs, from Start-up to IPO.  Chicago Booth now offers 7 sections of this course a year.

Ira has held positions at the accounting/consulting firms of Ernst & Young and Coopers & Lybrand, and serves on the boards of various start-up companies. 

He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Illinois in 1992. He received an MBA in 1999 and a PhD in 2001, from Chicago Booth. He holds a CPA from the state of Illinois. 

Nick is a partner & head of engagement at Author Capital Partners and prior to joining Author Capital in 2022, Nick was a principal at BDT & MSD Partners, an investment platform built to serve the distinct needs of business owners and strategic, long-term investors. From 2011 to 2015, Nick was director of programs at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, where he led the institution’s global economy program and supported the engagement of Chicago’s business leadership. He began his career at Morgan Stanley and Barclays, focused on investments and executive incentive plans. Nick earned a BA in political science from University of Vermont and an MA in international relations from the University of Chicago. 

Chrissie co-leads MPowered Capital, bringing over 20 years of investing experience to the role. As a former senior portfolio manager of private equity at Exelon Corporation, she sourced, diligenced, and committed over $1.8B to 46 funds and 31 managers across venture capital, growth equity, buyout and distressed funds globally. Prior to Exelon, Chrissie was vice president at middle-market buyout firm Sterling Partners. Chrissie received her BA from Georgetown University and her MBA from Chicago Booth. 

Sonia worked for Amazon 15+ years ago as part of the team that launched the clothing category. She then co-founded a venture-backed mobile shopping startup that was acquired by RetailMeNot, at the time the largest digital coupon marketplace in the U.S.. She led the mobile team at RetailMeNot for 2 years before joining Pritzker Group Venture Capital where she was a general partner. At PGVC her marketplace investments included Backlot Cars, Cameo, Coinbase, ShopThing, Machinery Partner, Maisonette, Yay Lunch, Batch and FuelMe. Sonia started her career as an engineer at General Motors in their advanced engineering group.