Private Equity Conference

David M. Rubenstein is Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest and most successful private investment firms. Established in 1987, Carlyle now manages $325 billion from 26 offices around the world.

David is Chairman of the Boards of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Gallery of Art, the Economic Club of Washington, and the University of Chicago; a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation; a Trustee of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Institute for Advanced Study, the National Constitution Center, the Brookings Institution, and the World Economic Forum; and a Director of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

David is a member of the American Philosophical Society, Business Council, Harvard Global Advisory Council (Chairman), Madison Council of the Library of Congress (Chairman), Board of Dean’s Advisors of the Business School at Harvard, Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University (former Chairman), and Board of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community.

David has served as Chairman of the Boards of Duke University and the Smithsonian Institution, and Co-Chairman of the Board of the Brookings Institution.

David is an original signer of The Giving Pledge, a significant donor to all of the above-mentioned non-profit organizations, and a recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, and the MoMA’s David Rockefeller Award, among other philanthropic awards.

David is a leader in the area of Patriotic Philanthropy, having made transformative gifts for the restoration or repair of the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Monticello, Montpelier, Mount Vernon, Arlington House, Iwo Jima Memorial, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the National Zoo, the Library of Congress, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. David has also provided to the U.S. government long-term loans of his rare copies of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, the first map of the U.S. (Abel Buell map), and the first book printed in the U.S.

David is the host of The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations on Bloomberg TV and PBS and Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein on Bloomberg TV; and the author of The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians, a book published by Simon & Schuster in October 2019, How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers, a book published by Simon & Schuster in September 2020, and The American Experiment: Dialogues on a Dream, a book published by Simon & Schuster in September 2021.

David, a native of Baltimore, is a 1970 magna cum laude graduate of Duke University, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa. David graduated in 1973 from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review.

From 1973–1975, David practiced law in New York with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. From 1975–1976, he served as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. From 1977–1981, during the Carter Administration, David was Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. After his White House service and before co-founding Carlyle, David practiced law in Washington with Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman).

Joanna Reiss is partner, co-head of impact at Apollo. Prior to joining in 2020, she was partner at Cornell Capital from its founding in 2013. Previously, she was an analyst at Merchants’ Gate Capital, and began her career at Goldman Sachs in the investment banking division before moving to the merchant banking division to invest the GS Capital Partners, GS Loan Partners and GS Mezzanine Partners funds. Joanna is the chairwoman of the board of Smart Start and previously served on the board of directors of Smart & Final, Corelle Brands, and Monolith Materials.

Joanna graduated with highest distinction from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan with a BBA degree. She is a member of the board of Madison Playgroup.

Ian Charles is the founder and managing partner at Arctos Sports Partners. In addition to his investment responsibilities, Ian directs the firm’s investment strategy, firm governance and investor relations.

Prior to the formation of Arctos Sports Partners, Ian served as a member of the private equity and infrastructure investment committees and partner at Landmark Partners, a leader in the global private equity, real estate, and infrastructure secondary markets. At Landmark, Ian helped design and execute the firm’s private equity strategy; helped build the firm’s quantitative research group; sourced and structured large, innovative liquidity transactions across the firm’s investment verticals; developed and presented the firm’s views on the macro environment and alternative asset classes at a wide range of industry conferences; and helped create the firm’s innovative preferred equity investment strategy. During his time at Landmark Partners, Ian was part of a team that sourced and oversaw transactions representing more than $10 billion in transaction value.

Prior to joining Landmark Partners, Ian was a cofounder of Cogent Partners, the first secondary market sell-side advisor. Cogent Partners, which was acquired by Greenhill & Co., is widely recognized for transforming the private equity secondary market by providing institutional-grade advisory services to sellers and providing a consistent source of deal flow for existing, new and non-traditional secondary buyers. At Cogent, Ian was responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the firm, sourcing and leading large secondary advisory mandates and creating the firm’s investment strategy and portfolio research business. Prior to co-founding Cogent Partners, he was part of an investment team executing secondary, primary, direct and co-investments that is now part of the Neuberger Berman alternative investments platform.

Ian graduated with honors from Texas Christian University, where he received a BBA in Finance and a BBA in Accounting. He received his MBA from the Wharton School of Business and is a CFA Charterholder.

Steven Neil Kaplan is the Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Kessenich E.P. Faculty Director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Kaplan cofounded the Polsky Center and the entrepreneurship program at Chicago Booth. He also started the New Venture Challenge (NVC), which is recognized as one of the top accelerator programs in the nation.

He teaches advanced MBA and executive courses in entrepreneurial finance and private equity, corporate finance, corporate governance, and wealth management. BusinessWeek named him one of the top 12 business school teachers in the country. Kaplan conducts research on issues in private equity, venture capital, entrepreneurial finance, corporate governance, and corporate finance. He has published papers in a number of academic and business journals. Kaplan is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and an associate editor of the Journal of Financial Economics.

He is the co-creator of the Kaplan-Schoar PME (Public Market Equivalent) private equity benchmarking approach. A Fortune Magazine article referred to him as “probably the foremost private equity scholar in the galaxy.”

Nichole Lopez-Tackett is a partner in Ropes & Gray’s finance group, and is based in Chicago. Her practice focuses on the representation of corporate borrowers, private equity sponsors, investment funds and lending institutions with respect to complex financing transactions, including syndicated/non-syndicated, secured/unsecured, multi-jurisdictional and leveraged buyout financing transactions, as well as, liability management transactions, recapitalizations, restructurings and other special situation transactions.

Nichole received her BBA in Finance, cum laude, from Loyola University and JD, magna cum laude, from DePaul University College of Law.

Benjamin Rhode is a partner in Ropes & Gray’s business restructuring group, and is based in Chicago. Benjamin’s practice focuses on all aspects of corporate restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings. Benjamin advises public and private companies, boards, financial sponsors and distressed investors in complex domestic and international distressed situations, including out-of-court liability management transactions, in-court chapter 11 proceedings and distressed acquisitions. Benjamin’s experience spans a broad range of industries, including automotive, retail, oil & gas, health care, communications, gaming and media & entertainment.

Benjamin received his BS, with Great Distinction, from Clarke University and JD, magna cum laude, from Cornell Law School.

Brent Banks is a Senior Managing Director of Evercore’s Restructuring and Debt Advisory Group.

Mr. Banks has worked on numerous restructuring assignments, advising companies, creditors, and other parties on refinancings, exchange offers, consent solicitations, amendments, out-of-court restructurings, Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganizations, distressed mergers and acquisitions and cross-border restructuring issues. He has also been involved in numerous DIP and exit financings for companies in Chapter 11 and several “rescue” financings for distressed clients.

Selected client engagements include work for Alion Science & Technology, Boart Longyear, Bonavista Energy, California Resources, Catalina Marketing, Chicago Skyway, Claire’s, Constellium, Denbury Resources, Diamond Sports Group, Elara Caring, Evergreen Aviation, Frontier Communications, Harland Clarke, Hexion, Intrado Corporation, IPC Systems, Jack Entertainment, J.Crew, Jupiter Resources, Keystone Automotive, McDermott, Neuberger Berman, PSS Industrial Group, Serta Simmons Bedding, SGS & Co , SunEdison, SunEdison Semiconductor, Targus, Ultra Petroleum, Vine Oil & Gas, W.R. Grace and Yak Access

Prior to joining Evercore, Mr. Banks worked as a Vice President at Goldman Sachs in the firm’s Restructuring Finance and Advisory Group.

Mr. Banks, who is a chartered financial analyst, earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in accountancy from Wake Forest University.

Lauren Bilzin is a Principal and Head of US Restructuring at Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, a global institutional investment management firm based in New York with more than $38 billion in assets under management. Prior to joining Davidson Kempner, Ms. Bilzin was an associate in the Restructuring & Finance group at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Investment Counsel at Serengeti Asset Management. She received a BS in Economics from Duke University and her JD from Yale Law School.

Andrew Scriven, CFA, is global head of restructuring and a portfolio manager at Aegon Asset Management responsible for managing all restructuring and bankruptcy situations. He is also responsible for identifying new investment opportunities and providing insight and research on global stressed, distressed, and special situation securities. His portfolio management responsibilities include co-managing the Credit Opportunities strategies and special situation and distressed assets. Prior to his current role, Andrew worked at Lazard Freres & Co LLC as a vice president in the restructuring group, at Greenbriar Asset Management as a special situations and distressed credit analyst, and at Black Diamond Capital Management as director of distressed credit. He has been in the industry since 2009. Andrew received his BS from Drake University and his JD from Duke University School of Law. He is a CFA® charterholder.

Andrew J. Warmus focuses his practice on domestic mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic transactional matters. He has broad experience representing financial sponsors, multinational public companies and private companies in acquisitions and divestitures across multiple industries, including healthcare and life sciences.

Andrew advises buyers and sellers in complex, domestic and cross-border acquisitions, divestitures and strategic transactions often involving complex, multijurisdictional carve-out transactions in regulated industries. Andrew also provides counsel to a number of portfolio companies on a wide range of matters, and builds and leads bespoke teams to deliver commercial solutions.

Andrew received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2011, JD from Marquette University Law School in 2006, and BS from Colorado State University in 2002.

Zoltan Donovan is a managing director and sector portfolio manager on First Eagle Alternative Credit’s Tradable Credit team. Zoltan became part of First Eagle in 2020 upon the firm’s acquisition of THL Credit, which he had joined in 2004. Previously, he served as a credit analyst for the bank loan asset management group at Columbia Management Advisors. Before that, he worked for Imperial Credit Asset Management, performing credit analysis on leveraged loans purchased by a cash flow CLO vehicle. Earlier, he was employed by BancAmerica Robertson Stephens as an analyst for the loan trading desk and by Van Kampen Management as a junior analyst working in the bank loan group. Zoltan earned a BS from Loyola University and an MBA from Loyola’s Quinlan School of Business.

David has over 15 years of experience as a private equity investor and investment banker. At IOP, he is responsible for deal sourcing and execution as well as managing portfolio investments.

Before joining IOP, David served as an Analyst at Harris Williams & Co., focusing on middle-market mergers and acquisitions. Previously, he worked as an investment banker in National City Capital Markets’ Investment Banking Group.

David earned a B.B.A. from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Ms. Renee McMahon advises clients on the financial and economic implications of business decision making, often in the context of performing valuation and damages analyses in litigation and bankruptcy matters.

She consults clients involved in a range of disputes, including, among other things, breach of contract and/or warranty, merger and acquisition transactions, fraudulent transfer, claims of unjust enrichment, and claims of fraudulent and material misrepresentation. Her work spans many industries, including retail, telecommunications, banking and financial services, franchising, automotive, manufacturing, securities, technology, and other consumer goods and services. Prior to joining CRA, Ms. McMahon held consulting positions at LECG and Navigant Consulting.

Don is a Director with PSP Capital Partners, LLC. Don joined the firm in 2020 and is responsible for transaction sourcing and execution, portfolio company oversight and other key initiatives within the Advanced Industrials sector. Active portfolio company responsibilities include E.B. Bradley Company and StormTrap.

Prior to joining PSP Partners, Don worked as a generalist investor at BDT Capital Partners, a merchant bank founded and led by Byron Trott. Don began his career in investment banking in the Consumer/Retail group at Goldman Sachs. Don earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. In his spare time, Don enjoys running, grilling, crossword puzzles, and spending time with his wife and daughter.

Tim has been involved in private equity for nearly three decades in senior leadership and investment management roles with Allstate Insurance Company, Heller Financial, GE Capital, and Adams Street Partners. Tim began his career with Goldman Sachs in Chicago where he traded over-the-counter (OTC) securities and managed the office’s OTC market expansion efforts.  He went on to manage billions of dollars in private equity related investment programs and to complete hundreds of successful international partnership and direct equity and fixed income investments. He is proud of an extensive global network of general and limited partner relationships he developed throughout his career as a result of his personable interaction style, objectivity and candor, and desire to help others succeed. His vast industry knowledge and experiences transcend finance, investments, law, international business, and complex capital formation structures.

At the age of 54, Tim achieved a life-long goal when he received his PhD in organizational psychology from Northcentral University with a dissertation topic focused on how private companies become entrepreneurially oriented. He has an insatiable appetite for continuously learning as evidenced by, in addition to his psychology doctorate, an undergraduate degree in economics, magna cum laude, from Dominican University; a law degree, summa cum laude, from The John Marshall Law School; and an MBA in economics and international business from Chicago Booth. Tim has been an adjunct professor of undergraduate and graduate courses in finance, economics, and ethics, and is a writer and speaker on finance, leadership development, decision theory, organizational culture, and legal topics.

Tim retired from active private equity investment activities in 2013. He now consults in the areas of leadership development and private equity firm operational and organizational optimization, in addition to managing his family office and philanthropic endeavors.

Prior to joining Duchossois, Tom was a Principal at Baird Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Prior to Baird, he was a Senior Associate at Chicago Growth Partners, a mid-market private equity firm. Tom began his career in investment banking at Lehman Brothers in Chicago. Tom is a Board Director or Board Observer of multiple portfolio companies and led our investments in Incline Energy Partners, SightMD, Pattern, Illumifin and Rivers Casino. In 2010, Tom co-founded the not-for-profit Twin Hearts Autism Foundation with his wife Irene. In addition, he is a member of the University of Chicago Athletics Hall of Fame selection committee. Tom received a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

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 Praecipio Consulting, CyberMaxx, MAS, WPAS, brighfin, Sentrics and Uprise Health.

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 an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BSM from Tulane University. He is a member of the Tulane Fund Advisory Board and The Economic Club of Chicago.

Brian O’Neil joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as Chief Investment Officer in January 2003. He is responsible for the Foundation’s $11.4 billion investment portfolio. Brian previously worked at the Equitable Life Assurance Society (now AXA Equitable) from 1980 to 2002. He was named Deputy Chief Investment Officer in 1990 and Chief Investment Officer in 1992, at the time the company demutualized and went public. He received an MBA from the Columbia Graduate School of Business, and an AB from Princeton University.

Neil W. Townsend is a partner in the Corporate & Financial Services Department and Co-Chair of the Private Equity Practice Group. Neil handles the full spectrum of private equity transactions, mergers and acquisitions of public and private companies and public and private securities transactions. He represents financial sponsors in the structuring, negotiation, financing, implementation and restructuring of leveraged buyouts. He also advises on the design of tax-efficient equity and equity-based executive compensation plans, and on the negotiation and implementation of private investment and PIPE transactions. He has represented buyers and sellers, investors, lenders, executives and principals in all aspects of these transactions.

Tony has nearly two decades of experience advising clients on a broad spectrum of business and transaction services representing buyers, sellers, and lenders throughout the deal continuum. He has advised on hundreds of domestic and cross-border transactions, and across a wide range of industries. Tony works to develop deep relationships with his clients to support their growth initiatives. During his career, this includes advising private, corporate, and financial buyers and sellers with buy-side and sell-side due diligence (quality of earnings analyses); financial statement analysis; carve-outs / stand-alone analyses; interim CFO support; merger integration; transition planning; strategic sourcing and procurement; financial modeling and post-close working capital adjustments.

Rory is a Principal at Shore Capital, a microcap private equity firm focused on partnering with companies that have between $1-10 million of EBITDA. Rory’s responsibilities include sourcing, evaluating and enabling the growth of Shore investments in the business services industry. Prior to re-joining Shore after business school, Rory worked as an associate at Shore for 2 years. His experience included conducting due diligence on new investment opportunities and implementing value creation initiatives within portfolio investments. He worked most closely with Innovia Medical, Great Lakes Dental Partners, and IZI Medical. 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 serves on the junior board of Loyola Academy. Rory received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.A., cum laude, in Government and Spanish from Georgetown University.

Adam is a Principal with Concentric Equity Partners and joined the firm in 2018. He is responsible for originating new investment opportunities, executing new investments and working with portfolio companies. Prior to joining Concentric, Adam was an Associate with Arbor Investments, a Chicago-based middle market private equity firm, where he focused on companies in the food, beverage, and related industries. Prior to joining Arbor, Adam was an Analyst with Livingstone Partners in the firm’s Chicago office focusing on companies in the consumer, healthcare and industrials industries. He received his B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated cum laude, and his M.B.A from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he graduated with High Honors. Adam is currently on the board of The People’s Music School, a tuition-free music school that serves grade and high school students across Chicago.

Patrick Sandor is a partner in Willkie’s Corporate & Financial Services Department and Private Equity Practice Group. His practice focuses on buyout and investment transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs and carve-outs, restructurings and recapitalizations, and growth and later-stage financings. He represents many leading private equity funds and their portfolio companies, with a particular focus on the technology, fintech and healthtech industries.