2022 Dealmakers Award Winners

John Blyzinskyj is Chairman of Cleo Inc., and the former CEO and Board Member of Elemica Inc. He has Led two highly successful exits of Cloud Software companies on behalf of investors. Named a Global Top 50 Cloud Software CEO in 2018, he has a significant track record of partnering with Private Equity Firms on successful Tech investments. In the early part of his career John held a number of executive roles based in Europe and California for IBM and also HP. These positions involved leading global business units with revenues in excess of $1 billion.

Franklin has led direct investments into private companies for the last 17 years, and has been in the finance industry for over 20 years. Prior to founding Essex Bay, Franklin was a Managing Director at Audax Private Equity, a leading middle market investment firm with over $9 billion of capital under management. At Audax, he led investments in the industrial, business services, healthcare and technology markets, among others, completing over 60 acquisitions. Representative investments include Aavid Thermalloy (sold to Boyd), Astrodyne TDI (sold to Tinicum), Gabriel Performance Products (sold to Huntsman), Northern Digital (sold to Roper) and Winchester Electronics (sold to Snow Phipps). In addition to leading investments for the bulk of his career at Audax, Franklin also was a member of the Business Development team, maintaining relationships with a variety of deal intermediaries.

Prior to Audax, Franklin was Interim CFO and VP of Corporate Development at Coast Crane Company, then an Audax portfolio company. Earlier, Franklin worked in investment banking in New York, London and Providence.

As CEO and co-founder of Kytopen, Paulo is leading the development & commercialization of their proprietary Flowfect™ technology for non-viral delivery of molecules into hard-to-transfect immune cells. He co-invented the Flowfect™ technology during his postdoc (Research Scientist) in the Mechanical Engineering department at MIT. The scalable Flowfect™ technology combines microfluidics and automation to make this process easier, faster, and more reliable. With this automated cell engineering platform they plan to enable new discoveries in biology that will lead to cost-effective cell and gene therapies.

Jim has been an investor in private middle market companies for the last 26 years. Since 1993, when he founded Gemini’s predecessor firm, he has raised six private equity funds and completed investments in more than 120 different companies. From 1989 to 1993, Mr. Goodman completed over $400 million in private equity transactions at Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based private investment firm. Previously, he was a management consultant for five years with Bain & Company. Mr. Goodman has been a Director or Board observer for over 40 portfolio companies during his investment career.

Jonathan Kasen is a Managing Member of Shaker Valley Capital Partners LLC (SVCP) and Co-Owner of Hilliards Chocolates. SVCP is an investment firm focused on small private middle market investments. Prior to SVCP, Jonathan was a Portfolio Manager at Fidelity Investments focused on the Energy and Industrials sectors.

David Kemp is CEO of Village Gourmet, a collection of five premium protein brands. With over 200 years of history in its brands, Village Gourmets sells to the top grocery stores and restaurants across the country. Previously, David was an infantry Captain in the Marine Corps, where he served two combat deployments to Afghanistan.

Tony has over 25 years of experience bringing platform technologies to the life sciences, diagnostics and pharmaceutical industries. He currently serves as the CEO and President of BioDot Inc., the market leader in automated, high-throughput ultra-low volume dispensing systems for the manufacturing of today’s most advanced diagnostics. BioDot manufactures the dispensing technology currently used by more than 80 diagnostics manufacturers worldwide to make COVID-19 antigen, antibody and PCR tests.

Dave MacKeen Jr. has held leadership positions within the Technology Staffing industry for over two decades, including the roles of CFO and president, prior to becoming CEO of Eliassen Group in 2010. During his tenure as CEO, Dave has spearheaded tremendous company growth, working in collaboration with his team and utilizing a combination of organic and acquisitive tactics and strategies to stay aligned with changing staffing industry dynamics. Under Dave’s leadership, Eliassen Group has completed its third private equity partnership, with the most recent being Stone Point Capital, positioning Eliassen Group to transformational growth as a leading national strategic consulting and talent solutions firm.

While at Eliassen Group, Dave has enjoyed significant achievements at the regional and national level, including the following:

• Recognition from the Boston Business Journal as 2021’s Citizens Middle Market Executive of the Year
• Being featured on SIA's annual Staffing 100 North America list for six consecutive years

Additionally, Dave serves on several boards including the Bentley Executive Club, Endicott College Board of Advisors, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Van Noy Valor Foundation and Saint John’s Prep Trustee Associate .

Emmett McNulty is a serial entrepreneur investor. Currently the CEO of General Management Group a Distressed Investment group that owns and operates multiple businesses around the world. He founded General Management Group (GMG) as an investment vehicle in 2016 and formally as the management company acting with the group's portfolios in early 2020. The GMG team currently works with over 20,000 independent contractors and employees located in 28 countries, with Headquarters predominantly located in North America and Ireland (2022).

As a Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Paperless Parts, Jason focuses on driving the company's product vision, while building relationships with American manufactures. While serving as an officer in the US Navy, he led the implementation of additive manufacturing technology, prior to starting a consulting firm focused on driving efficiency in precision manufacturing operations through process improvement and automation.

Charlie is the CEO of MRA, a leading healthcare services business providing medical coding, auditing and cancer registry services to hospitals in the United States. Before acquiring MRA in 2010, Charlie worked in private equity, corporate development and sales.

With 24 years of experience in the design and construction industry, Enzo founded Scalora Consulting Group to create the most forward-thinking owner’s representative firm in the design and construction industry. He has a vision to build a better world by investing in people, partnering to innovate, and being socially and environmentally responsible.

Gordon Scott is Managing Member of Shaker Valley Capital Partners, LLC and Co-Owner of Hilliards Chocolates LLC. Prior to Shaker Valley, Gordon spent fifteen years with Fidelity Investments and managed approximately $10 billion of equity assets. Gordon lives in Newton, Massachusetts and hold a Bachelors and Masters degree from the University of Wisconsin.

Susan Hunt Stevens is the Founder & CEO of WeSpire, an award-winning employee experience technology that drives environmental, social, and governance (ESG) outcomes by engaging people in activities that align with their passion and purpose. After her son was diagnosed with serious food allergies, she founded WeSpire to leverage her digital behavior change expertise to help people embrace healthier and more sustainable lifestyles and to create a more equitable and inclusive work culture.

A seasoned entrepreneur, marketer and storyteller who has spent many years finding ways to help big brands and startups grow.

Areas of expertise include: marketing, content creation, entrepreneurship, strategy and operations, e-Commerce and investing.