Committee

William is a second-generation business leader of ACS Services and an industry veteran of over 28 years. His purpose is to Empower Success Through Technology, with his partners as well as his employees. He has become the Trusted Advisor for many C Suite members throughout Boston, earning him and the ACS Team the reputation of being IT in the New England Technology Landscape.

Harry Banks is a CPA and Operating Partner with Everlane Equity Partners, a small cap focused PE firm. Harry has an operational background and enjoys working with entrepreneurs and leadership teams to help grow their platforms through organic and inorganic initiatives. Before joining Everlane, he served as CFO for a private equity backed company in the Aviation MRO industry. Prior to that role, he was a Corporate Controller for a middle market manufacturing company and an Audit Manager with a global accounting firm.

David Barbash is the Managing Partner of the Boston Office and member of the Corporate and Securities Group of Arent Fox LLP, a full service national law firm of over 450 attorneys across five offices: Washington, New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. In addition to serving as the Managing Partner of the Boston Office, David is a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee, Co-Manager of the firm-wide Business Department and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Venture Capital and Emerging Business Industry Group.

David’s practice is focused on representing companies ranging from early stage to more mature family owned and venture backed companies in such areas as mergers and acquisitions, venture capital/private placements, strategic alliances/joint ventures, and licensing arrangements, as well as advising clients on day to day general business matters. He serves as a trusted legal advisor to senior management and boards of directors to assist clients in achieving their organizational objectives, while making certain to protect them legally.

In 2013 John was awarded the honor as one of the top 15 Technology Luminaries in the state of Massachusetts by the Boston Business Journal and Mass High Technology.

John is a genomics, diagnostics, and therapeutics serial entrepreneur who specializes in building and positioning companies for either acquisition or IPO. He is an energetic business leader who has successfully raised over $800MM in funding from venture capital, strategics, as well as from private investors. John has extensive connections and inroads to the top leaders in pharma, biotech, and diagnostic companies, as well as venture capital and investment banking.

Before John co-founded Tiger Gene, funded by Tiger Management, John was President and CEO of Exosome Diagnostics, a liquid biopsy company which he turned around and drove to a successful acquisition for $575MM ($250MM upfront) to Bio-Techne within ~2.5 years, resulting in a ~6X return to investors.

John has founded 4 additional companies that have all been venture backed from top tier firms with a number of these being acquired for all over 6X ROI within 3.5 years.

With 7 successful exits under his belt, John Co-founded and funded Tiger Gene Ventures with famed investor Julian Robertson of Tiger Management.

TigerGene LLC is a venture capital fund that forms and invests in the most promising early-stage life science technologies, ranging from protein engineering platforms for therapeutic development, genomics tools, to AI and healthcare.

TigerGene forms the companies around these technologies and works closely with the technical founders and management team to realize the commercial promise of the science.

In 2014 John was made a Fellow at Harvard University and teaches "Entrepreneurship and Innovation" (ES-139)" where has grown the class from 8 to over 420 students and it has now become one of the largest free-electives at Harvard.

Howard Brodsky is the founder and chairman of CCA Global Partners, one of America's largest cooperatives with over $12 billion in annual sales serving 30,000 childcare centers, 2,000 nonprofits, and 1 million independent businesses. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to the cooperative movement globally and chairs international co-op working groups, while also serving on the boards of various educational and philanthropic institutions.

Chris lends his 20+ years of experience in planning, forecasting, growth and operations for companies in numerous sectors including tech, energy & professional services. He has experience across all aspects of operations including finance, accounting, recruiting, HR, legal, tax & employee training. He has closed on more than a dozen small to mid-size acquisitions and helped lead three companies to successful exits. He has been a key contributor to various company’s modernization, transformation and tremendous company growth. Recognized as an industry thought leader, Chris serves as Vice-President for the Financial Executives International (FEI) Boston Chapter and is a Co-Chair of The CFO Leadership Council Boston Chapter. He is a sought-after keynote speaker at industry events across the country.

Dave Clayman is Co-Founder and CEO of Twelve Points. As an entrepreneur himself, Dave is know for being a trusted advisor to his business owner clients, guiding them from raising money to optimizing the company's retirement plan to helping them plan for and execute their ultimate company exit. Dave continues to further his professional credentials as a Certified Exit Planning Advisor and a Chartered Private Wealth Advisor.

Clients at every stage of the business life cycle rely on John Cushing as a partner and strategist, advising them on matters such as business and succession planning, entity selection and formation, private equity and venture capital financing, joint ventures and strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, private placements and public offerings of debt and equity securities, technology licensing, SEC compliance, corporate governance, recapitalizations, executive compensation and general corporate matters.

John works collaboratively with clients across a variety of industries, including EMS and NEMT medical transportation, product distribution and logistics, high technology, consumer products, digital and print media, e-commerce and e-solutions, SAAS, information technology, life sciences, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, professional and financial services, and alternative energy.

As a creative person who built a finance career, I take an entrepreneurial approach to both business and life. My large capacity for empathy and technical proficiency let me connect with clients and help them build confidence and self-sufficiency.

I love what I do. In 1998, I joined the firm with the sole intention of building my career here. Upon discovering the unique culture, there was nowhere else I could have imagined working. While that was the initial draw, our industry-wide reputation for hiring the highest-caliber talent with a relentless work ethic sold me completely. In my many years at Bernstein, I have experienced firsthand how our unparalleled camaraderie leads to personal and professional growth. I fully attribute the diverse opportunities I’ve been offered here to the tremendous support of my colleagues and managers. My personal mission is to continue to foster a culture around intelligence and empathy. To ensure that our collaborative, smart and ethical team is successful, I encourage the unique ingredients they bring to the table while also aligning with our core values: universal respect, constructive feedback and making the best decisions for all. I wholeheartedly believe my approach benefits clients as well.

Jim DeLeo began his career at Gray, Gray & Gray over 30 years ago, and now serves as Leading Partner. He founded the Transaction Advisory Services practice, works closely with many of the region’s most prominent sources of capital, and hosts the firm’s innovative quarterly DealMakers events bringing entrepreneurs, private equity professionals and operating businesses together to help facilitate transactions.

Tyler is a strategically focused operating executive who drives finance, operations, and strategy for growth stage technology companies. Over the past 21 years, he has worked with six venture capital backed software and SaaS companies working with executive teams to accelerate performance, improve capital efficiency and drive to a sell-side exit.

Deborah Fell is Managing Partner for Chief Outsiders and brings a background of consistent value creation through sales and marketing plans, people, processes, organizations, tactical ability and measurement visibility. She identifies blocks and gaps, as well as the right fractional sales and/or marketing leader for immediate and enduring success.

John Gardella is the Chair of CMBG3 Law's ESG and Environmental practice groups. He has 17 years of environmental litigation and compliance experience advising companies on risks associated with current and emerging environmental issues. He also consults with firms in the private equity, investment and banking spaces on environmental and chemical risks associated with the buy and sell sides of deals. He helps his clients see the risks that they are unaware of.

Ben Gredler is a Senior Relationship Manager for the Boston Metro West market in Commercial Banking at Bank of America. He leads a team of specialists focused on understanding each client’s unique needs to deliver strategic financial guidance and solutions. Ben’s mission is to help local companies thrive by achieving their business goals. Recently Ben has taken on the job of leading the emerging growth initiative locally at the bank working with entrepreneurs and investors in the ESG, E-Commerce & Technology industries.

Janak is a serial entrepreneur in the health tech space, most recently building the largest medical image exchange and imaging based RWE network in the US. He currently serves Gov. Healeys administration for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts responsible for digital transformation and policy enforcement.

Paul partners with the firm’s key clients to advise them through a broad range of complex business, financial and life decisions. Paul also leads the firm’s direct investing efforts in private equity and real estate.

Before founding TwinFocus in 2006, Paul founded The Karger Group at UBS where he led a team that counseled global high-net-worth families. He began his career in investment banking at Leerink and went on to join PaineWebber in wealth management in 1999, which was ultimately acquired by UBS in 2000.

Paul holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst^® and is a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society, CFA^® Institute and the Investment Management Consultants Association. He earned his CIMA^® at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance and holds a B.S. in manufacturing engineering from Boston University. Paul was the recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2012 from Boston University. He endowed the Theo de Winter Distinguished Faculty Fellowship honoring his professor and longtime mentor.

At Gridiron Capital, Sean focuses on developing new business partnerships, marketing, communicating with business owners, and managing investment sourcing and exit planning. Prior to joining Gridiron Capital, Sean served as vice president at BB&T Capital Markets in Richmond, Virginia. His responsibilities at BB&T included executing mergers and acquisitions advisory for middle-market businesses, as well as establishing and strengthening business development relationships with middle-market investors. Earlier in his career, Sean worked at Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.

Rob Kershaw is a Senior Vice President and Corporate Banking Team Leader at Cambridge Savings Bank. In his current role, he manages a team of five experienced Commercial Bankers as well as providing customized financial solutions for a diversified portfolio of corporate banking clients in Massachusetts.

Rob has over 25 years of professional experience in the banking and financial services industry at Cambridge Savings Bank, Rockland Trust, Boston Private Bank & Trust Company and Eastern Bank.

Brendan Kiernan is a Partner with Mirus Capital Advisors who joined the firm in 2004. Experienced in business valuation, corporate finance advisory and deal execution, Brendan leads Mirus’ Business Services practice, as well as co-leading sell-side and buy-side M&A mandates. Brendan has made significant contributions to dozens of client transactions and engagements during his tenure with the firm. His work has focused primarily on clients in the technology, business services, and industrial and distribution sectors.

Before joining Mirus, Brendan worked for Dresdner RCM Global Advisors, the asset management arm of Dresdner Bank AG, and the Industry Standard, a business magazine focused on the internet economy.

Brendan is a graduate of Boston College and earned his MBA from Bentley’s McCallum Graduate School of Business. He holds series 7, 79 and 63 certifications from FINRA. Brendan currently resides on the south shore with his wife and three daughters.

Ruben Klein is the founder of R. Klein Consulting LLC, advising privately held companies, family offices, and P/E firms on their financial strategies. Previously, Ruben was CFO and President for a variety of industrial companies, and also had a successful 25-year banking career. With broad financial and operating experience across diverse industries, he is recognized as a “Trusted Advisor” to owners and investors.

Lee is managing partner of Smart Business Network Inc., a national events, media and marketing company founded in 1989, primarily responsible for expanding the company’s Aspire deal-making conference throughout the U.S. He plays a key role in establishing corporate policies and developing long-term strategy and growth plans. Previously, he founded and chaired the Growth Group at national law firm Arter & Hadden LLP (now Tucker, Ellis & West), which focused on working with middle-market and high-growth technology companies. 

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
• Staffing Industry Analysts' annual Staffing 100 North America list for seven consecutive years and nine times overall. In 2022, SIA welcomed Dave into the Staffing 100 Hall of Fame

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 .

Rob joined Gemini in 2007 and has helped complete over 25 transactions for the firm in a variety of industry sectors. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of 10 Gemini portfolio companies. Previously, he worked in the investment banking division at RBC Capital Markets where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, public equity financings, and private placements in the technology sector. Rob received his B.S. degree from Tufts University.

Brian serves as managing partner for the firm's Boston office. He practices in the area of business law where he counsels privately and publicly held companies on corporate, finance, and securities law matters. Brian specializes in advising closely held businesses and larger companies in mergers and other business acquisitions, sales, and restructuring transactions. He also has venture capital experience, representing both emerging companies and investors.

David joined Pine Street in 2008 and is a board member on Pine Street portfolio companies Renovation Brands, Artful Home, Artifact Uprising, Atlas Devices, Boutique Brands, Seattle Coffee Gear, Taylor Stitch, and Ironwork Brands. Previously, he worked at Citizens Capital, the mezzanine and private equity group for Citizens Financial Group, Mainspring Communications, and BankBoston. He is a graduate of Babson College (BS and MBA).

Dzung Nguyen is Market Executive for Business Banking at Bank of America. In this capacity she manages a team of relationship managers providing mid-sized corporate clients the full breadth of banking solutions including Lending, Cash Management, Foreign Exchange, and International Banking.

Dzung is also Business Banking National Leader for the Emerging Growth and Technology segment. She works with relationship managers in key markets across the country providing banking coverage for technology and environmentally sustainable companies.

Dzung obtained her undergraduate degree from Bucknell University and MBA from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business. She holds FINRA licenses 24, 7, and 63.

Entrepreneur, academic, investor

Kristina Nikiforova is an Associate at BlueTree Venture Capital. BlueTree Venture Capital provides Series A capital to tech entrepreneurs who embody the tenacity, ingenuity and discipline of the Rust Belt region.

Margey O’Brien is a Senior Vice President and Market Executive for Southeastern Massachusetts in Business Banking at Bank of America. In this capacity, her responsibilities include leading a team of Relationship Managers focused on understanding each client’s unique needs to deliver strategic financial guidance and solutions. Throughout her 40+ years in commercial banking, Margey has dedicated her career to serving mid-sized privately held companies throughout the Northeast.

Samantha is founder and CIO at Private Equity firm Aesthetic Equities, which focuses on Consumer buyout and growth investments. Aesthetic Equities uses active deal sourcing via an algorithmic sourcing strategy that the team developed to identify quality and proprietary investments at inception. Samantha received her BBA in Design & Management from Parsons The New School For Design and received an MBA from Brandeis University.

Jared B. Paquette is the founding, managing partner of Conanicut Capital. Conanicut Capital is a lower-middle market private equity firm focused on the business services sector with backing from family offices. Prior to founding Conanicut Capital, Mr. Paquette was a senior investment professional at Bunker Hill Capital, a lower-middle market private equity firm based in Boston and San Diego, for ten years where he sourced, executed, and managed private equity investments. Mr. Paquette was formerly a member of the board of Taos Mountain LLC, Rizing LLC, Dyno LLC, and ASPEQ Heating Group LLC.

Previously, Mr. Paquette was an investment professional at Nautic Partners ($4.2B AUM) and Weston Presidio ($3.3B AUM) where he focused on investing in middle market companies in a broad range of industries. Mr. Paquette also worked as an associate in the mergers and acquisitions groups of RBC Capital Markets and Tucker Anthony. Mr. Paquette holds an AB from Bowdoin College and a MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Bryan has spent his career advising, guiding and recognizing innovation-driven high-growth entrepreneurs in the US and internationally including advice on growth strategies, accessing capital, transactions and alliances and entrepreneurial community building. Bryan was the Global Leader of Entrepreneurship for EY until retiring in June 2019. As part of that role, Bryan led the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year awards globally and captured his insights in the book, "Daring To Compete" published by Wiley. Today, Bryan assists a number of private companies with strategic planning and sits on Advisory Boards.

Matt is Argent's Chief Investment Officer (CIO). Matt joined Argent in 2011 as an Analyst and became Director of Investment Research in 2013. In 2017 Matt was named Co-CIO, leading all aspects of Argent's investment programs and processes. In 2019, Matt was named Chief Investment Officer. This includes setting the direction and oversight of internal and external asset allocation strategies, equity strategies, fixed income strategies, and private equity and private real estate investments.

Matt joined Argent after graduating summa cum laude (top 5% of class) from Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College where he also received The Student Leadership Award. Matt completed all three levels of the CFA program in 2011. The CFA Designation is globally recognized as the highest set of credentials in the investment management industry. In 2017 Matt completed the Investment Management Workshop at Harvard Business School (HBS). Started in 1968, this selective executive education program brings together leading HBS faculty with leading investment executives from around the world and focuses on investment and business strategy.

At Babson Matt was selected to help manage Babson's Endowment, specializing in healthcare stocks. During this time Matt worked closely with the head of this program who was the former Head of U.S. Equity Research at Fidelity and a disciple of Peter Lynch. Matt received his B.A. from Wheaton College where he was a First Team All-New England soccer player and helped lead the team to a final four appearance in 2003. After graduating in 2005 Matt worked with his grandfather, Louis Sapir, an esteemed disciple of Benjamin Graham, the "father" of value investing, before attending Olin.

Lew is the director of Sullivan's Corporate Department in Boston. He regularly represents public and private companies and funds in equity and debt financings, joint ventures, domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters. Industries include renewable energy, advertising, health care, communications, manufacturing and software/SaaS. Lew is the co-author of Mergers & Acquisitions: A Step-by-Step Legal and Practical Guide (2nd edition) (Wiley).

Tom has spent the last 22 years at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch where he considers himself an “Intra-Preneur”. He is the founder of a 9 person boutique within the company called Singh & Associates.

He and his team specialize in pre-exit planning for business owners looking to sell their company in 12-36 months. By using their Proprietary financial Modeling Process, they run various simulations and prescribe strategies to help owners maximize their desired outcome.

He also oversees the Avalon location of Merrill Lynch managing 9 Billion of client assets and has been named the top 13 “Best in State Wealth Advisors” list by Forbes Magazine – 4 years in a row.

Gordie Spater is the CEO of Katahdin Group and was formerly the co-founder and CEO of Kurgo, the leading dog travel product company in North America. Before coming to Katahdin Group, he celebrated a successful exit of the business to Radio Systems Corporation after 16 consecutive years of revenue growth.

Kurgo’s products are sold nationwide from Petco to the local pet store around the corner. The offerings include everything a dog owner and dog need to get out and enjoy the world together from car harnesses, to seat covers to lifejackets for dogs. Kurgo was an 8-time Honoree of the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in the US. Prior to founding Kurgo with his brother in 2003, Gordie helped start two other companies.

Gordie lives in Topsfield, MA with his wife Brooke, three children and Labradoodle Winnie. He is a Cum Laude graduate from the University of Vermont and obtained his MBA from the Harvard Business School. Gordie served on the Topsfield school committee for 6 years and currently serves as a Director of W.F. Young.

John Surrette Chairs KLR's Private Equity and Venture Capital Services Group. He has over 20 years of experience working with middle market and lower middle market companies. His focus is on providing audit and compliance services to Private Equity and Venture Capital firms and their funds as well as transaction advisory services to other financial and strategic sponsors investing in middle market companies. John partners with a diverse audit and consulting client base and has extensive experience working with companies in the manufacturing, distribution, renewable energy, technology enabled services and healthcare industries.

With over 25 years of experience as a public/private company CEO, he has experienced many challenges in navigating the difficult process of creating, growing, and sustaining a profitable enterprise. His business experience includes serving as the CEO of several successful high-tech manufacturing firms and CEO leadership roles at several high-tech public companies. He was twice a finalist in the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year program during his career.

Currently, he is involved with improving enterprise value and leadership performance with over 40 local and regional private company clients. One of his most successful roles is turning around underperforming companies and helping Owners negotiate exits at premium company valuations.

Before his business career, Phillip served the nation as a Naval Intelligence Officer, earning consistent top 1% performance reports, selection for early promotion, and related honors. He earned his political science undergraduate degree with a psychology minor from Brigham Young University. He also completed the Master of Science Strategic Intelligence program at the Defense Intelligence Agency and continued his executive development at the Harvard and Stanford Business Schools. He recently completed several Executive Development courses at the Harvard Law School to hone his mediation, negotiation, conflict resolution, and change management skills.

Having exited one company already, James is charged with leading development & execution of the firm's vision, driving growth in overall sales & business development.

During his 30-year career, Joe Volman has become known as a go-to lawyer in the middle-market community, particularly with respect to mid-market mergers and acquisitions representing both seller and buyers. Through his creative, results-driven approach, Joe partners with his clients as a strategic advisor, and leverages his vast network to help clients source deals and raise capital in order to effectively drive growth and maximize returns on their investments.

Adam Wallen is a proven entrepreneurial talent, with noted successes in Venture, Cleantech, MedTech and Healthcare IT. He brings two decades of executive experience, earned at organizations like British Petroleum (BP) and Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), and he has developed and marketed several innovative technology, product, and service businesses. Adam is now at DOE’s Loan Program Office with a focus on Transmission projects after serving as the founding CEO at VEIR developing next generation high voltage transmission line technology.