Committee

Jacob Babcock, CEO and Founder of NuCurrent, leads the world's top wireless power technology company, with key licensees like Samsung and Honeywell. Previously, he served as North American legal counsel for cleverbridge, Inc., and as a technology attorney at Foley & Lardner LLP. A former teacher and football coach, Jacob holds over 30 patents and a JD from Northwestern University. He resides in Chicago with his family, risking life and limb to cheer for the Packers and Brewers.

Keith Bank is the Founder and CEO of Chicago based sportstech venture capital firm KB Partners. Prior to his 28 years in the venture capital world, he was an entrepreneur and real estate developer. He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and received his MBA with honors from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Jason Barsema is the Co-Founder and President of Halo Investing where he leads the team and product vision. With over a decade of experience managing Structured Notes, he built the Halo platform to provide all investors access to this incredible investment product.

Jason previously was a Partner on a large Private Banking team at Credit Suisse, where he managed portfolios for Ultra High Net Worth Individuals & Institutions.

Jason has his B.A. in Economics from Northern Illinois University and his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Will is an investment banker for Chartwell’s corporate finance practice and leads the firm’s capital markets team as well as its Chicago office. He has worked on both mergers and acquisitions as well as capital markets transactions within a variety of industries while executing high profile ESOP buyouts, terminations, and restructurings. Prior to Chartwell, Will was an investment banker with Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Transaction Development group, where he focused on executing sell-side, buy-side, and ESOP transactions for middle-market clients between $200 million and $2 billion in enterprise value.

David serves as a Director – Private Equity Services for BDO USA in the Chicago/Central Region. David has more than three decades of public accounting, commercial/investment banking, and consulting experience with an emphasis on building senior level relationships, providing strategic direction, and business development. Throughout his career David has advised companies and private equity firms on due diligence, capital structure evaluation, capital raising, lender/investor negotiation, restructuring and M&A advisory.

Darrell Butler, co-founder of Artemis Transaction Advisors 26 years ago, is a seasoned dealmaker having advised on more than 200 transactions. Focused on selling middle-market privately held businesses, Darrell brings tenacious advocacy and wise counsel to each client. He began his career at Arthur Andersen, holds an MBA from University of Chicago and serves as Director at Restonic Mattress Corp.

Dan Cameron is a Transaction Advisory Analyst with more than 18 years of experience in public accounting, working with corporations, individuals and partnerships in several industries, including manufacturing, e-commerce and technology. Dan is skilled in handling a wide range of mergers and acquisition matters for closely-held, middle-market and private equity clients, including planning to minimize taxes and leading tax due diligence engagements. Additionally, he is proficient in managing the income tax compliance process and providing tax advice to minimize or defer federal and state income tax liabilities for his clients. Dan is also experienced in representing clients before the IRS and state jurisdictions in examinations and other tax controversies.

Paul is executive vice president and market head of Wintrust Commercial Banking, where he is responsible for leading and coordinating middle-market banking across all of the Wintrust banks. He has spent his entire career serving middle-market organizations in the Greater Chicago area. Before joining Wintrust in 2010, he spent more than 25 years with JPMorgan Chase and its predecessor banks, American National and Bank One.

Harry is a founding member of Cendrowski Corporate Advisors and a licensed CPA in Michigan, Illinois and Florida. He is a veteran of the private equity and venture capital industries as an investor, founder and advisor to several funds. He has served as an expert witness in numerous disputes, as court-appointed receiver for multimillion dollar estates and as the accountant to the trustee in high-profile bankruptcy cases.

Patrice DeCorrevont is an Executive Vice President and Illinois Market Executive for Commercial Banking for Wells Fargo. Patrice is responsible for managing the Commercial Banking relationship management teams throughout Illinois.

Prior to this role, Patrice was the Lead Region President for the Mountain Midwest region, running the Branch Banking business across seven states for Wells Fargo.

Kathryn Finney is the founder and managing general partner of Genius Guild, a venture fund that invests  in scalable companies led by diverse founders. She is also the founder of The Doonie Fund, the founder and first CEO of digitalundivided—mastermind of the widely acclaimed #ProjectDiane research, and a Yale-trained epidemiologist. Selling her lifestyle company, The Budget Fashionista, made Kathryn one of the first Black women to have a successful startup exit.Kathryn Finney’s bestselling new book, “Build The Damn Thing: How to Start a Successful Business if You’re Not a Rich White Guy,” hit the Wall Street Journal bestsellers top 10 list in its first week published. She is the first Black woman business author at Portfolio/Penguin books.

David’s success in business has been attributed to his ability to lead people toward the achievement of a common goal. As a Vistage Chair, David facilitates monthly CEO Peer Advisory Group meetings and individually coach’s CEO members to become better leaders, make better decisions and achieve better results. David is a Georgetown University trained Leadership Coach who previously had been the driving force behind the success of numerous business ventures for several decades.

Bill is Chief Executive Officer of HT|TC Wealth Partners (f/k/a TC Wealth Partners) and Trust Company of Illinois where he chairs the Leadership Team, Investment Team, and Wealth Management Team. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Trust Company of Illinois, and counsels a select group of clients. Bill has 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. He was managing director at U.S. Trust Company where he led several groups working with high-net-worth families, family offices, endowments, and foundations. Prior to that he worked at Morgan Stanley and Graystone Wealth Management.

Bill is a member of the national YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization), a global leadership community of chief executives, and serves on the board of Outreach Community Ministries. He graduated from Albion College and earned a BA in economics.

Jay Goethal is the Area managing Partner in the Chicago office for SeatonHill. Mr. Goethal has 25+ years of multi-functional experience in small to mid-size multinationals, startups, and family run businesses. His career is centered around financial management, operations, and sales with highly developed financial skills.

Additionally, Jay has invaluable experience managing crises and has excelled as CEO, CFO, and VP of Operations and is a passionate advocate that finance should be embedded through-out the business as a critical component of decision-making.

He is highly results-driven and has an extensive background leading and increasing growth, successfully guiding sudden business loss, and creating stabilization while achieving success through managed cash flow with focus on the balance sheet and expenses.

Jeff has more than 30 years of successful private equity investment experience.

Prior to establishing Geneva Glen Capital in 2008, Jeff was a Managing Director for over ten years with Wind Point Partners, where he was a general partner in four funds that grew to over $2 billion today in total capital under management.

Before Wind Point, Jeff was a Vice President of Heller Investments and an investment professional with GTCR. Prior to joining GTCR, Jeff was a Senior Strategy Consultant with Ernst & Young and an accountant with PriceWaterhouse.

Throughout his private equity career, Jeff has been an active board member of more than a dozen companies and led control investments which have completed over 130 add-on acquisitions.

He has invested in and managed portfolio companies across numerous industry investment cycles in traditional buyouts, recapitalizations, take-privates, industry consolidations and turn-around investments. His prior investments have spanned companies that operate in a myriad of industries, including business services, consumer products, healthcare, industrial manufacturing and publishing.

Jeff has a BS with honors in Accounting from Indiana University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Jeff is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the Association for Corporate Growth and serves on the Board of Directors of Reusability, Envision Home Health & Hospice, and Salon Freedom.

Luke Haverhals is the Founder and CEO of NFW. Haverhals earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Iowa before researching alternatives to petroleum-derived plastics as a US Naval Academy professor. His vision to develop bio-neutral, high-performance materials from renewable natural nutrient inputs has become the foundation for NFW’s ecosystem of patented, paradigm-shifting material technologies.

Mr. Hogan is a Managing Director at Shorehill Capital and helped found the firm. Rob has over 20 years of private equity experience and he currently leads the Business Development team at Shorehill Capital.

Prior to his time at Shorehill he spent 15 years at CHS Capital investing in and managing industrial and distribution companies. Prior to joining CHS he was employed by Lehman Brothers, Inc. (1997-2000).

Rob currently serves on the Board of Directors of Functional Devices, Inc. He previously served on the boards of directors of Belt Power Holdings LLC; Fortiline, Inc.; Houston Wire & Cable Company (NASDAQ: HWCC); Kele, Inc.; Stronghaven, Inc.; SunSource Holdings, Inc.; and NorthStar Group Holdings, LLC. He holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University.

He and his wife Mary live in the western suburbs of Chicago and have four children.

Kristine Holtz has over 25 years of senior leadership and board-level experience in the food service industry and private equity supported organizations. Currently the CEO of Cornerstone Foodservice Group, she is a former CEO of Market Day and Senior VP at HJ Heinz, where she was responsible for its specialty foodservice division.  Kristine has a proven track record of successfully leading teams to grow stakeholder value through impactful growth and integration strategies.  Most recently, she led the acquisition of five private companies to create Cornerstone Foodservice Group. Today, she works alongside and advises many industry-leading brands on their foodservice operations to create guest-centered and profitable dining experiences.

Robert Johnson is the Managing Partner of the Solomon Group, a social enterprise management consulting company and the co-founder of The Collective, a social impact business incubator that raises capital for social enterprises.

Ted Keim's practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, investment and venture capital transactions, private equity, corporate reorganizations and restructurings, and complex joint venture/company representation matters. Ted's clients include a broad range of public and privately held companies, both in the United States and globally, across a wide spectrum of industries, including healthcare and life sciences/medical devices, food and beverage, financial and technology services, industrials, automotive, aerospace and defense, retail, and hospitality.

Payal focuses on general corporate and transactional matters. She represents clients from inception to exit, including matters of corporate governance, mergers & acquisitions, private equity transactions, minority investments, secured financing, and debt and equity issuances.

Prior to becoming a partner at Franklin Hill Capital, Jeff Kolke was a managing director at Gladstone Capital and Monroe Capital, leading lower middle market debt and equity funds. He was responsible for originating and leading deal teams in closing senior unitranche, split lien term loan B’s, second lien and minority equity transactions; completing 16 transactions with a combined transaction value of over $800 million. In addition, Mr. Kolke had previously worked for GE Capital as a senior vice president, and closed over $1.5 billion in transactions.

Mr. Kolke has extensive experience in structuring and managing transactions for multiple corporate strategies including firms undergoing mergers and acquisitions, management buy outs, recapitalizations, growth capital, refinancing and turnarounds. His career began in the chemical and plastics industries working with GE Plastics, Nalco Chemical, and National Starch and Chemical. Additionally, Mr. Kolke is a certified Six Sigma Blackbelt.

Mr. Kolke received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois and a Master in Business Administration from Wayne State University.

Mr. Kotz serves as Managing Partner of Old Town Equity. Mr. Kotz has 25+ years of experience in private equity, investment banking and the futures industry. Before Old Town Equity, his private equity experience includes leading the Chicago office as Managing Director for Gladstone Investment, a division of The Gladstone Companies, Principal with Gridiron Capital and Senior Associate at Altus Capital Partners. Mr. Kotz received an MBA with honors from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelors Degree from Boston College, Carroll School of Management. Active investments include Diamond Fulfillment Solutions and Challenger Breadware.

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. 

Melissa Lederer, chief experience officer, is focused on leading teams to design solutions that drive engagement, collaboration and success for mHUB corporate partners and startups. A seasoned business professional with more than 20 years of broad experience in both corporate and agency settings, Melissa has served a variety of technology-based businesses of all sizes and has a special passion for supporting high-growth startups on brand formation and scaling into new markets.

Over the past 10 years, Melissa has been an active force in helping to build Chicago’s robust entrepreneurial community. Melissa was a member of the founding team of 1871, Chicago’s innovation hub recognized by UBI Global as the #1 university-affiliated incubator in the world and served as its chief marketing officer for more than two years. Following 1871, Melissa helped found Chicago’s healthcare incubator and innovation center MATTER, where she was responsible for defining and building the MATTER brand and managing all areas of the company’s marketing, communications and events. Melissa continues to support MATTER strategic initiatives and special projects.

Prior to her years focused on driving civic entrepreneurship, Melissa served as the SVP of marketing for Q Interactive (formerly CoolSavings) where she oversaw all marketing, communications and creative functions and served on the company’s senior leadership team. Melissa was recognized in 2019 and 2020 in the Crain’s Chicago Business “Notable Women in Manufacturing”.

Tony is the Global Head of Corporate Development and a founding investor at the industry leading sports marketing firm, rEvolution. Tony recently led the Event Solutions business at Apollo backed, Notified. As CEO of PRA (PRA), Tony transformed the business through 19 acquisitions to lead its sector in the Americas. Tony is a graduate of Harvard Business School – Owner/President Management program, and holds a BS in Accounting from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

William A. McComas is the Managing Partner at Bowie & Jensen and a corporate attorney focusing on the technology sector. A leading technology attorney, he represents companies, investors, and entrepreneurs in many different technology industries. He counsels clients throughout the country in connection with financing, mergers and acquisitions, sales of assets, equity financings, and other general corporate matters. He is well established for helping companies to manage and develop commercial technology and strategies. He often publishes and speaks on such topics and has received numerous awards including citations in Best Lawyers in America and multiple "Lawyer of the Year" honors.

Tom Meredith is a Partner at Brightstar and Member of the Investment Committee. He currently serves as Board Chair of ReMarkets, Vice Chair of Likewize and BrightCell, all Brightstar portfolio companies.

Tom’s career spans more than 35 years and includes extensive experience in corporate finance, manufacturing, finance operations, and global financial markets. Prior to joining Brightstar, Tom was Vice Board Chair of Likewize, which was sold to Softbank in 2014. He was a Co-founder and Chair of the Board of Managers of Meritage Capital, an investment management firm specializing in multi-manager hedge funds.

Prior to establishing Meritage in 2003, Tom served in various senior positions at Dell, including CFO, SVP of Business Development and Strategy, and Managing Director of Dell Ventures. Prior to joining Dell, he was VP and Treasurer for Sun Microsystems and Co-Founder and GM of Amdahl Capital Corporation.

Michelle Moreno is a Managing Partner with VentureDNA, leading the Investment Banking services and supporting the firm's advisory services. Focused on U.S. and global high growth companies, activities include Capital Raising, both equity and debt, for the issuance of Series A and B securities and related corporate debt offerings. Industries served include Technology and Services companies in Life Sciences, Healthcare, MedTech / Medical Devices, Professional Services, Manufacturing / Industrial Technologies, Marketing, Education, Energy, Food, and Government Services. Michelle has worked with companies of all sizes from Fortune 500 and large public companies through to family-owned businesses. Investors include institutional funds, family offices, and qualified investors.

Jeremy Myeroff is a Vice President in Aon's Transaction Solutions Group in Chicago. Jeremy partners with corporations, private equity firms, and M&A legal advisors to support any and all insurance-related needs leading to successful transactions. From benefits/insurance due diligence to reps & warranties policy placement, Jeremy has been able to support deals of significant complexity as a strategic insurance advisor.

Mr. Parro is an operationally focused professional with recognized expertise in optimizing and expanding company enterprise values throughout investment lifecycles and macroeconomic cycles.  He has 27+ years of experience in C-level management, private equity, family office, and institutional investing and portfolio management. In addition, Mr. Parro has considerable expertise in the strategic development and integration of both start-ups and acquired companies both domestically and internationally.  

For the past 10 years Mr. Parro has owned and operated an independent sponsor private equity investment group. In that 10 years has invested in 5 platform companies and several add on acquisitions. He has develop an extensive network of investment bankers, brokers, lawyers, accountants and consultants that provide the opportunity to review over 700 investment opportunities a year in various industries and platforms.

Prior to MERK, Mr. Parro led the mergers & acquisitions effort at Globe Union Industrial Inc. (“Globe Union”).  He was instrumental in growing Globe Union from a private label $125 million single product line company to a $750 million branded broad based product line company over a five year period with operations that included North America, Europe, Taiwan, and China. Mr. Parro also led the mergers & acquisitions effort for Field Container Co. (“Field Container”).  He was instrumental in acquiring numerous companies that help grow Field Container from $350 million to $500 million over a five year period. His primary responsibilities were integration of the companies in all facets of the operations including, manufacturing, sales and marketing, administrative services, and IT. While at the financial services division of GE Capital for approximately eight years, Mr. Parro managed numerous strategies that led to the growth of various companies through both organic as well as acquisitions.  

Russ has been the Managing Partner of The FORVIS Chicago office for over 10 years. For the majority of his career, he has been a partner in the tax services department and has extensive experience in federal and state taxation, financial planning and management issues. His areas of focus include corporate, S corporation partnership, individual taxation, multistate taxation, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), inventory taxation, tax accounting methods, entity structure and reorganization, acquisition and divestiture planning and representation before IRS, state and local authorities about income. sales and use taxes.

Justin joined Roti in early 2020 and led it through the pandemic, positioning it for growth in the fast-casual Mediterranean segment. Previously led Dean & DeLuca (including transacting to a new owner), and led food startups and challenger brands across consumer categories. Hyper-focused on Roti as a unique combination of craveable-healthful-affordable food that can fuel Food For A Full Life for it's guests and teams.

Eric Sheinkop is an entrepreneur, acclaimed author, and tech innovator. As CEO of The Desire Company, Sheinkop is continuing his trend of creating disruptive tech-based solutions for antiquated industries ripe for change. Accolades include Billboard "30 Under 30” and Crain’s “Tech 50”. Awards include Cannes Lions, LIA’s and an Emmy. Sheinkop represented Entrepreneurs Building Companies that Unite the World when he ran with the Olympic Torch at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Ryan Shelton is CTO and co-founder of PhotoniCare, a medical device company that has developed a handheld imaging platform that uses light to see through tissue. PhotoniCare’s first product, the OtoSight Middle Ear Scope, is a handheld device that can see through the eardrum to enable physicians to make better decisions about antibiotic and surgical intervention. Dr. Shelton led the company as CEO from its inception until May 2023, raising over $20M in dilutive and non-dilutive funding to advance the company’s objectives. Now he leads PhotoniCare’s technology team, driving strategy and execution across the product, manufacturing, and clinical divisions of the company.

Dr. Shelton received a PhD in Bioengineering from Texas A&M University in 2012. He has won multiple awards for entrepreneurial and technical achievement and is passionate about PhotoniCare’s current efforts improving the management of chronic middle ear infections in children, because of the frustrations he’s faced as a parent of his own children dealing with these chronic infections and hearing loss.

Kevin Slaughter is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group. He focuses on representing clients in complex commercial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, financing agreements, joint ventures, private offerings, supply/service agreements, distribution agreements, development and licensing agreements, and manufacturing agreements. Kevin has particular experience representing Fortune 500 companies in middle market transactions. Additionally, Kevin is a go-to attorney for clients in the cannabis industry, advising them on a range of issues including license applications, corporate governance and funding. He also assists cannabis clients with organizational structure, real estate matters, branding and licensing agreements and supply agreements. Clients appreciate Kevin’s practical advice, his effective communication skills, and his knack for problemsolving. Relying on his extensive experience and strong interpersonal skills, Kevin has achieved exceptional results for his clients. Above all, he listens to his clients to understand their needs, goals, and objectives. Kevin earns their trust and confidence by employing an analytical yet pragmatic approach that is centered around accomplishing the business objectives of his clients in a responsive, efficient, and effective manner.

Sharon Spooler is a Managing Partner at Chief Outsiders with responsibility for the Midwest region. Sharon helps CEOs and Founders cut through the noise to understand what is working, how to measure marketing ROI, and how to scale programs for growth. An engineer by training, Sharon believes in the process of marketing, measurement, and that order of operations matters when it comes to developing marketing and sales in growing companies. She has worked for start-ups to Fortune 100 companies in technology, professional services, SaaS, and financial services. As a Managing Partner, Sharon puts that experience to work by matching CEOs and companies with the right fractional CMO and CSO talent.

Rob Stepen, Business Performance Advisor with Insperity applies decades of experience as a business owner to work with Small to Mid-size businesses to realize their company goals by improving their efficiency, accelerating growth and driving revenue by introducing our PEO Model.

Jen Sweeney brings over 20 years of marketing and business development with Executive Peer groups. As a Regional VP and Business Development Partner for Vistage Worldwide, Inc, she coaches and strategizes with seasoned executives to build private advisory board groups of CEOs, Presidents, and business owners. Jen's passion is in Building relationships and connecting leader to uncover the challenges and issues facing small to medium-sized businesses. Vistage is committed to helping business leaders grow professionally and personally through peer to peer development, one to one executive coaching and education.

Michael Wallach is a Vice President of Investment for Levy Family Partners, the Family Office of Larry Levy (Founder and former CEO of Levy Restaurants). Michael oversees the family’s venture portfolio and is responsible for global deal origination, due diligence and fostering strategic relationships to maximize return potential. He assisted the family in taking Del Taco (NASDAQ: TACO) public via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company and is a Board Observer to Aura Frames. Michael holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

We actualize opportunities in water, alternative, energy, and infrastructure projects nationwide by delivering programmatic value creation via organic and inorganic growth of actively managed portfolio companies.

We create value by proving the team and resources to commercialize and adopt emerging technologies, utilize alternative data, and execute atypical strategies to solve for x.

Michael represents private equity funds (including SBIC funds), banks, companies and entrepreneurs in M&A, debt finance and venture capital transactions in a wide variety of industries. He has substantial experience with technology, health care, energy, and food and beverage transactions. He also serves as an officer on the Executives’ Club of Chicago Leadership Circle Advisory Board.

Nicole is a second-generation manufacturer and the president and CEO of HM Manufacturing. As a skilled and seasoned leader, she is invested in supporting the next generation of manufacturing leaders in addition to advancing the manufacturing industry as a whole.

She sits on the board of directors of numerous associations such as the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA), and mHUB. Nicole also serves as the current chairman of the Technology and Manufacturing Association (TMA).