Full or Partial Liquidity? Understanding Alternatives Available for Founders and Family Owners

Mr. Beare joined Stephens in 2005 as a Managing Director and Co-Head of Industrials group. Most recently, he was a Managing Director at Matrix Capital, where he was head of the Building Materials & Homebuilding group and led the Fairness Opinion Committee.

Previously, Mr. Beare was a Managing Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Banc of America Securities, as well as a member of the Fairness Opinion Committee. Prior to the acquisition of Bank of America, he directed the M&A activities for the Industrial Growth Group of NationsBanc Montgomery Securities. Before that, Mr. Beare was responsible for the origination and coordination of M&A activity in the Western United States for NationsBank. He began his M&A career with George K. Baum & Co., where he acted as both a principal and as an agent in the structuring of management-led buyouts.

His 25 years of M&A experience includes acquisitions, management buyouts, mergers, exclusive sales and divestitures, and general advisory assignments. Significant transactions since joining Stephens include; the sale of the window operations of Certainteed Corporation to Ply Gem Industries, the $358 million follow on stock offering for Kronos Worldwide and the sale of Continental Cabinets to RSI. Mr. Beare graduated summa cum laude with a BA from Duke University and received a JD/MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. He holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and is a member of the Missouri and American Bar Associations.

Charlie founded Big Canyon Advisors in 2020 after nearly 20 years of working with family businesses and family offices. Previously, he founded the family enterprise consulting practices at both EY and PwC. He leads continuity engagements for family businesses, which includes defining vision, strategic planning, family and business governance and succession planning. He also specializes in family offices, designing new FO's, creating strategic plans and performing best practice reviews of existing family offices to ensure they most effectively support the family and its desired legacy.

Eliot serves as Managing Partner of Broadwing Capital, which he co-founded after 20 years of operational private equity experience. He is responsible for overall direction of the firm and ensuring Broadwing achieves its investment objectives in a manner consistent with the firm’s mission and core values. He originates and leads investment opportunities, partners with management post-acquisition to achieve transformative results, and serves as primary contact at the firm for investors. Eliot has been a private equity investor since 2000, and has significant expertise in mergers and acquisitions, corporate strategy, performance improvement, and realizations through sales, public offerings and dividend recapitalizations.

Kurt co-founded Miramar Equity Partners in 2018. Prior to Miramar, Kurt spent more than 13 years at Ridgemont Equity Partners, a middle-market private equity firm with more than $2.5 billion of capital under management. At Ridgemont he was responsible for sourcing, executing, and managing investments in the technology, media, and telecommunications industries. Kurt started his career in the Dallas and Mexico City offices of Bain & Company, a leading strategy consulting firm, where he helped companies in a variety of industries tackle challenges related to growth and profit improvement.

Kurt graduated with Highest Honors with a BBA in Finance and a BA in Spanish from the University of Texas at Austin. He received his MBA, with Honors, from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Palmer Scholar. He is a CFA charterholder and is (or used to be) fluent in Spanish.

Kurt lives in Dallas with his wife and two daughters. He is active as an alum of the McCombs School of Business and also serves on the board of Wesley Rankin Community Center, an organization providing education and support services to a community in West Dallas. In his spare time, Kurt enjoys reading, traveling, and riding motorcycles.

Represents clients in mergers and acquisitions and other complex business transactions. Advises public and private companies, private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies. Deep experience representing distressed asset acquirers in distressed and other special situations transactions.

Eric represents public and private companies, private equity buyers and portfolio companies in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and other complex business transactions. He also advises on securities matters. Eric regularly counsels private equity and other investment vehicles on distressed and other special situations investments, both in and outside of formal bankruptcy proceedings.

Eric has structured complex deals in the health care, infrastructure, technology, media and telecommunications (TMT), energy and retail sectors. He also has extensive experience with industrial and manufacturing companies and business services companies.

Eric is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Dallas Bar Association.