Deal Preparedness: Lessons from the Trenches

Oscar N. Pinkas is a leader of the firm’s Global Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice, and a member of the Corporate and Finance Practices. He focuses on transactions (front-end and back-end) as well as turnarounds and workouts, including in-court practice and estate representations. His clients include investors, purchasers, lenders/noteholders, companies, indenture trustees and collateral agents, and creditors’ committees.

Oscar has been named one of The Best Lawyers in America, a Top Restructuring & Turnaround Professional, and an Emerging Leader in M&A, Financing and Turnaround. In addition, many transactions or restructurings Oscar has led have received awards due to the outsized results obtained. Those accolades equally show the breadth and depth of skill and experience of his practice groups at the firm, with Greenberg Traurig’s Restructuring and Bankruptcy Group named “The Elite” and Corporate/M&A Group named “Highly Regarded” by Chambers USA.

As the Chief Investment Officer at SI Capital & MBX Group, a private investment firm with over $5 billion in capital resources under management, Chris oversees all investment activity and leads a team of professionals who source and manage investments for the founder of 5-hour ENERGY® and the family of companies. Chris has over 35 years of experience in providing financial advisory and structured lending products and services to middle market and corporate business customers across various industries and asset classes.

Chris specializes in helping businesses with operational and financial risk to improve overall growth, leveraging his expertise in investment management, corporate finance, capital markets, and debt workout. Chris is also SIE certified by FINRA, demonstrating his knowledge and competency in the securities industry.

Robert Koven is Managing Director at Leonis Partners, a New York City and London based Middle-Market Technology Investment Bank.

With two decades of M&A experience advising on over 100 deals totaling more than $250 billion in transaction value, Robert and his team bring experience into middle market technology investment banking and private capital investing. Leonis has grown quickly and emerged as a leader in middle market technology M&A and capital raising by assembling a highly qualified team with deep technology domain expertise and by offering a customized solution with unconflicted advice. The firm was named Technology Investment Bank of the Year by Global M&A Network in 2021 and Robert was named M&A investment Banker of the Year for 2020 – 2022 by the M&A Advisor. Prior to founding the firm in 2013, Robert worked in New York in the Global Investment Banking M&A groups at JPMorgan, Lazard Freres and Lehman Brothers.

A native of Atlanta, GA, Robert attender Dartmouth College where he earned his B.A. in Mathematics and Economics and his MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business. Robert resides in Greenwich, CT with his wife Rachel, daughter Isabelle (7), and son Ben (4).

Sean O'Neil was co-founder, co-principal owner and operator of retail ISO, MerchantPro Express (MPX). In 2020, MPX was acquired by Fiserv. Since the acquisition, Sean has taken on several roles at Fiserv, and was most recently appointed Head of Merchant M&A Strategy. Prior to MPX, Sean was a practicing corporate attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in New York, and co-authored management book entitled Bare Knuckle People Management.

John D. Smith, the Chairman & CEO of Icon parking, is renowned for accelerating business performance by inspiring people—both individually and collectively as a team—to empower and unleash their greatness to achieve extraordinary results.
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A respected leader with a breadth of experience across multiple industries, John has transformed both large and mid-market companies with his most recent positions include Chief Operating Officer of Aaron’s Inc., a $4B publicly traded solutions provider of furniture, electronics, and appliances; and President, Mid-North Region, and CEO of Harrah’s Resort AC of Caesars Entertainment Corporation, the then $8B publicly traded hospitality and entertainment corporation that owned and operated over 55 casinos, hotels and resorts. In his early career he held leadership positions at IBM, GE, McKinsey & Co, Target Corporation and Collective Brands the parent company of Payless ShoeSource, Saucony, Sperry Topsider and Striderite brands.
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John’s leadership philosophy and approach to building and accelerating business performance is organizations, businesses or industries can’t transform in a sustained way until people do. So, leadership matters because it’s all about the people.