From Stumbles to Success—Navigating the Sell-Side Minefield

Dustin is an award-winning business journalist, bestselling author, and the chief content officer of Smart Business. Over the past 30 years, he has interviewed thousands of business and civic leaders, and helped more than 50 CEOs and entrepreneurs transform their ideas into books. A trained investigative politics reporter and former digital media entrepreneur, Dustin joined Smart Business in 1997 after serving as an editor at several daily newspapers.

Mike Fiebach is a serial entrepreneur who has operated at the nexus of e-commerce, digital marketing, and the entertainment industry for his 20-year career. Mike founded Mainfactor Inc. in 2020, a pioneering, tech-enabled e-commerce-as-a-service company that provides end-to-end direct-to-consumer capabilities for world-renowned artists, entertainers, and brands. Mainfactor is backed by world-leading e-commerce investors including Upper90.

Prior to Mainfactor, Mike founded Fame House, one of the first direct-to-consumer and social media services companies in the music industry with superstar clients including Eminem, Lady Gaga, Pearl Jam, and The Killers. In 2016, Mike led a sale of Fame House into Universal Music Group (UMG), the world’s leading music company.

Mike attended Temple Law School, and has a B.A. in Music Marketing and Management from San Francisco State University.

Bob is Managing Partner and Founding Partner of Murphy McCormack Capital Advisors, a boutique investment banking and corporate advisory firm in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. McCormack has more than 32 years of financial services experience, and focuses on providing advisory services related to business sales, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, business valuations, debt and equity financing, and select turnaround projects. He formed Murphy McCormack Capital Advisors in 2005. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sun Bancorp, Inc., a $1 billion financial services holding company with bank branches and affiliates located throughout central Pennsylvania.

Meera R. Modi is a leading M&A attorney and trusted advisor to founders, executives and businesses, navigating them through mergers, acquisitions, sales and other strategic ventures. Meera has created a niche practice of advising founders on strategic exit and liquidity options, whether to strategic buyers or financial buyers such as private equity firms and other institutional investors. In addition, Meera has extensive experience with deals involving representation and warranty insurance, which experience has helped numerous sellers significantly minimize their post-sale transaction liability.

Saul has been with Berwind for almost 25 years, serving in various roles. In his current position, he participates in all aspects of Berwind’s portfolio management, including M&A sourcing and execution, and strategic planning. Saul has executed on dozens of domestic and international transactions representing billions of dollars in value. In previous roles, he has served as Vice President and Controller for the corporate headquarters and General Counsel for Berwind’s Consumer Products Group.