Committee

Mike Alam is Chief Strategy Officer of Allied Resources Group, a well-respected parent company to an enterprise of organizations that provide niche services to clients in critical infrastructure. Since 2019, he has been an instrumental part of the company, overseeing mergers & acquisitions, corporate development, and financing activities. Mike also boasts ten years of accumulated experience in leadership roles at Marshall & Illsley (now BMO) and PNC Bank, which has enriched his extensive knowledge of strategic decision-making, team management, and driving successful business growth. This unique culmination of expertise is what plays a crucial role in acquiring new business opportunities, as evidenced by ARG's success in securing two new companies since his tenure began in 2019. Mike is known for his approachable leadership style, fostering an environment where employees feel comfortable and encouraged to share their ideas, promoting effective collaboration within the team.

Kamil Ali-Jackson, Esquire has co-founded several specialty pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies and successfully transitioned those companies through multi-million-dollar acquisitions by global pharmaceutical companies. Kamil’s career spans almost four decades, as a life sciences serial entrepreneur, C-suite leader, and attorney. Kamil currently serves as an independent director for two NASDAQ-listed life sciences companies and a private online luxury retail company. Kamil is also a trustee for her alma mater, Princeton University, and an adjunct lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

David Bovenizer is a co-founder that has built Lionheart Industrial Group into a global diversified group of industrial manufacturing business with three platforms in combustion systems; pneumatic valves; and precision aerospace and defense components. He has completed more than 30 transactions totaling over $2.0 billion in value including leveraged acquisitions, cross-border M&A, public debt offerings, joint ventures, acquisitions and divestitures.

Della Clark’s vision for minority entrepreneurship is not about counting the number of successful businesses but about making businesses count. Since 1992, Ms. Clark has brought this vision to fruition as President of The Enterprise Center (TEC) – an organization at the forefront of its region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, guided by the mission to cultivate and invest in minority entrepreneurs to inspire working together for economic growth in communities. The Enterprise Center accomplishes this by accelerating the capacity of minority business enterprises to compete in any marketplace through business education, access to capital, management support, and connections.

Ryan is among the most respected leaders in the staffing industry, known for his fierce commitment to providing outstanding customer service and his tenacious pursuit of excellence. His experience includes over twenty years in staffing as well as extensive experience in sales and sales management. Ryan spent seven years working at PDI, the world’s largest contract sales organization supporting the pharmaceutical industry, where he was continuously recognized as a top performer and was promoted several times.

In 2003, Ryan was hired by a major Dallas-based staffing company where he made significant contributions. Within three months, Ryan turned the unprofitable office into one of the most profitable offices in the company. In 2005, Ryan co-founded PeopleShare, a regional staffing firm dedicated to placing candidates in light industrial, administrative and clerical positions. Ryan’s vision was to create a staffing company that provides employees and customers the opportunity to achieve their goals and enhance their overall success. Having the expertise, industry experience, and resources to recruit the best talent for each and every opportunity have been a critical factor in PeopleShare’s success.

Ryan’s determination, drive and talent have propelled PeopleShare into the fastest growing staffing firm in Pennsylvania with 16 locations throughout PA, NJ and DE. Since their first year of eligibility in 2007, PeopleShare has been named “Best Places to Work” by the Philadelphia Business Journal every year and named to the Inc.500/5000 list. In 2015, PeopleShare exceeded $100MM in annual revenue and was acquired by Trivest, a Private Equity firm based in Coral Gables, Florida.

Dan Diorio is the CEO and founded Telco Holdings Inc. (now Thinc Forward) in 2012 with the aim of providing technical, economic, and strategic business resources to help clients increase profitability and operational efficiency. Since that time, Dan has acquired multiple other companies and owns regional offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Ohio with more on the horizon. Under Dan’s leadership, the company has grown into a highly successful team of over 60 people delivering complex projects and building effective solutions across a wide array of clients.

Prior to founding Thinc Forward, Dan founded numerous other businesses with a proven track record of building new teams, developing services and practices, and then growing the organization to high profitability and eventual sale. His expertise spans negotiation, IT, network technology, fortune 500 consulting, telecommunications, and strategic partnerships with a mission to consistently provide superior service in cost reduction, security and compliance, and overall operational improvement. Dan has built and maintained key relationships in the industry for close to 30 years.

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.

Patty is a Partner at Third Arch Investments, a Philadelphia-based investment firm making long-term investments in high quality small businesses. She has 15 years of investment, advisory, and portfolio oversight experience dedicated to lower middle market businesses across a variety of industries, including the media, consumer products and manufacturing sectors. Prior Third Arch, Patty was a Principal at Versa Capital Management. She began her career as a financial analyst at Rothschild Inc., where she focused on consumer M&A and restructuring.

Scott Gray, CEO launched Clincierge in 2015. He co-founded Gray Consulting, Inc. in 1994 which focused on global pharmaceutical meetings management services. In 2013, a biotech customer outlined their challenges getting patients to medical sites for participation in a global clinical trial. Clincierge® was born to remove the obstacles, thus improving recruitment, retention, and the speed to market for new treatments.

Nick is the Head of Business Development and Investor Relations at L2 Capital. Prior to leading these segments, Nick supported all aspects of L2’s investment activities, including sourcing and evaluating new investment opportunities, performing due diligence, executing deals, and providing post-investment support for the portfolio companies. Prior to L2, Nick worked on the private equity investment teams at both ABS Capital Partners and Harren Equity Partners.

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. 

Keith Lipman is the CEO and co-Founder of his second B2B SaaS start-up. Keith successfully co-founded, grew (from 2 to 150+ employees) and exited his first company, Prosperoware. He is also an investor and provides scale consulting to software companies.

Keith is a recognized thought leader in the legal services industry. Keith was recognized as an ILTA Lifetime Achievement Award finalist and ILTA Vendor Thought Leader of the Year finalist while Prosperoware also was named a finalist for Innovative Solution Provider of the Year.

Prior to Prosperoware, Keith worked in law firms as both a lawyer and an administrative director, later serving as a legal technology consultant to firms. He has authored multiple articles for Bloomberg, InsideCounsel, LTN, ILTA Peer to Peer, and others, and was a contributing author of the books Corporate Governance Best Practices: Strategies for Public, Private, and Not-for-Profit Organizations, and Law Firm KM: Driving Practice Innovation and Redefining Service Delivery.

Mr. Lipman earned his BA, JD, and MBA from Temple University.

Lou oversees commercial banking in NJ and Greater Philadelphia. He graduated from Millersville University, has an MBA from Penn State and graduated from the ABA’s Stonier Banking School. He serves on the Board of The Heritage Conservancy and co-chairs the Finance and Investment Committees. He coaches youth sports teams and lives in Newtown, PA, with his wife and four children.

Paul focuses his practice on business, concentrating in mergers and acquisitions, securities, banking, and corporations. His practice includes complex transactions. Among other recognitions, Paul maintains an "AV" Martindale Hubbell rating, he’s been ranked The Best Lawyers in America®, under the following categories, Banking and Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Securities and Capital Markets.

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.

Steven provides practical and strategic legal advice to executives and owners of both private and public businesses in connection with a variety of transactional matters. As co-chair of Stradley Ronon’s Closely Held & Family Owned Businesses practice, Steve’s business succession planning engagements encompass corporate, tax, estate planning and family issues, including complex intergenerational shareholder and voting trust agreements and numerous liquidity transactions.

Brian leads Kreischer Miller’s Business Advisory group, which offers an array of services including M&A/transaction advisory, business valuation, transition/exit planning, and ESOP consulting.

Brian is experienced in business valuations, transition planning, due diligence, and merger and acquisition activities. He helps his clients by actively working with them to solve issues, provide recommendations, and offer opportunities for success. Brian’s experience includes working with a variety of privately-held and family-owned businesses such as manufacturers, distributors, professional service companies, and internet-based organizations.

Chad is a Partner at SeventySix Capital. Chad is responsible for the business operations and oversees the investments, finance, and administration at SeventySix Capital. Chad sits on the boards of the following SeventySix Capital portfolio companies: Fortë, Quintar and Vigtory (acquired by fuboTV).

Prior to joining SeventySix Capital, Chad worked at a start-up company in the sports industry. In addition, Chad started his career with the Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia 76ers, Comcast-Spectacor and the Walt Disney Corporation. Chad earned a Bachelor of Business Degree from James Madison University and a Masters of Science in Sport Management from East Stroudsburg University. He resides in the Philadelphia suburbs with his wife and two kids.

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.

Erica’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, where she represents public and private companies, and private equity firms and their portfolio companies, in a variety of domestic and cross-border transactions and in a wide range of industries. She has experience in a broad range of transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, carve-outs, venture financings, joint ventures and other direct investments.