ACG 101 | Music Industry: Spotlight on the Future of Music

Gary is a Managing Director and Founding Principal of Intrepid. He is the Co-Head of the Commercial & Consumer Technology practice. He has been involved in numerous domestic and cross-border transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity capital raises and financing for companies spanning the consumer, industrials, healthcare, and business services sectors. Prior to Intrepid, Gary worked for more than 10 years advising middle-market clients on mergers and acquisitions transactions at Barrington Associates and Wells Fargo Securities. Before joining Barrington in 2000, he was a Vice President in the Merchant Banking Group of Banque Paribas in Chicago. His experience there included underwriting and syndicating leveraged finance transactions and making direct equity investments in support of middle-market leveraged buyouts. In 2010, Gary was selected to the M&A Advisor’s inaugural “40 Under 40” list and in 2013 he was named among the “Most Influential M&A Advisors in Los Angeles” by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Gary frequently lectures on M&A topics at Pepperdine University. He was born and raised in Chicago, is a die-hard Cubs fan, music enthusiast, decent guitar player, and a father to two fabulous kids, Zachary and Melanie.

Mark Levinson has decades of broad, sophisticated transactional experience structuring and closing projects and managing litigation strategies in a timely manner. Mark is known for his effective and practical negotiating approach as he routinely structures and leads transactional matters in a cost-effective manner. He is recognized for appreciating what drives parties in a transaction and where agreement resides, enabling his clients to achieve their goals. In counseling clients, Mark routinely represents clients ranging from public companies to private equity to governments and individuals on a variety of business challenges and arrangements.

Mark routinely leads in structuring and executing on a range of transactions, including consumer M&A, capital market, real estate (acquisition, disposition, and syndication across a range of asset classes), commercial, and real estate and public finance (as lender, bond, underwriter, trustee, and developer counsel), and in charter school and governmental infrastructure and P-3 financing, cannabis, and transaction and finance workouts from beginning to end.

Mark focuses on communication to achieve client goals by first listening to clients. He develops practical strategies to achieve goals and solutions to position a transaction for execution in a timely manner, all with the goal to work with other transaction participants in a cooperative fashion. Mark's practice impacts securities law, capital markets, real estate, financing, litigation, labor, and other emerging areas.

In California and across the United States, his work across industries includes real estate (multifamily, industrial, office), consumer, cannabis, governmental, charter school, media, technology, and involvement with boards and committees in a variety of matters. His understanding and ability to see a challenge from all sides frequently reinforces his position when working with company leadership as a trusted legal adviser.

Mark is active in the Los Angeles community and serves as the president of the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce California Regional Chapter, a prominent binational organization that promotes trade and investment between the United States and Mexico. He is also a board member of the Coalition for Engaged Education, an organization that supports at-risk youth education; a trustee of National Jewish Health, a leading pulmonary research hospital; and a member of the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors.

Lisa Farris is the Chief Digital Officer for the Recording Academy™, overseeing the evolution of the organization's digital media platforms and supporting its mission through omni-channel strategies and execution. In collaboration with the Recording Academy's leadership team, Farris is responsible for building upon the foundational elements of the organization that support all music creators, while connecting music audiences and stakeholders across digital platforms.

In her role, she is tasked with transforming and innovating digital experiences, while keeping the Recording Academy attuned to the changing media landscape. Farris leads the Digital Media team responsible for audience growth, product strategy and development, content strategy, production distribution, and data analytics. Under Farris's leadership, the Digital Media team forges relationships with technology partners to further drive innovation and improve experiences across all digital touchpoints.

Prior to joining the Recording Academy, Farris served as chief digital & brand officer for MetricVision; co-founder of Get This, a technology that leveraged audio recognition to shop video entertainment; chief marketing officer for Move, Inc.; senior vice president of strategic marketing at Universal Music Group's eLabs; and vice president of strategic marketing & new media at MCA Records.

Lisa currently serves as a mentor for entrepreneurship students at Loyola Marymount University and advises a summer financial literacy program there that is taught by the University's students to high school pupils.

Bill Colitre is Vice President & General Counsel of Music Reports, Inc. In this role, he serves as counsel to Music Reports, strategic consultant to its clients, and head of the company’s Licensing and Royalty Services divisions. He began his legal career in the Entertainment Department of Loeb & Loeb LLP where he was a founding member of the iLaw Group and later served as counsel to the firm of Altschul & Olin, LLP, the Roll International Corporation (parent company of Fiji Water LLC, Teleflora LLC and other enterprises) and CBS Paramount Network Television Home Entertainment. He holds a BA in Communication from U.C. San Diego and a JD from Loyola Law School, where he obtained First Honors awards in Computer Law and Internet Law, as well as the American Jurisprudence Award in Copyright. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at USC’s Gould School of Law teaching Music Law in Practice.

Chris Hagemann, Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer, is responsible for leading the Company’s finance and accounting organization. Prior to joining Yamaha Guitar Group (formerly Line 6), Ms. Hagemann was the Vice President of Corporate Development & CFO, Global Services at N2N Global, a leading provider of software & service solutions for the food industry. Previously, Ms. Hagemann was Director of Finance for Sunkist, an international citrus supplier. Prior to Sunkist, she was Vice President of Finance for William Morris Endeavor, a top talent and literary agency. Ms. Hagemann began her career in public accounting with Deloitte, after graduating with an Accounting degree from Loyola Marymount University. Chris is also a vocalist, currently performing in multiple Los Angeles area bands.

Nilo Ramos is the Chief Financial Officer of Drum Workshop, Inc., the company behind such iconic musical instrument brands as DW Drums and Hardware, Gretsch Drums, Latin Percussion, and Ovation Guitars. Nilo has served successful executive leadership tenures for companies across a variety of industries including insurance and financial services, online media and publishing, professional services, market research, apparel, and manufacturing.

His career includes financial and operational management positions for top-tier companies such as Prudential Financial, McGraw Hill, S&P Global, where he served as Vice President of Finance, and J.D. Power and Associates as CFO from 2008 to 2013. Prior to joining Drum Workshop in 2016, Nilo was Vice President and CFO for AFR Apparel International, Inc. in Northridge, California. In addition to his corporate career, Nilo has served on the boards of two charitable organizations: The Bullying Prevention Initiative of California and currently, The DW Music Foundation, a non-profit that connects “qualified, inspired artists and educators with music education programs in communities in need.”

Nilo speaks fluent Spanish, is a veteran of the United States Air Force, and holds an MBA in finance from the Rutgers Business School, a Certificate in Leadership from the Executive Management Institute at the University of Maryland, and a Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma. A father of two, he lives in Newbury Park, California with his wife, Amy, and their 6 year old Shih Tzu, Toby.

Lance Sterling is an American entrepreneur and live entertainment venue owner who partnered early on with the House of Blues and its co-founder, Issac Tigrett. Sterling is currently the owner of The Canyon Agoura Hills, The Rose in Pasadena and The Canyon Santa Clarita.It has been most recently announced, that Sterling will open a Canyon Inland Empire club by the end of this year. He also operates the Saban Theatre concert venue in Beverly Hills, California and produces concerts at the Libbey Bowl in Ojai. Since expanding into the Southern California market, approximately 2.5 million people have streamed through the venues doors this year to see notable artists and groups like B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Ray Davies, Etta James, Heart, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Mary Chapin Carpenter, local boys Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Eddie Money and many others. Sterling is also involved in the Fox Sports Grill chain and owned Canyon Club venues in Scottsdale, Arizona and Las Vegas. Recently, Sterling bought the rights to Los Angeles food franchise CaliBurger and opened locations adjacent to The Canyon in Santa Clarita and The Rose in Pasadena. Sterling plans to add a CaliBurger in the rest of his venues as well.