2018 Speakers and Panels

Falcons President and CEO, Rich McKay, has been a fixture in the National Football League for more than 30 years. One of the League's most influential executives, McKay recently finished his 13th season with the Atlanta Falcons including an NFC Championship title and a trip to Super Bowl LI.
McKay was initially hired by Owner and Chairman Arthur M. Blank in 2004 and served his first four years as the team's general manager. He was promoted to president and chief executive officer in 2011. Together with Blank and Falcons general manager, Thomas Dimitroff, McKay played a key role in the coaching search that resulted in the hiring of Dan Quinn as Atlanta's new head coach in early 2015. That same year, national columnist and creator of Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQB), Peter King, named McKay number 10 out of the 100 most influential people in the NFL.
McKay played a pivotal role in the negotiation, development and progress of building Mercedes­-Benz Stadium, a process that began in earnest in 2008. Working closely with Blank, the city of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, McKay helped to secure approval and financing for Mercedes-­Benz Stadium after years of intense negotiations. The club broke ground on Mercedes-Benz Stadium on May 19, 2014, with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, MLS Commissioner Don Garber, and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed in attendance for the historic announcement, and it is set to open later this year as the home of the Atlanta Falcons and MLS expansion team, Atlanta United. He is the only executive to have led two successful stadium negotiations (Atlanta and Tampa Bay). In April of 2014, McKay was named President of AMB Sports & Entertainment (AMBSE).

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Having served 30 years as a SEAL leader, retired Rear Admiral Scott Moore is a master in organizational leadership and teambuilding. He served in every leadership position in the SEAL teams, including the former commander of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, and closed out his career as the number two leader in the entire SEAL organization. He led the military’s elite forces through more than 2,000 of our nation’s most extreme, high-stakes missions and was deployed on SEAL team operations across the globe. He understands the importance of leadership and cohesiveness like few others can, and his experience runs the gamut from leading small groups to large-scale tactical planning. From the mountains of Afghanistan to briefings in the Oval Office, Moore is the man our leaders trusted when failure was not an option.

Battle-Won Wisdom. Moore led SEAL teams during the marquee moments of our nation’s history – like Just Cause (Panama), Bosnia, and post-9/11. He was the commander of a Joint Special Operations Task Force conducting more than 2,000 high-risk raids against key enemy leaders in Afghanistan. Additionally, he commanded several critical, no-fail hostage rescue operations, including the mission to save Captain Richard Phillip from Somali pirates.

Since commanding DEVGRU, Moore held increasingly complex leadership roles. He served as the director of counter-terrorism at the National Security Council and the deputy director for special operations at the Pentagon. There he reported to Admiral Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was his primary counter-terrorism advisor. Moore then spent a year as the deputy commander at the Office of Defense Representative Pakistan, where he was one of the senior officers interfacing with the Pakistani military. He put his invaluable strategic leadership experience to work in dealing with constantly shifting allegiances and allies who do not necessarily share the same priorities as the U.S. Most recently, Moore served as the deputy commander of Naval Special Warfare, where he recruited, trained, equipped, and deployed our nation’s most elite.

Teamwork Aficionado. In his off-duty time, Moore entertains himself by taking teamwork to new heights. He climbs the world’s tallest and most challenging peaks, including Mount Everest, and other Himalayan giants. Today, he is involved with numerous foundations supporting Navy SEALs and runs a strategic security solutions company.

Ted Blum serves as Managing Shareholder of Greenberg Traurig’s Atlanta office and Chair of the firm’s Atlanta Corporate and Securities Practice. As Managing Shareholder, he is responsible for the growth and direction of the Atlanta office, which has more than 100 attorneys. In his legal practice, he leads and advises a team with the strategic business, legal and market experience needed to manage and close complex transactions, as well as to provide counsel on day-to-day operations. Ted concentrates his practice in the areas of corporate and business law, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, and corporate finance. He has experience representing buyers and sellers in the structuring and negotiation of complex, multimillion-dollar mergers, acquisitions and divestitures of public and privately held companies. These transactions include leveraged buyouts, tax-free reorganizations, stock redemptions and acquisitions of financially troubled or insolvent companies. His clients cover a range of industries, including healthcare, technology, financial institutions, manufacturing, and retail. Ted has been recognized for his legal work through listings in The Best Lawyers in America, Georgia Super Lawyers, Chambers USA and Georgia Trend’s Legal Elite. Ted received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and J.D. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.

Eden Doniger is Assistant General Counsel and Privacy Officer for Cox Enterprises and its subsidiary Cox Media Group. Cox is a global communications, automotive and media company with more than 55,000 employees and $20 billion in revenue. Eden oversees her clients’ privacy programs, working closely with information security teams on policy, processes, training, incident response, and risk assessments. She also handles daily legal counseling on a variety of privacy and security issues. Eden’s background includes litigation, media law and crisis response. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Emory School of Law and is a J. William Fulbright Scholar.

Mitchell is the partner-in-charge of Aprio’s Tax practice as well as the Technology & Biosciences group. He has been a partner since 1990 with Aprio, which is the largest Georgia-based tax, accounting and consulting firm. Mitchell works with companies in the software, gaming, clean tech, financial technology (FinTech), health care IT, processing, biosciences (biotech and medical device) and manufacturing industries. He is known for promoting research, innovation and entrepreneurship by enabling companies to be successful, regardless of where they are in their business lifecycle. Mitchell brings has strong mergers and acquisitions experience that includes structuring financial and tax due diligence as well as analysis of transactional accounting and tax issues. He also has extensive experience working with domestic and international companies, addressing inbound and outbound tax issues as well as other related business activities. With the emergence of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, Mitchell has been instrumental in developing and leading our blockchain practice. While he focuses on the domestic and international related tax issues, others on the team focus on accounting, audit and security blockchain matters. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from the School of Accountancy at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Vernon O’Neal is a consultant with the USI property and casualty team located in Atlanta. He specializes in working with larger privately-held and publicly-traded companies – establishing risk management programs with special emphasis on Directors & Officers Liability, Employment Practices Liability, Errors & Omissions Liability, Products Liability, International Exposures, and Workers’ Compensation. He assists clients in evaluating large deductible, self-insurance, and other alternative risk transfer programs. Vernon is active in the technology, financial services, real estate, construction, non-profit, and manufacturing sectors. He is also active in the private equity space conducting due diligence on portfolio companies and providing an array of financial solutions for transaction risk issues. Vernon was with Wells Fargo Insurance which was acquired by USI in November 2017. He was previously with United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, now part of Travelers, and served on that company’s National Advisory Council. He has also served on other underwriter advisory councils including Atlantic Mutual, St. Paul Fire and Marine, Crum & Forster, Fireman’s Fund, and CNA. Vernon has a BS in Economics from The Georgia Institute of Technology. He has earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Risk Management (ARM), Associate in Research and Planning (ARP), and Associate in Management (AIM) professional designations.

Ms. Burkett joined LCG in 2013 and is the Vice President, Director of Private Investments. Her responsibilities include private investments research as well as due diligence and collaborating with clients to implement their private investment allocations. Prior to joining LCG, Catharine was a founding Co-Director of Alternative Investments for the Retirement Systems of the State of Georgia. In that capacity, she led and created the initial private equity investment infrastructure. Previously, Catharine was a Principal at Camden Partners, which she joined to build out Camden Private Capital as a diversified private equity fund of funds. Catharine has a BA from Queens College, Charlotte, N.C. and an MBA from Xavier University, Cincinnati, O.H. She has served on the Board of Advisors for a number of private equity and venture capital funds and is currently serving on the Board of Advisors for The Alliance Theatre.

Christopher J. Genovese, CAIA is a Managing Director of Portfolio Advisors and serves as a non-voting supporting member of one or more of the firm’s Investment Committees. Chris joined Portfolio Advisors in 2009 and has focused on leading marketing and investor relations initiatives as co-head of the team, advising a pension plan client on the construction of their portfolio, and sourcing deal flow for the firm’s funds. Portfolio Advisors (“PA”) is an independent, employee-owned investment firm with over $21 billion of assets under management. The firm has exclusively focused on the private markets since its founding in 1994 and invests approximately $2 billion per year in the asset class across private equity, private real estate, and private credit. Mr. Genovese holds a B.S. from the Georgia Institute of Technology, M.B.A. from Emory University, and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst

Stephanie joined Homrich Berg in 2005 and was named Chief Investment Officer in 2014. Stephanie oversees a team of professionals within the Investment Department of HB and is responsible for all investment matters including asset allocation, the selection and monitoring of traditional and alternative investments, as well as the research efforts for HB’s internal private fund-of funds. She also chairs the firm's Investment Committee.

Stephanie has more than 19 years’ experience in the investment industry. Prior to Homrich Berg, Stephanie spent more than two years as a portfolio manager for Bank of America's private bank. While at Bank of America, she managed over $350 million in assets for individual and family trusts, charitable trusts, and foundation and retirement accounts. Prior to Bank of America, Stephanie spent approximately six years in equity research with Robinson Humphrey, where she covered technology and media companies. Stephanie earned a master's in business administration from Georgia State University and a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Georgia. Stephanie lives in Dunwoody with her husband Chris and two daughters.

Muthu is responsible for the investment strategy, analysis, and manager selection within the Private Equity and Natural Resources portfolios at Emory Investment Management which is responsible for the asset allocation, investment management, and oversight of the more than $7 billion portfolio of diversified investments owned by Emory University and Emory Healthcare, along with their associated retirement plans and affiliated entities. The Private Equity portfolio includes buyout, growth and distressed investments and Natural Resources is a diversified portfolio of energy, timber, real estate, and commodities. Prior to joining Emory, he was Head of Private Markets and oversaw the private market portfolio at Covariance Capital Management, an outsourced CIO firm that invests on behalf of endowments and foundations. Prior to Covariance, he was an Associate Director of Investments at Spider Management Company, the University of Richmond’s investment management company, where he led strategy and manager selection for private equity, real estate and all asset classes within emerging markets. His background also includes time as a Portfolio Manager at the Florida State Board of Administration and a Senior Analyst at RSM Equico. Muthu has a BHM from Mangalore University and an MBA from Rollins College.

Dan is President of Trident Fund Services, one of the dedicated fund services offices of the global Trident Trust Group.  Trident’s 10 fund administration offices in the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Singapore, and the United States work with more than 500 private equity and hedge funds with assets in excess of $40 billion.  Dan began his career as an auditor with Arthur Andersen in Atlanta and graduated from Wake Forest University with a B.S. in Accountancy in 1991.

Mr. Amin joined Regions Securities LLC in 2013 and co-heads the Corporate and Leveraged Finance Group which includes loan syndications, fixed income, corporate finance advisory and financial sponsors coverage.  He has 20 years of investment banking and capital raising experience having completed over 150 leveraged finance transactions collectively raising over $40 billion in capital for corporate and private equity clients.  He has significant experience raising senior, 2^nd lien, unitranche, private mezzanine debt, high yield and alternative capital for leveraged buyouts, acquisition financings as well as recapitalizations and restructurings across a variety of industry sectors. He has represented public and private companies on a variety of strategic and financial advisory assignments including leveraged buyouts and buy-side/sell-side M&A engagements. Prior to joining Regions, Mr. Amin was one of the founding members of Houlihan Lokey’s Capital Markets Group. He also managed Houlihan Lokey’s fixed income sales/trading alliance with Knight Capital, which served to bring enhanced distribution capabilities to Houlihan Lokey’s investment banking platform. Mr. Amin graduated from the George Mason University School of Management with a B.S. in Finance as an Outstanding Finance Scholar. He has also been recognized as a 40 under 40 investment banking professional by The M&A Advisor.

Rett’s practice focuses on helping his clients navigate the complicated process of mergers and acquisitions. In addition, he provides general counsel to business clients, advises them on ongoing transactional matters, and assists the owners of closely-held businesses with long-term succession planning. With an advanced degree in taxation, Rett is well-versed in sophisticated tax strategies and entity structuring techniques that benefit his clients. He regularly counsels clients on corporate, partnership, and related matters, including the negotiation and preparation of mergers and acquisitions agreements, the drafting of shareholders agreements, the formation of limited partnerships and limited liability companies, and the structuring of in-bound investment opportunities. In connection with advising the owners of closely-held businesses, Rett has developed a particular interest in the taxation of pass-through entities such as S-Corporations, partnerships, and trusts. Rett has successfully worked with international and domestic clients in areas of technology, health care, architectural and engineering services, agribusiness and manufacturing. Rett earned a B.A. degree in philosophy from Emory University in 2001. He received a J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2006, and an LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Florida in 2007.

Robin Samples is a Managing Director in BDO’s Transaction Advisory Services practice.  She has significant public accounting experience and more than 15 years of mergers and acquisitions, investigations, restructuring and financial advisory experience in a wide variety of industries, including manufacturing and distribution, healthcare, and technology. Robin has provided both buy-side and sell-side due diligence to private equity and strategic clients in transactions ranging from $10 million to $1 billion and focuses on the middle market.  Robin has worked closely with C-level executives on strategies to improve companies’ financial reporting and internal control weaknesses, and she has served as interim Chief Financial Officer during post-deal integration for various companies.

Mark joined VRA Partners in 2015. Prior to joining VRA, Mark worked as an Analyst and Associate at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York City, where he spent six years advising investment banking clients on capital raising and mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts and capital structure alternatives. Mark focused on the Consumer & Retail and Basic Materials industries, executing transactions in several sectors, including specialty retail, apparel, food & beverage, restaurants, consumer products, chemicals, paper & packaging, metals & mining and building products. During business school, Mark interned with the Mergers & Acquisitions team at Eastman Chemical Company based in Kingsport, TN. Prior to attending business school, he taught English for one year in Shanghai, China. Mark received a B.S./B.A. in Management & Accounting from Washington and Lee University in 2005 and an M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in 2012

Mark Doller is a Managing Director in Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s investment bank, based in Atlanta.  Mark is focused on clients in the southeast region of the US.  He has 15+ years of investment banking experience.  Mark started his banking career at Wachovia Securities, before spending the last 12 years at Citigroup, mostly in their Global Industrials investment banking group. He has been involved in over $50 billion in M&A transactions and over $30 billion in capital raisings. He has extensive experience in M&A advisory, ranging from large public cross-border deals to small domestic private deals. He also has executed a number of capital markets transactions, including several IPOs, convertibles, follow-on equity offerings and bond offerings. Prior to his banking career, Mark worked as a civil engineer for AMEC plc in Nashville.   He has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Kentucky and an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Nancy Halwig recently joined UCB as a Senior Vice President in the Atlanta/Buckhead Region.  UCB, has $11.9 Billion dollars in assets and is headquartered in Georgia with 156 branches located throughout Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. UCB is a full service national bank that provides competitive financial solutions and services to both companies and individuals. Nancy is responsible for development of new commercial banking relationships.  With extensive lending experience spanning several decades, Halwig has held several senior originator and management positions since moving to Atlanta 33 years ago. Her career spans PNC, UPS Global Supply Chain Finance, RBS Business Capital, Congress Financial/Wachovia Capital Finance, Bank of America, Kredietbank, NV, Citicorp Leveraged Finance, and American National Bank of Chicago.  A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Goucher College, Halwig received a bachelor’s degree and earned an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.  Halwig serves as a board member of the:  TMA, TAG Corporate Development, Atlanta Women’s Foundation, Alliance Theatre Advisory Board and remains an active leader with the ACG having recently served as 2017 Chair of the ACG Atlanta Capital Connection.  Halwig is also a long time member of the Southern Capital Forum and is a supporter and advocate sponsor of OnBoard. 

John Jadach is a Managing Director with LBC Credit Partners, responsible for sourcing, structuring and negotiating new investments in the Northeast and Southeast regions of the U.S. He has more than 21 years of experience in principal investing, investment banking, commercial lending and corporate risk management. John is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and Wharton Private Equity Partners. Prior to joining LBC, Mr. Jadach was with JP Morgan. He has his MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his BBA in Finance from Temple University

Bill Monroe is a Director in the Syndicated & Leveraged Finance group for SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. In this role, Mr. Monroe is primarily responsible for originating and structuring leveraged loan and high yield bond transactions for the company’s healthcare investment banking clients. He is based in Atlanta. Mr. Monroe joined SunTrust Robinson Humphrey in his current role in 2011. A 17-year veteran of the financial services industry, he previously was a Vice President with Fortress Group, Inc. in Atlanta focused on limited partnership placements for private equity clients. Mr. Monroe was also previously an Associate in the Syndicated & Leveraged Finance group of J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. in New York focused on structuring leveraged loan and high yield bond transactions for private equity clients across various industries. Prior to attending business school, from 2000 to 2004 he was a Commercial Banking Associate at SunTrust Banks, Inc. in Virginia and a consultant to banking institutions at Accenture Ltd. in North Carolina. Mr. Monroe earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Davidson College and a Master of Business Administration degree from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Tim is a native of Atlanta and has spent the past 12+ years supporting Middle Market clients ($25 mln to $3.0 bln revenue) throughout the Southeast.  In 2017, CIBC acquired Chicago-based The PrivateBank to build its US Region and now has 46 offices in 18 states, as well as the ability to provide cross-border banking services to clients with North American operations. Tim helps businesses find the appropriate capital structures and provide corporate finance solutions (cash flow loans for ownership changes, recapitalizations and growth transactions, asset based solutions, leveraged/structured finance solutions for private equity, private and publicly owned companies) and long-term relationship banking for companies in a wide variety of industries. Tim is an alumnus of Marist School (Atlanta), Loyola University (BBA- New Orleans) and Emory University (MBA- Atlanta).

Matt joined Marquette Business Credit in September 2012 and is currently a Senior Vice President/Business Development Officer covering the territory of Georgia, the Carolinas and the mid-Atlantic region. Prior to joining Marquette, Matt spent the previous 12 years as a Business Development Officer with First Capital and Guaranty Business Credit. Before joining the ABL industry, Matt spent a number of years in inventory finance with Transamerica and Conseco in a variety of positions including Credit Manager and Sales Manager. Matt is extensively active with the Commercial Finance Association (CFA), the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) and the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). Matt is a graduate from the University of Georgia with a degree in Finance.

Tom heads both Mergermarket and Dealreporter’s editorial operations across the Americas, overseeing the products’ combined team of more than 50 reporters across the region that specialize in M&A and capital markets coverage. As well as managing regional editors and hiring key staff, Tom is responsible for identifying new areas of coverage. In 2012 he notably launched our successful ECM product. Before becoming Dealreporter’s Asia editor in 2010, Tom was European deputy editor, where he headed ECM coverage and covered real estate and financial services. Prior to joining Mergermarket, Tom wrote on capital markets and private equity for a legal media organization in London. Mr. Cane holds a BA from Manchester University

Justin Ferrero has served as President of Sharecare, the digital health company helping people manage all their health in one place, since the company’s founding in October 2010. For the past 15 years, Ferrero has worked day-to-day with serial entrepreneur Jeff Arnold, Sharecare’s Chairman and CEO, overseeing all matters related to finance and corporate development for Arnold’s businesses. Ferrero has raised close to a half billion dollars and has bought, integrated and built nearly 20 businesses. As president, Ferrero is responsible for technology, finance, corporate development and strategic partnerships. Since Sharecare’s inception, Justin has led the acquisition and integration of nine companies and raised over $180 million in financing to help drive Sharecare’s long-term growth strategy. He is responsible for managing the company’s ongoing relationships with the financial community and is the principal interface with Sharecare’s board of directors on all financial matters. Before joining Sharecare, Justin was the EVP and CFO for HowStuffWorks, a leading, non-fiction website providing high-quality content, where he managed operations, finance and corporate development. While there, Justin secured over $150 million in financing, executed all strategic partnerships and ultimately helped orchestrate the sale of the business to Discovery Communications. Before HowStuffWorks, Justin was a partner and founding member of The Convex Group, a media and technology holding company that owned HowStuffWorks until its sale to Discovery. Prior to The Convex Group, Justin was a partner with the Conseco Private Capital Group, where he gained extensive experience in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate organization and governance.

Todd House is the former President - North America Fuel Cards at FLEETCOR (FLT), the leading global specialty business payment services provider. Prior to joining FLEETCOR, Todd built his career at two other highly successful, growth companies.  He started at Capital One (COF) in 1993 seeing it through its spin-off IPO, building its first subprime card business, and launching its entry into Canada and South Africa.  In 2005, Todd moved to Carmax (KMX), an innovative used car superstore and led the strategic functions within the auto finance division.  In 2009 he joined FLEETCOR as part of the executive team that successfully IPO’ed the company in 2010. He led the company's largest business unit, North America Fuel Cards, leading the $450mm division to double digit compound growth for 5 consecutive years through a focus on product innovation, sales strategy, and pricing optimization.  Todd left FLEETCOR in summer of 2017 to launch Abbey Road Capital, an investment firm focused on acquiring and transforming lower mid-market B2B services companies. Todd graduated from Wake Forest University.  He serves on the Board of Trustees at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, the Board of Visitors at Wake Forest, and is a member of YPO.

Technology has played a role in Kathryn Petralia's life since her parents gave her a TRS-80 computer at age nine. When Rob Frohwein shared his idea for Kabbage with Kathryn, she immediately saw the value in using technology to reexamine lending. She believed funding decisions could be automated based on access to real-time data generated by numerous business operations rather than a lengthy, manual process. Before co-founding Kabbage, Kathryn spent nearly 15 years working with large and small companies focused on credit, payments and ecommerce. An English major (and Kabbage's resident grammar expert), Kathryn returned to her interest in technology to launch a number of successful startups. As someone who camped her way down the west coast to launch a commerce startup in the mid-90s, Kathryn can appreciate the lengths to which small businesses have gone to access capital. She also served as Vice President of Strategy for Revolution Money, an Internet-based credit card startup, and was a corporate development executive with CompuCredit Corporation, where she was responsible for entering new markets, developing products and establishing strategic alliances.