ACG NJ Breakfast Program: Path to Board

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Moderator, Yelena Dunaevsky, SVP, National Leader, SPAC Practice, Gallagher
Yelena is a securities attorney and M&A and D&O insurance broker with over 20 years of experience in law, publishing and insurance industries. Her areas of expertise include representations and warranties insurance (RWI) and D&O insurance for public companies and companies going public through an IPO, including SPACs and De-SPACs.

Yelena is a frequent speaker and author and has been featured in many publications including S&P Global, Yahoo Finance, Reuters, Investment News Today, Business Law Today, Law360, CFO.com, Business Journal, Deal Flow and Bloomberg. 

She is the M&A Executive Editor of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Today and from 2020 to 2026 was the Executive Editor of the SPAC Notebook, a blog series that covered SPACs and SPAC risks. She also serves on the advisory board of ACG NJ and co-chairs its membership committee.

In 2022, Yelena was named in Insurance Business America's "Hot 100," which lists top professionals whose contributions have helped shape the insurance industry. Yelena also received the JD Supra “Readers’ Choice” and “Top Read Article” Awards for her M&A articles in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. 

Prior to Woodruff Sawyer, Yelena practiced as a senior capital markets associate at Clifford Chance and a corporate associate at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae (later Dewey & LeBoeuf) and earned her BS in Economics from Cornell University and her JD from Fordham University School of Law.

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Rimma Driscoll, Executive Vice President, Global Strategy, Portfolio Marketing, Business Development, and Platinum Performance, Zoetis

Rimma Driscoll is Executive Vice President, Global Strategy, Portfolio Marketing, Business Development, and Platinum Performance at Zoetis, the world’s leading animal health company and a member of the Fortune 500. 

In this role, Ms. Driscoll leads a diverse portfolio of global teams that span both innovation-enabling functions and commercial operations. Her responsibilities include oversight of Global Strategy, Portfolio Marketing, Business Development, Business Integration, External Innovation, Strategic Alliances, and Medical Affairs, as well as Zoetis’ Platinum Performance commercial business. Together, these teams sit at the intersection of long-term growth strategy and near-term business execution, giving Ms. Driscoll a unique vantage point across the company’s R&D pipeline, deal-making engine, and global market development efforts. 

Ms. Driscoll joined Zoetis in 2016 as Vice President of Business Development. Under her leadership, Zoetis has successfully completed key acquisitions and partnerships to accelerate the company’s geographic expansion and growth in areas such as diagnostics, precision animal health and genetics. In addition, she has partnered across the business to advance innovation and identify investment opportunities that complement and strengthen the company’s product portfolio in various therapeutic areas. 

Prior to joining Zoetis, Ms. Driscoll spent 21 years at Procter & Gamble where she led global business development and strategic alliances across multiple businesses in pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare, beauty care, and new business ventures. Her global expertise spanned a broad range of transactions from acquisitions to strategic alliances, joint ventures, partnerships and divestitures. 

Ms. Driscoll is a board member of Dexcom, the global leader in continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), and Pumpkin Insurance, a preventive care and pet insurance provider in which Zoetis has a minority stake. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Bowling Green State University and earned a Master of Business Administration from Xavier University.

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Michael Mardy, Independent Director / Board Advisor, Vince Holding Corp. 

Mike is an experienced Board advisor and is an SEC and Governance expert, having served on Boards both public and private for the past 24 years, and has taken two companies through the IPO process.

Mike was, most recently, the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Board Director of Tumi Holdings (NYSE:TUMI), a retailer of prestige luggage and travel accessories. Mike had been with Tumi since 2003, and led the IPO process in April of 2012. Tumi was sold to Samsonite in August of 2016. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Directors of Vince Holdings ( NYSE: VINCE) , where he serves as Chairman and Audit Committee Chair. He also serves as Audit Committee Chairman of the Eastern Company (NASDAQ: EML), a manufacturer of Transportation, Automotive, and Security devices. In addition, Mike serves on the Board of Newman’s Own Food Company, where he serves as Audit Committee Chairman. He is a board advisor to the Lion Brand Wool and Yarn Company. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Penn/Princeton Hospital and is a Trustee of the New Jersey  Chapter of the Financial Executives Institute. 

Mike has held several board positions during his career including  Lulu’s Fashion Lounge ( NASDAQ:LVLU) serving as AC Chair ,True Leaf Brands (NASDAQ: TRLFF), David’s Tea (NASDAQ:DTEA), where he served as Audit Committee Chair and Governance Chair. He has  served on the Board of Directors of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) where he had served as audit committee chair and a member of the compensation committee (2006-2016). He had previously served as Interim Chairman of the Board at GMCR. Read full bio here.

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Sheryl Schwartz, Independent Director

Sheryl Schwartz is an accomplished asset management executive, institutional investor, and seasoned board member who has built and led teams and new asset classes for major institutional investors including 40 Act and Alternative Investment products.  A highly respected investment executive and senior leader with over 30 years of experience leading and managing teams and multi-billion-dollar portfolios across private equity, credit, mezzanine, and real assets. Expertise in portfolio management, strategy, corporate governance, marketing and new product development including 40 Act products. 

Ms. Schwartz is an experienced board member across both public and private companies, including her role on the boards of several Apollo Funds, Cartesian Growth Corporation II (Nasdaq: RENEF), Energy Transition Special Opportunities (NYSE: ETSS) and Gaia REIT. She serves on the Audit and Nominating and Governance Committees and is a Qualified Financial Expert and able to serve as the Audit Committee Chair.  On Boards, she provides advice on strategy, growth, conflicts, risk management, regulatory approvals, human capital management and organizational decisions, acquisitions, investments, sustainability and financial matters.  Over the course of her career as a lead investor and financial services executive, she has developed financial acumen across asset classes, with deep sector expertise in alternatives, private equity and credit/fixed income and the democratization trend. 

From 2020 to 2025, Ms. Schwartz served as the Chief Investment Officer at ALTI, an asset management platform formed with the goal of giving individual investors access to institutional quality private equity through the creation of 40 Act products. From 2013 to 2020, she served as Managing Director at Caspian Private Equity, where she led teams and developed a strong track record in fund selection, co-investments, and ESG integration and from 2010 to 2013 as MD at Perseus, a mezzanine debt fund.  Previously, she was Managing Director at TIAA Financial Services, where she led the firm’s global private markets strategy, overseeing more than $13 billion in commitments to Alternative Investments and built one of the industry’s most diverse investment teams and portfolios. 

Sheryl is also on the Board of a women’s private equity mentoring organization (“WAVE”), has a longstanding membership in PEWIN and is an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Gabelli School of business.    Amongst her many accolades, Sheryl has been recognized by Merger and Acquisitions Magazine “Most Influential Women in the Mid-Market M&A” in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026; The Wall Street Journal’s  “Six of Private Equity’s Most Influential Gatekeepers” in 2017;   Directors & Boards: 2025 Directors to Watch ;  The Agenda Future 50 List  2025: Board ready candidates for tomorrow’s toughest challenges and is a member of the NYSE Board Candidate network.  Ms. Schwartz holds a B.S. and M.B.A in Finance and Management from the Stern School of Business at New York University. 

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Melissa Skrocki, Shareholder, Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla, P.C.

Melissa is a shareholder in our Corporate and Intellectual Property practice groups.   Her blended practice allows her to counsel business clients through various corporate transactions with an eye towards protecting, leveraging and maintaining IP assets of the company. Melissa's business law practice includes the representation of clients in mergers and acquisitions, asset sales, contract negotiations, confidentiality agreements, organization and formation of business entities, shareholder agreements, operating agreements and general contract negotiations. Melissa has expertise in assisting women and minority owned business clients with state, federal and private M/WBE certification and renewal. 

In connection with the firm's Intellectual Property and Technology practice, Melissa advises clients with regard to state, federal and international trademark matters such as availability searches, registrations and maintenance of trademarks. She also counsels clients with regard to domain name disputes, privacy and use policies and other Internet related matters. She is well versed in the intricacies of federal copyright law and licensing agreements.

Having a broad reach of corporate law along with intellectual property knowledge, Melissa believes in a value-added approach to her practice and often works closely with the various practice groups within Giordano.  Melissa is the chair of the Associate Mentor Program at GH&C and serves on the boards for the Association of Corporate Growth of NJ, Business Law Section of the New Jersey Bar Association and EasterSeals NJ.  She was the recipient of the 2017 ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award, which is awarded to an individual who demonstrates excellence in their profession, devotes time and energy to community outreach and provides mentorship to others.