"CD Forum" is a quarterly dinner meeting/ discussion forum for Corporate Development Officers (CDOs) and other M&A, Transactional and Strategy executives, generally from larger corporations. Over the 15 years of the Forum more than 200 CDO's have attended, with many current "regulars." A typical dinner discussion group has a CDO leading the discussion on an important topic of interest, with 15 to 25 CDOs attending.
Value proposition: This exclusive, strictly peer-to-peer, meeting is an excellent forum for Corporate Development Officers and other corporate transactional executives to share experiences and best practices while developing relationships in a convenient, enjoyable and relaxing setting.
Testimonials:
"Since its inception, over 10 years ago, the CD Forum has been for me a great vehicle for exchanging ideas and insights with many other CD executives." Joe Dunning, Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions, J.M. Huber Corporation.
"The CD Forum is an intimate and valuable venue for business development professionals to discuss openly topical issues and best practices, and to network for new ideas. I have developed relationships with high-level colleagues from other companies here who I never would have met otherwise," George Koutsaftes, Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions, Honeywell Specialty Materials.
Attendees: Prior attendees of the CD Forum include Hercules Angelatos, SVP-Administration/Finance, Hapag-Lloyd (America); David Blaskey, SVP, Development & Integration, Avis Budget Group; Brian Buchert, Director, Corporate Strategy and M&A, Church & Dwight; Pierce Cleary, Manager of Business Development, Metal Improvement Co., Subsidiary of Curtiss-Wright; Pat Fetaya, New Business Development, Ethicon, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson Company; Kevin Kilroy, Head of Business Planning, RBU NA, Linde Group; Mitch Koppelman, VP, M&A & Planning, Minerals Technologies; John Lillis, VP, Acquisitions and Strategic Alliances, Pitney Bowes Management Services; Bob Lurie, VP North American Business Development, Ocean Power Technologies; Koshi Okamoto, Executive Director, Corporate Business Development, Hitachi Metals America; Laurent Paty, Director of Customer Programs and Market Development, Petra Solar; and Rick Surett, SVP, Financial Planning & Analysis, Ports America.
The CD Forums are kindly supported by IntraLinks and EisnerAmper LLP and Gibbons P.C. and Woodruff Sawyer
2024 Forum Dinners:
May 16, 2024 - 5:30 to 8:30pm
Jonathan Farb, Co-Founder of ListenFirst, will lead a group discussion on “A Co-Founder’s Perspectives on a 2018 Private Equity Recap followed by the 2024 PE Exit Sale to a Large Strategic”.
Jonathan Farb has had a very exciting ride over the last 12 years. In 2012, he co-founded ListenFirst. Six years later, in 2018, they sold the majority stake to PE firm, Frontier Capital, now Frontier Growth, for a combination of growth capital and some chips off the table. Jon stayed on with equity as Chief Product Officer and COO to work closely with the management team and private equity partner. Over the next six years, the company enjoyed significant growth as it went through various transformations. Finally, just this March, the PE along with the minority shareholders, including Jon, sold 100% of the business to publicly listed, large strategic, Quintype Technologies Pvt Ltd. Jon played significant roles in both the 2018 PE recap as well as the March 2024 strategic sale.
At our meeting, Jon plans to share with the group his experiences and insights from his successful 12-year ride from the perspective of an entrepreneur, senior executive and stakeholder in an exciting back-and-forth group discussion.
For more information, contact lhalstead@acg.org PLEASE NOTE: If you are qualified to attend this forum, please register via the link in the email invitation or email lhalstead@acg.org. This event is invitation-only and therefor the registration link is not public on the website. Click for Covid Policy/Protocol
INTERESTED IN SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES? Contact Lou Halstead (lhalstead@acg.org) or Diane McLevy (dmclevy@acg.org) to learn more.
Click on the following link to view the ACG NJ CD Sponsors Package: ACG NJ CD Forum Sponsorship Packages