Steering Committee

Board Member and Business Development Executive with over 20 years experience of successfully launching new businesses and service lines, increasing sales revenue, expanding into new markets, leading executive teams and board of directors, driving growth, leveraging a powerful network, and building effective partnerships. Her breadth of experience spans a variety of industries including: technology, healthcare, engineering, construction, finance/accounting, management consulting, staffing, executive services, venture capital and private equity. She currently serves as the Chief Revenue Officer at Kranz & Associates, a finance consulting firm serving venture capital funds and companies from seed stage through exit. She is Chairwoman at Siembra, an education technology start-up and Strategic Advisor at BoardLeaders. A refugee of Vietnam's Fall of Saigon, she believes in giving back to the community and serves on the Board of Asian Pacific Fund, University of San Francisco Center for Asia Pacific Studies, How Women Lead, and Association for Corporate Growth Global.

Christina holds a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Affairs and French from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in corporate finance from Johns Hopkins University. She was awarded “Most Influential Women in Business” in 2016 and 2017 in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times. Christina has Co-Chaired the Association for Corporate Growth’s M&A West Coast Conference seven years in a row from 2012-2019 and Co-Chaired Women On Boards 2020 Conference in San Francisco in 2017-2019.

Richard McDerby is a venture capital and emerging companies partner and is based in the firm’s San Francisco office. For nearly two decades, Rich has worked closely with venture capital and emerging companies as a lawyer and entrepreneur. His practice spans the full array of corporate and commercial matters that midsize businesses and emerging growth companies encounter—including mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital financing, and business transactions—as well as outside general counsel services. Guiding business owners and senior managers to develop transaction strategies, Rich provides practical business advice—not just rigid legal advice—to his clients.

Skilled in advising startup and venture-backed companies through all stages of the complex and evolving life cycle, from formation and funding through strategic sales, Rich has acted for midsize companies in large, complex mergers and acquisitions. He has also successfully managed teams of attorneys working on time-critical transactions, and has worked on transactions across North America as well as in England and Australia. Prior to joining Manatt, Rich was a founding partner at a San Francisco-based boutique business law firm serving emerging growth and midsize businesses in corporate and commercial transactions. Earlier, Rich ran a law firm in San Francisco and, prior to that, worked as a corporate/commercial group attorney for a top-tier national law firm in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Walter O’Haire is Managing Director in the firm’s Valuation Advisory group, with an emphasis on business development. He works with private equity firms, merger and acquisition (M&A) lawyers, integration specialists, and other service providers. He has 10 years of experience assisting private equity clients in finding the right valuation services in a variety of matters. Walter has over 20 years of experience in M&A-related financial services.

Walter works closely with private equity firms, Business Development Companies (BDCs), hedge funds, and public companies, with a focus on purchase price allocation (ASC 805), portfolio valuations (ASC 820), and fairness and solvency opinions. Walter is actively involved with the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) as a board member in the San Francisco Chapter. He is also a board member of the ACG Global Board of Directors, the board overseeing the 57 ACG Chapters nationally and internationally.

Prior to joining Stout, Walter was Managing Director of Valuation Research Corporation (VRC). Walter began his career as an attorney working in the M&A group of Perkins Coie in its San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices. Thereafter, he joined Piper Jaffray as an investment banker and then migrated to assist U.S. Bank’s Corporate Payments division in sourcing and acquiring acquisitions for U.S. Bank. He also served as an industry specialist at Celent, which is now part of Oliver Wyman.