South Florida Women Connect Webinar: Changing Business Landscape of Florida

Margery Fischbein, managing director of the healthcare practice at Cassel Salpeter & Co., is a highly experienced investment banker and corporate executive with particular expertise in biotechnology and other sectors of the healthcare industry.  Margery has worked with clients ranging in size from large multinational healthcare companies to small cap, emerging growth public and private biotechnology companies.  Margery has also served as head of business development and strategy for two leading biotechnology companies.

Margery has successfully led numerous mergers and acquisitions, licensing, and public and private financing transactions for healthcare companies.  She has also worked on strategic advisory and valuation projects for life sciences, medical technology, and healthcare IT/artificial intelligence companies.

Prior to joining Cassel Salpeter, Margery was Head of Healthcare Investment Banking for Seaport Global and FBR & Co., and Head of East Coast Biotechnology Investment Banking for JMP Securities.  Margery held senior executive positions with Human Genome Sciences and ImClone Systems, who were leaders in their field until being acquired by GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly and Company, respectively.  Margery started her investment banking career at Lehman Brothers (where she rose to Senior Vice President) and was then a Managing Director of Investment Banking at JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup.

Ms. Lansky is a Vice President at Blue Sea Capital. Erin assists with identifying, evaluating and executing investment opportunities as well as providing ongoing support to the firm’s portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Blue Sea Capital, Erin was a Vice President at RoundTable Healthcare Partners, an operating-oriented healthcare private equity firm. Prior to RoundTable, Erin was an investor with BDT Capital Partners and GTCR’s Healthcare team in Chicago. She began her career in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York.

In her spare time, Erin leads her Class’ alumni fundraising for the Dartmouth College Fund, which supports student financial aid, and volunteers with Minds Matter, preparing high school students from underserved communities for college success.

Kelly L. Smallridge is President and CEO of Palm Beach County’s public/private economic development agency, the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County (BDB) where she has worked for 32 years.    She serves as the longest tenured economic development President in the State of Florida and has a solid track record in facilitating some of the largest job creation projects for Palm Beach County.  In 2013, Governor Rick Scott awarded Kelly with the Governor’s Ambassador Medal recognizing her hard work in creating jobs in Palm Beach County.

Kelly oversees all operations of the Business Development Board which is one of only two Accredited Economic Development Boards in the State of Florida. In 2004, she became the first female President of a South Florida economic development board after serving in many different capacities within the organization including the lead role for the Recruitment, Retention and Expansion from 1988-2004.   In addition, she serves as Chair of the Florida Economic Development Council and as a director of the following boards: Enterprise Florida, Urban Land Institute, Florida Economic Development Council, South Florida Fair, the Homeless Coalition, and The Education Foundation.

In 2013 and 2019, she was featured on Fox News, CNBC and the NY Post touting the assets of Palm Beach County and her vision for “Wall Street South.” Under her leadership, the BDB received numerous state and national awards for its work in recruiting and expanding companies to Palm Beach County.  Kelly played a lead role in facilitating two of the world’s largest bioscience organizations to the state: The Scripps Research Institute from San Diego and the Max Planck Society from Germany.  Her aggressive style in landing relocations and expansions has led to big announcements of jobs for this county from companies like United Technologies, Amazon, ADT, Pratt & Whitney, G4S, Fed Ex, Sikorsky Helicopters, Aldi, and TBC Corporation to name a few. 

Kelly is also credited with creating several new programs for Palm Beach County: the first Expedited Permitting Ordinance which was adopted by 15 cities in Palm Beach County; a countywide “Shovel Ready” program to identify sites ready for construction within 12 months as well as an Education Initiative which provides a one-stop resource for CEOs to find public, private, charter and faith-based schools when deciding to relocate.

Awards and Recognition:
- Ambassador’s Medal by Governor Rick Scott
- “Florida’s 500 Most Influential Business Leaders” by Florida Trend
- “Top 40 Business Leader” by South Florida CEO
- “Small Business Leader of the Year” by the Sun Sentinel
- “Palm Beach County Public Schools Distinguished Alumni Award” by the Education Foundation
- “Top 40 Influential Business Leader” by Palm Beacher Magazine
- “Ultimate CEO” by the South Florida Business Journal

Kelly graduated from the University of Florida.  She has three sons and resides in Wellington.

Jacy has 10 years of experience in public accounting, specializing in partnership tax compliance and consulting. Jacy’s focus area has been the wealth and asset management space, working with hedge fund and private equity fund clients. She also has experience working with a luxury fitness company and their lifestyle brands, managing a restructuring project and the tax implications involved. Jacy’s experience includes calculating a partnership’s taxable income and partner allocations, determining multistate and international filing requirements, managing investor requests, and corresponding with federal and state agencies on behalf of the client.

Professional qualifications and memberships

• Member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Education

• MS in Accounting, University of Florida
• BS in Accounting, University of Florida

Gretchen Perkins is a Partner at Avance Investment Management, LLC, and is responsible for sourcing investment opportunities both for the firm and for portfolio companies. Ms. Perkins brings over 20 years of sourcing and business development experience, having created and implemented successful business development organizations and programs at her two prior firms: Huron Capital and Long Point Capital, in addition to many prior years in a variety of financial services and consulting roles.

She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan. Gretchen has been an active member of the Association for Corporate Growth for over twenty years, having held multiple board and leadership positions in the ACG at the chapter and national levels. Gretchen will Chair the ACG Intergrowth national conference in 2022. Ms. Perkins is also involved in multiple non-profit endeavors, including the following organizations: Endeavor Detroit, Detroit Police Athletic League, United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan, and 100 Businesses Who Care. Ms. Perkins resides in Florida and has two grown children.