2021 Healthcare: M&A Perspectives Across the Nation

Mr. Bradford is a Partner of Riata, serves on the firm’s Investment Committee, and focuses on providing operational and financial leadership to the firm’s portfolio companies. Mr. Bradford has served in various roles for Riata’s portfolio companies including advisor, CFO and Board member. Most recently, Mr. Bradford served as interim-CFO for Acuity Eyecare Group and is a Board Member for Smile Source. Prior to Riata, he was the Portfolio CFO for CIC Partners, a mid-market private equity firm based in Dallas, TX where he served as an operational advisor, interim manager and consultant to a number of CIC portfolio companies, focusing on areas such as financial restructuring, business plan development and execution, performance improvement, working capital management, recruitment of financial executives, and preparation of organizations and businesses for exit. Prior to CIC Partners, he was a Senior Vice President of Operations at Accretive Health, a healthcare revenue cycle management company that provided services to hospital systems. Previously, Mr. Bradford was a Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal, a global professional services firm that specializes in turnaround and interim management, performance improvement, and business advisory services. Earlier in his career, he worked as a senior associate in PricewaterhouseCooper’s Restructuring Practice and as a senior auditor for Arthur Andersen.

David H. Crean, Ph.D is a registered investment banker and Managing Director at Objective where he leads the firm’s Mergers and acquisitions (M&A), partnering, valuations, capital financing and strategic advisory transactions with life science and healthcare companies. Dr. Crean currently serves in leading roles on the Boards of Directors for Histogen, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSTO), the California Life Sciences Association (CLSA), and the Association for Corporate Growth San Diego. For his outstanding advisory work, Dr. Crean was recognized by San Diego Business Journal for SD500 Most Influential Business Leaders in 2019 and 2020, M&A Advisors for the 2019 Investment Banker of the Year, San Diego Business Journal’s 2018 Healthcare Hero, 2017 Thought Leader of the Year and 2017 Advisor of the Year Awards. Dr. Crean holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) Degree with a finance concentration from Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Management. Additionally, he holds a Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Degree in Biophysics and a Masters of Science (MS) Degree in Oncology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Crean also earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) Degree in Biology/ Pre-Med from Canisius College.

Scott Ellyson has 25+ years of experience as an executive, investment banker and consultant and he is currently the Founder of Clarity Performance Partners, a management consulting firm that provides strategic consulting, executive coaching, outsourced executive management, corporate development and process improvement services to growing healthcare clients across the country. His experience encompasses numerous senior executive and advisory roles across the healthcare, technology and insurance industries. Scott has served in C-suite executive and strategic consulting roles for a number of different private equity-backed organizations in the skilled nursing, home health/hospice, physician practice management, dental practice management, vision care, managed care and technology industries. Prior to founding Clarity, Scott was the CFO of Harden Healthcare, growing the organization from $150MM of revenue to $900MM through numerous acquisitions and strong organic growth over the span of five years. Prior to Scott’s CFO roles, he was a senior investment banker for 10 years in Houlihan Lokey’s investment banking group, where he led numerous M&A, financing and restructuring engagements; was a senior consultant in KPMG’s Transaction Services Group; and was a Controller for Tenet Physician Services - Texas.

Becky Gregg is a director at Brentwood Capital Advisors, a middle-market investment bank that provides M&A and capital raising advisory for healthcare, technology and tech-enabled services companies. Prior to joining Brentwood Capital, Becky worked as an analyst in the Debt Capital Markets group of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Becky earned a B.A., summa cum laude, in Economics from Vanderbilt University, where she also minored in Mathematics and Corporate Strategy. Becky lives in Houston, TX with her husband and two children.

Grant Jackson, is Managing General Partner of Council Capital, a healthcare-focused private equity firm based in Nashville, TN, which he joined in 2009. Grant has focused entirely on private equity investing in the healthcare services and healthcare IT sectors since 2001. Prior to joining Council, Grant led healthcare services and healthcare IT investing for The Aurora Funds and First Analysis Corporation. He began his career with Accenture helping companies evaluate and integrate acquisitions, following which he graduated with distinction as a Siebel Scholar from the Kellogg School of Management.

Nicolas Lopez joined HCAP Partners in 2013 and is responsible for originating, structuring, closing, and monitoring portfolio investments. He has been instrumental in the firm’s investments into twelve companies, many of which achieved fast growth and realized significant value for shareholders and employees. Nicolas is currently a board member of HCAP Partners portfolio companies Lone Star Analysis and DYPER™ and board observer at 83bar. He was previously a board member at Mission Healthcare and a participant in ACG San Diego’s recent virtual panel event Impact Investing: HCAP Partners’ Investment in Mission Healthcare. Nicolas attended the University of Southern California, earning an M.B.A. and San Diego State University, earning a B.S. in Business Administration. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Mike is a Vice President in the Raymond James Health Care Investment Banking Group. He has more than eight years of experience in investment banking and private equity. Mike rejoined Raymond James in 2017 and advises health care services clients in mergers and acquisitions and private and public financings. He previously worked as an Associate at Pharos Capital Group, a middle market private equity firm focused on health care services investments. Prior to joining Pharos, Mike was an Analyst in the Raymond James Health Care Investment Banking Group. Mike earned his B.A. in Economics and Spanish from Vanderbilt University.

Experienced Audit Senior Manager with more than 8 years of experience auditing and assisting healthcare providers. Expertise includes multiple years of experience working with private equity backed healthcare entities with complex US GAAP accounting issues from initial transaction through exit, as well as governmental and not for profit healthcare systems.
Member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), and the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). 

Tatjana Paterno is an M&A Partner at Bass, Berry & Sims, PLC and focuses on lower middle market acquisition and disposition transactions, particularly in the healthcare sector where she can bring to the table the experience of her firm, which is the third largest healthcare law firm in the country. To date, Tatjana has advised clients in M&A transactions valued at over $20 billion in the aggregate. She is a frequent speaker on M&A topics and serves as a Chair of the American Bar Association’s “Private Target Deal Points Study,” which has been widely recognized as the gold standard for market metrics of key negotiated legal issues in M&A agreements.