ACG Boston | C-Series Breakfast: Food & Beverage Industry Update (Virtual)

Ben is known as a three-tier executive with experience in private equity investment, financial advisory, and transactions. Leveraging an established network of relationships with capital providers, investment bankers, and business owners/founders, Ben has invested, managed and advised on more than $2B for mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures.

Ben joined CrossCountry’s Private Equity practice in their Boston office to help lead a dedicated team focusing on the needs of private equity firms throughout the country. In this role, Ben utilizes his deep industry knowledge and expertise in improving the finance function of companies to provide an integrated approach to working with private equity firms and their portfolio companies throughout the fund and transaction life cycle. 

Prior to joining CrossCountry, Ben was a Managing Director for Accordion Partners, focusing on finanancial consulting to private equity and VC firms, and as a National Director with Grant Thornton, he spearheaded their entry into the private equity space. In 2012, Ben founded Hyde Investment Group to invest in and grow franchised businesses in beauty, health, and wellness.Earlier in his career, Ben launched a $100M+ private equity firm that invested $500M in total capital for mid-tier deals.

Ben earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business and his Bachelors degree in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School.

Andrew Crain is a Partner at Mirus Capital Advisors, a middle market Boston investment bank focused on mergers & acquisitions for successful business owners, private equity funds, and public company boards.  An investment banker since 2005, Andy leads the Food & Beverage practice at Mirus and also advises other consumer products, manufacturing, healthcare, and technology companies throughout New England and globally.

Prior to Mirus Andy was a fifth-generation owner and CEO of his family’s food manufacturing business, The Whipple Company, which he led for more than a decade and then sold in 2004 before making the transition to investment banking. He began his career as a corporate attorney at Foley Hoag LLP.

Andy has been a featured presenter about his experiences owning and advising family businesses, speaking and writing for organizations including the Association for Corporate Growth, the Northeastern University Center for Family Business, the UMass Family Business Center, and the Exit Planning Exchange.  He is a graduate of Williams College and the University of Michigan Law School, and is a FINRA registered securities principal with Series 7, 24, 63, 79 & 99 licenses. In addition to his professional activities, for over 30 years Andy has performed with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in concerts, recordings and broadcasts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops and is a 2009 Grammy Award winner.

A pioneer in the grass-fed beef movement, Verde was founded by Dana Ehrlich in 2005 with a mission to bring 100% grass-fed beef to everyone for its uniquely delicious flavor, health and environmental benefits. Today, Verde is the leading U.S. provider of USDA certified Organic 100% grass-fed and 100% free-range beef for grocery retail, club, and foodservice channels. Dana’s path from silicon valley engineer to beef company CEO began with a trip to Buenos Aires in 2004 during his MBA program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

After working in product management roles at Intel and Net-App, Dana had returned to school with the dream of starting his own business. While his original plan was to start an adventure travel company, he found his inspiration for Verde during a visit to a working cattle farm in the lush lowland pastures of South America. It was there he saw firsthand how the timeless gaucho tradition of raising cattle on grasslands stood in stark contrast to the conventional American beef feedlot industry. The beef he ate that day had a flavor unlike any he had before and as he learned more about the environmental, animal welfare and nutritional benefits of 100% grass-fed, 100% pasture raised beef, his inspiration turned into action.

Prior to earning his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Dana graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Management & Technology program with dual degrees in chemical engineering and product development. In 2016, Dana was honored as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year, New England region. Dana is a long time member of the Meat Importers Council of America (MICA) where he currently serves on the Beef Checkoff And the Food Safety, Government, Industry and Trade Policy committees. He was also nominated by MICA to represent meat importers on the Cattleman’s Beef Board where he also serves on the Consumer Trust Committee. Dana lives with his wife, Noemy, and their two children in Newton, MA. He is an avid triathlete and traveler who loves to share photos from his journeys—especially of the meals he enjoys.

Caio is a seasoned investment professional with over 10 years of food & agriculture experience in corporate development, private equity and venture capital. He has developed his career throughout North America, Latin America and Asia in organizations such as The Blackstone Group / Patria Investments, Cargill Inc., and most recently at Hancock Natural Resource Group, leading transactions for the strategy of investing in vertically integrated agricultural operations.