ACG New England Fall Conference 2017

Dave McLaughlin is General Manager for Eastern US and Canada. Prior to joining WeWork, Mr. McLaughlin was Founder and CEO at Vsnap, a video messaging startup (acquired by Gainsight). Previously, he co-founded and served as VP Business Development for FigCard, a mobile payments startup (acquired by PayPal). In addition to his own ventures, Mr. McLaughlin has played an important role in the development of Boston's renowned startup ecosystem, first within the administration of former Boston mayor, the Honorable Thomas M. Menino, and later as the Co-founder & Executive Director of Boston World Partnerships, a public-private partnership that pioneered the application of web 2.0 tools and tactics to the advancement of economic development goals. Mr. McLaughlin is also an award-winning filmmaker. He is a graduate of Boston College and lives in the Boston area with his wife and their two sons.

Ramsey W. Goodrich is a Managing Partner at Carter Morse & Mathias and brings more than 25 years of experience advising entrepreneurs, business owners and corporate executives of privately held middle market companies on strategies to maximize shareholder value through M&A and capital transactions. Over the course of his career, Mr. Goodrich has advised on nearly 100 transactions totaling more than $3.5 billion in value.

Outside of the office, Mr. Goodrich is the current Chairman of the Exit Planning Exchange – TriState Region (2015 – Present), President of XPX Connecticut (XPX-CT) chapter (2014 – Present) and Chairman Emeritus (2012 – Present) and Past President (2005-2011) of the Connecticut Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG-CT). He was also a Global Board Member for the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG Global – 2013-2016) where he was involved with a major strategic planning effort. He is an active speaker on M&A and Capital transactions, having given dozens of presentations to corporations, associations and trade organizations and is a regular speaker at industry conferences around the country.

Prior to joining Carter Morse & Mathias more than a decade ago, Mr. Goodrich was a Managing Director of Spinnaker Group Capital Advisors LLC, an investment banking firm based in Darien, Connecticut and was a Vice President of E&Y Corporate Finance, an affiliate of Ernst & Young, in their M&A and capital markets and co-founded the financial sponsors group. During his career, he has also held various advisory positions at Banque Paribas and Chase Manhattan Bank (nka JP Morgan Chase).

Mr. Goodrich received his Master of Business Administration degree from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University, triple majoring in Finance, International Business and Management, and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from St. Lawrence University. He also completed MBA graduate studies in international business administration at the Institut Superieur des Affaires (ISA) at L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in France. Mr. Goodrich holds his NASD Series 7, 24, 63 and 79 securities licenses.

He is also an active volunteer with the Connecticut Challenge (cancer survivorship), Fairfield Youth Lacrosse (board member and head coach) and Okemo Mountain Alpine Racing Association.

Since joining the firm in 2007, Mr. Hannafin has been active in all of de Visscher & Co.’s corporate finance activities including debt and equity financings, recapitalizations, restructurings, mergers & acquisitions, management buyouts, and direct investments.  Mr. Hannafin is also actively involved the firm’s consulting projects, having assisted many prominent business-owning families by structuring and implementing innovative capital, liquidity and governance programs.  He has worked closely with clients across a diverse range of industries including manufacturing, financial services, healthcare services, education, energy and consumer products.

In 2010, Mr. Hannafin was instrumental in developing “Family Capital Partners” as a network of Single Family Offices to make direct co-investments with other families. “Families Investing in Families®”.

In addition, Mr. Hannafin oversees certain investments in Family Capital Growth Partners, de Visscher & Co.’s affiliated private equity fund established in 1998.  In 2012, Mr. Hannafin led the successful realizations of two of the fund’s portfolio investments - Olympia Chimney Supply and BlessingWhite.  Currently, Mr. Hannafin serves on the Board of Directors of Velocity Print Solutions.  

Mr. Hannafin is a member of the Family Firm Institute, a leading international membership association for professionals serving the family enterprise field, from where he holds a certificate in Family Business Advising.  

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Hannafin was a Manager in a Strategy & Business Development Group at American Express.  He started his career as an analyst at Morgan Stanley.  Mr. Hannafin holds a BS in Finance from Boston College where he was a member of its NCAA football team.   

Mr. Hannafin resides in Connecticut with his wife and three children.

Prior to joining Lineage in 2007, Erik was a Principal at Metapoint Partners, where he was responsible for sourcing and executing new acquisition opportunities. Previously, Erik worked at Corporate Decisions, Inc. and Mercer Management Consulting, working on strategic advisory cases as well as due diligence projects for private equity firms, and began his career with Continental Bank and Bank of America arranging financings for privately owned businesses. Erik earned an A.B. in Economics from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Martin is a Managing Director at Berkery Noyes, where he primarily assists clients with raising growth capital in the debt and equity markets. He also provides M&A advisory services to companies throughout the middle market. 

Over a 30 year investment banking career, Martin has advised clients in the technology, media, telecommunications, financial services, healthcare, and business services industries, among others. Before joining Berkery Noyes, Martin was a Managing Director at Carter Morse & Mathias, a boutique investment bank. Prior to this, Martin was Group Head of Private Capital at Trenwith Group, the investment banking arm of BDO Seidman, where he was responsible for placing debt and equity with institutional investors. His additional experience includes the investment banking groups of UBS, PaineWebber, and Unterberg Towbin, and the brokerage group of Drexel Burnham. He was also co-founder of the Sandhurst Collateralized Return Fund, a hedge fund specializing in collateralized debt instruments.

Martin currently serves as a mentor at the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, a program that helps entrepreneurs and innovators at Yale start scalable new ventures with programs, workshops, events and funding and as an Expert with the CEO Trust, a by-invitation organization and platform for CEOs who come together to help each other with camaraderie, counsel and referrals. He is on the board of the Exit Planning Exchange – NYC chapter and is a member of Vistage, a membership organization for CEOs, business owners and executives. Martin has been a director of Misonix, Inc., a publicly traded medical device company, and Investment Governance, a private information services company. He is a former member of the Darien, CT Representative Town Meeting.

Martin holds a BA in Political Science from Union College and an MBA in Finance from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Bill is a Managing Director based in H.I.G.'s Boston office. Since joining the firm in 2003, he has been responsible for all aspects of the investment process, including sourcing, transaction structuring, financing, and execution of post-closing growth strategies. Bill has led investments in a number of industries including distribution, healthcare, business services and manufacturing, and currently serves on the board of directors of several H.I.G. companies.

Prior to joining H.I.G., Bill was with Bain & Company, a leading management and strategy consulting firm. While at Bain, Bill advised a variety of Fortune 100 and Private Equity clients across a range of industries including consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing. His clients' needs included revenue growth initiatives, cost savings programs, acquisition analysis, and merger integration. Prior to Bain, Bill spent a number of years with Arthur Andersen Business Consulting, where he advised lower middle market companies across a variety of industries on operations and technology initiatives.

Bill earned an MBA from Harvard Business School with High Honors as a Baker Scholar. He earned his undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering from Villanova University.

Todd is a Managing Director in the Boston office of H.I.G. Capital. Since joining the firm in 2009, he has been responsible for evaluating and executing new investment opportunities, as well as working with portfolio companies. Todd has nearly 20 years of experience investing in middle market private equity transactions and has worked on investments in a broad range of industries, including building products, business services, enterprise software, food and consumer products, hospitality and travel services, and media and marketing services. He currently serves on the boards of several H.I.G. portfolio companies.

Prior to H.I.G., Todd was an investment professional at Parthenon Capital Partners in Boston, at GTCR in Chicago, and at The Halifax Group in Dallas, TX. He began his career as an investment banker at Lazard Frères, specializing in mergers & acquisitions advisory services. Todd graduated with Bronze Tablet honors from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in Accountancy (CPA) and received an M.B.A. with honors from Columbia Business School.

Todd currently lives in Wellesley with his wife Niki and 4 children (Henry, Isabel, William and Eleanor).

Ben Tao is currently Vice President Corporate Development at PTC. In that role, he works closely with Corporate and Segment business leadership teams in formulating acquisition strategies. He worked on a significant number of M&A transactions, especially in the field of Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, and Big Data Analytics, helping transform PTC’s business. 

Prior to PTC, he worked as a management consultant for six years, advising clients on a broad range of strategic and management challenges across multiple industries such as high tech, retail, chemical, and private equity. Before starting his career as a management consultant, he worked as a technologist for several leading technology companies including Oracle, Microsoft, and Ericsson.

Ben served as NECINA’s president during the 2014-2015 operating year. He is serving NECINA as one of its board members. Ben received a BS degree in Computer Sciences from Beijing University and an MS degree in Computer Sciences from University of Wisconsin at Madison. He also holds an MBA degree from Babson College.

Jeffrey founded G2 in 2010 as a national investment banking firm focused on the middle market. G2 is an integrated multi-product, industry centric investment bank and restructuring firm focused on crafting bespoke operational and financial advisory solutions for our corporate and institutional investor clients. Having directed more than 175 transactions with nearly 20 years of experience, Jeffrey has worked extensively across our core sectors including industrials, consumer products, technology, business services, and aerospace and logistics. Jeffrey has extensive cross border transaction experience having directed mandates in Iceland, Mexico, Canada, UK, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. 

Previous Experience

ADS Logistics – (Acquired by Linx Partners) – From June 2009 to June 2011, Jeffrey served as the Chairman of the Board and as a Restructuring Advisor for ADS Logistics, a leading provider of 3PL services to the metals industry. In addition to leading the restructuring efforts, Jeffrey led the exit strategy advisory in the sale to Linx Partners, a leading Private Equity Firm. Premier Logistics (Acquired by Landstar Transportation) – From April 2008 to June 2009, Jeffrey was the Lead Director and Restructuring Advisor for Premier Logistics, a leading provider of IT based logistics solutions for the automotive sector. Landstar acquired Premier Logistics in June 2009. OpSec Security Group (Recapitalization with Investcorp) – From 2006 to 2010, Jeffrey served as the Divisional President of UK based, “OSG” a technology, security printing and software company, {OSG: LSE}.  With global P&L responsibility and a team of over 100 employees across the Americas, Europe and Asia, he was responsible for the global divisional strategy and execution.  Additionally, Jeffrey was an executive member of OpSec’s M&A team and led over a dozen cross border M&A transactions. GenuOne (Opsec) – From 1998 to 2006, Jeffrey was the Founder, Chairman and CEO of GenuOne Inc., an emerging growth SaaS application and services company focused on anti-piracy and supply chain security challenges. The company raised over $25M in VC and growth equity financing. The company had over 75 employees and a client base of over 50 Global 1000 companies. In May 2006, Jeffrey successfully negotiated the sale of GenuOne to OpSec Security Group.

Chuck Stetson is the CEO of the Stetson Family Office which was started by Chuck’s grandfather, Eugene W. Stetson, shortly after his grandfather personally led the buyout of the Coca-Cola through a public offering in August 1919 by the Guaranty Trust Company of New York, where he was subsequently Chairman.  At his death, he was Coca-Cola’s longest serving member of the Board and member of the Executive Committee. Chuck, who is the third generation running the family office, is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and philanthropist.

Private Equity Investors, Inc. (PEI) was started in 1992 by the Stetson Family Office to invest in venture capital and smaller buyout funds. PEI has become a leader in the purchase of secondary interests in venture capital, buyout, growth equity and mezzanine funds or other entities. PEI has purchased approximately 280 interests in over 130 different fund groups. PEI’s holdings, primarily U.S.-based, have included investments in more than 2,000 portfolio companies covering a broad cross-section of economic sectors. PEI has raised and managed over $400 million. PEI has a return of 19 percent net on limited partnership interests. 

The Stetson Family Office recently started Healthcare Impact Foundation, a 501-c-3  evergreen organization in June 2017 to bring capital and management expertise to life science companies at all stages, to build and maintain an efficient life science eco-system composed of R&D facilities, incubation facilities, venture capital investors, family office investors, and networks of experts in science, management, industry, reimbursement and public policy.   

Chuck also started and is CEO of Essentials in Education(EIE), a 501-c-3 organization, in March 2001, that develops curriculum for schools and colleges.  It has recently expanded its education activities into Southeast Asia. EIE has been featured in numerous Associated Press articles, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and in April 2007 in a cover story in TIME Magazine. Chuck has been a guest on FOX News, CBS Sunday Morning and The TODAY Show. 

Insead Business School Singapore at their 3rd annual Asian Family Office Day in 2015 had Chuck as their featured luncheon speaker.  Association for Corporate Growth recently asked Chuck to lead their global Family Office Council initiative which involves bringing together the family offices around the globe interested in small to medium size buyouts and growth equity.