Value Creation Closing Panel: Transformational moves that create value

All private equity firms have a strategy to create value.  Learn what some of the best operators in the business do to create value at their portfolio companies.

SPEAKERS:

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Faton Gjuka is an Operating Principal focused on Product Leadership and Go-to-Market Acceleration of the firm’s software company investments. He has more than fifteen years of product management and sales & marketing experience. Faton joined Sumeru Equity in 2018. Faton co-founded LocateYourCare, a digital healthcare company directly connecting patients and providers through a real time mobile platform. He was responsible for product management, overall strategic planning and growth marketing.

Faton previously led the solutions team at C3 IoT, a digital enterprise platform for AI & IoT. He worked on developing products, solutions and go-to-market strategies to help enterprises capture value from AI and ML deployed at massive scale. Prior to C3 IoT, Faton was a management consultant at Bain & Co, where he advised enterprises, vendors and public sector on a broad spectrum of strategic topics and organizational challenges, including next-generation IT, cloud computing, corporate and growth strategy. Faton began his career at GE as part of the Commercial Leadership Program with subsequent roles in sales and marketing. Faton attended University of Toledo, B.S. Computer Science; B.S. Electrical Engineering and University of Virginia, M.B.A Darden Graduate School of Business. 

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Julia Karol is President and COO of Watermill Group. She is responsible for overall firm operations and helping Watermill portfolio companies develop and implement their strategies. Previously, as a Watermill Principal, Julia helped guide the day-to-day operations of the firm, directed the firm’s investor relations and managed fundraising initiatives for acquisitions.

Prior to joining Watermill, Julia worked at Jumpstart, a national nonprofit organization. While at Jumpstart, she managed Boston-area fundraising, coordinated communication and marketing efforts, cultivated partnerships, developed alumni relations programming, and oversaw staff recruitment efforts.

Julia currently serves as a Partner with Social Venture Partners Boston, a venture philanthropy organization which connects Boston’s most promising nonprofits with the money and minds to fuel their success. Julia has served as a Mentor for Endeavor, a global high-impact entrepreneurship movement and that promotes economic growth and job creation. She also serves as a member for the Budget and Administration Committee for Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Previously, Julia founded and served as board chair for the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network in Boston. Julia is a member of ACG Boston and the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and has been named as one of the Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A by Mergers and Acquisitions Magazine for three consecutive years. In 2019, Julia received the Women of Influence Award from ACG Boston and was named one of Boston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 honorees. In 2017, Julia was named an Emerging Leader by the M&A Advisor.

She received a M.A. in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership from Stanford University, completed the Owners, Presidents, Managers program at Harvard Business School, and the Summer Institute for Entrepreneurship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and earned a B.A. from Tufts University.

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Alan Peyrat is a Partner at The Riverside Company. Prior to joining the firm in 2007, Peyrat was a Principal at Apax Partners, where he served on deal teams and portfolio company boards with a focus on the technology and telecommunications sectors. Previously, Peyrat helped found Telephia, where he served as Director of Sales and Director of Engineering and Operations. He has also worked at the Mayfield Fund, A.T. Kearny and Public Financial Management, Inc. Peyrat holds a BS in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and both an MBA and an MA in Education from Stanford University.

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Brandon Barksdale is a Director with CohnReznick’s CFO and Business Advisory Practice who specializes in finance management, strategy, and transformation consulting.  He is an experienced finance leader driving finance transformation with a focus on finance performance management, process improvement, and operations.  Brandon leverages his industry and consulting experience, which ranges from small to large domestic and multinational companies across various industries, to drive immediate and long-term value for his clients in an ever-changing environment.