2025 ACG NY DealMaker Series - March Edition

Polly Mack is a Director on the Business Development team for Gryphon Investors. Gryphon Investors is a leading middle-market private investment firm focused on profitably growing and competitively advantaged companies in the Business Services, Consumer, Healthcare, Industrial Growth, Software, and Technology Solutions & Services sectors. In her role, Polly works with Gryphon’s Consumer team to help identify new platform investments as well as follow-on acquisitions for existing portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Gryphon, Polly was a Director of Origination at The Riverside Company, where she sourced and evaluated investment opportunities across all focus sectors for their North America Private Equity strategies. Previously, she was a Vice President on the Private Equity and Venture Capital team at Gerson Lehrman Group, and the Chief Strategist and Director of Special Projects for Reputation.com, a global online reputation management and digital privacy protection firm. Before that, she served as a Private Equity Research Analyst with Hall Capital Partners.

Polly earned a BA in International Relations and French from Colgate University and an MBA from Columbia University. She also attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. She lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband, two children and her running partner, her dog Millie. When not working or playing with her kids, she prefers to be either fly fishing or putting her culinary education to work exploring new recipes in the kitchen.

Bill Schmitz is an experienced investment banker with over 25 years of expertise in the branded consumer goods industry. Throughout his career, he has served as an investment banker, research analyst, and principal investor at firms such at Jefferies, Deutsche Bank, Safeguard Scientifics and PaineWebber, providing a deep, multifaceted understanding of the sector.

Currently, Bill is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Consumer Products Group at Canaccord Genuity. This role followed Canaccord’s acquisition of Sawaya Partners, a leading boutique consumer products advisory firm, three years ago. He leads strategic advisory efforts across a diverse array of branded consumer product categories, including home care products, the auto aftermarket, outdoor enthusiast brands, beauty and pet food and supplies, among others. His practice covers much of the branded consumer universe.

Bill is a graduate of Brown University. He lives in Connecticut, is married, and has four children, including a set of twins. Outside of work, he can be seen on various sports sidelines, reading biographies and scanning retail stores and the Internet for the next disruptive consumer brand.

Kapil Puri leads the Americas Mergers & Acquisitions efforts at BIC. BIC is a household name in the consumer products space known for bringing simplicity and joy to everyday life. For more than 75 years, BIC has honored the tradition of providing high-quality, affordable, essential products to consumers everywhere. BIC products are sold in over 160 countries, and BIC is one of the most recognized brands worldwide. In his role, Kapil is focused on M&A strategy, deal sourcing & pipeline development, and end to end deal execution as well as integration planning. Notable acquisitions by BIC in the last couple years include Tangle Teezer (hair care products), AMI (collaboration technologies), Inkbox (skin art) and Rocketbook (reusable notebooks), among others.   

Prior to joining BIC in 2021, Kapil was a Director of Investment Banking at Houlihan Lokey in New York focused on industrial technology clients. Previously he worked at Credit Suisse focused on M&A and Capital Markets deals in the diversified Industrials sector. He started his career as an analyst at Deutsche Bank in the internal strategy group.

Kapil earned an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a Masters in Information Systems Management from Carnegie Mellon University. He is based out of New York and is active in sports specially Tennis and enjoys live music and the NYC comedy scene.

Vikram Devanga is a principal in CohnReznick’s Transaction Advisory Services Practice and leads India operations for the firm's Advisory Practices. He has over 20 years of diversified public accounting experience with an extensive background in helping strategic and financial buyers make informed decisions through the entire lifecycle of a transaction, including providing pre-deal and post-deal advice. He works with clients in a wide range of industries including, construction, auto components, life sciences, retail and consumer products.

Vikram has extensive expertise in both buy- and sell-side due diligence. He has advised business owners, investment bankers, and private equity groups on various aspects of how Quality of Earnings impacts business operations and eventually business valuation.

Prior to joining CohnReznick, Vikram rose through the ranks at a Top 10 firm, where he served as the leader of the offshore diligence support team based in Bengaluru, India. While there, he also represented the firm by speaking at several business schools, attending events, and facilitating other speaking events. Vikram started his career at a Big Four firm in offices in Mumbai, India and London.