ACG NY VIP Corporate Development Officer Roundtable Series

Meghan Gifford, Director of Corporate Development and Strategy, is responsible for Octo’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity, and supports the company’s strategic planning and investment initiatives. Meghan works closely with Octo’s Board of Directors and Executive Leadership Team to ensure investments align with strategy and drive long-term sustainable growth.

Prior to working for Octo, Meghan was a Principal at Wolf Den Associates, the leading strategy and management consulting firm focused on helping federal market participants accelerate their growth. There she led teams within the Transaction Advisory practice, where she advised strategic acquirers and financial sponsors on billions of dollars of transaction value across defense, civilian, and national security domains.

Meghan holds a B.A. in Public Policy from Duke University.

Patrick Malarkey is the Director of Strategy and Business Development at CertainTeed, a leading building products manufacturer in North America. CertainTeed is the North American construction products business of its parent company Saint-Gobain, and has operating businesses in five building products categories. Pat leads all elements of M&A activity at CertainTeed, and the company has been active in recent years in acquisitions, asset divestitures and other strategic ventures.

In addition to deal sourcing and transaction coordination, he has also been involved in post-acquisition integration on several of CertainTeed’s transactions.

Prior to his current role, Pat held finance roles in several industrial companies, including DuPont, PECO and Phillips Petroleum.

Gen Oraa is a managing director with CohnReznick Transactions and Turnaround Advisory, who specializes in providing clients with transactional advisory services. Gen has led and executed due diligence for over 120 merger and acquisition transactions for strategic and private equity buyers and sellers. She has advised middle market clients on M&A transactions with purchase price ranging from $10 million to over $700 million. 

She has worked on transactions in various industries, including professional services, industrial/manufacturing, government contractors, aerospace and defense, distribution/logistics, corporate housing, media/online advertising, education, textile, retail, life science and health services, and business/staffing services. 
In addition to financial due diligence, she advised clients on transactions involving letter of interest, net working capital peg, purchase agreements, purchase price adjustments, debt and debt-like items, closing statements and other related assistance.

Prior to joining CohnReznick, Gen served in the transaction advisory services teams of BDO, KPMG, and Grant Thornton in the US. Her professional career began at Arthur Andersen, Philippines (now Ernst and Young), as an auditor and later worked on finance, accounting, and internal audit at a small conglomerate.

Daniel Teoh is a managing director in the Transactional Advisory Services practice with CohnReznick Advisory. He has more than 20 years of experience in transactions diligence, restructuring and as a start-up CFO. He also has significant project management experience in carve-outs, post-merger integrations, business consolidations and corporate closures and has operated distressed businesses in retail, construction, child care and hotels.

Daniel leverages this experience to provide his clients valuable insight and seamless advice through the lifecycle of their transactions and businesses. He has performed buy-side and sell-side due diligence projects for transactions ranging from $14 million – $1 billion-plus in a wide range of industry sectors including health and wellness, manufacturing, retail and technology. He was part of a senior transaction team which led a billion-dollar deal for the merger of two listed companies. Additionally, he led a complex cross-border transaction resulting in the acquisition of a $180 million chemical company. He also worked with a public life sciences company on its integration planning process for the acquisition of a carve-out business. This resulted in comprehensive TSAs being developed particularly addressing significant regulatory issues and operational needs.