October 2019 Tech Exchange

Kevin Cheng is a Vice President of Sumeru Equity Partners, focused on the firm’s software and technology-enabled services investments. Kevin is a member of the founding team at Sumeru Equity Partner and joined Silver Lake Sumeru in 2014, the middle market investment strategy of Silver Lake and predecessor fund of Sumeru Equity Partners. Kevin has been involved with the firm’s investments in Buildium, Snow Software, Actian, and Criteria.

Prior to joining Silver Lake Sumeru, Kevin worked in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Investment Banking Group at J.P. Morgan in San Francisco. Kevin holds a BSE in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, magna cum laude, from Princeton University.

Richard McDerby is a venture capital and emerging companies partner and is based in the firm’s San Francisco office. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital financing transactions, business transactions, and outside general counsel services.

Prior to joining Manatt, Rich was a partner at a San Francisco-based boutique business law firm. His work included representing midsize companies in mergers and acquisitions transactions, representing private equity-backed companies in commercial matters, representing emerging growth companies in venture capital financing transactions, and acting as general counsel for companies across a wide spectrum of industries.

Rich was also the founding attorney for a law firm in San Francisco and a corporate/commercial group attorney for a top-tier national law firm in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Lucy Wang is an Executive Director within J.P. Morgan’s Equity Capital Markets division in San Francisco, particularly focused on capital raising for private and public technology companies.  Lucy joined J.P. Morgan’s Technology Investment Banking group in San Francisco in 2007 and has worked on a variety of M&A, debt, equity and equity-linked origination and strategic advisory assignments for a broad range of clients. Lucy has executed over 100 technology IPOs and follow-ons in the last 12 years.

Lucy received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Bachelor of Art in International Relations from the University of Southern California.

John Pennett is the Partner-in-Charge of the Life Sciences Group and Technology Group. He has 30 years of public accounting experience, with a strong emphasis on public and private life science and technology companies. John is a frequent writer and speaker on topics related to issues impacting businesses in the life sciences and technology space. He is the publisher of Catalyst, a magazine focused solely on issues related to life sciences and
pharmaceutical companies. John supports entrepreneurial organizations around the country with content and program development, and serves as a mentor to several early-stage companies.

John has led the accounting, auditing and strategic advisory work for more than a hundred IPOs, private financing and mergers and acquisitions with an aggregate valuation in excess of $1 billion. In addition, he has served as the interim lead of the firm’s Risk Advisory Practice, leading internal audit, contract compliance and Sarbanes-Oxley implementation and testing. John previously worked as an Audit Partner for an international accounting and consulting firm.