Sponsors
Moderators
A finance professional with 10+ years of experience in investment banking, private equity, and specialty finance. Currently engaged with NextGen Venture Partners and CSC Leasing, I support businesses ranging from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies in addressing their diverse capital needs.
Mr. Grutman is a founder of Middlemarch Partners and co-leads the firm’s merchant banking and investing efforts. He has spent his entire career investing and advising high-growth financial services, business services, and environmental services companies that leverage technology to create sustainable advantage.
At Middlemarch, Mr. Grutman advises clients on business and capital strategy issues, has sourced over $1.5B of capital for clients and serves as a board member for a number of Middlemarch clients and portfolio companies, including Prepaid Ventures. He has deep domain expertise in the specialty finance, transaction processing, and outsourced tech-enabled business services sectors where he has been exceptionally active both as a merchant banker and as a private equity investor since 2002. Active with both private and public companies, he has participated in over $4.5B of transactions over the course of his career as a merchant banker and private equity investor.
Prior to founding Middlemarch Partners, Mr. Grutman served as a Partner at TH Lee Putnam Ventures, a $1B growth equity fund, where he co-led the firm’s financial services investments in specialty finance, insurance services, and electronic capital markets companies. Previously, he was a Managing Director at Citigroup where he oversaw the firm’s on balance sheet financial services private equity holdings as well as managed the bank’s $6 billion private equity fund-of-funds business. He has also held private equity investment roles at Goldman Sachs and Frontline Capital. He began his career at The Boston Consulting Group in its Financial Services and e-Commerce Practices.
Claudine is a managing principal and leader of CohnReznick’s Value360. In this role, she oversees an integrated team of transaction, valuation, restructuring, project finance, and dispute resolution professionals serving clients throughout the lifecycles of their businesses. With specific expertise in managing opportunities and roadblocks that can impact a business moving forward, Claudine and her team help clients achieve optimal outcomes in protecting and growing stakeholder value.
With more than 25 years of business experience, Claudine serves as an adviser to public and private companies, both domestically and internationally. Her clients comprise the full gamut of financial sponsors including private equity investors, independent sponsors, family offices, alternative investment funds, lenders, and strategic investors. Her areas of knowledge include strategic advisory, quality of earnings analyses, identifying revenue sources and profitability drivers, examining operating cost structure and sustainability factors, investigating business models including cash flow and financial projections, reviewing quality and realization of assets and liabilities, identifying working capital requirements and negotiating positions, post-close working capital verification, and adjustment mechanisms.
Claudine is a member of CohnReznick’s Executive Board and co-leads the firm’s Financial Sponsors practice, She was named to Mergers and Acquisitions 2019 list of the most influential women in mid-market M&A, and Crain’s NY 2018 most notable women in consulting. She has authored several articles focused on buy and sell-side due diligence, working capital, and purchase price allocation.
Christopher Bordoni is a partner in the firm’s Business Group and is based in New York. Chris primarily focuses his practice on advising institutional lenders, private credit funds, sponsors and corporate borrowers on a wide range of transactions, including leveraged buyouts, leveraged recapitalizations, liquidity lines, equipment leases, and other debt financings throughout the capital structure. Chris has extensive experience representing small business investment companies (SBICs) in connection with debt and equity related financings.
Chris also routinely counsels clients on complex intercreditor arrangements, agreements among lenders (AALs), forbearance arrangements and out-of-court restructurings.
Clients appreciate Chris’ deal driven approach, focusing on current market terms to achieve the best and most efficient results.
Prior to joining Ice Miller, Chris practiced in the business and finance groups of AMLaw 200 firms in New York.
Matt Hays joined Gryphon in 2019 and currently serves as partner and the company’s first Chief Revenue Officer. Matt cultivates relationships and advises high profile private equity, alternative investment and legal clients in pre-transaction due diligence, complex litigation support and strategic intelligence needs.
Prior to joining Gryphon in 2019, Matt was based in Bangkok, Thailand for the International Republican Institute, where he served as country director for their Thailand and Malaysia programs. In this capacity, Matt advised political parties and elected officials throughout Southeast Asia to strengthen their communications, constituent engagement and policy development.
Matt holds a master’s degree in Global Affairs from New York University, and a B.A. in History from American University.
Panelists
Alex is a Principal and is responsible for originating investments primarily in the specialty finance industry for both Comvest Credit Partners and Comvest Credit Opportunities, Comvest’s opportunistic credit strategy.
Prior to joining Comvest, Alex was a Vice President at Encina Capital Partners, where he oversaw sourcing, structuring and executing specialty finance transactions for the lender finance strategy. Before that, he was an Associate Director of LendingPoint, a consumer specialty finance platform, where he ran the capital markets division and led numerous securitizations. Prior to that, Alex was a Senior Associate at Credigy Solutions, an asset manager investing in consumer specialty finance platforms. Alex began his career in the Structured Products group at J.P. Morgan.
Alex received a B.S. in Finance from the University of Louisville.
David Lewing serves as Senior Managing Director and regional leader for the commercial banking team. He oversees the delivery of banking solutions to mid-sized corporations doing business in the New York Tri-State area. His experience includes leadership, business development, international and special industry roles at Wells Fargo Bank, Wachovia Securities, TD Securities and KeyBank. where he served as Market President for KeyBank’s Metro New York market and Middle Market Banking head.
Dave & family reside in Manhattan where they are involved and support various local charitable causes..
Karthik Nandyal is reshaping the future of private credit by architecting institutional infrastructure for speed, scale, and precision. As Co-Founder and Co-CEO of CredCore, he is building a next-generation platform that is transforming credit operations by helping them modernize how they execute, manage, and analyze complex credit investments.
With three decades of global experience, Karthik brings a rare systems-level view into how modern infrastructure transforms finance. At Reliance Jio, he built the world’s largest digital finance platform, serving over 450 million users, showcasing what’s possible when scale, data, and intelligent systems converge. Previously, he held leadership roles at BNP Paribas, Instinet (Reuters), and IBM, delivering trading and data infrastructure across institutional markets.
Mr. Asher is a Managing Director, Co-Head and Co-Portfolio Manager of Monroe Capital’s Alternative Credit Solutions. He is responsible for deal origination, structuring, and portfolio management, as well as overseeing the Alternative Credit business and its team. As part of the Alternative Credit business, Mr. Asher co-leads the firms’ investments in real estate, specialty finance and corporate special situations. He joined the firm in 2009 and is a member of the Alternative Credit Solutions Private Credit Fund’s Investment Committee. He serves as the Co-Chair of the firm’s Strategic Planning Committee. Mr. Asher has over 15 years of investment experience and has led the underwriting of over $5 billion of debt and equity transactions, across a variety of opportunistic private credit investments. Prior to Monroe, he was an Analyst with Chicago-based Calder Capital Partners, a direct and fund-of-funds private equity firm partly owned by Goldman Sachs and Ares Capital (formerly Allied Capital), where he performed due diligence on various direct and fund-of-fund investments, sourced transactions and assisted in capital raising. Mr. Asher began his career as an Equity Analyst for MindShare Capital, an institutional money-manager where he focused on the valuation and trading patterns of small-cap growth companies. Mr. Asher earned his M.B.A. in Finance and International Business from Northwestern University and his B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from Northwestern University.
Philip Edwards has over 20 years of investment banking and private equity experience and has invested in and advised on transactions across the capital structure. He joined Pemberton from Jefferies, where he led middle-market sponsor coverage and helped build the direct lending and secondaries advisory businesses.
His prior roles include senior positions at Stifel, Lincoln International, and PineBridge, where he managed a portfolio of private equity and mezzanine investments. Philip began his career in the Financial Sponsors Group at Deutsche Bank.
He holds a Master’s in Finance from Cass Business School and a B.A. in Economics from Trinity College. He is fluent in French and maintains deep relationships across the private equity landscape.
Sponsor for event
Private debt / equity senior investment executive with 15 years of industry experience and +$1B of transaction experience investing across the capital structure (underwrote +$1.8B).
Focus on primarily private debt and structured equity instruments, with an emphasis on non-sponsor, family-owned and founder-run businesses across a variety of industries.
Owen Uscher, CFA
Senior Manager
212-714-0122
ouscher@empireval.com
Owen’s valuation experience includes private equity and debt investments across a variety of industries, such as Financial Services, Residential & Commercial Real Estate, Structured Products, Industrials, Pharmaceutical/Biotech, and Oil & Gas. In addition, Owen is experienced in the valuation of complex securities (preferred equity, convertible notes, debt & equity derivatives). These valuations were also performed for a variety of purposes, including financial reporting (ASC 820/805/350/718) applications, fund portfolio valuation, GP-led secondary offerings, recapitalizations, buy/sell-side analysis, credit analysis, valuation policy & governance, tax planning, and litigation support.
Laura Zengilowski is a Managing Director at Siemens Financial Services (“Siemens”) focused on Lower Middle Market Private Credit. Ms. Zengilowski brings 15 years of experience sourcing, underwriting and managing private credit transactions. Prior to joining Siemens, she held roles on the investment teams at Capital Southwest, Alliance Bernstein Private Credit, and Falcon Investment Advisors. She began her career at Deutsche Bank as an analyst in the Leveraged Finance group.
Ms. Zengilowski holds a B.S. in Commerce from Washington and Lee University.
I started my career as an Infantry Officer in the United States Marine Corps and deployed to the Middle East and Asia multiple times. Following service, I worked as a Legislative Researcher with a technology lobbyist firm, Franklin Square Group, where I made recommendations and conducted analysis at the intersection of technology and policy, covering topics from semiconductor manufacturing to cybersecurity. I also spent time working for the United States Senate. I received my B.S. from the United States Naval Academy, a MIPP from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and an MBA from Columbia Business School, where I was part of the Value Investing Program.
Prior to co-founding o15, Kenneth Saffold was a Managing Director and a member of BlackRock's Global Credit Platform where he was responsible for originating and executing private credit investment opportunities across the United States out of the groups $30 billion in AUM. Kenneth also served as an Investment Committee Member for the BlackRock Impact Opportunities Fund, a $1 billion multi-private asset class fund focused on making investments in underserved ethnic group businesses and communities. He was also on the Senior Leadership Team of the BlackRock Atlanta Office.
Prior to BlackRock, Kenneth held roles with GE Capital and Goldman Sachs. Kenneth received his MBA from The Wharton School and his BA from Morehouse College.
Curry is the Head of Opportunistic Credit of FoxPath Capital Partners, responsible for originating and managing the underwriting of opportunistic credit investments. Prior to joining FoxPath, Curry served on the investment team at Ares Management Company where he was a founding member of Ares Credit Secondaries. Prior to Ares, Curry was a member of the North American investment team at Strategic Value Partners where he focused on special situations and opportunistic credit investing. Through his roles at Ares and Strategic Value Partners, Curry gained extensive experience in investing in complex and bespoke transactions in the credit and private equity markets. Curry has also previously worked as an investment banker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in its Leveraged Finance group and was an Assistant General Counsel for the U.S. General Services Administration in Washington, D.C. Curry received his B.S., B.A., and J.D., with honors, from the University of Dayton, where he was a member of the Law Review. Curry received his M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Krista is a financial reporter currently covering private credit at LevFin Insights where she focuses on direct lending, fundraising, business development companies and secondaries. Previously she has covered the broadly syndicated loan market including new issues and secondary trading for both Bloomberg News and Standard & Poor’s LCD. She has more than 20 years of experience covering the two markets both in the US and London.
Advising private equity and corporates on all aspects of transactional risk management, including representations and warranties (RWI / R&W) insurance, tax insurance and contingent risk insurance. My objective is to deploy risk transfer as a way of helping funds and corporates realize cash, secure return on investment and manage legal risks.
Sha Khoja is a Partner and Head of Credit at Turning Rock and leads the Firm’s investment team. Prior to joining Turning Rock, Mr. Khoja was a Managing Director and Head of Credit at Z Capital Group (“ZCG”), where he led the investment team and managed the firm’s overall credit strategy. During his tenure, he was responsible for investment sourcing, underwriting, and execution across various funds, including opportunistic credit strategies and CLOs, while also serving on the firm’s Credit Investment Committee. Prior to ZCG, Mr. Khoja was a Director at Garrison Investment Group where he focused on private credit, syndicated loans, opportunistic/special situations and stressed/distressed investments. He began his career at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the Corporate Credit Products group. Mr. Khoja received a BA in Economics from Bowdoin College.
Jeffrey Marcus is a Managing Director and Senior Credit Analyst at Silverview Credit Partners. Prior to joining Silverview, Jeffrey was a credit trader and analyst at Five Island Asset Management where he focused primarily on North American High Yield and Leveraged Loans. Before Five Island, he was at Barclays for six years both on a proprietary trading desk, as well as at Pomelo Capital, a hedge fund that was spun off from Barclays. At Barclays and Pomelo, Jeffrey focused on fundamental corporate credit, capital structure arbitrage, and event driven strategies utilizing various debt and equity instruments. Prior to Barclays, he spent time at Citi and Morgan Stanley with various roles in investment banking, portfolio management, and credit arbitrage. Jeffrey holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics from New York University’s Stern School of Business and also spent a year studying economics and finance at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Marilyn Adler is a Managing Partner of Mizzen Capital, a fund focused on lending as senior debt, first and second lien, to lower middle market companies $1mm to $10mm in EBITDA. The fund has closed 16 financings into 12 different companies.
Ms. Adler has been running SBIC funds for 25 years. Prior to launching Mizzen Capital, Ms. Adler launched Medley SBIC fund in 2012 investing as senior debt in lower middle market companies. Prior to Medley SBIC, Ms. Adler ran Sunrise Equity Partners and Hudson Venture Partners I and II.
Ms. Adler received an MBA from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. degree from Cornell University.
Ms. Andrew serves as a Senior Managing Director and member of the Firm’s investment team. At Turning Rock, she focuses on origination, underwriting and deal execution. Prior to joining Turning Rock, Ms. Andrew spent over five years as a senior loan officer at Live Oak Bank where she led a lending business focused on small and medium sized borrowers. Ms. Andrew played an instrumental role in overseeing loans to companies with both commercial and government customers. She also held senior roles in the bank’s M&A advisory practice which involved comprehensive due diligence, deal financing and overall negotiations. Previous experience includes six years at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) where, as Associate Administrator for Capital Access, she oversaw the Agency’s lending efforts that included $100 billion of government loan programs for small businesses. She also held positions at SBA as the Assistant Administrator for the SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership where she oversaw the agency’s efforts to promote the growth of women-owned businesses, Acting Executive Director of the National Women’s Business Council, and Director of the Innovation Clusters and Skills Initiatives in the SBA’s office of Entrepreneurial Development. Ms. Andrew started her career in management consulting at Booz Allen Hamilton and held other positions at the state and local levels of government. She is also a Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Kauffman Fellow. Notably, she was awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency’s (MBDA) Access to Capital Award for her work in innovation for diverse-owned company financings. Ms. Andrew received both her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Masters in Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.
Carl is a seasoned finance and credit professional with over 20 years of experience partnering with middle market companies. Currently, Carl is a Senior Vice President and Co-Head of SBIC Investments at BHI, where he originates and executes financing solutions to sponsor backed and non-sponsor backed middle market companies across various industries with a focus on the Food & Beverage industry.
Attendees
