“Owners and Investors alike must understand that the accounting numbers are the beginning, not the end of a valuation.” — Warren Buffett
Business valuation in manufacturing goes far beyond financial reports. While traditional valuation tools provide a foundation, the true value emerges during the transaction process, where industry-specific factors create significant valuation gaps. We’ll identify hidden value drivers, develop effective pre-sale strategies, document operational improvements, and understand which KPIs matter most to different buyer types. Buyers will discover techniques to uncover undervalued assets, assessment techniques for operational efficiency, frameworks for evaluation beyond EBITDA, and strategies to identify post-acquisition synergies that justify higher purchase prices. Both will leave with real-world strategies to maximize value whether buying or selling manufacturing businesses in today’s market.
Vice President of Strategic Alliances, Class VI Partners
Founder and Managing Partner, CORE Industrial Partners
Proactively planning for operational agility and resilience, in the face of ever-growing risks, can be a significant competitive advantage. In this session, you’ll have a rare opportunity to hear from two insurance industry leaders who understand how manufacturers mitigate risks and successfully navigate some of the most challenging and costly claims. They’ll share research-based insights and frontline experiences to help you enhance modern risk management practices and effectively manage your total cost of risk.
Gain valuable insights into:
Assistant Vice President, Risk Control, Travelers Insurance
Managing Director – CAG, Private Equity Insurance – Metro Region, Travelers Insurance
Participants will also have an opportunity to participate in peer-to-peer discussions, rotating on a variety of relevant topics related to the deal process, while developing valuable relationships with buyers, sellers and deal advisers.
Discussions may include:
Concurrently, participants have the chance to purposefully network in 1:1 confidential settings with several buy-side deal-makers to discuss specifics about your business situation, value-enhancing ideas and potential deal strategies.
Attendees will divide into smaller groups with subject matter experts delving deeper into buy- and sell-side considerations. Topics Include:
In today’s M&A environment, more founders and owners are exploring Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) as a viable—and highly tax-efficient—alternative to a traditional sale. But how do you know if it’s the right fit? This session will cut through the complexity and walk you through how ESOPs compare to private equity or strategic buyer exits, when they make the most sense, and what tax advantages they unlock. You’ll leave with a clearer sense of whether this option could be the best path forward for your company, your legacy and your team.
Managing Director, Wealth Management at The Capital ESOP Group, UBS Financial Services, Inc.
Managing Director, Wealth Management at The Capital ESOP Group, UBS Financial Services, Inc.
When a Michigan-based fabrication shop faced a failed partner buyout, cultural misalignment, and overdependence on the owner, the path to growth—and exit—seemed uncertain. This session will unpack how the company transformed from $1M in EBITDA, misaligned leadership and a failed buy-out attempt into a high-growth, exit-ready business with a revitalized culture, improved operations and $3.5M in EBITDA. Together with your peers, you’ll explore relevant lessons from how the company’s executive team leveraged finance solutions, tax-efficient wealth transfer strategies and thoughtful financial planning to align the owner’s personal goals with the business’s goals. Whether you’re preparing for ownership transition or simply want to grow with intention, this interactive session will offer real-life lessons in navigating complexity, building transferable value, and setting the stage for a successful exit.
Managing Director, Raymond James
Partner, Ready for Next
Join us for an inside look at the current state of the manufacturing industry and its impact on M&A activity. We’ll discuss market trends, buyer behavior, and what’s driving valuations in today’s environment. Learn what makes a manufacturing business attractive to strategic and financial buyers, and how to prepare for a successful exit. Whether you’re considering a sale soon or planning ahead, this session will offer practical insights from a sell-side investment bank that has guided hundreds of business owners through the transaction process.
Managing Director & Principal, Woodbridge
Bob Nardelli is a true master of operational excellence and value creation, one of the best pure operators ever to emerge in American manufacturing. In this exclusive session, Nardelli, shares from his personal playbook developed over decades at the helm of some of the world’s most recognizable manufacturing and industrial companies to help you and your team thrive.
Learn how he quickly assesses new businesses, evaluates leadership teams and identifies the critical levers to pull for sustained growth and profitability. This is a rare opportunity for manufacturing CEOs to gain firsthand advice on driving value, navigating complexity and building organizations that win.
Former CEO, Chrysler Company, The Home Depot, and GE Power Systems Founder and CEO, XLR-8 LLC
Join your peers for casual networking at local restaurants.
Due diligence is more than a checklist—it’s the process that makes or breaks a deal. And the best practices and must-haves change all the time. This session will dive into often-overlooked elements of this key skill in 2025 for both the buy-side and the sell-side, and explore best practices for conducting a seamless, integrated process while maintaining momentum, relationships and confidentiality. Whether you’re buying or selling this year or beyond, these insights will streamline your approach, help you focus on what buyers and sellers really value today, and drive better outcomes.
President North America Strategies, STS Capital Partners
Former CEO, President and Board Member, TH Holdings
In this interactive case study, you’ll work through a real-world decision-making scenario involving competing offers from private equity firms, the pressures of succession planning and the future of company control. Will you sell, recap or take the hybrid path? You’ll weigh the trade-offs, debate with peers and walk away with insights that apply directly to your own M&A strategy.
This session will help you:
Managing Director, Periculum Capital
Participants will also have an opportunity to participate in peer-to-peer discussions, rotating on a variety of relevant topics related to the deal process, while developing valuable relationships with buyers, sellers and deal advisers
Concurrently, participants have the chance to purposefully network in 1:1 confidential settings with several buy-side deal-makers to discuss specifics about your business situation, value-enhancing ideas and potential deal strategies.
20-min meetings, Limited spots available. Purposefully network in 1:1 confidential conversations among business owners and sell side deal-makers and acquirers to discuss specifics about your business situation, value-enhancing ideas and potential deal options.
Set of 2, 25-min roundtables. Participants join peer-to-peer discussions, rotating on a variety of relevant topics related to the deal process, while developing valuable relationships with buyers, sellers and deal advisers.
Nailing an exit—or an acquisition—that exceeds expectations requires more than just a disciplined, strategic approach. It needs hard-won wisdom and experience. In this keynote, a seasoned CEO turned private equity investor will share actionable insights on how the best manufacturing companies are doing deals in today’s competitive environment. Learn how to identify key growth levers, optimize operations, manage risk with precision and align leadership for maximum impact. With interest rates in flux and traditional capital harder to access, you’ll also gain perspective on how private equity is using alternative financing to get deals done—and how that may affect your company’s options.
Executive Partner, Madison Dearborn Partners;
Former Chair & CEO, Baxter International
Former President, Quicken Steel
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.