Managing Director and Global Practice Leader, Global Transaction Advisory Group, Alvarez & Marsal
Paul Aversano is a Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal and the Global Practice Leader of the firm’s Global Transaction Advisory Group. For over 25 years, Mr. Aversano has specialized in leading both buy-side and sell-side financial and accounting due diligence projects for complex public and private company transactions, as well as transactions in the capital markets.
Mr. Aversano works to deliver the firm’s services to clients not only in North America but throughout Europe, the Middle East, India, Asia and Latin America as well. He leads the group’s efforts in the cross-border delivery of services to private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds and family offices as well as to corporate and strategic buyers around the world across a wide-spectrum of industries. Mr. Aversano specializes in assessing quality of earnings and GAAP accounting, providing accounting and transaction structuring advice for leveraged buyouts as well as purchase accounting and SEC reporting,
Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Aversano was a Partner and Director of Middle Market Private Equity with Ernst & Young in New York. In this role, he led financial accounting due diligence projects for private equity investor groups, and the development and coordination of the firm’s go-to-market and service delivery strategies focused on the private equity market. Previously, Mr. Aversano was with Arthur Andersen’s Transaction Advisory Services and Audit practices in New York.
Mr. Aversano earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Binghamton University, School of Management. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in New York, and is an active member of the American Institute of CPAs, the New York State Society of CPAs and is also a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Answer the Call (New York Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund) and PowerPlay NYC and is a former board member of Youth I.N.C (Improving Non-Profits for Children), the Audit Committee of the Manhasset School Board of Education and the Alumni Association Board of Directors of Binghamton University. In 2019, Mr. Aversano was also the recipient of the B. Jean Fairbairn Access Award in recognition of his efforts and contributions in improving the services and access for students with disabilities at Binghamton University.
In 2015 Mr. Aversano was named the “Service Professional of the Year” by The M&A Advisor and was formerly a finalist of The M&A Advisor’s 40 Under 40 Award in recognition of outstanding achievements in the M&A and financial industry. Mr. Aversano is a regular contributor to FOX Business Network, Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, TD Ameritrade Network and many other broadcast and print media outlets, and is a frequent guest lecturer at industry conferences and universities.
Managing Director and Chief Talent Officer, AlixPartners
Ted Bililies is an internationally recognized expert on leadership and organization development and the Chief Talent Officer of AlixPartners. Ted launched the first commercial practice in leadership and human capital at AlixPartners which advises investors, CEOs, and boards on the selection and development of leaders and the alignment of culture for maximum and sustainable value creation. Ted’s career spans three decades as a psychologist, human resources executive, management consultant, and executive coach. He holds academic degrees from Loyola University of Chicago and Harvard University. Ted taught at Harvard University for many years, is currently on the Executive Education faculty of the Harvard Business School and is a board member of the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. Ted has helped leaders around the world achieve enduring change in their organizations, their teams, and themselves by expanding their psychological, behavioral and organizational insights into leadership.
Demand for the right talent is swiftly outstripping supply as people have grown far more selective about who they want to work for. With competition heating up for the talent required to successfully navigate disruption, executives are wondering how their organizations’ already strained talent-sourcing resources can cope. So how can you address the forecasted tsunami of talent turnover? Leadership and culture are two of the most powerful forces to attract and retain talent. Ted Bilillies, an internationally recognized expert on leadership and organization development, will share examples of transformative leadership in action to help you evaluate your own leadership skills and embrace the fact that workforce planning will look very different in 2022.
Partner, Simon-Kucher & Partners
Adam Echter is a Partner based in Simon-Kucher’s Silicon Valley office. He brings two decades of B2B sales & pricing experience across manufactured goods, industrial equipment and technology industries. Adam has built pricing & sales organizations throughout North America, Europe & Asia with an emphasis on transitioning transactional businesses toward recurring revenue models. Serving firms across America from base of operations in Silicon Valley provides a unique perspective for bringing SaaS-pioneered monetization models to legacy, industrial firms.
Senior Vice President, The Segal Group
Mr. Hencke is a Senior Vice President in the Segal Group’s New York office, responsible for large, strategic opportunities in the Corporate market. He has more than 30 years of total experience in many industries.
Mr. Hencke was previously a principal and strategic accounts manager across the North American Markets at Buck. He was directly responsible for large single-employer clients, account management and business development. Before joining Buck, he worked for Accenture, Hewitt and BearingPoint. He has led more than 20 HR transformations, built more than 200 shared services solutions and led the design, development and implementation of the first process manufacturing and workforce scheduling system.
Mr. Hencke holds a BA in Computer Science and Mathematics from Hiram College in Ohio.
CEO, Manna Pro Products, LLC, a Carlyle Company
John Howe is CEO of Manna Pro Products LLC, a $500 million Global branded pet care and nutrition company dedicated to nurturing the lives of pets including dogs, cats, backyard chickens, horses, indoor birds, and small animals. Under John’s leadership as CEO since 2008, Manna Pro has increased revenue more than 6-fold, driven by strong organic growth and the completion of 18 acquisitions. John was recognized as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2016. Manna Pro is owned by funds managed by global investment firm Carlyle.
The business literature is full of advice on building a sustainable business that withstands the tests of time, on nurturing relationships that endure and crafting a team culture built over time on trust. How does a PE-Backed CEO square these ideas with the shortened time frames and inevitable change in ownership demanded by PE investors? How do you recruit great people, create alignment and instill a sense of shared mission given the accelerated pace needed? This session will explore the unique tensions faced by PE-backed CEOs but rarely discussed, along with best practices you can implement to build a strong culture in harmony with key stakeholders.
SVP and Head of Capital Markets, Nasdaq
Robert H. McCooey, Jr. is Nasdaq’s Global Head of Capital Markets and a Senior Vice President of Nasdaq’s Listing Services unit. He is responsible for Nasdaq’s relationships with the financial sponsor and investment banking community. Additionally, Mr. McCooey manages Nasdaq’s new listings efforts throughout the Americas and the Asia Pacific region.
Partner, Simon-Kucher & Partners
Brad Soper is a Partner and Member of the Global Board of Directors of Simon-Kucher & Partners, the global market leader in consulting on pricing for organic growth. Brad co-leads the firm’s global PE practice, leads the firm’s North American Industrials / B2B pricing practice and heads the Atlanta office. Brad has many years of deep experience helping companies to transform and accelerate their top line and spends approximately 50% of his time helping PE firms to accelerate the top line of their holding companies.
Prior to joining Simon-Kucher, Brad worked for three years as a PE operations executive focused on accelerating the top line of middle market portfolio companies. Earlier in his career, Brad worked for The Boston Consulting Group base out of Atlanta, GA and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Brad has a Bachelor’s of Science from The United States Naval Academy and his MBA from Harvard Business School. Brad spent the first nine years of his professional life flying F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft for the US Navy including combat tours in the Middle East.
Get insights and analysis from top leaders on the latest issues and trends impacting CEOs.
