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May 28, 2025
Announcing the Baltimore Smart Business Dealmaker Award Winners and 2025 Dealmakers Hall of Fame Class
By Dealmakers Staff
We celebrated the accomplishments of the 2025 class of winners at the Baltimore Smart Business Dealmakers Conference. See who we recognized!
May 28, 2025
Navigate The Complexities Of Tax Policies And Tariffs In Today’s Volatile Economic Climate
Paragon Biosciences’ Peter Buzy, Evergreen Advisors Capital’s Stephen Prichett and First National Bank’s David Valentiner headline the panel, moderated by FNB Corporation’s Mac Tisdale provide actionable insights to mitigate risks and maximize opportunities in an increasingly complex time of tax policies and tariffs.
February 6, 2025
What Investment Criteria Reveal About Deal Prep
Sean Bilbrough of Patriot Capital on his process to select investable companies, and that means for those selling a business.
January 10, 2025
Experiencing An Unplanned Sale Process
Graham Boyce of Jobe and Company LLC on his experience going through a sale process.
July 11, 2024
Finding A Buyer With A Culture Connection
VES LLC's Bryan LeBaron on his thought process when choosing a buyer.
June 5, 2024
How Listening To The Pros Made Selling Smooth For Nyquist Inc.
Nyquist Inc.'s George Nyquist on the importance of professional advice for business owners.
May 2, 2024
Labor Trends And Their Impact On Business
Mac Tisdale, Ahmed El Nokali, Philip Tulkoff, Richard McGee, Jr. on how changes in the labor market are affecting business.
April 25, 2024
Recognizing Baltimore's Smart Business Network Dealmaker Award Winners and 2024 Dealmakers Hall of Fame Class!
Read about the Dealmakers of the Year we're honoring in Baltimore this year and check out the accomplishments of our Hall of Famers.
March 21, 2024
When Selling A Business, Get Help But Get Going
Red Hawk Past Owner Gillet Boyce on the advice he'd give to owners selling a business for the first time.
February 15, 2024
How Market Shifts Are Impacting PE Fundraising
Sidereal Capital Group Jabbar Abdi on the state of PE fundraising.
January 25, 2024
The Nuances Of Buying Small Companies
Chesapeake Chemlab's Tim Krongard on the challenges, and opportunities, when buying smaller companies.
November 17, 2023
For SCLogic, Time Is Ticking For An Exit
Mike Saldi, founder and CEO of SCLogic, feels he's running out of time. And that in part why his company began running a process. "At 60 years old, I've got to figure out what's next," Saldi said at
September 29, 2023
The 15-Year Process Of Selling CollabraSpace
CollabraSpace Co-Founder Ray Schwemmer says he would get cold calls all the time from people looking to buy his software company. "We basically just ignored them," he said at the Baltimore Smart
September 1, 2023
Buyers’ Industry Knowledge Can Help Land The Best Deal
Dr. Nithin Krishna is a board licensed psychiatrist and serial mental health entrepreneur who formerly led as CEO the multimillion dollar Bloom Health Centers. Krishna acquired Psych Associates of
August 4, 2023
Deal Close Is Not The End Of The Marathon
Rendia, founded by an eye doctor and his three children to help doctors and patients understand each other better, was sold to a strategic buyer, PatientPoint, this past October. To personally prepare
June 29, 2023
Prepare At The Beginning For The Best End
Harold Green launched Chamberlain Contractors, an asphalt paving company, back in 1975, and sold it to Pavement Partners, a portfolio company of Shoreline Equity Partners, in January 2022. While he
June 2, 2023
To Manage Through Fundraising, Transactions, Sign Up With Commitment
LabCorp recently paid a reported $450 million to acquire Personal Genome Diagnostics, known as PGDx, a genomic testing company. Earlier that same year, PGDx successfully raised a $103 million Series
May 5, 2023
Baltimore Business Leaders See An Economy of Both Ups And Downs
Mahogany Inc.'s Jeff Hargrave, Acme Paper & Supply Co.'s Andy Attman, MacKenzie, Commercial Real Estate Services' Owen Rouse, Jr., and FNB Corp.'s Mac Tisdale share anecdotes from their experiences on the front lines and observations of trends during this choppy economy.
March 24, 2023
Capital As An Accelerant
RallyBright Founder and CEO John Estafanous on founding his first company and how that has informed building the second, what he learned selling that first business, his experience raising capital, and the importance of connecting with the right investors.
February 24, 2023
Lifting Lucy Creates Opportunities for BIWOC
Tranice Watts created Lifting Lucy when she was in her early twenties, working in an industry not known for much diversity. Watts, the first Black woman to co-own and operate a craft brewery in the state of Maryland, was on a subcommittee of the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC). She noticed an area where people could do proposals for diversity, equity and inclusion. Lifting Lucy has since grown into a network of businesses, organizations, and philanthropists serious about disrupting the barriers of entry and major hindrances toward the progress for Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color (BIWOC) in the brewing industry.
January 20, 2023
The Dos and Don’ts in Today’s M&A Landscape
Chuck Morton, Partner, Venable LLP, has been recognized for decades as one of best middle-market deal lawyers in the United States. During his time as an M&A attorney, he’s seen business leaders make some excellent choices and some not-so-brilliant decisions. He sat down for a discussion on the Smart Business Dealmakers Podcast to elaborate.
September 15, 2022
ESG’s increasing impact on investment decisions
Black Brain Trust's Angel St. Jean on the rise of ESG, her company’s growth, and the challenges of fundraising.
August 19, 2022
How macro factors are influencing deals
Murphy McCormack Capital Advisors' Bob McCormack, Bortek Industries' Greg Alt, Quotient's Clark Lare, and Bowie & Jensen's William McComas on the factors influencing buy-side deals and post-acquisition integration post-COVID.
July 22, 2022
Been there, built that
Rextar's Bill Fox on how his earlier experience forming, growing and exiting GoIndustry is informing how he's building and growing Rextar.
June 17, 2022
Investing in Downtown Baltimore
MCB Real Estate's P. David Bramble, Downtown Partnership of Baltimore's Shelonda Stokes, Chasen Companies' Brandon Chasen and FNB Corp.'s Mac Tisdale discuss the opportunities available for investors in downtown Baltimore.
May 20, 2022
Blended Finance Approach Leads to Quality Health Care
Ngu Morcho, president and CEO of KeraLink International, has more than 20 years of experience in early-stage technology development working in Africa and across India and Southeast Asia. Today, Morcho’s mission is to end corneal blindness globally as the head of operations at KeraLink. To fund this mission, KeraLink uses a blended finance model, a combination of grants, concessional equity and debt that is used together to develop a sustainable business model.
February 25, 2022
How to address SALT in your deals
Clearview Group's Brian Davis, along with Calvert Street Capital Partners' Brian Guerin, Nemphos Braue LLC's George Nemphos, The Courtney Group's Alan Macksey and ICSG Holdings & Incorp Industries' Peter Vrettakos, spoke at last year's Baltimore Smart Business Dealmakers Conference about addressing SALT issues in deals, the current buy-side environment and best practices for closing acquisitions.
January 14, 2022
Selling is painful, so be sure you know why you're doing it
Slate Capital Group's Erik Ginsberg, along with BDO's Dan Wahlberg, Jamie Benoit, and Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr's Andrew Segall, discuss choosing a buyer for your company.
November 17, 2021
Factors Influencing Transactional M&A
KPMG’s Stephen Guy, along with Venable’s Charles Morton, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation’s Mac MacLure and Sachs Capital’s Andrew Sachs look at state of M&A, factors influencing the buy-and-sell-sides, and what you need to do to ensure a closed deal in this new normal.
September 17, 2021
Find sale success through those who know how to succeed
Guy Dandrea, Tim Hodge, Charles Maskell, and Franklin Staley talk about the importance of pre-diligence work.
