Navigating Today’s Sell-Side Market: What It Takes to Get Deals Done

Christal Contini is Chair of the firm's Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group. Her practice is focused on representing private equity funds, family offices, physician practice groups, medical laboratories, behavioral health facilities, and strategic buyers and sellers in various types of transactions, including complex mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, leveraged buyouts, distressed acquisitions and dispositions, financings, and investments.

Founder and CEO of Junaid Group, Mr. Ansir Junaid has been recognized for his leadership and experience in global manufacturing, supply chain, real estate, and mergers & acquisitions both domestically and internationally. He is actively involved in numerous corporate and civic boards, prioritizing focuses on medical research, economic growth, and the empowerment of youth and women through expanded access to education and healthcare. Philanthropic work through the Junaid Family Foundation supports those same missions, with notable examples including grants to local organizations helping resettle refugees in Cleveland and a collaboration with Kirk Humanitarian Foundation and the Government of Pakistan to improve maternal health outcomes by providing groundbreaking multi-micronutrient supplementation to over 2 million women.

Stephen McHale’s mission is founding and building data and technology companies that transform industries. A hallmark of his career is the acquisition of his first three companies by industry leaders. Since 2021, Steve has dedicated his experience and resources to building his fourth company, UnifyWork (now Graici), a platform company delivering AI technology that transforms work. UnifyWork is the first for-profit spin-off of Unify Labs, a 509(a)3 venture impact non-profit that Steve co-founded in 2017 with the mission of Powering Inclusive Prosperity.

In 2009, Steve co-founded Explorys in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic. As Chairman of the Board and CEO, Steve led the Explorys team as they invented and brought to market a big data solution to improve healthcare outcomes. Through his leadership, the company amassed the world’s largest clinical database, spanning hundreds of thousands of healthcare providers and more than 60 million patients in the United States. Explorys was acquired by IBM in 2015.

Prior to Explorys, Steve founded and led Everstream, a media analytics company acquired by Concurrent, an Atlanta-based publicly traded company. And, the first company he founded, USConnect, a North America-focused systems integration company was also acquired by a publicly traded company.

Steve is committed to supporting entrepreneurship and invention. He serves as the Managing Partner of 23Bell Ventures, an invention capital firm, himself has 4 issued patents, and is a member of the Texas A&M Innovation Council. He chairs the board of Arrive Health, a leader in prescription decision support, and serves on the board of Axuall, a company specializing in workforce credentialing and intelligence.

Steve is as involved with his community as he is with his work serving on the boards of the Centers for Families and Children, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, The Cleveland Food Bank, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Clinic.

He is an LP in all of the North Coast Angel & Venture Funds and is a member of the Entrepreneurs Organization. Throughout his life and work, Steve has been widely recognized as a leader in technology innovation and a champion of community thriving.

Al Melchiorre is President and founder of MelCap Partners, a middle market investment banking firm that he founded over 22 years ago, Over the past few years, MelCap has been recognized as boutique investment banking firm of the year multiple times by The M&A Advisor. MelCap's clients are predominately privately-held, family owned businesses going through a once in a life-time transaction.