Driving Value From The Start: Pulling the Right Levers to Build Enterprise Value
Presented By: JP Morgan / Versatility
An acquisition may be the goal, but value creation begins well before a transaction occurs. The most successful investors and management teams know that realizing an investment thesis requires disciplined execution across operations, leadership, technology, governance, and commercial growth. Join experienced operators, executives, and advisors as they discuss the critical decisions that transform strategy into measurable business results, strengthen enterprise value, and position companies for greater strategic flexibility and stronger future liquidity events.
Moderator:
Chief Content Officer
Smart Business
Dustin is an award-winning business journalist, bestselling author, and the chief content officer of Smart Business. Over the past 30 years, he has interviewed thousands of business and civic leaders, and helped more than 50 CEOs and entrepreneurs transform their ideas into books. A trained investigative politics reporter and former digital media entrepreneur, Dustin joined Smart Business in 1997 after serving as an editor at several daily newspapers.
Panelists:
Founder & CEO
Versatility
Kristen D. Barr is the Founder & CEO of Versatility, a Technology and Management Consulting firm specializing in Business and Digital Transformation. She advises organizations on execution capability, operational scalability, and value creation strategy, helping executives and teams translate strategy into measurable business results.
With over 20 years of experience leading complex technology initiatives across corporate and public sector environments, Kristen helps organizations integrate AI, Automation, and Agility to improve delivery performance, optimize operations, and accelerate business value. She is also the creator of the Versa Agile Maturity Assessment™, a framework designed to evaluate product execution maturity, organizational scalability readiness, and identify delivery risk.
Kristen holds an M.S. in Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in Computer Science from Spelman College.
Partner
Egis Capital Partners
Annie Lan is a Partner at Egis Capital Partners. With over 16 years of experience in finance and investing, she began her career at UBS AG and joined Egis in 2017. Responsible for the origination, execution, and management of investments, Annie serves on the boards and is involved in all aspects of Egis portfolio companies, from growth strategy, corporate development, financing, management recruiting, and governance. Annie has originated and led the evaluation of numerous companies in the security industry from video, access, identity, IoT analytics/AI, property and construction technology, supply chain, risk management, and public safety.
Executive Director, Investment Banking
J.P. Morgan
Jonathan Sterlin is a senior member of J.P. Morgan’s Mid-Cap Investment Banking team advising primarily founder/family-owned and sponsor-owned businesses across Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia on mergers & acquisitions and capital raising activities. Previously, he worked on the Global M&A team at Barclays in New York and in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Northern Virginia.
CEO
NewConnect LLC
Entrepreneur having started and operated multiple companies including Management Representation with offices in the US and Europe, Travel Management company sold to a public company, software for expense management, franchise burger stores, and currently an ISP focused on business's in office buildings...largest independent ISP in the Washington region.