Wayne Acklen

CFO
Tri Star Energy

Wayne, Chief Financial Officer at Tri Star Energy, joined the company in January 2020, prior to the Company completing a significant acquisition amid the COVID 19 Pandemic. Tri Star Energy operates retail convenience stores, premium coffee shops, commercial fuel programs, and wholesale fuel operations in 16 states. Wayne is a former Partner with KPMG and has extensive acquisition related experience in both the public and private company sectors. Prior to joining Tri Star, Wayne served as the CFO of a private equity owned company that experienced rapid growth through multiple acquisitions during his tenure.

Isaac Addae

Chief Development Officer
Pivot Technology School

Isaac, a first-generation Ghanaian American and former computer engineer, is committed to strengthening communities of color. He is Chief Development Officer of Pivot Technology School, responsible for fostering relationships to connect minorities with technology career opportunities. He is also an Assistant Professor at Tennessee State University’s College of Business, teaching courses in business strategy, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

Harry L. Allen

Co-Founder & Chief Relationship Officer
Studio Bank

Harry is the Co-founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Relationship Officer of Studio Bank.  Studio Bank launched in July 2018 to become the first new, “de novo”, locally-headquartered bank in Nashville since 2008.  Studio Bank is one of Nashville’s fastest growing companies, employing over 50 and with total assets of over $400 million.  As co-founder, Mr. Allen was integral in the formation of the bank including recruiting members of the team, board of directors, completing the necessary regulatory applications and helping raise over $60 million in start-up capital.  He serves as the Bank’s lead business development officer, key point of contact for stakeholders and strategic partners, such as the bank’s Founders’ Advisory Board, and manages the Bank’s involvement and investment in community efforts. 

A native of Nashville, Mr. Allen is active in the Nashville Community serving on the board of directors for the Center for Nonprofit Management and is a Trustee of Belmont University.  He is also the Immediate Past-President of the Rotary Club of Nashville, the world’s third-largest Rotary Club, and a graduate of the 2019 Leadership Nashville Class.  He has been listed by the Nashville Business Journal as a 2014 Nashville Top 40 Under 40 honoree, 2018, 2019 and 2020 Power Leader in Finance, and 2019 & 2020 Nashville Power 100.  In 2019 and 2020, he was featured as a Top 100 Entrepreneur by Belmont University.

Tyson Bickley

Partner
Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis LLP

Companies and investors in healthcare, technology, manufacturing, distribution and other industries rely on Tyson Bickley for counsel in a wide range of strategic corporate transactions and business arrangements. He assists venture capital and private equity funds in investments in new and emerging companies, and he advises startups and early-stage companies in securities offerings to access the capital needed for growth. Tyson’s transactional experience also includes the representation of well-established and publicly traded companies in complex mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and dispositions.

Tyson rejoined Waller in 2017 after serving as Chief Development Officer at Contessa Health where he led successful development efforts for joint ventures with health systems and health plans to participate in bundled payment programs for home hospitalization and other patient-centered care models.

Andrew Bouldin

Principal
FCA Venture Partners

Andrew leads FCA’s deal sourcing, analysis, and due diligence process, reviewing over 500 investment opportunities annually. He adds value to portfolio companies through operational advice, customer introductions, recruiting candidates, and assistance with financial initiatives.

Jay Burkhardt

Chief Strategy Officer
Probo Medical

Jay is an accomplished strategy and corporate development executive with more than 15 years of leadership experience in the healthcare industry. Currently, Burkhardt is Chief Strategy Officer of Probo Medical, a global diversified supplier of refurbished medical equipment. With offices across the US and Europe, Probo Medical offers refurbishment, sales, parts, service and repair on a broad range of medical imaging equipment to healthcare facilities and providers. Probo Medial is a portfolio company of Varsity Healthcare Partners, a lower middle-market private equity investment firm.

Prior to joining Probo Medical, Jay was Chief Development Officer for PhyMed Healthcare Group, an anesthesia practice management business and portfolio company of Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan. Jay has also held multiple strategy, corporate development and operations roles over a nearly-decade long tenure with McKesson Corporation, most notably within The US Oncology Network where he led strategy and M&A for the 40+ affiliated practices and nearly 2,000 providers.

Burkhardt earned a Master’s Degree in International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management, an MBA from Oklahoma State University, and an M&A specialization certificate from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from DePauw University, where he earned All American honors on the men’s golf team.

Chris Chandler

Chief Financial Officer
Radio Systems Corporation

Mr. Chandler has over 37 years experience in the financial and information technology arena. Prior to joining Radio Systems in 2004 he was the CFO for Luwa, Inc in Winston Salem, NC., which is a specialty mechanical contractor operating in the air engineering field serving pharmaceuticals, waste clean-up contractors and the semi-conductor industry. Prior to joining Luwa, Inc., Mr. Chandler was the CFO for a sister company, Zellweger Uster, Inc. in Knoxville, TN. Zellweger Uster, Inc. is the world’s leader in providing quality control instrumentation to the textile industry.

Mr. Chandler has a BS in Business Administration with a major in accounting and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He is also a Certified Public Accountant and a member of TSCPA He currently is the President of the Historical Tennessee Theatre, and a board member of the Bijou Theater. He is a past board member of the Knoxville Chamber, Girl Scouts and the Knoxville Chapter of Financial Executives International.

Chris is a native of East Tennessee and is married to Rachel Zizka. He has three children, Kelcie, Derek and Brooke, one dog, Cinders, and one cat, Doodle. He enjoys spending time on the lake and attending UT football games. Go Vols!

Robin Clarke

Chief Executive Officer
Ursa Health, LLC

Dr. Clarke is a general internist and is Chief Executive Officer for Ursa Health, a healthcare innovation company delivering a fully no-code analytics development platform along with a suite of data management and value-based care analytic solutions. He has been a federally funded health services researcher and a physician executive for a large accountable care organization.

Chip Conk

CEO
Monticeto Medical Real Estate

An entrepreneur for more than 30 years, Chip created and served as CEO of several billion-dollar companies in diverse industries ranging from publishing to residential and medical real estate.

As a founder of Montecito Medical, Chip serves as CEO and is responsible for the company's vision and extraordinary growth. He plays a central, hands-on role in the company's success, and under his leadership Montecito has transacted on over $3.6 billion in medical real estate and finished 2017 and 2018 as the nation's top privately held acquirer of medical office buildings. The rankings are based on data received from Real Capital Analytics, the leading authority on transactions that drive the commercial real estate investment markets. In 2018, Globe Street awarded the company Influencer of the Year for its impressive growth and unique approach to acquiring medical real estate.

Prior to starting Montecito Medical, Chip was a founder of Montecito Property Company (MPC) and served as its chief executive officer. Under his direction, MPC acquired and converted more than 5,500 apartments to condominium-home sales. In a 36-month period, MPC acquired over $2 billion in residential multi-family communities throughout the US, making it the second largest condominium converter in the country.

JC Curleigh

President & CEO
Gibson Brands

James “JC” Curleigh is Gibson's president and chief executive officer, where he leads the Gibson senior team of proven executives with broad experience in global brand building, finance and product development. JC is a guitar enthusiast and has been a proud owner of both Gibson and Epiphone guitars over the years, including his latest addition – a Gibson 1960’s J-45 acoustic guitar.

Prior to joining Gibson, JC served as the president of the Levi’s brand at Levi Strauss & Co., where he guided strategic shifts, leadership team evolution and market execution for all brands within the Levi Strauss & Co. portfolio, including Levi’s, Dockers, Signature by Levi’s Strauss and DENIZEN by Levi’s. At Levi’s he returned the brand to its iconic status and grew the business profitably every year under his leadership. He has a proven track record from Levi’s of finding ways to leverage heritage and create modern solutions. JC (along with his team) is credited with being the driving force behind the Levi’s resurgence.

Over the years, JC has built a reputation as a brand building expert and has crafted uniquely tailored solutions for a variety of other well-known consumer goods companies, including as president and CEO of KEEN Footwear and of Salomon Sports NA. At KEEN, he steered a young company to years of strong growth and developed a unique brand identity for its future. Additionally, under his leadership at Salomon, he expanded the ski company into a leading innovative action sports brand.

JC holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has furthered his executive education at both Stanford and Harvard. He also has delivered several keynote speeches around the world on progressive brand building, business solutions, and team dynamics. He is a triple citizen of the U.S.A., Canada and the U.K. and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Waterkeeper Alliance. He loves to play music, surf, ski and travel extensively with his wife and three kids.

Jeff Dobyns

President
Southwestern Investment Group - Dobyns Wealth Team

Jeff founded Southwestern Investment Group in 2002. As its President, Jeff has led the company to remarkable success, holding the distinction of being one of Raymond James’ top independent contractor offices every year since 2008. Jeff’s personal team, Dobyns Wealth Team, incorporates the expertise of attorneys and accountants to provide quality financial, tax, estate, and charitable planning, and ongoing asset and risk management.

Brian Fox

President & Founder | VP of Strategic Partnerships
Confirmation | Thomson Reuters

Brian Fox is VP of strategic partnerships at Thomson Reuters and the founder of Confirmation, the trusted global provider of digital confirmations that sold in 2019 to Thomson Reuters. He is recognized as the creator of electronic confirmations, and holds several patents on electronic audit confirmations. 

Brian is an industry thought-leader and frequent speaker on accounting and fraud issues. He has been named four times as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting,” is a five-time winner of the accounting profession’s “Top 40 Under 40 CPA in America,” and was named as an Entrepreneur of the Year in Nashville.  

Prior to Confirmation, Brian worked in audit for Ernst & Young LLP and in mergers and acquisitions for PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He is also one of the founders and a board member of Rivio.com, a joint-venture between the AICPA and Confirmation. He also serves as a mentor in the Inc. 500 Military Entrepreneurs Mentor Program, the Jumpstart Foundry, and the Nashville Entrepreneurship Center and is on the advisory board for the Nashville Capital Network. Brian is also a member of the AICPA and The Tennessee Society of CPA’s.

Brian completed his MBA at Vanderbilt University’s and received a BBA in Accounting from Southern Methodist University.

J.R. Garrett

Chief Legal & Risk Officer
AdhereHealth

Doug Ghertner

CEO
IVX Health

Doug Ghertner, Chief Executive Officer, joined IVX Health in January of 2018. Ghertner brings over 20 years of healthcare experience to IVX Health, including senior leadership positions at CVS Health, Change Healthcare and Emdeon. Most recently, Ghertner served as CEO of Change Healthcare, prior to its sale to Emdeon in 2014. Following the sale of Change Healthcare, Ghertner assumed the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer, overseeing all sales and channel partner activity for the $1.5 billion healthcare technology and services provider.

Ghertner holds a bachelor’s degree with special attainments in commerce from Washington and Lee University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia.

Landon Gibbs

Managing Partner
Altitude Ventures

Mr. Gibbs is a Managing Partner at Altitude Ventures.  Prior to this role, he identified and managed early-stage equity investments at Clayton Associates.  Mr. Gibbs serves on numerous for-profit and not-for-profit boards.  Before joining Clayton Associates, he served as an aide to President George W. Bush at The White House. Mr. Gibbs recently received the Governor Winfield Dunn Award for philanthropic leadership.  He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Vanderbilt University.

DeLisa Guerrier

Managing Partner
Guerrier Development

DeLisa is an accomplished real estate executive and entrepreneur with expertise in community building and provides much of the vision for the company’s direction and choice of projects. A graduate of historic Tennessee State University and a native of Northern California, she entered the real estate market in Nashville shortly after the crash and immediately turned her attention to the entrepreneurial side of the field. DeLisa guides Guerrier Development’s vision for communities as well as driving its social mission to invest in emerging neighborhoods while keeping housing prices for the firm’s work affordable. She is also the driving force behind the company’s entry into the hospitality vertical.

Bill High

Executive Chairman & Founder
The Signatry

Bill High practiced law for 12 years before starting up The Signatry. Now Executive Chairman, he has spent over 20 years helping people give generously. He coaches families, individual givers, and financial advisers regarding biblical generosity & multi-generational legacy. He and his wife Brooke have four children and three grandchildren. He can be found at www.billhigh.com.

Grant Jackson

Managing General Partner
Council Capital

Grant joined Council Capital in 2009 and is the firm’s Managing General Partner. He has focused entirely on private equity investing in the healthcare services and healthcare IT sectors since 2001. Prior to joining Council, Grant worked with two other private equity firms, The Aurora Funds and First Analysis Corporation. He began his career with Accenture helping companies grow and integrate acquisitions.
Grant is currently on the Board of Council portfolio companies eMids, EspriGas, and Experience Wellness Centers.

Jack Jeong

Managing Director
Brentwood Capital Advisors

Jack Jeong leads Brentwood Capital Advisors' Healthcare Technology and Digital Health investment banking practice. Jack has over 14 years of healthcare investment banking experience and has completed nearly 100 transactions that span sell-side and buy-side M&A as well as private and public financing transactions.

Mike D. Johnson

Regional President & Head of Corporate Banking
PNC Bank

Michael D. Johnson is regional president and head of Corporate Banking for PNC Bank, Tennessee.

In this role, Johnson is responsible for delivering on PNC’s commitment to delivering world class financial solutions and reinvesting in communities throughout Tennessee. His leadership enables PNC’s corporate brand to be delivered to each unique market in a way that resonates most effectively in those communities through thoughtful investments, philanthropic giving and targeted events and activities.

Johnson has over 20 years of financial services and banking experience. Prior to joining PNC in March 2018, he spent 18 years with Wells Fargo serving most recently as sales executive and development leader for their middle market and corporate operations in Nashville.

Active in the community, Johnson is a lead cabinet member of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce dedicated to the efforts and thought leadership of Partnership 2030. He was recently appointed to the board of trustees for Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, and serves on the executive finance committee for Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.

Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Tennessee and an MBA in International Finance from Florida State University.

Dustin S. Klein

Publisher & COO
Smart Business

Dustin is an award-winning business journalist, bestselling author, and the publisher 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.

Andrew Lee

Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing
UBS Global Wealth Management’s Chief Investment Office

Andrew joined UBS Global Wealth Management's Chief Investment Office in July 2012 and is Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing. He and his team support clients globally with advice, strategy and thought leadership on incorporating sustainability considerations into investments. Andrew also oversees the Americas thematic investing team. Prior to his current role, he was Deputy Global Head of the CIO Ultra High Net Worth / Alternatives / Sustainable and Impact Investing group, with specific responsibility for the impact investing and private markets teams. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has been quoted in various publications including Barron’s, Bloomberg, Reuters, the Financial Times, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Andrew is a Managing Director based in New York.

Prior to joining UBS, Andrew was Managing Director overseeing investments for a private New York based single family office. In this capacity, he was responsible for managing asset allocation, theme development, due diligence and execution of all direct and indirect investments for the family investment vehicles. Previously, Andrew was part of a long/short equity hedge fund team at Deutsche Asset Management. Before this, he worked at Lazard in the generalist banking (M&A) and real estate private equity groups.

Andrew has a MBA from the Wharton School and an AB from Harvard College.

Alfred Lumsdaine

Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Quorum Health

Mr. Lumsdaine, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, most recently served as President of Population Health for Sharecare, a position he has held since 2016. Prior to joining Sharecare, Mr. Lumsdaine served as chief financial officer of Tivity Health, Inc. (f/k/a Healthways, Inc.) since 2011. Previously, Mr. Lumsdaine was controller and chief accounting officer at Tivity Health, Inc., a role he assumed in 2002 when he first joined the company.

Prior to joining Tivity Health, Inc., Mr. Lumsdaine held the position of Treasurer and Controller for Logisco, Inc., which followed senior level financial positions with Aegis Therapies and Theraphysics. Mr. Lumsdaine started his career with the Nashville office of Ernst & Young, spending over eight years in the external audit practice, primarily focused on the healthcare industry, and subsequently directed the North America internal audit department of Willis. Mr. Lumsdaine is a CPA and earned both his BS in Accounting and Masters of Accountancy from the University of Tennessee.

Wanda Lyle

Managing Director/General Manager
UBS Nashville

Wanda is the General Manager of the UBS Nashville Business Solutions Center. In her role, she is responsible for overseeing the Business Solution Center's operating model and associated service delivery. She provides leadership and management oversight for the Nashville functions which include Information Technology, Operations, Human Resources, Finance, Legal and Group Risk. Wanda is also the Responsible Executive for UBS Business Solutions US which is the Service Company for UBS US operating entities.

Michael Marzec

Managing Partner
Smart Business Network

Michael is Managing Partner and Chief Strategy Officer of Smart Business Network, a national media and conference business serving CEOs and owners of middle market companies. Michael applies more than 25 years of media and marketing experience to guide the company’s content and user experience efforts for Smart Business magazine, custom publishing clients and Smart Business Dealmakers, a leading M&A education and networking organization. He holds an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. from Columbia College of Columbia University.

Joe Milam

Regional Partner
NOW CFO

Joe started his career as a tech entrepreneur based in Greenville SC. Was one of the founding entrepreneurs of Greenville NEXT, a support-based ecosystem for high impact, high growth companies in the Upstate of South Carolina. When he was not an entrepreneur, he worked in enterprise sales and sales management for several tech firms. After a few years in the datacenter business, Joe joined a Private Equity firm based in Newport Beach California and was responsible for both their deal origination and business development efforts. As Regional Partner for NOW CFO, Joe now incorporates his experience with capital raise and acquisitions to supporting the growing Southeastern region.

Tonya Mitchem Grindon

Shareholder
Baker Donelson

Ms. Grindon is chair of Baker Donelson’s Business Department. She focuses her practice in securities and corporate finance, corporate governance and business transactions, across industry sectors, for public and private companies. Tonya is recognized in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and was previously named a “Top USA Women Dealmaker” by Global M&A Network.

Lisa Nix

Shareholder & Practice Leader, Transaction Advisor
LBMC

Lisa, a Certified Public Accountant, brings over 25 years of experience in public accounting and healthcare to her role as leader of LBMC’s Transaction Advisory Services practice. She is responsible for the firm’s transaction advisory service delivery to the firm’s clients across all industry segments. Lisa has over 16 years of experience leading M&A transaction services teams for both strategic and financial buyers. She has led and managed assurance and advisory services for companies, including not-for-profit, for-profit private and public entities. Her transaction experience includes leading multi-functional M&A teams serving on transactions ranging in size from several million to over $7 billion dollars. She has assisted companies with many completed or proposed transactions across healthcare industry sectors, including acute care hospitals, surgical facilities, long-term care, home health, hospice, skilled nursing facilities, disease management, dialysis clinics, laboratory services, managed care, multi-specialty physician practices, physician and mid-level staffing services, pharmaceutical services, HMO, PPO, and behavioral healthcare, and in manufacturing, distribution, technology and other industries. Prior to joining LBMC, Lisa was a managing director in Deloitte & Touche LLP’s National Life Sciences & Health Care M&A Transaction Services Practice.

Kris Novak

Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitons
Amedisys, Inc.

Kris is the Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions for Amedisys, Inc., one of the nation’s leading home healthcare, hospice and personal care companies. Mr. Novak leads the company’s acquisition, de novo, and integration activities. Since joining the company in 2009, his team has successfully closed on 47 transactions, allocating over $1 billion in capital, and adding over 250 home health, hospice and personal care locations. In addition, Mr. Novak serves on the Board of Directors of the Amedisys Foundation. Mr. Novak earned his Bachelor of Science in International Trade and Finance with a concentration in Empirical Economic Analysis from Louisiana State University.

Tatjana Paterno

M&A Partner
Bass, Berry & Sims

Tatjana is an M&A partner at Bass, Berry & Sims, PLC and focuses on middle market acquisition and disposition transactions across a range of industries including healthcare, manufacturing, food and beverage, and technology. To date, Tatjana has advised clients in M&A transactions valued at over $20 billion in the aggregate. She is a frequent speaker on M&A topics and serves as a Chair of the American Bar Association’s “Private Target Deal Points Study,” which has been widely recognized as the gold standard for market metrics of key negotiated legal issues in M&A agreements.

Frank Pellegrino

M&A Partner
Bass, Berry & Sims

Frank advises public and private companies in a broad range of transactional, corporate governance and securities matters. Over the course of his career, he has completed more than $25.0 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions for public and private companies across various industries including healthcare and manufacturing, among others.

Nick Propper

CEO
Impact Human Performance

Nick is an Executive Coach, Keynote speaker and Change Agent dedicated to helping clients align purpose and potential to optimize performance.

Prior to co-founding Impact Human Performance, Nick was a leader at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute. In this role Nick was both a Performance Coach, guiding clients through high impact programming in the fields of Energy Management and Resilience, and the lead for the Professional Service Business Unit managing critical relationships with some of the world’s leading management consultancies, accounting and executive search firms and marketing services agencies.

Rob Schipper

Managing Director & Head of Investment Banking
Fifth Third Securities

Rob serves as managing director and head of Investment Banking. He is responsible for supporting the strategic direction of Investment Banking and is a member of the Capital Markets senior leadership team. Under his leadership, investment banking has grown to be one of the leading advisors to middle market companies providing specialized advice for mergers & acquisitions, capital raising and strategic alternatives transactions. Since 2016 he has helped triple the size of the group which now comprises over 100 bankers across five strategic industry verticals. Rob joined the Bank in 2010 and has over 25 years of experience in investment banking and the financial services industry. Prior to joining Fifth Third, Rob’s previous firm experience included over 10 years with J.P. Morgan’s technology and mid-corporate investment bank. Rob also was a banker at Jefferies, Robinson Humphrey and Bowles Hollowell Conner. Through his career he has helped advise on over $15 billion in debt and equity financings and over $3.5 billion in M&A volume. When Rob is not helping clients, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two children enjoying the lake, hiking, fly fishing, cooking, among other activities. Locally he supports at-risk youth programs including past board member for Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta. Rob earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and later graduated with a Master in Business Administration from the Darden Graduate School of Business.

Steve Stang

Partner, Advisory Services
Cherry Bekaert

Steve has worked on more than 100 middle-market healthcare transactions advising on financial due diligence; mergers and acquisitions; strategic financial planning; and quality of earnings engagements.
Steve’s industry expertise includes deals for private equity groups, venture capital funds, investment bankers, healthcare REITs, and a diverse group of healthcare providers ranging from $1 million to $400 million in transaction value.

Bobby Stover

Partner - Americas Family Office Leader
EY

Bobby is the EY Americas Family Enterprise and Family Office Leader. His primary focus is to support family legacy by advising family businesses, their owners and family members on how to protect, grow and improve their family enterprise, while in turn dealing with the complex issues of business succession and governance. Bobby has over 27 years of experience serving family enterprises, specifically helping to resolve the personal, transitional and tax challenges they face

Jimmie Strong

Chief Legal Officer
Rosmar USA, Inc.

Jimmie is the Chief Legal Officer of Rosmar USA. Jimmie practiced law in the mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, corporate finance and securities practices of Baker Donelson prior to joining Rosmar USA to bring the almost 40-year Mexico City-based disinfection and sanitization titan to the U.S. Jimmie is on the Board of Directors of PRSM Healthcare, the exclusive referral management company for GastroHealth, one of the nation's fastest growing medical practices. Jimmie serves as primary transactional counsel and business advisor to a host of venture capital and private equity funds, family offices, athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs through The Advisory Incorporated. Jimmie is a graduate of Morehouse College and Harvard Law School.

Karen van Bergen

Dean | Executive Vice President
OmnicomUniversity | Omnicom Group

Karen van Bergen became the third Dean of OmnicomUniversity (OU) in January 2020, since its conception 25 years ago. Karen also leads Omnicom's Common Ground initiative, which supports the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

Before being appointed Dean of OU, Karen was CEO of Omnicom Public Relations Group. She held responsibility for all public relations and public affairs firms within Omnicom, encompassing more than 6,300 employees.

Prior to Omnicom PR Group, Karen served as CEO of Porter Novelli. Over a three-year period, Karen led the agency on a path of significant transformation—marked by growth and award-winning work and capped by recognition as a 2014 PRWeek Best Place to Work—a result of Karen’s steadfast focus on talent. Working in-house, Karen served two stints with McDonald’s in Europe and Asia totaling more than 13 years; she also worked with The Coca-Cola Company and Outboard Marine Corporation.

Karen’s leadership has been recognized with honors including Ad Age “Woman to Watch” and New York Business Journal “Woman of Influence.” In 2017, she was PR jury president at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity and was the first woman ever ranked #1 on the PRWeek Power List. Karen is a founding member of Omniwomen and serves on the boards of Morning Consult, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the New York Pops and the US Friends of the Royal Concert Hall Orchestra.

Marcus Whitney

Founding Partner
Jumpstart Health Investors

From college-dropout, waiter to self-taught, successful entrepreneur. Marcus Whitney is Founding Partner of Jumpstart Health Investors, the most active venture capital firm in America focused on innovative, healthcare companies with a portfolio of over 100 companies. Marcus is also co-founder and minority owner of Major League Soccer team, Nashville Soccer Club. Marcus has been listed in the Upstart 100 by Upstart Business Journal, Power 100 by Nashville Business Journal, and has been featured in Inc., Techcrunch, Fast Company, and The Atlantic. Marcus is the author of the best selling book Create and Orchestrate, about claiming your Creative Power through entrepreneurship. Marcus is a member of the board of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum, the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation, Instruction Partners, OZ Arts and Launch Tennessee.

Blake Wiedman

M&A/Private Equity Practice Leader – South Region
HUB International

Blake leads the Private Equity/M&A team for the South Region within HUB International. His team performs a full range of M&A insurance services to equity partners including, but not limited to, Property & Casualty, Group Benefits and Retirement Due Diligence, Post-Transaction Brokerage (P&C, Benefits and Retirement), Reps & Warranties placement, Fund Liability and Package Insurance for sponsors, and Group Purchasing Programs.  Blake started working in the M&A insurance space in 2008 and has been involved with over 500 transactions in his career. He began his work at a public brokerage, then moved over to The Crichton Group on the independent/private side in 2011. In 2016, he became a partner/owner of that agency, and was part of the team that became part of HUB in July of 2019. With improved bench strength and capabilities, Blake’s role will be to continue to build HUB’s presence, reputation and brand in the M&A space throughout the region and country. Blake received a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in Risk Management and Insurance from the University of Mississippi in 2008.

Matt Wolf

Director and Health Care Senior Analyst
RSM US LLP

Matt is a director and senior analyst in RSM’s health care practice. He has been assisting clients in the health care ecosystem for over ten years. Prior to that Matt worked as an analyst at a large financial services firm and in corporate finance roles.

As a senior analyst at RSM Matt supports data-driven critical thinking and analysis about the economy and health care ecosystem for RSM clients, professionals and friends. He regularly writes about, presents on and discusses the challenges and opportunities facing the health care ecosystem.

Matt is also responsible for leading the firm’s health care valuation team and works with clients in the health care ecosystem throughout the transaction lifecycle. His work includes advising on acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures and strategic partnerships.

Kate Wood

Founder | Co-Founder
K8 Co | The Table

As founder of K8 Co, Kate merges business and intuition to cultivate results for teams and individuals. Kate was President of the Nashville Business Journal with a career spanning 25 years. In 2020, she co-founded The Table to make Nashville the model city for equity and inclusiveness by taking action to create opportunities to grow prosperity for people of color.