Martyn S. Babitz is vice president and a family wealth strategist for BNY Mellon Wealth Management. He advises clients on all aspects of family wealth transfer, business succession, philanthropy, and income tax, estate tax, gift tax and generation-skipping tax mitigation strategies. Previously, he was a senior vice president and national director of estate planning for Hawthorn, PNC Family Wealth.

When CEO Nick Bayer founded Saxbys in 2005, he never considered it a coffee company; instead, he sees it as a social impact company fueled by amazing food, beverage and hospitality. Saxbys has grown from one cafe to a 30-unit business with a singular mission: Make Life Better. That began by fostering an O.D.D (outgoing, detail-oriented, and disciplined) team, committed to the betterment of the communities it serves. Today, more than 750 members represent the change-makers of tomorrow.

Robert J. Bowman is regional managing director of Business Development for BNY Mellon Wealth Management in the Mid-Atlantic region. He has spent 34 years in wealth management, beginning as a financial adviser at Merrill Lynch and progressing into leadership roles including national sales manager and Mid Atlantic regional director responsible for over $900 million in revenue. Over the last three years he was a managing director at a start-up hybrid wealth management firm and an independent broker dealer and RIA.

Don Caldwell is founder and CEO of Cross Atlantic Capital Partners and was previously president and COO of Safeguard Scientifics, a publicly traded venture capital firm. He has nearly 25 years’ experience as a private equity investor and at Cross Atlantic has raised four private equity funds totaling over $500 million. He has been a principal in more than 15 IPOs.

Edward Chan joined 1315 Capital in 2016 after spending five years at NaviMed Capital, most recently as a vice president. Previously, he was part of the health care investment team at Siemens Venture Capital. Based out of Boston and Beijing, he evaluated and sourced commercial and growth stage healthcare deals worldwide, performed research on various market sectors, and supported portfolio companies.

Vanessa Z Chan is an entrepreneur, board member, angel investor, keynote speaker and educator. She thrives at the interface of technology and business, and as a partner at McKinsey & Co., she co-led its innovation practice. Today, at the University of Pennsylvania, she is a professor of Practice in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Undergraduate Chair of Materials Science & Engineering and a member of the Executive Committee of Penn Health.

Joseph D. Culley Jr. joined Janney in 2000 and serves on the firm’s Executive Committee. As head of Capital Markets Group, he oversees all of the firm’s Equities, Fixed Income and Investment Banking operations. He also serves as chairperson for Janney's Equity and Fixed Income Commitment committees. Prior to being head of Capital Markets Group, he was head of Equities and Investment Banking.

As market president, Jim Dever is Bank of America’s leader in Philadelphia. He connects businesses, families and individuals to the banking and investment teams that help improve their financial lives. He also leads the work to deploy Bank of America’s resources to address social and economic concerns and build strong communities. In addition, he is global commercial banking market executive for Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware, overseeing a team that provides banking solutions to companies with annual revenues of $50 million to $2 billion.

Denise L. Devine, CPA, MBA, MST, is an experienced independent board director. Her experience spans from entrepreneurial startups to Fortune100 corporations. She is founder and CEO of FNB Holdings LLC, a company dedicated to initiatives in the health and wellness space, and a founder, CAO and CFO of RTM Vital Signs LLC, an early stage medical device company.

Prior to being named regional president of TriState Capital’s Eastern Pennsylvania operation, Joseph M. Finley was vice president and group manager in the Pennsylvania Commercial Banking Division at one of the largest bank and trust providers in the U.S. and served as part of a group that managed over 400 institutional relationships that represent nearly $2 billion in middle-market C&I, commercial real estate and private banking outstandings.

Chris Gheysens is president and CEO of Wawa, a chain of more than 840 convenience stores located in six states and Washington, D.C. Known for its fresh food and award-winning coffee, Wawa is a family and associate-owned, privately held company. Approximately 35,000 associates provide convenient, friendly and inviting experiences for over 1.6 million customers every day.

Jonathan Gilbert is a senior managing director at Alliant and leads its Mergers & Acquisitions practice. He has over 10 years of private equity mergers and acquisitions insurance experience. In addition to due diligence expertise, he has led insurance procurement initiatives for private equity firms nationwide, with a focus on reducing expense and increasing liquidity.

Andrew Goldman is chief investment officer of Hildred Capital Partners LLC. He is responsible for overseeing HCP’s capital allocation and day-to-day investing activities. Since joining HCP in 2015, he, in concert with David Solomon, has overseen the development of the entire HCP portfolio, including equities and fixed income, real assets and private equity.

Daniel J. Hayes, CPA MT CGMA, joined CliftonLarsonAllen LLP in 2018 and is a director in the Outsourcing and Life Science Industry Group. He has over 30 years of financial and operational accounting experience. Prior to joining CLA, he was founder, CFO and COO of several life science entities. He has hands-on experience building international enterprises ,from start-up to successful exits.

Gerri Henwood has served as president and CEO, and a director of Recro Pharma — a revenue-generating, specialty pharmaceutical company — since its inception in 2008. From 2006 to 2013, she served as president of Malvern Consulting Group Inc., a pharmaceutical incubator and consulting firm. She continues to spend a small amount of time engaged in the provision of consulting services for MCG to other companies.

Over the course of his 15-year career, Ryan Hurst’s areas of expertise have included advising clients on buying and selling businesses, succession planning, conducting valuations for transactions and structures, litigation support for shareholder disputes and strategic alternatives analyses. He earned the Accredited Senior Appraiser designation in 2015.

Christine Jones is managing partner of Blue Highway Capital, formed to stimulate and reinforce the growth of small companies in rural and other underserved areas. She has 25 years of expertise sourcing, structuring and managing 24 investments in small middle-market companies across a broad range of industries including business services, health care services, telecommunications, transportation and logistics, consumer products and manufacturing. Blue Highway is currently investing $2 million to $4 million in growth equity for companies with revenues of $5 million to $50 million. 

Ted Karkus is entrepreneur and CEO of ProPhase Labs. He restructured the entire company, turned it around and sold the Cold-EEZE Cold Remedy brand for $50 million. He previously financed and advised ID Biomedical, a biotech company, when it was near bankruptcy.  The company was eventually sold for more than $1.4 billion. He graduated from Tufts University Magna Cum Laude in 1981 and Columbia Business School (MBA) with Beta Gamma Sigma honors in 1984.

Kevin Kemmerer brings over 20 years of experience in the enterprise software industry. Prior to joining iPipeline, where he serves as executive vice president, Product and Business Development, he was an executive-in-residence at Warburg Pincus. Prior to Warburg, he was executive vice president and managing director of Safeguard Scientifics, where he led Safeguard’s technology deal team and was responsible for eight of Safeguard’s companies in the enterprise software and internet markets.

John Lee manages Griffin’s Commercial, Industrial and Services Group. He has 25 years of experience providing merger and acquisition advisory services, private placements of debt and equity capital, and management buyout advisory services for middle-market companies in a wide range of industries. His experience includes sourcing, initiating and managing numerous investment banking transactions for middle-market business and government services, consumer and industrial manufacturing, distribution and technology companies.

Ted Lentz is CFO and chief analytics officer for the consolidated JM Swank, Lentz Milling and Armour Specialty Marketing companies owned by Platinum Equity LLC.  Previously, he was president of Lentz Milling Co. which he acquired in 2005 in a leveraged buyout transaction from the third generation of family leadership. He was actively involved in leading the successful process to sell the company to Platinum Equity in 2018.

Frank is the former managing principal and CEO of AC Lordi, a boutique management consulting firm, and has served as part-time CFO, strategic adviser and board member for numerous early stage and growing companies. He is an accomplished management consultant and seasoned entrepreneur who has sold three businesses while serving as the CFO, two businesses as the majority shareholder and two businesses as an active member of the board.

Fred L. Massanova, CPA, is an audit partner at Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP, with more than 12 years of comprehensive audit and advisory experience. His areas of expertise include auditing manufacturing, distribution and technology companies, financial institutions and construction and real estate companies. He has extensive experience in providing audit and advisory services to private equity companies and ESOP companies and has a deep understanding of Department of Labor rules and regulations for employee benefit plans governed by ERISA.

Daniel W. McDonough is a partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group of Pepper Hamilton LLP and co-chair of the firm’s Food and Beverage Industry Group. He devotes his practice to merger and acquisition transactions, corporate finance matters, complex commercial contracting and general corporate advisory matters. He also has represented domestic and foreign companies in transactions overseas and in the United States.

John McKee is a managing director at PWP Growth Equity, focused on both minority and control investments, partnering with management teams to offer strategic guidance and capital to achieve their vision for growth. He has over 20 years of experience in private equity and investment banking, with prior experience at Weston Presidio, Greenbriar Equity Group, Compass Partners International and JP Morgan. 

Jonathan Meltzer has been responsible for private equity investments at Spring Creek Investment Management, a Philadelphia-based single-family office, since 2016. Previously, he originated and executed direct private equity and credit investments at Ulysses Management and American Capital. He began his career as an investment banker as an analyst at Wasserstein Perella and an associate at Goldman Sachs.

Michael J. Mufson is a founding partner and managing director of Mufson Howe Hunter & Co. LLC, a Philadelphia-based investment banking firm specializing in providing mergers and acquisitions services for middle-market growth companies.  With over 25 years in investment banking, he has extensive experience completing hundreds of merger and acquisitions transactions and placements of debt and equity.

Stephanie L. Pindyck-Costantino is a partner with Pepper Hamilton LLP, vice chair of the Corporate and Securities Practice Group, co-leader of the Women’s Initiative, a member of its Diversity Committee and serves on the Associates Committee. She concentrates her practice on private investment funds and advises clients on fund formation matters for onshore and offshore investment funds, private equity investment transactions, venture capital investments and acquisitions, among others.

Louis Rappaport is chair, Corporate, M&A and Securities Practice at Blank Rome LLP. He concentrates his practice on business and corporate matters, with specific emphasis on mergers and acquisitions for middle-market companies in a wide range of industries. He has over 20 years of experience advising on hundreds of strategic and private equity M&A transactions.

Charles Robins is a founding member of Fairmount Partners and heads the firm’s Technology practice. As Fairmount’s senior technology expert, he has over 40 years of experience as an entrepreneur, executive, strategic consultant and investment banker. Prior to entering investment banking, he was an executive at Safeguard Scientifics, a high-technology investment firm, and was co-founder of Rabbit Software Corp., a publicly traded pioneer that developed and marketed software-based communications products for enterprise networks. 

Taylor Rooke is vice president of Rooke Fiduciary Managment, a private trust company that manages family trusts. His day-to-day activities consist of identifying, analyzing and managing current and potential investment opportunities. Previously, he worked at Larsen MacColl Partners, a lower-middle-market private equity firm specializing in investing into companies with proven business models, strong management teams and compelling growth opportunities.

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Thomas Tillett is co-founder and CEO of MBF Therapeutics, an animal health biotech company developing innovative immunotherapies to treat companion animals. He was founder, president and CEO of RHeoGene LLC, which established an innovative clinical development program with the RheoSwitch® Therapeutic System that led to the first human clinical trial of a small molecule-induced gene regulation system. He is founder and executive director of Sustained Acts, a Christian nonprofit focusing on sustainable projects in Africa.

Richard L. N. Weaver is a national director in Bernstein’s Wealth Strategies Group, where he specializes in counseling private business owners, public corporate executives and holders of concentrated equity positions. He is the author of Bernstein’s research publications“Executive Decisions: Making the Most of Compensation Plans to Build and Protect Personal Wealth “and “Selling a Business: Proceed with Confidence.” Previously, he served as a senior portfolio manager.