Thomas L. Bakaitus Jr.

Partner-In-Charge, Western PA
Herbein + Company Inc.

Tom is a CPA who serves as tax partner and operating officer of Herbein + Company Inc., a 180-plus person CPA firm with eight offices across Pennsylvania. Over 90 percent of Tom’s clients fall in the category of closely held or family-owned businesses. He provides those clients with accounting and business advisory services as well as tax planning and consulting. Tom spends much of his time structuring complex transactions and acquisitions.

Leroy Ball

President & CEO
Koppers Inc.

Leroy is president and CEO of Koppers and serves on the company’s board of directors. Under Leroy’s leadership as CEO, Koppers is focused on safely delivering customer focused solutions, primarily through the development and application of technologies to enhance wood. Leroy joined Koppers in September 2010 as vice president and chief financial officer, providing oversight for the finance, treasury, information technology and investor relations functions. From May to December 2014, he held the role of COO with responsibility for the company’s global business operations. He was elected president and CEO in January 2015. Prior to Koppers, Leroy spent 10 years with Calgon Carbon Corp., an international chemical company.

Lynn Banaszak

Executive Director
Digital Transformation and Innovation Center Carnegie Mellon University

Lynn is one of Pittsburgh’s most connected executives with national reach: guiding, mentoring and coaching professionals and startup technology companies. Since 2013, DHTI has invested $5 million in 38 projects led by CMU researchers who are working with industry, payers and providers striving to create disruptive health care solutions.

Michael Bernstein

Managing Partner
Woodland Management

Michael Bernstein served as Chairman and CEO of Polyconcept, the leading supplier of promotional merchandise until 2015. Mr. Bernstein started his career in the promotional industry in 1992 with Leed’s, a family business that was the predecessor organization to Polyconcept.   Michael Bernstein is the Managing Partner for Woodland Management, a family investment office focusing on all asset classes with a special emphasis on Private Equity, Venture and Real Estate.

Beth Bershok

Regional Marketing Director
Herbein + Company

Beth oversees the marketing and practice development efforts for the firm’s Pittsburgh, Greensburg and Allison Park offices. Prior to her career in professional services marketing, Beth earned a degree in speech communications (radio and TV) from California University of Pennsylvania and went on to a 26-year career in radio. From 1990 to March of 2008, Beth served as co-host and producer of “Gary & Beth in the Morning” on Lite Rock 92.9 FM. In 2005, she was awarded Best Pittsburgh On-Air Personality by the Pittsburgh Radio and Television Club.

Andrew Bishop

Associate Director
AB Bernstein

Andrew is a Director in Bernstein’s Wealth Strategies Group. As a Director, he consults with advisors, their professional partners and clients as an expert in a wide field of complex investment planning topics for high-net-worth individuals and foundations. These topics include planning for the sale of a business, managing executive compensation awards, trust and estate planning techniques, charitable planning vehicles, tax management strategies and investment management strategies for nonprofits. Andrew graduated from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, with a BS in accounting and a minor in finance. He is a CFA charterholder since 2012.

Don Braun

Managing Director
AB Bernstein

Donald is a managing director of Bernstein in the Philadelphia office. He joined the firm in 2005 and was appointed a principal in 2010, a director in 2015 and managing director in 2016. As a principal, he advised high-net-worth families and institutions and their respective trusts, estates, foundations, endowments and pension plans. Previously, he was vice president of a privately held family business, Greater Media Inc.

Bart Bucci

Managing Director, Wealth Management
Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management

Bart oversees all aspects of The Bucci Group at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management; focusing on investment strategies and complex estate planning strategies for uniquely successful families. He has over 25 years of wealth management experience specializing in pre-liquidity planning and post-deal wealth management issues.
The Bucci Group is the only Private Wealth Management team for Morgan Stanley in the state of Ohio. PWM is a boutique group of 250 teams within Morgan Stanley dedicated to working with ultra-high net worth clients.

Arnie Burchianti

President & CEO
AEB Holdings, Inc.

Arnie is founder and CEO of Celtic Healthcare Inc. He served from 1996 to 2018 and led the company through a significant period of growth by utilizing technology to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness. In 2012, Graham Holdings Co. acquired a majority interest in Celtic Healthcare, with Burchianti continuing as CEO and co-owner. In 2016, Celtic merged with Residential Home Health and Hospice to form Graham Healthcare Group, with Burchianti as CEO over the combined company, which doubled in size and revenue.

Gregory D. Cessna

CEO
Extrel CMS

Greg Cessna, CEO of Consumer Fresh Produce, Inc. and Extrel CM, has led publicly traded and privately held companies for 30 years.  Greg has successfully completed 15 strategic acquisitions and mergers.  In 2005 Greg founded Northbound Consulting to coach and mentor family business leaders in succession planning, strategy and business analytics.  Today, Greg sits on several boards of privately held companies and non-profits.

Pete Chiappa

CFO; former CEO
Patton Wings; Mallet & Co.

Pete is the Chief Financial Officer for Patton Wings, the largest owner-operator of Buffalo Wings restaurants in the United States. Patton began with one store in Michigan and grew to become the largest franchisee in the Buffalo Wild Wings system. It was recently acquired by ICV Partners, a middle market private equity firm. Previously Pete served in various executive roles with Mallet & Company, another private equity owned food company that was later sold to Vantage Special Chemicals.

Bill Collier

Vice President and Tax Partner-In-Charge
Holsinger P.C.

In his role as Vice President and Tax Partner-In-Charge, Bill manages the firm’s tax operations, family office group and M&A team. He applies his highly skilled expertise to develop tax saving ideas for our clients’ business challenges. He develops internal standards governing the delivery of tax services to clients and maintains a close pulse on the legislative and regulatory changes impacting our client’s tax positions, both domestically and internationally. This tax capability, combined with many years of experience in business acquisitions and valuation, allows Bill to provide our clients a unique perspective on their M&A deals. Those clients in need of succession planning will find tremendous value and peace of mind in Bill’s depth of knowledge in estate tax planning. As leader of the Family Office Group, Bill brings this wide ranging skill set to bear in a very personal manner and has become a go to Trusted Advisor for our client base.

Brian Dobis 

EVP, Managing Director of Commercial and Industrial Banking
S&T Bank

Brian joined S&T Bank in December 2015 as senior vice president, commercial banking C&I team manager in the Pittsburgh region. In this role, Brian is responsible for leading the Middle Market/C&I Group for S&T Bank in Western Pennsylvania. The group partners with current customers and establishing new business relationships with organizations to strengthen S&T Bank’s presence throughout the region. Brian joined S&T Bank with several years of banking experience largely centered in corporate and institutional banking.

Ron Donatelli

Pittsburgh Regional President
First National Bank

Ron is responsible for integrating FNB’s successful cross-functional business model and for developing small business and corporate banking opportunities in the company’s headquarters market. He joined FNB in 2009 to lead its Asset-Based Lending division and has had oversight for various corporate banking groups within the organization, including Syndications and International Banking Services. He has more than 35 years of financial services experience, having held a range of leadership roles with asset-based lending groups at major banks in the Pittsburgh area.

Chris Farmakis

Shareholder; Chairman of the Board
Babst Calland

Chris focuses his legal practice on mergers and acquisitions, private company equity investments, recapitalizations and joint ventures, startup company formation and general representation, commercial transactions, corporate governance, and real estate matters. His practical legal approach has earned him a regional and national client base with recent deals in the manufacturing, retail, services, wireless infrastructure, IP, utility, emerging technology and food industries. He is also national acquisition counsel for numerous public and private companies and private equity-owned portfolio companies. Like his clients, Chris is an entrepreneur, having founded three businesses including Solvaire, a company leveraging AI technology to undertake large-scale due diligence and contract management projects.

Buddy Flerl

Chairman
RDX/Navisite

Buddy is Executive Chairman of RDX, a leading cloud and data infrastructure managed services provider headquartered in Warrendale. RDX started almost 20 years ago as Contemporary Technologies, a Pittsburgh-based Oracle consultancy.  Since Buddy acquired the company in 2010, RDX has become one of the largest IT-services employers in the Pittsburgh region, grown to over 700+ clients worldwide, and generated over $200M in enterprise value.  RDX’s most recent recapitalization was led by Madison Dearborn Capital Partners. Buddy is a founder of 21Ventures, a $300M venture capital fund.  He lives in the North Hills with his wife and three children.

Jeff Ford

Partner
Grossman Yanak & Ford LLP

Jeff has focused his career on providing accounting, auditing and consulting services to privately held companies and not-for-profit organizations. His experience includes furnishing compliance services such as audits; providing due diligence and investigation services related to business acquisitions; performing fraud investigations; developing and compiling projected and forecasted financial statements; and evaluating, selecting and implementing information systems for companies.

Dawn Fuchs Coleman

CEO
We Guide, You Grow LLC

Dawn worked in a second-generation family business, Weavertown Environmental Group.  The company was sold December 1,2015 to UNIVAR, a wallstreet company.  Dawn launched We Guide, You Grow LLC. “I did it, you can to” offering customizable plans for clients that want to grow their business and leadership teams.  In addition she has also launched a commercial cleaning company, CleanAisles, LLC., for her husband and has seen substantial growth within a two year span.

Dawn has recently released a book, Get Your Game F.A.C.E. On and it is focused on "the secret of growing your company during any economy."

Jill Garvey

Senior Vice President & Senior Wealth Strategist
Huntington Bank

Jill is senior vice president and senior wealth strategist with Huntington Private Bank, where she provides thought leadership and strategic direction in the areas of business succession, estate and wealth transfer planning. She is passionate about creating written, customized, objective wealth plans, thereby ensuring that her clients achieve their goals. She also places great importance on the nonfinancial issues her clients face, as well as their financial concerns, allowing her to help her clients create and execute meaningful and intentional plans consistent with their values.

Thomas B. Grealish

President
Henderson Brothers

As president of Henderson Brothers, Tom manages virtually all of the firm’s business activities and leads the company’s management committee. He is responsible for all day-to-day operations and the execution of the company’s strategic plan. He also maintains contact with insurance carrier executives and is active in the field, accompanying producers and account executives when visiting clients.

Stephen J. Gurgovits Jr.

Managing Partner
Tecum Capital

Stephen is the managing partner and co-founder of Tecum Capital, a $450 million private investment firm based in Pittsburgh, which oversees pools of committed capital focused on mezzanine debt, subordinated notes and private equity, via two active funds, Tecum Capital Partners II LP and Tecum Equity Partners III. In his current role, Stephen is responsible for providing strategic, operational and investment management leadership to the funds, including its overall planning, fundraising, growth and execution of strategy.

Mark Guterman

Director, Capital Markets
First National Bank

Mark Guterman leads the Loan Syndications efforts within the Capital Markets group at First National Bank. In this role, Mark is responsible for originating, structuring and executing loan syndications for Commercial & Industrial (C&I) transactions across First National Bank’s footprint ranging from $30 to $200 million in size. Prior to joining First National Bank, Mark was a Senior High Yield Credit Analyst at The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America where he was responsible for covering the Technology, Media & Telecom sectors for new issues and secondary trading opportunities within the high yield bond and leveraged loan universe. Previous to his work with Guardian Life, Mark was an investment analyst with broker-dealer Chapdelaine Credit Partners and alternative asset manager GSC Group in New York. He started his career as an analyst in the syndicated and leveraged finance group at J.P. Morgan based in New York. Mark earned a Bachelor of Art’s degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Jon Halpern

President
Pineapple Payments

Jon joined the Pineapple Payments team in 2016 as president to execute on Pineapple’s vision for the future of payments. He founded his first company, AthleteTrax, while still in college, to revolutionize the way recreational sports leagues and facilities leverage technology to accept payments and manage their businesses.
He serves as partner and board member of Social Venture Partners, a growing network of individuals that links passion and purpose to share skills, time and resources in support of innovative nonprofits in the Pittsburgh region.

Christian Harsch

Managing Director
Confluence Advisors, LLC

Chris has 20 years of experience in middle market investment banking. Over his career he has been directly involved transactions with an aggregate value of $1.5 billion. He has also partnered with others to acquire/invest in private businesses including Burrell-Reagents and MLP Steel. Prior to investment banking, Chris was a stock-broker with TD Waterhouse. He has an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelors degree from Clarion University of Pennsylvania.

Matthew Helfrich

Partner and President
Waldron Private Wealth

Matt leads Waldron’s strategic vision, brand and value proposition, and overall culture of the firm. His focus is on expanding our service offering across multiple generations of clients and leveraging technology to enhance the client experience. Matt is in the media frequently and has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and Forbes.

Craig Heryford

National Chair Business Transactions Sections
Gordon Rees LP

Craig's practice is concentrated in the area of mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and corporate finance matters as well as the representation of mature and emerging businesses. He has experience in a wide variety of commercial transactions, including numerous corporate finance and venture capital funding transactions involving both equity and debt, as well as merger and acquisition and private equity transactions.

Mr. Heryford regularly represents investors, including private equity and venture based investors, in portfolio investments and acquisition and divestiture transactions. He has also represented fund clients in fund formation work, including the structuring and formation of the funds, negotiation and preparation of investor documents and constituent fund documentation.
Mr. Heryford is the chair of the firm's Business Services Section and Business Transactions Practice Group.

Gabriela Isturiz

President & CEO
Bellefield Systems (Now Aderant Holdings, a Roper Technologies business)

Gaby is a serial entrepreneur, experienced CEO and founder of two successful SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) technology companies in the legal and professional services verticals. In 2012 Gaby founded Bellefield Systems, the global leader in time tracking and compliance technology for lawyers, and under her leadership, the company experienced over 900% growth. In December 2019 Bellefield was acquired by Roper Technologies (Aderant division) a constituent of the S&P 500 ®. Prior to Bellefield, Gaby was the founder and president of eBillingHub, the leader in electronic billing for law firms positioning the company to be later acquired by Thomson Reuters. A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Gaby earned her MS Information Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh and her BS in Computer Systems Engineering from the Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas.

John Lewis

Founding Member
Metz Lewis Brodman Must O'Keefe LLC

John is a Corporate Attorney who has a diverse business practice, and his primary role is interfacing with clients, knowing their businesses, and keeping them out of legal jams. He is on the Executive Committee for Metz Lewis, and is one of the firm’s original members. “The firm is a critical part of my life,” John says. “I want to see it do well, see it get better every day.”

Jim Marra

Director of Business Development
Blue Point Capital

John Morley

Managing Director
Incline Equity

John Morley, Partner, joined Incline in August 2013. He is responsible for evaluating, analyzing and monitoring investments made by the firm.

Previously, John was a Vice President with H.I.G. Growth Partners where he focused on executing equity investments in middle market companies. Prior to that, he was an Associate with private equity firm Sorenson Capital and began his career as an Associate Consultant with the management consulting firm Bain & Company.

John received a B.S., summa cum laude, from Brigham Young University and an M.B.A. with honors from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

John serves as a director of AFC Industries, Continental Batteries, Charter Industries and Unified Power.

Demetrios (Jim) Patrinos

Owner/CEO.
T. D. Patrinos Painting & Contracting Co.

In addition to several other previous restaurants, Jim was owner/nurturer of 23 Primanti Bros. Restaurant & Bar for over 40 years and recently sold them to an investment group for expansion to the present 50 locations and resides on the board. He also owns T.D.Patrinos Painting & Contracting Co., a national commercial painting and drywall business. In addition he has numerous investment properties and hotels in the Pittsburgh area and Florida. He serves on the boards of The Pittsburgh Opera, The Pittsburgh Glass Center, Chair of The Andy Warhol Museum board and also a Lifetime Trustee of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.

David Pecore

CFO
AFC Industries, Inc.

Dave is responsible for all of the financial and accounting functions and reporting for AFC Industries. A CPA who began his career at Price Waterhouse, he has over 30 years of professional experience as a finance and accounting executive. Dave has extensive experience on both the investment and operating side of the business.

Louis Plung

Managing Partner
Louis Plung & Company

Louis is the Managing Partner of Louis Plung & Company. He joined the Firm in 1984, became partner in 1989, and was made Managing Partner in 1992. He provides services for clients in a wide range of industries, from closely-held businesses to large publicly-owned companies.

Rocky Pontikes

Managing Director of Investment Banking
Mesirow Financial

Rocky is a managing director in Mesirow Financial’s Investment Banking group. He is responsible for developing key relationships, leading deal teams throughout the transaction process and providing advisory services on middle-market M&A assignments within the distribution & supply chain and industrials sectors.Rocky has more than 20 years of investment banking experience. Prior to joining Mesirow Financial in June 2001, he was an investment banker in the global investment banking division at Merrill Lynch & Co., providing corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and public and private capital advisory services to middle-market and growth-oriented companies. Rocky has played an integral role in many notable M&A and capital markets transactions across numerous industries with aggregate transaction value of over $10 billion. He has led several industry award-winning and notable transactions in recent years.In 2012, Rocky was named a winner of The M&A Advisor 40 Under 40 Awards for the central region. Rocky is an active member of The Economic Club of Chicago, The Association for Corporate Growth and Turnaround Management Association.Rocky earned a BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds FINRA Series 7, 63 and 79 licenses.Rocky has four sons, is happily married to his wife Jen, and is an avid golfer and paddle player.

Scott Powell

CEO
Quick Med Claims LLC

Scott is the CEO of Quick Med Claims, a national leader in Revenue Cycle Management for the EMS industry. He is responsible for the company's overall strategy and the execution of an aggressive growth plan. All while focusing on Regulatory Compliance, maximizing clients revenue, and providing best in class customer service. Quick Med Claims has successfully integrated 6 acquisitions over the last 3 years and maintains a high level of organic growth year over year.

Jim Rooney

Co-Owner
Pittsburgh Steelers

Jim is a business owner, consultant, facilitator, national speaker and published author.

His book, “A Different Way to Win: Dan Rooney’s Story from the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule,” details his father’s successful career.

He is co-partner of Rooney Consulting, which helps organizations enhance culture, build strong teams and grow businesses. He founded FirstLink Research and Analytics, a world leader in building business analysis for technology transition.

He has launched, led and developed several initiatives, working across the academic, government and technology sectors, and advised on projects for the U.S. government, foreign governments, corporations and universities.

Susie Shipley

Regional President
Huntington Bank

Susan “Susie” is president of the Western Pennsylvania and Ohio Valley Region of Huntington Bank. She has more than 25 years of banking experience in local, national and international markets. A native Pittsburgher, she joined Huntington 2012 from The Royal Bank of Scotland/Citizens Bank, where she was head of global trade finance for North America. Shipley is chair of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission and serves the boards of the Allegheny Conference, Manchester Bidwell, UPMC, UPMC HealthPlan and the world-renowned Andy Warhol Museum.

Dietrich Stephan

Chairman & CEO
NeuBase Therapeutics, Inc.

Dr. Stephan is Chairman and CEO of NeuBase Therapeutics (Nasdaq:NBSE) which is developing the next generation of gene silencing therapies to address genetic diseases including cancers. Stephan has been Chairman of several academic departments, founded 14 biotechnology companies and among other honors has been profiled twice on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for his contributions to society.

Andrea Steiner

Shareholder
Dentons Cohen & Grigsby P.C.

Andrea is a Shareholder in the Corporate Group. Her practice involves corporate transactional matters with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and mezzanine financing. Andrea's experience includes representation of private equity funds, portfolio companies, mezzanine lenders and strategic buyers and sellers on acquisition, disposition, leveraged buy-out, debt and equity financing, recapitalization and joint venture transactions. She also regularly provides guidance and assistance to clients on general corporate matters, including negotiation and documentation for various commercial transactions. Andrea has represented clients across a variety of industries, including manufacturing, service, energy, consumer products, financial services, grocery and technology.

Louis Testoni

Retired Market Managing Partner, PwC
PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP

Lou retired as Managing Partner of the Lake Erie Market of PricewaterhouseCoopers, a $200 million professional services regional practice comprised of PwC’s offices in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo and Rochester. He is well-respected in the region’s capital markets with deep knowledge of organizational and financial structures and in evaluating acquisitions and dispositions. Lou is the Audit Committee Chair on the Board of Directors of Koppers, Inc. and is the Lead Independent Director on the ABARTA, Inc. and c3controls, Inc Boards, and a member of the Board of Advisors of Henderson Brothers, Inc.

Andy Vollmer

Managing Director
BellMark Partners, LLC

Andy is Managing Director and Co-CEO of Bellmark Partners, LLC, and head of the firm’s Cleveland office. Andy has over 28 years of investment banking experience, having personally completed well over 100 M&A, special committee, and board advisory assignments. Previously, he was with KeyBanc Capital Markets, where he was head of the sponsor coverage, consumer & retail and M&A investment banking groups.

Michael Wagner

President & CEO
Target Freight Management

Michael is President and CEO of Target Freight Management, an Inc. 500/5000 company for the past 5 years. In 2017, he won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for his patented technology. He has worked in the logistics field since he was 21 and has helped design software to save shippers time and money on their freight and parcel shipments. TFM is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, with offices in Santa Clarita, CA, Nashville, TN, Cedar Rapids, IA, Cleveland, OH, and has recently acquired National Traffic Service, a freight audit and pay leader, in Amherst, NY. He is a generous philanthropist and skillful business leader and WPIAL AA championship head baseball coach for Seton LaSalle High School.

Benjamin A. Wilson

Executive Director
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

Benjamin is an Executive Director in J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank and part of the Mergers & Acquisitions department based in New York. Mr. Wilson has been a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions group for over thirteen years since joining the firm as part of its Summer Analyst program.

During his career, he has advised clients on a wide range of transactions including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, separations, cross border transactions, whole company sales, minority interest processes, strategic alternatives,  corporate defenses and unsolicited transactions.

Mr. Wilson graduated with honors from The Johns Hopkins University receiving a Bachelors degree in Economics and Entrepreneurship & Management.

Jason Wolfe

Founder & CEO
Wolfe, LLC

Jason created the first coupon web site, MyCoupons, in 1995, growing it to 20 million visitors per month before selling it in 2000 for $23 million. He then built Direct Response Technologies Inc. and sold it to Digital River in 2006 for $22 million.  From 2008 to 2015, he focused on GiftCards.com and OmniCard, growing GiftCards.com into the No. 1 gift card site in the world, selling over 10 million gift cards valued at more than $1 billion. In 2016, he sold them to Blackhawk Network for $120 million. 
Today he is focusing on Wolfe LLC, and specifically on GiftYa, his next-generation gifting solution.