Committee

Krishan Arora currently serves as the Managing Director and CMO of Novastone Capital, a global private equity firm with a portfolio of 21 global acquisitions. Headquartered in Switzerland, Novastone solves succession challenges faced by small—to medium-sized enterprises through our Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) program.

Prior to joining Novastone, Krishan Arora was the Founder and CEO of The Arora Project, a venture capital media agency that has raised and invested over $125,000,000 in high-growth ventures worldwide.

Brent joined Trivest in 2025 and serves as Director of Originations for Trivest Growth Investment Fund (“TGIF”), the firm’s non-control investment strategy. He is responsible for sourcing and evaluating new investment opportunities across North America. Prior to joining Trivest, Brent was Vice President of Business Development at Sheridan Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. His previous experience includes working at a financial services platform backed by Carlyle and Warburg Pincus, as well as being an early team member at a venture-backed company acquired by Nasdaq, Inc. Brent began his career at Morgan Keegan, a Memphis-based investment bank. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Furman University, where he was a member of the football team.

Raechel Canipe is a Venture Partner at Valor Ventures, the Founder and CEO at Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship, and the Chief Marketing Officer at RevStar. She dedicates her time to mentoring ambitious entrepreneurs and connecting them with the network and resources they need to succeed. Raechel’s community impact and business success have been celebrated with two Innovation Awards, a ChangeMaker Award, and as a nominee for Business Woman of the Year.

Justin Garrod has 25+ years of alternative investment, corporate finance and legal experience from both large global and specialized institutions. Over the last 15 years he has been specializing in U.S. lower middle-market private capital fund, secondary and direct deal advisory within private equity and private credit across a broad range of industries.

Having worked with several senior team members at Star Mountain on various direct and secondaries investment opportunities with his U.S. lower middle-market clients during his prior roles over the last decade, Mr. Garrod is now focused on originating, analyzing and helping manage fund, secondary and direct investments at Star Mountain.

Mr. Garrod’s experience in secondaries dates back to 2007 when he worked with the Lehman Brothers secondaries business, now part of Neuberger Berman. During the Global Financial Crisis of 2009, he assisted the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy estate in the sale of its LP interests.

Mr. Garrod co-founded and was co-Managing Partner for Stonington Capital Advisors, a specialist placement agent and strategic advisor on fund, secondaries, and direct investments in U.S. lower middle-market private equity and private credit. For over a decade, he worked with numerous managers and global institutional investors. He also specialized in working with independent sponsors, advising them on deal structuring and raising them capital for often proprietary transactions.

Will joined Boyne Capital in 2023. As a Vice President of Business Development, he helps drive the sourcing and origination efforts at Boyne. Prior to joining Boyne, Will served as a Senior Associate on the origination team at Sole Source Capital, a lower-middle market private equity firm based in Dallas, Texas. Will previously worked for Edge Capital Group, where he managed investment strategies across all asset classes for family offices, foundations, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Will received his BS in Economics with Financial Applications from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Harvey Hernandez is the Founder & CEO of Miami-based Newgard Development Group. Fueled by his creativity and armed with a diehard entrepreneurial spirit, Harvey first began his involvement in real estate development during the 1990’s as a hands-on investor in the rapidly expanding Miami market.

Harvey has spent more than two decades in the South Florida market – observing the city’s tremendous capacity for change and progress. Always holding firm to excellence and being at the forefront of the industry, Harvey continues to revitalize high-end residential markets in South Florida by developing innovative projects that deliver the best in location, cutting-edge amenities, luxury finishes, and forward-thinking design. Harvey currently resides in Miami, FL.

Mr. Hill is a managing partner and co-founder of Hyde Park Capital Advisors, LLC.
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During his career, Mr. Hill has executed hundreds of transactions, in aggregate totaling more than $5 billion, including numerous mergers & acquisitions, financial advisory engagements, initial and secondary public offerings, private placements of equity and debt securities and fairness opinions.

Prior to forming Hyde Park Capital in January 2000, Mr. Hill was employed for nine years in the Investment Banking Department at Raymond James & Associates, Inc., most recently in the position of Managing Director and Head of the Investment Banking Technology Group, which he co-founded in 1991. Prior to Raymond James, Mr. Hill was employed by Morgan Stanley in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group within the Investment Banking Department in New York City. Mr. Hill also has prior work experience at IBM Corporation.

Mr. Hill is a former director and Chairman of the Florida Venture Forum. He is a former Director and Chairman of the Investment Advisory Council, the Oversight Board for the $130 Billion State of Florida Pension Fund. He is a member of the Tampa Bay CEO Council and the Association of Corporate Growth (ACG). Mr. Hill is also actively involved in STAR (Special Operator Force Transition Resource), comprised of select Tampa Bay business leaders, working with retiring special forces operators out of Tampa-based United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) at MacDill AFB.

Mr. Hill holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Virginia Tech and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mr. Hill was awarded the Beta Gamma Sigma honorary at the University of North Carolina. Mr. Hill holds Series 7, 24 and 63 securities licenses.

Lee is managing partner of Smart Business Network Inc., a national events, media and marketing company founded in 1989, primarily responsible for expanding the company’s Aspire deal-making conference throughout the U.S. He plays a key role in establishing corporate policies and developing long-term strategy and growth plans. Previously, he founded and chaired the Growth Group at national law firm Arter & Hadden LLP (now Tucker, Ellis & West), which focused on working with middle-market and high-growth technology companies. 

Sean joined Lockton in 2006 and is an Executive Vice President and Executive Committee member in the Southeast Series of Lockton Companies. Lockton is the largest privately held Insurance, Risk Management, and Employee Benefits Brokerage firm in the world. Sean has spent more than 20 years managing merger and acquisition diligence and transactional strategies for some of the most active private equity firms in the U.S. His expertise in working through insurance structures and complex solutions associated with purchase agreements create great value for his clients and their deal teams.

In addition to Sean’s Private Equity related work, his daily tasks are focused on providing cost-effective insurance program structure and placements for large Public and Private Companies, Real Estate portfolios and REIT’s.

Sean is also part of Lockton's Financial Products Practice based on his previous and current experience on Directors & Officers Liability for Public Companies, Private Equity Partnership Liability, and Public REITS.

Sean earned his Masters in Business Administration at Nova Southeastern University’s H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business. Sean also has a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business from Florida Atlantic University.

Eli Minski, Principal, joined WM Partners in 2015. He is responsible for identifying, evaluating, and executing investment opportunities, as well as monitoring existing portfolio companies. Prior to joining the Management Company, Eli worked as cash manager and treasury analyst at Nutranext, LLC, where he was responsible for monitoring and forecasting net working capital and bank reporting. He was also involved with Nutranext's acquisition and integration of Nutri-Health Supplements. Prior to Nutranext, LLC, Eli worked as a financial analyst at Bayview Center for Mental Health, a non-profit community mental health center in South Florida.

Ron is Director at KLH and responsible for identifying investment opportunities, including initial financial, operating, and competitive analysis of businesses. Prior to joining KLH, Ron served as an Assistant Vice President at USAmeriBank, where his responsibilities included origination, analysis, and transaction execution on lower middle market senior loans. Ron graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and earned a Juris Doctor from Stetson College of Law.

As a Business Performance Advisor in the South Florida Market, I promote business success through Insperity's full-service HR solution, providing administrative relief, reduced liabilities and dedicated HR support, while providing employees access to better benefits.

Michael Nolan is the Development Director – Private Equity and Quality of Sales at Sales Xceleration. He is responsible for building relationships with private equity sponsors and helping their portfolio companies grow their topline performance to build value creation and accelerate performance. Michael and his team leverage a collective of 110 sales leaders with portfolio company experience to help their companies grow 32% in year 1, resulting in $1.7B in revenue growth. Their focus is to drive significant growth through strategy formulation, process development, and effective execution in pre-acquisition due diligence, value acceleration during the hold period, and value maximization to support successful exits.

Ryan Petnuch is a Senior Associate at Alterna Equity Partners where he is responsible for evaluating and executing new investment opportunities as well as portfolio management. Previously, he worked as an investment banker at Cross Keys Capital, specializing in sell-side mergers and acquisitions for founder-led businesses. Ryan began his career at PNC, underwriting corporate credit transactions in the industrials sector.

At the helm of CohnReznick's advisory marketing, her focus is steering strategy and innovation for the firm's advisory services. Michelle's expertise in relationship management and marketing communications has proven instrumental in fostering connections that enhance our brand's presence in the middle market.

Our team's efforts in cross-channel marketing and customer-centric campaigns have contributed to significant growth and client engagement. With a talent for anticipating market shifts and implementing strategic adjustments, we ensure that CohnReznick's value proposition resonates strongly within our target markets.

David is Founder and Managing Partner at Reformation Partners. David was formerly Vice President at FirstMark Capital, a $3B+ B2B and B2C venture capital firm based in New York City. Prior to FirstMark, David worked in the capital markets and investment banking division at Goldman Sachs. David graduated as Valedictorian and Summa Cum Laude from Dartmouth College.

With over a decade of professional experience, Dirk brings expertise in new business development, marketing, and business strategy to his role as Director of Business Development at Medrus Capital Partners. Focused on creating meaningful partnerships with portfolio companies, Dirk is driven by the mission to foster scalable growth and team-oriented collaboration. His goal is to align with organizations that share values of innovation and opportunity, empowering businesses to take confident, calculated risks for top-line and bottom-line growth.

At Medrus Capital, Dirk works closely with portfolio companies in entertainment, technology, consumer products, and real estate to optimize brand strategy and financial performance. Leveraging his background in business development and marketing, he contributse to identifying and nurturing growth opportunities while facilitating partnerships that align with shared values and long-term scalability.