September 25, 2024
KPMG HQ
Chicago, Ill
SPEAKING FACULTY
Don Buford, Founder & CEO, iiBIG
Phone: 212-300-2521 | Email: donb@iibig.com
keynote speaker:
Honorable Bill Foster (IL-11), Member of Congress, United States House of Representatives
Congressman Bill Foster is a scientist and businessman representing the 11th Congressional District of Illinois, a position he’s held since 2013. He also represented the 14th Congressional District of Illinois from 2008 to 2011. He is the only PhD physicist in Congress. Bill serves on the House Financial Services Committee where he advocates for consumer protections and an economy that works for everyone. In response to the Great Recession, he helped create several important reforms in the financial services and housing markets, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He currently serves as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy. Recently, Congressman Foster was appointed to the Bipartisan House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence which is charged with considering legislative and regulatory policies that may be needed affecting the use of artificial Intelligence in healthcare, life sciences and other key areas.Bill previously served on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee where he fought for evidence-based policies and forward-thinking approaches to some of our country’s most pressing issues, including climate change and energy innovation. Bill continues to be a champion for sustained federal funding for scientific research. He also served as the chairman of the Science Committee’s Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee, which is empowered to investigate and oversee federal scientific research. Bill’s business career began at age 19 when he and his younger brother co-founded Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc., a company that now manufactures over half of the theater lighting equipment in the United States. Before he became a Member of Congress, Bill worked as a high-energy physicist and particle accelerator designer at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). He was a member of the team that discovered the top quark, the heaviest known form of matter. He also led the teams that designed and built several scientific facilities and detectors still in use today, including the Antiproton Recycler Ring, the latest of Fermilab’s giant particle accelerators. Bill lives in Naperville with his wife Aesook, who is also a physicist. Bill has two grown children, Billy and Christine. Bill’s father was a civil rights lawyer who wrote much of the enforcement language behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
host faculty:
Brett Glover, Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry Leader, KPMG
Brett Glover joined KPMG in 1998 and has been involved in both domestic and global buy-side and sell side due diligence transactions. His experience includes private and publicly traded companies and their associated accounting topics. His primary responsibilities have included performance of due diligence assistance, integration assistance, financial analysis, operational diligence, commercial diligence, performance improvement and technical accounting to assist clients through their transaction processes. Prior to joining the KPMG Deal Advisory Practice, Brett worked in the KPMG Audit practice for eight years.
Brett has conducted numerous due diligence investigations of target companies within the healthcare industry. He has worked for both private equity and strategic buyers and performed diligence on numerous for profit and not for profit entities. Engagements include targets involved in most provider sectors as well as transactions involving Integrated Health Systems, Healthcare technology, payors, distributors, pharma, pharma services and Medical Device businesses.
Brett holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Master of Science degree in Finance from Texas A&M University.
Brett’s professional involvement includes membership in the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). He is a member of the Texas Society of CPAs and the AICPA.
Kristin Pothier, Global and US Healthcare and Life Sciences Deal Advisory and Strategy Leader, KPMG
Kristin Pothier has 24 years of experience in strategy consulting and research in the healthcare and life sciences industries. Her areas of focus are commercial strategy, growth strategy, and M&A for pharmaceutical, diagnostics, device, and consumer health companies, investors, and medical institutions worldwide. She also works with institutions and investors on their healthcare services strategies, due diligences, and operations, including CROs, CMOs, clinical laboratory, health IT, hospital services, and clinical outreach. She is a leader in precision medicine and in clinical laboratory innovation, developing product and service strategies and operations with on-the-ground experience in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, India, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. Her book, Personalizing Precision Medicine, has garnered attention worldwide for its all-inclusive and comprehensive look at global precision medicine. Kristin joins KPMG from another Big Four firm where she was the Global Head of Life Sciences Strategy, responsible for growing the business from a single deals-focused office to a full service global strategy practice. Earlier in her career, she helped build Health Advances, a healthcare strategy firm now part of Parexel, and was a scientist and clinical diagnostics developer at Genome Therapeutics and Genzyme/Sanofi.
Steve Sapletal, Life Sciences Advisory Industry Leader, KPMG
Steve is a seasoned leader and engagement partner with more than 24 years of experience leading large-scale programs in transaction advisory, strategy and operations consulting. He has led engagement teams through all aspects of the M&A life cycle in deal strategy, operations and synergy diligence, integration and separation readiness, planning and post-close execution, operational carve-out transactions and transformational business process implementations. Steve leads Integration and Separation offering nationally across all industry sectors and previously led our Healthcare & Life Sciences M&A & Strategy Services team. In his career he has been involved in over 300 deals.
executive faculty:
Evan Atkinson, Senior Attorney, Dykema LLP
Evan Atkinson is a Senior Attorney in Dykema’s Austin office. He represents buyers, sellers, and private equity-backed sponsors across the healthcare industry, including dental service organizations, medical service organizations, dentists, urologists, dermatologists, medical aesthetic provider, and virtually every other type of medical professional in strategic transactions and negotiations, including acquisitions, mergers, recapitalizations, and divestitures. Following law school, Evan gained valuable experience serving as a Judicial Clerk for the Honorable Ronald B. King in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas. Prior to law school, Evan served in the United States Army where, among other assignments during his nine years of service, he served as a Blackhawk door gunner in Iraq and supervisor of the Soldiers under his command. Evan’s varied background and superb legal knowledge helps him facilitate strong relationships with his clients and navigate the often chaotic deal process. Evan received his J.D. cum laude from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, and his B.S. from American Military University.
Chaz Bauer, Director, Healthcare Investment Banking, Fifth Third Securities
Chaz is a Director in the Healthcare Investment Banking group at Fifth Third Securities, where he advises founders, investment firms, and health system on transactions across the healthcare services landscape, with a particular emphasis on post-acute and in-home care. Chaz brings over 13 years of M&A experience across different investment banking, private equity, and corporate development platforms. Much of his career has been spent working in the healthcare industry, where he has deep experience working with healthcare providers, health systems, and other healthcare industry participants. Prior to joining Fifth Third Securities, Chaz led corporate development at Beaumont Health, where he was responsible for system-wide mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures, and other strategic initiatives. Chaz’s prior experience includes roles at Surgical Care Affiliates, H.I.G. Capital, and Houlihan Lokey.
Ivneet Bhullar, Investment Partner, Fusion Fund
Ivneet Bhullar brings a strong technical, business and operational background to Fusion Fund. Prior to joining, Ivneet spent over five years in various roles in biopharma at Genentech and Amgen. Most recently Ivneet was a Senior Manager in Amgen’s Digital Health & Innovation group as a part of the Strategy & Business Development team where he sourced, conducted diligence on, and executed transactions with health technology companies. Ivneet also previously spent time in Lazard’s Healthcare M&A team and has consulted for several early-stage startups on projects ranging from fundraising to developing go-to-market strategies. Ivneet holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an M.S. in Bioengineering from UC San Diego, and a B.S. in Bioengineering from UCLA.
Ryan Boers, COO – Business Development & Strategy, GE Healthcare
Ryan Boers serves as the Project Leader of GE HealthCare’s Spin Management Office (SMO) where he led the overall Spin-off of GE HealthCare from GE, which was successfully completed on January 3rd, 2023. Ryan continues to lead the Company’s post-Spin separation efforts, including the exiting of transition services and stand up of replacement services. In addition to his role leading the SMO, Ryan is the Chief Operations Officer for the BD and Strategy function at GE HealthCare where he leads the integration and divestiture project team, preparation for board and leadership meetings, and staff management and development. Prior to his current roles, Ryan led M&A projects for GEHC’s Ultrasound and Patient Care Solutions business segments. Before joining GEHC, Ryan worked in investment banking and also held finance and strategy roles in the insurance industry. Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree from The University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
J. Kyle Brown, Managing Director, Brown Gibbons Lang & Co.
Kyle Brown is a Managing Director and senior member of BGL’s Healthcare & Life Sciences team, focusing on Healthcare Provider Services. He advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations, private placements, and other strategic assignments across several healthcare services sectors. In particular, Kyle brings significant experience in advising specialty physician practices within retail medicine, outsourced clinical services, single disease state focused specialties, and primary care. Outside of Provider Services, Kyle has amassed experience in pharmaceutical services, payor services, diagnostics, research tools, wellness, and health facilities, among others. Prior to joining BGL, Kyle was a member of Wellspring Partners, the healthcare arm of Huron Consulting Group. Kyle received a B.S. degree from Miami University, and his MBA from Northwestern University.
Jenifer Christensen, VP, Strategic Initiatives, AbbVie
Jenifer Christensen is an innovative and results-driven leader with a wide range of global and domestic expertise in strategy development, integration and divestiture management, business transformation, policy/procedure development, process improvement, organizational design and management, talent development, and cost reductions. Jenifer positively impacts the bottom line by leveraging extensive experience in solutions-oriented problem solving, team development, change management, analytics, and regulatory compliance. She serves as a catalyst for thoughtful interference, resulting in positive change and implements sustainable, measurable solutions to meet business needs.
Matthew Cohn, SVP, Team Leader, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Alliant Insurance Services, Inc.
Matthew Cohn is a Senior Vice President and team leader of Alliant Healthcare & Life Sciences. Specializing in property and casualty insurance programs, Matt’s role is to develop custom insurance and risk management programs, with an emphasis on healthcare and life science companies. He has developed multiple proprietary/exclusive liability insurance programs for the life science industry. Matt has extensive experience with mergers and acquisitions and assisting high growth companies gain significant financial efficiencies integrating national and multinational insurance programs. Matt has been a member of the Alliant team since July, 2003. The twelve years prior to joining Alliant, Matt served as a Vice President at a large national insurance brokerage firm. He is a graduate of Indiana University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Marketing and a minor in Psychology. He is an active participant in the life sciences ecosystem. Holder of the designation of the Accredited Advisor in Insurance (AAI), Matt is a national presenter and trainer to insurance professionals on a variety of topics including his proprietary “Coverage Audit System” he developed to provide better asset protection to his valued clients.
Adam Davis, Vice President, Juniper Advisory
Adam Davis has over ten years of healthcare experience. At Juniper, he leads and supports a variety of M&A transactions for both not-for-profit and for-profit clients that have a range of strategic needs. He was previously an Associate Director at Fitch Ratings, focusing on primarily health system, hospital and senior living credits, with a secondary concentration in Higher Education. He was responsible for monitoring outstanding ratings and assigning new ratings to bond issues for a portfolio of credits, while also contributing to various research pieces. Prior to joining Fitch Ratings, Adam was an Associate at Cain Brothers, an investment bank based in New York focused on the healthcare industry. While at Cain Brothers, Adam fulfilled and led a variety of analytical functions for tax-exempt and taxable bond financings that funded new capital projects, debt restructurings, and/or acquisitions within both the hospital and senior living sectors. Prior to Cain Brothers, Adam was a Credit Analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, focusing on a portfolio of not-for-profit health systems and hospitals, while also publishing various pieces on topics such as trends in healthcare mergers and acquisitions. Adam earned a BA in Government and Economics at Bowdoin College and an MBA from the Baruch College – Mt. Sinai School of Medicine program in New York.
Sebastien Dhonte, Managing Director, Clairvest
Sebastien Dhonte, Managing Director, Clairvest joined the firm in 2010 and participates in all areas of the investment process. Sebastien leads Clairvest’s investment in Boca Biolistics, a leading biosample procurement and contract research organization while spearheading the firms efforts to make additional investments in outsourced services to pharma and biotech companies. Prior to joining Clairvest, Sebastien worked as a strategic consultant with McKinsey & Company in North America, and as a placement agent in Europe, assisting with private equity fundraisings. Sebastien started his career in investment banking with Bank of Montreal where he participated in M&A assignments, as well as equity and debt financings. Sebastien holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor of Commerce (Joint Honours in Economics and Finance) from McGill University.
Chad Follmer, SVP, Team Leader, Healthcare & Life Science Practice, Alliant Insurance Services, Inc.
Chad Follmer brings to Alliant decades of experience in developing innovative risk management and insurance solutions for a wide range of clients in the healthcare and life science industries.
Follmer has spent his entire career developing creative insurance solutions to address healthcare clients’ needs, including self-insurance, captives and other alternative risk finance structures for some of the largest and most complex Healthcare organizations in the US.
In the past decade, Follmer has distinguished himself as the leading brokerage partner for the fast growth, investor-backed companies that are leading change in the evolving healthcare landscape to improve healthcare outcomes, patient experience and system efficiency. Follmer pioneered an innovative suite of coverage for disruptive digital health and life science companies that today has become the industry standard. This solution enables organizations to reduce costs and preserve assets while confidently pursuing their business strategies unencumbered by inefficient, administratively burdensome traditional insurance programs.
Chad brings tremendous technical expertise as he represents a broad range of clients, including traditional healthcare providers, life science organizations and evolving companies in the healthcare technology and digital medicine segments. He was a risk management major at the University of Georgia, has an MBA from Wake Forest University and completed Executive Education for Exotic Risk Management at Warton.
Eric Horler, President & CEO, AIQ Solutions
Eric Horler is the President & CEO or AIQ Solutions based in Madison, WI. A serial start-up CEO, Eric leads medical device companies from inception through commercialization and growth. Previously a global general manager at GE Healthcare and an international manager for Baxter, Eric has extensive experience in a broad range of markets. His success stems from building small teams of superstars.
Ted Keim, Partner, Venable LLP– Chicago, IL
Ted Keim’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, investment and venture capital transactions, private equity, corporate reorganizations and restructurings, and complex joint venture/company representation matters. Ted’s clients include a broad range of public and privately held companies, both in the United States and globally, across a wide spectrum of industries, including healthcare and life sciences/medical devices, food and beverage, financial and technology services, industrials, automotive, aerospace and defense, retail, and hospitality.
Doug King, CIO/SVP, Information Services, Northwestern Memorial Health Center
Doug King is the Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Information Services and Ventures for Northwestern Memorial HealthCare. In addition, Doug is the Chief Information Officer for Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Doug provides strategic leadership for a broad range of technology and innovation initiatives supporting our core clinical, administrative, and research platforms. In addition, Doug has responsibility for the Analytics and Informatics departments and helps lead the integration of Northwestern Medicine’s research activities. Doug oversees the Ventures and Innovation department, focusing on enabling, advancing and commercializing digital capabilities, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, throughout healthcare.
Prior to becoming Chief Information Officer, Doug served as Vice President within Information Services, focusing on technology, application support, and development. Over the course of his [17]-year career at Northwestern, Doug has actively participated in the integration and strategic growth of our health system, including delivering our core, integrated foundational platforms, serving on various committees within the organization, and building and fostering the talent and culture of the Information Services department. He brings his passion and commitment to patients everyday through reliable and cutting-edge technology solutions. Doug sits on several boards advising on the technology impact within healthcare. Doug holds a B.S. in Information Systems and an M.B.A. with a concentration in Healthcare Administration.
Steve Lehmann, MBA, Director of Venture Operations, Portal Innovations
Steve is a “startup midwife” who has spent the last decade helping inventors turn their discoveries into businesses, whether in a startup, a university, or even a refugee camp. He most recently led the George Shultz Innovation Fund at UChicago, where he nucleated and invested in University spinouts. Prior to UChicago he was an Associate for Ocean Tomo’s Innovation Management practice, where he advised companies on how to acquire, develop, and commercialize technologies.
Rahil Manji, Vice President, Clairvest
Rahil Manji, Vice President, Clairvest joined the firm in 2019 and participates in all areas of the investment process. Rahil sits on the Board of Clairvest’s investments in Abra Health (a dental service organization in the Northeast), Bluetree Dental (a dental service organization in the Mountain West region) and Mountain Land Physical Therapy (an outpatient physical therapy business in the Mountain West region). Rahil leads Clairvest’s efforts to make additional investments in the healthcare practice management space. Prior to joining Clairvest, Rahil worked at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Banking Division, focused on the Natural Resources industry. Rahil holds a B. Eng. in Chemical Engineering from McGill University.
Ari Markenson, Partner, Venable LLP
Ari Markenson practices at the intersection of healthcare, law, and business. Ari advises healthcare industry clients, including investors, lenders, providers, and suppliers, on a broad range of regulatory and corporate matters, and has significant experience in complex healthcare industry mergers, acquisitions and financial transactions. He regularly represents private equity firms and lenders in such transactions and evaluates and advises on compliance and regulatory issues with regard to sellers and potential borrowers from banks and financing sources. He also advises various healthcare entities on regulatory matters, including conditions for participation; fraud and abuse; and survey, certification, licensure, and enforcement issues. Ari advises clients on Medicare and Medicaid conditions for participation, obtaining certificate of need approval, and state licensure. He has significant experience representing numerous providers in response to and appeals of audits and investigations by regulatory enforcement authorities regarding compliance with reimbursement rules and regulations under government healthcare programs. Ari frequently writes for industry publications and speaks at industry and professional events. He also teaches healthcare law and other healthcare management and policy topics at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, at Pace University, Department of Health Sciences of the College of Health Professions and at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.
David Michael, Managing Director, Anzu Partners LLC
David Michael is an investor and advisor with nearly 30 years of international business experience. He co-founded Anzu Partners and developed the firm’s focus on breakthrough industrial technologies that shape and enable tomorrow’s industries. He has pioneered the financing and growth of several Anzu portfolio companies. These include the life sciences tools companies TeraPore Technologies (now also backed by RA Capital), Nanocellect Biomedical (now also backed by Warburg Pincus and Casdin Capital), Bioskryb Genomics, ImmunoScape (now also backed by the Singapore EDB Investments), and Intervenn Biosciences (now also backed by Softbank). Prior to his work at Anzu, Mr. Michael spent 24 years at The Boston Consulting Group as a Senior PartnerHe founded the firm’s Beijing office and led the firm’s Greater China practice, and the firm’s overall emerging markets practice. Mr. Michael has lived and worked in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Silicon Valley, and served clients in technology and life sciences across Asia and the Western U.S. Mr. Michael has advised many of the world’s leading companies in the technology and life sciences sectors. He has served on the World Economic Forum’s Emerging Multinationals Council, the Strategy Board of China Mobile Corporation, and the US-China Business Council. He is on the International Advisory Board of the School of Global Policy at the University of California. Mr. Michael chaired the launch committee of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, China, and founded the non-profit corporation Building Futures Now in East Palo Alto, CA. Mr. Michael has an MBA from Stanford Business School, where he received the school’s highest honor, the Ernest Arbuckle Award. He earned his BA in Economics, magna cum laude, from Harvard University, and was a Rotary International Scholar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Tommy Ryan, Managing Director, Originations, Deerpath Capital
Tommy Ryan is a Managing Director of Originations on the Investment Team at Deerpath Capital based in Chicago. His primary responsibilities include structuring, underwriting, and executing new investments. He joined Deerpath in 2024 and has 24 years of industry experience. He previously worked in Private Credit, Leveraged Finance and Investment Banking positions at Monroe Capital, Twin Brook Capital, Oxford Finance, GE Capital and Piper Jaffray. Mr. Ryan is a graduate of the University of Washington with a B.A in Business Administration.
Imran Shaikh, Chief Technology Officer, Shore Capital Partners
Imran Shaikh is the CTO at Shore Capital Partners, a microcap private equity firm focused on partnering with companies with between $1-10 million of EBITDA. Imran’s responsibilities include working with portfolio company management teams to improve their technology and cybersecurity functions and preparing acquired platforms for add-on acquisitions. Imran joined Shore with 25 years of technology experience leading technology and Cybersecurity strategy for public companies, startups, and PE-owned companies. He most recently served as a Director at Vista Consulting Group, the dedicated consulting partner of Vista Equity Partners. His responsibilities included working with the portfolio companies on their IT, Business Applications, Cloud Ops, Cybersecurity, tech-diligence, and strategic partnership management. He also served as the Head of IT for the Vista PE management firm. Before Vista, Imran was in a technology leadership role at SumTotal Systems. Imran started his career as a malware analyst for a Cybersecurity product company.
Mark Thornton, Executive Advisor, Iron Path Capital and CEO, VION Biosciences
Mark Thornton, is CEO of VION Biosciences and is a tenured life science industry executive with over 25 years of leadership experience in the biotechnology, clinical research, biochemical, and research sectors. Mark also serves as Executive Advisor of Iron Path Capital, a private equity firm. Prior to establishing VION Biosciences in collaboration with Iron Path Capital, Mr. Thornton served as Vice President of the Sales Application group for Avantor, a Fortune 500 company. Ahead of its acquisition by Avantor in 2017, Mr. Thornton also held various leadership roles with VWR International, including serving as Vice President, Portfolio Management as well as Director, Custom Manufacturing Services. In these roles, Mr. Thornton led the commercial integration of several chemical manufacturing businesses across both North America and Europe which were acquired between 2011 and 2016 and were eventually combined to form VWR Chemicals, LLC. This included the acquisition of AMRESCO by VWR in 2011 where Mr. Thornton held various leadership roles from 2004 – 2011 that spanned various functions including Research & Development, Product Design & Engineering, and various Commercial functions including both Sales and Marketing. During this time, Mr. Thornton also gained significant international experience across Europe, Asia, and South America where he helped to grow and expand AMRESCO’s global footprint through a wide network of distributors across 72 countries in total. Early on in Mr. Thornton’s career, he was trained in molecular biology and held various research roles in both the biotechnology and clinical research fields for both Athersys, Inc. and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation respectively. Mr. Thornton currently serves on the Board of Directors for Nova Molecular Tech
CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS
Continuing Education Credits (e.g. CLE, CPE, CME, etc.) may be available for iiBIG conference attendees. Upon request conference attendees will be provided with a “Certificate of Attendance” and a copy of the conference agenda, showing topics, length of sessions, and name(s) and professional affiliation(s) of presenter(s) for each session. Attendees wishing to apply for continuing education credits for attending this conference may submit this documentation to the relevant organization in his/her state when applying for such credits.
International Institute for Business Information & Growth LLC is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org.