Private Equity Fast Pitch

Neha Champaneria Markle Head of Morgan Stanley Private Equity Solutions Neha Champaneria Markle is a Managing Director and the Head of Morgan Stanley Private Equity Solutions. Prior to joining the firm, Neha served on the investment teams at Apax Partners and Pomona Capital. She also served on the management team for Springboard Enterprises, Inc., a non-profit organization focused on improving female entrepreneurs’ access to venture capital. Neha started her career as part of the financial analyst program at Morgan Stanley. Neha received a B.S. magna cum laude in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  

Michael Butler is the Co-founder and Chairman of Cascadia Capital, one of the most active independent investment banks in the country. He has deep capital raising and M&A expertise having been involved in hundreds of transactions worth over $5 billion throughout his career on Wall Street and at Cascadia Capital.  For over twenty years, the firm has strived to deliver the best outcomes for its clients by providing entrepreneurs, family-owned businesses and private equity firms with trusted merger and acquisition advice, capital raising and strategic advisory services.

Pardis Nasseri CEO & President, Palm Tree LLC Pardis Nasseri is a driven entrepreneur and the architect of Palm Tree, the modern M&A advisor. The firm integrates investment banking, strategic finance, and transaction support services for private equity sponsors, business owners, and management teams. Over the course of his career, Pardis has been personally involved in successful M&A transactions with an aggregate value of over $30 billion. Pardis began his career in M&A with the transaction services practice of PwC, as an investment banker with Jefferies, and an investor with Platinum Equity. He founded Palm Tree in 2010 and grew the firm from its roots as a boutique M&A consultancy to a nationwide enterprise offering a suite of integrated financial services. The firm became a registered member of FINRA in 2020 and is led today by a team of accomplished managing directors who execute on engagements worldwide. The Los Angeles Times has recognized Pardis as a visionary leader who prepares organizations for next-level growth, and The Los Angeles Business Journal has recognized Pardis among the most influential private equity advisors in the nation. Pardis is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization, where he serves on the board of its Santa Barbara chapter. He is a recurring guest lecturer at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, has served as a panelist at M&A and entrepreneurship events, and has moderated panels at the annual ACG business conference. Pardis graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara with a double major in Business Economics and Philosophy and is currently attending the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard Business School. He and his wife, Dr. Sherry Nasseri, reside in Montecito, California with their two children.  

Jeffrey Stevenson is the Managing Partner of VSS and has overall responsibility for the management of the firm and each of its funds. Mr. Stevenson joined VSS in 1982, shortly after its formation, and founded its private equity business in 1987. Mr. Stevenson is the Chairman of the investment committee and has served on the boards of over 31 portfolio companies and currently serves as a member of the board of the following VSS portfolio companies: Center for Rheumatology, Ambulatory Management Solutions, Ascent Behavioral Health, BRC Healthcare, Specialty1 Partners, Pacesetter Health, Coretelligent, ITN Networks, MetSchools, Southern Theatres LLC. Previously, he served as a director of Advanstar, Brandshop, Cambium Learning, Canon Communications, Cast & Crew, De Telefoongids, Mediatel, Ebiquity, Hanley Wood, ITE Group, Pepcom, Tax Credit Co., TMP Worldwide, and Yellow Book USA, among others. Mr. Stevenson serves as a member of the finance committee for the not-for profit organization, Fraxa Research Foundation. He is also involved with the following organizations: YPO/WPO, SBIA Board of Governors and Lincoln Center Leadership Committee. He previously served on the board of Dojan TV Holdings, and as the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vencerx Therapeutics. Mr. Stevenson holds a BA from Rutgers College.  

Ross is a Managing Director at Berkshire Partners in Boston. He began his career in private equity over 35 years ago.  Ross joined Berkshire Partners in 1993 and became a Managing Director of the firm in 2000.  During his tenure, Ross has represented the firm’s interests on a wide range of portfolio company boards, including:  Advanced Drainage Systems, Asurion, Bare Escentuals, Carter’s, Inc., CrossFit, Melissa & Doug, Torres Unidas, and Tower Development Corporation.  Prior to Berkshire Partners, Ross worked at a start-up merchant bank, at Bain & Co. and in the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley & Co.  He earned a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Ross enjoys travel adventures with his family, exploring the great outdoors, and a variety of sports including biking, golf, tennis, and skiing.  He is engaged in several non-profit organizations including The Imago Dei Fund, which he cofounded with his wife, Emily, in 2010, Seed a Stanford GSB-led initiative that is working to end the cycle of global poverty, and the Dartmouth College President’s Leadership Council. Ross and Emily raised their three now grown children in Needham, Massachusetts, where they currently reside.

Mr. Merrill is the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Harrison Street, a real assets investment management firm he co-founded in 2005 that has completed over $65 billion in transactional volume and as of 2Q 2023 has nearly $56 billion in AUM. Mr. Merrill is currently the largest individual shareholder and serves as Chairman of the Board and the Investment and Executive Committees of the Firm. The Firm was a first mover and innovator of a focused investment strategy around the Education, Healthcare, Life Sciences and Storage segments of the real estate market (launching nine closed-end funds as well as industry leading open-end funds). Over 590 investors ($29 billion since inception) participate in Harrison Street funds including U.S., European and Asian pension funds, corporate plans, insurance companies, endowments, foundations and family offices. The Firm is headquartered in Chicago with offices in Berlin, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, New York, Tokyo, Toronto, San Francisco and Washington DC. Prior to co-founding Harrison Street, Mr. Merrill was a partner, owner and Managing Director of a large U.S. Pension Fund Advisory firm where he developed the firm’s presence in Europe, creating the first ever real estate funds exclusively targeting the markets of Central Europe. This initial fund was one of the Top 10 performing global funds during vintage years 1996-2000 as noted by Preqin. Throughout his career, Mr. Merrill has been awarded numerous distinctions from leading publications and institutions, most recently being recognized as PERE’s Industry Figure of the Year: Global for the year 2022. Mr. Merrill is a member of YPO, Economic Club of Chicago, and Chicago Commonwealth Club. He serves on the board of the Pension Real Estate Association (“PREA”), Rush University Medical Board (Facilities Committee), University of Wisconsin Graaskamp Center for Real Estate, TCU Center for Real Estate, Roanoke College, the real estate advisory boards of Gore Creek and Kinship Capital, The First Tee of Greater Chicago, Salisbury School, and Chicago Botanic Garden (Financial Committee). He is also an active angel investor in many early-stage companies. Mr. Merrill earned his MBA from the CASS School of Business in London, England.  

Rami Cassis, international investor and founder of Parabellum Investments, discusses his career transition and offers advice for young individuals entering private equity. He shares his personal motto and talks about evaluating new investments, as well as considerations for partnership with an investor.

Chris Burbach is a Co-Founder, Partner and the Chief Executive Officer of Fundamental Income. Chris is a member of the Board and jointly leads the Company’s Investment Committee. Before founding Fundamental Income, Chris served as Executive Vice President of Underwriting for STORE Capital Corporation (NYSE: STOR) for seven years. In that role, he led the underwriting of approximately $12 billion in net lease investments, including over $7.5 billion in closed transactions. Chris also served as both a member and chairman of STORE’s Investment Committee. In addition to his investment and management responsibilities, Chris co-led numerous aspects of STORE’s capital markets activities, including corporate capital strategy, corporate credit ratings, the issuance of $725 million in investment grade corporate unsecured notes, and the issuance of over $2 billion in asset-backed notes, including A+ and AAA-rated notes. Before joining STORE, Chris spent six years at Spirit Finance Corporation, where he served as the Vice President of Investment Management responsible for managing the company’s $3.5 billion real estate investment portfolio, in addition to managing the underwriting group. He also previously served as CEO of VM Management, Inc., an owner and manager of private charter schools, and as a consultant for Navigant Consulting working with construction and government industry groups. Chris earned his B.S. in Finance from Santa Clara University and his M.B.A. from Arizona State University. Chris is also a CFA® charterholder.  

Jeff serves as Managing Partner of Cloverlay and is a member of the Firm’s Investment Committee and Board of Directors. Prior to founding Cloverlay, Jeff was a Managing Director with Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners (AIP), a division of Morgan Stanley’s institutional asset management business. While at AIP, Jeff was a member of the Executive and Business Committees and served on AIP’s Private Markets Investment Committee as a Portfolio Manager responsible for leading primary fund, co-investment and secondary transactions focused on special situations globally and North American buyouts. Prior to AIP, Jeff advised and traded equity options and futures with U.S. hedge funds in Morgan Stanley’s Equity Derivatives Group in New York. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Jeff was on the investment team at Petra Capital Partners, where he was responsible for screening, researching, structuring and monitoring private equity investments in health care and information services companies. Prior to Petra Capital, Jeff was an investment banker at Robertson Stephens, where he executed a variety of public and private equity, debt and convertible offerings along with mergers and acquisitions in financial services, health care, and business services.  

As president of EGI, Mark oversees all aspects of the business. He focuses on maximizing and sustaining the value of the firm’s investment portfolio and applies his 20+ years of board and CEO experience inside and outside the organization by actively engaging with the investment team and portfolio companies to improve business strategies and operating capabilities. In addition, Mark is the chair of the Chai Trust Company, LLC (Chai) investment committee as well as the executive vice president of Chai, which serves as the corporate trustee for the Zell family trusts. He also serves as board chair for Ardent Health Services, East Coast Warehouse & Distribution, Lanter Delivery Systems, Paper Transport, and an agricultural equipment dealer. Mark joined EGI in 2006 as a managing director and has held temporary in-house assignments within EGI portfolio companies to accelerate and increase the effectiveness of turnarounds, including stints at Tribune Interactive and Exterran Holdings, Inc. Prior to joining EGI, Mark was the chief executive officer of Sunburst Technology Corporation and on the company’s board of directors. He also served as the president of Budget Group, Inc. (Budget Rent A Car and Ryder Truck Rental) and was on the company’s board. Earlier in his career, Mark worked at The Coca-Cola Company in senior brand management and sales roles. Mark holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Amherst College.