Private Equity Fast Pitch

Shannon Zoller has nearly two decades of experience in the financial services industry, having started her career as a financial services lawyer. Ms. Zoller is currently the Founder and a Managing Partner of Tephra Advisors, a private capital fund advisory business, and is a Board member of WAVE (Women Association of Venture & Equity). After her legal career, she entered private equity joining middle-market private equity fund manager Sterling Partners in Chicago in 2005. In 2008 she became an Executive Director in the Private Funds Group at UBS, at that time one of the largest private capital funds advisory businesses in the industry and part of UBS’s global investment banking business. After UBS, Ms. Zoller was a founding team member and Managing Director of the Private Funds Group at GCA Savvian, a publicly traded independent global investment bank that was acquired by Houlihan Lokey. Ms. Zoller has a BA from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she was a scholarship athlete and a JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Episode 93 of the Private Equity Fast Pitch features Jeff Parks, CEO of Stack Capital Group Inc. (TSX:STCK). Jeff co-founded the company, which successfully completed its IPO in June 2021.    Stack’s mission is to ‘democratize’ access into growth & late-stage pre-ipo businesses, giving all investors, regardless of size, the opportunity to participate in the future growth of a portfolio of innovative and disruptive private companies. In addition, Stack’s public listing provides a valuable liquidity option for shareholders, eliminating what has typically been a ‘barrier to entry’ into this attractive asset class. Stack shareholders have the freedom and flexibility to buy & sell shares whenever required. Jeff has over a decade of investment industry and portfolio management experience, having successfully co-managed three North American Hedge Fund mandates.  He specializes in identifying companies in their infancy and has actively worked alongside management teams to help drive growth.  Jeff is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and a graduate of the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University in Ontario, Canada.  Recently married to his beautiful wife Robyn, and master to his dog Hudson, Jeff can typically be found on the golf course, ski hill, or traveling abroad when trying to relax.  

Emanuel Citron is a Managing Partner at Volery. He serves on five of Volery’s firm committees, including as co-chair of the Investment Committee, and a member of the firm’s Operations, Finance, Valuation and Compliance Committees. Previously, he was a Principal at Stone Point Capital (2005-2017). He has extensive financial services focused private equity experience, including on investments in financial services businesses totaling more than $3 billion. Prior to joining Stone Point, Emanuel was the CEO of a privately-held internet business and an Analyst at Beacon Group (1998-2000). Emanuel holds a B.S. (magna cum laude) from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. (Palmer Scholar) from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Costabile joined the firm in 2000 and is the Global Head of PineBridge Investments’ Private Funds Group. Mr. Costabile sits on the Management Committee for PineBridge Investments. Mr. Costabile’s private equity investing and valuation experience date back to 1990. Previously, from 1997 to 2000, Mr. Costabile was a Vice President at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) in the Private Funds Group. Prior to that, he was the Senior Investment Officer of Alternative Investments for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Assistant Director of Venture Capital for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In both positions, Mr. Costabile focused on private equity fund investments. He received both a BSBA and an MBA from Duquesne University. He is also a CFA charterholder, holds the Series 7, 63 and 24 licenses and serves as Chairman of the Investment Committee for Duquesne University’s endowment.  

We are excited to present a montage of quotes and mottos from prior guests that have inspired them throughout the years in both their careers and personal lives.  As we begin a new year, we hope this special episode sets the stage and provides you with a new mind set for conquering the challenges & opportunities that lie ahead.

Steve is a Founding Partner and the Managing Partner of BVP. Steve combines financial expertise with a disruptive approach to value-add strategies in private equity. Previously, Steve was a Co-Founder and a Managing Partner of a lower-middle market private equity fund focused on the consumer sectors. Steve was previously a corporate lawyer at Kirkland and Ellis, and Cahill Gordon & Reindel. Steve received his BA in East Asian Studies with honors from Harvard College in 1992 and his JD from Harvard Law School in 1995. He was the New York State High School Chess Champion in 1988. Steve is married to his wife, Gretchen, and has three boys, Andrew, Joshua and Matthew.  In addition to spending time with his family, Steve is passionate about traveling, classic rock music, Disney and the Buffalo Bills.

Meahgan is well known in the Middle Market M&A community for her knowledge of and views on investing trends, creative and effective deal sourcing techniques, macro-market perspectives and best-practices in which private equity firms can bridge the gap between “Main St. and Wall St.” Meahgan is the Chairwoman of the Association of Corporate Growth’s “Women of Leadership” committee, was named one of McGuire Woods’ “Women to Know in Private Equity” and has been a featured speaker at multiple professional association conferences as well as “Women in Business” focused events. Meahgan is a Director of Business Development for Palladium Equity Partners where her primary focus is on new investment generation and intermediary, founder, executive and corporate relationship management across North America and Europe. Furthermore, Meahgan assists portfolio companies with add-on acquisition strategy development and the sourcing of tuck-in opportunities. She received her Master’s in Business Administration from Duke, The Fuqua School of Business and her B.B.A. from William and Mary’s Mason School of Business.

Mr. Parisi helps family and independent businesses sell or recapitalize their companies’ capital structure, realize a liquidity event, transfer ownership to next generation, or combine with a larger partner to accelerate growth. Prior to joining Carl Marks Advisors, Mr. Parisi was a Managing Partner of FPG Advisory where he focused on all aspects of sourcing and executing deals, including structuring, due diligence, financing, and post-transaction integration throughout North America and internationally. Previously, he was a senior investment banker at Jefferies & Company where he was instrumental in building the General Industries Group into one of the firm’s largest and most profitable units. He maintained a broad industry specialization, working closely with companies in the basic materials, chemicals and capital goods sectors. Earlier, Mr. Parisi was a Vice President with KeyBanc Capital Markets, focusing on middle-market consumer companies, including Food & Beverage and Retail. Before his investment banking career, Mr. Parisi worked in the private equity division of The Blackstone Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms. He began his career with Ernst & Young. Mr. Parisi earned a BS in Accounting from the University of Scranton and an MBA from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is a FINRA Registered Representative and a Certified Public Accountant.

Our host Jeff Henningsen, president of Lockton companies in Houston and the Podfather of private equity, is speaking on the female committee panel for Wave (Women's Association of Venture & Equity   Wave allows the panelists to discuss three main topics: One - how Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has changed in corporate America and what the future looks like for female executives, Two - advice on beginning your career: including what can be done to revamp your application in the job market and the underlying difference between female and male job applicants, and Three - feeling the fear, but doing it anyway.   We hope you enjoy this extraordinary episode.

Dominique Mielle is a Wall Street veteran with a comprehensive knowledge of corporate finance, capital markets, and the bankruptcy process.  She was a partner and senior portfolio manager at Canyon Capital, a $25 billion hedge fund, where she worked from 1998 to 2018. In 2017, she was named one of the “50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds” by the Hedge Fund Journal and E&Y. After retiring in 2018 she started writing. Her book, Damsel in Distressed: My life in the golden age of hedge funds, was released on September 7, 2021. She is a Forbes contributor on hedge funds, distressed investing and women in finance. One of the only senior women in the hedge fund business, she played key roles in complicated bankruptcies, serving as a leading creditors’ committee member for Puerto Rico, and as a restructuring committee member for U.S. airlines in the wake of the September 11 attacks. She was a director of the board and the audit committee chair for PG&E during its fifteen-month bankruptcy process and emergence, and now serves on several corporate boards: Digicel Group, ReadyCap, Tiptree, Osiris Acquisition and Studio City.