Private Equity Fast Pitch

Jay is a Partner at Plexus Capital. Jay is a member of the senior leadership team and works alongside the other team members to chart the strategy and vision for Plexus. In addition, Jay interacts with investors, assists with sourcing new investment opportunities, and helps oversee the portfolio. Jay is a graduate of the University of North Carolina where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Interdisciplinary Studies. After UNC, Jay was an investment banking analyst with Bowles Hollowell Conner & Company in Charlotte, NC. After BHC, Jay spent eight years as a Partner at Florida Capital Partners, in Tampa where he helped to lead the firm and to build the firm's business development engine. In January of 2000, Jay joined Audax Group. During his 19 years with the Audax, he served as senior member of the leadership team of Audax Group and Audax Private Equity. Jay focused on deal sourcing and business development, but also served on the investment committee and played an active role in charting the strategy and direction of the firm, contributing to recruiting, training, investor relations, professional development, financing and portfolio operations. Jay is an active member of several M&A and business networking organizations, including YPO and ACG. Jay is originally from Greensboro, North Carolina. Jay and his wife live in Raleigh.

Kurt Haras is a Managing Director, Mergers and Acquisitions at Cowen. Mr. Haras has over 20 years of investment banking experience advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, private placements, public offerings, corporate restructurings and business valuations. His transaction experience includes representing private companies, private equity firms and public companies in domestic and international transactions involving a number of industries, such as business services, consumer products, environmental services, distribution, industrial manufacturing and technology. Prior to joining Cowen, Mr. Haras was a founding member and Partner at Quarton International. Prior to Quarton, he spent nine years at W. Y. Campbell & Company. He also held positions at Oppenheimer & Co. and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Mr. Haras has a B.A. in Accounting from Michigan State University and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan. He is also a certified public accountant (inactive).

For our 100th episode, we've created a montage of our past podcast guests providing their advice to recent graduates and young professionals in Investment banking and private equity. We encourage you as a listener to contribute your advice to young professionals on Jeff Henningsens LinkedIn post.

Chris Cathcart is a Managing Partner and currently serves on the Management and Investment Committees of The Halifax Group. Chris joined Halifax in 2007 and leads business development for the firm. He is responsible for origination, evaluation and recommendation of investment opportunities and management of the firm's network of investment sources. Chris has more than 20 years of experience leading and advising small businesses. Chris received an MBA from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University with a concentration in finance, accounting and entrepreneurship and graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University. Chris is a long suffering Wake Forest sports fan. When not lamenting the current on-field performance of his beloved Demon Deacons, he serves on the board of deacons at his church, enjoys spending time with his young family and endures distance running.

Leon is a Partner at Palladium Equity Partners and it is part of the firm's Management Committee. Palladium is the oldest minority-owned private equity buyout firm in the industry with over $3 billion of assets under management. Leon joined Palladium in 2007 and Brujis is responsible for originations and underwriting as well as helping lead the firm's business services practice. Prior to joining Palladium, Leon worked in the mergers and acquisitions group at Lehman Brothers. Leon is an graduate from The George Washington University where he obtained a B.S. and M.S in Engineering. Husband to a wonderful woman, father to three great kids. He is originally from Argentina.

Deborah Smith is Co-Founder and CEO of The CenterCap Group, LLC and heads the firm's Strategic Capital and M&A and Execution efforts. Prior to forming The CenterCap Group, LLC, Ms. Smith was Co-Head of M&A and a Senior Managing Director with CB Richard Ellis Investors (CB Richard Ellis's $40 billion AUM investment management business). She joined CBREI in July 2007 to co-head the build out of the firm's M&A efforts and led the firm's negotiation and acquisition of a majority interest in Wood Partners (one of the largest multifamily developers in the United States) in 2008. From 1998-2007, Ms. Smith worked on mergers and acquisitions with Lehman Brothers, Wachovia Securities and Morgan Stanley. Ms. Smith has been involved in more than $100 billion of mergers, acquisitions and restructuring transactions. Ms. Smith has a Bachelor of Economics, with honors, and a Bachelor of Law, with honors, from the University of Sydney.

Gina is a founding partner of GP Capital. Gina founded Luna Strategies in 2016, where she counseled companies and their leaders on complex strategic issues and growth initiatives. She also serves on the board of public and privately held companies. Prior to founding Luna Strategies, Gina held senior executive roles with JPMorgan Chase during her 22-year career at the company. Most recently, she served as Chairman of the Houston Market and Managing Director of Chase Commercial Banking. Gina is a member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Houston Branch, and St. Luke's Health System. She also serves as a trustee of The Texas A&M Foundation. The Welch Foundation. The Welch Institute for Advance Materials and Baylor College of Medicine. She was elected chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership in 2015 and continues to serve on the board and executive committee. She was the founding chairman of Houston Exponential and serves as a senior advisor to HX Venture Fund. Gina is a summa cum laude graduate of Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Finance and management. Gina serves on the Management and Investment Committee of GP Capital.

Matt Moran is a Managing Principal & Head of Business Development at Inverness Graham. Matt joined Inverness in 2010, where he leads and manages the firm's business development efforts. His responsibilities include sourcing and evaluating new platform investment opportunities and providing transaction and post-transaction support for Inverness Graham's portfolio companies. Matt also serves as a Board Member for two of Inverness Graham's investments - Syntrio Inc. and Lighthouse Services. Before joining Inverness, Matt was an Analyst at Laurel Capital Partners, where he made growth equity investments in lower middle-market manufacturing, technology & services companies. Matt received a B.A. from Villanova University in 2008.

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.