Investors & Operators

Jordan assembles six legends of the business development profession to talk about:How the profession has changed since they startedWhat constitutes good BD vs. bad BDWhat advice they have for the next generation of BD professionals...and so much more.HOSTSJordan Selleck | CEO & Co-Founder, 51 LabsDan Lee | Partner, Comvest CreditPANELISTSGlenn Oken | MD, MangroveGretchen Perkins | Partner, Avance Investment ManagementJay Jester | Partner, PlexusMark Jones | Partner, River AssociatesRobert Landis | Partner, RiversideTed H. Kramer | CEO, HKW

On this episode of Investors and Operators, Jordan sits down (and pushes-up) with Michael Carter, Managing Partner of Carter Morse & Goodrich. Topics include:highs and lows of entrepreneurshipaccountability and integrity in the workplacehow entrepreneurship interacts with familyparenting--and many more.Michael Carter is the founding principal of Carter Morse & Goodrich where he serves as Managing Partner. He has been on the financial side of business from many perspectives: as a business founder, commercial lender, investment banker, board director, and business advisor.With a broad-based background in a myriad of industries, Michael is well acquainted with the special requirements of each business situation. As a seasoned investment banker, he has advised over 100 M&A and financing transactions. In addition to his work with private companies, Michael has worked with several public companies as a board member and advisor. Michael is a founding member and former board director of the Association for Corporate Growth, Connecticut Chapter. He served on Weston’s Board of Finance for ten years. Michael joined the Fairchester board for National Federation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a non for profit, dedicated to teaching inner city kids about starting their own business. His last position was the chapter’s Vice Chairman.Michael founded Push for Entrepreneurship, an extreme push-up fundraiser where participants do push-ups for two hours. Since its founding over a $100,000 has been raised for teaching students from low income neighborhoods about innovation and entrepreneurship.Michael earned an MBA from Columbia University and a BA from the University of Rochester.

Charmel Maynard joined the University of Miami in 2016 and currently serves as associate vice president, chief investment officer, and University treasurer. In this capacity, he leads the University’s efforts to invest assets, including endowment and pension funds. He is also responsible for the University’s capital structure, including liquidity and debt issuances. Additionally, he manages treasury and cash management.Charmel was previously a vice president with J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank in New York City. During his 10-year career with J.P. Morgan, he focused on investment banking debt capital markets and leveraged finance, where he advised clients on capital structure solutions, deal structuring, and execution of syndicated revolving credit facilities, institutional term loans, and bond issuances.Charmel holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Amherst College.

Mark Gartner rejoined ClearLight in 2014 to lead the deal sourcing function for the firm and has over 10 years of experience helping private equity funds find and close on investment opportunities. Before rejoining ClearLight, Mark led deal sourcing for American Infrastructure Funds, a $1.5 billion private investment firm focused on investments in the energy, infrastructure and real property sectors.Mark previously served as an Associate and Senior Associate with ClearLight where he was a founding member of the firm’s Investment Development Group and also assisted with transaction due diligence, execution and portfolio company governance. Before ClearLight, Mark executed sell-side M&A transactions as an Analyst in Houlihan Lokey’s Basic Industrial Group.Mark graduated with a BA in Economics and a Minor in Spanish from Duke University.

Guy Snodgrass is the CEO of Defense Analytics, a national security and foreign policy strategic advisory firm specializing in strategy development, government policy, and technology adoption. Recognized as an influential national security and foreign policy expert, Guy recently published his first book, Holding the Line, to incredibly positive reviews. Guy appears as a commentator on CNN, FOX, and multiple international outlets; an opinion contributor to Washington Post, USA Today, and other national security outlets; and a prominent commentator to publications such as Politico, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Bloomberg. A career Navy F/A-18 fighter pilot, Commander Snodgrass led combat missions in support of forces on the ground in the Middle East. Subsequently selected as a TOPGUN Instructor, he served as the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps expert in air-to-air combat and tactics development.During his 20 years as a fighter pilot, Guy logged more than 2,784 total flight hours, 2,390 F/A-18 flight hours, 719 aircraft carrier landings, and was presented with the Defense Superior Service Award at retirement. Mr. Snodgrass is a member of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Board of Directors, a member of the Council on Competitiveness, and a 2019 graduate of MIT’s Seminar XXI national security and foreign policy program.

Edward Crawford is a mission-focused entrepreneur, public servant, conscious capitalist and Investor. He is the Co-Founder and President of Coltala Holdings – a purpose-driven holding company and a voice in the Conscious Capitalism and Kaizen movements. As a business owner, he is responsible for a diversified group of global companies. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic, he founded and grew “CoopCafeSur” – a coffee cooperative to more than 200 coffee farmers. As a US Naval Intelligence Officer, he served with Special Operations Command South in Latin America and later served as Tribal and Political Adviser for SEAL Teams Two & Four, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan. Prior to founding Coltala Holdings, He was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs where he advised company founders and CEOs. He co-led national capital and acquisitions activities for InvestRes growing to over 400 employees and $1billion under management. He currently serves as a trustee on the Business School Council at Tulane University, is a Lifetime Member of Veterans of Foreign Wars and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.Edward is a TEDx speaker on Servant Leadership and has been highlighted in World View Magazine, Dallas Business Journal, D CEO Magazine, and The Washington Post. Edward was a top 50 under 50 Diversity MBA Magazine winner, A Peace Corps Success Story, U.S Peace Corps, a MACVPAC 40 under 40 Business Leader, and selected as Peace Corps top 40 under 40 on the 40th anniversary of Peace Corps Founding.

Euan Rellie is Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director of BDA, based in New York. He is also President of BDA Advisors Inc, the firm’s SEC/FINRA registered broker-dealer. Since founding BDA in 1996, he has lived in New York and London, and Singapore, and has worked in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, India and across the Middle East. 1990-1996, he worked for Schroders, the UK investment bank now part of Citigroup, in New York, London and Singapore. He was Head of SE Asia Execution for Schroders Asia-Pacific Regional Advisory Group. His clients include AgFeed, Ardian, Bain Capital, CITIC Capital, Dainippon Ink & Chemical, DuPont, Ecolab, Flex, Hanjin, Happy Socks, ICICI, Intel, Investcorp, Kraft Foods, Life Technologies, Lubrizol, Materion, Nalco, One Equity Partners, OpenGate Capital, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Platinum Equity, Sara Lee, Sigma-Aldrich, Tenneco, Terex, ThomsonReuters, Wockhardt and Yucaipa. He was named Dealmaker of the Year in 2016 and 2012 (by The M&A Advisor), 2014 North American Investment Banker of the Year, and one of the Top 50 Global M&A Dealmakers (by The Global M&A Network). He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.Charlie Maynard is Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director of BDA. Since founding BDA in 1996, Charlie has been based in Singapore, Tokyo, New York, Beijing, and now London. Charlie was based in Tokyo from 2002 to 2005 and established BDA’s office there and in Seoul. He has advised on a number of successful transactions throughout the region. Charlie advised Navis Capital in China’s largest control exit in 2014 by a private equity group, the sale of Trio to Weir plc. In 2015 he has advised Cosma (a Magna International subsidiary) on its acquisition of Chongqing Xingqiao and Cristal on its acquisition of Jiangxi Tikon. Prior to BDA, he worked for the Jardine Matheson Group in Hong Kong and Singapore. In 2011, he was named by M&A Advisor as one of their “40 Under 40” global M&A professionals. Charlie was educated at Oxford University (MA Hons, Geography).BDA Partners is the global investment banking advisor for Asia. BDA is a premium provider of Asia-related advice to sophisticated clients globally, with over 20 years’ experience advising on cross-border M&A, capital raising, and financial restructuring. BDA has strategic partnerships with William Blair, a premier global investment banking business, and the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), a Japanese government owned bank with total assets of US$150bn.

As an F-15 pilot, Thor escorted the U.S. President through the sky and flew missions to ensure the safety of the country after the attacks of 9/11. He was the tactical leader of 300 of the most senior combat pilots in the Air Force and he oversaw the execution of a $150M/year flight program. Thor was named the Top Instructor Pilot at the Air Force Flight Training Headquarters and he’s flown thousands of missions teaching pilots from 25 countries around the world. He received his Bachelor’s Degree at the United States Air Force Academy and is a summa cum laude graduate of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas. He is Afterburner’s expert leadership speaker, sharing his knowledge with organizations across the US.For most of 2015, Thor led a team of Afterburner consultants that was embedded in Silicon Valley with one of the top-five largest software companies in the world. While there, Thor supported the successful completion of more than 50 projects or “Missions” created from the CEO’s key strategic objectives.Thor is humbled to have had the incredible experiences that executive leadership within the military and Afterburner have afforded him, but he’s most proud of the following accomplishments. In 2010, Thor was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and given about a 15% chance to live. Instead of giving up, Thor decided to give back. He started a youth outreach program in San Antonio that has grown to help more than 15,000 at-risk kids. Their efforts have been featured on every news channel for 100 miles and one national media outlet. In 2012, he was selected out of 62,000 people to receive the AETC National Public Service Award.Thor completed the New Zealand Ironman Triathlon in March of 2015 to commemorate the five-year anniversary of his Stage IV cancer diagnosis and to raise awareness for the rare and deadly cancer that he battled.Thor sits on the board of several national organizations and is the co-founder of a military support corporation. As Afterburner’s CEO, Thor leads our team of more than 70 elite military professionals. He has helped achieve strategic objectives and foster elite teams for Fortune 100 companies within the tech industry, pharmaceuticals, finance, medical devices, retail apparel and several NFL teams.

“I’ve enjoyed the process of developing relationships and cultivating new sources of unique investment opportunities for the firm, and giving them the confidence that Atlantic Street has the experience and expertise to close challenging transactions. I take pride in being able to tell our intermediary partners, as well as business owners, that we are a firm that treats people with the utmost respect and stands by our word.”Grant focuses on transaction sourcing for both new platforms and add-on acquisitions for the existing portfolio, as well as relationship management amongst the firm’s various constituencies.Grant joined Atlantic Street in July 2015. Prior to joining Atlantic Street, Grant spent five years with The Riverside Company as a member of their Origination team, where he was responsible for evaluating new investment opportunities, developing intermediary relationships and executing on strategic initiatives for new business sourcing. Prior to Riverside, Grant worked for the New York County District Attorney’s office as part of their frauds investigation practice. He received his B.A., Cum Laude, in Economics from Colgate University.

Samantha Ory is the General Partner at Ouroboros Group, a private investment firm specializing in middle market corporate acquisitions and operations. Ouroboros works within a diverse set of industries including: manufacturing, healthcare, and consumer. Ouroboros also has a minority investment arm specializing in early stage and minority investments within the consumer vertical.Previously, Samantha was on the investment team at Generation Equity Capital (a lower middle market private equity firm) where she sourced, evaluated, and executed investment opportunities on its behalf. Prior to joining Generation, Samantha advised clients on a variety of M&A and financing transactions at Corporate Fuel Advisors.