Private Equity Fast Pitch

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.

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.