Speakers

Michael Kessler

Managing Director, Veronis Suhler Stevenson

Michael B. Kessler is a Managing Director at Veronis Suhler Stevenson LLC, and a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Mr. Kessler specializes in investing in the business services and business information sectors, which includes companies engaged in the collection, creation and/or processing of data, and the use of technology to distribute such content. He has a particular focus on companies engaged in marketing, human resources, and credit and risk management. He led the firm’s acquisition of SureSource and the simultaneous acquisitions of Qwiz and ePredix which created PreVisor. He oversaw PreVisor’s seven add-on acquisitions and its subsequent merger with SHL in 2011. Mr. Kessler played key roles in the acquisitions of TMP Worldwide, Market Strategies International, and CoreData (subsequently part of Ipreo via merger). Mr. Kessler currently serves as a Director of SHL, SureSource, Market Strategies and TMP, and previously served on the Board of CoreData.

Mr. Kessler had over 17 years of investment banking experience prior to joining VSS in 2003 from CIBC World Markets. At CIBC he was a senior member of the Enterprise Software and Business Services group, primarily focused on technology-enabled business services and software companies. He has extensive experience in public offerings, private placements, and merger and acquisition transactions. Prior to CIBC, Mr. Kessler was a Managing Director at Oppenheimer & Co. (acquired by CIBC in 1997), where he served as a senior member of the media and business services investment banking group. Prior to joining Oppenheimer in 1993, Mr. Kessler served in the capital markets divisions of Barclays Capital and Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Kessler has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, and a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michelle Abbey

President & CEO, TMP Worldwide

Troy Augustine

President & CEO, iNET Interactive

Keith Cooper

CEO, Connotate

Keith brings more than 20 years of experience to Connotate with a proven record of successfully leading innovative technology companies to rapid growth and exceptional value. Three of his most recent leadership roles include serving as President of Carbonite, an online backup company that grew to over 1 million customers, was ranked ninth on the Inc. 500 list and completed a successful IPO in 2011; CEO at webHancer Corporation, a company Cooper led and successfully sold to Microsoft; and CEO of FaxNet, a leading provider of messaging solutions to large telecom companies, which was acquired by Critical Path.

Keith is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Harvard College. He serves on the Content Division Board of Directors of the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) and is the Chairman of the Harvard Rugby Alumni Association.

Hugh Davis

Co-founder, reInvention LLC

Robert W. Dickey

Partner, Morgan Lewis

Robert W. Dickey is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Business and Finance Practice. Mr. Dickey's practice focuses on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions; he also counsels clients in connection with joint ventures, strategic alliances, private placements and general corporate and compliance matters. He has been involved in a wide range of public and private transactions in a variety of industries and has represented both strategic and financial acquirors, including private equity firms, and sellers and targets.

Feyzi Fatehi

Chief Executive Officer, Corent Technology, Inc.

Feyzi has over twenty five years of experience building high-performance high-tech businesses including multiple business units at HP and four software start-ups in Silicon Valley and in Southern California. Two of these start-ups were named among the annual Red Herring 100, with valuations from $100 Million to $1 Billion. Most recently, Corent won the 2009 Emerging Software Company of the Year award.

Feyzi has been a keynote speaker around the globe from Sidney to Singapore, and from Washington DC to London and Rome. He has also spoken at events by Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Pepperdine, MIT, Cal Tech, and UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Feyzi is an inventor and patent holder for the design of the first real-time database. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Solar Engineering, a master’s degree in Software Architecture and an MBA in International Management. He received his director and corporate governance certificate from UCLA and is a graduate of Anderson School of Management’s prestigious M&A program.

Feyzi was elected to the board of the Technology Council of Southern California in 2007 and the Chairman of its Orange County chapter in 2008. In 2009, IBM named Feyzi to their exclusive IBM Partner Advisory Council.

Tolman Geffs

Co-President, The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc.

Tolman Geffs, Co-President of JEGI, represents digital media, marketing, business services and technology companies. Notable recent engagements include:
• Sale of Infogroup’s OneSource to Cannondale Investments and GTCR;
• Sale of ePrize to Catterton Partners;
• Sale of Travidia to a media consortium led by Gannett and Hearst;
• Sale of Focus Research to Ziff Davis Media;
• Sale of I-Behavior to WPP; and
• Sale of AdJug to Dentsu.
Mr. Geffs brings a unique combination of experience as a CEO and business builder in both traditional and new media companies, as well as in corporate finance. Prior to joining JEGI in 2004, Mr. Geffs was CEO of Internet Broadcasting Systems, a national network of 70 local television Web sites operated in partnership with NBC, Hearst, The Washington Post Company and other major broadcasters. With a staff of 250, IBS was one of the earliest old/new cross-media platforms to achieve both scale and profitability.

Previously, Mr. Geffs held a series of senior executive positions in magazine publishing. He began his career in the M&A department of Lehman Brothers, and also consulted for media companies with McKinsey & Company. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, with degrees in English and Engineering Physics, and Harvard Business School.

Jeff Giordano

CEO, Zadspace

Michael Jamieson

President, MAM Software Group, Inc.

Zephrin Lasker

CEO and Co-Founder, Pontiflex

Dan Michelson

CEO, Strata Decision Technology

Nicolas Perkin

President and Co-Founder, The Receivables Exchange

Scott Peters

Co-President, The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc.

Scott Peters, a Co-President with JEGI, represents a wide array of consumer and business information, marketing services and online media companies in an M&A advisory capacity. Having successfully completed over 75 transactions with JEGI, Mr. Peters offers clients a comprehensive understanding of the media, information and marketing services industries, with extensive sell-side, buy-side and advisory expertise. Recent notable engagements include:
- Sale of Evanta to Leeds Equity Partners;
- Sale of Aspire Media to F+W Media;
- Sale of Northstar Travel Media to The Wicks Group of Companies;
- Sale of Experient to Maritz Travel;
- Sale of Future's US Music Division to NewBay Media; and many more.

Mr. Peters offers a unique blend of traditional investment banking and direct operating experience. Before rejoining JEGI, he was the co-founder of AngelSociety, an information, communications and transaction company serving the early stage investing or 'angel' investing market. Prior to his initial employment with JEGI, Mr. Peters was with Veronis Suhler Stevenson, where he served as director of research and later, director of business development for the investment bank and private equity fund.

Mr. Peters currently serves as a Media & Entertainment Sector advisor to The New York City Investment Fund ("NYCIF"), and he serves on the Advisory Board of Columbia Business School’s Social Enterprise Program. Mr. Peters earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BBA from Babson College.

Emilio Ragosa

Partner, Morgan Lewis

Emilio Ragosa is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Business and Finance Practice. Mr. Ragosa focuses primarily on securities, mergers and
acquisitions, corporate transactions and technology transactions. He represents both private and public high technology and biotechnology companies, as well as venture capital firms and underwriters. Mr. Ragosa
also has handled numerous corporate transactions ranging from corporate formations/restructuring and private placements to public offerings.
Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Mr. Ragosa was a junior partner with a prestigious national law firm. While in law school, he worked at the New York Stock Exchange; prior to law school, he was an intern with Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Ragosa was named to the Order of the Coif after earning his J.D. with
honors from Rutgers Law School, and he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa
after earning his B.S. in finance and political science with high honors from
Rutgers College.

Mr. Ragosa is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York.

Eric Remer

Founder & CEO, PaySimple

Steven Rosenbaum

CEO, Magnify Networks

Ilene Rosenthal

Chief Executive Officer, Footsteps2Brilliance

Tony Schmitz

President & CEO, Send Word Now

Mr. Schmitz has been an advisor to Send Word Now since 2004 and joined the board in early 2007; he brings nearly twenty-five years of experience as a successful entrepreneur, investor and technologist to the company. He was appointed to the position of CEO in late 2007. Schmitz has been an entrepreneur and executive since 1983, focused primarily on creating and building value for technology companies. Mr. Schmitz was a founder/principal of three technology companies that were acquired by publicly traded companies. Most recently, Schmitz was the founder/CEO of Insight First, a web analytics firm, that was acquired by 24/7 Real Media in January 2003. After the sale, Schmitz was President and CTO of 24/7’s Technology Division. Schmitz joined 24/7’s Board of Directors in October 2004 and remained on the Board through July 2007 when the company was sold to WPP. In October 2004 Schmitz was a founding General Partner of Pine Street Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm where he remains a Managing Director. Schmitz is also on the board of StreetEasy.com, a New York City-based real estate web portal.

Fred Silverman

Chief Executive Officer, NewsLook

Fred Silverman is the CEO and Founder of NewsLook. Silverman developed some of the first interactive computer based materials for the education market in the early 1980's after leaving New York University as their Director of Educational Technology. Originally with CBS News, Silverman has, over the past twenty-five years, produced a number of award winning documentary films for PBS. His work has also appeared on commercial broadcast and cable networks here and abroad.

David Steinberger

Co-founder & CEO, comiXology

Jim Swift

President & CEO, Cortera

Jim has parlayed his boyhood fascination with sports statistics into a successful career as a data geek. As CEO of Cortera, his mission is to change the B2B information universe with long overdue insights into businesses to help organizations improve sales performance and risk management. Prior to Cortera, Jim was the COO of LexisNexis Risk Management and Executive Vice President at Seisint, which was acquired by LexisNexis.

Jon Victor

CEO, Engage 121, Inc.

Neil Wainright

CEO, Nexonia Inc.

Stephen Walker

COO, Perfect Market

Neil Wessen

Managing Director and Group Head, CIT Capital Markets

Neil Wessan serves as Managing Director and Group Head of CIT Capital Markets. He manages teams of market professionals who structure, price, underwrite and distribute financing packages for all of CIT’s product lines.

Prior to CIT, Wessan served as Head of Capital Markets for Gleacher & Company. Before this, he was a Founding Principal at Halsey Lane Holdings, and served as Managing Director and Co-Head of Jefferies & Company’s Leveraged Loan Capital Markets and Syndications Group. Earlier he held senior level positions with various financial institutions, including CIBC World Markets, ING Barings and Bankers Trust, over the course of his 28-year career.

He received a BSE degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.