October 14-15, 2025 | Pennsylvania Convention Center

Jeff Benjamin

COO and  Co-founder
VB Gruppo

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Jeff serves as the COO, and  co-founder of various concepts under the VB Gruppo umbrella. In addition, he is  the co-founder and a board member of the Vetri Community Partnership, a charitable organization he and Marc launched in 2008 dedicated to bringing approachable and accessible food education programs to our community.  

 

Jeff lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Melissa, and has two daughters.

Evan Brandoff

Entrepreneur
Co-founder of LeagueSide 

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Evan Brandoff is an entrepreneur, investor, and advisor passionate about building impactful businesses. He co-founded LeagueSide, the leading youth sports sponsorship platform, which was acquired by TeamSnap in 2022. Today, Evan advises founders, invests in early-stage companies, and explores new ventures at the intersection of community, entrepreneurship, and technology.

 

Alyssa J. Brodzinski

Partner, Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld LLC

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Alyssa J. Brodzinski is a seasoned corporate attorney with a focus on private equity-backed mergers and acquisitions, particularly industry roll-up strategies. With many years of experience advising both private equity sponsors and portfolio companies, Alyssa brings deep transactional insight and a pragmatic, deal-oriented approach to complex deal structures. She also regularly represents founders, family-owned businesses, and other sellers in transactions with both private equity and strategic acquirers.

 

Dave Clark

Chief Financial Officer, Q-mation

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Dave Clark is the Chief Financial Officer of Q-mation, a portfolio company of The Halifax Group. He is a seasoned CFO/COO with deep experience driving value creation in private equity–backed businesses by aligning finance, technology, and operations. Dave has held senior leadership roles at Revenue Solutions, Pavion, SC3, and Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, where he led enterprise-wide transformations across companies ranging from $100M to $1B in revenue. 

Baker Dunleavy

Villanova University

General Manager, Men's and Women's Basketball

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Former Villanova student-athlete and assistant basketball coach Baker Dunleavy returned to his alma mater in April 2023 in the newly created role of General Manager of Villanova Basketball.

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Dunleavy, a 2006 Villanova School of Business graduate, served on the Wildcats’ coaching staff from 2010-17 before accepting the position as Head Coach at Quinnipiac University. Over the last six seasons, he guided the Bobcats to 86 victories, totaling double-digit victories in five of those seasons, including a 20-12 mark in 2022-23. 

Steven Finn

Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner
of Siddhi Capital

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Steven Finn is the Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of Siddhi Capital, a multistage investment firm focused on better-for-you food and the technologies shaping the future of food. He has over 15 years of experience in food & beverage, technology, and financial services, and currently serves on the boards of BlueNalu, Liberation BioIndustries, Kencko, Plantible Foods, and Ummino, and is a board observer at Ark Biotech and MycoTechnology.  

Regan Fletcher Stephens

Co-founder of Saltete

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Regan Stephens is a Philadelphia-based freelance journalist specializing in food, travel, and culture. With over two decades of experience, her work has been featured in publications such as Food & Wine, The New York Times, Fortune, Travel + Leisure, and Philadelphia magazine. She’s the co-founder of Saltete, a publishing platform for creating and selling digital travel guides. 

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Phil Green

Operating Partner, Chief Financial Officer

StrategyCorp

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Phil Green is currently the Chief Financial Officer of StrategyCorp, bringing over 25 years of experience in private equity driving value creation at the intersection of finance, operations, and technology. He spent more than two decades at Brinker Capital, where he helped scale the business through operational improvements, investment management, and M&A. 

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Christopher Larsen

Managing Director, CIBC

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Mr. Larsen is a Managing Director with CIBC US Middle Market Investment Banking with 15 years of transaction experience and is responsible for sourcing, leading, and executing merger and acquisition and capital raising transactions. He represents entrepreneurs, private equity firms, and corporations in the Industrial Products and Services, Specialty Vehicle, and Manufacturing and Fabrication industries.

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 John A. Lee

Head, Commercial, Industrial and Services,
Griffin Financial Group

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John Lee manages Griffin's Commercial, Industrial and Services Group. He has over 30 years of experience providing merger and acquisition advisory services, private placements of debt and equity capital, and management buyout advisory services for middle market companies in a wide range of industries. His experience includes sourcing, initiating or managing numerous investment banking transactions for middle market business and government services, consumer and industrial manufacturing, distribution and technology companies. 

Kyle Martin

VP of Corporate Development, Sila Services

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Kyle Martin is currently the VP of Corporate Development at Sila Services, a home services platform and portfolio company of Goldman Sachs Alternatives, where he has fostered growth through over 40 strategic investments and partnerships since 2021.  Before joining Sila, Kyle boasted a prolific 16-year career in corporate development, closing over 70 acquisitions and proving his acumen in business valuation and deal structuring, with experience spanning diverse companies such as Rohm & Haas, Airgas, Eurofins, and Brenntag.

Brad Messinger

CEO, Elevate Eyecare

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Brad Messinger has extensive operating experience in physician practices, having led more than 100 acquisitions and successfully exited both minority and majority stakes to private equity. He currently serves as CEO of Elevate Eyecare, a leading optometry platform with over 80 locations across eight states, where he focuses on growth and team development. 

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He is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder and an active member of ACG and YPO in Philadelphia.

Lee Minkoff

Managing Director, Renovus Capital

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JLee is a Managing Director on the Investment Team, where he leads the Professional Services vertical and invests in and partners with portfolio companies to unlock value through operational alignment, financial discipline, and technology-driven transformation. He brings extensive private equity experience, having previously served as a Vice President at Lovell Minnick Partners, a private equity firm focused on financial services and technology investments. 

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Matt Pencek

Partner, Private Equity Services, SolomonEdwards

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Matt is a seasoned finance and transaction executive currently leading SolomonEdwards’ newly launched national Private Equity Services platform. With more than 15 years as an advisor, operator and investor of middle market and private equity-backed companies, Matt and his team synthesize strategy, operations and finance to lead private equity-backed businesses through complex situations.

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Jonathan Perelman

Partner, GSE Partners

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Jonathan Perelman is a Partner at Graham Sports & Entertainment Partners (“GSE Partners”), bringing two decades of experience across the sports, media, and entertainment industry.

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Jonathan lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons. He’s a sports enthusiast and a passionate fan of global football.

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Daniel Salvato

Principal, NewSpring Holdings / Investment Team

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Daniel Salvato is a Principal dedicated to the Firm's buyout strategy, NewSpring Holdings. He joined NewSpring in 2022 and is primarily focused on evaluating new investment opportunities. Daniel also provides operational and financial oversight and assistance to help drive long term value creation for platforms of NewSpring Holdings, including through service on the Boards of CoreX (a global ServiceNow implementation and managed services partner) and underdog & company (a sports and entertainment marketing services firm).

Chad Stender

Managing Partner, SeventySix Capital

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Chad Stender is a Managing Partner at SeventySix Capital. Chad is known as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, tireless networker and prioritizes giving back. Chad oversees portfolio investments, finances, operations and is responsible for managing the team at SeventySix Capital.

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Stender resides in the suburbs of Philadelphia with his wife Lauren and their son and
daughter.

Kyle Walters

Private Equity Analyst, PitchBook

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Kyle Walters is a private equity analyst at PitchBook, where he contributes to the firm’s asset class research. Prior to joining PitchBook, Walters was an M&A analyst at a boutique buyout firm. Walters holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and business analytics from Le Moyne College.