The Board's Role in Defining M&A Strategy and Securing Capital 

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Speakers

Kristie is an experienced board member and former CFO/COO/President with over 25 years of experience assisting diversified financial services, asset management, real estate, insurance, and professional services companies grow their businesses. Kristie’s career reflects demonstrated leadership in enterprise-wide transformation and strategic financial initiatives, including business intelligence, M&A due diligence, enterprise risk management, and regulatory and capital oversight. She brings deep corporate governance experience and is a qualified financial expert.

Kristie is a board director at First Women’s Bank (FWB) - a de novo bank launched in 2021, where she serves as the Audit Committee Chair, and is a member of both the Risk and Compensation committees. She serves as the Audit Chair for Smithbucklin - a Chicago-based association management company, and for NCCI, which provides objective state workers’ compensation rate and loss cost recommendations. At NCCI, she is also a member of the Nom/Gov Committee. She sits on the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago emeritus board of directors and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce board. Kristie is a member of NACD, attaining Certified Board Director status. 

Through her work as an Associate Director at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Kristie mentors students in the Illinois Business Consulting program, sourcing company projects throughout the year and assisting the students in executing the projects each semester.

Ms. Cornelis is an experienced investor and board member who is known for helping family-owned and PE-backed private companies scale through channel expansion and acquisition, having served on over fifteen private boards. She is a Qualified Financial Expert and Audit Chair and is skilled in completing and integrating acquisitions, exit planning, management team build-out, fundraising and marketing strategies. Her industry expertise includes food and beverage, consumer, and business services.

Kelly currently serves on the Board of Directors of Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta and BOF Corporation and previously served on the boards of Westminster Foods, Fresh Origins, United American Security, Impex Holdings, Avantech Testing Services and Gen3 Marketing. She is also a Strategic Advisor to Organic Pantry and a member of the Seismic Group Advisory Council.

She spent 19 years as a Partner and Chief Operating Officer at LaSalle Capital, where she led deal sourcing and execution, financial operations, portfolio management and investor relations. Previously she led investment activities at SB Partners and began her career as an analyst at William Blair. Kelly was a founding member of the Chicago Women in Private Equity, is a member of WAVE and PE WIN (Private Equity Women's Investor Network) and served as a board member of MBBI (Midwest Business Brokers and Intermediaries) and ACG Chicago.

Marc Baumann has served as a C-level operating and financial executive for highly competitive, rapidly changing domestic and international, publicly- and privately-owned businesses. He acts as a Board-level and C-suite advisor on strategy, organization design, operations and financial management, technology, transformation initiatives, succession planning, corporate governance, and mergers and acquisitions. Marc played key leadership roles in three successful business turnarounds as well as in all facets of public company management, compliance and investor relations. He possesses in-depth experience guiding the development and integration of industry-leading technology with best-in-class operations to drive growth and shareholder value. 

Marc has recently concluded a 23-year career with SP Plus Corporation, (NASDAQ: SP), having negotiated its successful sale in a take private transaction at a 52% premium to its pre-announcement share price representing an EV multiple of 12.0x. Marc served as CEO during his final nine years and, for the last three of those years, also as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Prior to his roles as CEO and Chairman, Marc served as the Company’s COO and CFO. SP Plus is the leading developer and integrator of technology combined with operations management to deliver mobility solutions enabling the efficient and time-sensitive movement of people, vehicles and personal travel belongings throughout North America and Europe. Marc led a team of over 20,000 employees at nearly 4,000 locations providing an extensive range of services encompassing professional parking management, ground transportation, luggage logistics and technology solutions. Under Marc’s leadership SP+ became the # 1 player in its industry through a combination of strong organic growth combined with 9 operating and 3 technology acquisitions. The Company achieved record performance in its final year prior to the sale. 

Prior to joining SP Plus in 2000, Marc was the Finance Director (CFO) for Warburtons Ltd in Bolton England. Privately-owned Warburtons is the leading bakery brand in Great Britain with manufacturing and distribution facilities throughout the UK.

Bill Watkins is a managing director at Harris Williams. He has over 30 years of experience advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, capital advisory, and strategic advisory assignments. Bill, who joined the firm in 2009, is based in the firm’s Cleveland office.  He has a M.B.A. with concentrations in Finance and Operations Management from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and B.S. in Business from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Moderator

Art Mertes provides high-caliber counsel to privately held middle-market and emerging growth companies, public companies, financial institutions, family offices/funds, investors, C-level executives, boards of directors, family-owned businesses, and entrepreneurs in a broad range of matters and industries.

Art counsels growth-oriented companies of every size and often acts as their general counsel. He advises clients in matters involving business and capital structure, mergers and acquisitions, indemnification, private equity and venture capital, private placements and securities offerings, investor rights and preferences, commercial finance, IP commercialization, licensing and subscription agreements, intellectual property protection, customer agreements and T&Cs, joint ventures, distribution and supply, international transactions, executive employment, management equity and incentive compensation, corporate governance, and corporate contracts and agreements.

Providing a business-focused perspective, Art carefully guides clients through the critical issues and unique elements involved in every issue or transaction, enabling them to execute efficient strategies and solutions that best meet their objectives. His industry experience includes software, health care, mobile, mobile telecom, data, IT, VAR eCommerce, trading technology, green/clean sector, waste, insurance, specialty consumer, real estate, manufacturing, distribution, and tech-enabled services.

In addition to his other volunteer activities, Art is a member of the Private Directors Association Chicago’s (PDA Chicago’s) Programming Committee and is chair of the chapter’s Private Equity and Family Office Committee.

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