M&A Conference 2023 - Cleveland | Smart Business Dealmakers | 1 June 2023 | Hilton Cleveland Downtown, 100 Lakeside Ave E, Cleveland, OH 44114, USA

Deal math is changing in the face of economic headwinds.

With plenty of capital still to deploy, how will strategies evolve?

This Conference, formerly known as ASPIRE, connects hundreds of Northeast Ohio business leaders — from middle-market CEOs to top investors and lenders to leading M&A advisers.

With sessions ranging from raising capital to buying and selling companies to planning for liquidity events, our conference covers the breadth of the M&A landscape.

Take a look at this brief video from one of our events to hear what people had to say about the content, speakers and participants.

2023 Speakers

Chris Adams
President & CEO, Park Place Technologies

Christopher Ainscough
Senior Vice President – Resident Sales Director, Aon

Nic Barlage
CEO, Cleveland Cavaliers & Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse

Jeff Bechtel
President - Cleveland Region, First National Bank

Ellen Beckner
Executive Director, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

Robert Berdanier
Managing Director, Business Restructuring Services, BDO Consulting Group, LLC

Matt Brandenburg
CEO, Prince & Izant Company

Dominic Brault
Managing Director, Kaulig Capital

Bob Campana
CEO, Campana Capital

David Campbell
CFO, OMNI Systems

Joseph Carson
Managing Director, Fifth Third Securities

Neal Colby
CFO, CM Wealth Advisors LLC

Christal Contini
M&A Practice Chair, McDonald Hopkins

Gerard Daher
Chief Executive Officer, Speedeon Data

Dominic DiPuccio
Partner, Chair Mergers and Acquisitions Group, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

David Dunstan
Managing Director, Citizens Bank M&A Advisory

Todd Federman
Managing Director, North Coast Ventures

Dennis Gach
CFO, Torsion Group Corp.

Richard Hamlin
Executive Vice President, The Reserve Group

Dee Haslam
Founder & Executive Producer; CEO; Co-Owner, RIVR Media; Haslam Sports Group; Cleveland Browns

Jacob Herschend
Principal, Brightstar Capital Partners

Gerald Hetrick
Former CEO; VP, Talent Experience, Able; Bullhorn

Ansir Junaid
Founder, Chairman & CEO, SupplySide Group

Jayne Juvan
Partner and Chair of the M&A and Securities & Capital Markets Practice Groups, Tucker Ellis LLP

Bobby Kingsbury
Managing Director, MCM Capital Partners

Dustin S. Klein
Chief Content Officer, Smart Business

Mitch Kroll
Co-Founder & CEO, Findaway

Brian Krusz
Co-Founder and Director of Growth & Development, Sgt. Clean Car Wash

David Lazor
Founder & CEO, Lazorpoint

Brian Lennon
CEO, General Die Casters & Dart Casting

Anthony Manna
Chairman, M7; Signet, LLC

Al Melchiorre
President, MelCap Partners, LLC

William Murphy
Managing Director, UBS

Vince Nardy
Partner, Rockwood Equity

Harvey Nelson
Retired Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Main Street Gourmet

Linda Olejko
Principal, Client Strategist, BNY Mellon

Spencer Pisczak
President & Founding Member, Premier Development Partners

Pat Pitrone
Group President; Former Owner & CEO, Threshold Brands; USA Insulation

Jody Richards
Co-CEO, Process Technology

Robert Ross
Partner, Benesch Law

Phil Ryan
Partner, Assurance, Cohen & Company

Joe Saldutti
Managing Director, Gridiron Capital

Lou Schneeberger
Chairman, Proformex

Greg Skoda, Jr.
Partner, Marcum LLP

Cheryl Strom
Principal, The Riverside Company

Kevin R. Weidinger
President & CEO, Great Lakes Fasteners, Inc.

Ed Weinfurtner
Managing Partner, Blue Olive Partners LLC

2023 Sponsors

SUPPORTING SPONSORS:
• AoN
• Benesch
• BDO
• BNY Mellon Wealth Management
• Brightstar
• Citizens Capital Markets
• CM Wealth Advisors
• Cohen&Co
• Fifth Third Bank
• Gridiron Capital
• JPMorgan Chase & Co
• Kaulig Capital
• Marcum
• McDonald Hopkins
• MelCap
• Oswald
• Taft
• Tucker Ellis
• UBS

SPECIALTY SPONSORS:
• Action Management Services
• Ahola
• Chief Outsiders
• Cushman & Wakefield
• First Federal Lakewood
• Hightower
• Insperity
• Lockton
• Northwest Bank
• Audio Visual Solutions
• Planned Financial
• RSM
• Signet