BizTimes Media will present the M&A Forum, a morning-long seminar exploring strategies to build value, bring a company to market, find buyers and successfully close a transaction.
The event will be held Thursday, May 26, from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. at The Pfister Hotel, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Milwaukee.
Key topics covered within the seminar will include why now is a good time to begin transitioning your business for sale, techniques for building value in a company well before a sale, what recapitalizations are and why some business owners might want to consider them, and more.
The keynote speaker will be Kevin Conroy, president and chief executive officer of Exact Sciences Corp., a Madison-based developer of diagnostic tests for colorectal screenings. Exact Sciences is publicly traded on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol EXAS. Conroy will speak about his experiences with publicly traded companies and start-up technology firms, several of which have been acquired.
Following Conroy’s remarks, the forum will feature two panel discussions of several prominent Milwaukee-area executives who have been involved in multiple transactions, both as buyers and sellers.
The first panel will feature professional advisors who will share their insights on the latest trends in the M&A market:
- Ken Evason, CEO and chief investment officer of Windermere Wealth.
- James Gettel, JD, CM&AA, Schenck.
- Scott Fiducci, shareholder, Davis & Kuelthau, Attorneys at Law.
A second panel discussion will feature business executives who have recently been on the front line of M&A transactions:
- Mike Harris, president of Patina Solutions. Harris also founded Jefferson Wells in 1995, which was acquired by Manpower International in 2001. Both of the companies that Harris has founded have been backed by venture capital investors, who earned more than $300 million on about $9 million in invested capital.
- Tom Campion, managing director of Merit Capital Partners, a Chicago private equity investment firm.
- Kent Tabor, president and principal of Hartland-based EmbedTek LLC. Tabor was founder, president and CEO of Granite Microsystems, which he sold in 2002. He founded EmbedTek the same year – and sold a majority share to Lake Forest, Ill.-based Brunswick Corp. Tabor later bought his company back in 2004. In 2010, he brought in three new partners as investors and managers to help grow the business.
- John (JT) Shinners, CEO of JTS Direct, a specialty printing company in Hartland. Shinners recently completed a recapitalization of his company with Milwaukee-based PS Capital Partners Inc.
Tickets to the May 26 event are $45. For information or to register, visit www.biztimes.com/maforum.
