Alumni Council

Chris Mallin leads Siemens Healthineers North American project office in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

His responsibilities include end-to-end customer supply chain, journey mapping and direct consulting with health systems on capital programs. Previously Mallin worked with Adventist HealthCare focusing on strategic capital investments, hospital expansion and campus development/planning.

He has an extensive background in construction, project management, and sustainable development within the healthcare sector from his work at Honeywell International and Turner Construction.

He received his bachelor and MS degree from Virginia Tech and his MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler. He is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Connect with Chris Mallin on LinkedIn. 

Diana Berry is a supply chain specialist at Harsco Rail, a global supplier for railway track maintenance and engineering leader in the industry. In her current role, she manages the import/export process ensuring compliance with U.S. and international government laws and regulations, and oversees the processes necessary to distribute products in the global supply chain efficiently and with high level of technical complexity.  Prior to joining Harsco Rail, she worked in a variety of logistic roles at United Parcel Service.

Berry received her bachelor of science in industrial engineering in her native country of Colombia and her MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler. During her time as a  MBA@UNC student, she led the Women of MBA@UNC student group and was an active student ambassador for the program.

Berry is a distinguished toastmaster serving the organization in leadership roles for over 10 years and is the annual conference program chair for the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers based in Atlanta. She is president of her local chapter of the Society of Women Engineers and enjoys mentoring aspiring women in business and engineering. She lives in Aiken, South Carolina, and enjoys teaching Zumba in her community.

Connect with Diana Berry on LinkedIn. 

Connect with J.G. Ayodele on LinkedIn.

Stuart Feldman has been at Fidelity Investments for twelve years. As a senior vice president in prime services, Feldman heads Capital Introduction Services for the Americas where he leads a team helping hedge fund clients raise assets from institutional investors.

Prior to Fidelity, Feldman was the head of East Coast Capital Introduction for Jefferies & Company.

In early 2000, Feldman co-founded two healthcare hedge funds where he was chief operating officer. His duties included trading, risk management and marketing. During that time, Feldman had successfully raised over assets from HNW individuals, family offices, fund of funds, pensions and endowments.

His career started on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with a specialist firm and later moved upstairs to trade proprietarily at U.S. Clearing. Feldman holds a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University where he double majored in economics and pre-law. He has an MBA from the University of North Carolina. He completed a Certificate in Risk Management at NYU and holds his Series 7, 24 & 63 licenses.

Connect with Stuart Feldman on LinkedIn.

Connect with Spandana Nagireddi on LinkedIn.

Connect with Sara Paisner on LinkedIn. 

Connect with Mike Perera on LinkedIn. 

Udo Rodemann works for Verizon managing third-party vendors, addressing the unique needs of multiple accounts in a wide variety of industries. Though based in the metro Raleigh area, the need to address business aims extends across North America, EMEA and APAC. He is an entrepreneurial leader solving complex challenges across diverse industries, technology and people systems.

This has led to recognition for leadership in:

• Overall Business Performance
• Customer Service, Quality, and Supplier Management
• Business Development and Retention
• Team Development
• Business Process Design
• Process Engineering (manufacturing)
• Capital and Operational Expense Plan Management
• Maintenance
• EHS

The majority of his experience has been in complex manufacturing processes and associated products—bleached kraft pulp, paperboard and paperboard converting, automotive, aerospace, and oil & gas.

Employers have been Procter & Gamble and Verizon. However, experience would not be complete without a stint in private industry (oil & gas). The common thread—each company experience is represented a fundamentally different culture, implementation of technologies and people systems.

Rodemann earned a bachelor of science in electrical engineering (BSEE) from the Georgia Institute of Technology. With a lifelong interest in earning an MBA from a top tier school, Rodemann graduated from UNC Kenan Flagler through the MBA@UNC program.

Connect with Udo Rodemann on LinkedIn.

Will Bacon is the chief compliance officer for Morgan Creek Capital Management LLC. Prior to joining Morgan Creek, he was corporate counsel and deputy compliance officer at IFC Core Investment Management where he oversaw the firm’s SEC registration as an investment adviser and monitored all compliance-related policies and procedures. Before IFC, Bacon held the positions of senior compliance officer at Credit Suisse and product director at Hatteras Funds. He previously worked at financial services firms in New York which is where he began his career as a foreign exchange sales associate at Deutsche Bank.

Bacon received a BS in Business Administration and a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He currently serves on the board of directors of Rosemyr Corporation.

Connect with Scott Barfield on LinkedIn. 

Connect with Andrew Basile on LinkedIn. 

Alex Bean is a partner with Plexus Capital, serves on the investment committee and heads the firm’s new deal execution effort. He is active in fundraising, sourcing new investment opportunities and portfolio company oversight.

Bean joined Plexus in 2010 as an associate. He began his career in the investment banking division of BB&T Capital Markets (now BB&T Securities), focusing on sell-side M&A transactions and public equity offerings.

He earned his BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler.

Connect with Alex Bean on LinkedIn. 

Connect with Scott Bell on LinkedIn. 

Scott Benson founded and leads Trail B LLC, a boutique consultancy focused exclusively on the social impact sector. Having previously led grant portfolios focused on K-12 education innovation at NewSchools Venture Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Benson believes deeply in the power of nurturing bold ideas from creative, mission-driven leaders. He earned his BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler (Class of 2001) and his MBA from Harvard Business School. He lives in Chapel Hill with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three daughters.

Connect with Scott Benson on LinkedIn.

Connect with Corey Bramlett on LinkedIn. 

Chris Brooks is an experienced global operating executive with a proven track record of full P&L leadership of enterprises in the B2B space. He excels in driving growth, managing through crisis, developing talent and improving profitability in precision manufacturing and service businesses. Chris delivered results across complex manufacturing platforms in industrial products, test & diagnostic equipment, medical device, foodservice and pharmaceutical industries.

Chris has spent the last year with Danaher as the X-Rite President. Prior to Danaher, Chris served as Corporate Vice President and General Manager of AMETEK Medical business where he grew a stagnant business with a small opportunity pipeline. Chris possesses a strong commercial and operational background that has involved top-line growth, restructuring and operational cost reduction to deliver EBITDA margin expansion. These core skills and competencies were developed in diverse roles with Nordson Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company and Merck & Co. Chris assimilates quickly and is constructively curious about the manufacturing and marketing of products.

Chris currently serves on the North Carolina A&T State University board of visitors. He has served on the boards of the Thurgood Marshall Center Trust. He is also a member of the Executive Leadership Council. Chris earned a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina A&T State University and an MBA from The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He is married with two sons and enjoys a wide array of sports, community service, reading and global travel.

Connect with Chris Brooks on LinkedIn.

Connect with Cole Buckfelder on LinkedIn. 

Coleman Bumgardner is a senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), performing within the trust solutions practice of the banking and capital markets team. A member of the Audit Centers of Excellence, Bumgardner provides assurance and regulatory compliance services to registered broker-dealers assisting engagement teams in audits of judgmental, targeted reporting areas.

He is responsible for coordination of internal and external teams across the world to complete audit testing and documentation along with timely identification and resolution of project issues. He began his career at Elliott Davis LLC in their assurance practice completing external and internal audits across several industries including financial services, local county government, manufacturing and distribution, and technology and life sciences. Bumgardner is currently a licensed CPA in North Carolina and maintains active designations within the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants.

Bumgardner graduated with a BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler with distinction along with a second major in anthropology from the College of Arts and Sciences and Phi Beta Kappa recognition. After his undergraduate studies, Bumgardner graduated from UNC Kenan-Flagler with a Master of Accounting degree. While at UNC, he participated in and held leadership roles in Presbyterian Campus Ministry, Alpha Kappa Psi Business Fraternity and Undergraduate Accounting Club.

A North Carolina native, Bumgardner currently resides in Raleigh and previously served a 3-year term on the UNC Young Alumni Council. His interests and commitments outside of work include tennis, church involvement, and F3 men’s fitness group.

Craig Burnham is currently the Director of Product Marketing for Webex by Cisco covering the full portfolio of collaboration solutions including meetings, calling, messaging, events and devices. Craig has been with Cisco for the past 6 years and his background includes over 15 years of experience in the technology and consumer products industries. Prior to Cisco, Craig worked at Kraft Foods in brand management and has worked at various other technology startups in sales and marketing roles. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish in 2007 and then earned his MBA in 2013 from the University of North Carolina. Craig lives in Cary North Carolina with his wife, Meghan; daughter, Kacyn; and son, Lawson.

Connect with Craig Burnham on LinkedIn.

Wayne Busch is the group president of NTT DATA Services’ consulting and digital transformation business.  NTT DATA is a Top 10 global IT services provider and part of a global $100B organization ranked #55 in the Global 500, serving 88% of the Fortune Global 100.  Busch leads a team with the mission to help their clients to modernize their business to unlock value and increase their velocity towards a digital future.  He does this through integrated delivery of consulting and digital technology services.

Busch is a senior business leader who delivers superior results by delivering client value at the intersection of industry innovation and exceptional technology outcomes.  Through his career at NTT DATA and over 25 years at Accenture, Busch has made significant impacts in a diverse number of market-facing roles, having managed substantial business segment P&Ls, developed go-to-market strategies, and been personally accountable for some of his firms’ most significant client relationships.  Busch is a skilled advisor and transformation partner to the C-Suite with 30 years of personal experience in multiple industries across North America and Europe.

He is a passionate people developer and takes personal accountability in helping people manage their careers. He builds high performing teams anchored around his belief in a talent-led model focused on meritocracy.  He believes in investments in people, business, technology and his community in the Chicagoland area.  He’s married to his Tarheel sweetheart, Melissa (BA 1991), and is soon to re-enter the university world with his teenage son, Charlie.

Connect with Wayne Busch on LinkedIn. 

Pete Canalichio is an award-winning author of the Amazon #1 New Release, “Expand, Grow, Thrive” (2018) and TEDx speaker. He has worked in brand strategy, expansion and licensing for the past 20 years for The Coca-Cola Company, Newell Brands and most recently, BrandAlive, a service-disabled veteran owned small business that he founded in 2009.

Before starting his business career, Canalichio attended the U.S. Naval Academy where he earned a BS in physics. He went on to serve in the Navy as an award-winning aviator and instructor pilot, honing his leadership and decision-making skills as commander of a large multi-engine aircraft and 12-member crew during the height of Cold War tensions.

His “crisis-tested leadership skills” were forged not in a battle with the competition or a challenging business turnaround—although he has certainly excelled in those arenas—but in the dark skies above the Pacific ocean as he flew a military aircraft whose engine had caught on fire. Clear-headed and decisive under those extraordinary circumstances, he has applied that same leadership style to every challenge and opportunity he has faced in a distinguished executive career.

Before transitioning to the marketing and licensing arenas, Canalichio earned his MBA from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School where he was a Richard H. Jenrette fellow and salutatorian of his class. Upon graduation, Canalichio was recruited into the global finance unit at Coca-Cola. He rose quickly to managing $32 billion in transactions yearly as treasury operations manager in London and built a strong foundation of business skills and diverse experiences within the world-class company.

Throughout his career, Canalichio has operated in the global arena, having worked in more than 40 countries and managed extensive projects across national and continental borders.

Connect with Pete Canalichio on LinkedIn. 

Ryan Cartwright is the global sales and partner leader of Spacelift based in Sausalito, California. He is also an angel investor in multiple tech startups and co-founder of AuctionVilla Platforms – a Platform to Acquire Mobile Apps & Games and WhiteLabel – Branded games for businesses.

Cartwright is the Kenan-Flagler Bay Area Chapter CEO. He holds an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler in 2017 and a BA from UMBC in Baltimore.

Cartwright has over 15 years experience in Infrastructure Engineering, DevOps, CICD, IaC, Enterprise Systems Engineering, Architecture and Operational support. He has proven ability to learn new systems quickly, evaluate needs, and solve problems in a win-win manner that delights the customer and drives company profits. He develops partnerships with the business to define and execute IT operations projects while managing costs and resources. He has strengths in business acumen, leadership, communication, account strategy, organization, problem solving, and decision making. Proven track record of success in quota-carrying roles. He fosters a culture of customer-centric and partner-centric.

Connect with Ryan Cartwright on LinkedIn. 

Nate Challen is the general manager of Sanofi Consumer Healthcare in Canada, based in Montreal, Quebec. He has been with Sanofi since 2011, serving first in brand management and innovation roles based in Chattanooga, Tennessee and then as the global head of consumer and customer experience based in Frankfurt, Germany.  Prior to Sanofi, Challen worked for Johnson & Johnson, joining them after receiving his MBA from Kenan-Flagler in 2008.

From 1999 to 2006, he worked in high tech startups including Ancestry.com in Provo, Utah and AnchorPoint in Boston, Massachusetts and as the webmaster for platinum recording artists Vertical Horizon.  He also holds a BS in computer science from Johns Hopkins University.  Challen is married and has four children.

Connect with Nate Challen on LinkedIn. 

Simon Chen is a Shanghai-based leadership and professional skills trainer and executive coach. Over the past 18 years, he has designed and delivered training workshops for many of world’s reputable companies including Cisco, Microsoft, Porsche, SAP, BASF, Solvay etc.  He has also maintained coaching relationships with senior executives working with these multinational companies and helped them navigate through business and culture related challenges in today’s deeply uncertain environment.

Chen’s strength as a highly effective executive coach is based on many years of solid experience in sales, general management and strategic consulting in Mainland China, Hong Kong and the U.S.

He was the general manager of the internet startup Netbig and led the team in developing the company’s highly successful EMBA, online MBA and studying abroad consultation business. Before that, he managed a couple of strategic consulting projects for Accenture Consulting in Shanghai. Prior to getting his MBA degree from Kenan-Flagler Business School in 2000, he was one of the 300 personnel dispatched to Hong Kong under the “professionals importation scheme” to work as a key account manager with the world’s largest high-end OEM shirt manufacturer Esquel Group.

Chen is the founder of UNC and Kenan-Flagler Business School’s alumni club in China and has been its chairman between 2001-2010.

Jason Colgate is best known for being a versatile and dynamic leader and dealmaker in healthcare. He enjoys both getting his hands dirty on the operating side as well as analyzing companies on the investment side. He has a passion for working with entrepreneurs and executives, for improving the state of healthcare, and also with growing teams and value at the enterprise and individual level. His role at Eli Global as managing director of the M&A team is to facilitate the origination and execution of acquisitions across the umbrella of 20 portfolios, which consists of over 150 independent businesses with $26 billion in assets. Eli Global is a holding company that focuses on buying and growing businesses, and in 2017 Eli completed 30 acquisitions.

Before Eli Global, Colgate had experience in private equity, corporate development, investment banking and operating roles across the healthcare spectrum from ventures to Fortune 50 businesses to boutique investment firms, including Bourne Capital Partners, Quintiles, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation and Boston Scientific.

He earned his MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler as well as a BM for cello performance at Vanderbilt University under the Dinah Shore Scholarship. He is a FINRA series 63 and 79 investment banking registered advisor and a member of the ACG.

Colgate likes to make a difference on various boards too such as the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and UNC Kenan-Flagler, and he has been a frequent guest speaker at universities as well as industry conferences on healthcare and M&A.

Connect with Jason Colgate on LinkedIn. 

Connect with Lorrese Cotton on LinkedIn. 

Morrison Creech retired from Wells Fargo National Bank in 2021 where he served as the global head of private banking and executive vice president since 2003.

Creech started his career with North Carolina National Bank in Charlotte which later evolved into NationsBank and Bank of America and progressed through senior leadership roles in branch administration and market leadership, business systems development, credit risk, special assets and middle market banking.  He was recruited to Wachovia Bank in 2003 where he led affluent and wealth banking for the firm.

He is currently a member of the Wingate University Board of Trustees, the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Alumni Council and the Director’s Council – Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. Previously, he served for several years on the Union County School Board, the Monroe Airport Commission and chaired the Anson-Union Morehead Scholarship Selection Committee.

He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the Kenan-Flagler Business School. Morrison and his wife, Lib, live in Charlotte with their Labradoodle, Coco and enjoy spending time with their four children and three grandchildren.

Connect with Morrison Creech on LinkedIn. 

Javier De Santibanes was born and raised in Argentina, where he currently resides. He started his career working as an accounting analyst for IBM and Chevron, before moving on to pursue his MBA at UNC Kenan-Flagler.

During business school he was part of the acapella group The Confidence Intervals and the Business Technology Club. He interned at Google (Argentina) and considers his Chapel Hill years as some of his happiest and most fruitful.

After graduating in 2016 he returned to Buenos Aires and joined his family office, where he analyzes investment opportunities and runs day-to-day operations. More specifically, he follows the retail and infrastructure sectors in Latin America. As an investor he is involved with some of the most exciting and promising multi-Latam companies, including Havanna, Puppis and Atis Group.

He is married and has a son. In his spare time he enjoys playing the piano and racing his car on track days. Regardless of distances, De Santibanes is still friends with his classmates and looks forward to weddings as an excuse to see them.

Connect with Javier De Santibanes on LinkedIn. 

Mark Donnolo is managing partner with SalesGlobe, a sales effectiveness consulting and services firm that works with leading companies in the areas of sales innovation, sales strategy, sales team coaching and training, and sales compensation. He is the author of “The Innovative Sale” and “What Your CEO Needs to Know About Sales Compensation.”

Donnolo has worked in leading consulting firms over the past 20 years. He was president of a venture-backed voice-over-IP service provider, co-founder of a point-to-point wireless ISP, and co-founder of a clean coal technology company funded by three major venture capital firms. Before his business career, he worked as a designer in New York for a global branding firm and for a museum design and environmental design firm.

He holds an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler  and a BFA from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He has served on the board of trustees of The University of the Arts and the board of the Ludwig Symphony Orchestra for six years.

Connect with Mark Donnolo on LinkedIn. 

Jeron Eaves is a managing partner at Blue Matter, a strategy consulting firm focusing exclusively on the life sciences. Blue Matter works with a broad range of clients (from large, multinational pharmaceutical companies to emerging biotechs) across business needs spanning corporate, portfolio, and product level objectives.  Eaves leads the West Coast business for Blue Matter from the company’s office in San Francisco, Calif.  His work is focused on portfolio, commercial, and organizational strategies for novel therapies in oncology, rare diseases, neurology, and other specialty disease areas.

Prior to joining Blue Matter, Eaves was a corporate development and commercial excellence lead for Campbell Alliance (now Syneos), a management consulting company for biopharmaceutical companies.  In this role, Eaves led strategic engagements across both commercial and business development practice areas.

Before pursuing a career in management consulting, Eaves was an organic chemist at PPD Discovery and Serenex, where he was responsible for the discovery and design of novel drug candidates for oncology.  During his time as a scientist, Eaves was a contributing author on multiple publications and named on several patents.

Eaves received his MBA from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, and a BS in chemistry from UNC Chapel Hill.  Jeron; his wife, Jenn; son, Evan; and dog, Pintxo live in the San Diego, Calif. area.

Connect with Jeron Eaves on LinkedIn. 

Mark Edwards is a managing director with Truist Securities and leads the Fund Finance team in the Asset Securitization Group. Truist, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the largest financial services holding companies in the United States. Edwards’s banking career started in 1983 with BB&T and continued with service as a director with Wachovia Securities’ CIB Group, and then as an EVP and corporate services manager for Main Street Bank in Atlanta, Georgia. After returning to BB&T, he served as president of BB&T’s SBA group and as senior loan administrator, before joining the capital markets group.

A North Carolina native, Edwards was a Johnston Scholar at UNC-CH receiving his BS in business administration from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Edwards and his wife, Jan (UNC ‘84), have three children; Peyton (a graduate at UNC-CH), Alex and Ainsley (a sophomore at UNC-CH), and live in Winston Salem, N.C.

Connect with Mark Edwards on LinkedIn. 

Alexandra Egan is a senior Associate at Ernst & Young, within their financial services organization. In this role, she is responsible for managing a team on a large private equity client engagement – spanning North America, Europe and Asia. Egan’s work experience is primarily focused on U.S. real estate products and assets. This includes heavy detail reviews over various portfolios, sectors, geographies, new transactions, and existing deals within client funds. Additionally, she heads biannual trainings on client fundamentals of private equity RA and LBO models, and existing market trends.

Egan graduated with a Master of Accounting degree from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019. Prior to that, she received a BS from the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2018. She currently resides in New York, New York.

Connect with Alexandra Egan on LinkedIn.

Thomas Elders is an active duty U.S. Marine Corps Infantry Officer, and currently works on the U.S. European Command staff in Stuttgart, Germany. He is serving as the Chief of the Plans Branch in the Joint Fires Division.

During a military career spanning over 24 years, Thomas led 25 to 350-person teams in contingency, crisis and combat operations. He served as a senior leader overseeing the staff functions for a 2500+ person organization. He deployed 10 times to overseas locations, where he demonstrated his skills in team building, risk management, corporate security, humanitarian assistance to local populaces, and execution of complex operations in dynamic environments. Additionally, Thomas’s diverse career included serving on a several senior staffs, where he performed strategic planning, operational assessments, program management, budget analysis, and major equipment acquisitions.

Thomas graduated with a Bachelor of Science (History Major) from the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. He earned a Master of Business Administration from UNC Kenan-Flagler, Chapel Hill, N.C. and a Master’s of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pa.

Thomas is a 4-time Ironman triathlon finisher. He and his wife, Jess, have one child and a chocolate lab.

Connect with Thomas Elders on LinkedIn. 

Connect with Alex Fahmi on LinkedIn. 

Connect with Charlotte Farmer on LinkedIn. 

Curt Fentress is senior marketing manager at Ecolab Inc., the global leader in water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services that help protect people, planet and business health. In his current role, Fentree leads ideation, program development, go-to-market strategy, and commercialization for Ecolab’s Kay business, based in Greensboro, N.C., meeting the food safety and sanitation needs of QSR and Fast Casual customers globally. Prior to his current role, Fentress held a series of progressive leadership roles in product marketing, global marketing and corporate account sales in Ecolab’s Food retail and food & beverage divisions. He is a three-time recipient of the Ecolab Marketing Excellence Award for exceptional performance and has led Ecolab’s MBA recruiting efforts at UNC Kenan-Flagler since 2014.

Fentress graduated from UNC Kenan-Flagler’s Fulltime MBA program in 2012, concentrating in entrepreneurship. While at UNC Kenan-Flagler, he served as a class section representative, the NC IDEA Young Entrepreneur in Residence, and won the 2011 UNC Marketing Case Challenge sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline. Fentress holds a BA in philosophy from Haverford College (’07). He resides in his hometown of Winston-Salem, N.C., with his wife, Laura Otten (MBA ’15), and three children.

Connect with Curt Fentress on LinkedIn.

Connect with Chris Ferraro on LinkedIn. 

Steve Finlay retired from The Coca-Cola Company in 2019 with responsibilities spanning a 25-year career from strategy development, and consumer marketing, to commercial development in North America. In his last role as vice president, Bottler Franchise Strategy and Planning, Finlay was responsible for developing and executing a multi-year Bottler plan and capability roadmap.

From 2011 to 2016, he served as group director of Bottler Transformation, where Finlay planned and executed a territory refranchising effort with Coca-Cola Bottler in the U.S.  This effort successfully transitioned across 62 territories, 300 distribution and production centers, and over 50,000 employees.

Finlay served as group director of category portfolio strategy in his previous role with Coca-Cola. He shaped Coca-Cola’s U.S. beverage strategy with senior leadership and led the revenue management efforts for the U.S.

Before joining Coca-Cola in 1995, Finlay served as a management consultant role for The Walt Disney Company, where he worked on various international and U.S. projects, including Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, and the Anaheim 2^nd theme park – where he was instrumental in operationalizing the retail and entertainment center.

Finlay holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Connect with Lana Fountain on LinkedIn. 

Stuart Friou is chief investment officer of Keen Onyx Fund and principal of HF Partners LLC, the general partner of Keen Onyx Fund. Prior to founding HF Partners, he was a portfolio manager, primarily for the consumer/retail sector, and a partner of Hunter Global Investors LP. Friou joined Hunter in 2001 at inception and was a partner from 2005 to 2011.

Before joining Hunter, Friou was a senior analyst for James M. Myers & Company, a registered investment adviser in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 1994 to 2001.  While at Myers, he co-managed a long/short hedge fund and was responsible for following the consumer, industrial, technology and financial sectors as both a buy-side and sell-side analyst. Prior to Myers, Friou was the chief financial officer of Ava Industries, a textile company, and an accountant at Touche Ross & Co. in New York and Laventhol & Horwath in Charlotte, where he became a CPA.

Friou received a BS in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988 and an MBA from the University of Michigan in 1994.

Connect with Stuart Friou on LinkedIn. 

Connect with Frank Godfrey at LinkedIn. 

Connect with Mark Grabowski on LinkedIn. 

As executive vice president and Georgia Commercial Banking executive at Cadence Bank, Green oversees the strategic development, growth, quality, and profitability of commercial activities in Georgia. With over 25 years of experience in investment banking, corporate, and commercial banking (Banc of America Securities, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, and Wachovia), Green provides oversight and direction to the commercial banking team which is focused on meeting the banking and financing needs of clients in a variety of industries. Green is an alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BSBA 1992) and Emory University (MBA 1999), Leadership Georgia, and is a Board Member of Trees Atlanta, The Woodruff Arts Center, Rotary Club of Atlanta, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Buckhead Coalition, and Kenan-Flagler Business School Alumni Council. Green also serves as the secretary for the Habersham Park Association and is on the advisory board for Allied Financial Corporation.

Connect to BJ Green on LinkedIn. 

Ralph Grogan serves as a consultant for Bentley Mills, a commercial flooring company
headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Previously, Grogan was president and CEO of Bently from 2012-2017. During Grogan’s tenure Bentley’s revenue grew from $95 million to $150 million. Most of Grogan’s consultant work is geared towards supply chain management in both North America and Asia.

Grogan also served as president for Parterre Flooring, (2018-2021), and Monterey Carpets
(2001-2007). He was chief operating officer for Tandus Flooring, (2008-2012) a $350 million dollar commercial flooring company.

Grogan has extensive Private Equity experience having worked on Equity deals with Quad C, Oaktree Capital, Dominus Capital and Tower 3 Partners.

Grogan graduated with a BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler and a MBA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. A native of North Carolina, he currently resides in Boston.

Connect with Ralph Grogan on LinkedIn. 

Mark Hamilton recently retired after 30 plus years in executive leadership roles in the building products industry. Most recently, he was senior vice president of sales at Hearth & Home Technologies. Previously, he held vice president of sales and marketing roles at Watts Water Technologies, NIBCO, and American Standard Brands. Prior to that Hamilton held a variety of director level roles at Whirlpool Corporation where he was recruited into the Global Management Development Program from UNC.  He holds an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler and a BA from DePauw University.

Currently, Hamilton serves others in a variety of volunteer roles at Habitat for Humanity and Moore Buddies Mentoring. He also serves on the Vestry of Emmanuel Episcopal Church and board of Pilgrim’s Progress.  He is an active member of F3 Sandhills, and enjoys traveling and pickleball with his wife, Liz.  They have two young adult children, Sarah and Chris.

Mary Moore Hambrick leads Grant Thornton’s public policy initiatives and is directly responsible for external and internal strategy and tactics. She liaises with Members of Congress, accounting professional standard setters, regulators and other influencers.

She and her team are trusted resources to the firm’s partners, clients, and the nation’s legislators – ensuring Grant Thornton’s policy positions are well represented. She is a member of Grant Thornton’s U.S. Extended Leadership Team and a chair of the firm’s Political Action Committee.

Hambrick has a strong business and legal background with 30 years of experience, working for and then with the U.S. Congress. She most recently served as the senior director of external relations and strategic planning for the Center for Audit Quality, where she managed its strategic priorities, stakeholder outreach and communications. She was also a director of the office of external relations for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, where she established its government relations office and directed its public affairs functions.  Hambrick headed the New York Life Insurance Co.’s Washington, D.C., governmental affairs office, served as counsel to the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and was a registered investments representative for Morgan Stanley, having passed investments exams series 3, 7 and 63.

She graduated from Duke University and earned her JD and MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Connect to Mary Moore Hamrick on LinkedIn. 

Connect with Mark Hamilton on LinkedIn. 

Lari Harding is a proven marketer, innovator and business leader with more than 15 years of her career spent developing healthcare solutions implemented by more than 50,000 pharmacies. She has been with Inmar Intelligence for 33 years – holding leadership roles in media/promotions, healthcare and supply chain – and in her current position is responsible for sales and marketing enablement across all Inmar business lines. Harding collaborates closely with her clients, technologists, data scientists, strategists, business experts and sales leaders. She is focused on the commercialization of products, including strategic partnerships that bring tech-enabled healthcare solutions to the market faster. Inmar’s clients include grocery and mass merchandise chains; chain pharmacies; independent pharmacies; health systems; long term care facilities; specialty pharmacies; pharmaceutical manufacturers; and consumer packaged goods companies.

An inventor, as well, Harding holds four U.S. patents. She is a proud Tar Heel with a BS degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill where she serves on the alumni council for the Kenan-Flagler Business School. Harding has served on the Novant Health Board of Trustees for the Greater Winston-Salem area since January 2015, and currently serves as Chairwoman. She also serves on the corporate board for Novant Health.

Connect with Lari Harding on LinkedIn. 

Taylor Harrington is a Managing Director on the Private Credit team at Guggenheim Investments in New York City, where he originates and structures flexible capital solutions for growth and mid-market companies.

Prior to joining Guggenheim, he was an Associate Director on Barings’ Private Credit team. Before Barings, Mr. Harrington worked for Boston Consulting Group in their New York office.

Before graduating from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, he was an Associate at Summit Park, a $245MM private equity fund. He started his career as an investment banking Analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Taylor earned his BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler where he graduated cum laude.

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Brandon Hass is senior director, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Climate Index Sales at S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI). In this role, he is responsible for developing ESG and climate index business for the North American market. He serves as an architect and subject matter expert in providing guidance to help form holistic suites of ESG indices based on S&P DJI market views and client preferences.

Prior to joining S&P DJI in 2022, Hass spent over a decade specializing in portfolio strategy and investment advisory. He brings extensive experience in buy-side investment consulting and capital markets, having held senior positions as a portfolio strategist and investment specialist for one of the world’s leading wirehouses. He is also an acknowledged contributor to the Investments and Wealth Institute, for writing and auditing investment consulting content for industry professionals.

Hass earned a BSBA from the University of Central Florida and an MBA with a concentration in data analytics from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) designation from the Investments and Wealth Institute in partnership with the Wharton School, as well as a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselors (CRPC®) designation from the College for Financial Planning. He currently sits on the leadership council at Ackerman Center for Excellence in Sustainability within the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Barry Holloway retired in 2014 from SWD URETHANE of Phoenix, Arizona, where he was responsible for sales development on an international level to exceed $50 million dollars. Other responsibilities in his senior management position included direct responsibility of a national sales force, coordination with the marketing department, and plant operations. His previous industry experience was with the Johns Manville Corporation of Denver, Colorado, in a regional sales capacity for the states of North Carolina and Virginia. During his career Holloway was well known in the building industry actively serving on various committee’s with the National Association of Home Builders particularly in the area of modular building plants.

His first career was with the U.S. Marine Corps where he was on the staff of Lieutenant General F. E. Leek, commander of Fleet Marine Force Atlantic in Norfolk, Virginia. He graduated from UNC Kenan-Flagler and lives in Raleigh with his wife, two children and three grandchildren.

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Rodney Jefferson is co-founder and chief executive officer of Little Scholars, an educational solutions firm specializing in inspiring confidence in children age preschool through 12th grade by advancing their academic performance. Little Scholars is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, and provides after-school enrichment programs, summer camps, and tutoring services to children in over 20 states and the District of Columbia. Jefferson has broad operating expertise with 26 years of leadership experience in diverse industries. His expertise includes strategic planning, operations management, business development, financial management, as well as transaction negotiation and execution.

Prior to co-founding Little Scholars in 2006, Jefferson founded Virginia Credit & Finance Inc. in 2004, a debt-recovery company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. He served as president and chief executive officer directly managing the growth, direction and financials of the company. Under Jefferson’s leadership, the company received formal recognition from Governor Mark Warner for creating over 100 new jobs in the Commonwealth of Virginia, grew to $14 million in revenue and was sold in 2010.

Prior to starting Virginia Credit & Finance Inc., Jefferson spent nine years at Source4, an integrated business and marketing solutions company in Roanoke, Virginia. Source4 provides document management, print and marketing communications, technology solutions, and fulfillment and distribution services to large corporate clients throughout the United States. Jefferson’s responsibilities included valuation and analysis of potential acquisition targets, strategic planning, business development, and operations management. While at Source4, he coordinated supply chain functions for multiple manufacturing facilities, managed 90 employees across 14 national sales offices, and spearheaded the development and implementation of an e-commerce procurement solution for clients. Additionally, Jefferson negotiated the purchase and integration of a $4.2 million manufacturing equipment upgrade.  He was named vice president in 1997, and in this role specialized in the development and provision of business and marketing solutions for major clients including Carmax, McKesson, Anheuser Busch and Time Life.

During his tenure at Source4, Jefferson played a key role in the company’s transformation from a local printing concern into a national provider of print and marketing communication services. This transformation yielded nearly $60 million in annual revenue, reflecting a 252% increase between 1997 and 2004.

Jefferson began his management career in 1994 with Image Comp Inc., a regional graphic arts firm located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He served as director of business development, developing and managing regional sales efforts. While with Image Comp, he opened new markets for the firm and led a growth initiative to double annual revenues in one year.

Jefferson, 50, is a native of Roanoke, Virginia, and he resides in Richmond, Virginia with his wife and three teenage children. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and business from Randolph-Macon College, and he earned his Masters of Business Administration from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been an active supporter of philanthropic organizations including Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia, Cameron K. Gallagher Foundation, Phi Alpha House Corporation, and the Virginia Alpha Alumni Association. In addition to serving on the boards of these organizations, Jefferson served on the board of Virginia Credit & Finance Inc., the Board of Associates of Randolph-Macon College, the Board of Governors of The Homestead Golf & Tennis Club in Hot Springs, Virginia, and he is a former board member for Printing Industries of Virginia. Jefferson was an active member of the Virginia Council of CEOs from 2007 through 2020. He currently serves on the Alumni Council of Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Jefferson enjoys being outdoors playing golf or riding his mountain bike, gravel bike and road bike. His claim to fame is playing one-on-one against Michael Jordan on the court at Granville Towers in 1985.

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Bob Kadlec is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Duane Morris LLP and member of the firm’s M&A, private equity and corporate practices. He has more than 30 years of experience, providing advice in a broad range of mergers and acquisitions, corporate financing transactions and corporate governance matters. He has extensive experience advising both private equity and corporate clients on a variety of matters related to M&A, corporate governance and securities laws matters including leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations, minority investments, joint ventures and public company acquisitions. He also advises a variety of public and private companies in corporate governance, SEC reporting and other matters.

Kadlec has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for Corporate Law since 2017. He earned his JD from New York University School of Law and his BS from UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a certified public accountant.

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William Keesler is a principal at Paine & Partners, a private equity firm headquartered in New York. He is responsible for leading investments in food and agribusiness companies. Before joining Paine & Partners, Keesler was a member of Sun Capital Partners, a global private equity firm focused on operational and financial turnarounds, corporate carve-outs and special situations.

During his tenure at Sun Capital, Keesler had significant experience investing in companies in food and agribusiness, consumer, retail, restaurant and industrial sectors. He began his career at Macquarie Capital in the restructuring and special situations group, where he executed capital structure solutions for distressed and under-performing companies including financings, debt restructurings, and mergers and acquisitions.

Keesler graduated with a BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler. A native of North Carolina, he resides in New York with his wife Mary Ellen (UNC ’08).

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Thought Leader. Sports Fan. Tar Heel.

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Indranath (Indra) Lahiri, Senior Financial Advisor for Merrill Lynch, holds Series 7, 63 and 66 FINRA Registrations and is also licensed in life and long-term care insurance. He assists individuals and small business owners in the areas of retirement strategies, cash management, debt management, working capital investment, business succession planning and estate planning services.

Indra Joined Merrill Lynch in 2010. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Indra worked at global firms such as Oracle and Cisco in the areas of technical and business solutions.

Indra is committed to the Merrill Lynch core philosophy that the client comes first. He employs Merrill Lynch’s four step Wealth Management Process to establish client objectives, set an individualized strategy, implement a customized recommendation and review progress against objectives.

Indra holds an M.B.A., in Finance, from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Masters in Information Systems from University of Texas. Indra is a member of the Apex Chamber of Commerce.He is a charter member of TiE, an organization for promoting entrepreneurship. He and his wife, Nandini, live in Apex, North Carolina, with their two children.

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Tiffany Lakey is a managing director and head of strategy and innovation for Wells Fargo’s Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB). CIB delivers corporate banking, investment banking, fixed income and equities capabilities to corporate, institutional and municipal clients around the world. Leading strategy & innovation, she and her team partner with CIB businesses to develop and execute CIB’s strategy and strategic initiatives. Lakey serves on the CIB operating committee, the Wells Fargo strategy, digital & innovation leadership team, and is an executive sponsor of the CIB Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Council. She previously served as the DE&I women’s diversity champion, DE&I development committee chair, and was a founding member of the CIB Women’s Network.

With over 20 years of corporate and investment banking experience, Lakey has held strategy, business management and product coverage roles at Wells Fargo and predecessor firms Wachovia and First Union. She led strategy and client engagement, served as business manager for fixed income and debt capital markets, and was a leveraged finance banker covering high yield bonds and leveraged loans for tech, media & telecom and healthcare companies.

Lakey earned her BS in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and MBA from Wake Forest University. She serves on the board of the Davie Community Foundation, was a founding board member of Cognition and was a charter member of the Wake Forest University School of Business alumni council. Lakey resides near Charlotte, N.C., with her husband and three daughters.

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-lakey-2b6747b

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Allen is a managing director with Wells Fargo’s Commercial Real Estate Group, providing financing solutions to non-bank lenders and specialty finance companies. He has over 20 years of experience in commercial real estate finance and capital markets, ranging from origination, underwriting, securitization and syndication. After beginning his career in public accounting with BDO and Deloitte, he worked at Deutsche Bank and later with a local Charlotte development firm. Allen has been at Wells Fargo since 2010 and is actively involved in recruiting efforts for corporate and investment banking, particularly at UNC.

Allen and his wife, Kristin (UNC BSBA), live in Charlotte and are actively involved with several organizations in their community primarily focused on education and the arts.  They have two children – Andrew (UNC Class of 2024) and Elizabeth.

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Kristin is a wealth advisor at Colony Family Offices, working with clients to develop, implement and monitor integrated customized financial planning strategies that meet their short and long-term goals and objectives. She also helps coordinate the firm’s business development efforts.

Lewis has over 18 years providing specialized counseling to affluent clients in a variety of financial planning areas, including cash flow/retirement planning, stock options and employee benefits, insurance, investments, income taxation and transfer taxation. After beginning her career as a tax consultant at Deloitte, she was a vice president and senior financial planner with Wachovia Wealth Management. Prior to joining Colony, she spent 10 years as a partner and director of financial planning at Queens Oak Advisors.

Lewis earned her BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler and a master of accounting with an emphasis in taxation from North Carolina State University. She holds the Certified Financial Financial Planner™ designation. For over five years, she coordinated and taught the estate planning module of the CFP^® Financial Planning Education Program for Queens University of Charlotte.

Kristin and her husband Allen (UNC BSBA, MAC) live in Charlotte and actively support several organizations in their community primarily supporting education and the arts.  They have two children – Andrew (UNC class of 2024) and Elizabeth.

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Frank Manole is a healthcare executive with over 30 years experience. He is a clinically-trained, doctorally-prepared nurse practitioner that has worked in both clinical and leadership positions. Over the span of his career, his focus has been on the operations side with a focus on strategy and execution, most recently as the Chief Operating Officer for Raleigh Radiology.

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankmanole

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Brian McBroom is a budding entrepreneur. As president of Anago of Atlanta (master territory owner of 19 counties surrounding Metro Atlanta) he increased the number of franchisees and developed short-term and long-term growth strategies to increase individual franchisee viability.

He served as director of enterprise risk management and operations excellence at Cummins Inc for five years. At Cummins, he was charged with the consolidation and mitigation of the company’s most critical risks for the Cummins board of directors. In addition, he ensured business continuity and disaster recovery implementations were executed around the globe. He managed a team of talented blackbelts and master blackbelts responsible for problem resolution within the corporate group. His risk insurance group placed global insurance policies (property, general liability, workers compensation, etc.) which protected CMI’s worldwide assets.

In his previous role, McBroom served as director, corporate staffs finance, for nearly three years, and was responsible for providing monthly financial reporting and interpretation of results to both the CFO and COO’s direct reports; preparing board of director, executive committee and operating committee presentations of corporate results; as well as leading the corporate annual operating plan.

Prior to joining Cummins, McBroom worked at Chrysler LLC for 12 years in a variety of financial management roles including: international, treasury, manufacturing, product development, engineering research and development, and corporate financial activities. In addition, he served as a claims adjuster with Allstate Insurance Company for nearly two years.

McBroom serves as chairman of the risk management committee on the board of directors for Centra Credit Union, the third largest credit union in Indiana. Previously, he served as treasurer for the board of directors of the Columbus Parks Foundation.

He holds a BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler and an MBA in finance and marketing from Clark Atlanta University.

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Head of Private Capital Markets at RBC Capital Markets. Advise private and public companies on raising strategic capital. Responsible for origination, execution and negotiation.

Prior to RBC Capital Markets, spent ~14 years at J.P. Morgan advising management teams and board of directors on M&A, IPOs and other financing activities.

Lived and studied in multiple countries.

Currently live in New York City with his wife, Catherine, and two avid UNC fans, Lucas and Ben.

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Patrick began his career with McKinsey & Company in Atlanta, GA. Prior to business school, he spent time in various Strategy, M&A/Corporate Development, and Operating roles at Driven Brands and PepsiCo Latin America. During his MBA program, Patrick was with middle-market private equity firm Access Holdings. After graduating from his MBA program, Patrick joined Boyne Capital full time and now lives in Miami, FL.

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-mckinney

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Kerri Kopp Murphy is an experienced marketing strategy executive with extensive leadership in brand management and innovation, retail strategy and consultative selling.  Murphy is currently leveraging her talent and time serving as the vice chair and chair elect for the Board of Trustees of The Children’s School, an independent school in midtown Atlanta.

In her career, Murphy held a variety of roles at The Coca-Cola Company, including Group Director, Diet Coke TM, for Coca-Cola North America.  In this role she was responsible for the brand strategy and execution of the Diet Coke business and key initiatives in the U.S., inclusive of long-range strategic planning, marketing/advertising, innovation, and overall brand stewardship.  Prior to that role, she was Group Director Retail Strategy, where she led a team charged with enabling the company’s retail sales organization to win with customers, via strategic planning and capability building to drive CCNA’s total customer value proposition.  She also held roles in Social Commitment (corporate reputation and social responsibility), Sparkling Soft Drinks Portfolio Strategy and Innovation, and Brand Management.

Before joining Coca-Cola, Murphy was in advertising sales with News America Marketing, a division of News Corp, in New York City and Boston.  She has a BS in marketing and a BS in psychology from Penn State University, and her MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She lives in in-town Atlanta with her husband, Tim, and school-age daughters, Quinn and Tatum, and enjoys golf, reading novels, and spending time at the Florida panhandle beaches.

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Nicole completed her BSBA degree in finance at the University of Central Florida in 2006. After a few finance-related internships in Orlando, she began her career at BB&T Capital Markets in Richmond, Virginia as an associate equity analyst covering small- and mid-cap bank and thrift institutions. In 2011, Peterson moved to Manhattan and worked for an Australian investment bank, Macquarie Capital, again as an associate equity analyst covering mid- and large-cap and trust banks. Following a year in Manhattan, she returned to Virginia and started working as a financial analyst for Capital One. In 2016, while living in Sarasota, Florida, Peterson decided to shift her career into the field of accounting, by pursuing both her master’s degree and her CPA. During this time, she worked as an accounting supervisor for a TriNet, a PEO, followed by an accounting manager/outsourced CFO at a CPA Firm, Kerkering, Barberio & Co., both in Sarasota, Florida.

She completed her MAC degree from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2019. She then earned her CPA in the state of Florida in 2021. Peterson currently works as a financial reporting manager for a multi-family real estate technology startup, iApartments Inc. based in Tampa, Florida. She lives in Sarasota with her family, including her two girls, Greyson and Rowan, and her partner, Whitney Coyne, a family law attorney.

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolemariepeterson

Will Pleasants joined Wasserman in 2007 through the acquisition of OnSport and currently serves as Managing Director, US. As part of the Marketing Leadership Team, he oversees all Brand and Property relationships and delivery of work product in the United States.

Prior to returning to help client business, Will was Chief Operating Officer of the company. Working closely with the company’s leadership team, he was responsible for the oversight of the company’s human resources, IT, corporate communications and worked with the business units on overall day-to-day operations for the 900+ employees around the globe.

Formerly, he was COO of the Marketing division, working with the Managing Partners to lead that division’s tremendous geographic growth and diversification of service offerings. In addition, he has helped lead many of the company’s account teams, including American Express, Brand USA, CarMax, and Nationwide Insurance.

Prior to Wasserman, Pleasants served as director of strategic planning with Group CSE in Atlanta, worked at the Orlando Magic, and spent time with NIKE in their Southeast office.

Pleasants holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as a guest lecturer at his alma mater, leading the Business of Sport class in the Kenan-Flagler Business School. In addition, he led student organizations in the development of the UNC Sports and Entertainment Summit.

He is a 2014 Sports Business Journal “Forty Under 40” Award winner, who also serves on the Boards of Kenan-Flagler Business School Triangle Chapter, and Teamworks, a leading athlete engagement software platform. He currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife Angie and their two sons, Cooper and Beckett.

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Chad Puryear is the Chief Lending Officer for Carolina Farm Credit, a $1.9 billion financial institution focused on agricultural and rural lending based in Statesville, N.C.  In his role, he oversees Association lending for 28 branch offices covering 54 counties.  He has over 26 years of experience with the Farm Credit System.  He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor of science degree in business administration.  He is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the NC School of Banking.  He joined Farm Credit in 1996 and has worked in various roles including Loan Officer, Branch Manager, Corporate Lender, Regional Manager, Chief Credit Officer, and most recently, Chief Lending Officer since 2015.

Chad also serves in various advisory capacities within the Farm Credit System and on the Advisory Board for NC A&T State University’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.  He was recently named as a new board member for the NC Foundation for Soil & Water Conservation.

Chad and his wife, Amy, grew up in Sanford, N.C., and now reside in Mooresville, N.C., with their two daughters.

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Daren Rhyne is a proud Tar Heel and alumnus from UNC, with a BSBA from Kenan Flagler Business School. As a marketer, he enjoys translating his instincts and serving teams to build brand strategies designed to enrich people’s lives and create lasting consumer connections.

After graduating in 2000 and working with the Carolina Panthers and Wachovia’s sponsorship groups, he went on to get his MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

He was then fortunate to take on professional experiences in the worlds of advertising, sports, and tech – working for Omnicom Media Group; Nike, where he spent nearly a decade; and Lyft.

While at Nike, Rhyne’s notable work included leading the orchestration of the Equality campaign in 2017, devising plans for sports moments (i.e. multiple US Open Tennis, Super Bowls 50 and 53, El Clasico in Miami, and the 2018 World Cup), as well as spearheading the strategy to reinvigorate the Air Force 1 franchise.

At Lyft, he led the launch of their social impact platform – LyftUp – in partnership with LeBron James and his media platform, UNINTERRUPTED, and partnered with other influential athletes and partners to provide rides for Covid-19 relief and to the polls to vote.

In his free time, he enjoys church, volunteering, golfing, concerts, travel, and college football.

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Carl has been employed in the investment management industry since receiving his MBA from UNC KFBS in 1994. He works in Philadelphia at Delaware Investments and is a member of the firm’s large cap value equity team. In his role as investment specialist, Carl works closely with the team’s clients and distribution partners. Prior work affiliations include Merrill Lynch, Brown Brothers Harriman and Prudential Insurance. He is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts and CFA Institute. Way back when, Carl graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a BA in Political Science.

Carl lives in Pennington, NJ, and actively supports several organizations in the community dedicated to empowering underserved youth, improving food security, and making mental health counseling more accessible. He has three children—Gillian (UNC class of 2019), Demarest and Carly—all of whom are avid Tar Heel fans.

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Richard J. Rossitch was born in Winston-Salem, N.C. and graduated from Kenan-Flagler Business School with a BSBA in 1993. He graduated from UNC School of Law in 1996. He worked in private practice for a few years with an international law firm. He currently serve as SVP, Deputy General Counsel for Compass Group USA Inc.  He has been employed in various roles at Compass Group USA Inc. since 1999.

Ricardo Ruiz Colliard was born and raised in Mexico City. He is an investment banking associate in the Consumer and Retail Group at Nomura in New York City. Before business school, he worked across multiple functions in real estate, infrastructure, and energy development and investments. He was part of the Mexico sailing team where he participated in multiple international championships, won national championships, and coached the junior team. He is part of the MBA class of 2022, where he was the MBASA VP of International Experience, VP of DEI for the Banking Club, VP of L&D for LatAm, member of the KFBS PE fund, and Dean’s Fellows. He holds a BS in civil engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.

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Naveen Sarabu is the VP of product for the practice growth and has over 20 years of healthcare product experience leading and managing solutions for acute, ambulatory, dental and life sciences markets. Prior to PatientPop, Sarabu was the VP of product at Veeva overseeing the product management for the clinical trials site solutions group, building the team from ground up and delivering innovative solutions to the global markets. Prior to Veeva, he was the VP of product for AdvancedMD responsible for all areas of product across the company and drove advancements in clinical, billing, analytics, and patient engagement solutions. He is a longtime resident of the Raleigh area. He enjoys running long distances in his free time.

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With over 35 years of experience in financial services, Margo Shepard is dedicated to helping clients meet their financial needs by developing investment plans around their long-term-goals and risk tolerance. She provides financial advice and value-added service to investors, always striving to build long-term relationships based on mutual trust and respect.

She works closely with families, helping them through major life transitions including the sale of a family business, loss of a loved one, retirement or the birth of a child or grandchild. She provides direct consultation and advice to individuals and not-for-profit associations, including foundations and endowments on strategic asset allocation, investment strategy and wealth planning.

She was named by Barron’s as one of the Top 100 Women Financial Advisors in the country in 2006. In 2015, the Financial Times named her to their FT 400 list of top financial advisers.

She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from the University of North Carolina where sbe was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, a business honorary fraternity. She earned her MBA degree from the University of Kansas. With an emphasis on continuing education, she earned the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) certification and the designation of Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) after successfully completing the courses offered through the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998.

She was a founding member of the Women’s Capital Connection, a regional network of accredited angel investors dedicated to identifying and funding promising women led start-up businesses in the region. She received the Joan Strewler-Carter Women of Influence Award in 2008 for her role in significantly impacting women entrepreneurship in the community.

She is active in the community, serving on many boards and committees including the University of Kansas Business School Advisory Board, Cristo Rey High School Board, Diocesan Finance Council and William Jewell College board of trustees.

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Rishi Sheth is the global training lead for Digital Transformation at Lenovo. He has spent his career in consulting focused mostly on process improvement projects prior to focusing on training and change management. Prior to Lenovo, Rishi worked at IBM Consulting, Westlake Chemical Corporation, and PwC. Rishi also started his own consulting company and over ten years supported over 20 clients on their technical implementations focused on training and change management.

Rishi graduated from UNC Kenan-Flagler Weekend Executive MBA in 2019. He is an active Alumni Council member on the Giving Committee. He also holds a Masters in IT from Georgia State University, and undergraduate degrees in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration from NCSU.

Rishi lives in the Atlanta-area with his wife and three sons. They are passionate supporters of the Tar Heels!

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Bill is Novare Capital Management’s Chief Optimist and Senior Advisor who founded Staton Financial Advisors LLC in 2000. He and his wife, Mary, began portfolio management in 1997. Bill’s passion for people motivates him to help improve their financial situation and ultimately relieve their financial stress.

As a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Bill earned his MBA in Finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Kenan-Flagler at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Bill is widely known as “America’s Money Coach®” and launched his financial-services career at Interstate Securities (headquartered in Charlotte, NC) as a securities analyst in 1971. While at Interstate, he became Director of the Equity Research Department and a member of the management team and board of directors. Bill left Interstate in 1985 to begin a stock-picking newsletter, which he published until March 2011.

An economic historian with 52 years in the financial-services industry, Bill has been profiled or quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, New York Times, Barron’s, Business Week, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Bottom Line Personal, Money magazine and interviewed on numerous radio and television shows across America. He is the author of six books on investing, including his most recent, Double Your Money in America’s Finest Companies®: The Unbeatable Money-Making Power of Rising Dividends from John Wiley & Sons. Bill co-authored How to Become Financially Free on $50 a Month from Nightingale-Conant (2014); Worry-Free Family Finances (McGraw-Hill); and The $50 a Month Millionaire with his wife, Mary.

Bill enjoys personally connecting with his clients and contributing to his community. As a member of numerous organizations, he spends volunteer time with Boy Scouts, Balsam Mountain Preserve, Bald Head Island Conservancy, United Way, Myers Park United Methodist Church and Sustain Charlotte, among others. He also teaches investing at Charlotte Country Day School (since 1986) and at the Mecklenburg County Jail (since 2011).

When he isn’t working or volunteering, Bill enjoys walking his dog, Bianca, reading, playing tennis and making memories with his beloved family. With his wife/partner, Mary, Bill is father to four adult children and step-granddad to three great kids. They enjoy traveling and experiencing new places and cultures, as well as photographing memorable moments along the way. Bill in particular enjoys jungles and swamps.

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Chris is a Partner at Childress Klein with over thirty years of corporate real estate and commercial real estate development experience. He is responsible for new retail and mixed use development activity for Childress Klein in the Southeast, with emphasis in the Carolinas.

He has been a speaker and panelist for a number of programs at the Urban Land Institute, International Council of Shopping Centers, NAIOP, and other industry organizations, and has been a guest columnist for Southeast Real Estate Business.

Chris is past board chair and on the executive committee of NAIOP Charlotte, and leads that organization’s governmental affairs efforts at the local and state levels.

He is past board chair of the James J. Harris YMCA and serves on the boards of the YMCA of Greater Charlotte and The Presbyterian Home of Charlotte. He received his B.S.B.A from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed the Young Executives Institute at the Kenan-Flagler Business School. Chris and his family reside in his native city of Charlotte.

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Joachim (Achim) von Klitzing is a managing director of DeWAG Wohnen GmbH & Co. KG based in Stuttgart, Germany. DeWAG is a privately-owned investment management company that invests on behalf of institutional clients into German multi-family apartment properties.

DeWAG was founded in 2001 and currently manages about 4,000 apartment units across Germany amounting to more than USD 800 million of assets under management.

Achim has been leading the company’s Investor Relations, IT, Legal, Finance, and HR teams since 2009. Prior to that he held different positions with investment management firms and investment banks in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.

Achim graduated from Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany, with a degree in German law and holds a PhD degree in German law from the Martin-Luther-University in Halle/Wittenberg, Germany.

Achim completed the full-time MBA program at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and graduated in 2001.

He and his wife Anjella, reside in Stuttgart, Germany, and have three children ages 20, 17 and 14.

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Catherine has served as the CFO of HopeWay since October 2016.  She started her career at KPMG after graduating from UNC-CH with a Masters in Accounting and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (1994). After leaving public accounting, she joined Collins and Aikman in an SEC reporting role. Following Collins and Aikman, she served in various roles at Muzak for approximately 6 years. She began her career at Muzak in an SEC reporting role and expanded her role to include Treasury Management and Investor Relations. She joined Horizon Lines in September 2005 and served in an SEC reporting role and the Controller role until the company was sold to Matson in May 2015. She assisted in the transition for over a year before going to HopeWay in October 2016. She has served in various financial roles across a wide range of industries including automotive, media, transportation, and healthcare.

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Andrew Warren joined Dominion Energy in January 2021 as director for Military and Veteran Affairs Programs and a Public Policy Senior advisor.

His previous experiences are summarized as global national security operations, developing legislative branch policy, advising senior government officials, and strategic planning comprise a 25+ year career of public service.

Warren is a retired United States Marine Corps infantry officer with service in roles from the platoon level to the service headquarters, and participation in combat operations in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions in Cuba, Albania, and Turkey; and security cooperation deployments to Japan and Panama. From 2015-2018, he served the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services as a professional staff member, and during 2019-2020 he was appointed as a senior special assistant for Legislative Affairs within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Additionally, he was an adjunct faculty member for Marine Corps University from 2008-2015 and selected to serve on the Marine Corps Gazette’s Editorial Advisory Panel from 2016-2020. Warren has served on the Virginia Chamber of Commerce Workforce and Education Executive Committee as well as the Military and Veteran Affairs Committee.

Warren received a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, and currently serves on the Kenan-Flagler Business School Alumni Council. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History from the Virginia Military Institute and is a distinguished graduate from the Marine Corps University Command and Staff College. Warren is a proud graduate of the LEAD Virginia class of 2021.

Connect with Drew Warren on LinkedIn. 

Summer Webbink is an associate director of Compliance Services at Duke University with over ten years of experience in compliance, internal and external audit. She is responsible for institutional concern reporting, investigations, conflict of interest and policy administration.

She has found her current role wonderfully combines the skills gained from the UNC MAC Program with her undergraduate degree in Public Policy Studies from Duke as well as her public accounting experience.

Prior to joining Duke, Webbink was part of the PwC Raleigh Assurance practice.

She lives in Durham with her family.

Connect with Summer Webbink on LinkedIn. 

Genna Zimmer is a Project Manager at Reeds Jewelers. In this role, she is responsible for assisting with an ecommerce re-platform. Before joining Reeds, Genna worked as an Accountant for the accounts payable, advertising, and retail accounting teams at Belk. She also completed a three month Executive Training Program at Belk.

Genna’s work experience primarily resides in the retail and wholesale space. Prior to Belk, she worked as a Sales Associate at Reeds Jewelers and she also completed marketing internships at David Yurman and Vera Wang in New York City. Although she loved working at David Yurman and Vera Wang, she was not ready to bear the cold winters in New York.

Genna graduated with a BSBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Genna is from Wilmington, NC and she currently resides in Charlotte, NC.

Connect with Genna Zimmer on LinkedIn.