Optimism and Comfy Shoes: Inside DealMAX with Brent Baxter and Suzie Doran

Roughly 16 weeks out from DealMAX 2026, we’re kicking off this year’s Inside DealMAX series, taking you behind the scenes of ACG’s flagship conference for the middle market, taking place April 27 through 29 at the ARIA in Las Vegas. Brent Baxter, CEO of ACG Global, and Suzie Doran, partner at SingerLewak and the ACG incoming chair, sit down with the podcast to discuss what they expect from the M&A market between now and late April, their most effective DealMAX hacks, and what to expect from this year’s conference.

Register today at dealmax.org to take advantage of the early registration rate, available until January 14.

A transcript of the podcast is available below.

Middle Market Growth: Welcome to the Middle Market Growth Conversations podcast, an ACG production, I’m Carolyn Vallejo. Today we’re kicking off another year of our Inside DealMAX series, where we go behind the scenes with guests involved in ACG’s flagship conference for the middle market. This year, DealMAX will take place April 27th through the 29th at the ARIA in Las Vegas. Registration for DealMAX is now open and you can save with an early registration rate now through January 14 at dealmax.org. Throughout this year’s Inside DealMAX series, we’ll be exploring middle-market M&A trends, what you can expect on the ground at DealMAX, and networking tips from dealmakers and industry experts who will be there right when the doors open. Today, ACG CEO Brent Baxter is back with us, this time with Suzie Duran, partner at SingerLewak and our incoming ACG chair. Brent and Suzie, thanks so much for coming on today to talk about DealMAX.

Brent Baxter: Thanks for having us.

Suzie Doran: Very excited to be here.

MMG: Brent, our ACG membership and broader podcast audience is pretty familiar with you already, but could you first give us a quick refresher on your background and your history with DealMAX?

BB: Sure, I’d be happy to, Carolyn. Thank you. So, I’ve been the chief executive officer of ACG now for two years and three or four months, but I joined ACG in I believe 2001 as an investment banker, so have over 20 plus years of really active involvement in ACG, and it’s just been such an honor to lead this organization. It has been so invaluable to me in building a network, professional and personal. I’ve had the privilege to get involved in many of our chapters, know many of our chapter leaders, and I can’t quite count all the number of DealMAX slash Intergrowth events that I’ve attended, but we’ll go with 15 plus and really looking forward to talking a little bit more about the value of DealMAX to our many, many members and guests.

MMG: Absolutely, I am as well. A DealMAX veteran, of course. And Suzie, can you tell us a little bit about your current role at SingerLewak and your history with DealMAX and ACG as well?

SD: Yeah, it’s great to be here. I’ve been part of the operations team at SingerLewak as well as an audit partner since 2008. I joined ACG actually before I joined SingerLewak in 2004. And I’ve been in a variety of roles from program chair, treasurer, being on the different committees, and now will be the incoming chair at ACG. In terms of DealMAX, I’m very excited to say think this will be my sixth year there.

MMG: We also like to kick off our podcast by asking our guests something fun to get to know them a little bit better. So, Suzie, let’s start with you. Do you have a favorite travel or conference hack you’d be willing to share?

SD: Well, being Korean, I do think skincare is important. That might be something that is kind of generic, but I’m really excited to say that I always like to bring a face mask with me just to make sure that I always feel moisturized.

MMG: That’s actually a really great tip and one that I’ll probably take advantage of because I know in Las Vegas the air is so dry and a face mask would be really helpful.

SD: And it’s always great to share, you know, sharing is caring.

BB: That’s great. I’ll ask if I can I borrow a face mask, Suzie?

SD: Sure. I’ll bring one for you, Brent.

BB: Thank you.

MMG: Brent, you are a travel guru. We asked you about your favorite travel hacks last year, but you do travel so much, so can you tell us any other conference or travel tips that you have to share?

BB: Well, they get pretty simple: comfortable shoes and carry-on luggage is about the best I can do. It makes travel so much easier if your shoes feel good at the end of a long day.

MMG: Especially at a conference like DealMAX where you have such a big floor that you’re walking around all day every day, you really get your steps in there.

BB: Yeah, I think some of the DealMAX folks track their steps and I know it’s 15,000-25,000 range and that’s a lot.

MMG: Oh my goodness. Well, that’s great for our audience to be prepared for. So, let’s talk more about DealMAX and as we’re speaking today, the kind of broader economic environment and dealmaker sentiment that we’re hearing about right now leading up to the conference. It always tends to impact the mood and what you’re feeling in the air once you walk through those doors at the ARIA. So right now, what are some of the trends that you’re watching in dealmaking and maybe what you’re anticipating in dealmaking for these early months of 2026? Let’s start with you, Brent.

BB: Yeah, sure. Well first, I’d be remiss if I didn’t sort of refer to the data we collect as an organization, ACG, through our GF Data business. It appears that deal activity is strengthening without question, deal optimism is strengthening, and most everybody that we survey in our media is anticipating a more robust 2026 for deals, deal volume, deal valuations, activity. And that’s just a great leading indicator. I guess I would also note that our ACG events continue to sell out, to be oversubscribed. Our event attendance across all of our 1,400 some odd ACG events is up a solid 10% over last year, which was up 10% the year before. And that means that folks are out there wanting to build their connections, wanting to build their network, wanting to build their deal flow so that as deal activity increases when the rush begins to accelerate, that folks are prepared for increased deal flow, prepared for increased legal activity, prepared for increased quality of earnings and due diligence and HR challenges that go along with all that. So, in short, I think cautious optimism plus is where we are today.

MMG: Cautious optimism plus. I love it. Suzie, what about you? What trends are you watching and anticipating as we head into 2026, the first quarter, and then into DealMAX?

SD: So, I agree with Brent. I think that the cautious optimism is a really good way to describe the deal market. I was at lunch with a banker and he said that although the deal activity isn’t as robust for the full year as it was previously that quarter over quarter Q4 over Q4, they had seen 50% more activity. Which I think is to what Brent’s saying really great optimism about where the market’s going. I also see a lot more people, as Brent was saying about the bankers and the accountants, the attorneys, everybody is really going out there and networking, which is a great sign because that means that there’s still a lot of optimism in the air and we’re starting to see some deal activity go from being a little bit frothy to just being more tangible and we’re seeing people reengage, which is always a great sign to see.

MMG: Brent, let’s turn back to you for a moment. What event or new feature are you looking forward to most at DealMAX this year?

BB: A great question because the event is always full of energy and surprises. We are reconfiguring the main deal floors so that the deal tables will be in both of the major ballrooms and the sponsor tables will be interspersed through the entire sort of floor platform. So, we’re anticipating a lot more interaction among everybody, a lot better flow for the event. And you know, given that we have, I don’t know, 700 some odd deal tables, the logistics of rearranging it are a little more complex than they might appear when you just walk through the beautiful laid-out floor. But we’re really expecting that to increase the amount of interaction at this year’s DealMAX. And frankly, that’s what we all go there for, is to create new connections.

MMG: Suzie, what about you? What feature are you looking forward to most this year?

SD: I would say that what I think is one of the best things about ACG DealMAX is the connectivity. So I think the new configuration will be great because it’ll be a much more integrated configuration. It’ll allow for more connectivity, more action, and more ability to just meet others and see others. For me, I really enjoy going to all the panels. I think the panels are always a great way to just show different perspectives and it’s always nice to see people like Brent on the stage.

MMG: You both have already talked about the importance of connectivity. We’ve discussed the optimism heading into this new year of dealmaking, which is a great energy in which to go to DealMAX. So that being said, networking and facilitating really high value connections are of course central to dealmaking and really at the heart of DealMAX. And I’m wondering if either of you have any tips or maybe strategies you can share for how you approach those networking conversations? Suzie, let’s start with you.

SD: Sure. I always like to approach these conversations by first just asking what people are seeing in the market and seeing what is it that they need. It’s always a great way to just start is by trying to figure out what people need in this market. And right now what I’m seeing is they would like to have more connections to certain niches that they’re pursuing, especially as people become more and more specialized. So they’re looking for very specific targeted introductions. And those are things that we can really help because we do have vast networks that we’ve been able to develop through ACG in the community. So I always like to just start by asking, and then it’s usually a great way to kind of segue into how you can actually help access that connectivity for the individuals you’re talking to.

MMG: And Brent, how about you? Do you have any tips for how you might approach these networking conversations?

BB: Well, I’ll start with Suzie’s last sentence. You know, how do we help facilitate those connections? One thing I would really call the audience’s attention to our ACG Access scheduling tool. We will schedule 19,000—I think this year it’ll exceed 20,000—one-on-one meetings while we’re on property in Las Vegas. And by my estimate, that’s probably half of the meetings that will occur. Those are just the formally scheduled meetings. We are adding more tools to ACG Access to provide more background on each of the individuals who you might want to connect with. But, you know, given the magnitude of that sort of level of interaction, do your homework, make sure that in advance you really understand, as Suzie said, the individuals that are most relevant to you or to whom you will be the most relevant, they will want to meet you, and do that homework and get those meetings scheduled. But while I say with one breath “do your homework,” in the second breath I’ll say be flexible and make sure you just meet people that you haven’t ever connected with. It’s such a warm, inviting … everybody’s there to meet new people and you know, to go to the cocktail reception and say hi to people that you’ve never met before and go to a content session that may be outside of your area of interest or expertise and make new connections. It’s just such an amazing thing to sit back and think that our group of 3,000 some people will connect with each other 40 or 50,000 different ways. And that’s to say nothing of the sponsor parties and the other activities that go on in Las Vegas. And I guess the final thing is yeah, bring a lot of energy ’cause you’re going to need it.

MMG: Bring a lot of energy and comfortable shoes as you mentioned earlier.

BB: Exactly. Good combo.

MMG: Turning our attention now a bit from DealMAX specifically to ACG more generally, I do absolutely want to take advantage that I am sitting down with the CEO and the incoming chair and I want to talk to you both about what’s ahead for ACG in 2026. So Brent, are there any new initiatives or plans you’re especially excited about in the year ahead?

BB: Boy, we have a lot underway. You know, I’ve already mentioned how robust our event opportunities are—across ACG 1,500 estimated events, across our 60 chapters in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Take advantage of that. We’re doing a lot of work on data to make, you know, our events more relevant, more specific. We’re launching industry vertical initiatives so that we can appeal to sub-segments of our market. I mentioned the ACG Access scheduling tool—19 to 20,000 meetings at DealMAX. This past 12 months we scheduled 70,000 meetings among our members and guests through that scheduling tool. And we’re investing in that to be able to have everybody make more relevant connections. And you know, those three words really I think capture everything we’re trying to do at headquarters and throughout all of our chapters is just create the environments and the data tools that enable our members to make more relevant connections.

MMG: And Suzie, same question for you as our incoming chair. What’s in the wings for ACG in 2026? What are you particularly excited about?

SD: I’m excited about so many things. I’m really excited about, I know there’s a theme of connectivity that we are talking about and that’s just basically building connections and building bridges. So for example, one of the things that we’re talking about is doing a strong regional event such as a woman’s event and they do them in other parts of the country. And I’d like to really see that grow on the western part of the U.S. and hopefully we can continue doing larger events such as A&D, which we partnered with [ACG] Global with this year and it went really, really well. And with that comes more connectivity. So as we get more integrated chapters, there’s an ability for us to really grow and build off of these existing foundations that we’ve built. Maybe we have a National Women’s Conference. I’d love to see you come, Carolyn. I know we’ve talked about it, and just doing more just collaborative events that really bring the best. And with all of our minds together, I know we can continue to build great events.

MMG: Absolutely. I’ll be first in line for that women’s conference. We’ve mentioned the optimism and the energy going into DealMAX this year as dealmakers really expect a busy year, which is great. We’ve touched on DealMAX’s role in facilitating not only general networking, but dealmaking. You know, deals truly are getting done on the DealMAX floor every year. But to close out this inaugural Inside DealMAX 2026 episode, for someone who may be still on the fence about attending DealMAX this April, what would you say to convince them to attend? Suzie, let’s start with you.

SD: I would say in the names of a famous brand, just do it. Get out of your comfort zone. And you may be surprised, I would never envision myself as an incoming chair, but it just started with going to my first conference, my first ACG conference. If you don’t know me or you do know me, please come up and introduce yourself to me. Initiative is one of the best attributes that I admire most in people. And that’s what I love about DealMAX is the level of initiative of the attendees that go there is just through the roof. And the energy is contagious.

MMG: The energy certainly is contagious. I can attest to that for sure. Brent, close us out here. What would you say to someone who may be still on the fence about attending DealMAX this year?

BB: Well, I get the privilege to talk to a lot of people. And I guess one thing I’d observe is that I’ve never heard a successful person say, my network is too big, or I don’t need more connections, or we have plenty of deal flow. You know, there’s just no such thing, just building your network is always so valuable. You never know where it will lead you and your firm. And DealMAX is the magnificent platform to do that. I mean, I absolutely encourage every listener to be very involved in their chapter in their region and ACG where appropriate because you build those lifelong relationships there at the local level. But you know, in terms of really ways to continue to expand your network, your connections, DealMAX is the place to be. There is no more critical mass in the system than there is at that event in Las Vegas. So, I would encourage anybody here who hasn’t been there before, take it on, register today.

MMG: DealMAX is definitely the place to be. Brent and Suzie, thank you again so much for joining on the podcast and we look forward to seeing you in Vegas.

BB: Thank you, Carolyn. Appreciate your hosting us. And Suzie, thank you for being with us today. Appreciate it.

SD: Well, very excited to be with you guys and look forward to hanging out.

MMG: And if you’ve been convinced to join us at DealMAX this year, you can learn more dealmax.org. Register today to take advantage of the early registration rate available until January 14th.

This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated.

The Middle Market Growth Conversations podcast is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To hear more interviews with middle-market influencers, subscribe to the Middle Market Growth Conversations podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Soundcloud.