The Winter 2023 Wrap-Up of ACG Events

The three-day event started Nov. 1 with the Emerging Professionals Roundtable and Networking session. The following day, attendees stopped by the Shotgun Golf Tournament, which drew 130 golfers.

Linda H. Sherrer, founder and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty, gave a talk titled “Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned.”

The last day started with a 5K run followed by a break-out session, “Why Is Your People Strategy Imperative for Post-Acquisition?” before a luncheon with keynote speaker Jim VandeHei, founder and CEO of Axios.

Middle Market Week in NYC

ACG New York Middle Market Week drew 750 global middle-market dealmaking professionals to a five-day Middle Market Week that kicked off Nov. 7 in New York.

The event began with an opening night reception at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse in Lincoln Center. The next night, dealmakers attended the LP, GP and Family Office dinner at the Harmonie Club.

Other events included Lenders Casino Night at the University Club on Wednesday, Nov. 9. The next day, about 500 attendees headed to a wine-tasting gala at Tavern on the Green.

ACG South Florida Annual Wine Tasting and Holiday Party

ACG South Florida held the 8th Annual Private Equity Wine Tasting and Holiday Party at the Tower Club in Ft. Lauderdale. This year, more than 250 people attended the event that had more than 15 wine tables.

Sponsors included Holland & Knight, BNY Mellon Wealth Management, Chief Outsiders, Trivest Partners, LSQ, Wells Fargo, Katz Barron law firm, HIG Capital, JPMorgan Chase, Lewis, Brisbois, Greenberg Traurig, Sodhani, Paylocity, Kaufman Rosin, J Street Imports, Dickson Wright, Crowe, Wiggin and Dana.

Tenth-Annual Private Equity Two-Step

Nearly 100 people attended the 10th Annual Private Equity Two-Step on Nov. 3 at Estancia Del Norte Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. This year, the schedule was condensed to a half day, with the event starting at 11:30 a.m. Attendance was up by about 17% compared to last year.

After opening remarks, Jeffrey C. Gifford, member/attorney at Dykema, presented the firm’s Market Survey Report, followed by keynote speaker Jim Guy Egbert, president and CEO of Bill Miller Bar-B-Q.

Panel topics included “Using Their Crystal Balls—View of the Market Today and Tomorrow,” “Lessons Learned– Middle Market Companies Sharing their Capital Raising Experiences” and “Local Organizational Infrastructure-Building Tomorrow’s MM Companies.”

Operating Partner Event in NYC

The Operating Partner Event kicked off Dec. 15 at Studio Gather at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. The intimate event hosted 30 attendees who connected with fellow operating partners and shared best practices and strategies in value creation.

Roundtable discussions included:

• “Strategic Pricing Strategies for Portcos Amid Rising Inflation and Economic Uncertainty” with Lane McDonald, managing director of strategy and operations at the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, and Mark Steenhoek, operating partner at Stephens Group.
• “Managing Portco Budgets in a Downturn” with Gabe Mesanza, a partner at Huron Capital.
• “Outsourcing Strategies for Operating Partners: When to Outsource and How to Select and Manage Service Providers” with John Broderick, operating partner at Argosy Capital, and Geoffrey Baird, operating partner at Palladium Equity Partners.

Ninth Annual Deal Crawl Conference

ACG Charlotte hosted 270 dealmakers at its 9th Annual Deal Crawl Conference on November 9-10. New this year was the Deal Crawl Run, where a group gathered for a 6 a.m. run before the conference activities on Nov. 10.

The keynote featured Jim Hance, operating executive of The Carlyle Group, in conversation with Luther Lockwood, managing principal at MBL Advisors. The seminar sessions were Trends in the Capital Stack and Middle Market Outlook & Insights: Risk, Recession & Resilience and featured panels of industry experts.

Other conference highlights included the evening reception hosted at Charlotte’s Mint Museum Uptown on Nov. 9 a networking breakfast to
kick off conference activities on Nov. 10 and the Dealmakers’ Lounge filled with conference attendees and representatives from 19 sponsor firms.

LA Business Conference 2022

About 750 middle-market professionals attended the 2022 LA Business Conference at the Beverly Hilton Nov. 8-9 in Beverly Hills.

Keynote speakers included Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of SkyBridge; Jeff Korzenik, chief investment strategist at Fifth Third Bank and author of “Untapped Talent;” Howard Behar, the former president of Starbucks and author of “Beyond the Coffee Cup—Servant Leadership” and Marc Randolph, co-founder and CEO of Netflix and author of “That Will Never Work: The Untold Story of Netflix.”

Dealsource North Conference

On Nov. 14, ACG Toronto kicked off the DealSource North Conference, Canada’s largest program for middle-market dealmakers, in conjunction with the 2022 Capital Connection Conference.

With a record number of 80+ companies in attendance, private equity, capital providers and family offices connected with investment banks and M&A advisory firms in 900+ pre-scheduled meetings at Arcadian Loft in downtown Toronto.

Also, ACG Toronto celebrated its 50th anniversary during a dinner that marked the 20th Capital Connection Conference and 6th fall DealSource North Conference.

Upcoming ACG Events

• • March 7-8: Texas Capital Connection – ACG Houston
  • March 8: NextGen Lunch – ACG OC
  • March 8: 3rd Annual Private Equity Wine Tasting – ACG Orlando
  • March 9: 2023 March Women’s Program – ACG Pittsburgh
  • March 20-21: Rocky Mountain Corporate Growth Conference – ACG Denver
  • April 4: PE Roundtable Dinner Series – ACG NY
  • April 6: Night at the Masters – ACG Maryland
  • April 19: 10th Annual Women of Leadership Summit – ACG NY
  • April 20: Lunch Panel – Recruiting & Retention – ACG Cleveland
  • May 1: 2023 Golf Outing – ACG Pittsburgh

For more information on upcoming ACG and ACG chapter events, visit www.ACG.org/events.