Fall 2024 Wrap-Up of ACG Events

The opening luncheon honored Jay Jester, partner with Plexus Capital, as this year’s ACG Legend Award winner, and recognized the 30 M&A Business Development Professionals to Watch featured in the spring edition of Middle Market DealMaker. Attendees used the popular DealMAX scheduling tool, ACG Access, to arrange over 17,000 meetings ahead of the event. The conference will return to the ARIA on April 7-9, 2025.

ACG Boston DealFest

More than 800 people attended ACG Boston‘s DealFest at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the Boston Seaport area on June 6, setting a record for overall attendance and all-time highs for investment banking attendees, DealSource tables and DealSource participants. The event also saw an increase in family office attendance.

The DealFest schedule featured content for the first time in over a decade, including panels that addressed sports investment, artificial intelligence in M&A and relationship-building with private equity, with full rooms for all three sessions. DealFest also included a robust attendee lounge with open tables and more space for meetings and organic conversation, as well as intimate gatherings throughout the day. In addition to DealSource and the popular craft beer crawl reception, there was a women’s breakfast, a family office roundtable and a young professionals afterparty. DealFest will be back at the same venue on June 11, 2025.

ACG San Francisco’s M&A West

ACG San Francisco‘s M&A West took place from May 29-31 at the Meritage Resort & Spa in Napa, California. The event drew 373 attendees and marked a 57% increase in private equity and investment banking registrations for DealSource compared to the previous year. There were 1,188 meetings confirmed, underscoring the event’s popularity.

This year, an exclusive wine tasting session held before the opening reception replaced the traditional Capital Connection and was a major hit among private equity and investment banking professionals. Another new feature—an afterglow cigar, whisky and port party—provided a relaxing end to the day’s events.

Panels this year featured discussions on clean tech innovations and CFO hiring. A major draw was the family office panel, where the owner of the Sacramento Kings shared his insights on investments in blockchain technology, sports and wine. A delightful surprise came in the form of MC Hammer, who crashed the event and added a touch of unexpected excitement.

Mark your calendars: M&A West will be hosted again at the Meritage Resort & Spa on May 28-30, 2025.

ACG Minnesota Upper Midwest Capital Connection

ACG Minnesota hosted its annual Upper Midwest Capital Connection on June 10-11 at the Minneapolis Marriot City Center with around 500 attendees. This year the conference added an after-hours social for young professionals, which sold out. It also debuted a silent auction during the opening reception, with proceeds benefiting NMDP, a nonprofit leader in cell therapy. The conference schedule included a panel of private equity professionals who discussed the M&A market, trends and outlook; a keynote address from Toby Madden, president at Power Parametrics, who spoke about the state of the economy and global and regional drivers of growth; and other panels and roundtables.

Ottawa Capital Connection

The sold-out 5th annual Ottawa Capital Connection was held at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa on April 24-25. Presented by ACG Toronto, the conference focused on new investment horizons and economic trends in the mid-market M&A sector. A welcome reception kicked off the event on April 24 before the conference on April 25. 

Texas Capital Connection

The annual Texas Capital Connection was held April 2-3 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas. A Texas-themed opening reception filled with cowboy hats commemorated the event’s 20th anniversary. The conference achieved record-breaking attendance and sold out of investment banking sponsorships, private equity exhibitor spots and silver-level sponsorships. More than 3,800 meetings were scheduled throughout the event. A luncheon presented by the Women of ACG committee kicked off the conference, featuring a panel titled “Doing Deals: There Is No Back to Normal.” Next year’s event will be held in Houston at the Hilton Americas on Feb. 27-28.

ACG Charlotte Wine Tasting

ACG Charlotte hosted its annual wine tasting event on May 16 at Charlotte Country Club. More than 250 attendees sipped red, white and rose wines, along with premium bourbons, on the lawn overlooking the club’s golf course. Live music and a raffle drawing for a magnum-sized 2011 Revana Cabernet Sauvignon were other highlights of the event—as was the weather. This year’s wine tasting fell on a perfect North Carolina day, after a thunderstorm in 2023 and record-breaking heat in 2022. The 2025 wine tasting will take place next May.

ACG New York DealMaker Series: Food and Beverage Deal Market

ACG New York hosted a diversity, equity and inclusion edition of its DealMaker Series: Food and Beverage Deal Market on May 16. This installment of the quarterly series took place at the New York Athletic Club and was hosted by the ACG New York PE/IB, Forward and DE&I committees. It featured a panel of experts who discussed the state of M&A in the food and beverage vertical.

At the event, ACG New York’s DE&I committee debuted its “International Middle Market Cookbook,” which includes recipes contributed by ACG New York members. Indian kheer, Vietnamese chicken salad, Creole gumbo and Greek stuffed tomatoes are among the cookbook’s recipes, each of which is accompanied by a personal story from the contributor about the recipe’s origin.

Upcoming ACG Events 

• Sept. 4-5: Great Lakes Capital Connection – ACG Cleveland
• Sept. 11: Wine Tasting and DealSource – ACG Dallas/Fort Worth
• Sept. 16-18: M&A SoCal – ACG Los Angeles
• Sept 24: DealSource at Truist Park – ACG Atlanta
• Sept. 25-26: Virginia Capital Conference – ACG Richmond
• Sept. 30-Oct 1: M&A East – ACG Philadelphia
• Oct. 1-4: M&A Tech Connect – ACG Silicon Valley
• Oct. 29-30: 25th Annual Midwest Capital Connection – ACG Chicago
• Nov. 4-8: Middle Market Week – ACG New York
• Nov. 11-12: Capital Connection and 8th Fall DealSource North – ACG Toronto
• Nov. 13-15: Florida ACG Capital Connection – ACG Florida Chapters

For a complete list of upcoming events, visit acg.org/events.

Middle Market Growth is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To learn more about the organization and how to become a member, visit www.acg.org.